Malakie

Ok after posting I decided to start troubleshooting. Just so you know, all drivers, system or otherwise, are fully updated. In my testing I found a problem. After everything was checked, I renamed the Preferences.pfc file to something else. Once I did that, the game loaded just fine. I went into the options, made some changes but when I clicked OK it crashed. I checked the directory and was surprised to see the game does not re-create a pref file. So I renamed the original BACK to the right name and loaded the game.... boom upon the menu display, CTD. I then went to another system I have used solely for beta testing contract work I do and backtracked the display drivers. The game loaded fine. Installed the latest ATI drivers and crash city. Renamed the preferences file again, and it loaded. Renamed prefs back and it crashed. uninstalled, cleaned out and reinstalled ATI previous drivers again that I started with on the beta test machine. However now the game does not load with those drivers either unless I rename the prefs file. Obviously the next recourse I have is to clean install BUT I prefer to not have to do that just for a new preferences.pfc file... Any ideas? *BELAY THAT! Just tried again on main system to load with renamed prefs file and this time it did recreate it.. So further testing I did.. The problem is from the 'Vertical Sync' option. If I turn it on, CTD once I exit back to main menu from options. If I leave it alone it works. All other options seem to be functioning correctly. My system spec btw: Intel i7 920 (three other machines, two for code and beta testing work of code and hardware - They include one AMD setup, one Intel Core duo and another Intel i7 940 system.) For this situation, I am using the Intel i7 system which contains the ATI HD4870, Creative xFi Titanium Fatality Pro and 9 gig ram and the AMD system contains the ATI HD 3870, Santa Cruz/Turtle Beach and 4 gig ram. Both machines show same issue once drivers updated as explained. Malakie

Hi all, Just installed the new 9.12 drivers for my ATI HD 4870 card and now CMSF crashes right after displaying the main menu. The error dialog mentioned a problem in the ati drivers... i.e.... Problem signature: Problem Event Name: APPCRASH Application Name: CM Shock Force.exe Application Version: 0.0.0.0 Application Timestamp: 4af14c9e Fault Module Name: atioglxx.dll Fault Module Version: 6.14.10.9232 Fault Module Timestamp: 4b0c9a24 Exception Code: c0000005 Wondering if anyone else has seen this, if anyone is aware of a fix or if we have to revert back to a previous driver version.

Hi all, Has anyone tried this scenario and do you have any comments, suggestions, changes or problems with it? I am completing the rest of the scenarios for the full campaign but would like to hear some feedback on this scenario if possible before I finish and release the full campaign..

