Sunbather

I agree. But at least 2 posts were complaining about a lack of marketing and saying that it is all (everything and everything) Steve's fault... PS: to be fair, I was the one who brought in the term "marketing" but a few people answered on that term saying that BFC sucks at it.

Again, he can't say anything if Matrix/Slitherine doesn't want him to. It's "their" product now, at least when it comes to the Steam releases. I opened this thread because I hoped that they simply forgot to tell us (not as unlikely as you might think considering how it usually works with them) or Steve is actually allowed to say something if somebody asks. Apparently this isn't so. No need for bashing Steve here. As I've explained already, I think Battlefront does perfect marketing for the fans. It might not be fancy streams on Twitch or Youtube (in which you actually learn nothing) but just plain old announcements on their main page. There you learn about patches, pre-orders and upcoming titles. I also don't think Battlefront has to market the game "beyond [their] base". If you go on wargaming forums (on Reddit, on Blitz, on Steam) Combat Mission pops up every. single. time. as the epitome of tactical wargames. Steam releases are doing the rest. You can "market" games like this only so much. The wider your reach gets, the more people will jump in and call the graphics ugly and "like 2005" and "don't buy". What I am saying is: at a specific point of reach, marketing might be reversing itself. IF people are looking for computer wargames, they will stumble upon Combat Mission rather sooner than later. No need to spend $$$ on marketing. Now... Having release dates is of course another matter, as I've explained above. Then again, we actually do have a release date, and at least for the last 3 Steam releases the given dates turned out to be correct. All I wanted to know was if the release is right around the corner or more like January. And since I got no response, I now know that they don't wanna tell us, and I am kinda ok with that.

I just like release dates. For example, I know for a full 3 months now that I will be spending 60$ on Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader on December 7th. That's nice because so I am able to plan ahead with my budget. If there is a delay, if there is a change or whatever, just tell us. It took us months to learn that the WW2 series of Combat Mission wouldn't come out in 2022... Of course, you could argue that Final Blitzkrieg is already out and so I am tempted to just buy it. But I just have that feeling that I buy it and not much later the game drops on Steam which means an initial sale and also regionally adjusted prices and maybe even the release of the module which will make a nice and money-saving bundle with the base game. Steve can't say anything about it because it is the publisher's prerogative to announce or not announce release dates. And Slitherine/Matrix - as I said - are not good at this. Sometimes they announce a beta months ahead (e.g. for that weird Terminator: Dark Defiance game), other times they just drop a major release without any previous marketing (Fortress Italy). Their Steam prices are weird (60,68€ for CM: Normandy) because they rigorously follow Steam suggestions for currency conversion. Every child knows that you either have round prices or go the .99 cents way; it's simple psychology. Their website is sometimes bad, often times simply horrendous. You are greeted with a loud jungle when you open their main page, their forums are laggy, you get constantly and randomly logged out... All that being said, I love their products and that they give niche wargames a home. But their PR/marketing is really strange and probably not very effective. PS: Battlefront does marketing, at least for their fans. E.g. the battle pack for Red Thunder and Cold War were both announced on their main page weeks or even months ahead. I think this was very nice, since - again - it gave me the possibility to plan ahead a bit.

[nevermind]

Hmm, Red Thunder was released on June 15th, Fortress Italy followed on September 12th (with zero previous marketing). So I have a hunch that the release might indeed be around the corner. Then again, Matrix/Slitherine aren't too good when it comes to marketing, publishing or actually doing releases. So at the end of the day, we know nothing, haha.

Now that Germany is all white and wintery, I am finally in the mood for some Final Blitzkrieg. However, I do wonder if the module is right around the corner which would give me the option to just buy the bundle at a reduced price. So is the module still slated to come out together with the Steam release or even before that? St. Nick's Day is soon - and let me tell you, even grown-ups like surprises and presents

Hey there, Elvis. My English is pretty bad today so maybe a lot got lost in translation. Disregarding the other two points, let me only answer to the first one. It is and always was possible to "upgrade"/"complete" your bundle at a discounted price. In fact, it is already possible again. It was either an error in the Matrix (no pun intended) or a problem with Steam (most likely). I.e. I can now buy Gustav Line at a discounted-discounted price which is awesome since I am very tight on money right now.

I must admit I am a bit pissed that Slitherine/Matrix turned off the ability on Steam to complete a bundle when you already have parts of it. For example: you only have CM Normandy and Commonwealth. Just a few months ago you were able to buy the complete bundle at a discounted price, MINUS the parts of the game you already owned. This got changed. I have Fortress Italy and Gustav Line. However, I only have the option now to buy the full bundle at the full price of 90 euro, disregarding completely that I already own two items of the three-parts bundle. I think this is really ****ty business practice; especially since it was possible earlier.

Will be similar to the first one, I guess. Also, trailers rarely have UI elements, be it for wargames or more non-niche games. I mean, the trailer for Fortress Italy has the UI in it but probably only because they decided it would look worse if they cut off the edges like our Youtubers do to make it more cinematic.

I am looking forward to it. And than there is Battle Tactics 2025, of course. It's great to see more games are changing over to 3D view and post-WW2 equipment.

@Brille Thanks for describing the problem much better and much more succinct than I did! @BFCElvis Thanks Elvis for clearing this up!

Sorry, Elvis. I have to broach the subject again. I've played the demo one more time and the actual problem wasn't a spinning camera but that the camera movement with WASD is very, very laggy and sometimes stops completely. You then have to press the button again. But since it can happen 3 times in 2 seconds, it is very aggravating. Especially since I am moving around the camera constantly in the CM games. Move the camera with the mouse isn't an option for me either. So to make a long story short: is Engine 0 or CM:A known to have problems with WASD camera movement?

