sandman2575

I, too, far prefer campaigns to the single battles and was a bit disappointed to see CMRT only had 2 campaigns. But in fairness, the German campaign at least is freakin' HUGE. I just last night *finally* finished the first battle, and I have no idea how many hours I poured into it. Many, many nights, that's for sure. It was a cathartic experience -- by turns exhilarating and exhausting. It felt like a genuine accomplishment to complete this. It's tremendously exciting to be managing the equivalent of an entire batallion's units (probably and overstregth batallion at that). But it takes a major investment of time. I can't believe it was only one battle. I loaded up the next battle in the campaign, and see it's *another* 1hour 20 minute affair (!) -- and I think there are 4 (?) more battles to go after this one? In short, yes, only 2 campaigns, but the German campaign alone will keep you occupied for literally weeks if not months.

Yeah, it sure seems like the 'default' set-up -- in which you're supposed to attack with 2 groups along different axes -- is deliberately misleading. I got completely murdered the first couple tries, using this approach, and only had success when I consolidated all forces along one line of assault -- the route parallel to the bridge, alongside the school, positioning my MGs in the tall buildings at the 'safe' end of the lane, and judicious use of the StuG and, even more valuable in this scenario, the AA halftrack. I've only managed a Tactical Victory at best on this one. The succeeding missions are a lot easier.

Just loaded up the campaign save that wasn't loading, now problem-free. Thanks for 1.03!

+1 -- this would make a huge difference. Not long ago I attempted to upgrade from 1080p to 1440p monitor, and one of the things that struck me in a very negative way was how unplayable CMx2 seemed at 1440p resolution. UI was way too small. I can only imagine how tiny it is at 4K. I returned the 1440p monitor and went back to my old and trusty 1080p. But as higher resolution monitors become more and more common, this is something BF should give real thought to. Having a scaling UI is a big deal.

^This. CMx2 is never going to be mainstream, but that doesn't mean its future is bleak. WW2 as a 'genre' is hugely popular among gamers young and old. Sure, a lot of this interest is channeled through rubbish like "War Thunder" and the like, but there will always be some gamers whose interest in WW2, initially sparked by mainstream titles like "Company of Heroes," will deepen, and they will start looking for something a little more authentic and detailed. So, out of 10 gamers who are interested in WW2, perhaps 1 finds his way to CMx2 (and that's probably a massive overestimate... probably more like .01 or even more miniscule). There's nothing in the 'mindset' of the young generation of gamers that would prevent this -- as though they're all incapable of being engaged by anything more profound than "Call of Duty Ghosts". CMx2 is a game for ww2 aficionados and will likely always remain thus.

Appreciate the thoughtful responses -- and innovative work-arounds suggested. Just to be clear, my post wasn't in any way intended as a criticism of BF. I'm by no means trying to minimize the amount of work and programming challenge adding an operational layer to CMx2 would involve. I'm no coder, and so the challenges are probably bigger than I can guess. Still, for me, an operational layer integrated into CMx2 itself remains the holy grail. GTOS shows that it can be done, and effectively (however imperfectly). I probably invoke GTOS at my peril, since it doesn't seem to be held in high repute by most here. I understand the criticisms of the game and think many are valid. Still, I do think CMx2 could learn one or two things (or maybe one thing -- the dynamic campaign mechanic) from it.

In the category of 'pipe-dreams' perhaps, but... CMx2's lack of a dynamic operational layer is, in my mind, the single thing that keeps it from being the perfect ww2 combat sim (or as near to perfect as we are likely to get). I came to CMx2 by way of playing *a lot* of "Achtung Panzer - Kharkov '43" and later "Grativeam Tactics - Operation Star", after growing a little fatigued by those games. Having gotten hooked on CMx2, all 3 theaters (Normandy, Italy, Russia), I almost never go back to GT Op Star. To me, that's a very big indicator of how great CMx2 is, since I still regard GT Op Star as an absolutely superb game, and in a lot of ways, I think CMx2 is even better. We're spoiled for great game options, it appears. But the one thing Op Star still has over CMx2 is a dynamic operational level. I think it's hard to overstate just how much this enhances the 'campaign' experience (as opposed to one-off, quick missions). CMx2's 'beads on a string' consecutive missions in the campaigns, completely scripted with no player input, feels very crude by comparison. For me, the campaigns are the heart of CMx2, since I'm not a MP player. I seldom play the single missions vs. AI because it doesn't really feel like anything is 'at stake' in those games. The campaigns give you reasons to care about your units, to keep track of their losses and ammunition usage, etc. Obviously, this would involve at least one radical change for CMx2. Instead of discrete map settings, you would (as in Op Star) have to have one, completely continuous 'super' map of the operational area, divided into 'battle area' segments. I'm sure from a programming standpoint (understatement imminent), that's not a simple thing to do. Anyway, I suppose this boils down to me musing aloud in an impractical 'what if' fashion. But is there any hope CM might go in this direction? CMx3 perhaps?

