Madmatt

We did a similar test and found the HE to be MORE effective on the whole. I will have a look at this once more after v1.01 is released. The AT-Rifles will not enagage bunkers for two reasons. #1 They aren't coded to do so #2 We could not really find much data to support that they would be employed in this fashion. It would require a pretty big code change to enable it to happen anyway so its not likely going to happen even if #2 could be proven suffeciently. Madmatt

Nah, we just used colors we thought were easy to see. Since they are not true tracers as such (far too big) in actuality they are outgoing fire indicators and meant as a game aid we didnt try to research them all that much. If memory serves, people on the IL-2 forums conducted a rather lenghty invesitagation themseleves about tracer color and found that many different colors were used, but that might have just been for aircraft. Madmatt

Okay, seems people are more likely to ignore Harv than me. LISTEN UP MAGOTS!!! This is the one and same CM Webring that I set up years ago and as of late havent had time to update. Harv was "volunteered" to take this up for me. Now webmasters MUST make sure their webring code is current, on the correct page and properly configured or they will be suspended from the ring. If a site remains out of compliance it will be deleted from the ring. Give Harv a little time so we can make the CM Webring bigger and better than ever. Your compliance is expected! Madmatt

Make sure you are using the 30.82 (or 30.87) series drivers from Nvidia. Be sure and unistall your old ones first. If the problem persists, try changing your FSAA settings and relaunch the game with each one to see if those make a difference. Madmatt [ October 17, 2002, 05:52 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

Make sure you are using the 30.82 (or 30.87) series drivers from Nvidia. Be sure and unistall your old ones first. If the problem persists, try changing your FSAA settings and relaunch the game with each one to see if those make a difference. Madmatt [ October 17, 2002, 05:52 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

Suspend Mode (or sleep mode) and CM (BO and BB) don't mix. They never have, they never will. Madmatt

I asked Charles to consider that option. He never replied. Guess he has his reasons. Madmatt

Which game was this? CMBB? Do you have a copy of the autosave that can reliably replicate this issue? We tested the Bejesus outa this one and could never get it to reoccur in CMBB. You could be seeing a different crash though. v1.01 fixes a lot of very odd and rather hard to have happen crashes. This may be one of them. Send me that autosave though if you can. Madmatt

I showed that to Charles and we are still looking into it. The thing was that sometimes even at 200 meters Canister WAS more effective than HE so its not a cut and dry issue. Madmatt

Hey, it was there for a good ten minutes. Those that needed to see it probably did. Madmatt