Uploaded to Repository ---------------------- East Rising - Scenario 1 - Surprise Attack (Note: LARGE/Long Scenario) 04 July, 2010. U.S.Army/U.S. Marine Corp. Armor Resupply & Repair Depot. 0120 hours. Knocking you out of your bunk, the nearby explosion blew out windows sending shards of glass every where. As your hearing started to return over the high pitched ringing sound in your ears, you could start to make out the sound of mens screams as well as hurriedly shouted voices on the edge of panic. You know of no intel nor of any current threat assessment that would have led to an attack, if that is what this was. Yet now with the sound of incoming rounds and the increasing number of impacts nearby, you realize that the base is indeed under a full scale artillery bombardment normally preceeding a major assault. This massive artillery barrage is to accurate to be a small thrust and best guess scenario. You have no doubt your base and the surrounding areas have been infiltrated by Special Forces, both combat units and artillery spotter units. You know you will need to take them out quickly to reduce additional direct artillery barrages. You only wonder now, how many units and personnel you have and are loosing in this massive first strike. (note: Massive artillery barrage at very start of scenario will slow your system down initially, have patience) ^ You are in command of the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corp. shared vehicle depot, maintenance and resupply base. Last you had checked you were well behind any 'main line' of possible advance or attack. You have no idea if lines have been breached and pushed back this far or if this is just a thrust past the main line into the rear areas. As you rush to your command center you start thinking about what units you have on base, what units are available, what units are down and parked on the repair pads and what units are currently out on test range running combat firing tests and vehicle repair tests. You also realize suddenly that the armory will probably be one of the first targets of the impending contact and you will need to somehow gather enough resources to get additional units there asap to assist the armory defenders. Loosing the armory will probably mean loosing the entire base and all units. Intel: NONE! We have no idea of enemy weapon layout, strength or direction of travel. OOB (ON MAP): 3rd & 4th Battalion, Tank Heavy Unknown disposition of units still on base and those out on the test range A, C, D company Anti-Tank Stryker Unknown disposition of units still on base and those out on the test range Various support elements include: Medium and Heavy Artillery, time to ready unknown Ground Attack Apache Attack birds, 20 minute flight time from nearest airbase Ground attack Harrier and F18's from U.S. Marine and U.S. Naval base 120 miles due north. Estimated availability at 50+ minutes from support requests REINFORCEMENTS (Off Map): Recall of remainder of 3rd & 4th Battalions from Test range ETA: Unknown, Ammo status: Unknown Recall of remainder of A, C, D Companies from Test range ETA: Unknown, Ammo status: Unknown ROE: Weapons Free ^ Weather clear, moonless and cloudless night with a light wind from the north. Temps are cool. ^ We need to secure and fortify the base and the armory as well as the Command and Base HQ buildings. Once crews are able to get to their vehicles and ready them for battle, we should move what assets we do have available to these locations as soon as viably possible. We need to especially pay attention to the armory due to it only have a light defensive force on base of 1 Abrams, 1 Stryker ATGM, 2 Humvee ATGM and 1 Marine Corp AAV IFV unit. There is also one Fire Control Humvee that was out there marking laser test ranges for artillery sighting calibration. OBJECTIVES: 1. Get crews to Tanks, IFV's and other armor and get them operational and battle ready as soon as possible. 2. Disperse units to designated tactical mission areas. These include: Primary: 1 - Main Gate 2 - Command HQ Building 3 - Base HQ Building 4 - Armory 5 - Artillery Command 6 - Repair Depot lot 7 - Armor Staging Lot Secondary: 1 - Plug any holes in defensive walls and perimeters caused by artillery bombardment. Most probably enemy units will attempt to breach at those locations. 2 - Send small Recon unit to main highway crossroads to get enemy strength intel. 3 - When possible, fortify Armory with additional units as they arrive. 3. Minimize U.S. casualties but hold defensive positions until additional support can arrive. ^ The first thing you need to do is get your crews to their vehicles otherwise you will not have any armor to defend anything with!! As in real life, crews are assigned specific vehicles and therefore they must be sent to their own vehicle to bring it online. As in real life, you will also find that the crews are all spread out over the base. Some are in quarters, others elsewhere. You will need to figure out which crew goes where and then get them there unharmed. Keep in mind these important things: 1 - Units in the repair pad area are down due to mechanical faults. Even if you crew them, they will not be able to move due to the mechanical problems. 2 - If a crew is destroyed, the unit they were assigned to will not be available for use since you cannot use any other crew to operate it. 3 - Likewise if the crews vehicle they are assigned is destroyed you cannot assign the crew to another different vehicle. This means they have just become active in their second MOS, infantry! 4 - Since this was a rear area peacetime resupply and maintenance base, ammo loads were not maxed out nor staged. You will have to plan carefully since ammo is going to be limited. ^ ** WARNING **: You will need a good computer to play this mission. There is a huge of use of artillery in the opening 20 minutes as the enemy tried to soften up your base with a major artillery barrage. As well, there is quite a load of units that will come into play during the scenario so if you have a system that has trouble running smaller scenarios, you will probably have some problems with this one. *Note, I am working on a 'lite' version of this scenario split into three parts that will run on lesser systems comfortably. This one scenario is how it was intended to be played however and it runs decent on my system which is based on a quad core machine, 9 gig memory and ATI HD 4870 video card. This scenario is the first in my 'East Rising Campaign' that I have been working on for months now. Since this is the first scenario/campaign I have ever done, I am releasing this scenario for feedback, complaints, bugs and so forth as I continue to finish up the full campaign. Created by Todd B (MalakieUSN)

I have a new scenario I created. Some of the units in the scenario I have dismounted from the vehicles at the start with the crews elsewhere on the map. If I run and play the scenario without baking, everything works fine and no problems arise. However if I Bake that same scenario because I want to add some unit specific commands, all those units I set to be dismounted suddenly appear fully mounted in the baked version of the same scenario. What gives? Did I miss something in the manual or in my settings regarding this.. If I load the non-baked version of the scenario again, everything is as it was designed.. only the baked version is doing this. Ideas/Suggestions/Fixes? Malakie

Thanks I will change the day to try and darken things. It is full moon in my scenario and just too light out I think... Would like to find a middle area that makes night night yet light enough to see somewhat. Although in reality I think they should leave the settings because then it makes mods like the NVG mod useful big time. Malakie

Is there a mod to make night dark? On all my maps and scenarios the sky is dark but the land is fully birght like in daytime. Is there a mod that turns the night time in to night time including visibility changes due to the night etc? BTW, I did see the NVG mod and a couple others that look dark at night.. what mod gives the night time look in those without the NVG green look?

me too.. I am looking for a step by step tutorial on setting up objectives, AI plans etc... I kind of have it working in my scenarios but only by trial and error not by really comprehending the confusing way to using or set them up properly.