Any hope that this will get fixed? It's kind of a drag to begin a campaign with a fairly important unit missing in the very first mission.

While I do understand why some folks hate GTOS and don't play it because they feel it's inferior to CMx2 -- just wanted to say that it's perfectly possible to love both games, GTOS and CMx2. At this sale price, I would certainly recommend to anyone even remotely interested to pick it up and see for yourself. The Steam version will at least alleviate some of the headache of installing the add-on content (Shilovo, etc.). The one really big difference, for me, is in the modeling of infantry combat. CMx2 is unarguably the better, deeper game in this respect. Infantry really feel like a bit of an afterthought in GTOS. That said, GTOS does have a lot going for it, and I don't find the somewhat anemic representation of infantry combat a game-breaker. I would kill for CMx2 to incorporate something like the dynamic campaigns that GTOS offers. CMx2's 'beads on a thread' campaigns, giving the player no real operational control, pale in comparison to what GTOS offers. Anyway, my advice -- have both games on your harddrive. They never leave mine.

Hi -- Can I just confirm -- I currently have CMBN/MG v.2.12 and FI/GL v.1.12 installed. If I buy the 3.0 upgrades for CMBN and FI, can I then simply install those over my existing game installs? Or are there other steps involved? Maybe an obvious issue but the confusion about version numbering is... confusing...

I'd known about the CM games for a long time but only very recently took the plunge. I have to admit, Battlefront's DRM scheme scared me away for years. And also have to admit, my fears were greatly exaggerated -- I've had no DRM problems at all, and BF's DRM policy is not nearly as draconian as I thought it was. But I really come to CM by way of the Graviteam Tactics (formerly Achtung Panzer) series. Gravteam Tactics Op. Star is a game every CMx2 player should have in their library. There's no reason to have to choose one franchise over the other -- both have great strengths and some weaknesses. But Op. Star has grown rather stale to me, and since it's anyone's guess when the next installment, "Mius Front," may be coming out, I thought I should overcome my DRM bias and give CM a shot. And now I have been sucked down the CM rabbit hole big time. I can't stop playing, and am constantly switching between BN, FI, and Red Thunder, because each is so unique. Fortress Italy kind of feels like the red-headed stepchild of the series, but in many ways it's my favorite. I just really dig the Italian/Sicilian theater, the landscape, the operations.

Agree with a lot that's been said here, but it doesn't seem to me that the praise very much due CM means it's necessary to denigrate CoH. The games offer very different experiences, but both games are superb for what they are. CM is a simulation, CoH is a video game. It's perfectly possible to love both. The only thing I would say is: avoid Company of Heroes 2. CoH remains a joy to play and well worth picking up for anyone remotely interested, but CoH2 is a travesty.

It looks a lot better in 1080p. 1920x1080 is "high definition" after all, and even if that's pure marketing, there's no question that it's a nice, sharp resolution. I play on CM on a 1080p 24" monitor and love how it looks. In fact, I recently tried upgrading to a 2560x1440 monitor, and after a week went back to my 1080p unit. 1440p was an improvement, of course, but I was a little underwhelmed by it -- not the dramatic improvement I had expected -- plus text was just too small for my already-not-great eyesight, and CM's interface on a 1440p 27" screen was just too small for me. I have an 18" monitor laptop, and the difference between playing CM at 1920x1080 vs. lower resolutions like 1280x1024 is indeed big -- 1080p is much crisper and nicer.

A huge THANK YOU for putting this together and making it available online! A ton of work you've saved me and others. Really appreciate it

@Sigwolf -- interesting -- thanks for posting. i tried this but can't quite tell if modifying setting in the nvidia control panel to the tow2 '.bin.exe' is actually making a difference in performance. did you notice a big change in FPS? Also, after I changed 'Africa1943.bin' to 'Africa1943.bin.exe,' the file type seems to change permanently to an "Application". There's no way to 'remove' the .exe because it no longer appears in the file name. I.e., changing 'Africa1943.bin" to "Africa1943.bin.exe" effectively turns the file into "Africa1943.bin" now recognized 'as' an "Application" in the properties menu. There's no ".exe" suffix to be removed. The game still seems to boot up and play fine, but was wondering if i'm doing something wrong or overlooking something. (this on Windows 7 x64, by the way)

Many thanks for the feedback. Glad to hear you the new drivers helped you (wish i could say the same!). From what i can tell from your pix, we are using very similar settings -- even have the same monitor resolution. But like you, lowering Gfx settings in ToW2 does absolutely nothing to improve performance (the only thing i've ever noticed is that "ambient occlusion" does impact FPS, but i never play with it on anyway). Really wish I knew the answer to that question!!! i've been making my way through the German campaign in ToW2 Kursk -- about 5 missions in or so, the Syrtev mission is practically unplayable for me -- 5 FPS and lower on *half speed*... this is the worst map/mission i've experienced. it really is just not fun to slog thorough this with such terrible performance. ToW2 seems like it would be such a *fantastic* game, if only i could get it to run reasonably well. i've really tried everything! may just have to put this series aside and hope that whatever computer i get next may be able to run it...

