Dawg Bonz

Thanks for the feedback Michael. If Apple really does drop prices, I may get a "new"… old machine. I would love to get a Dual G4 but the G3 iBook may have to do for now. I hope this purchase will last me for at least a 2-3 year period and be at least basic CMII capable. "when CMII appears I'll need something faster..." IF the RUMORS are right, the PowerPC 976 4GHz+ may ship in mid-2005 and the single-core PPC 980 5GHz+will be Apple's workhorse high-end processor beginning in early 2006. I would expect these machines to be a bit pricey compared to the ‘old’ G4 that you aptly describe as, "a beautiful machine that does nearly everything I could ask of it." Who knows when CMII will ship but the BFC game should be blazing and beautiful on these Macs and a 20+" display. Thanks again for the feedback Michael.

Michael, I used the term "might" based on a computer friends hunch. He has more knowledge of Apple’s business practices than myself but his "hunch" is just that. Sorry for any misunderstanding. BTW: Didn’t you say in a post you have the NVIDIA GeForce4 Titanium 128MB video card in your Mac? How does that card work in the CM trilogy in your machine? Dust & Smoke looks good? What kind of desktop are you using? Just asking in case those 'old' G4-1.25 Duals drop in price as well... One can hope.

Thanks for the feedback Tom. Much appreciated. I just learned of the rumored release of new PowerMac G5's: Single 2, Dual 2.3 and Dual 2.6 on January 24! This Apple release might drop the old iBook price even more. Now that I know the 32MB VRAM Radeon 7500 card works great with the CM series of games, this will help my purchase decision.

Thanks for the feedback Schrullenhaft. Appreciate your insight as always. What you report as your impression agrees with what I can gather from reading the forum for information. I can confirm my 32MB Mac Edition PCI Radeon card looks great in all 3-CM titles. I can’t see down sampling, no psychedelic color problems and the dust & smoke look great in high quality. The ATI Mobility RADEON 7500 is 32MB and 2xAGP. Hoping an iBook 900MHz G3 owner(s) with hands on experience can confirm high-quality graphics for this videocard/chip combination. Thanks again Schrullenhaft.

My vintage (96) 8500 Mac is coughing and sputtering. Signs of imminent morbidity. In searching the intermediate options for OS9 CM compatible machines, I am looking at a: iBook 900MHzG3 / 128MB / 40GB /COMBO / E / 56K / 12.1TFT * "Stunning graphics with ATI Mobility RADEON 7500" Does anyone know for a certain FACT that the ATI Mobility RADEON 7500 (32MB?) video card produces "High Quality" dust & fog (without psychedelic color problems) in all 3 (OS9.xx) CM titles on this iBook 900MHzG3 ? Thanks,

Thanks eichenbaum. Sounds like transparent trees is not an option in the current CM trilogy. Maybe transparent trees (or better) will be available in CMX2. Appreciate your explanation.

