teotwawki1

madmatt, thanks for the update. I'll try to stop my CMAK induced anticipatory twitching and drooling for a few days, as I comtemplate what to do with the USPS when I finally take my rightful place as ruler of the world. It won't be pretty lol.

eichenbaum, thanks for the mods...I've already snagged a couple of them...will grab the rest anon. (aren't you impressed I actually managed to use that word lol).

I ordered mine on the 29th, haven't seen a hint of anything other than the order confirmation that morning. Any idea where they're located, or mail the CDs from? I'm on the East coast...which is usually only 2/3 days shipping from east of the Miss. river. Unless of course the USPS is involved, in which case all bets are off lol.

A must have terrain mod is Mikey D's dirty winter road...much more realistic looking, and make the roads show up 100% better. A gridded grass is always nice, to spot small elevation changes better...a tree mod like Ed's or Strontium Dog's, and a buildings mod as well, like Ed's. I also really like Tarkus' Dark Steel total conversion..it'll change the front end completely.

Para, the absolute beauty of all the CM games is you can play exactly the size battles you want via quick battles or the scenario editor. I've owned CMBO and CMBB for quite some time, and spend the vast majority of time designing and playing small/tiny scenarios so that I dont' just get overwhelmed with units. Plus, you tend to miss a lot on a bigger battlefield, so I tend to favor smaller for that reason as well. You can design training scenarios for yourself, to test infantry tactics, see how suppression works, check out tank vs. tank battles, and pretty much tailor the game to your own needs. You do not HAVE to play the included scenarios 'til you're ready...I swear, I've only played a half dozen of the included ones myself. Stick with smaller stuff 'til you get a really good handle on how things work in the game, and then design some bigger battles yourself when you feel comfortable. This isn't school, and you're not on anyone's schedule but your own.

can we assume that you're the sadistic bast...I mean designer of this scenario lol? If so, well done...it's a tough one. As I have CMAK on the way, by all means do convert it!

Just out of curiostiy...are either of you guys running any mod installer programs, like CM Mod? I had some explosion problems--the fire part was just white--that sound very similar to your problems. I re-installed CM, and starting only using CMMOS...and no more problems.

Somewhere over the last week or so, I came accross a wonderful post with all kinds of useful info about suppression...ammount of firepower causes x result for x turns, and it included the blast factor damage for differenct sized arty. Of course, I can't find it now...if I had $1 for every web page I *should* have bookmarkd, I could give Bill Gates a run for his money. Has anyone seen something like this here recently? I'm *assuming* I saw it here, but I can't be 100% certain, as I've poked around some other CM related sites as well. I did a search on suppression for the last 20 days, but didnd't find what I was looking for. If anyone has a link to this info, please post it. Thanks in advance!

The 9800 Pro doesn't need as much power as some of the upper end GeForce cards...I have a GeForce 4 Ti 4200 that wouldn't run right in a machine w/ a 300w power supply, for instance. How much power going to the 12v, 5v, and 3.3v rails of the PS is more important than overall power...a good 300w Enermax may deliver enough power to that portion of the PS to power devices that a really cheap 350w or even 400w can't. I've already forgotten what # you're trying to hit, but there needs to be a certain amount of watts to each of those 3 rails. Multiply the stated amps for each rail times the voltage to get the watts to each of the rails, then add them up. Of course, w/o me being able to remember the "recommended" minimum wattage to each of those rails, we're SOL hehe. I don't even remember where I heard this being discussed, most likey amdmb.com...but it's one of those things that's stuck in my mind. I'm sure a little google action will turn up the right info.

Okay...after looking at the scores, especially for games I already own, I went ahead and got the 4 Ti4200. After 4 hours of looking at/comparing video cards, and then trying to figure out who had what, I reverted to the "tried and true". I was very tempted in the middle of this process to don rubber boots, put a white handkerchief with twisted corners on my head, and shout "my brain 'urts". The most frustrating part was the fact that pricewatch lets the retailers get away with listing a 5600LE as a 5600. While *technically* correct, this really makes it tough to find exactly what you're looking for.

I think you can get the Lynksys 4 port router with built in firewall for about $50 all over the net.

