Wolfe

Assuming that the borg spotting issue doesn't need to be mentioned: Change: 1.) Better menu interface allowing reassignment of keys and changing the resolution and various 3D render details within the game (or at the very least an editable .ini text file). 2.) Implement SOPs (and/or basic orders sets) so infantry support tanks aren't found dueling with tank destroyers, and support elements generally support units within their command structure and aren't blazing at every enemy unit on the map (unless ordered to). 3.) More accurate artillery representation. 4.) More editable maps with placeable, rotate-able objects (houses and fences, etc.), greater variety of terrain types (including mixing of terrain elements, such as rocky forest, and flooded grassy areas, etc.), and pre- and partially destroyed objects (partially collapsed farm houses, burned-out tanks, etc.). 5.) Easier battlefield management (including Follow command, toggle-able overlay grid, mouse-look and freedom of camera movement (including smooth up-and-down like Madminute's Bull Run), and group move command (more than one destination, please)). Keep: 1.) WEGO. 2.) PBEM. 3.) Game scale. Bigger (larger than battalion) or smaller (single soldier) really wouldn't interest me, at least not for a WWII setting. Going up loses the flavor of battle; going down creates too much micromanagement. 4.) Unit attributes uneditable. Flexibility is nice, but it has its limits; I don't want to play 20 different versions of what someone else determines is the "correct" value for unit firepower, AP penetration, or unit organization. The ability to turn a Tiger into an Abrams is not a good thing. 5.) Current camera controls. Just because I'd like to see them enhanced and more flexible doesn't mean I want the existing ones junked. - Chris

Mini-suggestion: Any Battlefront employee or employee of a developer publishing through Battlefront who posts any future in-game 3D screenshots that do not contain full anisotopic filtering and at least 4x anti-aliasing should be SUMMARILY DISEMBOWELED!!!!1!!111oneone. Just a suggestion. Thank you. JPEG artifacting is also a bit prevalent in many shots. Lookin' mighty nice otherwise. - Chris

Ouch. That's wrong on many different levels. The NVidia drivers aren't even applying Aniso, are they? Might it be disabled for 16-bit games? BTW, you didn't take a pick with just aniso (no AA). Some pics from my Radeon 8500LE (they're jpgs, but close enough to get the idea). No Aniso, no AA 16x Aniso, no AA 16x Aniso, 2xAA 16x Aniso, 4xAA no Aniso, 4xAA 2xAA is playable at 1024x768, but is pushing it at any higher res (I play at 1280x960). 4xAA is unusable even at 1024. - Chris

They start at 674, I believe. - Chris

It very well might be, but I gave up reading the articles at Tom's a long while ago. His "analysis" and that of his other contributors leaves a lot to be desired. After slogging through the umpteenth article where the written text had absolutely no relation to the performance numbers presented, I now just look at the pretty pictures and then move on. It saves lots of time and head-scratching BTW, a frequent and knowledgeable poster over at NVNews indicates that the NV40 series has a lot of FSAA modes that are apparently untapped in the Control Panel (I assume you use something like Rivatuner to get at them). NV40 AA Sample Patterns - Chris

I may or may not be applying the correct terminology to one manufacturer, but both do optimizations that reduce the quality of their texture filtering. The ATI adaptive filtering has been there for quite some time, and wasn't noticed by anyone for nearly a year after it was first implemented. I've been running my Radeon for a while and it looks very good (despite Tom's overblown assessment); the adaptive Aniso is not a problem for me (though I can't do Trilinear while Aniso is enabled - a different limitation of the R200 series, unrelated to the adaptive Aniso). Unfortunately if you do find games that show the optimizations, there's no way to turn them off. I'm not exactly sure what the NVidia cards are doing, but they've had "Brilinear" filtering for quite a while. In older drivers, this feature could be turned off, but I think in newer ones, you have to use a tool like Rivatuner to eliminate the optimizations (I don't know how, though). Edit: Can you play with LOD Bias? Maybe that would help: B3D Thread And recently, ATI apparently optimized their filters yet again (as I think you and others found out in CM), much to the detriment of image quality in older games; I still use older drivers. - Chris [ February 20, 2005, 01:37 PM: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