ropey & Mick15 Thanks for the clear explanations of 'Goums' and site locations for Tabors Marocains - Les Goumiers! I will pass this on to Pops. He will be excited about this I am sure. Have to brush up on my French reading but I should be able to get through OK. Just don’t ask me to speak French. 6 weeks of living in Paris with my brother (and his impeccable language skills) and I was embarrassed to buy things. Shopkeepers would try to teach me the correct Parisian pronunciation and point out my brother’s "Parisian accent." Pops described Les Goumiers as "having no uniform… often wearing regular clothes… some with black clothing for camouflage." After looking at the image of a 'Goum' I can see where he would describe them in such manner. Uniforms look nothing like traditional US military attire. He described them in esteemed terms as to their tenacity and fighting ability in the harsh conditions of Monte Cassino. http://www.army.mil/cmh/ http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/brochures/romar/72-20.htm The above links are worth a complete review for those interested in Monte Cassino & WWII. Here is the summary analysis of the Rome-Arno 22 January-9 September 1944 brochure prepared in the U.S. Army Center of Military History by Clayton D. Laurie. There are some photos, on of Cassino: the monastery, the castle, and the town. Impressive climb to the monastery even under non lethal bombardment conditions. "Analysis The Allied operations in Italy between January and September 1944 were essentially an infantryman's war where the outcome was decided by countless bitterly fought small unit actions waged over some of Europe's most difficult terrain under some of the worst weather conditions found anywhere during World War II. Given such circumstances, the growing Allied superiority in materiel, especially in armored and air forces, was of little consequence, and ground troops were forced to carry out repeated, costly frontal assaults that quickly turned the campaign into a war of attrition on a battlefield where the terrain heavily favored the defense. Chronic shortages of troops and materiel throughout 1944 exacerbated the already difficult tactical situation in Italy and became worse as the year wore on, ensuring that the limited Allied forces available would not obtain a quick, decisive victory, but would rather slowly grind down their well-entrenched and determined enemies. The Allied air forces aided ground operations by providing close air support and by disrupting enemy supply lines and communications, but their efforts were not decisive as demonstrated during the bombings of Monte Cassino and Operation STRANGLE. To critics of the Allied effort in Italy, the repeated ill-fated attempts to open the Liri valley, resulting in the disaster on the Rapido and the three costly assaults on Monte Cassino, as well as the desperate Anzio gamble, all indicated a lack of imagination on the part of both British and American commanders. Allied commanders, however, were limited in their options considering the political, logistical, and geographical aspects of the campaign." Hmmm… "slowly grind down their well-entrenched and determined enemies…." Kinda sounds like WWI uphill? No wonder Pops saw so many injured over such an extended campaign. That said, Cassino was a massive part of the war effort for all sides. Again from U.S. Army Center of Military History by Clayton D. Laurie, "Strategic Setting: The Allied landings in Italy in September 1943, followed quickly by the liberation of Naples and the crossing of the Volturno River in October, had tied down German forces in southern Italy. By year's end a reinforced German army of 23 divisions, consisting of 215,000 troops engaged in the south and 265,000 in reserve in the north, was conducting a slow withdrawal under pressure from the U.S. Fifth Army under Lt. Gen. Mark Clark and the Commonwealth and Allied forces of the British Eighth Army under General Sir Bernard L. Montgomery…." I don’t know how you would create castle walls. Like Tpatch I too am a novice at scenario design. Only just played my 1st real human opponent in a PBEM. Looks like ropey has done the scenario research and has evaluated the critical questions for Cassino using the CM engine. I will go check out your scenarios. Thanks in advance for the work. "I will be in Cassino for the 60th. See you there?" Unfortunately We will not be there. At 88 years Pops does not get around too much now but he will be interested to read all written here when I show him. Thanks to all for the interesting and valuable information.

Michael Dorosh, "….. Cassino was what - four separate battles fought over a four month period?" "Monte Casino was a massive campaign." Pops was there so he should have a good feel for what happened. I sure noticed when Pops rolled his eyes at the idea of single battle / operation! Michael Dorosh, "….. there are scenarios included with French, Polish, American et al troops that could be the starting point to CM battles on this terrain - research already done for you." Kinda why the totality of Monte Cassino is important. Pops said he remembered the "Gooms" (sp?), were the guys who did some very effective … up close and personal … fighting at Monte Cassino along with the Polish troops. I think he also said there was a group of Japanese Americans troops that were excellent fighters and never complained. Andreas, … "Judging from the memory of those small-unit actions that I have read about (all of Cassino was small-unit actions, because of the narrow frontages), most of them just would not make even a decent scenario." From what Pops said the up hill grind on ‘narrow frontages’ made for the distressing Allied casualties he helped treat. The long-term characteristics of the Cassino assault created a number of soldiers who were not psychologically fit to fight anymore. Having never been in war I can only imagine how many times you could advance uphill into well defended positions, see your buddies get killed or wounded before you literally got under your cot when the airplanes flew over. "Quick reminder - no fighting on top of the hill." I think you are right Andreas. (Thanks for your numerous scenarios Andreas. Your noteworthy enterprise is appreciated.) A Monte Cassino pack is sounding like the better idea MikeyD. If you decide to take this considerable task on, I salute you Sir. Question: Where the ‘Gooms’ the French Moroccan troops?

SFJaykey thanks for your reply. Yep, extreme tree effects have much greater 3D visual appeal but they do block the FOV when following a squad. I do not know how the transparent buildings feature is implemented but that was the idea but for trees. I most noticed this when following units level one / two in the movie phase. Cool watching units move through the foliage as long as you can see through the trees. If you had an option for transparent trees from the higher viewing angles you could have options; normal or transparent with an area the size of the unit base transparent when moving through the woods. Do not know if this is possible with a tree .bmp mod?

