phil180

I'm confused about this. Did Apple actually change a published interface? Or break the underlying semantics? (I stopped using OSX on my Macbook about a year ago, so I've lost track of what they have or haven't done.)

I too would love to see this fixed. The current force selection process is horrid.

I also had no trouble with a clean install on a new Win 8.1 (64 bit) machine. No special steps: I just followed the excessively convoluted instructions for the installation of the three modules and patches. It's a much nicer machine, and CMSF looks much better. If it's of any interest, I had a similar conversation (with the roles reversed) about another game which didn't work on my new machine until I un-installed and re-installed.

There's a middle ground. It doesn't have to be free. Making it substantially cheaper could make a difference. I had the base game ages ago and only bought the three modules last year. TBH I'm quite disappointed. There are too many little niggles.

Not even worth trying. It won't run in VMs because of the DRM. If someone does find it working in Linux, so much the better.

I can't see it in the store, so I guess you'd need to contact Battlefront support to ask if it's possible to buy it. Also, when I last checked (ages ago) the updates site was dead. It was a nice game....

Two points that have been made before, yet I still see no progress from BF. 1. A DRM that expects you to disable AV before dealing with downloads increases customers' risk (given the number of trojaned downloads out there). 2. The lack of an obvious cryptographic checksum on BF's site for each possible download makes it hard to be sure you've got the right file.

Surely they are copyright to the author (or employer) unless explicitly placed in the public domain by the author (or have expired)? Depending on the legal jurisdiction, the Berne Convention probably applies, which doesn't require an explicit © or notice. Phil. (Not a lawyer anywhere.)

What's not true? I'm well aware of it not needing to access a licence server once it's activated. My point is that it's a bloody nuisance when you have multiple machines. And there's still the poor interaction with security software. From my viewpoint, unless the game is utterly fantastic I'm no longer spending money on DRM-encumbered software. I recognise the right of publishers and authors to make their own decisions, but I don't have to buy it. (CMSF, while good fun, has enough issues such as the QB misfeatures and some UI problems, so isn't good enough.)

And requires an active Internet connection to do so (I'm often away with work and surprisingly don't have the luxury of a reliable connection frequently). Besides, it's an additional hassle. I play games for fun, not for more book-keeping.

Not sure if this fits in the wish list, but I'd really like to see BF abandon DRM. I find it a nuisance when it interferes with OS security features, but more practically, I find that games that I can drop onto different machines so much better. The last couple of indie games I bought have all been cross-platform without DRM -- a much better experience. (Indeed, it's reached the point where I'm sticking with only the base CMSF. I'm too irritated to buy the modules.)

I can understand people wanting to play with an earlier patch version to avoid bugs. Shame that the different patches don't play nicely with older instance of game versions. But it's got to be one of the messiest, unfriendliest installs of a game I've ever come across.

I've been wondering this for a while, and may as well ask. *Why* does Battlefront have this convoluted patch process? E.g., "I need to reinstall CMSF and one (or more) modules. How do I do that?" (http://www.battlefront.com/helpdesk/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=181) and "I have CMSF and a module, patched to the latest version. Now I want to buy another module. Do I need to do anything special?" (http://www.battlefront.com/helpdesk/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=182) For example, if someone buys the base game today, do they still get a version that needs patching all the way up to 1.32? Why not just be able to download the up-to-date version? Similarly, after buying a module today, it should be just a case of installing that module, and not having to reapply old patches. (Surely this would make the overall support problem easier?)

What sort of improvements come from adding the three modules to SF? Is it the breadth of different units? Are the scenarios any good? (Still trying to decide if I can face fighting with the web site to actually get it ordered.)

Are the prices going back up? (The forum announcement is dated 03-16-2012 until 04-16-2012.)

The diversion of development effort due to patches, especially for small outfits, is an important point, and I don't have any major issue with the quotes from Battlefront. I wonder what people view as the difference between "patches" and "enhancements" ("bug fixes") etc. For example, if CMSF was to not run properly on Windows 8 (I haven't checked, and I have no reason to think it has problems!), surely there would be a reasonable expectation of a patch fixing that. It seems reasonable to draw a line under the feature set at some time-- so no new vehicles, etc. The greater the cost of the game, the further away I'd expect that line.

It really shouldn't be necessary to run any game as Admin. I can just about see some arguments for installing them as Admin because of the DRM (although that annoys me greatly, too), but running is absurd. IMNSHO it defeats the point of having different tiers of users. Sadly, it seems to be the case with many games. (I've got one of the kids' games in mind here: it simply won't work on a limited account.)

Have you got a linky for that? I'm debating buying some of the modules, but I'd rather hope that there was some ongoing support.... -Phil.

I was hoping that there was something that would record the (logical) data rather than a simple screen capture. Then you'd be able to review from other angles.... Oh well!

Can CMSF games be recorded for playback? (E.g., AARs, or just to see what a botch I made of a particular scenario.) If it's relevant, I tend to play against the AI in real-time mode, but with lots and lots of pausing.... Thanks, Phil.

Hi, A few scenario-related questions for CMSF. Is there a list of the scenarios included in each module? E.g., a brief description of the scenario objective, type of forces involved, size of the scenario? (I dimly recall TacOps4 had a file listing the various scenarios.) Similarly, is there a list of the campaigns and their scenarios? Can the scenarios in campaigns be accessed directly (but I can't see a way through the menus)? Finally, I see a collection of scenarios in the Battlefront file repo -- are there any descriptions of those scenarios anywhere, or is it a case of download and see how they work out? Thanks, Phil.

I suspect it's quite patchy at the moment although I've seen some reasonably heavyweight visualisation software work well in VMs. Perhaps I should find some games (perhaps via Steam) and see what the current VMs do to them. Phil.

So presumably it's good practice to unlicense an existing base game before adding any module? I like the Macbook Pros from work. If it was my own machine, I might even be very slightly tempted to buy CMSF for OSX. It's a shame that the DRM on CMSF doesn't allow the use of VMs (I understand the reasons why, I just find it a nuisance; it'd be nice to drop an install of CMSF into a VM on an OSX machine when travelling on business). Nice to know. My gaming PC is far too old now. It was a pleasant surprise that CMSF ran at all! Phil.

Hi, Thanks for the reply. Everything had been left as default, both for the graphics driver and CMSF. I've not modded CMSF at all (I only recently acquired it and am happily playing my way through it). There were no other symptoms in any other games, nor in any other scenarios played subsequently. A reinstall of the graphics drivers, followed by playing with the CMSF graphics settings (setting both the model and terrain quality to fastest or fast) worked this time.... Thanks for your time.

Hi, The display in The Screen scenario (in the TF Thunder campaign) appears to be corrupted (see the screenshot). All the earlier scenarios are fine, as are all the quick battles I've tried. v1.31 of CMSF (base only). Windows XP, up-to-date OS and graphics drivers AFAICT (I'll recheck in a bit). Any advice? Thanks, Phil.