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phil180

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Posts posted by phil180

    MS 8.1 Compatibility?

    in Combat Mission: Shock Force Tech Support

    Posted

    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.

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    Unable to patch 1.21

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    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.

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    CM: Shock Force 2 Wish List

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    This is not true. I just tested it and the game launches without an internet connection after beeing licensed. You only need an internet connection during the process of licensing or unlicensing but once that has been done, you dont. This means you can run CMSF on 2 different machines simultaniously with a single license.

    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.)

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    CM: Shock Force 2 Wish List

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    phil180, afaik you can install a single copy on several different machines (never tried it though). In the CMSF manual it says:

    "eLicense allows you to license, un-license and re-license the game

    as often as you wish. This allows you to use CM:SF on several

    computers if you like (up to two at the same time) without

    reinstallation, and gives you the right to re-sell the game after

    you’ve had your fun with it (as long as you un-license your

    copy)."

    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.

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    CM: Shock Force 2 Wish List

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    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.)

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    Why the convoluted patch process?

    in Combat Mission: Shock Force Tech Support

    Posted

    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?)

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    Shock Force Modules or Normandy

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    The three modules for SF add a TON of content and let you play all of the user made scenarios available. If you loved vanilla Shock Force you will be blown away by how much better the game is with the modules.

    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.)

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    Sugestion for NATO module: Canadian Leopard 2A4M CAN

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    Well you still get tech support of course, and maybe the MAC edition will require a patch of some sort, but as far as enhancements go [...][

    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.

    0

    bull**** system

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    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.)

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    Scenarios & campaigns

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    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.

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    CMSF unlicense woes

    in Combat Mission: Shock Force Tech Support

    Posted

    One other problem with VM's is that they may not offer enough access to 3D video hardware resources for the game to play well. I'm surprised that some VM programs seem to be compatible with some higher end games that should require significant hardware access, so I don't know how they're virtualizing the video adapter for heavy 3D access. Typically it seems some of these VM programs have a specific list of games that they can support. I'm not sure if there is code within some of these games that allows for such 'pre-emptive tasking' of the video hardware that a VM would run into.

    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.

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    CMSF unlicense woes

    in Combat Mission: Shock Force Tech Support

    Posted

    Actually ANY of the modules activates the base game. However there is a problem with unlicensing the base game once you install any module. [...]

    So presumably it's good practice to unlicense an existing base game before adding any module?

    After this weekend's experience, I'm ready to trade for a Macbook Pro. Windows 7 is too bloated and unstable

    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).

    The good news is my two Battlefront titles are very well-behaved under Windows 7. I played both CMSF [...]

    Nice to know. My gaming PC is far too old now. It was a pleasant surprise that CMSF ran at all!

    Phil.

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    The Screen (TF Thunder campaign) graphics problem

    in Combat Mission: Shock Force Tech Support

    Posted

    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.

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