Combat Mission engine 4 patches released

[Elvis]

I'm assuming that you looked at them and the settings haven't changed.

Here's a weird one that is less likely to apply if the computer is a desktop, rather than a laptop. Laptops with dedicated cards also have Intel integrated cards. To run the game some people have to set their video cards up to run on high performance graphics so that it won't try to run on the Intel card. My laptop is set up that way....After some updates the card gets reverted back to normal and I have to change the settings again. It may be something like that?....maybe? For GeForce cards, if you don't already know, you right click the desktop, select NVIDIA Control Panel and under Global 3D Settings use the drop down menu and set it to run on high performance graphics.

[Redwolf]

Hello.

So I wanted to play CMBN for the June 6 anniversary, but the patching went very badly. I was a first-minute buyer and patching up from 1.00 (which doesn't run with "UI not found" on win10) to 3.12 never gets me a complete working game. I have British Force and CMMG, and various variations of install sequence disable one or the other. In many installations the scenario editor exits the game without error message. Otherwise I always see all scenarios for the packs and modules, but some are always disabled with "you need ...", naming something I own and have installed.

I am perfectly happy to buy the 4.0 update and try 4.01.

I need to know, however, whether this purchase will actually get me a working game with all the content I purchased. I bought:
- CMBN
- British forces
- CMMG
- 2.0 update
- something called a "battle pack", which seems to be a 3.12 update. I don't recall what this is.

I also need a proper install sequence. I don't see how any of the CMBN patch mention whether you need all the ones before or not.

And my british forces install file seems to be 1.10, and CMMG 2.10. There is no documentation about the order in which I need to insert this into the regular CMBN patching. I also have no idea whether CMMG needs a separate 3.x update or not.

Any ideas? Will the 4.0 update just cumulatively update everything? Do I need to buy 3.x?

[Elvis]

You don't need to get the 3.0 and 4.0 Upgrades but it would surr make life a lot easier if you had at least the 3.0 Upgrade. Also, owning 3.0 is required for 4.0.  But, for my $5 the all in one installers alone are worth the $5. As an example, here are the insatiion instructions to I stall the base game, both modules, both Pack and every patch and Upgrade through the 3.12 patch:

Download the 3.0 Upgrade.
Run the game installer
Activate.

That's it. The step by step "what order do I install " process is gone.

[Pete Dero]

4.0 requires game engine 3.0.

You download one big file (Full Installer) and then activate the modules you own.

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/127259-reinstalling-all/

This is the Battle Pack you have : https://www.battlefront.com/battle-for-normandy/cmbn-battle-pack-1/

Battle Pack 1 for CMBN requires all three previous expansions (Commonwealth Forces, Market Garden, and Vehicle Pack) for full functionality of the content. Game Engine 3 or higher is also required.

Or your pack doesn't work or you already have v 3.0 installed.

Edit : Elvis entered the building before I did  ;)

[Redwolf]

You don't need to get the 3.0 and 4.0 Upgrades but it would surr make life a lot easier if you had at least the 3.0 Upgrade. Also, owning 3.0 is required for 4.0.  But, for my $5 the all in one installers alone are worth the $5. As an example, here are the insatiion instructions to I stall the base game, both modules, both Pack and every patch and Upgrade through the 3.12 patch:

Download the 3.0 Upgrade.
Run the game installer
Activate.

That's it. The step by step "what order do I install " process is gone.

I have 3.0, in the Battle Pack. Here is what I install:

CMBN_BattlePack_Setup-1a.bin
CMBN_BattlePack_Setup-1b.bin
CMBN_BattlePack_Setup.exe
normandy v312.brz

It pretty much destroys the working 2.12 install.

I just tried this:
- uninstall game and nuke folder
- install all kinds of things, end up with working 2.12, with British and CMMG
- game works
- scenario editor works

Install the above 312:
- only CMBN, British and CMMG are gone
- clicking on scenario editor exits game without error message

This is not the 1-step 3.0 procedure I paid for :)

[Redwolf]

4.0 requires game engine 3.0.

You download one big file (Full Installer) and then activate the modules you own.

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/127259-reinstalling-all/

This is the Battle Pack you have : https://www.battlefront.com/battle-for-normandy/cmbn-battle-pack-1/

Battle Pack 1 for CMBN requires all three previous expansions (Commonwealth Forces, Market Garden, and Vehicle Pack) for full functionality of the content. Game Engine 3 or higher is also required.

Or your pack doesn't work or you already have v 3.0 installed.

Edit : Elvis entered the building before I did  ;)

OK, so the battle pack is 3.12, but it is not a 3.12 upgrade?

And to use the battle pack I need to have the vehicle pack, too?

