CMBO Demo part. works under Win 7 Help!

[John Kettler]

Schrullenhaft et al.,

My friend, Keith, has DLed the CMBO Demo, only to find it but partially works on his PC under Win 7. He's got orders available on-screen, and the game works somewhat, but no status, unit particulars, ammo state, morale, VL and other stuff. Per the BFC site, the full game is Win 7 compatible, so why not the Demo?

Is this fixable, and is the full CMBO game actually Win 7 compatible, as BFC's own site shows is the case? If not, barring a second OS, is there a CMx1 game which is Win 7 compatible, preferably with a Win 7 compatible demo so he can "fly before buy."

Thanks for any and all help!

Regards,

John Kettler

[Streety]

Sounds like your friend might have the common text problem. First, try simply pressing ALT+TAB keys together to come out of the game, then ALT+TAB back into the game (which works for some Win7/8 users for CMx1). But if that don't work, ahead of help from Tech Support or from someone who's tried the same situation, there's these CMBO threads:

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=100600

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=92907

And maybe others. Or if that don't help you could try the various CMBB or CMAK threads about Vista/Win7/Win8 issues - maybe one of the same solutions would work...

In those CMBO threads it seems at least the full CMBO does work with Win7, so if it turns out that it's just the demo that's the problem, you can get a used copy of the full game (plus the additional mods disk) for just a penny at Amazon (look for "Combat Missions - Xplosiv Range"). One of those 1p copies currently comes with free postage!!! (well if your friend is in the UK, but I suspect other Amazon and similar reseller sites have similar cheapo copies). Well worth the risk.

[John Kettler]

Streety,

Many thanks! Keith's now poring over what you so kindly provided. From what I read at the second link, CMBO seems to be either hit or miss in Win 7. For some reason, the laptops (he has one) seem to be the troubled rigs.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Streety]

You're welcome. Some of the issues might relate to compatibility with how the e-licence recognises how/where the game is installed, but I'd have guessed there wouldn't be an e-licence on the demo version (but maybe it's wrapped up in the same install package). Apparently the downloadable versions of CMBB and CMAK from Battlefront used different DirectX protocols or triggers than the earlier retail CD versions. The later Vista 1.04 patch was a fix for the downloadable versions of CMBB and CMAK (which you have to buy!) to account for this difference, so the retail CD versions should be ok. Don't know if the current CMBO downloadable demo is similarly affected but there seems to be no Vista patch for it (so just buy a used retail CD version). But what helped some CMx1 Win7 users was to also download the DirectX installer: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=35 which should back-fill any parts of DirectX 9c (and maybe earlier verisons) that didn't already come as part of your pal's current DirectX 10 or 11 package (thanks for that crappy approach, Microsoft). Again, however, if it were me I'd just buy the cheapo 1p used CD version I previously posted and see if that worked ok before tinkering with updating my rig's drivers (hate messing with drivers if everything else works ok with them).

Otherwise, if the ALT+TAB, ALT+TAB doesn't work and your friend has an ATI graphics chip, it seems that installing the text file could work, and failing that installing the CCC (catalyst control centre) for ATI. But before installing/updating graphics card drivers/utilities, he could also try something I found with NVidia for CMAK on Windows XP: If I played the game on my NVidia control panel's highest quality graphics setting, I'd lose some of the text, but if I put the quality settings down a notch (or maybe it was two notches) the text came back. Never investigated it further.

I guess, to summarise, I'd probably advise this order of tinkering and see if they worked before trying the next one:

1) ALT+TAB, ALT+TAB

2) Change quality settings on your graphics driver

3) Try the amended text file

4) Try a different desktop resolution

5) Then, sorry, but buy a used retail CD version and try that

6) The DirectX updater

7) Install/update CCC (for ATI cards) or otherwise update the drivers/utilities for your graphics

The best retail CD version to buy is of course the most expensive: "Combat Mission: Anthology" (2004) which not only has all 3 games but has executables which mean that once installed you don't have to put the respective disks in your machine to play them. And it came out late enough to have all the patches, I think (except for the vista 1.04 patch - but that was only ever needed to correct the downloadable versions of the game, not the retail CD versions, so you wouldn't then also want the 1.04 patch anyway).

