TheBlackHand

OK, so I'm back from my business trip and I'm going to try to get this going tonight. This post will be sort of a play-by-play. 1. I open the program. I have a CMBN install but no CMFI install. I assume the instructions for CMBN will apply to CMFI so I'm going to try to install it that way (it worked fine last time, until I tried to start a new battle . . . but we'll get to that shortly). 2. Going to "Add Install". Writing CMFI in the Install Name slot. Putting C:\Users\Owner\Documents\Battlefront\Combat Mission\Fortress Italy in the Installation Directory slot. Putting C:\Users\Owner\Dropbox in the Drop Box Location slot. (Unsure if this is supposed to point to C:\Users\Owner\Dropbox\TBH vs Eltorrente . . . or just to the Dropbox folder.) It now seems to recognize the game and it shows that it is my turn. However, when I click on the chat icon it says "That game doesn't have a dropbox, so no chat!" So, I go to "Edit Game". I enter TBH vs Eltorrente -in the Game Name slot. I enter C:\Users\Owner\Dropbox\TBH vs Eltorrente in both the Incoming/Outgoing slots. I enter C:\Program Files (x86)\Battlefront\Combat Mission Fortress Italy\CM Fortress Italy.exe in the Application Name slot. Now it seems I have chat . . . although our previous chat logs have been erased, which is kind of a bummer. I sent a radio check . . . we'll see if Eltorrente is reading my lima charlie. I guess my real problem was with how to actually START a battle with H2H Helper. By trial and error I seem to have learned that I need to start the battle, then copy the file from the outgoing game box to the shared dropbox folder where my opponent can see it, play it and send it back . . . correct? I was confused about what to do with the old battle and/or dropbox file. This is why I started erasing stuff, which caused all sorts of problems. When a battle is done, which files can/can't/should be erased? Is it OK to start a new battle using the same old dropbox folder? On the map subject, I guess this means that if we play QB's we'll have to ask our oppo if they've played the map before. Seems like it won't take long before all the maps have been played out. Why is there no random map generator? Is it a game engine thing where they couldn't get it to work or something? Not complaining, just wondering.

Aha. I thought so. Gonna have to ask my oppo if he still wants to play it. Seems like this entire thread is a big map preview!

Gahhh! Except that now I've done erased everything! I can't figure out how to get H2H Helper to recognize my CMFI install. In other news . . . gotta head off to Iowa tomorrow morning & I won't be back till Friday. Hopefully we can get the shooting started this weekend. Oh, and have a look at the BigDork vs Tiresius thread . . . does that map look an awful lot like the map for our QB? I thought those QB maps were made random, based on a few parameters . . . but now I'm wondering if they're all basically the same.

I have a different question. I just send a QB to Eltorrente. The map looks almost EXACTLY like this one. I thought the QB maps were built randomly for each battle. Is that correct, or are they stock?

I thought I had it all set up. In fact, it was working for the first couple of PBEM battles that I've played. These were started by my oppo & sent to me. In the process of trying to start up a battle & send it to him, I've completely messed the program up and I cannot figure out how to fix it. The help files that I've read, really don't help much. Makes me feel like an old fart. Normally I'm pretty good at getting things like this to work, but this thing is throwing me for a loop. Can anyone tell me where to find a decent help file on how to get the program working with CMFI. How to set up a dropbox, start a battle and send it to an opponent? It seems like everything I do with this H2H Helper program is wrong. If one thing works, something else doesn't. Tonight I thought it might be a good idea to "forget install" and reinstall . . . bad idea. I can't seem to get it to find my CMFI installation at all. I also managed to erase all the previous chat logs. Dunno how that happened, but it did. That's a drag because my oppo had politely helped me get the thing running in the first place. If I hadn't erased those chat logs, I might be able to find a few good answers on my own. The second round of problems began when I tried to start a game myself, & send it to him. I seemed to get it working, but it said I didn't have a drop box for the chat files . . . so I fumfered around and ended up only screwing things up even more . . . which is why I thought I'd remove the installation completely . . . and we know what happened next. Is there an "A, B, C, D, etc." kind of instruction manual?