Lots of stuff going on this week in the big bad world of computer gaming, some good some bad and some woefully disapointing. So, how about some good news? Okay, below you will find the v1.01 Version Notes for the forthcoming v1.01 CMBB patch. We have not set a firm date on when the patch will be released, (yeah we're weird like that) but it should be soon. We are planning on co-ordinating with CDV so all versions (Battlefront and CDV) of the patch are released at the same time. Patch size is about 25 megs with the CDV version being a little bigger because they use a different installer than us. Okay, here goes. Also included are some manual errata we spotted after we went to print. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Version 1.01 October 16, 2002 ------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- GAME CHANGES SINCE Version 1.0 NOTE: Games saved in v1.01 can't be loaded in by the older v1.0. So if you're playing others by email or TCP/IP, make sure you all upgrade to v1.01. MODIFICATIONS: * Setting up a defending unit (which is prepared to dig a foxhole) on top of a 'shallow' crater (one that does not register as 'crater' with the LOS tool) will not remove the shallow crater. * Tracer graphics are larger at higher camera elevations so they're more visible. * Vehicle bog rates are reduced somewhat, especially in drier conditions. * Mortars have a smoke puff when they fire. * Mortar tubes and bases are textured. * Metallic ricochet sounds won't be played when firing on a unit that's near a metal object if the firer is very close. * Units' colored bases are drawn at more appropriate heights. * Passengers inside a halftrack are more difficult to spot. * The 'split' half of a squad begins with no movement orders even if the original squad had some. * Action computation is about 15% faster. * Crews in immobilized tanks do not bail out so quickly when being struck by harmlessly small shells. * Ski troops moving in a building lose their skis. * Vehicle rotation speeds are lowered when the vehicle's forward speed is very low. * Quick Battles may be set to last up to 120 turns. * The officer-level 'rank' graphic indicating an HQ vehicle is shown for enemy vehicles only at the very highest level of 'identification', so it's now a bit harder to determine which enemy tanks are the HQs. * Ordnance may be moved through a wood fence (slowly). * Late-war Soviets, and mid- and late-war German army units, and all SS units have new 'rank' pictures. * Infantry units are less likely to move out of the way of oncoming vehicles (the vehicles must be heading more directly at them). * Generated maps which have hilliness set to random will never be created totally flat (though you can still choose 'flat' directly if you want). * Finns can be assigned panzerfausts in the editor on or after May 1944 (but note that they should be considered very rare before July, and even then are far less common than they are among German troops). * Finnish StuG III vehicles are now the "early mid" version, not the "early" version (note: 3D model is not changed, however). UNIT DATA CHANGES/FIXES/ADDITIONS: * Finnish StuG III becomes available June 1944. * Soviet 50mm mortar is available until war's end (Airborne uses it). * PTRD ATR removed from two TO&Es that had it appear before September 1941. * Valentine IX now carries the Mk. V L/50 6 pdr gun (rather than the Mk. III L/43 version). * Max MG range for M17 halftrack is now 2500m. * M17 halftrack crew may not button up. MODELS: * New vehicle models: BT-5 M1933, BT-5A, BT-7 M1937, BT-7M, BT-7A, T-70 M1943, Toldi II, Zrinyi, TACAM R-2, Brummbaer (mid and late), Pz IVG (mid and late), Pz IVH, Pz IVJ, Pz M15/42 738(i), Semovente L40 da 47/32, Csaba, Nimrod, Ansaldo CV-35, R-35, R-1 Tankette. * Updated Textures for all above models plus Sherman (75 and 76mm), SdKfz 222 and all the Pz-IV's from the F2 to the J model. * Lowered crewman in Nimrod. * Small fix to 76mm Sherman. BUG FIXES: * Prisoners cannot be given covered-arc orders. * Corrected a problem where bailed tank crews from a saved game would show graphical problems with their uniforms or crash when clicked on. * Corrected a problem where it was possible to group-select units, and include an enemy unit when giving orders. * T-40 tankette info panel mentions the combination 12.7mm/7.62mm MG mount (it was already in the game data). * Fixed some problems caused when a covered arc is set by clicking on the "sky" at lower camera angles. * Orders delay will update properly when a mid-path waypoint is deleted. * Vehicle TacAI obstacle-avoidance won't remove seek-hull-down orders at the end of a movement path. * Update to torso texture for late-war Soviet Naval infantry platoon HQ. * Corrected a problem with the Play Balance setting, when duplicating tanks they are now given proper HQ links (if any are required). * Corrected a bug that would show a partially-identified Kubelwagen as a "jeep". * Corrected the "gun rack" graphic for the Orita SMG. * Corrected some tank data window display issues relating to which and how many armor penetration data sets (by ammo type) are shown. * Passengers on a bogged-down tank don't hover in midair. * ATR units on skis don't show their ATR set on the ground. * In a TCP/IP game, a squad that begins the scenario split into teams, but during the setup phase is recombined into a single squad, won't "re-split" into an "extra" team upon completion of the setup phase. * Graphically, passengers fit better into halftracks and are placed more accurately on the SU-122. * Armor penetration of the Russian 122mm HE round adjusted down slightly. * Corrected a rare problem where the end turn number was displayed as garbled text. * Corrected a problem that could cause grain, brush, and rough terrain not to affect line of sight properly. * Infantry intending to disembark won't delay doing so when their vehicle is bogged. * Fixed a crash bug that surfaced in the "A Battle of Minors" scenario. * Fixed a bug that sometimes caused units to be (incorrectly) shifted between battles in a "static" operation. * Corrected rarity for the 57mm ZiS-2 AT guns in the Soviet Motorized Rifle Battalion (Tank) '44. * Split-squads won't give victory points to the opponent at the end of the game by counting