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kmead

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Posts posted by kmead

    Sorry Matt, but the links still state the specified server cannot be found for Macs

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    I restarted my Mac and reset my cable modem and router. Internet Explorer 5.1.4 (which is nearly as new as I can run under OS9.2.2) and the links you show here and the links on the page for the Mac demo download all return

    "The specified server cannot be found"

    If I am the only one experiencing this would others kindly speak up as I don't wish to waste Matt's time chasing an issue for one person.

    Thanks Matt. Have a great night and the bones look excellent. A wonderful job by the whole team. Big thumbs up!

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    Sorry Matt, but the links still state the specified server cannot be found for Macs

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    Thanks, but all I get is specified server could not be found. Thanks all the same.

    This is true of all three Mac download server links. Thanks

    This is with Explorer 5.1.4. I opened with Netscape 4.7 and it started downloading. currently it is moving at 831bytes per second (thats bytes, not kilobytes :rolleyes: )

    [ August 31, 2002, 08:44 PM: Message edited by: kmead ]

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    Availability of CMBB Demo from other sources

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    BFC (or others who know):

    What will the availability of CMBB Demo be, from other sources/mirrors, demo disks from magazines and so on. I know the night of the refresh monkeys is coming fast and I suspect with broadband I will be among them. I was just curious as I would be just as happy to dip from another well.

    I know that you placed it on the Macaddict disk for CMBO (I don't know if that assisted your sales, but it was helpful for me at the time with limited internet access). Will there be other placements or is the tithe too steep for what is effectively advertising space?

    Sorry if I missed a previous announcement that detailed all this, I have been on holiday for the last 3 weeks.

    Thanks in advance;

    [ August 25, 2002, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: kmead ]

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    Forced MacOS X boot = no CMBB?!?

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    Michael is pointing out that CMBB is CM2 and that the rewrite of the game engine and the basis of all future CM releases is refered to as CMII. As in roman numeral 2. In the days of yore the development schedule was always represented as:

    CMBO

    CM the Eastern Front

    CMII engine rewrite

    CM the Mediteranean

    CM the Early war 1939 to 1941 Western Front

    CMBO2 a revisit of the original using the new engine.

    Among the things ruled out was the posibility of CM Pacific due to Charles and Steve not seeing the engine as being centered enough around infantry action. This has been of course debated, but I believe they are correct in primary measure due to the level of abstraction of the infantry part of this game at this level and also the terrain scale (the size of each tile and its acuity). They also were not prepared to deal with the vagaries and complexities of vehicles and water (which is among the many reasons vehicles cannot use fords). Who knows what they may wish to do for the new engine knowing what they know now. Other things nixed were modern warfare (particularly Europe) due to the scale of the maps.

    Who knows, in the new engine the tile size can be reduced to give more precision/detail and more completely depict small infantry unit actions. Or they could create a hybrid that changes the scale of the maps/units and show complete squads and platoons to create what GI combat now does. I suspect they will leave that to Eric's capable hands as the scale CM utilizes (battalion/regiment level of engagement) is a nice difference from individual soldiers and unit counter scale (Allied General) where platoons of tanks are abstracted and so on.

    I hope that clarifies what Michael was getting across.

    Of late BFC has been stating that all the older projections for future interations are likely to change. This makes sense as they have learned alot in the process of getting to now, and it will effect where they want to be in the future. So the initial list shown above is likely to change.

    Now as for the CMII engine rewrite, as several people on the board have been reiterating of late, that won't even start until after CMBB is released, cleaned up and final patched. Plus a very deserved hiatus to rest and recharge before starting a very daunting task. One can imagine Charles might wish to take on another programmer as well. In any case we will have to enjoy CMBB and CMBO in the current iterations for the next two to three years.

    BFC will continue to develop/produce other products with other developers (most of which I suspect will be MSW only) to keep money rolling in and wargamers satisfied. The CM products are clearly only one arm of a larger company that needs the balance of multiple products to survive.

    All statements in this post are my own opinions and are based on my own recollections which may be faulty and in no way represent the future actions of others. :D

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    Forced MacOS X boot = no CMBB?!?

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    Ignatious J. Fathead (and others):

    First off nice name. I have never understand why people can't use their own name instead of something that obscures one's identity. :confused:

    CMBO and CMBB were coded on a Mac so creating a Mac version is a no brainer (so to speak). It is coded under OS 9x and then translated to MSW calls and routines. So a Mac OS 9 version will continue to be available as long as there are machines to run it.

    Since you are new here, as are several of the others who have been inhabiting this thread you would have no reason to be aware of past statements by Steve about future OSX compatibility (presuming you have not made use of the search function that may require you to search archived info from last year or the year before.) The next game engine for the CM series will be written to function under X and presumeably will use OpenGL for both the MacOS and MSW versions to make them more similar, and will abandon the Rave routines that were used by the first generation of the game engine (shared by CMBB and CMBO). Those old routines are the basis of the issue, Apple has made an older verion of it available for OSX and unfortunately CM uses a slightly newer version that has some calls and routines that are not available in the old Rave version Apple is supplying in X, causing CM to crash.

    Now given that BTS has been using only ONE progammer (the much vaunted Charles) for the bulk of all the work of creating the base CM engine and the added routines for CMBB, any time that person spends on making it compatible with an old version of Rave is time lost finishing a nearly finished product and time away from starting what will likely be a much better product (the CM 2 engine that all future CM releases will be based on). Why not hire another programmer you ask, well I suspect the answer lies in several directions with economics being one of them. We have estimated from several comments dropped over the last few years that the Mac version sells roughly 20-25% of non European CM sales. Not huge, but presumeably respectable. Maybe not enough to overcome the opportunity cost of developing a new version of the base engine be it a new programmer or the existing one. Even if one was hired, the time spent on managing a new person (once a suitable one is found) and instructing them in the finer points of why things were done the way they were,it will take valuable time away from the main point of getting CM2 done. There may be a pride element as well, Charles and Steve did a remarkable job with the original product and may not want someone else dabbling in it. I know it galls me when another designer is added to one of my products and they sit there and second guess me and I have to spend hours/days going over old territory.

    I believe that the CM2 engine will be OSX compatible until Steve, Charles, Matt, Kwazy or Moon disabuse me of that notion. I hope that some way of making CMBB work under OSX is possible but in the meantime I will boot into OS9.2.2 for my fix. Will we lose the less able and interested Mac users, probably, but when the next engine comes out I believe they will return.

    What I find most significant about this whole tedious thread has been the lack of interaction and intervention by any of the principals of Battlefront. This suggests one of two things, the first is that you are all right the gloom and doom of no CMBB/CMBO for future Mac owners is correct, or that a solution is at hand. I hope for the latter. I also hope this thread will end soon as so much of the content here is non productive, pedantic and verges on whining.

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