Add me to the list.. Someone commented on it killing frame rates... It only kills frame rates if you do not plan your scenarios, add way to much clutter and so forth. I want the OPTION of picking and choosing from as many items as I can to allow for MUCH more diversity in my scenarios. Right now I am completing a full campaign I have been working on for months. The intended story is supposed to be a future conflict between China/Russia/Iran/N. Korea and Nato forces. However as you all know we are limited by what we have. So for now, it is U.S. against Syrian equipment. Perhaps someday in the future I will be able to do this campaign again as intended although I do think it is turning out decent using Syrian forces. I do not have the British Forces module yet since I cannot afford it but perhaps someday I will. I do have the Marines module so that has helped somewhat. It is definitely a bit boring using the same enemy for everything over and over. I would love to see much more land pattern diversity, vehicles (civilian and military static), more building types, PEOPLE, working lights!! (i.e. lightpoles, stop lights, buildings), and so forth. By having those available, we could create such diversified campaigns that CMSF would definitely remain the premier combat simulator well into the future. One other change I would like to see is the added ability to make CMSF and the modules more MOD friendly and interchangeable. By doing so, it would allow the mod community to create many of these items in support of the sim. Battlefront could continue to release the major modules for all the differing countries adding military vehicles and othre items that are not part of the official module. Modders could enhance them adding equipment and vehicles not included in the base module like smaller countries and their items or perhaps variants of module based military units... I.E. the U.S. has the M1A2 or perhaps the M113 or the or perhaps adding the MRAPS vehicles and so forth. Modders could easily build and add things like this enhancing the game and modules even more. In fact, Battlefront could actually require modded add-ons be tied to a module so it would work thus insuring continued sales. Two other things I would like to see added... 1) helicopter support for troop transport in game or direct ground support... of course you would need to add air defense units as well. Not only ground based (i.e. stinger hand held, hawk batteries, SA-10 batteries etc etc) but also you could add limited air combat aircraft to the support menu for air combat. I have no problem keeping ground support aircraft workable as they are now but would like to see Helo support changed and functionally usable by the player like all other vehicles. and 2) recovery and repair and rearm vehicles and depots. I would love to be able to pull back a severely damaged unit and place it in a repair queue for an amount of time based on its amount of damage. It would also replace any killed crew members as well. For tanks and such that get bogged, immobilized or stuck, being able to replace a track or tow it back to solid ground would also be a nice touch. Anyhow, that's my 2 cents worth. Malakie

Did 14 plus 10 in federal law enforcement thus I get over 20 although my main income is disability due to so many serious injuries, both Navy and Police work. Started as a STG (Sonar Technician Surface) at sea and with Military Police when ashore. Then went special duty tasked to a special operations command. After 3rd serious injury was released with VA disability rating which now has increased due to 2 more serious injuries in law enforcement etc. The nice surprise though was finding out my time as a fed counted toward my active duty time in terms of retirement etc. Thus it counts as combined service.

Hi thanks... I am going to wait a bit yet in hopes someone can reach him about the site and the files as well as the domain. Let's say we give it until 15 May to try and reach him somehow.. If by then it does not happen, I will start a new website dedicated to Combat Mission mods and files. At that time I will need to figure out a workable domain name as well if we are not able to get the CMMODs domain. So for now, let's see if someone cannot reach him in the meantime. Malakie (Todd)

Hi all, I have been trying to reach the person that manages the CMMODS domain and website. Emails have not returned and a private message I sent here went somehow to the wrong person. IF I can reach the person who has been running CMMODS, I would like to takeover the site. I have the resources and the time to do so. I am a 46 yr old service connected disabled U.S Navy veteran that is on full medical retirement from that and my law enforcement civilian career due to those injuries. And so with that, I have plenty of time as well as interest in continuing on the mods site if possible. The hard work, not to mention the myriad of mods already posted there, is something I would hope not to see go away. If the person who handled the site sees this post or if any of you can reach him, please let him know I am attempting to contact him for this reason. Feel free to forward my contact information for this purpose. If I am unable to reach him in time before everything disappears, would it be worth my time to start a new domain and server for this project? I.e. would it be needed and supported by the Combat Mission players and community if I did so? I do not want to start a large project and put the major investment of time and money into something like this if it ultimately would not be supported. So any feedback in this regard would be appreciated. Malakie MalakieUSN@<removethis>hotmail.com

