Returning player to Comabt Mission

[PanzerShrimp]

So I'm new to CMx2 but played a lot of CMx1 mainly CMBB/CMAK so I have picked up everything quite well and almost ready for multiplayer but there a few things I can't get my head around....

 

First of what are those 3 buttons above the UI here you issue Move/Attack/admin orders etc? One does some sort of pause while the other 2 I'm not quite sure? Nothing is said in the manual about them...

 

So turn based play no longer available by TCP/IP? if this is the case is there a chat or many people that play real time? I don't like the idea of real time thus far but wouldn't mine TCP/IP later on when I get better.

 

From what I read nothing has changed in the way PBEM is handled as in... I get email, manually move file to folder, start up game, load file, make turn, then attach file, then send. Is there an easier way or less "fidgety" way to do this now? I just use gmail and do everything manually....

 

So you can turn on always show move paths which is fine, no always show targeting? or show when a unit is being targeted tracked etc like in CMBB/CMAK?

 

And finally, Battle front toolbar? what is this? the only explanation I can find is from people who make/want you to download it, does anyone actually use it? Is it good to find opponents with it? I'd like to know if it's popular it just seems like fluff and possible future /spyware/adware/clutter.  If it does nothing to help my Combat mission experience it's pretty much useless to me...

 

 

 

Thank you to anyone who answers my questions

 

And pre empt apology for people who say "google it" "use search feature" cause I tried.

 

-PanzerShrimp

[mirekm61]

Hi

 

For PBEM game the best option is H2H Helper plus Dropbox, files are automatically sent, copied to the game directory. 

[womble]

So I'm new to CMx2 but played a lot of CMx1 mainly CMBB/CMAK so I have picked up everything quite well and almost ready for multiplayer but there a few things I can't get my head around....

Welcome to the future! Lots of CMx1 vets get hung up on some of the changes between x1 and x2, like the spotting rules and the way terrain works. Well done for grappling with all the differences.

 

 

First of what are those 3 buttons above the UI here you issue Move/Attack/admin orders etc? One does some sort of pause while the other 2 I'm not quite sure? Nothing is said in the manual about them...

 

p36 of the v3 engine manual addresses the "Instant" commands.

 

Leftmost gives the unit an indefinite Pause command. All its move orders and waypoints and any orders attached (Target, Pause, Hide etc) are retained. You can get the same effect by pressing the Pause button 11 (I think, might be 10) times. It's useful for when your intentions remain the same, but must be delayed for whatever reason.

 

The middle one (looks like a Stop sign) cancels all pending movement orders of the unit. Useful when you change your mind about what you want the unit to do. It will retain any current Target or Target Arc orders (you can clear those using <Del>). You can get the same effect as the instant order by hitting <Backspace> repeatedly, and depending on your balance of mouse v keyboard preference and how many movement legs you want to cancel, this may be quicker than seeking and clicking the small button.

 

The right hand one (the cross with arrowheads) is the "Evade" button. This is probably the least-used, but in some ways the most vital of the three. It will get your troops moving faster than if you just give them an order, to the point, even, of being able to get Pinned troops to move where they wouldn't otherwise due to "self-preservation". It will generate a waypoint that is meant to head the element back to safety at the best speed. That's not so useful, but now that you can (since v2) move waypoints about, you can shift the waypoint to where you want it and change the movement mode to your desired speed/determination. Apart from allowing you to (when you think it's best) skedaddle Pinned troops out of a danger zone, it lets you be more sure that sudden fast moves take place in a timely manner: want to scurry across the road before that tank turns its turret, Evade will get you going without any "thinking pause".

 

 

From what I read nothing has changed in the way PBEM is handled as in... I get email, manually move file to folder, start up game, load file, make turn, then attach file, then send. Is there an easier way or less "fidgety" way to do this now? I just use gmail and do everything manually....

 

Files are a lot bigger. Many people set up a Dropbox folder for their game, and use that for file transfers. There is a great little utility by Green as Jade called CM Helper which automates the whole process, removing pretty much all "fidget"

 

 

 

So you can turn on always show move paths which is fine, no always show targeting? or show when a unit is being targeted tracked etc like in CMBB/CMAK?

 

 

It's a bit more complicated to show targeting in x2 because, potentially, at least, every single member of a 12 man squad could be targeting a different entity, Maintaining all those lines would be costly in processor and confusing on the map. A "show Target orders given" would be useful, but doesn't yet exist (I suspect that's to hinder the creation of perfect suppression blankets). You're meant to be able to tell when a unit is being targeted or tracked by the tracer fire from the opposition; it's part of the FoW, and you only see the incoming when your pTruppen are aware of it. Sometimes your units will be under fire from enemies that they can't see or localise, and all you the player can or should know is that you're taking casualties.