Definitely not a 3D guru, but Bilinear and Trilinear exist mostly to affect edges between mip-mapped textures to eliminate the hard edges, whereas Aniso affects the texture itself. But applying either Bi- or Tri- also affects the number of samples taken when doing Aniso (I think), so it also affects the level of Aniso applied. The NVidia cards caught a lot of flack for doing what is termed "Brilinear" where the first mip-map receives trilinear, but all the rest receive only bilinear filtering. There's supposed to be a way to use full trilinear always (and lose a bit of speed), but I'm not sure how to set it as I'm still puttering along with my old Radeon 8500LE. Maybe asking over at NVNews.net would help? - Chris

Have you tried using Rivatuner to see if one of the settings in there can turn off the optimizations? And the 6600GT can only do supersampling in 8xS mode (I think), so enabling Aniso and multi-sample AA won't help with shimmering in the trees. Aniso only helps when the surface is at an angle to the camera and multi-sample AA can't help with texture shimmer. - Chris

Wow. Very odd. In CMAK 1.03 when I select 'All Combined' and 'May43' and then go to the Units page, it comes up as the Brit 35mph Truck. I then select that truck, go back out to the Params, choose Jul43, and go back in and the choice is now the US 45mph Truck (note: don't select this Truck; just let the mouse hover). Sounds okay so far. Except when I go back again and re-choose the May43 Params and back into the Unit Editor, it still says the US 45mph Truck is available in May 43 when previously it was the Brit 35mph Truck! Something strange is going on with the game. BTW, actually selecting the US truck when in the Jul43 date negates this oddity. Very bizarre. I wonder if the dates within the game overlap and so it doesn't know which to choose during certain time periods. Edit: Even more bizarre. If I choose the month first, then All Combined, I get the US Truck in May43. The otherway around yields the Brit Truck. :eek: I didn't go by region; I only used All Combined. I don't know if anybody did them. - Chris [ January 16, 2005, 05:53 PM: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

Hadn't noticed them. Thanks. TANKS CHART Australian: M11/39 Carro Armato (Jan41) - added M13/40 Carro Armato (Jan41) - added Valentine III (Jul42) - added L3/33 (May41) - added Jeep - intro date changed (Jul42) Jeep MG - intro date changed (Jul42) MG34 HMG (Jul42) - added 37mm Bofors AT - intro date changed (Dec40) 6pdr AT - intro date changed (Jul42) 3in Mort FO (radio) - intro date changed (Jul42) 25pdr Arty FO (radio) - intro date changed (Jul42) 75mm Arty FO (Jan41) - added 100mm Arty FO (Jan41) - added 149mm M13 Arty FO (Jan41) - added Pillbox 6 pdr AT (Jul42) - added P-39D Airacobra - intro date changed (Apr41) P-40C Kittyhawk - intro date changed (Apr41) Spitfire VC - intro date changed (Jul42) Bottom note - date corrected GUNS CHART Allied: 37t/L40 - added INFANTRY CHART Australian: Infantry: Pioneer - intro date changed (Jul42-Nov42) Support: MG34 HMG (Jul42-Sep42) - added SUPPORT CHART Allied: MG34 HMG - added - Chris

Certainly! I try to keep up, but it ain't easy. Some more fixes. Apparently the 1.02 patch gave the Aussies a bit more than they're entitled to, but it looks like the new stuff will stay, so: TANKS CHART Australian: Bren AAMG - intro date changed (Dec40) Breda M30 LMG - added Breda M37 MMG - added 20mm Breda AA - added 47mm AT gun - added 75mm M37 Field Gun - added GUNS CHART Allied: 75/L34 M37 Field gun - added INFANTRY CHART Australian: Edit: Bren AAMG - intro date changed (Dec40-Nov42) Breda M30 LMG - added Breda M37 MMG - added SUPPORT CHART Allied: Breda M30 LMG - added 75/L34 M37 Field gun - added Edit: I didn't include the rogue Australian MG34 HMG that shows up in Oct42 in the Aus Pioneer '42 Battalion in my charts because the unit isn't available in the support section; it only comes in the TO&E of that Battalion, AFAICT. - Chris [ November 25, 2004, 08:27 AM: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