[Streety]

Kettler - P.S. to my last message after your latest: I accidentally-on-purpose forgot to mention trying to run the game in Win7's "compatibility mode" or as "administrator", because I've yet to read CMx1 feedback saying that those methods actually helped for any of the specific problems that players have been experiencing. And I don't think they're related to your pal's apparent text problem anyway, but I suppose they're worth trying after the ALT+TAB, ALT+TAB method, just in case...

PPS - yes it might be that some problems arise out of the differences between the relative success-rate of compatibility between desktop graphics cards and laptop integrated graphics chips (and perhaps sometimes related to how laptop chips are more tied into the integrated screen rather than the perhaps greater built-in flexibility of a desktop which will usually have any of a number of potential external monitors). However, I do wonder if in fact just as many problems might be caused by the differences between the downloadable CMx1 games and the retail CD versions, which at least for CMBB and CMAK are definitely different in terms of a few (but potentially significant) DirectX aspects (and so maybe CMBO is too). For example, I bought a Vista laptop (and found Vista to be a piece of junk) but it installed and played all my retail CD CMx1 games without any issues whatsoever.

[John Kettler]

Streety,

Appreciate your help and have passed thread to Keith.

Schrullenhaft,

Got your PM and have done likewise with what you so kindly provided.

Between the two of you, maybe it'll finally work. For sure, he wants it to!

Regards,

John Kettler

[Streety]

You're welcome, Kettler.

But if I got something wrong or if Schrullenhaft's PM (personal message) to you is otherwise of possible use on this subject, surely it should be publicly posted, for the benefit of all, as being one of the key purposes of this forum. Else, what the hell are we doing here, playing at some secret boys' club for the favoured few, Schrullenhaft??

Others coming to this thread for help on this subject in the future are going to wonder if what I've put is counter/incomplete to the best Tech Support advice, or wonder if special favouritism is required in order to get best help. I don't mind if I put something wrong - Hell, I've only got it from others' past threads' advice, or gleaned it from personal experience, so fess-up for the benefit of all, jeez...

Bad Tech Support!

I'm out of here.

[Redwolf]

John. Seriously. What's the point of this tech support "call" when you don't even mention what kind of graphics card he has?

[Schrullenhaft]

The response to John Kettler was via a Helpdesk ticket. I have been on vacation with extremely little internet access, so I did not get to see this thread and respond to it. I did respond to John's Helpdesk ticket, which by his problem description suggested that his friend may have been running an ATI/AMD Radeon in his laptop and the 'Radeon Text Fix' was the suggested workaround for that.

Both AMD/ATI Radeons and Nvidia GeForces/Quadros can run into issues with the screen refresh in CMx1 games. The Alt+Tab is the closest thing to a solution/workaround, though it may not work consistently for a number of users.

[Buzz]

The response to John Kettler was via a Helpdesk ticket. I have been on vacation with extremely little internet access, so I did not get to see this thread and respond to it. I did respond to John's Helpdesk ticket, which by his problem description suggested that his friend may have been running an ATI/AMD Radeon in his laptop and the 'Radeon Text Fix' was the suggested workaround for that.

Both AMD/ATI Radeons and Nvidia GeForces/Quadros can run into issues with the screen refresh in CMx1 games. The Alt+Tab is the closest thing to a solution/workaround, though it may not work consistently for a number of users.

I am on a Mac with the CMBO disc using Windows 7 Pro in Boot Camp and the 'Radeon Text Fix' Schrullenhaft suggested works fine to improve text readability. I think his suggestion is from a thread in 2011?

[Schrullenhaft]

We've had a problem with text in the CMx1 series with Radeons since 2006 or earlier. The way we were performing an 'alpha channel'/transparency seems to have been deprecated/botched by ATI/AMD a long time ago and it never changed. Interestingly we never seemed to have had a problem with Nvidia in this particular regard.

Someone ingeniously came up with a bit of a workaround that puts the text on a black background (rather than a transparent one), which lets the text stand out (still in yellow color rather than white). It doesn't work in every situation, but it is the closest thing to a workaround that we have.