The Heaven and Earth mod would like to have a word:

You're right of course. I thought about that as well which is why I made another screenshot AFTER clicking the red button. But I've uploaded the wrong one. That being said: Ouch what an idiot I am! This is a fresh install of Red Thunder and I wasn't used to the fact anymore that the default mode is real-time. Of course, there won't be any time tools showing in real-time mode! Thanks for your reply Kohlenklau, indirectly it helped to see my stupid mistake. I am going to stand in a corner for 30 minutes now.

Sorry, it is late and I can't properly formulate anymore but I just wanted to check out what RT campaign to begin tomorrow and I noticed that the UI parts for time control (skip 5 seconds forward, pause) are completely missing. This is unmodded and on Steam. Version should be the current one. Help? PS: Just checked out Shock Force 2 quickly and everything there is as it should be.

At this point, any Battlepack or Module would be welcome. Lots of them were announced years ago (Blitzkrieg module and Black Sea module) and for some games they are desperately needed. And if we really have to wait for the (probably already finished) BS module until the real war is over, we might as well be thinking 2025 now. I also have the feeling that the partnership with Matrix/Slitherine slows down releases. They have a very rigorous policy over there to NEVER release a thing when it is done but only when it fits into their PR schedule, i.e. when something other major has released in a quarter, nothing else will release. It is understandable, maybe, but then again wargamers are hardly people who care much about crowded release frames. When two games they want to buy release at the same time, they either simply buy both or buy one now and the other one at a later time. This is just an interpretation from the outside but it can be very frustrating to see how Matrix/Slitherine's release schedule. That being said, I don't even know if Battlefront might release a module or BP on their website simply when it is ready anyhow. With Matrix/Slitherine release coming at a later point.

Alright, thanks for the direct answer!

A while ago I was on the brink of buying it but luckily tried the demo first. In the demo, my camera was rotating automatically and there was no way to make it stop. Is this a known error and only happens in the demo?

All I know is that Cold War and Black Sea are my favourite CM games and yet, at the same time, both are in dire need of content. So the modules can't come soon enough!

I would like to know that as well. Or rather, is it included in the 4.04 patch? EDIT: It is not! You have to download it manually.

This is absolutely great! I love your scenarios and campaigns Paper Tiger! And it is awesome to see that you put out content again! Of course, I just bought the biggest bundle of Normandy, so I'll be busy with that for a while. But I am already looking forward to playing Gung Ho! (personally I find the Brits more unique than the USMC though) I might chime in when it comes to German TV folklore but unfortunately I am too young for the 70ies and even the 80ies (ouch!).

Ok, now I know that when I want to play that campaign, I have to swap in the mod files that Dragonwynn provided. I do have the complete mod files btw, so if you or anyone else or @dragonwynn himself wants them, I could upload them sowhere. They are a whopping 3 gigs, however, if I remember correctly.

Thank you very much for the detailed answer! Thank you so much for your work. Of course, all the contributing modders are greatly appreciated as well, and I try to keep up or read up on who published what, just out of courtesy. However, for me one of the biggest tasks with mods is to bring them all together, try them out, detect potential conflicts, and especially figure out which mods I like and which not. That is, of course, the work of a curator. And with other games, e.g. Arma 3, I've spent so much time curating mods for myself that in the end, I didn't even want to play the game anymore. So it is simply great that you do this work for us. That being said, I do know that you are not "just" a curator but you also mod yourself and make big efforts to get people together to accomplish such madness like the "Heaven & Earth" mod. So all in all, thank you, thank you, thank you! Things like that would drive me absolutely mad. I would spent weeks to find the conflicting files. One more reason to be grateful you've sorted it out! You've really earned some time off! Rest assured, I had so far zero problems with your All in One packs, even the ones that are or were considered "initial" AiOs. So it is high time, I install your updated mod pack for Red Thunder and finally start digging into the Budapest campaign since despite inital hopes for Spring it is freezing and snowy outside. Perfect time for some Operation Konrad action!

Well, I was so ashamed about putting more oil into the fire, I only have the courage to answer now. I didn't want to lecture you nor do I ever want to lecture anyone about their own business. It was a weak moment. So I want to apologized for my statements which weren't very hostile but still contributed nothing in a constructive way. I would have not written anything and I certainly wouldn't come here now to apologize if I wasn't so deeply enamoured with the CM games. And while I disagree that they are without any competition, I do heartily agree that they are best at what they are trying to do. But once you reach such a level of a creative product, people get passionate and dream of even higher heights. I think what I am trying to say is, probably most if not all of the people here love your games and it is unlikely that will ever change. It is also refreshing to see how this thread has Kohlenklau spiralling a bit. Now that he is certain that there will never be an early WW2 CM game, he is indulging in his own thread and making lunatic statements to himself while planning for a gigantic early war mod like a criminal mastermind. He seems to laugh manically, and I laugh not about but with him. So if anything, this thread did accomplish that.

Since I am downloading the updated mod (February 2023) right now, I want to ask the following: There are campaigns like Dragonwynns "Cross of Iron" or "The Last Panzer" which have a lot of campaign-related mods attached to them, e.g. from PanzerMike. Are they already included and tagged into your All-in-One or do I still have to drop the attached mods into an extra "z"-folder whenever I want to play them? Also, how do the winter mods work now that we have an "official" winter implementation with Fire and Rubble? Are they conflicting in such a campaign like "The Last Panzer" or are they consolidated? I hope I make sense, my head is not fit for English today.