phil stanbridge
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Posts posted by phil stanbridge
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Hi, the last drivers I tried were 10.7 which were terrible to be honest. I ended up installing the 10.4's which were significantly better. The 460 seems to be the better card for SF, but if you've read my findings in the other thread on this forum you'll see that it is a mixed bag. I am experiencing serious crashes which is probably (read more than likely) related to the new Nvidia drivers
Problem with a new card is that is needs new drivers. Whether or not Nvidia sort this out in terms of SF is probably quite slim. In that respect the 5850 is the better card - as it can run with older drivers. -
So Rune, it's just a waiting game then I presume
and we all know how long that can take don't we. It's very frustrating all things considered. I moved over to the 460 from an ATI 5850 due to problems with that card and SF, now the problems I have are probably somewhat worse. However that said, it's smoother on this card than it was with my 5850 so maybe that is a blessing in disguise. -
Is it the same for you?
Yes I think pretty much the same - the buttons on the gui are fine, but all the text is very blurred/distorted or whatever you want to call it. I'm guessing it is because of the native screen res.
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Thanks to you both for the replies. See, this is a definite plus when the customer service is so good.
I didn't realise the dynamic lighting has been a problem for so long - times flies. That's even more worrying really as it does suggest Nvidia couldn't care less about it. Do you know of any other game with the same type of problem? In fact, I can't think of another game coded in Open GL. Maybe Red Orchestra, but I don't know what made me think that..
I personally find the blurring quite a distraction on my little screen - I've got a dell Vostro with a 12" lcd. It's a powerful laptop however, with 4gb ram, a decent intel cpu and the 4500HD.
Schrullenhaft, interesting, I run SF using desktop resolution in the options but I have just noticed the native res isn't supported ! (1280x800). Maybe this accounts for the distortion. However, even when selecting 'desktop' display size it still doesn't fix it. Not sure if this can be fixed.
There's only one other chap with the 460, and he hasn't reported any crashes, but then maybe he hasn't played it for as long as I have
Curiously, the British module would crash quite a lot for me - I've not had one lock so far replaying the Marines campaign.No AA but I am using AF. Extension Limit is OFF (desktop pc).
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How should they address it, Phil? They've done everything any company in their position can do - contacted Nvidia, looked for workarounds, and provided support for effected users. You see Schrullenhaft out here every day fielding questions about this.
What can BFC do that Creative Assembly can't?
My 4500HD works fine. My development laptop has one and I use it to play CM every day. Make sure your drivers, in this case, are up to date. What problems are you having?
Hi Phil - If BFC are being so proactive about it and there is nothing further they can do for now - that's fine but they need to let people know they are on the case. At the end of the day there will be more and more people suffering these problems. I presume the powers that be are aware of this? Maybe they could eventually develop in Directx instead. I say that tongue in cheek, but the bottom line is, if BFC want to keep releasing quality products then this will be a constant headache for them. Nip it in the bud perhaps? Nvidia probably don't want to know for a number of reasons. I don't know how they work - but I'd imagine BFC is a relatively small player (no disrespect intended) and SF is based on 2007 tech after all.
Empire Total War is a massive resource hog, and has many separate issues, SF only has a few
As for the 4500HD that's very interesting. I am using the latest Intel drivers, on a Win7 x64 build. I suffer bad blurring on the text/GUI and I can't get rid of it - it's not a show stopper, but it's very distracting. I'd love to know what's different.
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Rune, thanks very much for the reply.
The problem is, people upgrade their systems. Now there's plenty of other older games out there that work fine with the 460, and other Nvidia/ATI cards. Is BFC going to tell people to stop upgrading their systems if they want the true 100% experience because doesn't work for me. Is this going to be an issue with Normandy and future titles because it's a nightmare if it is. I can't see how BFC will be comfortable with this, providing a service that might only 'half' work if you follow. I know you are going to disagree with that, but that's how I feel. I absolutely love the series, and I want to remain a loyal customer, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like this. I realise as you say, Nvidia is to blame, but BFC should be addressing this issue directly, not just accepting it.
I feel loathed to spend my money if nothing can be done. What are we supposed to do in the mean time, downgrade and stop using the machine for every other game I've got?
Furthermore, I've recently installed SF and other modules on a completely different machine with an Intel 4500HD chipset and guess what, that doesn't work properly either
Edit: Just added my support to the Nvidia forum..
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I've got the same card and the same problem. If BFC used DirectX rather than OpenGL maybe it could be fixed. I've no idea what that involves however. I am also getting hard crashes with mine - have you had any serious crashes? It's stable with other games however, so it suggests it is this game rather than my card/system. I hope to god something is different when Normandy is released!!
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Except for the night flashes I have had no problems with this driver 258.96 for W7x64. My card is 480gtx.
Curious! This is a fresh build with W7x64 also. I wonder what can be causing it.
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BLUE TOTAL VICTORY. (Playing on vet)
Very pleased with that as it goes. I found the missions particularly tough going. I had never managed to complete the British campaign before for some reason - possibly my losses were too high? I'm not sure why it quits - maybe I lost a couple of battles, I can't remember now.
Stats for both sides
BLUE
51 KIA (15 of these were Syrian forces allied to me)
44 INJ
6 MIA
13 AFV
3 OTHER
versus
RED
1278 KIA
637 INJ
504 MIA
60 TANKS
103 OTHER
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Just thought I would let you know there is a major problem with the latest Nvidia drivers.
This one causes a random CTD and/or lockup resulting in a hard reset. There's no particular pattern either. I have to use the latest driver because I've got a dx11 460GTX which isn't recognized by earlier drivers. I received an error message just a minute ago, saying that due to an 'Nvidia Open GL problem with the driver it had to reset'. Normally this would result in a hard crash, but on this occasion it hasn't.
