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Support?

BFC/John, Ticket ID: 28206413 (6 weeks now) CMFI cannot be activated. * CMFI * V3 Engine * V4 Engine * Gustav Line * Rome to Victory Are all products which I have paid for, and you have failed to deliver. I await your response. Same to be posted to the ticket.

z1812, I appreciated your suggestion. But I still expect some actual support out of BFC. As best I can tell their activation actually leaves some hidden files on the disk. It was apparent by tracking their process with an activity monitor. I understand they don't want to clarify what their DRM does to assist in really making use of my time and skills. That is their right as it is mine not to have my time wasted blindly debugging for them. I just have trouble with the premise CMBO buyers and all that came after are valued. When I am getting advice from John which would shut down software that controls my fan profiles for an OCed PC; this is only a step up from "Is the power cord plugged in?". It is, and CMFI does not activate. They need to do better either at a systems level or business level. Simply saying "tough luck" to customers of 20 years is not an acceptable business strategy.

After some initial signs of life, work on my DRM problem seems dead again. It is more than v2.11 cannot be activated. No version of CMFI can be activated. In short, I have lost my entire investment in the product. Also, given the DRM lack of reliability and on again off again technical support, one wonders if it prudent to purchase any new modules or engine upgrades. --- I was in the software engineering (systems programming) field. I practiced "zero defect" releases. It was matter of honor that no one could find a flaw in your work. I realize this is less important for game developers than programmers for power grids and chemo therapy. But call me old fashion. I still subscribe to pride in one's work. This is something all programmers can experience regardless of whether someone's life depends on the lines you write.

Artkin, Thanks. It's a DRM issue. BFC acknowledges this. Their client fails to communicate successfully with their server. I have given this maybe 7 hours, but do not plan to build a new machine from parts to debug BFC's DRM. John has tried to be helpful, and has given me various BFC reset utilities and other stuff that I don't know what it is doing. I am a retired CTO with plenty years experience going back to machine language coding in HEX. I have enough experience with tech. What I don't have is a working copy of CMFI. Once upon a time, it was just CMFI v2.11, but due to BFC's assistance, now no version will activate. You are quite right. In a distributed environment, the problem could by with DRM servers (and system software, O/S, or the DRM server itself). I have attempted to address 2 distributed issues myself: * I have VPNed to the USA as I reside in Asia. * I have used process context software to put CMFI on the same side of the International Dateline as BFC. I have seen Quicken which is owns the USA's PC based personal finance market choke on the International Date Line when trying to update portfolio prices. Certainly, Quicken is huge compared to CM. I HOPE THAT BFC WILL CONTINUE TO TRY TO ASSIST ME AND I WILL HAVE THE SUPPORT OF THIS COMMUNITY WHICH I JOINED IN 2000. Thank you.

I did hear from John. We are once again journeying into the dark art of motherboard voodoo. (I guess this is why people still prefer board games.)

I will take your suggestion and bump the ticket. Thank you.

This is from memory: (1) I tried the normal patch upgrade that everyone uses. It said I had to reactivate and couldn't. (2) John gave me something to reset and then reactivate. It still didn't work. (3) John gave me the complete installer for the latest version. It still didn't work. (4) John gave me something to reset some internals and my system and a game EXE to replace the installed one. It still didn't work. (5) In all cases, I am getting some error 216 and it says "activations exceeded". He said that this has increasingly been seen by others. I have all other titles, and they work fine. The former CMFI worked fine. I understand this may be a third party issue. I understand this may never be found. I once found a 1 byte bug in 3 weeks with 3 teams working on it. Why? There was a hard contract to move data centers. In only a few more days, my employer would have been forced out of business. My search started with 50,000 lines of post-mortem dump which in plain English is 50,000 lines of numbers. Point of fact. No one has sent me a one line update for more than 2 weeks. Point of fact. No one has been willing discuss an exchange of similar value which would be acceptable to me as compared to maybe waiting months. It think my 20 years deserves better than the above. What do you think?

Now, 17 days and still no response to your loyal CMBO customer. Thank you.

I bought CMBO/CMBB/CMAK/CMBN/CMFI/CMRT/CMFB (and all expansions) even when I didn't have time to play, because I liked the company and the community. You can check my membership date goes back to 2000. In July, I reported a problem that CMFI would not update properly (opening up a ticket), I tried every suggestion I was given in various permutations. It still does not work. My last communication from Support (John) is more that 2 weeks ago. I am a retired software engineer and understand that some problems are really hard to solve; and solving a single customer's problem may not be a cost effective for the business. Although it was hinted others are increasingly seeing the same problem with CMFI being unable to activate after updating. I AM THE 20 YEAR LOYAL CUSTOMER. I expect that "thank you" is more than just slick marketing, but sincere. I expect to have someone respond to my 3 ticket queries for status. Customer service is about making the customer whole and maintaining a positive relationship. Ideally, that would be making CMFI work; however, I am open to discuss other options, since I understand that $500 USD in paid hours cannot be spent just working on my problem. So, we might discuss other possibilities. John, BFC, Am I really a valued customer over 20 years? Is someone going to step up to the plate here? I felt it was in bad form, not simply to reply "We are working on it, and give it 4 weeks, please." Perhaps, it is bad form for me to post here, but I have invested 5 hours trying to install. And would like to see some good faith from BFC, then just dropping me, because it cannot find a technical solution. (I never chose eLicense. You did. I never pirated your game. I paid you directly full price. So, I don't know why I am the loser here?) Thank you. Your loyal customer of 20 years. PS: I have taken the liberty of making backups of everything in case I should accidentally delete something of consequence.

