aleader

Anyone know where I can get them? I tried CM Mods and CMHQ (can't d\l from there anymore).

Wow, flame on. Some guys on here need to leave their basements once in a while. I don't care what anyone thinks really as I feel ripped for a game that was unfinished and overpriced (but I paid it because I believe(d) in BF and didn't think I had an option besides online). It is still on my HD, but only because I have ample space as I don't play it anymore. The pathfinding is as bad or worse than the Close Combat games, and that's inexcusable in 2007. Also, the interface isn't even as good as CMBB (why can't I drag waypoints anymore?!). As an aside, I would have much rather seen a 'fictional' setting such as an 80's Cold War game which would have been far more balanced and entertaining, but methinks the terrain modelling required made a flat, barren desert game much more appealing to BF. Light the torch...

Um, not sure what 'proper money' means (if it's a shot at CDN cash it's ridiculous as the canuck buck is worth as much or more than the US$ now), or that BS about grad school. I have a degree in Engineering and an MBA, and I still feel ripped for having paid double for an unfinished game . The reason I bought from BF direct is the safe (or so I thought) knowledge that in the past, BF games do not end up on store shelves at all, and certainly not on a Walmart shelf at half price a scant few months later. As one poster intimated, I have other things to buy besides beer. In any event, $64.05 worth of beer could have provided me with far more joy than the unwieldy CMSF has to date...

I pre-ordered online from BF and paid $64.05 CDN total (around $60 US at the time). I just saw a bunch of boxed Paradox copies the other day at WALMART for $29.95 CDN :eek: !! What gives Battlefront?! I paid more than double by ordering online. Not happy about that .

How do I do this in this game as in CMBB\CMAK? i.e. click on the triangle\circle, hold down the LMB and drag it to a new position w\o having to cancel and re-plot the whole thing. Is it not possible in CMSF?

Tried advanced view (with 94.24 drivers) and I don't see it either, but I'm running an Athlon 64 4000+ (not dual). Is that why it doesn't show up?

Rolled back to the 94.24 drivers and all is well. Had to turn down the texture settings to 'better', but I now get about 25fps (FRAPS) with everything else cranked at 1152x864\AA\8xAF. I'm loving the game too. Can't wait to see some of the mods\skins\missions that people come up with...

I have an AMD Athlon 4000+ (not dual) and 7600GT vid. Ran pretty smooth until I installed the 162.18 drivers from Nvidia. Now I get choppy (almost unplayable) frames in any scenarios with buildings in them. I'll try rolling back to 94.24 and see if that helps. Developers always like to blame the drivers, but I haven't had issues in any other games, so I don't know that I buy that.

Did the pre-order thing. CDN customers don't be scared by the 2-4 weeks shipping time. It's never taken that long for me. Usually shows up in a week.

And can we also have some explanation on how we can end a mission when the mission comes to a stalemate and neither side can gain ground?!

Ok, I'm gonna eat crow a bit here. This game is much better when infantry\AT guns aren't involved. I was able to focus on the sights, sounds, and actually quite stunning realism of the tank battles. The sound, damage modeling, animation, and engagement ranges are quite good. The BIG problem(s) I'm having involve the positioning of the tanks and their maddening refusal to stay put, and the lack of any indication of hull-down. Am I missing something? When I put them in formation and give them an order to stay put, I look back only to see half of them turning completely around and heading in all different directions. Why won't they stay where I order them to?! Also, without knowing where to position them on favourable terrain, it's a crapshoot as to how well they are defended.

Reading the myriad of posts on this, I don't believe RAM is the issue. My guess is code optimization and\or driver issues that BF has to iron out. SOme have said enabling single monitor support (under Nvidia control panel) and\or checking 'single CPU' in the TOW settings seems to help.

1 GB RAM, Athlon 4000+ (no dual core), 7600GT, Creative X-Fi. No issues (1152x864, 2xQ AA, 8X AF) with framerates at all in any battle so far at high settings ('very thick grass' is the only thing that seems to slow it down when zoomed at ground level).

When I pay $67 CDN for a game, I'm free to post criticism of said game if I wish. I don't care if I hurt BF's feelings. I don't like TOW. Not because it's not an RTS version of CM (not that it's so astronomically impossible to hope that someone out there could design such a thing...please), but more because there are too many things that are missing\broken. For example, why can I not determine a unit facing for a tank by simply holding right click ala CoH and several other RTS games out there? Why is the camera control so flawed? Where are the waypoints, and barring that, why do my units not follow my orders to stay put, or keep formation? If it's a 'more hardcore military' RTS game, why do my tanks do such stupid things like turning their rear to the enemy instead of back up? That's a small sample of a laundry list of issues that I've discovered after mere days of gameplay. If it's an RTS game (which it is), then it's going to be compared to other RTS games. They need to at least get the fundamentals of RTS gameplay fixed for this thing if they want to hear rosy posts about it. I suspect the reviews will reflect the same.

Ok, Steel Torrent is a battle...I get it. Runs smooth, no issues at 1152 x 864, same settings as before.

I'm a hardcore CM gamer. I also love LOMAC, Rome Total War, CoH, Civ 3, and Steel Beasts Pro PE. Those games know what they want to be and they do it with aplomb, something that cannot be said for ToW.

PF usage is about 136MB (I keep it pared down as much as possible...especially shutdown the useless MS services). I'm not sure what 'steel torrent' is.