It's the same in 1.01. Originally (CMAK 1.0) the Germans weren't available until June or July '41. So if this is a mistake, it isn't a new one. - Chris

A new patch means more updates! True, the 1.02 patch has been taken down to fix a PBEM bug, but supposedly nothing else will change with the unit data in the upcoming 1.03 patch, so here's what's changed in the new version of the game: GUNS CHART Axis guns 75/L18 Semovente gun - Hollow charge penetration changed 75/L34 M37 Field Gun - Hollow charge penetration added (for Semovente only) TANKS CHART German units Panzer IIIF (Mar41) - added Panzer IIIJ short (Sep41) - added Panzer IIIJ short late (Apr42) - added Panzer IIIJ (Dec41) - added JagdPanzer IV - upper hull side armor changed Panzer IV/70(A) - main ammo amount, turret side armor, and silhouette changed Elefant - intro date changed (Mar44) Semovente M42 75/18 (Oct43) - added Semovente M42 75/32 (Oct43) - added Semovente M43 105/25 (Oct43) - added 76mm M1939® AT - intro date changed (Apr42) Italian units Semovente M42 75/18 (Aug43) - added 75mm PaK40 AT - intro date changed (Jan43) British units Valentine I - main ammo amount changed (79) Valentine II - main ammo amount changed (79) Valentine III - main ammo amount changed (79) Valentine IV - main ammo amount changed (79) Valentine V - main ammo amount changed (79) Valentine VIII - main ammo amount changed (53) Valentine IX - main ammo amount changed (53) Valentine X - main ammo amount changed (53) Churchill IV (NA75) - intro date changed (Jul43) Churchill V - intro date changed (Oct44) Churchill VI - intro date changed (Oct44) Churchill VII - intro date changed (Oct44) Churchill VIII - intro date changed (Oct44) Churchill IX - intro date changed (Dec44) Churchill IX LT - intro date changed (Dec44) Churchill X - intro date changed (Dec44) Churchill X LT - intro date changed (Dec44) Churchill XI - intro date changed (Dec44) Churchill XI LT - intro date changed (Dec44) Wasp Flame - intro date changed (Nov44) Humber III Light Recon - name changed (Humber III Light Recon Car) Bren AAMG (Jul40) - added Australian units MMG Carrier (Jan41) - added Bren AAMG (Dec40) - added Canadian units Churchill I - deleted Churchill VII - deleted M7 Priest (Jan43) - added Sexton (Sep44) - added Humber III Light Recon Car (Jan43) - added MMG Carrier (Jan43) - added Bren AAMG (Jan43) - added French units Valentine IX - main ammo amount changed (53) New Zealander units Light Tank Mk VIB (Jan41) - added Valentine I - deleted Valentine III - deleted Stuart I (Nov41) - added Stuart II (Nov41) - added MMG Carrier (Jan41) - added 2pdr Portee (Jan41) - added Bren AAMG (Jan41) - added 3in Mortar (Jan41) - added Polish units MMG Carrier (Aug41) - added Bren AAMG (Aug41) - added South African units Valentine III - main ammo amount changed (79) Stuart V (Apr44) - added Sherman III mid - intro date changed (Apr44) Sherman III late - intro date changed (Apr44) Sherman V early - intro date changed (Apr44) Sherman V - intro date changed (Apr44) MMG Carrier (Jan41) - added Bren AAMG (Jul40) - added 4.2in Mort FO (radio) - intro date changed (Apr44) 7.2in Arty FO (radio) - intro