FAO Battlefront. Will MG upgrade game to V2?

[Michael Emrys]

I took the easy route and just set up a trust fund with Steve as the beneficiary.

I hope you aren't providing him enough to retire on!

:eek:

Michael

[Erwin]

Has BF considered an "all-in advance price" for a particular family of CM products?

Maybe I am alone in this concept, but I would much prefer buying such a package for $150+ which would include hard copies of everything so there is no confusion and worry about whether I should get a hard copies or only the d/l of an update, or a module and burn a safety disk.

Based on someone saying there is no 2.0 manual with the update I bought the d/l version. But now, (I think) Steve said that the 2.0 mailed hard copy does come with a printed manual - which is what I wanted. Or, is that the same manual I received with my hard copy of CMFI??

It's become way too confusing. So, how about a package price for those of us who haven't the time to keep up with all the options?

No one would be forced to buy the package, BF would get a lot more money in advance, and much confusion re what is free and what needs to be paid for would be eliminated.

Doesn't that seem like a win for everyone?

[Steiner14]

I'd be interested to know, how high the percentage of potential new customers out there is, that understand even after one hour surfing the BFC-homepage, how the CM-family and upgrade-thingy works and what they can buy.

IMO it would be good invested time, if BFC would create one single picture, that explains for everyone in KISS, how the games, modules, updates and upgrades are connected and which one is needed as prerequisite for the other ones.

A second picture should show the current status of releases and should be updated with every new release/update/upgrade.

[Vanir Ausf B]

12 Months!! If there's going to be an upgrade for CMBN in 12 Months, that tells me that there will at least be a major release this year highlighting the 3.0 engine. I'm guessing CMEF possibly sometime around midyear 2013?

So MG module out probably Q1 of 13, hopefully CMEF in Q2 followed up by maybe another upgrade to CMFI v3.0 and module for CMFI in Q3 and an upgrade to CMBN to 3.0 in Q4.

If my prophesy is correct, it looks like we will have new CM toys to play with about every 3 months . Why don't I just give you my wallet now, it will be much easier that way ....

In one of their roadmap posts in the CMFI forum BFC stated that they intend to release both the first East Front game and Shock Force 2 in 2013.

[Chops]

I'd be interested to know, how high the percentage of potential new customers out there is, that understand even after one hour surfing the BFC-homepage, how the CM-family and upgrade-thingy works and what they can buy.

IMO it would be good invested time, if BFC would create one single picture, that explains for everyone in KISS, how the games, modules, updates and upgrades are connected and which one is needed as prerequisite for the other ones.

A second picture should show the current status of releases and should be updated with every new release/update/upgrade.

Now that is an outstanding idea Cpl. Steiner. Leave it to a German for a good logical solution.

There has been a massive amount of confusion and frustration that I have seen on the forum due to the patch, upgrade process, purchasing additional content, potential upcoming bundles and pricing, as well as whether or not a new manual was available with v2.

I was able to navigate the patch/upgrade process smoothly, however, Battlefront did lose a purchase from me, when I went to buy the Commonwealth module after I upgraded to CMBN v2 and realized that it is at version 1.0. Tech support's answer (not their fault) was to uninstall everything and start over. No thanks, not into that right now.

So Battlefront really dropped the ball in communicating with their customers and I imagine they have lost more sales than just mine. I want to see BFC do well, so I hope they work on communication.

[Michael Emrys]

Or, is that the same manual I received with my hard copy of CMFI??

Unless there have been some unannounced changes, it is the same. Ask me again in a week or so. I should have my copy by then.

Michael

[Paulverisor64]

Has BF considered an "all-in advance price" for a particular family of CM products?

Maybe I am alone in this concept, but I would much prefer buying such a package for $150+ which would include hard copies of everything so there is no confusion and worry about whether I should get a hard copies or only the d/l of an update, or a module and burn a safety disk.

Based on someone saying there is no 2.0 manual with the update I bought the d/l version. But now, (I think) Steve said that the 2.0 mailed hard copy does come with a printed manual - which is what I wanted. Or, is that the same manual I received with my hard copy of CMFI??

It's become way too confusing. So, how about a package price for those of us who haven't the time to keep up with all the options?