[A Canadian Cat]

First of what are those 3 buttons above the UI here you issue Move/Attack/admin orders etc? One does some sort of pause while the other 2 I'm not quite sure? Nothing is said in the manual about them...

 

There are actually two manuals, one for the game and one for the engine.  In the engine manual (CM Engine Manual v3.00.pdf) on page 36 there is a discussion about the command panel starting with the instant comands.

 

So turn based play no longer available by TCP/IP? if this is the case is there a chat or many people that play real time? I don't like the idea of real time thus far but wouldn't mine TCP/IP later on when I get better.

 

It is true that you do not have access to turn based play via TCP/IP they did add it to the newest game CM Black Sea.  Eventually fixes to the engine make it to the other titles in a patch.  So, my guess would be that the next time CMBN gets a patch it will have support for that added. Before you ask I have no idea when that might be

 

From what I read nothing has changed in the way PBEM is handled as in... I get email, manually move file to folder, start up game, load file, make turn, then attach file, then send. Is there an easier way or less "fidgety" way to do this now? I just use gmail and do everything manually....

 

True, nothing has technically changed, there are a few differences starting with the files are bigger and I do no know of anyone who actually uses email any more.  The majority of people use DropBox - if you want to join you can follow this link and help me out by giving me some extra space help IanL as a referral reward - only do that if you decide to join Drop Box anyway

 

The other thing that has changed is that the vast majority of people are using a turn management program - CM Helper has already been mentioned.  There is another turn manager Whose Turn Is It? that a handful of us use too (more self promotion - I wrote it).  Using Drop Box and a turn manager like CM Helper or WTII? make playing PBEM really really straight forward.  The turn manager runs in the background monitoring drop box folders you tell it to monitor and you can see when new turns arrive for you to play.  From there you can launch the game and play your turn and once the game saves the outgoing turn file the turn manager programs automatically copies the file to Drop Box and you opponent will get it.  No messing around copying files manually.

 

Here is a thread that goes into more detail: http://community.battlefront.com/topic/118043-newbie-wants-to-use-dropbox-for-multiplayer-games-but-is-ignorant/#entry1580876

 

And finally, Battle front toolbar? what is this? the only explanation I can find is from people who make/want you to download it, does anyone actually use it? Is it good to find opponents with it? I'd like to know if it's popular it just seems like fluff and possible future /spyware/adware/clutter.  If it does nothing to help my Combat mission experience it's pretty much useless to me...

 

There was talk about BFC creating an opponent finder but that has not been done and I also did not install the toolbar.  It has not been discussed here very much if at all. I am sure it is not spy wear, BFC is far to upstanding for that.  As for finding opponents that does get discussed from time to time.  Here is a thread that mentions all of them: http://community.battlefront.com/topic/107265-pbem-opponent-wanted/?p=1407990. There is a link to theBlitz in my signature - more self promotion - that's where I find many opponents.

 

Thank you to anyone who answers my questions

 

And pre empt apology for people who say "google it" "use search feature" cause I tried.

 

-PanzerShrimp

Welcome to the forum!

[Mord]

There is one major difference in PBEM now than CMX1, you don't have to send that one extra file that did nothing. Each turn now is view and orders, once the setups are complete.

 

 

Mord.

[A Canadian Cat]

Wow I forgot about that.  Yeah that is a really nice change.

[PanzerShrimp]

Thx for the answers guys helped a lot, I'm still playing around with single player for now but i'll look into the two methods for PBEM listed here soon enough, should be good.

 

 

There is one major difference in PBEM now than CMX1, you don't have to send that one extra file that did nothing. Each turn now is view and orders, once the setups are complete.

 

 

Mord.

Do you mean with every turn there is now one less file theat needs to be sent, as in a game will now take half the amount of back and forward emails as compared to cmx1?

Edited June 12, 2015 by PanzerShrimp

[PanzerShrimp]

And also if anyone could link some posts/guides for graphic settings that would be good, I already have done some searching and tried various graphic settings and my machine is pretty good.

 

But CMx2 seems to be fair choppy/slower then it should be, or is it likehis for everyone? as in not optimized that well.

 

 

Win7 64bit PRO

Processor    Intel® Core i7-3820 CPU @ 3.60GHz, 3601 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

Installed Physical Memory (RAM)    16.0 GB

GeForce GTX 970   Driver (353.06)


 

[Mord]

Thx for the answers guys helped a lot, I'm still playing around with single player for now but i'll look into the two methods for PBEM listed here soon enough, should be good.

