CM Black Sea - Beta Battle Report - US/UKR Side

[A Canadian Cat]

- Intel i5-4690K 'Devils Canyon' 3.6ghz - 3.9ghz boost CPU

- 16gb DDR3 2133 Gskills Ripjaw RAM

- Asrock Z97 Fatal1ty Killer motherboard

- Nvidia GTX-970 4gb GPU from Gigabyte

- 256gb Corsair SSD

- H75 Corsair liquid CPU cooler

- 1TB WD Black data HD

- Raidmax CobraZ case

- Seasonic 620w Power supply

- Old model LG Blueray R/W

- Win 8.1

Black Sea embedded in the spec list. Coincidence?

[AttorneyAtWar]

Black Sea embedded in the spec list. Coincidence?

Half Life 3 confirmed.

[Hister]

pnzrldr,

Please do get yourself Fraps (it's free and with no spam) with the new machine and show us the FPS countof your game. I want to buy same GPU model you have and am interested to see what it is capable of.

[AttorneyAtWar]

pnzrldr,

Please do get yourself Fraps (it's free and with no spam) with the new machine and show us the FPS countof your game. I want to buy same GPU model you have and am interested to see what it is capable of.

That GTX 970 is top of the line, CM won't be an issue at all. RAM and individual processor power is far more important.

[sburke]

pnzrldr,

Please do get yourself Fraps (it's free and with no spam) with the new machine and show us the FPS countof your game. I want to buy same GPU model you have and am interested to see what it is capable of.

Beta games are not going to give you a perspective on the FPS you will be able to expect. The good news is it should be better assuming same configuration.

[antaress73]

whether he has other undiscovered long-range ATGM shots set up. While the Abrams has the advantage at longer range gun duels, he has effectively taken ATGM effectiveness off the plate here. His missiles will likely be APS intercepts on the first round,

how does range affects ATGM effectiveness against APS ? Less time to react ? Reaction times seems to be very good so I wonder how range can affect things. Which system on US tanks is modeled ? Quick Kill or Trophy ? How effective are they at intercepting air-launched missiles ?

[RedBarron]

how does range affects ATGM effectiveness against APS ? Less time to react ? Reaction times seems to be very good so I wonder how range can affect things. Which system on US tanks is modeled ? Quick Kill or Trophy ? How effective are they at intercepting air-launched missiles ?

It seems to me like the surefire way to get past that APS is to get a couple of ATGM's fired off at the same target at one time. Maybe set up "talking" ATGM's ala MG's. Of course, easier said than done, getting two ATGM teams to fire on the same target at roughly the same time.

[JSj]

There are also some vehicles that are able to volley fire 2 ATGMs at a target. This was shown in ChrisNDs latest Twitch stream (also available on Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/user/NormalDude1066)

[Buzz]

From pnzrldr

A fellow beta tester convinced me to take the plunge and try building my own system. I now have an operational new desktop:

- Intel i5-4690K 'Devils Canyon' 3.6ghz - 3.9ghz boost CPU

- 16gb DDR3 2133 Gskills Ripjaw RAM

- Asrock Z97 Fatal1ty Killer motherboard

- Nvidia GTX-970 4gb GPU from Gigabyte

- 256gb Corsair SSD

- H75 Corsair liquid CPU cooler

- 1TB WD Black data HD

- Raidmax CobraZ case

- Seasonic 620w Power supply

- Old model LG Blueray R/W

- Win 8.1

Driving my Dell Ultrasharp 24" IPS monitor (now I need to get another one!)

Very nice CM rig!

Might consider holding the monitor purchase to see what 4K monitors are offered this coming year. I am pretty sure your Nvidia GTX-970 4gb GPU is 4K (3840X2160) capable. Look for DisplayPort 1.3 capable monitors that can handle High Bit Rate 3 (HBR3) at 8.1Gbps ..." For a full 4 lane DP connection, this means the total connection bandwidth has been increased from 21.4Gbps to 32.4 Gbps, for a final data rate of 25.9Gbps after taking encoding overhead into account."

If you have not seen 4K in person you should. It is photo like impressive close up. Will be my next big $ to enjoy the toy.