As noted in the recent thread Family Ties to World War II here is what sparks my interest in the engagement: Father in law (88 years old and still alive) was a Medical Officer in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. His 1st experience was arriving near Bizerte’ Tunisia to,"… a former city that was nothing much but rubble and a few goats…" Many stories of treating the carnage resulting from the Anzio & Monte Casino engagements. "We had ambulances backed up for blocks and blocks so many guys were getting injured… Some patients were so scared after this fierce fighting that they would get out and hide under their cloth cots when they heard aircraft in the area…." Italy became his favorite country to visit after WWII." He made many, many trips to Europe after the war but Italy felt like his "second home." Just this week I was showing my father in law the CMAK game on my Mac. We played a few moves in "Brits at Anzio" when he said to me, " we took a awful lot of casualties from Anzio but where is Monte Casino?" At 88yo, he is even less computer aware than I am. I explained how WWII historical hobbyist did the research for the maps, units, etc. I described the scenario / single battle vs. the operation / multiple battle game concept. He looked at me wide eyed and said, "Monte Casino was a massive campaign. Where is that in the game?" My reply, "I am sure someone(s) with much more talent than myself will tackle a Monte Casino Campaign pack. I will let you know when it is posted." ---- AndrewTF…" The entire Cassino area is way too humongous to really realistically consider……" Looking at my father in law’s comment and his tremendous wide eyed response, agrees with you entirely. Mikey D … "a useable "mini-Monte Cassino" … or … "whole-hog and do system-straining game on a monster map with a loooong game length... but who would play it?" I would give it a go but since the AI can beat me in small 1500 pt scenarios I would be crushed in such a massive scale engagement if my vintage Mac could even emulate it? Slappy "…a Casino pack?" Probably most realistic. Grey Hunter…" this scenario is a must, but it needs to be carfully planned" Agreed. So many diffenet nationalites were involved in Monte Cassino that this must be a must for CMAK completeness IMO. SFJaykey… "moderate to large scenarios depicting CM-sized engagements around Cassino at 1:1 scale…." Probably most reasonable considering the CM engine design and tactical focus of the game. IMO 1:1 scale is desirable for historical accuracy. For game play, performance considerations this may need to change in the current CM games. Now with CMX2? lcm1947… "already a Monte Cassino at The Proving Grouds." Thanks I will check it out for my Father in law.

Father (deceased) was a US Army Engineer in France and Germany. "Building things and blowing things up!" Dad also was involved the emancipation of some concentration camps in Germany. This troublesome service experience left Dad with a lasting blaze. He just could not understand how humans could inflict such crimes on "non combatants." He remained a human rights advocate the rest of his life. Father in law (88 years old and still alive) was a Medical Officer in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. His 1st experience was arriving near Bizerte’ Tunisia to,"… a former city that was nothing much but rubble and a few goats…" Many stories of treating the carnage resulting from the Anzio & Monte Casino engagements. "We had ambulances backed up for blocks and blocks so many guys were getting injured….. Some patients were so scared after this fierce fighting that they would get out and hide under their cloth cots when they heard aircraft in the area…." Italy became his favorite country to visit after WWII. Wife’s great uncle (deceased) was a Japanese POW in the Philippines. He had the misfortune of owning a successful "gentleman’s bar" that the Japanese confiscated. Uncle Harold lived to be 93 years old! He had plenty of great stories to tell always over a nice Gin drink of course. How do you think he kept those coronary arteries clear all those years?

Father (deceased) was a US Army Engineer in France and Germany. "Building things and blowing things up!" Dad also was involved the emancipation of some concentration camps in Germany. This troublesome service experience left Dad with a lasting blaze. He just could not understand how humans could inflict such crimes on "non combatants." He remained a human rights advocate the rest of his life. Father in law (88 years old and still alive) was a Medical Officer in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. His 1st experience was arriving near Bizerte’ Tunisia to,"… a former city that was nothing much but rubble and a few goats…" Many stories of treating the carnage resulting from the Anzio & Monte Casino engagements. "We had ambulances backed up for blocks and blocks so many guys were getting injured….. Some patients were so scared after this fierce fighting that they would get out and hide under their cloth cots when they heard aircraft in the area…." Italy became his favorite country to visit after WWII. Wife’s great uncle (deceased) was a Japanese POW in the Philippines. He had the misfortune of owning a successful "gentleman’s bar" that the Japanese confiscated. Uncle Harold lived to be 93 years old! He had plenty of great stories to tell always over a nice Gin drink of course. How do you think he kept those coronary arteries clear all those years?