date changed (Apr44) P-40N Kittyhawk Fighter-Bomber - intro date changed (Apr44) Spitfire VC Fighter-Bomber - intro date changed (Jun42) Spitfire VII Fighter - intro date changed (Apr44) note at bottom on availability dates for South African units changed INFANTRY CHART German units Airborne Tank Hunter - deleted note on Panzerwurfmines changed American units Infantry: Ranger - intro date changed (Feb43-Feb44) British units Infantry: Rifle 42 w/ Thom (Nov42-May43) - added Infantry: Rifle 42 w/ Sten - intro date changed (Jul43-Nov44) Infantry: Recon Assault w/ Thom - intro date changed (Jul40-May43) Infantry: Recon Assault w/ Sten - deleted Mechanized: Rifle 42 w/ Thom (May42-May43) - added Mechanized: Rifle 42 w/ Sten - intro date changed (Jul43-Nov44) Airborne: Rifle 42 w/ Thom (Nov42-May43) - added Airborne: Rifle 42 w/ Sten - intro date changed (Jul43-Oct43) Airborne: Airborne Recon w/ Thom (Nov42-May43) - added Airborne: Airborne Recon w/ Sten - intro date changed (Jul43-Oct43) Airborne: Engineer 40 - intro date changed (Nov42-May43) Airborne: Light Pioneer - intro date changed (Nov42-Oct43) Airborne: Assault Pioneer w/ Thom (Nov42-May43) - added Airborne: Assault Pioneer w/ Sten - intro date changed (Jul43-Oct43) Support: Bren AAMG (Jul40-May45) - added Australian units Infantry: Rifle 42 w/ Thom (Nov42-Nov42) - added Infantry: Rifle 42 w/ Sten - deleted Infantry: Pioneer (Nov42-Nov42) - added Support: Bren AAMG (Jul40-May45) - added Canadian units Infantry: Recon Assault w/ Thom (Jan43-May43) - added Infantry: Recon Assault w/ Sten - deleted Support: Bren AAMG (Jan43-Feb45) - added New Zealander units Infantry: Rifle 42 w/ Thom (Nov42-May45) - added Infantry: Rifle 42 w/ Sten - deleted Infantry: Rifle 44 w/ Thom (Nov44-May45) - added Infantry: Rifle 44 w/ Sten - deleted Infantry: Rifle 45 w/ Thom (Jan45-May45) - added Infantry: Rifle 45 w/ Sten - deleted Infantry: Engineer w/ Thom (Nov43-May45) - added Infantry: Engineer w/ Sten - deleted Infantry: Recon Assault w/ Thom - intro date changed (Jan41-May43) Infantry: Recon Assault w/ Sten - deleted Infantry: Recon Assault 44 w/ Thom (Nov43-May45) - added Infantry: Recon Assault 44 w/ Sten - deleted Support: Bren AAMG (Jan41-May45) - added Polish units Infantry: Recon Assault w/ Thom - intro date changed (Jan41-Mar42) Infantry: Recon Assault w/ Sten - deleted Support: Bren AAMG (Jan41-May45) - added South African Units Infantry: Rifle 42 w/ Sten - deleted Infantry: Rifle 44 w/ Sten - deleted Infantry: Rifle 45 w/ Sten - deleted Infantry: Engineer 40 - intro date changed (Jul40-Jun42) Infantry: Engineer w/ Sten - deleted Infantry: Recon Assault w/ Thom - intro date changed (Jul40-Jun42) Infantry: Recon Assault w/ Sten - deleted Infantry: Recon Assault 44 w/ Sten - deleted Infantry: Light Pioneer w/ Sten - deleted Mechanized: Rifle 42 w/ Sten - intro date changed (Apr44-Apr44) Mechanized: Light Pioneer - intro date changed (Apr44-Jan45) Support: Bren AAMG (Jul40-May45) - added SUPPORT WEAPONS CHART Allied Bren AAMG added Get it at the usual place: Chris' CM Database. - Chris [ November 18, 2004, 04:12 PM: Message edited by: Wolfe ]

