kgsan

Well, the press release says that there are over 300 different tanks and vehicles in the game. I don't know how many other tanks and vehicles BFC already had in and which they did not put on their modeling wish list, but I think the list itself probably had less than 250 odd vehicles. If so, one can hope that with the time BFC has taken with CMBB, most of them made it in.

Wreck, I thought that Sgt Kelly's query was referring to the following provision of your rules: "Next we determine the friendly force size of the battle. This is the size of your force, in points. To do this, we add up (in points) all the stuff we have assigned to the Americans so far . . .[if you have an attached armor section add 200 points.] Add to that the number of artillery points you got, which should be from 0 to 600. Add to that the number of defensive AT points you got, if any, from 0 to 200." Is the refernce to adding 200 points for an armor section referring to armored auxillary or does it refer to the AT forces? I assumed the latter because otherwise you seem to get an incongruous result. In my first game I had an attack with, of course, a green core force. In caluclating my current force value I thus had 500 in core forces plus I had 500 in arty. I rolled a 900 Target Point Size. Now it seems like this should leave me with 100 points for my armor aux force (900-800) giving me 1 sherman. But, if you add 200 points for an armor aux force in the calculations above, the perverse result seems to be that you don't get any aux force at all. I thought that this affect was what Sgt. Kelly was referring to and it did not make much sense to me either. In any event I want to add my voice to the chorous of appreciation for your effort on these solo campaign rules. I'm certainly enjoying playing with them. Regards, kgsan

AAAAAAAAARRRGGh!!!! I was back home in good old SC just two weeks ago to visit the family, and now, only after I've returned to the distant Big Easy, a sneak preview is scheduled - - - - - oh the humanity:eek: Well I fill a little bit better now (though not much). I don't suppose there is a beta tester living on the Gulf Coast willing to help us CMBB fans in the deep South. Still my hats off to "jwxspoon" for making it available for those within range.

In the spirit of Mr. Dorosh's effort to change the tone arouund here:

27th September is the best guess around at the moment [/QB]

Well, in addition to all the insightful analysis which has gone on above (particularly Mr. Speaker's decryption of Mr. Maddmatt's post;), my betting is for a late June or July release date based on the purported placement of the CMBB ad in a July magazine. If this is correct (and I have know idea whether it is or isn't) it seems to be pretty strong proof. I recall someone at BTS saying a while back that they would not be taking pre-orders until release was imminent, if at all. It doesn't make much sense to spend ad money to entice buyers to your website if you aren't going to let them plunck down the change to by the game. (In addition, luring gamers to the site and then just turning them away seems counter-productive from a PR view) Ergo, a July ad implies a July release date, if not earlier. Well, so much for my wishful thinking analysis, I'd better take a rest now, my head hurts after so much cogitating.

Actually, I don't think BTS charged anyone's credit card until the game shipped. I think I saw on the board once that their problems ran the otherway, that because they did not charge the credit card until the game shipped problems arose because in the interim some customers' cards expired or was renewed with different numbers which created some logistical problems. But the preorders may have given them a good fix on their initial orders. However, I'm eagerly awaiting the allclear sign to get my order in. Anyword if we are still looking at a second quarter release (ie. by the end of June)?

FYI - A recent book on the subjct is "Strange Victory: Hitler's Conquest of France" by Ernest R. May. I got a copy for Christmas but haven't had a chance to give it a read yet.

I recall that a while back there was some discussion about whether CMBB would use the same 20mx20m tile size as CMBO or go down to perhaps 10mx10m. I did a search and only found some messages from about a year ago speculating about a change. The consensus at that time seemed to be that no such a change was likely until the engine re-write for CM2. Does anybody know what BTS' final decision was on this one?

I realize this qualifies as "chrome" request and is probably not a priority, but are there any plans to expand the game movie options? Specifically, will we be able to save turn movies in solitare play and/or combine turn movies so as to be able to view replay of an entire game from e-mail/solitare play - the better to relive those glorious and horrible moments from the battlefield? Regardless, many thanks for an incredible product w/ CMBO, and for your great product suppport. I'm really looking forward to seeing the system taken to the East Front. When will we be able to place advance orders for the game? I know it's not coming out for a while, but like many others here on the boards, I will want to get my hands on it as soon as it's available, and don't know if the old ticker could stand it if I had to wait for a backorder. Cheers

