Eichenbaum's Operation Storfang released!

[junk2drive]

"unhandled exception : c0000005 at address :"

without osf i get this error caused by my mcafee antivirus. sometimes i have to restart my computer to get cmbb to run, try that.

[PittPanther31]

Originally posted by junk2drive:

"unhandled exception : c0000005 at address :"

without osf i get this error caused by my mcafee antivirus. sometimes i have to restart my computer to get cmbb to run, try that.

Thanks---but no luck. Still get the unhandled exception error.

Basically it goes like this: Battlefront Screen (with music) flips to a black screen (music still plays) upon hitting a mouse. . .then nothing happens as the music continues to play in the background of a black screen. When I hit ctrl-alt-delete, I see the unhandled exception error at which time I clik ok, then the game says it encountered a problem.

Oh well, at least I have CMAK!

[handihoc]

Yep, I'm getting pretty much the same problem. v1.02 ran fine when I installed it, and CMBB booted up without a problem too. I played for a couple of hours, but after my first save, when I came to replay later, the same unhandled exception error came up when Storfang calls up the CMBB start screen, and CMBB will no longer play on its own.

This is exactly what happened before the patch. Also, even with the new patch, the Storfang start screen says v1.0.

Such a fantastic game add-on. I'm just itching to get in there again!

I would just add my support for Jim R's comments. Battlefront should look seriously at Eichenbaum's work. I think we all here pretty much agree that the CM system is by far the best ww2 simulation on the market, and Eichenbaum has given us a wonderful add-on. That he/they have done it free-of-charge is a demonstration of their appreciation for and dedication to the game and I'd love to see them involved in future development.

Okay, yes, there's an annoying little bug - but show me a computer game that doesn't have teething problems initially. Once this is sorted we will have access to a tremendous enhancement for CMBB. I'm going to be spendng many hours and days glued to the game.

good luck, Eichenbaum.

[eichenbaum]

It's not easy to track down the problem that causes this exception c0000005. We have tested it on various operating systems with various hardware setups but didn't managed to get OSF crashed without going into extreme.

But there are a few issues that can make OSF crash:

- Initiated OSF while file browswers have the OSF folder opened and/or files selected; It's better to have all applications closed that could claim acces to CM files before you start up OSF. Like Mod Managers for example.

- If you close CM with the keys ALT+F4 or with the taskmanager OSF might not be able to restore the orginal textures; It's better to close CM with the 'Exit' button.

- The ALT-TAB function has been tested and did not show any problems; but it still remains risky to do so.

- OSF will certainly crash when CM has been started up twice or more; You can check this by hitting the 'Start' button on your keyboard an look at the taskbar. You should also check wether the CD-ROM didn't started up automaticly when you have placed in in the drive while you started up the OSF interface already. (Especially CDV CD-ROMS can startup after minutes; the setup or autorun process seems to be very slow)

- There's nothing wrong with curiosity and trying to understand how OSF works beneith the interface. I did the same thing with Combat Mission. But if something goes wrong because of that then it's your own problem. People for who this is applied to know what I mean.

[ June 24, 2004, 07:47 AM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

[Lucho]

I reinstalled your OSF and the latest patch, and now, it is going smoothly. The landscape and the whole environment is fantastic, true. It catches the mood of fighting there nearly perfectly. TOE is very interesting.

Keep up the good work!

[junk2drive]

lucho, guess i wont be seeing you in cmak for a while,lol. will people be doing scenarios based on having the mod installed? or does it only work within the campaign?

[Lucho]

I think it is possible to make Krim-based scenarios within of OSF, the Campaign folders are only savedgames, so it is not possible to edit them. I think eichenbaum has mentioned that is possible to play CMBB in normal mode even with OSF installed.

[Mark Z]

I downloaded version 1.0 last week and the installation went fine. The only problem I have is my video card is a little slow -- make that a lot slow. I have dual LCDs and my card, the Matrox P650, was the only dual-DVI card available last year at a reasonable price. I haven't played CMBB since the installation, but I backed-up my last full version on to DVD just-in-case.

I must agree with the others that the terrain is awesome. That just gives me more motivation to get a faster Dual-DVI video card this summer. Hopefully I'll have the more time then and will really be able to sink my teeth into OSF.

BTW, the most excellent book "Stopped at Stalingrad" by Joel Hayward, has a chapter devoted to "Storfang" that is very detailed -- quality not quantity.

Mark

[eichenbaum]

A new graphic card is not that crucial to play OSF with satisfying speed. 90% percent of all graphics we have implemented in OSF have limited colour palettes; This results in much lighter bitmaps then the standard you get with CM. All terrain bitmaps have been reduced to 30% in filesize and you can't see any difference with non-limited coloured bitmaps because we have picked every palette carefully. The memory modules have now more room for other data. Since the OSF maps are 4km2 big you'll need the extra space anyway.