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Ah thanks Moon, thanks for the update. I didn't know about that bug, but.. and this maybe some concern - this was with version 1.21.
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I've been working through similar issues myself. Are you aiming to install Marines on the first system?
Yes, I want the full game on both systems ideally. I've obviously 'locked' the Marines license when I attempted to unlicense it on the desktop prior to formatting. But I didn't do anything to 'lock' it this is my problem.
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Thanks for the replies, appreciate it.
I attempted to unlicense the game first, not uninstall, this is the issue. Furthermore, if you look in my start menu it does not give me a shortcut to unlicense the base module, only the British and the Marines module. I presume because I have purchased the Marines module along with the base game, (as a pack) then there is only one license required? There is a lot of confusion surrounding the installation/uninstallation and licensing of these games if you ask me.
I am now free to unlicense the Marines module on one machine, and license it on the other, but the point is, I appear to have either lost a license, or have locked it by some means.
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Hi Phillip - yes, I've got one for the CMSF base game and the Marines module, and one for the British module.
What's really bizarre is this.
As it stands I've got SF/British module installed on one system, and SF/Marines and British module on another. It will only let me install the Marines module on one system.
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Well this is typically annoying!
I have rebuilt my system and I am presented with error code 11 when it comes to licensing the Marines/US Army bundle I purchased.
I unlicensed the module prior to uninstallation to prevent just such a scenario now I'm stuffed!! I guess I'd better report it yet again....
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Hey guys, I've decided that due to the numerous Shock Force crashes I am now on the receiving end of I've decided it best to reformat and reinstall. I'm going to be reinstalling Win 7 Pro 64bit. I've been faffing with cards the last couple of weeks and have made the move from an ATI to an Nvidia, and I'm not entirely sure the transition has gone too well. I'm pretty sure it must be driver related as never had problems beforehand. But all that aside I'm going to be using the latest Nvidia drivers as I have to support a 460GTX - so I have no choice.
Obviously my primary concern with SF is the licensing - am I okay just to uninstall the game via the start menu shortcut, or is it better to unlicense the modules one at a time?
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Okay that's great Moon - I was under the impression that perhaps the licensing is due to change - I took from your post before that once invalidated, and reset a 'few' times there is nothing you can do.
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I think we need some clarification with this. Accidents can and do happen as we all realise. I lost a laptop due to a hardware failure - bottom line it needed repairing and needed to be sent off. But I lost the contents of the drive as a result. I had no way of preventing this from happening nor any way of uninstallling the game first. So I was pretty stuffed. Thankfully you guys sorted it out this time, but it does beg the question, when it is no fault of your own, how can you justify this?
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Look forward to seeing that! I much prefer campaigns over single (more linear) missions.
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I play all of my campaign missions in WEGO and the occasional single mission in realtime. I find realtime way too hectic and end up missing a lot of the action especially on larger maps. If I fluff a mission, I simply reload it. Gamey maybe, but sometimes it is the only way.
But isn't it nice to have the option? I'd absolutely hate to lose it.
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That's potentially good news - so in theory, we'll be waiting for the third 'catch-all' module for the flamethrower units?
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Actually speaking of machine gun fire, I actually managed to use my gunners properly for the first time yesterday - British mission, they were some 800-900m away from their target, so I used suppressing fire, which worked a treat - I had an infantry unit close to the target, and could see the AI struggling to cope with the machine gun rounds whizzing over their heads. That was pretty cool, and certainly an improvement from what I can remember.
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I'd say the name will be announced when they open the new forum for the Normandy game. Along with a huge pile of bones for your delectation.
Can't wait!!
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per 1) and 2) - can't you get essentially the same effect using the current retargeting method?
What I find frustrating in CMSF is not having ANY clue re how many shells are left. It seems like either the column is full, then after a barrage it can be suddenly almost empty.
Yeah agree with that, although if you use LIGHT or HEAVY it makes a big difference.
Problem with a new card is that is needs new drivers. Whether or not Nvidia sort this out in terms of SF is probably quite slim. In that respect the 5850 is the better card - as it can run with older drivers.
Curiously, the British module would crash quite a lot for me - I've not had one lock so far replaying the Marines campaign.
My first complete British campaign..
in Combat Mission Shock Force 1
Posted
Every mission was either total or tactical victory which was a first. Basically the Syrians surrendered. The last mission was a tricky one, and so was the riot/urban one. But they all stand out for one reason or another. A great selection of missions really and it appears longer than the others - do you know if this is the case, or have I failed at other campaigns too?
I found you have to use the British differently to the US forces in order to succeed. The fact that their squads are much smaller and less well equipped means that you have to use them in a more discrete way (plenty of smoke!). You also have generally less AT assets too which makes some mission extremely tough. You can't load up every squad with a Javelin unfortunately. That said, there were some surprises. I felt like the Challenger was a slightly better tank than the M1A1, or at least it was in my missions - it was able to take more punishment. But to change the 12.7mm ammo by unbuttoning.. well, i lost a crew man once to that trick! On a few occassions I took direct hits from T72s and the rounds just bounced off! ATGM were a different matter however, and it must be really painful trying to find these in real life.
The warriors were also pretty able - and could take more punishment than the US AFVs - but their main armament doesn't seem particularly clever against anything other than soft targets although they are deadly accurate. I would have to fire a whole load of rounds into a BMP 1 before the crew would jump out, and more often than not that would give them enough time to fire back.
The soliders feel more exposed to me than the US equivalents.