Combat Mission engine 4 patches released

[Grim.Reaper]

Just curious about everyone that's had patching problems and what OS you're running. I'm still on Win7 Pro and have updated CMRT, CMBN and CMSF2 to Engine 4 patch with no problems. However, as I know I will have to transition to Win 10 Pro by January I'm not looking forward to it if the problems are related to Win10 for some of you or is this a non-issue?

I am one without problems but have been using Windows 10 since the first day it was released....

[al_infierno]

I'm on Win10 and have had no serious issues.  When I bought the engine upgrade for Red Thunder and Shock Force, I had to install both games and had some issues with activation that got resolved quickly with a Support ticket.   

[MOS:96B2P]

I'm on Windows 10 and have had no problem upgrading or patching. 

Back before the all in one installer, when I was still on Windows 7, I had a few minor problems when moving the titles onto a new computer.  But the BF help desk sorted everything out very quickly.  No big deal.   :)

[Redwolf]

Elvis helped me get up and running, too.

Received 4.0 upgrades for my games. After updating the  CMRT code on disk to 4.0 it gave up on the 3.0 and asked me for a key (my problem previously was that I couldn't make it ask for a key, not even with gscleaner).  CMMG is running now with the new key. My suspicion might be correct that the short-format physical disk keys (I only had CMMG in that format) had some issue with the 3.0 code.

Having verified that it actually fixes the problems I went ahead and bought the 4.0 patches.

[Redwolf]

I wonder how many of you would agree to the following suggestions for improvements:

1) the naming of the patches should be much more systematic, so that people pile them up the right way

2) there needs to be a README on the patch download place, the README outside the zipfile (and a copy inside) that specifically say what is expected to be installed before installing this patch

3) lower the problems with 1) and 2) by pointing people much more strongly to the possibility of downloading a cumulative distribution file that needs nothing else.  That hint should also be next to the patch download links. A person like me wants to play after a long pause and knows that there will be new patches.  Point them to the distfiles in the orders instead

4) make it more clear that those cumulative distfiles in the old orders in your account are getting updated "behind your back". I did not know that, I thought they will still be pointing to the same file that was there when I bought the game.

5) the "past orders" dialog in the account should display which product was purchased.  Right now you have to open all invoices in new tabs to find the game you want to mess around with. Alternatively, add a new page to the user account that just lists purchased games, keys and distfile links

6) make it more clear what is a modules, extension, pack whatever and that the best way to install them might be to download a cumulative update from your past orders.  In my case my harddrive is full of old distfiles that contained battle packs etc. Naturally you are looking for updates to them. The fact that they have been integrated into the thing you can download in your account, and that this download contains just everything for a game whether you purchased it or not, needs to be communicated to the user much stronger.

7) communicate stronger what kind of thing needs a new download to upgrade and what needs a new purchase (key) to upgrade. It is not entirely clear what between british forces, CMMG, battle pack and vehicle pack needs a new download (none, if you point people to the cumulative update) and what needs a newly purchased key for the update (in the case of CMMG I had no clue right to the very end)

Actually, right now I am confused again. So I did not need to buy a new key for CMMG, but I do need separate keys for the CMSF base game update and for the modules?

8) some products still have bad descriptions. Examples:

https://www.battlefront.com/cmsf1-upgrades/ - the bundles only express in a picture what they upgrade, not in text.

That gets really bad here:
https://www.battlefront.com/cmbn-upgrades/ - the information of what you get in a bundle is not only only expressed in the picture, the middle symbol is obscured for the big bundle.

[Redwolf]

Oh it's just never ending.

Now I purchased the CMSF1 -> CMSF2 update, and it obviously has the same bug with the short keys from early physical packages as CMMG has. I can activate the base game and Marines (long keys) but my key for NATO is a short key and it doesn't work.

Also, it is counter-intuitive and misleading how this works. When you do a full install of the single complete installer you activate with the key that came with the cmsf2 update. However, if you did not activate any of the cmsf1 modules then it doesn't say so. Starting the game was just hanging for me.

[Elvis]

Oh it's just never ending.

Now I purchased the CMSF1 -> CMSF2 update, and it obviously has the same bug with the short keys from early physical packages as CMMG has. I can activate the base game and Marines (long keys) but my key for NATO is a short key and it doesn't work.

Also, it is counter-intuitive and misleading how this works. When you do a full install of the single complete installer you activate with the key that came with the cmsf2 update. However, if you did not activate any of the cmsf1 modules then it doesn't say so. Starting the game was just hanging for me.

Again the length of the keys characters means absolutely nothing. It can be 2 characters or a 1,000 (or more) for all the system cares. As a matter of fact to keep things from getting too predicable to possible hacker I change the length from time to time. Copy/paste is all that is needed.

Yes, it does indicate if you have activated each piece when Upgrading from CMSF1 to CMSF2. This post may be helpful:

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/134202-cmsf2-getting-a-splash-screen-with-just-the-tank-firing-in-the-dark-heres-why/

I think that I know what you are seeing. In the old system, "mail only" key were not stored in the system. Only purchases with digital download options stored the keys in people's accounts. Not all "mail only" keys migrated from the old system to the new. Most did...but not all.

Check your email.