their men as 'dead'. * Optics quality is not listed in an enemy unit's data window unless the unit is (mostly) identified. * A main gun icon won't be shown in the 'gun rack' display for an enemy unit unless it's (mostly) identified so as not to give away too much information about, for example, a howitzer-armed halftrack. * In a two-player Quick Battle, the results of map-generation parameters set to 'random' are not shown to the second player before he purchases units. * Corrected problems with MG rotation/elevation graphics on M17 halftrack. * Sometimes, enemy troops 'imported' from a previous battle map into a Quick Battle would not be spotted immediately at the end of the setup phase when they should have been. This is corrected. * Crews won't abandon MG-pillboxes/bunkers that run out of ammo. * Infantry movement speed reduced in woods. * German 75mm recoilless rifle shows gray camo in early war and yellow in late war (instead of vice-versa). * Backspace/delete key works to delete a waypoint *during* the giving of movement orders as well. * SPW 250/1 and 251/1 don't automatically button up to use their MG. * Corrected a swapped-bitmap graphic problem in the 45mm Model 42 gun model. * R-1 Tankette data window lists both MGs correctly. * German 75mm and 105mm hollow-charge rounds don't skip December 1942 for availability. * Quick Battle-imported troops are not subject to further random experience variations. * Corrected some problems where the mouse pointer would give away too much information about unspotted trenches, roadblocks, and barbed wire. * Quick battles played in other than the southern region do not always have "damp" ground in clear weather. * Corrected a graphical glitch where occasionally a sound contact would show an infantryman carrying a "blank" weapon. * Corrected a problem where a tank, abandoned between battles in an operation, sometimes continued to move under its original momentum in the first game turn. * (German version) Minor text corrections for grammar and screen placement. Game Manual Errata v1.01 Page 9 - CHANGE Getting Started - "Computers Running Windows" 1. Insert the CD-ROM into your computer's CD-ROM drive. 2. The CD does not Autoplay. Browse to your CD-ROM drive from the 'My Computer' icon on your desktop. You will see a single file called "CMBB Installer.exe". 3. Double-click "CMBB Installer.exe" to begin the games installation. Default install location is C:\Program Files\CMBB Page 9 - CHANGE Starting Up the Game - "Computers Running Windows" 1. Make sure your Combat Mission CD-ROM is in your drive. 2. Click on the Start Button 3. Select "Programs" 4. Select the "Combat Mission Barbarossa to Berlin" Program Group. 5. Select the "Combat Mission Barbarossa to Berlin" entry to launch the game. Page 63 - CLARIFICATION Antipersonnel Mines The manual says that units will refuse to enter a minefeild once it is known, however, in the next paragraph it says that Mines that are known are less likely to go off because the troops are paying more attention. That seems unclear. What is meant is that a unit current moving THROUGH a minefield is less likely to set off subsequent mines as they try to get out of the mined area. Page 53 - ADDITION The Environment - Terrain A description of craters and cemeteries terrain is missing from the manual. CRATERS Craters are similar to foxholes in their game effect (in fact they share the same textures) and the concealment and cover they provide to troops, but unlike foxholes they come in various shapes and forms. First of all, craters can be placed by the scenario designer on the map, or randomly for a computer generated map by setting the "damage" value in the preferences to "light, medium, heavy or excessive". Craters can also appear on the map as a result of combat, specifically upon impact of high explosive and other gun rounds and other heavy ordnance, like artillery. However, not all craters which are seen on the map are useful for cover purposes (ie. deep and large enough). Some craters are considered "shallow" (you will notice that they are a tad lighter than "deep" craters", and do not provide any additional cover. If in doubt, you can find out which type of crater you are faxing by using the LOS tool. If the word "crater" appears above the mouse cursor, the crater is "deep" enough to provide cover. Craters also slow down movement for both vehicles and infantry, and they also vary in size, with large caliber shells sometimes creating impact creaters large enough to fit an entire infantry platoon inside. CEMETERIES Cemeteries provide acceptable cover and fair concealment for infantry units against small arms fire, similar to rocky and rough terrain. Page 242 - CHANGE/CLARIFICATION Troubleshooting - Manual Game Installation Procedure (Windows) The manual game installation procedure specified on page 242 is not valid, and the entire paragraph should be deleted. In order to fit the whole game data on one CD, we had to compress the game data heavily, so that a manual installation procedure is not possible by copying individual files. Unfortunately the manual was already in print when this decision was made, so please disregard this section of the manual. The "CMBB Installer.exe" file that you see on the CD is a self extracting WinRAR Archive file. In order to extract individual files from it you will need to open the file with the program 'WinRAR' which can be obtained from http://www.rarlab.com/ In order to open the CMBB Installer.exe file, first install WinRAR then right click on the CMBB Installer.exe file and select the "Open with WINRAR" option. Page 252 Support email - CHANGE Please note that all support requests should be sent to support@battlefront.com. The old feedback@bigtimesoftware.com email address will not longer be functional. Page 3 Game Credits Additional Foley Work - Patrick Zimmerling (sorry for the typo, Patrick!) Voice Talent - Marco Germani (Italian Voice Talent) Historical Research - Michael Rausch (providing original Wehrmacht documents, especially on optics) Additional help - Chris Jenkins (providing a huge database for names for many nations in the game) Sorry to all of the above for leaving you guys out! [ October 17, 2002, 01:35 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

