BigDog944

OpenGL has the benefit of being cross platform compatible, but has the drawback of having poorer driver support than D3D in Windows. OpenGL is also well supported in Linux... Not sure what their options would be if they were to move away from OpenGL. Whatever they did they'd still be working to the lowest common denominator between the two platforms. It's interesting stuff.

Is there an alternate download method, such as a torrent or something? Downloading from the BFC site is quite slow for me, and I've got a very good Cable Internet connection. 10+GB is going to take nearly 8 hours to download and it has failed once already.

Really? And they will be ditching Mac support while they're at it? What I would like to know is when they are going to start supporting Linux!

I will be buying CMBS on release for certain! I never did buy nor have ever played CMSF. I guess I was turned off by the shock of BFC not sticking with WW2 when moving to CMx2, and so continued to play CMx1 games. I looked at CMSF about a year after release, but my impression was that the new system was still problematic and so never pulled the trigger on it. It took the return to WW2 and the fact that clearly most of the bugs had been worked through to get me into the CMx2 world. Now that I am I own everything from CMBN onward and love it all.

One of the better first posts to the forum Stripes75! Welcome!

I definitely say get Italy. You'll get more bang for buck, and you can come back after to upgrade CMBN in smaller steps for less money up front.

Having seen some pictures of your vehicle collection, I was attempting to create a visual image that you could immediately relate to! Maybe I should have used a Rocky and Bullwinkle reference... Tough crowd!

It's like a monster truck versus a wrecked car! Except a wrecked car at a monster truck rally doesn't attempt to justify the actions of those who have staged it for the show.

If this is what you meant, I think you will need to uninstall everything and then re-install the base game, commonwealth module, 3.0 upgrade, then the Vehicle pack in that order to be sure. Much as sburke said but hopefully a little more explicit.

The main reason to start a new base game is marketing. BFC will sell a lot more stand alone "Battle of the Bulge" games than they will "Battle of the Bulge" modules to CMBN. On top of that they are going to get a lot more game reviews and press as well, since it will be a 'new game' and thus worthy of a prerelease review and a full release review by the gaming press.

OK, same routine then. No mixed version compatibility! Fair enough.

Thanks for the move!

If I buy the new vehicle pack and my PBEM buddies don't, am I screwed?

Many thanks, Phil. You guys are pretty amazing, actually.

Good! I will completely erase the previous version from my hard drive and my fading memory. It was still-born and should never have existed! Thanks.

Umm, not really. I purchased the 3.0 CMBN upgrade the day it was released and downloaded the buggy copy. Now they are saying I should download and apply the new version, no need to re-install, but only if I've already applied the buggy version. Seeing that the "fixed" version of the installer I just downloaded is the same size as the "bugged" version I downloaded on Aug. 11th, I'm assuming that I can delete the Aug. 11th version of the installer and just apply the Aug. 21st version. I'd like to get confirmation from BFC or someone who has had success installing only the Aug. 21st version. I hate reinstalling software that was working perfectly fine 10 minutes ago, if you know what I mean.

For those of us who have never applied the "bugged" 3.0 update, is the "fixed" 3.0 update stand alone? I don't need to worry about applying the old version before applying the new version do I?

Not really going anywhere. I highly appreciate the work the beta testers do. However, I'm assuming that each individual beta tester is not beholden to put in X hours per day testing, so there is the possibility that if enough beta testers are busy elsewhere during any given test cycle, then more bugs will get through to release. What I'm saying is that if this is BFC's sole testing methodology it has holes in it and every now and then we're going to get a stinker. At the end of the day, though, it's the players who do the real heavy work of testing the game just due to shear numbers alone. BFC at least listens for and addresses the problems found.

Come on. BFC care about their customers, don't they? Surely another option is to wait for BFC to 'fix or somefink'.

Lol! As for AI triggers, I don't believe they will add anything to ongoing PBEM games... Wouldn't it be great if scenarios could be designed where some of a player's forces are designated as being under AI control only?!? That would open up a number of interesting possibilities in a large battle. And in addition, up here in Canada we value our freedom to install software to any type of drive we like!

Sure, but why bother? It's only a $10.00 upgrade after all! The "patch to the upgrade" is promised soon so I can wait. Besides, my SSD is getting full. A second install is a hassle and basically all I will get out of it in my current PBEM games is hit decals and hot key command lines. Not worth it, I can wait.

Fair enough, but since I've got an i7 CPU and run an Nvidia graphics card, I'm going to avoid applying the 3.0 CMBN patch for now. I also need to let my PBEM partners know not to purchase the 3.0 upgrade to CMBN until I'm certain the upgrade isn't going to terminate our currently running games.

From some of the needlessly introduced bugs in the 3.0 upgrades (1 story building bug? Really?), BFC appear to be flirting with squandering this reputation. The 3.01 patch to the upgrades had best be free! :cool:

Yes, the impression I've been left with is that the quality control of the 3.0 upgrades has been shoddy. I'm also of the impression that BFC needs to adjust their QA processes and stop heaping so much responsibility for release quality on to their unpaid beta testers. Just my impressions, though.

Other than the "I've got to use them up or I'll lose them" kind!