2022 Mid Year Update

[Battlefront.com]

Hello to all of you out there!  Yes, this update is overdue.  Yes, I am sorry for that.  Been waiting until I had some solid good news for you guys before posting where things are at.  Now that I have, it’s time to update

I am pleased to announce that we have just opened up preorders for an amazing Battle Pack for Combat Mission Red Thunder.  Why amazing?  Easy answer to that is GeorgeMc is the guy responsible for it.  If you don’t know why this is important, then put in a preorder and you’ll soon see.

The new Battle Pack covers the late summer Soviet offensives that took it to the borders of the Reich.  The Battle Pack includes two new campaigns and 13 standalone scenarios and 14 new Master Maps.  As George might say, “all good fun”.

Since I know full well that you want to know about what is going on with the other stuff, I’ve copied the items from my January posting and am going to go through them one by one:

 

Updated Cold War (early February) - this extends the newly implemented PBEM++ system to include Slitherine's automated Tournament system.  Yup, you can now play for fame, glory, and at times fabulous prizes in a structured environment!

Done, but update is awaiting release (should be very soon).  Took waaaaaaaaay more time and effort than we expected, but the last of the glitches appear to be stomped out.  This is what we were waiting for to do this…

 

Updated CMSF2 and Black Sea (1st Quarter) - both previously released Matrix/Slitherine CM Families will get the PBEM++ and Tournament systems as free updates.  Any bug fixes and what not that have come up from Cold War development will be rolled in as well.

Once the final approval and posting of the Cold War patch is complete, releasing patches for CMSF2 and Black Sea should come out shortly.  Any cumulative and relevant bug fixes that were done for Cold War will, of course, be included.

 

Normandy for Matrix/Steam (March/April) - the entire Normandy Family of games will be released on both Matrix and Steam platforms with PBEM/Tournament features included.  Coinciding with this will be a new Battle Pack focusing on early D-Day combat.

Once again, this was on hold due to the PBEM/Tournament coding to be what it needs to be.  Unlike our own releases, Matrix/Steam releases are done when Slitherine’s schedule has an opening.  The time is needed for marketing and production work, both of which are important.  Usually it’s about 2 months, but maybe we can get lucky and have it be a little less.

 

Fortress Italy for Matrix/Steam (June/July) - all titles from the Fortress Italy Family goes out onto Matrix/Steam with the PBEM/Tournament features.  A Battle Pack is planned to be released at the same time, the specific focus not being fully nailed down as of yet.

Battle Pack is underway, but release has to wait until after Normandy is out.  Same marketing reasons apply.

 

Red Thunder for Matrix/Steam (September/October) - as you might expect by now, Matrix/Steam with PBEM/Tournament features.  A simultaneous release of a new Battle Pack is also planned.  The Pack focuses on Kampfgruppe Mühlenkamp's attempts to keep the Soviets from moving westward in July 1944.

Well, what do you know… we got this one out on time

 

Final Blitzkrieg for Matrix/Steam (December/January) - last, but not least, the final CM2 Family of games will be released for Matrix/Steam with PBEM and Tournament systems.  At the same time we'll release a new Module that will extend the timeframe through to the end of the war and introduce Commonwealth Forces plus the last ditch forces of the Third Reich.

Also well underway, but again marketing needs mean it’s release is a bit further down the road.  Each product deserves its own time in the spotlight, donchaknow.

 

Now that I’ve put forward a full update, I’ll just say that we’ve also been very busy on the CM2 Professional side of things.  We had a hard deadline of April 1 to deliver a whole bunch of stuff for a customer and it took a couple of weeks more to clear up lingering issues.  In the end it didn’t wind up delaying anything as the PBEM/Tournament coding was outsourced (our old buddy Phil!), but we were extra busy for sure.

Work has also started on a Module for Cold War.  No details at this point, just preliminary work.  We’ll let you guys know more when there’s more to say.

I think I got everything covered!  Happy to finally get you guys some good news.

As always, thanks for your continued support!

Steve

[Halmbarte]

21 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:

Work has also started on a Module for Cold War.  No details at this point, just preliminary work.  We’ll let you guys know more when there’s more to say.

Let the speculation begin!

H

[Battlefront.com]

Just now, Halmbarte said:

Let the speculation begin!

H

That's mostly why I didn't say more.  Would want to undermine a long practiced Forum tradition without a good reason

Steve

[PIATpunk]

goodness gracious!  Any word on the Engine 5 update Steve?  cheers

[Buzz]

37 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:

I am pleased to announce that we have just opened up preorders for an amazing Battle Pack for Combat Mission Red Thunder.  Why amazing? 

Thanks Steve.  Great News

39 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:

As George might say, “all good fun”.

@George MC  “all good fun”

From decades of CM play / products -  I suspect Battle Pack for Combat Mission Red Thunder is more accurately like “Massive Good Fun” in WWII.

