Thought I'd say Hi! and some q's

[montanaza]

Hi gents and ladies

So I just bit the bullet and purchased the CM Normandy Big bundle.

Wow, not going to lie that $95 hurt! But love the concept and pace of CM so heres to hopefully lotsa fun!

Some quick queries:

1) Any good guides which aren't immediately discoverable for noobs like me?

2) Any essential mods I should grab?

3) Can I install CMBN on my second home pc for mates to play on when they come over for LAN's? ie 2 simultaneous licensed installs?

4) How do I disable tree sway? This is a big one for larger engagements for me FPS wise. . . . .

Thanks in advance folks!

MontanaZA

[JoMac]

Hello MontanaZA, and welcome to the CM Community of Superior WWII Tactical Computer Gaming...

1) Yes, there is a guide for Noobs, but wait and someone will come along shortly and guide you in the right direction.

For starters, here is a YouTube CM:BN Armchair General Tactics Tutorial Episodes I-VI:

you can also visit Bil Hardenburg website: http://battledrill.blogspot.com/2013...lems-cmtp.html

2) Visit this site for all CM Mods:..I mostly use Aris Mods which include Terrain, Vehicles & Special Effects ( smoke, gun-fire, explosions ), JuJu Interface Mod, and Jorge MC Sound Mod.

http://cmmods.greenasjade.net/mods

3) Yes, you can install up to 2 computers.

4) I don't believe you can disable Tree sway...

However, use ALt+Tree and you can either Toggle between No Trees, or Trunks only at close-up with trees farther back.

To further increase Frame Rates, you can Toggle off Shadows ( ALT+W ), and Toggle off Shaders ( ALT+R ). You can also use the 'Options Menu' and either use the stock 'Balance' or one of the 'Faster' settings as it will help Frame Rates.

Joe

[Ultradave]

A good place to get started is to go to youtube, and search for

"Combat Mission Armchair General"

There is a series of many videos that start from introducing basic concepts through most of the general situations you'll have to fight your way through in scenarios.

The tutorials in the manual will give you a good feel for getting started, and are good for someone brand new because they start with a limited number of units.

Welcome and good luck.

[montanaza]

Great, thanks for the prompt feedback gents!

[Michael Emrys]

Possibly the first thing you should do when you have learned the basic mechanics of the game and are ready to start working on tactics is to go to Bil Hardenberger's blog:

http://battledrill.blogspot.com/2013/08/combat-mission-tactical-problems-cmtp.html

for some easy to digest step by step tactical fundamentals. With these under your belt you will have a solid foundation to make and execute winning plans. At least often enough so that you won't feel completely lost in the dark.

Michael

[montanaza]

Great - checking it out now Michael while I try to get my downloaded game working..

[Talespin Jim]

The first thing you should do is sit down and make a list of the top 100 best excuses you can think of for not coming to work today and plan to rotate through the list.

Next, you should gag your wife, tie her up and put her in the closet.

Get rid of any pets.

Email all of your friends and tell them goodbye.

Cash out your 401K to get some money to live on for a while.

Hire a housekeeper who cooks, cleans, answers the phone, and doesn't mind bathing you. Make sure she is not so pretty as to cause a distraction and make sure she can cook something besides Mexican food--as much as I love it, it's making me fat.

Email the courthouse and tell them you can't serve jury duty, so don't even bother calling you.

Spray herbicide over your whole lawn--choose one with a one year guarantee.

Set all of your bills up on auto-pay.

Go to Walgreens.com and order a case of caffeine pills to be delivered every thirty days.

Get a catheter with a one-year supply. If your doctor asks any questions, just tell him you are planning on becoming a "cathelete" and going to the Olympics.

Buy 36 tubes of Preparation H. and one of those handles with a rubber grip on the end that fat people use to wipe their bottoms. Enough said.

Start building a deep, loving, personal relationship with John at the Help Desk--pucker up and prepare to kiss his arse a lot. Never anger him.

Finally, join TheFewGoodMen.com and the Blitz.com

[Pak40]

Hello MontanaZA, and welcome to the CM Community of Superior WWII Tactical Computer Gaming...

2) Visit this site for all CM Mods:..I mostly use Aris Mods which include Terrain, Vehicles & Special Effects ( smoke, gun-fire, explosions ), JuJu Interface Mod, and Jorge MC Sound Mod.

http://cmmods.greenasjade.net/mods

Montanaza, If you're on the borderline FPS wise, then maybe graphics mods aren't a good idea. They may increase the load on your GPU, I'm not sure. However mods are easily implemented and easy to disable, so you should give it a try and if it's a major impact on your FPS then you can just remove it.

The two most important mods for me are JuJu's Interface Mod and just about any of the major sound mods out there because the default sounds are IMO the weakest aspect of vanilla CMBN. The default graphics I can live with but the sounds are blah. JuJu's interface mod is a vast improvement on the more modern look of the stock interface and actually adds to the immersion of the game.

[A Canadian Cat]

<snip>

Finally, join TheFewGoodMen.com and the Blitz.com

Hilarious - good last advice though.