No one would be forced to buy the package, BF would get a lot more money in advance, and much confusion re what is free and what needs to be paid for would be eliminated.

Doesn't that seem like a win for everyone?

I too would like an option to buy all up to date FULL INSTALL disks in one package. I bought the steel case with the original CMBN; it is very attractive so I would like to have everything up to date on this so it can be functional as well.

Right now you have to go 2 places to install CMBN. I'd rather not have to put 2 CMBN disks into the metal case because it will run out of room that much sooner.

I also don't like the idea of having a seperate download upgrade to keep track of and possibly lose with the computer.

With both options there are 2 seperate activation codes that have to be kept track of as well. When 3.0 comes out this will require 3 seperate installs and activations that hopefully work. I know for a fact that I am on my last activation for 1.11. Steve himself said that Battlefront will only support the last 2 upgrades with each product. If I should have to install this game again I might have 9 upgrades available with upgrade 2.0 and 3.0 but completely run out with version 1.11. Since that will be no longer supported unless I'm looking at this completely wrong (as I do from time to time) everyone in this same boat is S.O.L.

I'd much rather just have 1 up to date FULL INSTALL disk for every single game and not go through the whole crossing the fingers routine of tracking down everything and hoping for an issue free install. I'm hoping that Battlefront will give us some good packaging options. Perhaps even allowing us the option of purchasing 3 games of choice for a discount.

I'm not sure whether anyone answered your question Erwin; the manual that came with CMFI would be the same that would come with the upgrade disk. In this instance the better issue might be to download.

[Erwin]

I have the CMFI 2.0 manual, Paulverisor64. So, hopefully that is the same as the v2.0 update manual.

But, I completely agree with your points above. They describe my concerns succinctly.

The whole concept currently being implemented is waaay too complex and will get more so as more "families" and modules get released. I don't mind giving BF money. What I do mind is giving BF money and getting a headache from confused complexity in return.

[Georgie]

What I would like to see is a Sticky by BF listing future modules and what will be rolled into those modules. Will patch 1.11 someday be included in a module or will it always have to be downloaded separately?

[Michael Emrys]

Will patch 1.11 someday be included in a module or will it always have to be downloaded separately?

I imagine that not only will the fixes included in 1.11 be integral to new modules, but also to new pressings of the existing base game and module. In other words, customers buying the base game and CW module now probably are getting the 1.11 version of the game automatically.

Michael

[Battlefront.com]

While I can see the appeal of buying a "one package" ahead of time, it's impractical. First, we never know for sure what we're putting out for any one particular product. Especially now that we have the Upgrade plans in place. Second, I'm pretty sure it is illegal. There's some fine line there somewhere, at least, and I'm not sure where it is for this specific proposal. Third, we personally don't want to sell product ahead of time even if legal. This puts legal obligations on us (as well as personal) that we can't guarantee will meet customer expectations (because of #1 in particular).

In short, this is one of those situations where a good idea runs into enough problems that it's not something we can do.

Practical pieces information to keep in mind:

1. When you download something (purchase or patch) back it up onto a memory stick. If you CDs, and want to keep everything in one place, then copy the disk over to the memory stick as well. That way you have everything you need in one place at one time. Memory sticks are super cheap and useful for backing up all kinds of stuff.

2. Make a text file on the memory stick and enter in your license keys as backup. You will only need these codes if you have to install on a new system or significantly alter the one you've currently licensed. Otherwise you won't use up a key.

3. While it is true that downloading a backup is time limited, support of your license key is not. That's totally separate!

4. Every CM Base Game we release from now on will have two manuals. One is for the "game mechanics" and the other is for the specific release. The manual will continue to be the same until we have another Upgrade. Which means CMFI and CMBN 2.0 currently use the same printed manual. The next Base Game we release will likely also be v2.0 and that means it will also have the same printed manual.

I think that covers the questions above. If not, what did I miss?

I can say that during testing I had to make fresh installs a couple dozen times off a v1.00 disk. This required me to first install the v1.10 patch, then the v1.11 patch, then v2.0 upgrade. It was a piece of cake to do. Considering you might have to do this only once in your life, not a dozen times within a few days, I really don't see an issue that needs solving beyond the connivence of having everything on memory stick or in a stack of disks.

Steve