Black sand

[Cyrano]

I have been happily using my Paradox edition of CMSF on my laptop for sometime.

Knowing that I wanted to pass along my Paradox edition to a friend (and grab the 1.21 in the bargain), I reinstalled same along with 1.11 and the 1.21 patches.

Now, without having changed a graphic setting or driver, all my base terrain (dirt, sand, &c.) has gone black.

What, as they say, gives?

I've an XPS M1730 (4GB), NVIDIA 8700M GT, running Vista 32. What's frustrating is that I had NONE of these problems on this same rig under the Paradox version running 1.11.

Thanks for any help,

Jim

"Cyrano"

PS: FWIW, under this install, the text in the options/video screen is askew with the choices being a bit too high for the screen they're on.

[Schrullenhaft]

For the Paradox version, install the 1.10 patch and then the 1.20 patch. There is no 1.21 patch for the Paradox version as of yet (still waiting on Paradox to compile the patch with their DRM/copy protection code). For now the 1.21 patch can only be used by Paradox customers who have one or both of the modules (Marines and/or British Forces).

I believe that there was a 1.11 incremental patch that required either 1.08 or 1.10 be installed before using it (it was about 78.4MB in size). This would not be sufficient for an older base version of the game and the .BRZ resource files would not be complete. That's probably what you're seeing - missing textures that aren't present.

[Bergerbitz]

Thanks, Schrullenhaft! I had the same problem after a reinstall and that fixed it.

[E.J. Smith]

For the Paradox version, install the 1.10 patch and then the 1.20 patch. There is no 1.21 patch for the Paradox version as of yet (still waiting on Paradox to compile the patch with their DRM/copy protection code). For now the 1.21 patch can only be used by Paradox customers who have one or both of the modules (Marines and/or British Forces).

I believe that there was a 1.11 incremental patch that required either 1.08 or 1.10 be installed before using it (it was about 78.4MB in size). This would not be sufficient for an older base version of the game and the .BRZ resource files would not be complete. That's probably what you're seeing - missing textures that aren't present.

@Schrullenhaft:

I have the Battlefront version with the British add-on patched to 1.21 and have the same issue. Any suggestions?

I'm running Windows 7 X64 with an EVGA GTX 260 SC and the 195.62 driver.

[Schrullenhaft]

E.J. Smith - Do you know what the version of the CMSF base game was when you installed the British Forces module ? If you are NOT at 1.10 or 1.11 when you install the British Forces module, then you'll possibly see missing textures ("black tiles").

The patches are NOT all inclusive. For example If you install a CMSF 1.03 game and then the British Forces module (which is v.1.20), you'll be missing some .BRZ files that came with the 1.10 patch. If you install CMSF 1.03 and then the Marines module (version 1.10) and then the 1.21 patch, you should be OK since the Marines module includes the necessary .BRZ files that are part of the 1.10 patch.

[E.J. Smith]

Thanks for following up. I installed the module over 1.1 and then patched it to 1.21. Should I reinstall the whole thing and, if so, in what order do you recommend to get the missing tiles?

[Schrullenhaft]

E.J. Smith - the order you installed sounds correct to me - Base Game (1.0x) - 1.10 patch - British Forces module (1.20) - 1.21 patch. When you installed the 1.21 patch, did you make the selection of "Update CMSF + British Module" ? The default is the base game only.

With the installation order you've performed I'm not sure why you would see 'black tiles'. Did you have any 'mods' installed when you did the patching ? If you did, this could potentially interfere with the patches (I'm not sure why) - possibly resulting in some .BRZs not getting updated.

[E.J. Smith]

Thanks again for following-up. I'm not using any mods. Basically the install order as you described in your previous post. The base game began as the 1.1 version, however. I began noticing the problem after installing the add-on. Again, any suggestions you have will be very much appreciated.

[Schrullenhaft]

E.J. Smith - The only advice I can offer at this point is to unlicense and uninstall CMSF and the modules and start over again. This time install and license the base CMSF game (1.10) and check to see if the 'black tile' problem is present. Assuming that it isn't, next install the British Forces module and license it. Again check to see if the 'black tiles' are present. If not, then finally install the 1.21 patch (making sure to select the "CMSF + British Forces" option during the update) and check to see if the problem is present.

If CMSF is the main game you play, I'd suggest using a different video driver. I'd suggest using the 186.18 driver for now to avoid some of the lighting bugs in the current 190 series driver. I don't know when Nvidia will fix this problem, but it has been getting a bit worse lately (this is something that you'll see in night/dusk battles).

[E.J. Smith]

@QSchrullenhaft:

I finally had the opportunity to re-install and start all over. I installed the base game and did not confront the black sand problem. I then installed the British module over the base game at which point the black sand problem appeared. Are there files on the original disc that are being removed in the module that I can copy back into the game?♠

Thanks in advance.

[Schrullenhaft]

Are you absolutely sure that your base game is version 1.10 and not 1.01 ? If it is 1.01, then you will be missing some necessary .BRZ data files. If it truly is 1.10, then I'm mystified.

The only thing I can recommend is to unlicense and uninstall the modules and try again. This time download and install the 1.10 patch anyway, regardless of what you're base version is. Check CMSF to see if the 'black sand' is present after this 1.10 patch and then install and license the British Force module and see if the black sand has appeared there now too.

[E.J. Smith]

Exact diagnosis, Doctor. As you said, I had 1.01. When I patched it with 1.1 followed by the British mod and then 1.21 everything ran perfectly. Sincere thanks.