A fast processor; that's something you will notice in OSF. That's why we recommend a P4 (or similar). You can play it with less; but then you have enough spare time to do some anti-RSI exercises while you're waiting for the movies...

Graphics can change with every new scenario that comes out. There are new textures, updates and custom textures that are created for that particular scenario (like objective flags). You can also witness a constant changing background real soon...

With this knowledge you can imagine that it is difficult to support custom made scenarios as well. Like now the softground tiles show a rock surface and maybe after a few scenarios the softground could be used for mud. The same for other textures; already a lot in development.

Nils

[eichenbaum]

If you think Tankovoe is cool, then Krasn'ii Mak will make your heart go beat faster.

<a href="http://www.eichenbaum.org/cgi-bin/cutecast/cutecast.pl?session=njIQVru0xJJuvGnrD2EFmrjYma&forum=13&thread=288" target="_blanc">

Click the pic to read more</a>

[Vossiewulf]

From what I've read (correct me if I'm wrong Eichenbaum), it sounds like the unhandled exceptions are caused by CM not finding BMPs it requires- probably interface BMPs if I had to make a guess.

So if one simply backs up their BMP directory before playing OSF, they can always copy it back if things fail, and they should be off and running with CMBB again.

[Guest Manstein22]

Hi eichenbaum

The preview of Krasnìi Mak looks downright fantastic.Thanx for making your operation public.

Greetings

Manstein22

[eichenbaum]

Originally posted by Vossiewulf:

From what I've read (correct me if I'm wrong Eichenbaum), it sounds like the unhandled exceptions are caused by CM not finding BMPs it requires- probably interface BMPs if I had to make a guess.

So if one simply backs up their BMP directory before playing OSF, they can always copy it back if things fail, and they should be off and running with CMBB again.

That's true. It is possible to work that way but the bmp folder is quite large and you should remove it before you copy it back.

Try this first:

If the exeption pops up you should start OSF again and go to 'Battle' and then click 'Start Game'. The application will check wether there are bitmaps missing and restore them. A message will tell you that it has been recovered from a crash. Then close OSF and start up CMBB.

[Crinius]

No go here. When I start carrer and hit HQ or front I only get black screen and I have to CRT-W out. Same with Battle. CM fires up but I only can get a Quick battle. I already un- and reinsatlled it several times..

[farmerch]

@ Crinius

You already reached the QuickBattle-Screen. You were really close to actually play the game. Xou only have to select "Operation" on the top-right corner of the screen.

[Crinius]

@ farmerch, thx m8 that did it. Though I feel a little ashamed cause the solution was so easy

[kipanderson]

Hi,

Congratulations… an outstanding piece of work.

All the best,

Kip.

[kipanderson]

Eichenbaum, hi,

Firstly, just to restate how stunned I am that anyone can have produced such a brilliant piece of work. Amazing…. I cannot even start to think how it was done. It never ceases to amaze my just how brilliant some on these forums are.

However, I do have one concern which you may find a little eccentric. I saw that the first battle was just 25+ turns. I, and all my CM chums, play 60 turn battles, or more in “battles” as opposed to operations.

The reason is that we all believe it leads to more realistic game play. In the real world battles for even very limited objectives, say a small village, happened at a far slower pace then in most CMBB games. This was due to the determination of the “players” to live. It is my experience that if you give players more turns, they do tend to revert to more realistic tactics.

This should not be taken as a criticism, I and my chums are no doubt in the minority. But it there some way I can edit the operation to increase the number of turns? Or if not, could you produce a version with longer battles for those who wish to play battles with more turns?

Your work is so stunning, so realistic, the research of such mind-blowing quality, it seems a shame to have to unrealistically rush the actual battles. In my view.

Congratulations again,

All the best,

Kip.

PS. Tried to edit the operation in the CMBB editor, but it did not seem to be possible. Even after copying the file to the CMBB scenarios and launching it correctly in the CMBB editor.

[eichenbaum]

Hi Kip

Thanks for the flowers, that's really appreciated

<font size="+1">Y</font>ou're partly right about the length of the battles in the 1st operation. We have misused the operation type scenarios in CM to build a campaign with access codes as keys to other maps.

You'll encounter 2 different ways of getting the code, with a custom modded objective flag or as a landmark.

1) The Landmark Codes are hidden in the small strip of map that has been cut off by the battle window. In order to reveal this code you need to move to the predefined direction. Every time a new battle begins the code might appear; then only when you have pushed the AI far enough. Battle windows only appear in operations and not battles.

2) Objective flags can be used in battles. You'll encounter battles in OSF that have 1 or 2 objective flags placed in enemy territory. These flags have custom bitmaps that change with every OSF scenario you download. An access code has been written on it and can be revealed once you have control over the area around it.