George has nailed it forever in CM Design and Historical Accuracy.

Buzz

[Erwin]

Xnt news that GeorgeMC is the brains behind the CMRT battle pack.  Should be terrific.

[Gkenny]

5 hours ago, PIATpunk said:

goodness gracious!  Any word on the Engine 5 update Steve?  cheers

Yes, definitely some good news announced, though I hope we can get some new info on the new engine upgrade as well. Perhaps some new features coming? Optimization for larger maps?

[SergeantSqook]

A respectably loose definition of "mid-year", lots to be excited about there, any news about the Black Sea module though?

 

And if the FI BP is underway may we perhaps have a bone about the overall focus of it?

Edited September 12, 2022 by SergeantSqook

[Aragorn2002]

Only $ 10.00 for George MC's battlepack for CMRT? I would pay that for just one of his scenarios. PRE-ORDERED!

[Aragorn2002]

9 hours ago, Halmbarte said:

Let the speculation begin!

H

If it's true that work on a Cold War module has just started, I'd call that disappointing news, but let's hope we're in for another surprise.

[Ultradave]

11 hours ago, Buzz said:

Thanks Steve.  Great News

@George MC  “all good fun”

From decades of CM play / products -  I suspect Battle Pack for Combat Mission Red Thunder is more accurately like “Massive Good Fun” in WWII.

George has nailed it forever in CM Design and Historical Accuracy.

Buzz

@BFCElvis told us to go ahead and provide our impressions. 

George = Evil surprises lurking around every bend, and fantastic maps. This battle pack delivers on these in full. A number of the battles feature wide open spaces and room to maneuver. You'll need to make careful use of tree lines and folds in the ground. Engaging scenarios, with @George MC's typical "storytelling" briefings that put you there as one of the participants.

$10 is an amazing bargain.  You won't be disappointed.

Dave

 

 

Edited September 12, 2022 by Ultradave

[Bagpipe]

I cannot state how important update 5/performance improvements are. As a relatively new player to the series, I am heart-broken at being unable to enjoy the Cold War campaigns on my modern machine. I have already tried every trick in the book, and nothing helps. The game simply overloads one core but does not utilize the core boost functionality that you see in modern AMD cpus so even when it stutters to a standstill my CPU is still only at "4%" utilization at most. 
I know many of you think that it is still okay that a game these days needs a single core at 5+Ghz to run efficiently but...it's simply not.

I know the devs are aware of the issues but honestly...battle packs and PBEM tournaments should be last on the list way after performance gains because as a new player owning Cold War and wishing to buy the rest of the titles, I simply cannot in good faith spend any more cash on this series until we see results. 

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

31 minutes ago, Bagpipe said:

I cannot state how important update 5/performance improvements are. As a relatively new player to the series, I am heart-broken at being unable to enjoy the Cold War campaigns on my modern machine. I have already tried every trick in the book, and nothing helps. The game simply overloads one core but does not utilize the core boost functionality that you see in modern AMD cpus so even when it stutters to a standstill my CPU is still only at "4%" utilization at most. 
I know many of you think that it is still okay that a game these days needs a single core at 5+Ghz to run efficiently but...it's simply not.

I know the devs are aware of the issues but honestly...battle packs and PBEM tournaments should be last on the list way after performance gains because as a new player owning Cold War and wishing to buy the rest of the titles, I simply cannot in good faith spend any more cash on this series until we see results. 

Battle Packs don't require dev effort as far as I am aware, it's campaigns, scenarios and maps created by one who has elite skills at such things. You or I could produce one.

But yes I agree, the performance update would be high on my list as I've just had to abandon a PBEM battle because it was just too big and wouldn't run.

MMM

[George MC]

16 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

I am pleased to announce that we have just opened up preorders for an amazing Battle Pack for Combat Mission Red Thunder.  Why amazing?  Easy answer to that is GeorgeMc is the guy responsible for it.  If you don’t know why this is important, then put in a preorder and you’ll soon see.

The new Battle Pack covers the late summer Soviet offensives that took it to the borders of the Reich.  The Battle Pack includes two new campaigns and 13 standalone scenarios and 14 new Master Maps.  As George might say, “all good fun”.

 

Aye hopefully it will be 'all good fun'  thanks Steve.

Aye, this battle pack is set during the fighting between the German and Soviet armies in eastern Poland during the summer of 1944. This fighting was some of the heaviest on the Eastern Front during the entire war. This battle pack presents a series of actions recreating key moments in this fighting through the perspective of the forces involved during July and August.

It’s been a real labour of love. The genesis of this battle pack was the  series of images in the photo book Kampfgruppe Mühlenkamp published by RZM and authored by Douglas Nash and Remy Spezzano. On the back of this I started work on what became the Five Days One Summer campaign which is the key campaign of this battle pack.