Oh, guilty as charged . . . and I'm still willing to put five bucks on the table that says you're voting for Romney. Anyway, we agree on this to some degree: I simply think that, as a whole, it all comes together well. As a movie, that's what it is supposed to do and for the vast masses, (John Bircher's not included) it did. We disagree on this: Personally, I was able to make a connection, on some level, with each character. Some I liked, some I didn't (Upham and the BAR gunner, forget his name . . . Reiben maybe?). The scene where while his squadmates were trying to save him is VERY gripping. I simply don't know how anybody could watch that and say "die already". WTF? Forget the fact that the whole scenario is "bunkum" (this small squad wouldn't have attacked that place in the first place . . . although an excuse is given in the film). I mean, maybe you think that guys don't call for their mothers or something when they go down. Fact is, they do. It seems you think the movie tried to do too much, and failed. Myself and most others think it tried to do A LOT . . . and succeeded. It's just a difference of opinion. No big deal. Anyhow, Band of Brothers was MUCH better. Because it had time to do all the stuff it needed to. That's the difference between two hours and twenty. The Pacific . . . wasn't half as good because . . . again, it tried to do too much. It tried to tell too many stories. None of them well. The battle scenes were well-adapted from the books and very well done. It was like watching what I had read, exactly as I had imagined it. OTOH, the maudlin home-front/leave scenes just didn't work. Not for me anyway . . . and no, I'm not voting for Romney (or the other one).

Vark, I could go down the list of why SPR is a great war movie, but why waste my time? If you don't get it, you won't get it. My bet is, you hate it when Hollywood Liberals make a traditionally patriotic movie, like SPR. Hey, that's not supposed to be in the script! Anyway, we pretty much agree on TRL and Das Boot. One doesn't live up to the hype, the other exceeds it. So, when will we get to see your epic motion picture, since you seem to know so much about how to film one?

Hmm, I understand about the "broken" thing. Might be better if their status updated to "fragile" or something . . . but now that I know about it, it's no big deal. The mortar thing is a little different. I had three mortar teams. One was knocked out, the other was empty. The last one was within sight and sound of the commander and it had nearly a full compliment of rounds. Nobody on that team was a casualty and they weren't suppressed. They just showed as "empty" when I tried to call for fire. The rounds showed when I clicked on the team itself. I was able to use them in the direct fire role. Just couldn't use them in the indirect role. (Although, I didn't try to put in a call from any other HQ, so I don't know if it was just a problem with their particular Lt.)

Figured I might want to bring this to someone's attention & see if anyone else has experienced it. Just finished a QB with eltorrente. In this battle I had a number of units which came under intense artillery bombardment and were subsequently "broken". A little later they regained their sanity and fought well throughout the rest of the battle. I was able to give them orders and they followed them without breaking again. Nevertheless, their status continued to show as "Broken" until the end of the game. Wondering why that might've been. Also, I had a mortar platoon which got beaten up by their enemy counterpart. One team was destroyed and the other eventually fired until empty. I had one tube left with thirty rounds and stable mental condition. For some reason their commander, who was a mere fifty yards away, in plain sight, could not call for fire because the full tube showed as "Empty". This was quite frustrating because he had a good LOS on the enemy mortar pits. Any ideas on what might be going wrong here?

Oh, you know-it-all SPR critics . . . it's a f*cking MOVIE for Christ's sake. OF COURSE he takes liberties with history and includes seemingly ridiculous scenarios (to those in the know) in order to move the FICTIONAL STORY forward. Get over yourselves already. It's a damned good war MOVIE. End of story.

I HATED The Thin Red Line the first time I saw it. Mostly because I hate it when a director or screenwriter takes a great book and turns it into something unrecognizable (Bat 21 for example). I knew that the movie was in production so I read the book just before it came out. Big mistake. I refused to watch it again for years. When I did, I found that I actually liked it. I think I liked it because I hadn't read the book in a long time and so watching the movie didn't cause me to constantly recall the book. I could watch it as if it were it's own story. The book was still much better though. Always is. Here's a good song from one of my favorite bands that uses the movie in samples:

Eltorrente is a good player. Just finished my first CMX2 PBEM battle against him. It was a good fight that ended too quickly due to my miserable abilities . . . but it moved along smoothly with turns turning over at the rate of five or more per day. That's good! Looking forward to the next one. I also found out that CMX2 PBEM is much more fun that CMX1 PBEM because you play and plan for EACH turn. There's no "planning turns", like there was in the earlier games. This speeds things up quite a bit. I have time for two battles at once (but no more). I'd be happy to play you too. Oh, also should note that it was the first time I used H2H Helper and Dropbox. Setting them up was a PITA, but it was totally worth it. Another thing that makes things move much smoother.