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Steve P: I,ve just read the tcp update thread in which bts mention they will be using a compression technique to minimise the data transfer load between machines. Just wondering, but if they could do that to the replays,saving after each turn, we could watch our battles from start to finish Now that would be very nice !<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I'd also like to see the ability to at least save the turn movies when playing the computer.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Claymore: Not to denegrate my previous PBEM opponents but I have yet to get my fanny spanked in a PBEM game. Kurt popped my PBEM cherry, Bauhaus has me down a tank, and Martin was close to embarassing me. None of these however will give me that "skunked and hide-in-the-closet" feeling that I need. My CM dance card has a couple of slots empty. Any tactical geniuses out there? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Claymore, What about finishing the dance with the one that brought ya? I haven't heard back since Labor Day, and while I grant, having reduced each others forces to some chewed up infantry, it's not the most glamorous battle, I hate to have a game dropped in the middle of play.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Iconoclast: Hmm, I'm running an STB Velocity 4400 16 MB card as well, and I've got fog as well as sky and all the other graphics goodies. You might try loading the Nvidia reference driver instead of STB's. I used to have intermittant lockups when the game was initializing at the point when the DirectX 7 driver problems seem to cause problems. My lockups went away when I switched to the Nvidia reference drivers instead of STB's "customized" versions. It's worth a try, especially before you plunk down money for a new graphics card!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Iconoclast, I took your advice and the Nvidia drivers did the trick. Now that I've got my sky and fog working I can finally get the full CM immersion experience. Many thanks for your help. kgsan

Like Abrams I am not able to get the fog to display (Yes, I have checked to make sure the game is set to show full weather effects . This problem is in addition to a missing sky which occurs at all view levels including the ground level viewpoint.(The sky is always a washed out white color, regardless of the scenario weather.) As far as I can tell everything else in the game seems to work fine. I certainly get rain as well as transparent buildings and transparent smoke. The game also runs smoothly. I have checked my drivers and they are the latest, although not very recent (March 1999), so I don't know if there is anything else I can do other than buy a new graphics card. If anyone with more expertise in this area (which is probably just about everyone has any suggestions or advice on how to remedy this problem they would be much appreciated. My hardware specs are: a Gateway Pentium II 450Mhz w/ STB Velocity 4400 16MB video card. Thanks, kgsan

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Big Time Software: Most likely there is a bug in your video card driver. It probably reports that it can handle a sky graphic of a certain size (so CM sends it the "big" one) but it really can't handle it. Have you installed the latest available driver for your card? Charles<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Charles, Thanks for responding. Since I began visiting this site over a year ago, I have been very impressed at the responsiveness ya'll show to questions and comments. In answer to your question, have the latest driver from gateway's site, but its dated March 1999. Gateway says the version of the video card they ship is different from the retail version and that customers should use the drivers Gateway provides. I assume this is correct, but who knows. One fact that may be signiifcant (or not) is that, when I started the game the process deviated from the one set forth in the manual. Specifically, I did not get a a graphics test that asked "Can you see this?" Instead, a window popped up which said: 3D Direct Test: Click to select the graphics mode Primary Display Driver Resolution 800x600 Underneath this message were boxes to either "accept" or "next". Is this the message I am supposed to get, or does it indicate some problem with the program recognizing my graphics card? Again, any advice you might have will be appreciated, but if it's not fixable I guess I'll live. I was pleased to read that ya'll have already sold out of your first production run. It's nice to see your hard work rewarded (and from a selfish perspective I trust this means CM is profitable enough that you will be continuing with CM2 - I'm looking forward to seeing this game engine brought to the Eastern Front). Regards kgsan

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by pathfinder1: I get a green sky unless I am at or near ground zero level. I suggest you try that and see if it fixes your problem.. good luck! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Thanks for the suggestion pathfinder1, unfortunately the missing sky persists at all heights, even when viewed from ground level. Has anyone else experienced this effect?

I have been enjoying CM since I received it and for my money, its hands down the best game in years. However one small flaw has prevented me from attaining complete bliss. For some reason when I play, there is no sky, or rather, the sky is always a washed out white color, regardless of the scenario weather. From the screenshots I have seen of the game I know it's not supposed to look like this. This problem persists regardless of my horizon settings or viewing height. Everything else seems to run fine on my system which admittedly isn't cutting edge anymore: its a Gateway Pentium II 450Mhz w/ STB Velocity 4400 16MB video card. Weather effects, transparent buildings and transparent smoke all work properly and the game runs smoothly. I have played around with the Gamma settings, tried reinstalling the game using all 3 install sizes and still no luck. Any advice on what might be causing this problem and possible solutions would be greatly appreciated. This is already the best game in my book, but getting the sky to appear properly would definitely add to the immersion factor.

Yes, I get the missing sky effect even when viewing from ground level.

The sky appears the same at all horizon distance settings and when viewed from all of the 3D views.

I received the game earlier this week, but didn't have a chance to sit down and play around with it much until today. Everything seems to run fine on my system which admittedly isn't cutting edge anymore: its a Gateway Pentium II 450Mhz w/ STB Velocity 4400 16MB video card. Weather effects, transparent buildings and transparent smoke all work and the game runs smoothly. I used the maximum install for the game on my HD. However, I seem to have one problem. I have no sky, or rather, the sky is always a washed out white color, regardless of the scenario weather. I have played around with the Gamma settings, reinstalled the game and still no luck. Any advice on what might be causing this problem and possible solutions would be geratly appreciated. This is already the best game in my book, but getting the sky to appear properly would definitely add to the immersion factor.

Received CM yesterday in Mandeville(Pursuant to Murphy's law I was out of town when it arrived, so I've only just ripped open the package). Some information for those of you still waiting on the game and trying to estimate when it will arrive - I placed my order last June and received both the poster and the game at the same time.