egamarl

Just returning to CMAK (& BB if I can get this working). Finally found backed up files DL'd from BF and licence keys! (Of course, I didn't need the original licence keys as it turns out as the Vista Pack has a new key - that would have saved me HOURS!) Anyway, all installed - dl'd version was 1.3. Licensed it. Add Vista Upgrade & License it. Game loads, all seems fine. Open a game and all the scenery and units are there, but all of the text boxes are white background - and most of the text is white or very pale colours! I don't recall what the text-box backgrounds SHOULD be (transparent, maybe?) but white on white is .... errr .... illegible! The "Unit details" panel (alt-enter pop-up) where you get all the 'hard data' about the unit capabilities and armour etc has the same issue: all the text-block backgrounds are white, some of the text is white, some very pale colours etc etc Grateful for instructions on how to fix this ...... Running Vista 64bit, 8Gb RAM, a Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4770, Driver Version: 8.14.0010.0671 from May '09 (rock solid in all other apps and games), AMD Phenom II X2 550. The 'Graphics card tweaks' (anti-alias, anisotropic filtering) are set to 'application controlled' in the Catalyst Control Panel; Catalyst AI is DISabled; Mipmap Detail Level = 'Performance'; Wait for Vertical refresh = 'Always Off'; Adaptive Anti-Aliasing is NOT enabled; OpenGL Tripe Buffering is NOT enabled. Anyway, I'd really appreciate some help as I've two PBEM opponents waiting for me ..... and I haven't played for over two years so I need to get a practice game or two in first ...

D'oh. I hadn't read the manual well enough - I completely missed the bit at the top of Page 105 - which I now found by searching for the text you quoted! Thanks for taking the time to do that! (I shall now read it more thoroughly for all the other snippets I've missed, too) Are you able to say though that the LoS for radio IEDs is needed only for ACTIVATION rather than detonation - or vice versa - or indeed for both events? My reading of the manual suggests at activation only, but that doesn't make sense if you can target a specific unit (say vehicle three in a convoy of 5). In that case common-sense would suggest that you need LoS/be within range for detonation not just activation, although the manual really doesn't make it clear. Of course, I might be being a pedantic dullard and really the manual MEANS that range/LoS conditions have to be met for both activation AND detonation. The bit from the manual (recently - ahem - found at the bottom of p104 - thank you) says "The different types determine ... the distance at which the triggerman can be positioned". but the manual then goes on about activation, not detonation. Should I read that sentence in the manual to be " The different types determine ... the distance at which the triggerman can be positioned when the IED is activated AND when it is subsequently detonated" Thanks VM for your input Cpl Steiner, I'm going to see what I can do "in game" to understand this a bit better. Edit: Just read your edits, Cpl Steiner: they answered the questions you didn't know I had asked in this post! Thanks again. A career in Military Intelligence clearly yours for the asking.

I've read the manual, the FAQ and the Forum (well not ALL of the forum) and I'm having a problem understanding how a particular 'fighter' controls a particular IED, and - if the IED fails to detonate - whether it was defective, or the triggerman was 'panicked'/incapacitated or out of LoS etc etc. I'm just playing my first very simple battle (Abu Susah) to get used to the new way of doing (I haven't played CM for YEARS ... I'd forgotten just what an outstanding game it was) in which I have six IEDs: One each of small, medium and large of type Cell & One each of small, medium and large of type Radio The icons seem to be identical for each size and type (Cell vs Radio*) of IED (a different icon would maybe be helpful to discriminate type). I appear to have two triggermen (Abou Witha, Radio; Madani, Cell). This tells me - I assume - that a single triggerman appears to be able to trigger more than one IED of a particular type. (It does not yet tell me the implication of having more than one triggerman of a particular type in any one scenario, but that's maybe for later). From the manual I learn "Activation is not just a matter of specifying a target ... at the time the Target command is used [the triggerman] must be in good shape (e.g. not panicked), have an undamaged trigger device in its inventory, be within the maximum range (and/or LOS if required) of the IED, and pass a reliability check. The reliability check determines if the IED itself, or the ability to detonate it, has failed. Now, I cannot find anywhere that tells me how I can know (a) whether the triggerman's device is damaged or not, ( what the maximum range (of, presumably, the triggering device) is, © whether the specific IED requires LoS or not and (d) whether the 'reliability check' has been passed. The manual also appears to suggest that all of these conditions only have to be met at the time the IED is 'activated' not at the time it is detonated - which seems a little odd. If the triggerman is killed between activation and a target 'arriving' the IED will apparently still detonate? Isn't that just what most folks would call a "mine"? Now, as far as (d) is concerned, that will, I imagine, be determined somewhere in the 'AI' of the game scenario, and it whether or not it will go 'boom' depends on a number of conditions, including 'luck'. I also know I can determine the 'shape' (or morale as I would prefer to call it ) of the triggerman at the time the device is targeted. That's all fine: but how can I find out whether or not conditions (a), ( and © have been met at either activation time or detonation time (whichever is important). I must have missed something somewhere, but the manual doesn't seem to have terribly much in it about these terribly effective weapons, the FAQ in the repository doesn't really cover IEDS and there doesn't seem to be a lot in the tactics section either. I don't suppose EVERYONE is playing the Americans, are they? Thanks very much for any help and your patience and forbearance if this is something quite obvious. * No command wire types? Wasn't one like that just defused in the last weeks in Ireland - or are they just SO last century?