Okay, let's suppose I'm looking at the GeForce 5700...I pop over to pricewatch...click on that listing, and that takes me to a 5700LE...now, iirc, LE is a neutered/castrated version of the card. And when I click on 5600, all I see is the XT...once again, the clock speed of those is not the same. And should I be looking at core clock speed, or memory? sorry, but I'm an idiot when it comes to this stuff. Where the **** can I get some truth in advertising lol? At this point, I'll settle for an FX5600, IF I can find a real one (325mzh). NewEgg has the XFX for $99...a little more than I wanted, but what the hey, it's only money. Is that my best bet? If you know someplace reputable that doesn't play games with their products, let me know...I'm absolutely open to suggestions.

Thanks...I used to be up on all of this, but as soon as NVidia followed ATI's lead in their deceptive product numbering convention, I gave up lol. The other problem I've found, especially on pricewatch, is you don't always get what you think you're getting. Every time I click on a Radeon 9600 Pro, for example, the listings that come up are all for 9600SEs...which are by no means the same card. On pricewatch, they've got a 4 Ti 4800 for $82...which is a little better performance than the 4200, which I have in one of my systems...but I'll definitely check out the link to Tom's to see how they all stack up. EDIT: WOW! Looks like the 4 Ti series is the lowest of the low hehe. Just about anything will be better than that. EDIT 2: wtf...what's the difference between a 5700, 5700LE, 5700EP, and 5700XD, which are all available at Newegg.com when I search the 5700 chipset. NOW I remember why I gave up trying to stay current on all this. [ January 06, 2005, 07:57 AM: Message edited by: teotwawki1 ]

Okay, the machine here at work needs an upgrade from the Radeon 8500 that's in here now, to do justice to a certain piece of software near and dear to us lol. So, since this is coming out of my own pocket, what's the best nVidia card I can get for that amount? I'm also upgrading some other stuff, so I really don't want to exceed that price...although I will if I'm only $5 away from MUCH better performance. Although I've never had any problems with my ATI cards, I'm going nVidea this time around...so, GeForce gurus, could you please compare the performance of what you're suggesting to the GeForce 4 Ti4200, which is my only frame of reference? Thanks!

FWIW, I have a Radeon 9800 Pro on an nVidia chipset mobo, and have had no video problems like the ones described above. I have had error that I traced to instant messaging and the use of CM Mod, but no graphics errors like the ones in the pic. I'm sure I'm not using the latest drivers, either.

Sanok, computers are like cars..."how fast do you want to go" is usually followed by "how much do you have to spend"? Nothing beats an AMD Athlon Barton core on an nVidia 2 chipset mobo for price/performance and stability...you can get a lot more performance from the higher end chips from either AMD or Intel, and newer motherboard chipsets, but how much do you need/can you afford? You really have to define your budget. The fastest system I have right now is the aforementioned 2500 Athlon Barton core, and a Radeon 9800 Pro. The performance from this system is quite adequate even for Half Life 2, although I'm not playing it at 1600x1200. The good news is, even a $100 video card will give you very good performance these days, and the price of RAM and storage is absurdly low. I'm due for an upgrade now...I normally do it around Xmas, but I've already blown those $$ on other toys. All of my stuff is at least a year old, an eternity these days. If you have a $$ figure in mind, post it, and I'm sure the folks here can suggest some stuff.

YankeeDog, thanks for that very informative post! You have some excellent advice on force selection there. I play the same kind of battles that TC_Stele does...I like them smaller than most of the scenarios, just so I dont' get overwhelmed. What is the advantage of having the HQ unit spot for the mortars, btw? I'm just curious about how the game inteprets stuff like this. (as opposed to some other unit spotting). Thanks!

You can get a free Village Photo account that will allow you to host a few pics. I did that for a while, then eventually went on to a $5/mo plan that gives me enough storage and bandwidth to solve any worries about the pics I post on some other sites. Check it out.

I've got XP, and the same video card. I had to upgrade to DX 9.c to solve a problem with the turn playback. Make sure you have any instant messaging turned off...XP defaults to having it on...look in the lower right corner of your task bar...you can turn it off there, or go into msconfig and kill it in the startup. In any event, I've never had the problem you describe...but I dont' know that I've ever used that truck. I'll have to play with it and see what happens.