We're checking the bunker/arc report right now. Madmatt

Please send me a save game with the neccesary unit already selected so I can test this. Also please re-state exactly what you did to get the lockup to occur. Thanks! Madmatt

Hi Mark, I did some checking and found someone else reporting the exact same problem. Here is what you will need to do. Nvidia no longer carries the last version drivers for the old TNT card (29.20) but this website does: www.guru3d.com Goto >Videocard Drivers > NVidia detonator drivers > on the third page is the Win9x 29.20 drivers). Download those drivers. Now you will need to uninstall your current video drivers, install the 'Standard PCI SVGA' driver after rebooting and then install the 29.20 drivers that you downloaded up above. Not sure if you know how to do that or not, it sounds more complex than it really is to do. If you need more help on how to perform those steps just ask. Madmatt

I am still here...I am ALWAYS here. Maybe even more so now than before. So what have I been up to? Well I have been testing the forthcoming v1.01 patch which will make EVERYONE very happy with what its got new in it. I have been busting my butt to take care of a little issue that occured with some naughty CD's. Also been trying to keep on top of all the normal customer support stuff in email and here on the forum as best I can. AND NO, ITS NOT A FEMALE ELF IN NEVERWINTER NIGHTS... He is a Male Dwarf Fighter named Snarf FartTurd if you must know.... Madmatt

Thats fixed in the upcoming v1.01 patch. I like the signs though. Madmatt

Moving to General Forum. Madmatt

I asked Charles if there was anything he could do in the code to help this issue but he said that, sadly, there was not. As mentioned above it affects more games than just CM. Madmatt

While I seriously doubt his claims above, discussions with regard to "hacking" are not permitted here and as such this is being locked up. Madmatt p.s. Wild Bill (and you are giivng that proud name a bad reputation I might add) by and large we encourage the work of mod authors and artist but not when they try to crack the game code. Stand warned. If you continue to discuss issues like this, you will be removed from the forum.

While I seriously doubt his claims above, discussions with regard to "hacking" are not permitted here and as such this is being locked up. Madmatt

We ran some tests internally and found that by and large HE was more effective on the bunkers than AP. While AP may have scored more penetrations it was HE that usually took out the bunker. Some of this is probably due to the more advanced penetration system we have employed in CMBB. Madmatt

Umm..I have never heard or seen something like this. What kind of computer do you have and can you send me one of the PBEM files? Madmatt

This is an example of people complaining when we give them some freedom. We do not restrict the weather when the player selects certain settings. So you CAN have HOT weather and snow but only if you selected those settings. Weather is so incredibly varied that we though it best to leave the player/sceanrio designer to combine pretty much anything they wanted so they could model as much as they could come up with, weather wise. We have worked hard to make sure that the random settings will always result in possible weather combinations. If you see oddities with RANDOM settings then let us know but if you set them yourself than be advised that you can create some rather strange weather combos. You CAN have snow on the ground without it snowing in the game but you have to use the editor for that. Its (ground condition) not an option for QB's though. I'll look into the DAMP issue reported above. Madmatt [ October 14, 2002, 03:22 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

The problem with your test is that you have set it to a very unrealistically short range and are also apprantly using German vehicles that have cupolas which vastly enhance a units 360 degree spotting ability. You also used a lot of targets which increases how many pairs of eyes are able to spot a enemy bunker. I also conducted some tests at a more reasonable range of 500 meters against 3 tank platoon of buttoned T-34's (also with their rears to the enemy to model your example) and the AT Bunker was able to pump multiple rounds into the targets and also slip in out of detection. Being detected only briefly as it fired and then the targets would loose contact. It took two turns before the TacAi's T-34's were able to accurately locate the bunker and engage. That seems reasonable to us. Madmatt

The Finns will get Panzerfausts in the v1.01 patch. It was a bug. They actually DO get "assigned" them currently after June 44 but a recently discovered bug kept them from ever showing up. Finns already have 'Schreck teams listed in the editor. Madmatt [ October 14, 2002, 12:40 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]