You should be able to play hard and often with your new 'Hot-Box' pnzrldr. Congratulations and carry on with the battle.

[Hister]

That GTX 970 is top of the line, CM won't be an issue at all. RAM and individual processor power is far more important.

Oh I know it's ranking very high on GPU list - am just wondering if the game and drivers for the GPU work well with it or not. There have been reports in the past of top notch GPU's giving abysmal (not as logically expected) performance due to GPU drivers not being written well for this kind of game engine.

Beta games are not going to give you a perspective on the FPS you will be able to expect. The good news is it should be better assuming same configuration.

I see. Thanx anyway for the clarification.

[pnzrldr]

Gents,

Pleased to report that CM:BS Beta is up and running on the new rig, and the performance is... astonishing. Smooth like butter, even with all the setting (minus anti-alias) hard to the right. I don't do FRAPS for screen capture, but rather Bandicam. Had a weird issue w/ FRAPS on my old rig, so switched and like Bcam so far and will load it up tonight. Sent Bil his latest turn late yesterday evening. Should be able to start getting caught up on posts tonight. Never considered just how MUCH stuff I had to install to get it set up to do this! Drivers, CM:BS, BCam, PS, Office, zip utils, Adobe reader, etc... just takes time.

Buzz - I had heard that the 4K stuff starts to get into the arena of 'human eye can't see the difference anymore.' Since you obviously disagree, I'll go on a quest to Bestbuy or someplace similar over the holiday to take a look. I was going to do another Dell just to have paired set, but will see if I think the difference is worth the expense.

[Hister]

pnzrldr,

tell me about it. Just re-installed my dad's laptop with all needed drivers/programs and it took me two after-work days to set things up the way they need to be.

Before you post any FPS's from the beta ask developers if your disclosure agreement allows you to do so. I was warned by one fellow forum user it might mean a violation. Don't wanna get you in trouble for this.

BUT if it's not a violation then I'm eager to see your frame count in biggest map size with very dense forest with camera level right in the tree's crowns.

Why don't you enable antialiasing? Can't your card have it enabled together with all the other settings at max and still produce nice framerates (above 25 frames per second)?

[Holien]

Pnzldr have you got cmrt / cmfi running on that rig? I am still in able to get them running on my new setup which is very similar to yours. Glad cmbs is working, hope that will work on mine when released.

Glad action can continue...

[A Canadian Cat]

I'm eager to see your frame count in biggest map size with very dense forest with camera level right in the tree's crowns.

Reporting FPS numbers is a highly questionable game - there are so many variables that reproducing them is not guaranteed. On top of that they do not really indicate how well the UI responds. On past machines I have had FPS rates in CMBN in the 10-12 range that never bothered me because the camera still moved smoothly.

But the kicker is that the performance of beta builds will not reflect the final version due to possible presence of debug code. You are probably best to just wait for the release and try it your self.

I am still in able to get them running on my new setup which is very similar to yours. Glad cmbs is working, hope that will work on mine when released.

My take would be that if CMRT is not running for you there is a good chance that CMBS will not either. I suggest you figure out what is stopping you form running CMRT before CMBS comes out. Visit the help desk: http://www.battlefront.com/helpdesk/ (assuming you have not already done so)

[Holien]

Thanks Ian I raised a ticket on Saturday and no real suggestions made, apart from it has not installed properly. I had hoped for a fix / more helpful response.

ohh well when I get cmbs I will find out.

[pnzrldr]

FWIW (likely just a beta issue) my biggest problem running CMBS so far centered on an older version of the 'hotkeys.txt' file. You might want to double check yours in CMRT/FI if you are getting crashes after loading a mission.

I won't be posting framerates until we get past 'beta' to 'release candidate' where all the .brz files are reoptimized and packaged for ease of execution. Even then, I'll only do so with higher permission. However, what I WILL say is that my rig is running the Beta game at a smooth consistent rate that makes the action nearly indistinguishable from prior rig. Detail, motion, detail reduction over distance, and even color seem much improved. Camera is like silk over teflon. My expectation is that the RC will run BETTER than the beta, so if your rig approaches the one I described, anticipate a great result.

