Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord v1.03 Update Patch (Windows)

Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord v1.03 Update Patch (Windows)

This is the version 1.03 update for "Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord". It updates versions: 1.0 through 1.02. See [More Info] for details regarding this patch.

Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord

v1.03 UPDATE PATCH - Windows

1. Note the following files contained in this update:

- Combat Mission.exe (application file v1.03)

- "New BMP" directory, contains 1720.BMP through 1729.BMP (10 graphics files)

- 00002080.WAV (sound file)

2. Replace the old "Combat Mission.exe" application file with the new one. IMPORTANT: Remember to hold down the SHIFT key to move the application file - otherwise Windows will only create a "shortcut" instead of moving the file. (NOTE: If you already have v1.01 or later, you can skip steps 3 and 4).

3. Move the CONTENTS of the "New BMP" directory into the "BMP" directory. Make sure you move the ten files INSIDE "New BMP" into the BMP directory - do not copy the "New BMP" directory itself.

4. Move 00002080.WAV into the "WAV" directory. If you originally did a "minimum" install and don't see a "WAV" directory, then just create one.

You're all done! Below is the list of changes made.

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v1.03 7/26/2000

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- Play-by-email format has changed. Both players must use v1.03 to be compatible.

- Infantry moving in the open is more vulnerable to casualties than before.

- Small-arms units, especially MGs, fire more rapidly at units that are moving in the open.

- Top-mount MG range increased for: Stuart, T8, PSW 234/3

- Vickers MG is available to British and Polish paratroops.

- Running units spot enemies more poorly.

- Mortar shell top armor penetration capability reduced slightly.

- The 'front line' in Operations does not tend to shift quite as much in the attacker's favor as it did before.

- v1.01 made pillboxes just a little bit too resistant to artillery. This resistance has been toned down slightly.

- Fog of War 'preference' is remembered properly.

- Unit point values have been tweaked, especially small recoilless weapons. Vehicles with veteran or better experience also cost more.

- Quick Battles

- Max length is now 60 turns.

- Troop quality, weather, and time of day can be set to "random".

- The automatic force chooser can now pick Conscript (on Low quality setting), and Crack and Elite troops (on High quality setting).

- Allow a slightly higher portion of points to be spent on artillery.

- In a 2-player Quick Battle, a reminder window appears to both players if there is a handicap in force size.

- Attacker-to-defender ratio in points is slightly reduced.

- TacAI (esp. for tanks) is less 'distracted' by targets of lesser importance.

- Vehicle reinforcements are more likely to be placed on a road, if one is (very) nearby.

- Operations have always been able to end when one side is "pushed off" their own map edge, but the algorithm which determines when this has occurred is more forgiving now, and allows the force to be "squeezed" up closer against that map edge before force-ending the operation.

- Sound volume no longer automatically raised to maximum when CM starts up.

- FOs are no longer automatically fully resupplied between battles in an operation.

- Foxholes dug in Tall Pines terrain were treated (in part) as if they were dug in the open. This is now fixed.

- Vehicles that button up or turn away are less likely to lose visual contact with their *current- target.

- One can no longer change a rotation waypoint to a movement waypoint, therefore circumventing command delay.

- Computer player is smarter about exiting units for points (when allowed by scenario).

- Grenade and demo charge attacks against armored vehicles can no longer cause collateral damage to friendly units.

- Random map generator no longer creates "spiky" hills.

- Silhouette rating for M24 Chaffee reduced.

- Bailed crews now have poor visual spotting ability.

- When a sound contact to an enemy vehicle is lost, the sound effect of its engine stops too.

- Units out of ammo will never be shown as 'reloading'.

- Pillbox MG ammo no longer 'wraps around' back up to 254 or 255 shots.

- Reinforcements in an operation are no longer sometimes placed in impassable terrain.

- Turret penetrations are likely to cause more crew casualties than before.