You're not wrong. I think it was available until the 1.06 patch. Questions about the Editor If you want to go back to a previous version of the game, you could try that, but I don't think the neutral tiles ever worked the way they were supposed to. - Chris

Corrected ending date for German ski troops (was May45, now Feb45) on Infantry Chart. - Chris

On Tanks Chart: * Corrected Front Upper Hull armor on US and French M5A1 Stuart (29/45 to 29/48). * Corrected Front Upper Hull armor on UK and Canadian Stuart VI (29/38 to 29/48). * Corrected Rear Lower Hull armor on UK Churchill I, IV, IV NA75, V, and VI and Canadian Churchill I (44/0 to 64/0). Infantry Support Chart: * Added rough (approximate) stats for Infantry AT weapons. - Chris

Infantry Chart: * Corrected number of men for French Breda M37 MMG and Hotchkiss MMG. Added quick comparison chart for infantry support weapons (MGs, mortars, infantry guns), including turn rates and setup times. - Chris

Guns Chart: * Added blast value (55) for 17pdr AT (76/L55). Infantry Chart: * Fixed number of men (5 to 2) in Italian Breda M30 LMG. - Chris

Found and fixed a couple more errors. On Tanks Chart: Added max ammo for French 60mm and 81mm mortars. On Guns Chart: Added penetration stats for Allied 18 pdr gun (84/L29). Hopefully that's the end of the corrections until the patch. - Chris

Certainly! I linked to Andreas' excellent site on the previous page. He's done a great job converting my tables into an online version. It's even got some things my tables don't such as a comments section on the history of the weapons and how they are best used in the game as well as a handy script for directly comparing different units. - Chris

A sizable update fixing some things I hadn't noticed. Fixed intro date for a number of German units. * Mar41 availability: Panzer IIC Panzer IIF Panzer IIIG Panzer IIIH Panzer IVC Panzer IVD Panzer IVE PzJaeger I SdKfz 7 Gun Tractor SdKfz 6/2 Flak SdKfz 10/4 Flak early 221 Armored Car 222 Armored Car 223 Radio Car 231 8-Rad Armored Car 251/1 HT 251/2 HT Mortar 251/10 HT AT Kubelwagen Truck 75mm 1918 Inf leIG18 150mm Inf sIG33 20mm Flak38 20mm Quak Flak38 37mm Flak36/37 88mm Flak18/36/37 75mm leFK18 Howitzer 105mm leFH18 Howitzer 75mm Arty FO [2] 75mm Arty FO [4] 75mm Arty FO [6] 105mm Arty FO [4] 150mm Arty FO [4] 150mm How FO [2] 170mm Arty FO [4] 210mm Arty FO [4] 240mm Arty FO [2] * May41 availability: Panzer IVF 28/20mm Hvy AT Rifle 50mm PaK38 AT Other corrections: * Australian and Polish 6pdr Pillboxes deleted. * British 6pdr Pillbox Intro date changed to May42. * New Zealander 6pdr Pillbox Intro date changed to Jun42. * South African 6pdr Pillbox Intro date changed to May42. * All Polish Fortifications changed to Aug41. * Added [rear] notation to German 6/2, 7/1, 7/2, and 10/4 Flak vehicles to indicate they're rear-facing. * Added [rear] notation to US M4 Mortar Carrier. * Fixed minimum and max ranges for US 60mm Mortar. * Added two US 60mm Mortars (Airborne) that have different ammo loadouts. And I finally got around to doing the ROF for the units. - Chris

In Tanks Chart, corrected number of men in turret for Brit Valentine III and Valentine V as well as New Zealander Valentine III and South African Valentine III. - Chris

Is it even out yet? If any changes are made that affect the charts, I do plan on updating them. And I'll edit the thread title to reflect what version of CMAK they cover. You're certainly welcome. - Chris

On Guns Chart: * Added Valentine X gun to the guns charts; I didn't realize it was different from the Valentine XIII and Valentine IX. * Clarified 6pdr gun entry to include Valentine XIII and Valentine IX. * Clarified US 57mm gun entry to read US 57mm AT gun. * Corrected availability date for tungsten on US 57mm AT gun. Tanks Chart: * Corrected caliber-length on Valentine X tank. - Chris

Miniscule update: I corrected the number of MGs on the German StuG IIIG late-mid, StuG IIIG late, and StuH42 late (1 to 2). Damn cut-n-paste. BTW, be sure to check out folke's online version of the CMAK database. - Chris