Zatoichi

At a guess, I'd say that you haven't applied the 1.11 Marines patch after you installed the Marines module - it came out as 1.10 if I remember correctly, so it may have overwritten your 1.11 pre-Marines base game. Like I say, it's a guess! But it may be worth downloading the Marines specific 1.11 patch and applying that if you haven't already tried.

Good stuff, looking forward to trying out the fruits of your labour! I had another go at looking at the alpha channel stuff in Gimp, but after a couple of botched attempts I thought I'd leave it to the people who know what they're doing!

I think it must be a Vista/XP thing - my XP 32 bit system just won't start CMSF if I put the 9.3 atioglxx.dll in my Combat Mission main directory. It's definitely the dll from the XP 32 bit 9.3 drivers I've been using all along - this workaround just doesn't work for my set-up unfortunately. Oh well, I'm glad it's working for you guys - I'll have to hold on for the ATI tech bods to fix it I guess. It doesn't actually bother me too much at the moment, seeing as CMSF is the only PC game I've been playing recently - so not having the latest drivers isn't really a big issue for me. Not that I'm for one one minute suggesting that the aforementioned ATI tech bods should stop working on a fix of course!

I just tried it on my XP SP3 system which has an ATI 4850. I installed 9.7 and then expanded and copied the atioglxx.dll from the 9.3 driver installation to both my Combat Mission main directory and the Modules directory as described by Kenjara. Unfortunately this resulted in the game not running at all - it will not launch unless I first remove or rename the freshly copied atioglxx.dll from the Combat Mission main directory. I tried removing the atioglxx.dll from the main directory but leaving it in the Module directory and the game launched, but this evidently leaves it running with the 9.7 drivers, as CMSF crashed after 5 minutes as per usual. Lethaface, are you running Vista like Kenjara? Maybe this fix isn't compatible with XP? I guess I'll have to wait for the official fix from ATI and go back to my trusty old 9.3s. Bah.

Hi - current workaround is to go back to the last working set of ATI drivers, which are the 9.3 release.

I don't have TF Lightning, but I do have TF Thunder which is the campaign for the base CMSF release - it's 11,493,762 bytes. Are you running with 1.11? I'm pretty sure that earlier patches changed the stock campaign because of crashes - maybe you're running an old copy of the campaign?

That's great news - thanks! I much prefer your modded icons to the stock coloured ones. As an aside, I may just have an old version of your mod, but the Marines module introduced a new truck icon which is still in the original colour, so if that could be included in your update that would be excellent if it's not too much bother! I may even have another look at this alpha channel thing myself, just to see if I can work it out. Now if someone wants to release a ragtag Brit uniform mod, I'll be all set!

Yeah I'd love for this mod to be updated. Seeing the Brits with mostly bright blue icons (except for the HQs and FOs) is really jarring. I had a quick look at the files in Gimp, but I'm no modder and I quickly gave up - I'm sure it's something to do with alpha channels or something, but I couldn't figure it out...

Yeah I have to agree - fantastic job! The 'small things' really do add to the overall experience - please give yourselves a well earned pat on the back!

Well maybe it's 'first to be shot' rather than 'first through the door'! Or possibly even more likely I only remember the times when my leaders get mown down compared to the countless times it's some other poor fellow instead! Selective memory is a wonderful thing.

I love the Faces of Syria mod, along with the ragtag Marines, US Army and Syrian Army mods - all are permanent additions to my game along with most of the others mentioned here. I hope that a British Army version is released at some point. I also have the great Uncon uniform mod. I am also a fan of Scipio's weapon icons (updated for Brits already I see - good job!), and the mod that turns the unit base icons into 'voice of the Mysterons' rings instead of disks - I think it was Missinginreality who did that one, but I ended up changing it slightly as it came out before the Marines module added the dark red/brown 'very dead' base colour so I added my own one in (not released as it was someone else's hard work). My other fave is the dull icons mod, which tones down the bright red or blue unit identifier floating icons. I really hope this one is updated for the Brit module as I'm finding it really jarring having the majority of the Brits icons comparatively luminous! I don't know who did this one (admittedly a very rudimentary forum search revealed nothing), but if you are reading, please come forth and claim credit (and while you're at it, please update your mod!)

I haven't actually finished the 1st mission yet (stupid work getting in the way of the important stuff again!), but I'm not far off. *** Possible spoiler *** I found keeping my Scimitars a long way back from the main group of buildings and using 'target light' most of the time in order to save the 30mm ammo for more stubborn targets has so far been pretty successful. Even so, I've managed to lose one Scimitar in a probe up the right flank after I foolishly assumed my 155mm barrage had taken care of any lurking Syrians. As for team leaders dying in close quarters fighting, I've always had this problem in CMSF as they are generally the first through the door. Having several other units hosing down the building often helps, but this isn't always practical or even possible.