 

 

Do you mean with every turn there is now one less file theat needs to be sent, as in a game will now take half the amount of back and forward emails as compared to cmx1?

 

Yep. Once you and your opponent do all the setup stuff and the battle gets going, every turn you receive includes view and orders—much more economical when playing.

 

As far as the graphics go, you really gotta just tinker with them. It's different for everyone. I do better on smaller maps with less trees, but I have all my stuff set to max.

 

Mord.

Edited June 12, 2015 by Mord

[PanzerShrimp]

So I have everything setup and experitmenting with both CM helper and WTii.....

 

Load times for this game aren't the best....my drop box folder is on a normal hard disc, Would puting my drop box folder on an SSD help?

 

The game itself is on an SSD, I'd prefer drop box on a normal disc but if its going to improve load times I will move to SSD.  As I dont know how drop box and this game work, will moving Drop box folder to a SSD help at all?

[sburke]

So I have everything setup and experitmenting with both CM helper and WTii.....

 

Load times for this game aren't the best....my drop box folder is on a normal hard disc, Would puting my drop box folder on an SSD help?

 

The game itself is on an SSD, I'd prefer drop box on a normal disc but if its going to improve load times I will move to SSD.  As I dont know how drop box and this game work, will moving Drop box folder to a SSD help at all?

I have had it on both and have not seen a significant difference.  The nice thing about CM helper is when it notifies you, by the time you can respond, the file is already in your CM folder.  Laziness is the primary factor in human technology development. 

Edited July 4, 2015 by sburke

[A Canadian Cat]

So I have everything setup and experitmenting with both CM helper and WTii.....

 

Load times for this game aren't the best....my drop box folder is on a normal hard disc, Would puting my drop box folder on an SSD help?

 

The game itself is on an SSD, I'd prefer drop box on a normal disc but if its going to improve load times I will move to SSD.  As I dont know how drop box and this game work, will moving Drop box folder to a SSD help at all?

 

I have it setup with the games on an SSD and the turns on a normal drive.  I have not experimented with trying things on the SSD drive but given the size of the turn files and the load times I strongly suspect that the speed is more CPU bound that IO bound.  There is ton of number crunching going on in CM so the CPU is usually the bottle neck.  I usually have a fair number of PBEM games going on in multiple titles so what I do is fire up at turn in one title and before I play I start loading another turn in a second title.  Then when  I am done I start loading another turn and then switch to the second title which of course is long ready to go.  Rinse and repeat.  I can do that because I have lots of memory on my machine so that would not have worked on my old machine that only had 4Gb.

 

Ian

 

PS.  Let me know what you think of WTII? please.  PM me if you don't want to write about it here.

[Erwin]

FWIW I am traveling and playing CM2 on a laptop with SSD and I find it seems to play as well and perhaps better than on my more powerful desktop.

[A Canadian Cat]

OK I realized I have a large turn for CMBN to play and I can easily copy the whole setup from my SSD drive to my HD drive and test this out.  I have 5.4Gb of mods so less than Umlaut but still a good number.  I tested this by loading the turn three times for each copy of the game.  The turn file itself is huge 134Mb - yes I typed that correctly this is a big map with an unbelievable amount of units on it.

 

The SSD drive averaged 3:22 to load the turn and all the mods that went with it.

The HD drive averaged 3:42 to load the same turn and the same mods.

 

In each test all the files were on the same drive - the.exe, the mods and the turn file.

 

I am not really surprised at the result most of the load time is CPU work and not IO.

[c3k]

OK I realized I have a large turn for CMBN to play and I can easily copy the whole setup from my SSD drive to my HD drive and test this out.  I have 5.4Gb of mods so less than Umlaut but still a good number.  I tested this by loading the turn three times for each copy of the game.  The turn file itself is huge 134Mb - yes I typed that correctly this is a big map with an unbelievable amount of units on it.

 

The SSD drive averaged 3:22 to load the turn and all the mods that went with it.

The HD drive averaged 3:42 to load the same turn and the same mods.

 

In each test all the files were on the same drive - the.exe, the mods and the turn file.

 

I am not really surprised at the result most of the load time is CPU work and not IO.

 

A 134Mb turn?!? Why, I think I know EXACTLY what battle that is.  I have yet to break the 150Mb barrier...but I'm close.

 

(I use and SSD, as well. I don't see a savings in CM from it. Other things, yes.)

[PanzerShrimp]

So I have everything setup and experitmenting with both CM helper and WTii.....

 

Load times for this game aren't the best....my drop box folder is on a normal hard disc, Would puting my drop box folder on an SSD help?