Father (deceased) was a US Army Engineer in France and Germany. "Building things and blowing things up!" Dad also was involved the emancipation of some concentration camps in Germany. This troublesome service experience left Dad with a lasting blaze. He just could not understand how humans could inflict such crimes on "non combatants." He remained a human rights advocate the rest of his life. Father in law (88 years old and still alive) was a Medical Officer in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. His 1st experience was arriving near Bizerte’ Tunisia to,"… a former city that was nothing much but rubble and a few goats…" Many stories of treating the carnage resulting from the Anzio & Monte Casino engagements. "We had ambulances backed up for blocks and blocks so many guys were getting injured….. Some patients were so scared after this fierce fighting that they would get out and hide under their cloth cots when they heard aircraft in the area…." Italy became his favorite country to visit after WWII. Wife’s great uncle (deceased) was a Japanese POW in the Philippines. He had the misfortune of owning a successful "gentleman’s bar" that the Japanese confiscated. Uncle Harold lived to be 93 years old! He had plenty of great stories to tell always over a nice Gin drink of course. How do you think he kept those coronary arteries clear all those years?

Thanks Schrullenhaft. Your video driver OS suggestion makes sense. Unfortunately the vintage 8500s are not capable of anything beyond OS 9.1 even with the Sonnet 400MHz accelerator. A 32bit CM would make some great games look even better but the color-depth situation is probably a no go with my older Mac. Thanks again for your suggestions.

Thanks for the tip. I have the full retail CMAK. Another entertaining CM title. All three CM games on my Mac will only run in 16bit (Thousands of Colors) 1280Xx1024 85.02Hz. I am on a Sonnet enhanced PowerPC 8500 at 400MHz, Mac OS 9.1 with an ATI Mac PCI 32MB video card. I tried setting 32bit (Millions of Colors) on y system and it is a no go. Glad to hear you are able to run this resolution but I am wondering how a 16MB card can do 32bit and a 32MB card can’t? Any suggestions on entering the 32bit CM world are welcomed.

Is there a method or ‘trick’ to obtain transparent trees in the CM trilogy of games? Can you make the tree .bmps transparent like you can with buildings? I realize you can change the visual density of tress from none to extreme with the shift –T command. I fancy the way some wooded maps look with the extreme setting. Great feeling to the game as a squad moves through at grunt level one. The quandary is as the units move through the woods, the tree bmps (even on "sparse") can fill the entire screen, overly obscuring the FOV. If you could toggle the close range tree bmps (the trees the squad is passing by) to transparent, trees would look superior without overly obscuring the FOV. Do not know if this is possible but wondering. :confused: Thanks in advance.

"OS X compatibility is tops on the list." Thanks for the support Martin & BFC. The ironic part for me is I was never a war game fan till I discovered CM on a Mac. Now, a little over a year & three Mac CM titles latter, I am still grinning & happy on old Mac OS9.1. CM-X2 in OS X on the new G5+ will be astonishing I am sure. I am not in a rush for CM-X2 as I got plenty of CM gaming to entertain myself with before CM-X2 and a new Mac. Now for the comical part for me…. Please render at minimum of 120 decibels. BORN ON A MAC! Get your Mac a runnin' Head out on the WE-GO way Lookin' for adventure And whatever’s fired your way Yeah BFC's gonna make it happen Take the world in a love embrace Fire all of your guns at once And explode into space BORN ON A MAC! BORN ON A MAC! "Steppe & Woof" Lyrics modified by Dawg Bonz inspired by "Steppenwolf" & BORN TO BE WILD 1968 release. Off to work. Carry on!