This battle pack would never have got anywhere without the help and support of a whole bunch of others. I would like to give a huge shout out to all those including the BFC beta testers for all the playtesting, feedback, advice and support. I am also indebted to Mr Douglas Nash for his freely given help and support in clarifying some of the details involved in several actions involving ‘Wiking’, notably the fighting around Tluszcz in mid-August 1944. If you’ve not checked out his recent trilogy “From the Realm of a Dying Sun” its well worth doing so for the background to this battle pack. Also worth having a look at is the “Operation Bagration 23 June-29 August 1944” by the Soviet General Staff which gives a ‘big picture’ view of the Soviet operations in this period.

I hope you all, as the players enjoy these scenarios and campaigns as much as I did researching and creating them. As always, I’d appreciate any comment and feedback and I look forward to seeing how this collection of scenarios and campaigns plays out for yourselves.

Cheery!

Edited September 12, 2022 by George MC

[Sunbather]

I  liked that you arranged the release of the games according to the year's seasons whether intentionally or not.

I was looking very much forward to play FInal Blitzkrieg in Winter. Oh well...

Glad to hear that a module for Cold War is in the works though!

[Sunbather]

1 hour ago, Bagpipe said:

I cannot state how important update 5/performance improvements are. As a relatively new player to the series, I am heart-broken at being unable to enjoy the Cold War campaigns on my modern machine. I have already tried every trick in the book, and nothing helps.

Did you also try to crank up the resolution to 8k in the text file? And turn off shadows and set 3D model quality at "improved" or even lower.

Increasing the resolution will force the game to load more textures beforehand, you will still be playing in your native resolution though!

See this guide here, works for every CM game:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2601713366

[Sorcerer117]

Any news on CM Black Sea modules?

 

[SergeantSqook]

21 minutes ago, George MC said:

Aye hopefully it will be 'all good fun'  thanks Steve.

Aye, this battle pack is set during the fighting between the German and Soviet armies in eastern Poland during the summer of 1944. This fighting was some of the heaviest on the Eastern Front during the entire war. This battle pack presents a series of actions recreating key moments in this fighting through the perspective of the forces involved during July and August.

It’s been a real labour of love. The genesis of this battle pack was the  series of images in the photo book Kampfgruppe Mühlenkamp published by RZM and authored by Douglas Nash and Remy Spezzano. On the back of this I started work on what became the Five Days One Summer campaign which is the key campaign of this battle pack.

This battle pack would never have got anywhere without the help and support of a whole bunch of others. I would like to give a huge shout out to all those including the BFC beta testers for all the playtesting, feedback, advice and support. I also indebted to Mr Douglas Nash for his freely given help and support in clarifying some of the details involved in several actions involving ‘Wiking’, notably the fighting around Tluszcz in mid-August 1944. If you’ve not checked out his recent trilogy “From the Realm of a Dying Sun” its well worth doing so for the background to this battle pack. Also worth having a look at is the “Operation Bagration 23 June-29 August 1944” by the Soviet General Staff which gives a ‘big picture’ view of the Soviet operations in this period.

I hope you all, as the players enjoy these scenarios and campaigns as much as I did researching and creating them. As always, I’d appreciate any comment and feedback and I look forward to seeing how this collection of scenarios and campaigns plays out for yourselves.

Cheery!

We love you George

[Sunbather]

37 minutes ago, Sorcerer117 said:

Any news on CM Black Sea modules?

 

Yes. They won't happen as long as the real stuff is still going on.

[Bubba883XL]

15 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:

Hello to all of you out there!  Yes, this update is overdue.  Yes, I am sorry for that.  Been waiting until I had some solid good news for you guys before posting where things are at.  Now that I have, it’s time to update

I am pleased to announce that we have just opened up preorders for an amazing Battle Pack for Combat Mission Red Thunder.  Why amazing?  Easy answer to that is GeorgeMc is the guy responsible for it.  If you don’t know why this is important, then put in a preorder and you’ll soon see.

The new Battle Pack covers the late summer Soviet offensives that took it to the borders of the Reich.  The Battle Pack includes two new campaigns and 13 standalone scenarios and 14 new Master Maps.  As George might say, “all good fun”.

Since I know full well that you want to know about what is going on with the other stuff, I’ve copied the items from my January posting and am going to go through them one by one:

 

Updated Cold War (early February) - this extends the newly implemented PBEM++ system to include Slitherine's automated Tournament system.  Yup, you can now play for fame, glory, and at times fabulous prizes in a structured environment!