<font size="+1">T</font>urn 1 - Tankovoe (The scenario you mentioned); is an operation because of the landmark access code and not because the Germans attacked the town that way. It's in fact a ± 1,5 hours battle divided in 3 phases. The first 2 are crucial because it's the only time (± 60 turns) to push the AI far enough in order to reach you’re main objective; the code. What ever you do in the 3rd battle it won’t help to reveal it if it didn’t already.

The best scenario type for Tankovoe is the operation with landmark access codes. The AI will tempt to spread out over the map in order to keep its ground. An objective flag will force the AI to concentrate on just one small area; something you don’t want to see on this map.

Your units are deployed in waves*. At Tankovoe’s the first wave is reconnaissance. An half an hour is enough for recon movements. If you extend the time then you’ll get bored and try to launch an attack. (You should try it; your assault will turn into a complete disaster because you’re outnumbered). The attack should start in the 2nd battle. Then Major Schmidt will arrive on the set with an infantry battalion(2nd wave).

If you want to play it realistic then you shouldn't move the units between the battles. Only deploy the new arrived men and machines.

<p align="right"><font size="-1"><U>(* : More info about Infantry Attacks click here.)</U></font></P>

<font size="+1">T</font>ankovoe has been tested & tuned through and through. It took 6 men who played this battle 2 times or more and wrote more reports then you can analyze in one evening. The first tests were conducted with 3 x 60 minutes play time and reduced to 3 x 25+ after we found out what the average time is to achieve victory (the code). OSF is a campaign where you can win or lose. If you screw up you probably do not get the code. If the battles are lasting longer then it’s far too easy to win this turn. To compensate we would have to enlarge the map. Such changes will result in testing it from scratch again. Not to speak the After Action Reports, the tuning, discussions… etc… (I think they will lynch me if I tried to change Tankovoe once more ☺)

<font size="+1">T</font>he 1st turn is an introduction to OSF Part 1. Krasn’ii Mak (turn 2) is a 120 minutes battle with an objective flag. This baby is huge. I would very like to read your comments again after you have played that one.

<font size="+1">Y</font>ou cannot edit OSF battles because of the access codes. And it's no fun to be able to cheat in a campaign. It's also a saved game because you cannot fix the environmental conditions in operations. It had to be a rainy and foggy morning at Tankovoe to make it historical accurate.

Now I’m going to lie down for a while. I have a splitting headache from the large amounts of alcohol last night. Holland has won one more match in the EUFA cup.

Kind regards,

Nils

[ June 27, 2004, 08:42 AM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

[eichenbaum]

Originally posted by PittPanther31:

Basically it goes like this: Battlefront Screen (with music) flips to a black screen (music still plays) upon hitting a mouse. . .then nothing happens as the music continues to play in the background of a black screen. When I hit ctrl-alt-delete, I see the unhandled exception error at which time I clik ok, then the game says it encountered a problem....

If nothing works after a crash, not even run OSF battle again, then you can download this zip file:

http://cp56535-a.venlo1.lb.home.nl/OSF/Original_bmp.zip (30 MB!)

These are the original Combat Mission bitmaps that are missing in your CM folder.

Extract the zip into CM's bmp folder (for exmpl.: \Combat Mission 2\bmp)

Keep the zip file if you continue to play OSF. If it happens once more you don't have to download this 30 MB file again.

We do not know what caused the crash on your system. It could be an anti-virus application or something else that has to do with your system.

Nils

[kipanderson]

Nils,

I had not realised just how complex and cunning your program is. With the programming of all those victory conditions on map, wow!

It really is very clever stuff indeed.

Looking forward to playing your campaign.

All the best,

Kip.

[eichenbaum]

Originally posted by kipanderson:

...I had not realised just how complex and cunning your program is...

Ach, it's not that complex; I think it's only complex the way I write it down

(English is not my native language)

[Vergeltungswaffe]

It is truly an awesome piece of work.

My only wish is the same as Kip's, 60+ turns per battle. I am of the exact same mindset that it gives a more immersive environment and result.

Obviously, most folks just want to start shooting asap.

[Martin Krejcirik]

Eichenbaum: any suggestions what to try with that non-working 3D (HQ and front, menus in OSF) ?

When I try to click on tacmap.wrl or warroom.wrl from outside of OSF it loads IE and displays the map or room, so I think there is a potential

Martin

[eichenbaum]

Originally posted by Vergeltungswaffe:

It is truly an awesome piece of work.

My only wish is the same as Kip's, 60+ turns per battle. I am of the exact same mindset that it gives a more immersive environment and result.

Obviously, most folks just want to start shooting asap.

After Tankovoe (Turn 1) you'll end up in Krasn'ii Mak (Turn 2). That's a 120 minute battle. Long enough for ya ?

Every scenario will be diferent in time. We test our scenarios and tune it untill they're perfect (in our eyes).