Montanaza, If you're on the borderline FPS wise, then maybe graphics mods aren't a good idea. They may increase the load on your GPU, I'm not sure.

On my marginal machine I still used lots of graphics mods. It did not seem to effect much. My best advice for marginal machines is "don't be afraid of turning down the graphics settings". Sure the game will not look as good but it sure beats being frustrated with a sluggish game or a locked up system.

However mods are easily implemented and easy to disable, so you should give it a try and if it's a major impact on your FPS then you can just remove it.

Very true.

The other mod I would recommend is Vin's animated text mod. I find that to be the single best mod out there. While I miss other mods - especially Juju's excellent work - Vin's animated text not being installed is like listening to feedback every time I look at what my troops are doing.

[The Teacher]

Try all the mods, its subjective when it comes to the look and feel of the game.

Aris mods

Juju mods

then as many others as you can run, the worlds your oyster.

There are more mods than you can poke a stick at.

cheers

Stephen

[Oddball-47]

Hi Montana,

Welcome aboard.

Here's a link to a bunch of tips with accompanying screenshots

which I personally felt were/are quit helpful:

http://forums.gamesquad.com/showthread.php?105314-CMBN-Tactics

There's only one of 'em I couldn't quite grok. It's the one where

the poster inputs about twenty waypoints and subsequently selects one

of 'em as being optimal; I got a headache looking at it.

I've been playing CM since the original release and have never grown

tired of it. That's something I can't say for any other game I've

ever played.

Regards,

Oddball - CAF

[Talespin Jim]

the Blitz.com

My mistake, it's TheBlitz.org.

[montanaza]

Montanaza, If you're on the borderline FPS wise, then maybe graphics mods aren't a good idea. They may increase the load on your GPU, I'm not sure. However mods are easily implemented and easy to disable, so you should give it a try and if it's a major impact on your FPS then you can just remove it.

The two most important mods for me are JuJu's Interface Mod and just about any of the major sound mods out there because the default sounds are IMO the weakest aspect of vanilla CMBN. The default graphics I can live with but the sounds are blah. JuJu's interface mod is a vast improvement on the more modern look of the stock interface and actually adds to the immersion of the game.

Thanks Pak40:

performance is okayyyy.. 3.4ghz q9550 quad, 8gb RAM, gtx 460 1gb and Win 8.1 fully updated.

Will def try JuJu UI. Any suggestions for a comprehensive / collection of sound mods? Not keen to find and install many atm, wanna play rather

[montanaza]

This looks great, thanks Oddball - on wireless data, and from South Africa so 1gb of youtube or data etc costs the equivalent of $10! Image guides are wayyyy better for me as a result - in fact, spent $60 odd just downloading after the $95 purchase wanted CMBN that badly lol!

Hi Montana,

Welcome aboard.

Here's a link to a bunch of tips with accompanying screenshots

which I personally felt were/are quit helpful:

http://forums.gamesquad.com/showthread.php?105314-CMBN-Tactics

There's only one of 'em I couldn't quite grok. It's the one where

the poster inputs about twenty waypoints and subsequently selects one

of 'em as being optimal; I got a headache looking at it.

I've been playing CM since the original release and have never grown

tired of it. That's something I can't say for any other game I've

ever played.

Regards,

Oddball - CAF

[Mord]

2) Any essential mods I should grab?

MontanaZA

Yep. This one. Goes great with Juju's UI mod.

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=2923

Mord.

[Buzz]

Mord & DC's MG Unit Portraits V.4.0 is an essential mod.

[JoMac]

Thanks Pak40:

performance is okayyyy.. 3.4ghz q9550 quad, 8gb RAM, gtx 460 1gb and Win 8.1 fully updated.

Will def try JuJu UI. Any suggestions for a comprehensive / collection of sound mods? Not keen to find and install many atm, wanna play rather

I have roughly the same System & Video specs ( Dell Optiplex 755 w/Win 7, AMD 7500 1GB Vid ), and CMx2 runs fairly well. I use Balanced Settings, Shadows & Shaders off, and only get some shutter when panning across a Large or Wooded area, but nothing to bad.

[Doug Williams]

performance is okayyyy.. 3.4ghz q9550 quad, 8gb RAM, gtx 460 1gb and Win 8.1 fully

Welcome aboard!

The GTX 460 is probably your performance bottleneck. But I'm sure you knew that.

[montanaza]

Yeah... thinking of going to AMD, but see there are more issues with CM there?

[Doug Williams]

I have a GTX 680 and have no problems playing Huge battles on Huge maps with all options turned to best quality. CM is a game that also benefits from a fast CPU. Yours is a previous generation but it was probably the best of the previous generation so I doubt it is limiting you nearly as much as that video card.

[rocketman]

Re: tree sway - in ChrisND's Twitch broadcast last night of the upcoming engine upgrade he mentioned that there will be an option/setting for low-res trees (already in CMRT?) that will eliminate tree sway as some people take frame rate hits from this.

Oh, and welcome to the wonderful world of CM