Scratch the surface of any ardent SPR critic and you'll likely find an ultra-conservative, who hates Spielberg more for his political leanings than for his sappy movies. Anyhow, I sure would like to see a decent adaptation of "The Forgotten Soldier" . . . but I doubt that'll ever happen. It makes a nice, historical bookend to "All Quiet on the Western Front". It's a great book with a good "war is hell" message, but Sajer's unapologetic pro-NAZI sympathies wouldn't stand up to well to criticism. Maybe "Black Edelweiss" would make for an interesting movie. In the same way that "Letters From Iwo Jima" was able to show the war from the opposite POV. I still don't think the general public would accept it though.

I see. Makes sense. Good to know they know about it so that if/when the technology makes it more do-able, they'll do it. Hey! I ain't goin' nowhere. This is a great game and a great game company. Nothing is perfect, but things are always getting better. CMFI has given me pretty much everything I wish CMBN had. It's very much like the same path that the original CM games took. Sure, there's always going to be plenty to bitch and complain about. The difference here is that there's a pretty good chance that a pretty good complaint will get a pretty good fix in pretty good time.

Cool. Just downloaded the h2h helper. Gonna get familiar with that, then I'll see about finding a good PBEM scenario. Where's the best place to find good H2H battles? I used to get all my CMX1 battles at the Scenario Depot, but I don't see any CMX2 stuff there.

I just thought of something . . . that has probably already been thought of. Since every version of this game seems to have had a "gridded terrain" mod . . . how come a "gridded terrain" toggle hasn't been added officially? Or has it? Seems like something that would be pretty handy. I like the gridded terrain mods because they do help you see the lay of the land a little better . . . but I never end up leaving them in long because they also tend to ruin the immersion for me. It would be nice to have a hot-key that turns the grid on/off. Is there a mod for this?

OK, I've had the game long enough now. Time to start playing PBEM. I know I could probably find players on any of the ladders, but I figured I'd see if there was anybody here who'd like to give it a shot first. I'm not much into the competitive ladder thing. I'd rate myself as a good player, but not expert. I can get in any number of turns between 9pm - 2am & 9am - 10am, CST. Prefer to play one battle at a time. I'll play either side, Allied or Axis. I'm a dedicated player and will ALWAYS finish a battle. Matter of fact, I think it would be fun to play a PBEM campaign. Never tried that. Is it possible? I own all three versions of the game and am down for whatever, provided it's evenly matched. If anybody's interested, just PM me.

Superfly71, you must not be much of a fan of the CM series to begin with. If you were, you would've realized that this is a small company, which puts out a great product. I easily get fifty bucks worth of enjoyment out of the many hours that I put into each version of Combat Mission, from CM1 all the way up to that latest release. I see where you're coming from, but I think you're looking at it the wrong way. I consider my fifty bucks to be a donation to keeping one of my favorite pastimes alive and kicking. It's well worth twice that much in my mind. No, it isn't perfect and there are times when I quit playing until this or that is fixed . . . but it usually is & even if it isn't I eventually come back around for many, many more hours of gameplay. Somebody pointed out how much they pay for television. I pay about $100 a month for my Sat Service . . . which plays in the background while I'm playing CM, for which I might pay fifty to a hundred bucks A YEAR (if we're lucky, I'd love to have even more major releases, or "patches", as you call them). If I didn't think I was getting my money's worth, I wouldn't pay, but I do, so I do. For example, I used to pay a lot of money to play Battleground Europe (ever since it was WW2OL). I let that subscription slide just a few months ago since that game began to really fall apart. I'm not going to pay for something that doesn't work. CM works, and works very well. I hope my money makes it work even better in the future, and I'm sure it will.

As a Marine, I can tell you that "With The Old Breed" has a special place in my heart. If I were to teach a military history class, it would be required reading (and it is for many, if not most). I enjoyed The Pacific, for the most part. However, I think it tried to do too much. It suffers in comparison to BOB because the storyline is rather fractured, whereas BOB is much more linear and easy to follow/relate to. The characters in BOB are much more likeable. I thought The Pacific was too maudlin in places, making the "characters" (these were real people) seem sad and pouty . . . but that's Spielberg (I don't hate the guy for it, as some folks do, it's just his style.) The battle scenes in The Pacific were exactly as I had imagined them after reading so many books on the subject. They were truly brutal . . . but as with any film or print depiction of war . . . they only provide a glimpse at what it is actually like to be in the middle of something like that (the deafening sounds, concussion, shock and SMELL are something no book or screen will ever adequately display). I specifically remember reading about the tense atmosphere inside an amtrack, inside an LST, waiting to be launched . . . imagining that . . . and then seeing it so well portrayed in the series. Impressive. On a similar note, I've never read a better description of the tenseness of the leadup to the Normandy jump than in David Kenyon Webster's "Parachute Infantry". (As you probably know, Webster served in Easy Co. 506th and his writing & character make up a good part of BOB.) The series also did a great job of showing what a mess the Okinawa battles were. How anyone could watch the series and miss the muck and mire throughout is perplexing. William Manchester's "Goodbye Darkness" is a great read too. If I were teaching that class, I'd have them read only the last chapter. Everything is so well summed up in that read. It's all anyone needs to know about what made "The Greatest Generation" great.