[Hister]

My experience on my comp is that whenever frames fall below 20 something I get a non smooth slideshow out of CMBN and CMRT that kills my immersion. 12 FPS is a definite game breaker for me. It soemtimes fall as low when I'm moving my units through dense forests and on huge maps with lots of fighting going on.

I'm a visual whore and want to have as beautiful, crisp and smooth experience as possible.

I'm not interested in trying it myself but in seeing how his hardware combo performs since I'm in the stage when I definitely have to upgrade my GeForce 550Ti (other components being relatively OK from a last year's purchase - I ran out of funds for GPU then).

Since my wage as a teacher escort in primary school sucks big time in my part of the world I have to make a smart decision being sure what I'm getting will allow me to enjoy the CM series of games as much as possible.

This is why I'm being a pain in the ass lurker here with requests that for many would probably seem annoying especially since I was asking this quite some time ago already and haven't made a new purchase yet (summer not being meant for gaming and then later financial issues being the reason why not).

[Holien]

Fyi pnzldr The games won't run after install, just have to hope I find the answer as your aar makes me want to play when it is released. Waiting for you next report....

[Hister]

I won't be posting framerates until we get past 'beta' to 'release candidate' where all the .brz files are reoptimized and packaged for ease of execution. Even then, I'll only do so with higher permission. However, what I WILL say is that my rig is running the Beta game at a smooth consistent rate that makes the action nearly indistinguishable from prior rig. Detail, motion, detail reduction over distance, and even color seem much improved. Camera is like silk over teflon. My expectation is that the RC will run BETTER than the beta, so if your rig approaches the one I described, anticipate a great result.

Thank you very much! Good news. Now please tell me why don't you enable your antialiasing? i personally find the jaggies without it enabled off-puting.

[Mastiff]

@pnzrldr: what system did you get and especially the Video card?

never mind I see it now early posts.

what drivers you using for that GTX970? I have the 980, and had to do the hotfix because of display and opencl issues which effected the i.e web browsers. and 2D problems and down load problems causing 100% CPU issue across all threads.

[Jock Tamson]

My experience on my comp is that whenever frames fall below 20 something I get a non smooth slideshow out of CMBN and CMRT that kills my immersion. 12 FPS is a definite game breaker for me. It soemtimes fall as low when I'm moving my units through dense forests and on huge maps with lots of fighting going on.

I'm a visual whore and want to have as beautiful, crisp and smooth experience as possible.

I'm not interested in trying it myself but in seeing how his hardware combo performs since I'm in the stage when I definitely have to upgrade my GeForce 550Ti (other components being relatively OK from a last year's purchase - I ran out of funds for GPU then).

Since my wage as a teacher escort in primary school sucks big time in my part of the world I have to make a smart decision being sure what I'm getting will allow me to enjoy the CM series of games as much as possible.

This is why I'm being a pain in the ass lurker here with requests that for many would probably seem annoying especially since I was asking this quite some time ago already and haven't made a new purchase yet (summer not being meant for gaming and then later financial issues being the reason why not).

CM is CPU bound. I have a 4GB GTX680 and framerates can be poor at times, it's not because of the GPU. I wouldn't say performance in most of the titles is any better with the 680 than it was with the 1.5GB GTX580 that preceded it, because really it's the CPU Ghz that counts. What CPU do you have?

[sburke]

pnzrldr get the lead out. Your thread has devolved into an IT shop. Screenshots, mayhem, that is what we want!

[eniced73]

pnzrldr get the lead out. Your thread has devolved into an IT shop. Screenshots, mayhem, that is what we want!

Ditto. Let's see some action. I really do not care who wins show us some action with the new units or infantry.

[The Teacher]

More fire ravaged wrecks and Tanks hunting missile crews.

Now that's what I want to see and with the new computer I'm hoping for some really good looking screen shots.

Cheers

Stephen

[pnzrldr]

I don't care if you don't care who wins. I do, and I intend to win. All that aside, not doing so great with the Ukrainians, but am confidant once the US forces arrive in strength.

The air defense tank with the highly original name of TG21fired yet another burst. The TC was literally pounding the gunner between the shoulder blades, urging him to bring his fire down. With a satisfied sigh, he watched as the third long burst – like a water hose of bright lights – smashed into the back of the exposed Russian tank.