Now THAT's what I like to read! [shameless plug coming up!] Since I am now the ripe old age of 46 years old and on full medical retirement due to my military injuries, if you guys ever have need of someone like me.... I might be done with my previous careers, but that does not mean I cannot move into a new one! Always wondered what it would be like to work on things like this that I enjoy full time! :-) I have not released anything yet, but I have three major campaigns I have been working on for a while now. I am one that loves to create scenarios and campaigns - but when I do this I do not do it half-ass and so they are taking a bit of time to complete. Not only do I pay attention to detail, but I am a stickler for reality and immersion.. I guess that comes from real life experiences. The only real issues I have in the campaigns I am doing are that i wish I had some top of the line stuff to work with. I.E. Current modern Russian and Chinese battle vehicles etc. Although I am making due with what the game now has, the hard part is truly coming up with workable solutions in some cases because the OpFor does not have any equipment that can hold its own in some cases. Some would call it being a perfectionist... I just think if you do something, do it well and do it right the first time. Someday I am sure you will have given us other add-ons... but oh how I wish I had access now to the British Challenger tanks and German Leopard tanks and of course most APC/APV units. Additionally, right now it would be nice to have the latest Russian and Chinese armor as well... Trying to substitute some of these with current in game options is not working very well and so two of my campaigns are only about half done. The remaining one should be done soon though.

Now I am one of those that is SICK of WWII games and scenarios. And being that I am a U.S. Military service connected disabled Veteran of recent, I want to see more games like Combat MIssion Shock Force in MODERN day scenario. There are so many WWII games out there that it is just overloaded. To be honest, I cannot figure out why so many people are still stuck on that era for these game types. It takes a lot more thinking and planning to function in a modern battle than in the past because modern battles make it easier to find and kill. With that you have to plan and actually use concealment and cover properly where in WWII situations, inaccurate fire was common and many times you could get away with things you cannot today. Sims based on modern tech also allow for much bigger and larger play areas and distances as well. Someday I would love to see a sim that allows you to operate in two different visual gameplay styles yet is fully strategic. Imagine a game where you have an overview strategic view of the world, you move your pieces around the world (think something like Supreme Ruler or perhaps Hearts of Iron II or even better yet, Pacific Storm Allies) then when a battle occurs, you 'zoom' or change to 3D tactical mode like Combat Mission Shock Force to resolve the battle. Pacific Storm Alllies is a game very much like what I am referring to BUT it is lacking in substance and detail like I want AND it only covers, again, WWII. Plus it also only covers Naval combat. I want a full sim that covers everything, Naval, land, air, etc... Heck future add-ons to a game engine like that could add Space combat as well. I know it would take a while to develop something like this, since I am a dev myself (not a game dev), but the things one could do with a game engine like this.. The add on and expansion capabilities would be endless. Anyhow, I would love to see a true modern sim instead of another WWII sim. And since I think CMSF is one of the best tactical battle sims, I hope they will continue to enhance and add to it well into the future. I am looking forward and hoping they do modules for NATO, Russia, China, Iran, Korea and many others. Still, imagine adding a strategic level to this game and then moving into this 3D tactical level to resolve battles.....

I remember being a part of as discussion last year about this issue. I thinking bogging is and should be part of the sim... however as I had argued then, I think there should ALSO be some kind of support ability perhaps controlled by command points or some other means.. Using command points you could call in a support vehicle to tow a bogged vehicle clear or perhaps do battlefield repairs on a damaged vehicle. Of course shorter scenarios as well as those that are small tactical situations this is not feasible. But for larger well planned combat situations, this would really add a new element to the gameplay.

har har har :eek: Hey I still won the battle... just took a lot of work and very careful use of Javelins. I always equip those right away.

;-) I am complaining because I am one of those that somehow managed to get ALL his units stuck and then immobilized. BEFORE a shot was even fired at them.... I was not fast enough telling them to stop and reverse before they broke down. It is those type situations where I wish we had the basic repairs ability for the crews..