I'm still playing because . . . I just want to get one more turn in before bed. Two hours later . . . I'm still playing because . . . I just want to get one more turn in before bed. Two hours later . . .

When this kind of thing happens to me I get really mad and just stop playing for a few weeks. Maybe I'll even blow off some steam by posting my gripes on this forum. With the hope that the game designers will notice, investigate the issue, and hopefully rectify it in the next patch/game. It is interesting to see if the community agrees or disagrees with my problem. It is always fun to watch the fanboi's scramble to defend the indefensible by any means necessary. Anyhow, after a few weeks I've come to my senses and realized that this is just a game and nothing is perfect. I always come back and I'll bet the OP will too. It is a good game (equal to, but not better than the CMX1 series). The only other game I've played that demands, and gets, so much of my time is CIV IV. I've never played a tactical war game that is as immersive as the CM games. If you find one, let me know. I'll try it. If I can't rationalize a certain aspect of a scenario . . . I just don't play that scenario. It is frustrating when things occur such as what the OP describes . . . but I try to chalk them up as one-off occasions where seemingly incredible things happen. Those things do happen in war. Maybe they happen more often in CMBN, but I still rationalize it as a "Knights Cross" or "Medal of Honor" moment. Not really satisfying, particularly when I think I've done everything right . . . and I still lose because of one guy with an Mp40 . . . but it gets me through. I do believe that the game designers are intent on creating what they believe is the most authentic recreation of tactical combat. Most of the time they get it right, sometimes they don't. I realize that they have to cut corners. It's just the way it is. I don't think they're intentionally trying to piss us off or dumb down the game. That would be bad business. For example, I don't know why there STILL isn't a "cover armor" arc in CMBN, or that I can't use the fifty on my M10 for suppression . . . but I don't think it's because the designers are trying to make me angry or push me away from the game. It must be because they can't code it . . . or they don't think it is necessary. Maybe, hopefully, one day they will. Anyhow, I know my rant is TLDR . . . but I feel better for having had my say.

I'm guessing the same would hold true for zook/piat/schreck rounds? On more than one occasion I've run a remaining team member over to another team because it shows he's carrying more AT rounds (but no AT weapon) . . . hoping he'd share these rounds with the team that needs 'em. Hasn't happened. I've also run him back to a vehicle which is carrying many rounds, to act as a courier . . . nothing happens there either. Am I doing something wrong with the resupply vehicles? I'm obviously misunderstanding the concept somehow. I have seen MG ammo passed around among a squad, but never AT rounds.

The other night I had a couple of Piat teams. One team was short one guy and the other guy was running around with a pack full of ammo. The other team was intact, but was down to two rounds. I ran the guy who was carrying the ammo, but no launcher over to the team that was low . . . and nothing happened. They didn't trade ammo. What's up with that? If I had run the low team to a jeep which was carrying ammo I assume they would've stocked up. I'd also like to know why the lone AT guy didn't pick up the PIAT from his injured/dead buddy. I just made the assumption that the weapon was either broken or unreachable. He was carrying a Sten and about four rounds, which he would not share. Jerk!

. . . and still no "cover armor" arc. I have noticed that bridge pathing is much, MUCH better though. Hopefully they'll have fixed the road bogging bug as well. I've had some trouble using the mortar carriers in WEGO. I order them to dismount, then I have to wait a full turn before I can order them to deploy. Or, am I missing something? How do I order them to drive to a point, dismount, face and deploy all in one turn? Also, without having read any notes, was there a patch applied to the base game along with the new one?

While we're on the topic . . . I would like to see a more pronounced back blast/waft of smoke. Particularly when a Panzerfaust is fired. Not a huge deal, but it would add a bit of realism to the game.