Riah -- unfortunately did not work -- see above. Guess my main question is, did you do anything beyond updating Nvidia drivers to get such a big FPS boost? Appreciate any more insight you can give here--

As I feared.... installing 295.73 has done nothing to improve my performance. Riah69, have you adjusted anything besides installing new nvidia drivers? Did you create an nvidia profile for ToW2Kursk? (in my experience, the nvidia profiles don't actually do anything for ToW2). Are you running on 1-2 CPU cores? Any details about what you've done differently (if anything) beyond installing new drivers would be appreciated. I'm just not seeing any gain at all with the new drivers....

Wow! I have 285.62 installed and just d/l'd 295.73 -- will try to do a clean install and see if i get a performance boost. if i get the FPS you do with your new drivers, i'll owe you a beer -- maybe a six-pack.

??? Really? I have the latest Nvidia drivers installed and still get major FPS slowdown when battles involve many units and/or involve 'village' maps with lots of buildings. When you say "fixed," what do you mean? What kind of FPS improvement are you seeing?

Thanks for the good tips. I'll try this approach next time with my Tiger, although it's not easy to keep even a Tiger mostly intact in these missions! I guess "lesson learned" about not exposing side armor, like you say. 1000m distance was a heat-of-the-moment exaggeration -- apologies -- but the firing accuracy of those T34 elite crews was really no exaggeration. They treated my Panthers like ducks in a shooting gallery.

I appreciate these tips -- many thanks -- Is firing accuracy *strongly* correlated to unit veterancy? I.e. an Elite unit/crew is a much better shot than Regular? I can only assume the T34 in Syrtsev-Dubrova which was a near perfect shot vs. my rushing Panthers was an Elite crew... Will see if I can figure out how to check using the Editor. If it was merely Veteran or Regular, well, that will be depressing to find out --

Do you mean you edit the amount or types of units the AI gets in a mission? Or that you actually edit the qualities of the units? No idea if the second is even an option -- the Editor is a pretty forbidding application for someone (like me) not familiar with the functions --

... i don't suppose there is a mod for Kursk that nerfs fire accuracy, is there? The pinpoint precision of AI fire is really an enjoyment killer. One would not know that laser-guided munitions were still decades into the future based on the picture of 1943 warfare ToW2 presents. Too many experiences with this to enumerate. But playing Syrtsev-Dubrova Line mission yesterday just confirmed for me that AI fire is just way, way, way too accurate. I've started playing on "Novice" just in order to have a fighting chance. My AFV's still get hit countless times with incredible accuracy, but at least it's not the typical "one shot = Mobility kill" that I usually experience on "Regular" difficulty. In Syrtsev-Dubrova, I captured the big russian strongpoint (furthermost to West of map), taking reasonably heavy casualties, 2 Panther mobility kills, 1 StuG mobility kill, etc. In an effort to take the 2nd strongpoint -- and after a lot of softening it up and making sure as many dug-in AT's and T-34s were knocked out as I could, I had an assault group of 3 Panthers, 1 Tiger, 1 StuG plus supporting infantry and arty. I had captured several russian AT guns and had an 88 with decent LOF trained against some of the remaining russian tank emplacements to the far north of the map. I laid smoke screen north, waited for it to develop (... it does not last very long) and started shelling the russian tank emplacements. My idea was, during this preemptive barrage, to rush my tanks in sequence over the antitank-trench landbridge between Strongpoints 2 and 3, knowing that 2 and 3 were mostly neutralized by this point in the battle, and my main concern was the remaining Northward russian tank emplacements. all this planning and prepping for nothing. despite being screened by smoke, despite having a decent counter-battery going, despite having my tanks move at full speed (Move, not Assault order), the T34s were infallible (firing at ranges of over 1000 m., mind you). Blam, Blam, Blam, Blam -- my Panthers, *moving at full speed over open terrain,* took hit after hit after hit. * Virtually no misses * (possibly no misses, period), just hit after hit. In less than a minute, their tracks were turned to shreds and my assault was dead in the water. Now, I like challenges. Really, I do. But this was just a moment of "WTF - Really? this is absurd." Apparently, all AI tanks and AT guns are manned by the most expert marksmen the world has ever seen. Target moving at full speed? No matter. AI can get 100% or near 100% accuracy against it. It's a simple fact for anyone who has played ToW2 that AI, no matter unit/gun type (arty barrage excepted), hits you far, far more often than it misses you. That, and it can see a fly on a blade of grass at 1000 m. and mow it down with ease. I had a squad of infantry completely prone, behind tree cover and in high grass, and not moving, firing, or making a peep. Suddenly, a maxim opens up on it, again from several hundred meters away. Wipes out 75% of the squad in a heartbeat. Very frustrating. Anyone who could mod AI fire down to reasonable accuracy %s would do much to rescue this game.