Assuming your LAN is configured properly, you shouldn't have to do anything special to play CMBO, even on computers with different OSs installed. If the 2 computers can already see each other, you should be good to go. You will need to know the address of the host computer, so that you can access the game...just enter it in the box on the second computer when it asks for the TCP/IP address of the game. On the XP machine, hit start, run, type in ipconfig at the dos prompt, and it'll tell you the IP address of that machine...it'll be something like 192.168.1.103...it's last 2 numbers that will differentiate the various machines on the LAN Using the XP machine as the host, when you start the game on the 2nd computer, you just type the addy of the 1st one in the TCP/IP box, and you should be off and running. Your post is not entirely clear...if you DO NOT have a LAN, then you will need a crossover cable to connect the PCs through the NIC. I've never tried to do it w/o going through a LAN, so I dont' know how that works with CMBO. Honestly, with the price of switches and hubs these days, that may be the path of least resistance...I've seen outrageous prices on crossover cables at the retail level. [ January 04, 2005, 10:57 AM: Message edited by: teotwawki1 ]

Well, to echo what others have said, you need to isolate the suspected bad components one by one...replacing them with known good components, if you have extra one sitting around, to test. What I usually do is take the mobo out of the case, and hook it directly up to the power supply. (Make sure it's sitting on something non static, like the foam mat that comes in the mobo box, and/or the anti static wrapper). You can then hook up just the video card to it, and see what happens. Obviously, you need to be careful when you do this not to spill/drop anything on the mobo when it's powered. If it doesn't POST, then try another CPU if you have one, then another stick of RAM. If you can get it to POST, then add peripherals like disk drives/cd roms, etc one at a time. Are you hearing any beeps at all when the machine boots up? If so, and you have your mobo manual, you *might* be able to tell what's bad just by looking in the manual. That's the theory, but it's never worked for me. I've had every weird computer error known to man, and then some lol. Basically, it's a PIA, and the troubleshooting can be frustrating. I have all kinds of bits and pieces laying around but even then you can't always duplicate the same problem. I had an MSI mb that would not work with a GeForce 4 in a certain case, no matter what PS I used. Moved the card and PS into another case, at it worked fine. I still have no idea what that was all about, but I use it as an example of how difficult it can be to get a handle on this kind of problem. It *sounds* like the CPU is bad/not seated properly, but it really could be a couple of things, including a bad mobo as well. But from what you describe, those would seem the 2 most likely candidates. Oh yeah, make sure the CPU cooler is working...athlons's can get too hot to even POST if the cooler isn't working.

Well, it's clean install, I clicked on the full option, and this has been a problem from the get go, since I got the game when it first came out. The CD drive will spin up at various times during gameplay, and the screen freezes as I'm trying to scroll around the map. The CD drive continues to spin for a couple of minutes, then spins down, only to spin right back up again a minute later. FWIW, my CD is version 1.0, purchased within the first month or so of the game being published.

What can I do to stop the almost constant CD access that happens during a game of CMBO? I've tried taking the cd out once the game starts, but invariably I'll get an unhandled exception at some point. What I find strange is that even while I'm designing a map for a scenario from scratch, the CD drive is still accessing the CD. How do I copy the "core files" over to my HD w/o using CM Mod Manager?

What can I do to stop the almost constant CD access that happens during a game of CMBO? I've tried taking the cd out once the game starts, but invariably I'll get an unhandled exception at some point. What I find strange is that even while I'm designing a map for a scenario from scratch, the CD drive is still accessing the CD. How do I copy the "core files" over to my HD w/o using CM Mod Manager?

Funny you should mention the Tiger .vs Greyhound, as that happened yesterday in a scenario I made and then played around with. I couldn't believe my eyes...I had to play the turn over and over again lol. Now, it was a side shot, but still. Don't get me wrong, knocking out the Tiger made the scenario winnable, but I couldn't help but think the whole episode a little unrealistic. I just ordered CMAK this week, so I haven't played it yet, but I thoroughly enjoy both of the first 2. I play CMBO more, don't really know why, but it does seem a little "simpler" to me, I like the terrain a little more (with the right mods), and I guess I have more emotional investment in CMBO since my dad went into Normandy on D-Day plus 7, through the Bulge, and into Austria, pretty much the same path as in Band of Brothers. It's cool playing these scenarios with that in mind. I don't find CMBB any more difficult in the areas that some folks mentioned above, I just happen to like CMBO more...it's personal, and YMMV as they say. It's fun to argue among ourselves as to which game is "better", but it's just one man's opinion versus another. We should be thankful, though, that ALL of these great games exist, and that we can mentally stimulate ourselves as to which is the best.