That is interesting because I have never seen a unit just leave their vehicle for repairs they can do, i.e. change tires, fix treads, fix arials, fix lenses.. etc... Many many times I have watched as the crew proceeded to work on their ride and only call in the M88's if the repairs are more than they or Army field mechanics can handle.. The only time I have ever seen abandonment is major damage situations or damage while under heavy fire.. And then once the area is under less fire, crews will many times go back, assess and repair to get back into the field without having to wait. There are exceptions to every rule but for the most part I do not know many unit teams that will not work on their ride if at all possible.... after all it is THEIR ride. I have more than once changed out a tire on both a heavy truck and a hummer in the field under circumstances that were very dangerous.. We have done other field repairs also in some situations where support was just to far away or we were in a situation that we just had no choice. I was not part of any of those crews rather I rode in them to get to mission drop off or return from mission pickups. Many times did I see these crews risk themselves to do repairs in the field. So at least in my case, I would disagree with those saying it does not happen nor can it happen.

But for game play purposes it should be a simply matter to give different 'levels' of damage in these cases... If a humvee or stryker blows a tire, it can be fixed, same with tracked.. lighter damage can be worked on, heavy damage must wait. If the axle is damaged or the damage is more severe, then it cannot be fixed during the battle.. It is just not realistic for a unit to sit out an entire battle for a simple immobilization repair that the crew can handle in real life.

Are there any plans to implement Medics? In combat, there should be Medics that can bandage up wounded solders, in some cases allowing them to pick up and fight again... Also, what about repair vehicles? If a tank, bradley or hummer is disabled or immobilized, there is no reason by you should not be able to send a repair vehicle to work on repairs.... even under fire. Malakie

Way to go... I had thought about returning as well but two things went against me... My age, 45 and multiple military related service connected injuries that I am under VA care for now.. I know one thing, you were lucky indeed to get in at your age... If I were you, I would make it at least 20 years and not have to worry then about retirement anymore.. At least with my situation I do not have to worry about that or medical care. I miss serving.. it was definitely my calling.. even if I did not realize it at the time. Believe me it sucks being bored all the time now day in and day out.....

Ok thanks... will do..

Hi all, I wanted to try some of the mods available for CMSF. Most threads about a mod or campaign say to download the mod at CMMODS.com I log in there but under the mods selection, it just says 'Coming soon' so where do I find the downloads for mods that people are talking about? I did find a huge listing of scenarios but cannot locate links for any of the mods talked about in these forums... MalakieUSN

Crap that is what I was afraid of.. Ok will take me some time to get the maps completed then. At least once they are done, updating units to the proper ones for each campaign in the future will be easy to do. Malakie

Hi all, I am in the process of working up a multi-scenario campaign for CMSF. Currently it has 24 scenarios all with their own designed maps, layouts and sizes. The campaign and storyline are already done, in fact I have 5 completed in entirety. I have drawn on my military background and real life to create the campaigns although they are all hypothetical scenarios of course. ;-) Now I am simply drawing/laying out the maps, placing the units and so forth. However this is getting a bit tedious in some ways using the built in editor. The one area especially is in actually drawing the map terrain. I have a few questions about this: 1) Is there some way to 'fill' the entire map or a section of the map with a terrain type, much like the fill command in a paint program? 2) Is there a way to just save ONLY the map itself without roads, buildings and units? 3) Is there perhaps a third party editor that can be used to create maps that is a bit more friendly for drawing the raw maps? Some of the maps in this campaign are larger and it is not only taking a while to do the layouts but my system really bogs when I try to zoom out so I can see as much of the map as possible during the layout.. If I can find some faster way of doing this, I will have all these campaigns finished in short order now that all the other work is done. Currently the status on my campaigns are: a) Campaign is completed except for drawing of the maps for each scenario - The first campaign is a hypothetical attack on U.S. mainland soil and the ensuing struggle to defend against the attack. Campaign is completed except for drawing of the maps for each scenarioThe second campaign is based in Korea. c) Campaign is completed except for drawing of the maps for each scenario, some victory locations and a few emplacementsThe third campaign is based in Germany. d) Campaign is completed except for drawing of the maps for each scenario, unit makeup for two missions, victory locationsThe fourth campaign is based in the upper Atlantic region, Sweden/Denmark/Norway. e) Campaign is completed except for drawing of the maps for each scenario, victory locations The fifth campaign is based in Taiwan and China. I Also have 6 other campaigns in design that are about 1/4th completed in story and layout. Of course I was limited unit wise by what is available but hopefully over time with expansions and such I will be able to update these as they come out with proper unit vehicles etc. Anyway, if anyone can help on the questions I posed is sure would speed things up... Malakie