 

The game itself is on an SSD, I'd prefer drop box on a normal disc but if its going to improve load times I will move to SSD.  As I dont know how drop box and this game work, will moving Drop box folder to a SSD help at all?

 

Ok now that I know a bit more, I conclude this was a dumb question.

 

The game does not access drop box, it access the save game file which is in the public folder, which CM helper moves.

 

So drop box on an SSD would make 0 difference in game load times.

 

On that note I have read the guides etc etc, but any graphic settings that make a load of difference in load times in both game menu or nvidia/ATI control panels? My computer is pretty powerful.

 

 

I have it setup with the games on an SSD and the turns on a normal drive.  I have not experimented with trying things on the SSD drive but given the size of the turn files and the load times I strongly suspect that the speed is more CPU bound that IO bound.  There is ton of number crunching going on in CM so the CPU is usually the bottle neck.  I usually have a fair number of PBEM games going on in multiple titles so what I do is fire up at turn in one title and before I play I start loading another turn in a second title.  Then when  I am done I start loading another turn and then switch to the second title which of course is long ready to go.  Rinse and repeat.  I can do that because I have lots of memory on my machine so that would not have worked on my old machine that only had 4Gb.

 

Ian

 

PS.  Let me know what you think of WTII? please.  PM me if you don't want to write about it here.

 

 

I tried using both CM helper and WTii to compare, but was messing things up and getting myself confused so I deleted WTii for now.

 

even though I have removed it I get error messages when windows now starts about it, have not looked into it much but it seems hard to uninstal.

 

I did use it a bit and I will be trying it again as there was 2 main features I liked over CM helper thus far.

 

-The ability to minimize into system tray without having it open on the taskbar.

-The bandwidth limits.

 

But I was unable to compare it to CM helper properly as Dropbox and renaming folders in dropbox was causing my confusion so once I get my head around that I will be trying it again for those two features at least, and to compare on wehich one I decide to use.

 

Not sure if CM helper has those features?

Edited July 5, 2015 by PanzerShrimp

[A Canadian Cat]

Bandwidth limits? Did you run the uninstall program? If you did then there must be a bug in it. What version of windows are you running? If you did not then the issue is the launch short cut in the start up program group that no longer connects to anything.

[PanzerShrimp]

Bandwidth limits? Did you run the uninstall program? If you did then there must be a bug in it. What version of windows are you running? If you did not then the issue is the launch short cut in the start up program group that no longer connects to anything.

Sorry, i think it may have been dropbox that had the limits, you see this is why I decided to go back to one step at a time lol.

 

I ran the uninstall from programs and features.

 

Im win7 64bit.

 

I dont really care about the start up error message atm as I will be re installing WTii when I have a better understanding of dropbox in general, otherwise im just confusing myself and others, but i will tell you the exact error message next time I start up if you like.

 

All I did to uninstall was uninstrall from programs and features, nothing else.

 

Edit: WTii also needed java 7 update 60 64-bit to work? Cause I had to downlaod that.

Edited July 5, 2015 by PanzerShrimp

[A Canadian Cat]

Great thanks, sounds like an uninstall bug. I'll look at it. WTII does check for an appropriate version of Java and then try to install it, if it is not there yet.

[PanzerShrimp]

Great thanks, sounds like an uninstall bug. I'll look at it. WTII does check for an appropriate version of Java and then try to install it, if it is not there yet.

 

Error: unable to access Jarfile D:\PBEM games\WTii\whoseturnisit.jar

 

is the msg

[MathboyTedward]

Hijacking this thread slightly, please forgive, I'm new here.

 

Is there an etiquette to PBEM? I ask because a 6-month old child makes my gaming time fleeting to say the least. I snatch a couple of hours on CM whenever the boy (and the wife) are suitably distracted.

 

Do you have to commit to a turn a day... or do people really not mind?

[womble]

Some people will want to play at a certain pace. Plenty of people will be happy to get a turn when you can send one. The only etiquette really is to honour whatever commitment to regularity you make when you arrange the game, and be polite about having to renegotiate if Real Life gets in the way more than you'd thought. I'd recommend making sure you discuss the matter, because people can make assumptions else.

[A Canadian Cat]

Yep.  That sums it up.  I have several regular players and some of them send me back a turn within hours of me sending mine - I simply cannot play fast enough.  Others take days before they get back to me. As long as everyone is living up to expectations that they set out when things started everything is good.  I hope everyone is fairly happy with me I cannot quite manage a turn a day - close but the weekends usually have me faltering and then trying to catch up.

 

Over at theBlitz people usually say in their post the kind of turn rate they are able to churn out and some even make a certain turn rate a requirement.  Makes it pretty easy to decide who to engage with and who not depending on your own circumstance.