[Redwolf]

You don't need to get the 3.0 and 4.0 Upgrades but it would surr make life a lot easier if you had at least the 3.0 Upgrade. Also, owning 3.0 is required for 4.0.  But, for my $5 the all in one installers alone are worth the $5.

I just don't see how me buying 4.0 can be an all-in-one upgrade.

I need 3.0 before 4.0, so at least I have 2 steps, no?

And if I buy the 4.0 update, is the install file I get a 4.00 or a 4.01? Do I need to install the 4.01 patch after the 4.0 upgrade?

[Pete Dero]

Go to the 'Your Orders' page (when logged in) : https://www.battlefront.com/index.php?p=orders

Go to your purchase of CMBN v 3.0 upgrade in the list and there you can download the full installer : Windows CMBN 3.12 Full Installer (4GB)

Then activate all the modules you have.

If you have the battle pack but don't have the vehicle pack some missions will not work.

One new campaign "Amiens Tonight" lets you lead elements of the British 2nd Army from the Seine River, through Belgium, and all the way to the high water mark of the advance along the Meuse and lower Rhine. Includes use of Vehicle Pack elements for additional flavor! Also included are 12 standalone battles, 20 new Quick Battle maps, and extras to help understand the historical backdrop of the campaign.

[Redwolf]

Go to the 'Your Orders' page (when logged in) : https://www.battlefront.com/index.php?p=orders

Go to your purchase of CMBN v 3.0 upgrade in the list and there you can download the full installer : Windows CMBN 3.12 Full Installer (4GB)

Then activate all the modules you have.

If you have the battle pack but don't have the vehicle pack some missions will not work.

One new campaign "Amiens Tonight" lets you lead elements of the British 2nd Army from the Seine River, through Belgium, and all the way to the high water mark of the advance along the Meuse and lower Rhine. Includes use of Vehicle Pack elements for additional flavor! Also included are 12 standalone battles, 20 new Quick Battle maps, and extras to help understand the historical backdrop of the campaign.

Hmm, okay so the problem seems to be that I did buy the 3.x upgrade, and then thought that the battle pack was the software upgrade package.

I see that all my download links are in there (they didn't disappear like they used to).

So I guess if I download "everything" from scratch instead of using my own patch files I should end up with a better result.

So what is "everything"? I understand that the "Full installer" should do all the version upgrades.

But what about British forces and CMMG? Will the "Full installer" activate them if they are buried in the install directory somewhere like they are for me?

[A Canadian Cat]

What @Pete Dero said. To be clear the Windows CMBN full installer does not need an existing game to have been installed. Given how screwed up your current install seems to be I would recommend deleting it and running the full installer to install again from scratch.

To be clear the compressed file you download should be unpacked into an empty / new folder and then run the install from that folder. Then let the game's install UI guide you to your destination.

[A Canadian Cat]

But what about British forces and CMMG? Will the "Full installer" activate them if they are buried in the install directory somewhere like they are for me?

The full installer has all the content. Once it is run you will have all the necessary files to play all the content - after you activate it. So you will need to activate the keys for the content that you bought. The install itself, if memory serves, will prompt you to activate the game but you have to run the short cut "Activate XXX" once for each module or pack that you need to activate.

[Redwolf]

Argh. These people really drive me nutz.

So I am re-downloading the thankfully updated files.

On the download page (after I have to manually switch to a view where I can actually read the filename, what's up with that?) it says that Red Thunder is "1.03". What does that mean? The engine version surely is 2.x or 3.x?

And the best part is, even that lousy version information is removed on download. The downloaded file is named just "CM_Red_Thunder.dmg"

How the fsck does Battlefront think their customers are supposed to keep their patches sorted?

[Pete Dero]

The downloaded file is named just "CM_Red_Thunder.dmg"

You clicked left on the MacOS file when you should have clicked right on the Windows file (giving you a zip or an exe file).

Red Thunder 1.03 is game engine 3  (that part could be clearer  O0)
I have Red Thunder & Final Blitzkrieg 2.01 and those are game engine 4.
I also have Black Sea 2.11 but that is also game engine 4.

[ArizonaTank]

All this DRM and patching tomfoolery leaves me numb.  :pullhair:

I'll just wait 20 years to get them on GOG, DRM free and fully patched....   :(

[Redwolf]

This is just completely nuts.

Downloading CMRT windows version just gives you a filename "Files.zip".

OK, I usually store downloads after unzipping them, expecting to find a *.exe with an installer in there.

In this case it is a whole bunch of files that I now need to keep in a directory.

But the best part is that although (thankfully) the 1.03 version (even though misleading) is back in the *.exe name, the brz files carry "v100".
Archive:  ../Files.zip
extracting: CMRT_v103_Setup.exe     
extracting: red thunder v100a.brz   
extracting: red thunder v100b.brz   

This installation is a game in itself. And not a good one.