Done, but update is awaiting release (should be very soon).  Took waaaaaaaaay more time and effort than we expected, but the last of the glitches appear to be stomped out.  This is what we were waiting for to do this…

 

Updated CMSF2 and Black Sea (1st Quarter) - both previously released Matrix/Slitherine CM Families will get the PBEM++ and Tournament systems as free updates.  Any bug fixes and what not that have come up from Cold War development will be rolled in as well.

Once the final approval and posting of the Cold War patch is complete, releasing patches for CMSF2 and Black Sea should come out shortly.  Any cumulative and relevant bug fixes that were done for Cold War will, of course, be included.

 

Normandy for Matrix/Steam (March/April) - the entire Normandy Family of games will be released on both Matrix and Steam platforms with PBEM/Tournament features included.  Coinciding with this will be a new Battle Pack focusing on early D-Day combat.

Once again, this was on hold due to the PBEM/Tournament coding to be what it needs to be.  Unlike our own releases, Matrix/Steam releases are done when Slitherine’s schedule has an opening.  The time is needed for marketing and production work, both of which are important.  Usually it’s about 2 months, but maybe we can get lucky and have it be a little less.

 

Fortress Italy for Matrix/Steam (June/July) - all titles from the Fortress Italy Family goes out onto Matrix/Steam with the PBEM/Tournament features.  A Battle Pack is planned to be released at the same time, the specific focus not being fully nailed down as of yet.

Battle Pack is underway, but release has to wait until after Normandy is out.  Same marketing reasons apply.

 

Red Thunder for Matrix/Steam (September/October) - as you might expect by now, Matrix/Steam with PBEM/Tournament features.  A simultaneous release of a new Battle Pack is also planned.  The Pack focuses on Kampfgruppe Mühlenkamp's attempts to keep the Soviets from moving westward in July 1944.

Well, what do you know… we got this one out on time

 

Final Blitzkrieg for Matrix/Steam (December/January) - last, but not least, the final CM2 Family of games will be released for Matrix/Steam with PBEM and Tournament systems.  At the same time we'll release a new Module that will extend the timeframe through to the end of the war and introduce Commonwealth Forces plus the last ditch forces of the Third Reich.

Also well underway, but again marketing needs mean it’s release is a bit further down the road.  Each product deserves its own time in the spotlight, donchaknow.

 

Now that I’ve put forward a full update, I’ll just say that we’ve also been very busy on the CM2 Professional side of things.  We had a hard deadline of April 1 to deliver a whole bunch of stuff for a customer and it took a couple of weeks more to clear up lingering issues.  In the end it didn’t wind up delaying anything as the PBEM/Tournament coding was outsourced (our old buddy Phil!), but we were extra busy for sure.

Work has also started on a Module for Cold War.  No details at this point, just preliminary work.  We’ll let you guys know more when there’s more to say.

I think I got everything covered!  Happy to finally get you guys some good news.

As always, thanks for your continued support!

Steve

what! no pictures! such a tease!!!! lol..all good. can't wait. already purchased the FR - battle pack,. when will said files be released to use/?

 

bubba

[rocketman]

Great news this morning with the soon to be released Battle Pack. Even better news that @George MC is behind it. Top class design is to be expected. Stating that it has been "a labor of love" sure points to something of great value for us players.  I have been away from CM for a while for various reasons but this will pull me back in again for sure.

But seriously Battlefront, know your value - 10 USD to too low of a price. 

Edited September 12, 2022 by rocketman

[Bagpipe]

2 hours ago, Sunbather said:

Did you also try to crank up the resolution to 8k in the text file? And turn off shadows and set 3D model quality at "improved" or even lower.

Increasing the resolution will force the game to load more textures beforehand, you will still be playing in your native resolution though!

See this guide here, works for every CM game:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2601713366

yes, when i say every trick i mean that and more
It's not a gpu issue. It is that many modern cpu use lower single clock speeds with boost options as demanded by the software.
This software can't utilize that and so the single clock runs at only 3.6ghz or so which is just not enough for the larger scenarios.
Why I don't know, especially when you are only at deployment phase etc. I could go on but it's tiring lol

Edited September 12, 2022 by Bagpipe

[Artkin]

Wow very exciting! I was wondering if George was on the team, after playing through some maps of his maps by myself. The extreme attention to detail makes me feel like every 10000m^2 was thoroughly inspected in the 3D editor after being placed in the 2D editor. If you play his maps, you probably know the elevation work is immaculate.

I.E. : dirt paths which are lower than the fields surrounding them. You have to really look out for the details because they're there.

I look forward to these 14 new flavors to add to my games.

Edited September 12, 2022 by Artkin

[Phantom Captain]

Awesome!  CMRT Battle Pack pre-ordered!  As everyone knows, George's maps and stuff are killer.  Super looking forward to it!

[BFCElvis]

52 minutes ago, Bubba883XL said:

what! no pictures! such a tease!!!! lol..

 

bubba

There are 3 screenshots on the product page and another on the home page.