“Again, again like that!” he yelled, pounding the hapless gunner even more. Two more bursts struck home, the rounds visibly exploding around and on the vehicle. The commander kept his eyes on the Russian tank and directed the gunner to spray the hillside where he knew other Russian vehicles lurked. Nearly 200 rounds of 30mm High Explosive spattered across the east side of Hill 347. Individually, no round was particularly deadly unless it struck within a few meters of an exposed Soldier. But the swathes of shells slashed grooves up the hill, peppered with vicious, buzzing shrapnel. Even without actually hitting anyone, they were bound to make people think twice the TC thought, then he gasped as the tank’s 125mm airburst round detonated three meters in front of his vehicle – he had been watching for the turret to turn, but…

“Quick, driver, back up! Kick it!”

The vehicle lurched backwards, and in less than a second had rolled safely behind the cover of several meters of hillside. An instant later, another 125mm HE round shattered the air in front of their former firing position.

“Okay, wait until they think we have run away, then we pull up and do it to them again. Be looking for the BMPs.” the commander told his gunner. “Sorry about your back.”

In Krichek, PdPK Tymo flinched again, as yet another near miss from the Russian artillery hammered into the street outside his make shift command post in the town hall building. KPT Kovtun stuck his head in again.

“Sir, the Skif team is pulling back. They killed a vehicle on the far side of the river, but were under fire and have only three missiles left.”

“Yes, very good.” Said the air defense officer. “What about the team at the north bank of the river?”

“We haven’t heard from them, Sir. Perhaps their radio is out, or perhaps… the artillery?” The Kapeytan shrugged. An instant later he was lying on the dusty floor cursing and spitting out dust as yet another ear-shattering explosion rocked the south end of the town.

“Are you okay?”

He didn’t respond except to nod, still trying to clear his mouth. The constant explosions lifted every particle of dust on the floor into the air, and made breathing a chore. The dust tasted… different than what is usually kicked up by vehicles or the wind blowing. It had a sweet, acrid taste.

“Call the American Major and see if his people have seen anything.” The PkPK said.

Outside of Starov, another Ukrainian Pidpulkovnyk watched in agony as the BMP-3 he had seen five minutes prior, but was impotent to get a missile on, suddenly burst into life and began shelling the Soldiers creeping along the southern edge of hill 347. Borys had sincerely hoped that KPT Antonyuk would have managed to destroy or suppress this Russian track before he moved his men forward, but the Americans had moved forward anyway, and Borys supposed the Ukrainian men had followed not to be outdone by their foreign allies. Now both would pay the price. The BMP was firing 100mm High Explosive Air Burst munitions, set by the laser range finder in the vehicle’s fire control system to detonate at a specified range – in this case, the exact distance to the target, only a couple of meters above the ground. The result was a deadly shower of fragments, laying waste to nearly anything inside a radius of almost 25 meters. Borys watched in mounting frustration as shell followed shell, each coming closer to the hapless American forward observer team. Borys pounded his fist against the soft earth as he saw one of the US Soldiers drop suddenly still while trying to crawl clear. His attention shifted behind him as he heard engine sounds from a 1st PLT BMP-2 pulling up in Starov. “Good,” he thought, “now maybe we get something back.”

“Tchangk!!!” The BMP’s 30mm autocannon was shockingly loud when it fired right past and over you. Borys waited for more rounds, but there were none. He looked out just in time to see the single shot knock sparks into the sky as it slammed through the BMP by the tree farm’s armor. But no more deadly 30mm rounds followed. “Is he jammed?” Borys thought. Then he noticed the AT-5 missile launcher on the vehicle’s roof shifting and an instant later the missile sped from its canister in a rush of fire, smoke and sound. But it only flew a few dozen meters before slamming into the earth and detonating, doing more to unnerve the Ukrainian infantry nearby than it did to the Russians. Borys watched in even greater frustration as the crew – probably new to their vehicle, and unsure of their drills, fired their smoke launchers and backed away from the fight they were winning. The Ukrainian officer paled, as he heard more engine noises on hill 347, as the Russian motorized company continued to bound forward on the hillside towards the Ukrainian and American positions.