The new patch really does crush mods, but still I like the new platoon behavior. CM is acceptable unmodded, but I will miss my gridded terrain!!! Bil, are you listening? I don't understand why I can play City Skylines or Transport Fever 2 and get a decent topo map overlay, but not in a war game where it is far more than aesthetics?

The installer was not quarantined both the download and execution has not trouble with Norton. I did open up a ticket and am in touch with Elvis. Thanks.

The game won't come up, but the icon looks nice!

It is running away in task manager, but I never see the main menu come up.

I am having exactly this problem. CMBN and CMFB upgraded fine. I would appreciate any help. Wasted a whole night on this! I can just rename the directories to 2.10.

It looks like I came back at at good time. I was at turn 455 of 500 when my game broke, and the developer after getting my save games tells me he is leaving for vacation. Given that he is French that means 1 month or 8-10 weeks until a patch. (Back to CM.) (1) I assume that there is nothing mod breaking (my mods are mainly graphics like UI, grid terrain, flames ...)? (2) When is this rubble module expected? (3) I left a few months ago when I had men who had enough and just felt the need to jump over a wall and test the enemy's aim! Is that fixed for WWII games? Thanks.

I believe the official term for this is "recon by fire".

I don't remember. Do mg's even jam in CMx2? Certainly there is no text for it like there was in CMx1 (I believe, a little jam tag above the gun). BTW, it also seems to me that tanks bog less frequently in CMx2; true or my imagination? Also, it seems tank crews have a little more courage in CMx2. I seem to remember my Shermans popping smoke and backing up as soon as they saw a Tiger or a Panther even when they had a flanking shot and the target hadn't even spotted them. True or failing memory? AFVs do a better job of spacing in CMx2, I remember some incredible traffic SNAFUs in CMx1. I see that dust got carried over now and plays a bigger role. I never liked dust added with CMAK, because, it was too obvious to the human player, and the AI didn't know that dust meant armor inbound. I am enjoying this game. For all my criticism of 3D oddities, the movies are fun. I remember how CMx1 soldiers appeared to be ice skating from place to place.

I have been fighting in teams mainly due to the flexibility of positioning them and that it is easier to find cover. Also, if the enemy have tanks and I have no tanks, no ATGS ... I can do inch worm (lead/trail) bounds such that the team with panzerfausts is always in trail so as not to risk those precious weapons. So, this question actual arose in a Whermacht split team situation.

Well, I am not asking for Paradox style rollover tool tips that break down all the calculations. I just want to know if my team is taking cover in a crater when I see them near the rim? Is this just a short coming of the rendering subsystem? I can live with it; I used to develop systems for a living too. But if they are not in cover, then I should certainly move them to some place safer, since it would mean that they are lying prone in the open. (Perhaps, all they have is a 1-2 minutes at best before someone walks their shots to their exact location. So, despite my friend's, Beta Bil's comment, I don't think I am "anal"; just a responsible officer.

Right. So, about that crater are my men taking cover in the crater or are they exposed on the rim? How does one know? (I think CMx1, you could use the LOS line and it would give you exposure information.) Thanks.

This is another thing which is frustrating with CMx2 is this need to micro-manage everything while denying me the ability to be precise with my orders. I mean sometimes there is a crater and the terminus of the movement order falls right on the crater; which is generally good for a team who knows how to follow orders. But other times the terminus just fights me and it 3-4M from the crater. Now, I would like to say to my men, who should at least have the TACAI common sense to play tic-tac-toe with Google's Deep Mind Neural Net, but more likely they will take cover along the rim of the crater ... and there is more ... like when there is a neat cluster of sand bag positions waiting for them, and they settle between the sandbag enclosures rather than into them. After 60 minutes with these guys, you really understand how they managed to become cannon fodder infantry. I mean no one was going to put them behind the controls of a P51-D.

It wasn't bad enough that my ISP, PRC, PLA, Google, Microsoft, and the NSA are tracking everything I say here. Now, you got big data counting every round my pixeltruppen sent down range, and that Corporal Upham only fired a single round in 2 1/2 hours!!! THANK YOU, VERY MUCH!!!

I never thought about in all that old film footage. I always thought they were using the tanks for cover ... (not above)

I have always started (in most warfare) with smaller scenarios and worked my way up. I like smaller scenarios. Each decision seems much more critical. The loss of a squad to a round of canister is far more painful than when there are a few companies on the field. I appreciate the fine work of all scenario designers. Although I have never built any scenarios myself in any game (except for testing), I realize that good scenarios require historic knowledge, technical expertise with tools, imagination/creativity, visualizing, and extensive testing always with an eye to how the player might approach it. Beyond the developers, you guys are the heroes that have made CM the success it is today!