[Black Screen]

I'm having display/refresh problems with CMBB.

When I start up CMBB (v1.3) i hear the music, but see no start up movie and the screen is black. No matter how long I wait, the screen remains black until i move the cursor over one of the four buttons. If I start a game and click the down arrow to see the next page of scenarios, the screen doesn't refresh until i click on a scenario. Seems like the refresh rate is delayed by a click.

Once I choose a scenario, i again get a black screen. If i do ctrl+tab, I can see the screen, but this takes some finece. Once i release the keys the screen is black. I can advance through the setup screens only by clicking where the 'continue' buttons are (should be) behind the black screen.

Once in the setup of a game (i.e. unit placement) i sometimes see the units, sometimes not. Usually, the screen is blank and i may see some text. As i move around on the screen the text advances to a new position, but the old text remains on the screen. If I use '+' to advance to a unit and right-click (blindly) on the unit, i can see a menu. if i choose an option, like move, i get the same trail effect with the resulting text, but no graphic. I can see the menu at the bottom of the screen, but advancing a turn does not help.

I've always had problems starting games, but its only been now that i also have problems playing them. I used to have CMBB v1.3. I reinstalled the game but that didn't help. I deleted my pref file with no success.

I'm using a toshiba Satellite laptop with windows XP with 240MB of RAM. I'm using the internal video adapter which is a Trident. My screen refresh is at 60 Hertz (the only option). Screen resolution is at 1024x768 with 32bit color quality.

Any thoughts?

[What are "gamey" tactics, exactly?]

Interesting topic, particularly for newbies like me. What's the deal with AA guns and planes? sounds like one's ineffective against the other and so the unspoken rule is to not use either unit in battle.

[Greetings again...help with Startup please]

thanks for the feedback. The game still rocks!

[Greetings again...help with Startup please]

I'm experiencing the exact same problem:

skips movie at startup and shows black screen until i ALT-TAB and mouse click for a while; scrolling through scenario choices is buggy, also requiring a mouse click to 'highlight' a scenario or to advance a page; finally, after choosing a scenario, i get a blank screen and again have to ALT-TAB and mouse click to see the screen/ advance to the game. Once I hit the game setup screen the game plays great.

I'm using a Toshiba Satellite 1805-S204 with a Celeron processer, 240MB RAM, and Windows XP. I updated the mouse (PS/2 driver from MS v5.1.26) and display drivers (Trident Video Accelerator CB XP v6.4022) from the Toshiba website. I'm using DirectX 8.1.

Any suggestions?