Moon / Martin "… And to get this back on topic - one thing I do know, with whatever comes after CMAK we will continue to stay true to our principles, i.e. not chase after tech features just because, but pay attention to the overall result. Visuals that are not supported by the appropriate underlying simulation effects are, to me, worth only half as much; and to automatically get drolling over pixel shading when the result simply does not look realistic seems to defeat its purpose." Bingo! Well said Moon. Impressive tech features just because… Any time the instrument of vision anatomy gets whacked with a cluster thump of stimulant, you will get a physiological jolt. Kinda like "eye espresso" a reliable cranial commodity with a healthy market share. I have seen an uber Mac playing an uber RTS game and these nerve filament acrobatics are very impressive. IMO, the post ocular "attention to the overall result." method of CM is a more sustained, enduring delivery of brain pharmaceutical. There is definitely room on most ‘home entertainment’ HDs for all three CM titles and the latest optical sweetmeat, be it a RTS / Flight Simulator / Fantasy Quest, etc. If the "What Next" from CM maintains the "attention to the overall result" standards Moon brought up, you can put it in just about any time frame and have an engaging, realistic and successful gaming experience. I would think the improved & enhanced CM engine revisiting the current BO/BB & AK campaigns of would even sell well. What’s Next? What I would like is a Mac OSX CM-X2 that has modular theatres, plug in Viet Nam, Iraq, AK, etc., maybe some multi player WE GO / TCP/IP options, and a kick lass Uber Editor Plus. Heck I get a jolt just designing maps for my solo games Vs AI. AI often beats me so what the heck do I know. CM is fun and sure beats work. Visuals supported by appropriate underlying simulation effects and realistic looking graphic results accurately describes my experience of the CM games as well. Cheers,

I too have played AI only as well for almost a year. I have played AI to learn about war games tactics in general, as I am a complete conscript in war gaming. The solo AI games allow me to get in a few moves as time allows w/o your turn time pressures. My 1st human / PBEM game occurred these last few weeks. I must admit my human opponent was more entertaining (AI does not chatter back with PBEM banter) while he gave me a good scrap then a solid spanking. "What view does the AI have of the battlefield? I also wonder: What is the average AI variability per turn? I have reloaded & replayed the same turn vs. AI and obtained some significantly different result w/o changing any unit variables. I read in the manual for CMBB page 176 about Strategic, Operational, Tactical Artificial Intelligence … "mixed with a heavy dose of "fuzzy logic" decision making ensures a variety of play…." Is the AI "fuzzy logic" variability per turn consistent across CMBO / BB & AK or has it been tweaked? Doesn’t AI’s view change with FOW setting?

"Innovation isn't the key to economic growth. Management is the key to economic growth." Forgot who wrote this but when you have got both Innovation & Management you are going to be prosperous in business. Another customer review. I purchased (Mac) CMBO, CMBB and now CMAK. I will continue to support similar BFC games because they are FUN to play, attractive in appearance, effortless to adjust level and style of combat. BFC games are great long term gaming values using the built in editors and hundreds of user submitted scenarios. As a business venture, BFC has been courteous and timely in delivery of products. With support of their CM gaming forums BFC has assisted in my meeting some very engaging, artistic and perceptive people. Best of luck in your quality game obsession / economic growth BFC. "Live long and prosper." Robert … not a "major" reviewer but a satisfied, repeat customer.

Thank you for the reply Shadow. Did some more tests on both CMAK & CMBB. Close examination on my CRT. Looked specifically at tanks and infantry uniforms. I can see no differences in these CM images on my vintage Mac with the off ATI Graphics Acceleration turned off. Are there any screen shots posted depicting the ATI Graphics Acceleration off, anti downsampling?

Shadow 1st Hussars Thank you for the advice. I turned off ATI Graphics Acceleration and can see no differences. Saved a few close up screen shots (in CMAK only so far), Esc out of the game to compare them. I honsetly can not see any change with ATI Graphics Acceleration on or off. Could you please describe your Mac system and the model Radeon video card you are using? Could you please describe what is downsampled on your Mac? I am not questioning your suggestion. I am wondering how what Radeon products this anti downsampling tip applies to. If others could point me in the correct direction (description of down sampled artifacts on the Mac) I would appreciate this. My Mac: Power PC 8500 (Sonnet 400MHz accelerator) 576MB ram ATI Radeon Mac Edition 32MB PCI video card. Thanks,

Thank you both, Schrullenhaft & Michael for your explanations Good to know it is exclusively the ‘mature’ OS disability not untutored operator error type 2-3-4 etc. I can live with only one-CM theatre of operation operating on the machine. Hope the new OS X will be simultaneous CM game "protected memory" friendly.

Thanks Michael. Your explanation sounds reasonable to me. I know I have enough memory to run both games. I am just searching for better understanding about why two-CM games running in OS 9.1 won’t work when it looks like it should. More user convenience to have two games open. Sounds like the new CM game(s) in OSX should have no problem running simultaneously.

Is there a public catalogue of BFC priorities for the new engine? Is there a posted catalogue of consumer priorities for the new engine?