I don't like it. Wish I would have spent my $67 CDN on CC X of Iron instead. At least that game's fun. I can't stand mission after mission of 'assault trench frontally, get reinforcements, repeat'. Is this WW1 or WW2? I figured a BF game was a safe bet to pre-order based on the CM games. Lesson learned. The sound stinks compared to many other games out there, including the original CM. AT guns and infantry are WAY too easy to spot, and are just cannon fodder for tanks. Camera control is terrible. No waypoints or mortars, and the 'hold position' command is broken. Tanks expose their rears when retreating backwards, and on and on. Honestly, Company of Heroes may not have the realistic penetrations, etc, but it's a much more fun and varied game to play, and crushes this game visually and aurally. Here's hoping Shock Force sets things right...

I'll post here my email that I sent to tech support in case others have this issue: Just d/l TOW (pre-order), everything went fine. I'm doing a reformat of my HD, and I understand you need admin privileges, which I had up until I did the latest Windows updates. The .NET framework install adds an ASP.NET user as admin and for some reason took away my admin, even though I'm logged on under my username and it shows that I have admin priv. It won't allow me to edit under msconfig now, and it also doesn't show any elicense folder in my control panel. It's holding up my reformat as I don't want to take the game off without unlicensing. A google search of this ASP.NET issue acknowledged the issue, but doesn't give a fix for it! I didn't realize to unlicense you had to go through admin until after I had already installed and played the game. What can I do?? Alan Leader

So RAM has some different effect with dual core? I have 1GB RAM, Athlon 4000+ (not dual core), 7600GT, XP Pro, and run at 1152x864, 2X AA/8X AF with all settings at max and it runs smooth as silk.

On that topic, what happens if the server does get overloaded (or do they limit the # of simultaneous downloads?) and my d/l gets interrupted/cancelled midstream, or hung up? Does it count as a d/l and then I have to somehow prove that I didn't actually get it?

Question about the digital d\l since I have never done it before: I assume it's simply a large .exe that can be burnt to a DVD? I'm on peasant-high-speed right now ($14/mth - couldn't justify the $50/mth option - to myself or my wife - as I don't play online games) so I'd probably have a friend d/l and burn it for me. Will this be an issue in any way?

For me, demos provide not only a way to get a feel for a game, but also to test the system requirements. For example, after trying the demo I held off on buying LOMAC for a few years until I had a system that could run it at 50fps on high settings. I recently had a serious problem with the T-72 demo where the gunner view (and only the gunner view) 'pulsates' to the point where it ruins the game experience (see T-72 tech support thread for more info ). That the problem exists in the final game was confirmed by other players. A new video card and different drivers (ATI to Nvidia) didn't even help, so it's most likely a coding issue. It's also a good way to test out tech support for a game (which for T-72 is pretty sparse). Thinking back, I didn't really have much interest in CMBO until I played the demo. From then on I was completely hooked, and bought every game in the series. Others I've bought based on the demo: - MTW \ RTW - Brothers in Arms EIB - GRAW - Close Combat - IL2 - BF 2 - SH 3 - Half Life and HL 2 - Company of Heroes The problem a lot of times is the release of crappy demos. A game company can't have it both ways. I always laugh when they release a garbage demo and then complain when gamers are turned off of the game by it, fueling the developers' argument that demos are a waste of time. If you want it to sell your game, make it representative of the finished product. Some are even providing a full release for a short period (Red Orchestra Ostfront comes to mind).

I am a CM\Close Combat\Steel Panthers\West Front wargamer who also plays LOMAC, COH, MTW, and yes, even COD, HL 2, and F.E.A.R. I am 33 (older by gamer standards I guess) and have a mid-range system (Athlon 64 3800, GF 7600GT) that will be more than capable of running TOW. Systems are ridiculously cheap these days. I recall paying $400 in '95 for a 4MB stick of RAM, and almost $500 to upgrade from a 486SX25 to a smoking fast 486DX33. I don't even want to admit to what I paid for an 8MB Monster 3D card when it first came out. And 'older' people generally make quite a lot more money than teens last time I checked. Could it be that wargamers are just bigger tightwads than the rest? I've never bought into that BS that war\sim gamers should just be happy with gameplay at the sacrifice of quality sound\graphics\effects. A quality game environment can make a so-so gameplay experience truly special. That's what made CM so good when it first came out. It's also the reason I kept on going back to games like M1 Tank Platoon 2 even though it was really just a BRDM\T-72 turkey-shoot. Realism has been done before. The hook with CM (for me anyways) was the 3D landscape and ability to (finally) be able to 'see and hear' the battle waged realistically, not just on some boring hex grid. Games like LOMAC, GRAW, IL2 (old now, but still the best WW2 sim out there), and the upcoming Armed Assault, CM:SF and T-34 vs Tiger (I think the horrid title has changed) are finally giving aspiring warmongers like us what we've deserved for years. Actually, I think the graphics in TOW are pretty good and I like the look and feel of the engine. Truly without realistic gameplay it would get old fast, and I am really chomping at the bit to get at a true successor to Close Combat. But make no mistake, we deserve the complete package and should vigorously support those game companies (like BF) that are willing to give it to us.

Update: got a spanking 'new' XXX 7600GT vid card the other day and thought I'd try the T-72 demo to see if the gunner view problem may have been ATI related (my last card - X1600Pro). Installed latest Nvidia drivers, installed T-72 demo...still pulsating...only in gunner view. Obviously not a driver issue.