Oh, sorry, I didn't know that some cards couldn't use the 9.3 drivers (I have a 4850 and it works just fine). Well I'm afraid that's the only workaround I know about - I don't know what we can do to get ATI to fix this problem, or whether there's anything Battlefront can do, but since ATI have released 4 sets of broken drivers in a row (from CMSF's point of view), I would think whatever it is they've changed from 9.4 onwards, ATI are quite happy with it. I guess we could all report the error to ATI, and start threads on their forums in the hope they notice, but as we're not playing some brand new state-of-the-art big budget title FPS, I don't know what good it will do. Next time I'll vote with my wallet and choose NVIDIA (although their drivers are often just as flaky by all accounts).

So it looks like CMSF patch 1.20 didn't fix the problem a lot of us are having with the current ATI drivers. You need to uninstall 9.7 and reinstall 9.3 - it's the only current workaround for whatever ATI have broken since they released 9.4 in April.

If Battlefront need any help testing an installer for a Windows XP SP3 PC with the BF version of CMSF and Marines module installed, I am selflessly offering my services for free. In fact, I'll even reimburse them $25 for the hassle of setting it up. Now you can't say fairer than that, surely?

I'm pretty sure it's too early to say snipers are not effective enough based on one sniper team in a demo mission, especially when you take into account the low light level at the start of the mission and the the weakened state of that team as previously explained by MikeyD. When 1.20 and the British module are released, anyone concerned about these things can do actual tests to determine spotting and accuracy rather than base everything off one highly specialised situation. Judging from my experience with the demo, my 2 man sniper team was pretty useful at taking out a couple of HMGs and some infantry in trenches from their position on the ridge line, but, this was after about 30 minutes, when it was a bit lighter. If it hadn't have been for this thread, I would never have even thought about their performance - it seemed pretty decent to me.

Just finished the Brit scenario and thoroughly enjoyed it - many thanks to the fiendish author! I ended up with a total victory, 6 men KIA, 10 wounded, lost a Challenger and a Scimitar on the way. **** SPOILER **** I lost the Challenger in somewhat annoying circumstances (well, aren't they always?). I had sent one over to the the very far right of the map to support my Pioneers who were there to deal with what I had assumed were infantry supporting the AT asset that had knocked out my Scimitar earlier in the game. Anyway, having wiped out that particular threat and having spent a few minutes on the ridge unmolested, I chose that moment to send the tank down the ridge and start towards the small collection of huts behind the mosque. Unfortunately, this was the exact time that 4 T-72s made their appearance, and managed to get 2 flank shots into my poor exposed tank as it plotted a safe route down the ridge, killing all but one of the crew. Bah. Still, my javelin teams and remaining Challenger on the other side of the map soon made short work of them, but even so, it was painful viewing. I have to say, I am very much looking forward to trying out the Brits now having played this scenario, so it's very much 'job done'!

Great stuff - I had also missed this. Thanks for the effort!

Oh sorry - I'm an ATI user so I'm not up to speed with NVIDIA drivers. There was a thread a few months back about a persistent Vista and NVIDIA crash (http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=86876) which may give you some answers, or more likely, give you even more questions! Good luck!

I am secretly holding out for it to be released today, in honour of this significant date (my birthday). I don't have any pictures of monkeys to back up this rather pathetic plea, as benpark has them all.

If you have an ATI card, the temporary workaround is to uninstall the latest ATI drivers and reinstall 9.3. If you have an NVIDIA I am not entirely sure! I haven't tried the 9.7 drivers which were just released, but I'm not overly hopeful. It's possible that CMSF patch 1.20 will also help - in the many threads about ATI cards crashing since the 9.4 drivers were released back in April, I've not seen any 'official' comment on the problem.

Nope. I will enjoy CMSF for the foreseeable future, especially once the British and NATO modules have been released. I am not ex-military, I don't play QBs especially, and I will play CMSF and WW2 stuff concurrently. I like the tactics the modern setting enforces, and I have plenty of competitive games with friends via PBEM which are not ambushing convoys or even asymmetrical MOUT. Admittedly, these forums will slow down once the WW2 forum is active and the game released, but that doesn't mean everyone will stop playing just because you will.

I am! <Click> D'oh! <Click> D'oh! It's going to be a long day...

I'm not so sure about CMSF being forgotten by all involved, I'll keep playing modern stuff and ww2 stuff concurrently. I'd also not bank on CM ww2 arriving when it was originally slated - with no outside publisher forcing a release date set in stone, I think we're back to the good old 'when it's done' design philosophy. Just my 2 pennies.

In terms of 'added visual detail', I'm all for improvements in vehicle damage modelling, not at all keen on soldier damage modelling, so I'm glad that's the direction BFC have stated they're committed to.