- Time penalty for adjusted artillery missions is slightly reduced.

- Captured troops don't stay panicked for unreasonable lengths of time.

- A bug which sometimes caused a unit which had just suffered a casualty, but had not fired, to say "reloading", has been fixed.

- Split squads kept split at the end of a battle during an operation no longer have problems remembering the number of casualties suffered.

- Sometimes in the scenario editor, squads split into teams would be given different squad I.D. numbers. This has been fixed.

- Deleting a split-squad team in the editor simultaneously deletes the other team as well. Also, the point values for split-squad teams are corrected, and correct data is shown for them in the cursor-hotspot info window.

- Sneaking is now more sensitive to incoming fire when it decides to stop (i.e. "advance to contact")

- Occasionally during an Operation, a vehicle knocked out in a previous battle, when hit again, could produce a 'new' crew bailing out. This is fixed.

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v1.02 6/21/2000

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- Quick Battles can have larger forces.

- Unarmored vehicles and those with rear-facing guns are smarter about when to rotate the whole vehicle (TacAI).

- Woods terrain doesn't "break" over elevation changes.

- UNSPOTTED infantry won't ever fire panzerfausts at enemy infantry.

- Heavy buildings are slightly less likely to catch fire. And firing bazookas and panzerschrecks from inside any type of building is slightly less likely to cause a fire than previously (from backblast).

- Previously, if you canceled out of the password screen and started up a new 1-player game, CM would crash. This is fixed.

- A sharpshooter's data screen lists main weapon as "sniper rifle" (was previously blank).

- Several small bugs fixed in how aerial rockets damage armored vehicles.

- U.S. Paratrooper battalion has 9 bazookas in its HQ Company, not 8.

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v1.01 6/14/2000

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- Play-by-email (PBEM) fixes:

- Both players MUST upgrade to v1.01. v1.01 cannot play PBEM with the original v1.0. This is due to bug and security fixes which changed the format of PBEM files.

- Barbed wire does not lose its ability to slow down infantry.

- Doing a normal save-game no longer causes the occasional skipping of one player's orders phase.

- Units no longer occasionally target smoke toward the map corner.

- There is no longer the occasional problem of being unable to give orders to a vehicle, seemingly for no reason.

- Reinforcements don't arrive differently upon subsequent reloads of a PBEM file.

- Vehicles no longer sometimes switch from 'destroyed' to 'abandoned'.

- Captured vehicle crew are counted properly when one side surrenders.

- TacAI fixes:

- Less fickle with targeting changes, i.e. targeting 'stickiness' increased slightly.

- Buttoned-up tanks are less likely to target low-visibility targets (like hiding infantry) at longer ranges, even when the target *is* spotted by another friendly unit.

- Less likely to fire smoke at less-important targets, especially ones that are already pinned down or panicked.

- Paths made by TacAI no longer occasionally have visually 'floating' waypoints.

- Judges 'cover' behind stone walls and bocage properly, not prematurely forcing units to abandon these positions as if they're too exposed.

- New explosion graphics (when using "high quality smoke" option)

- Camera can rotate on a 'point' rather than around a circle (SHIFT-J option).

- Units can hide during setup.

- Handicapper unit choice is more logical. Can also go to +200%.

- Player can give the AI an "experience bonus" that raises all AI units from 1 to 3 experience levels.

- Infantry "close combat" versus armored vehicles has been reworked:

- Demo charges and grenades thrown at armored vehicles now have a visible blast wave.

- Tossed demo charges vs. armored vehicles are more accurate.

- Various bug fixes

- Some computer-player tweaks, including no longer moving gun-damaged tanks into the map corner.

- Nonmoving infantry is slightly harder to spot (i.e. max range decreased a bit).

- Pillboxes are slightly harder to spot (if in cover), and can 'hide' (which helps save ammo). Also, they are now far more resistant to artillery.

- In hotseat play, uncontacted enemy vehicles' engine sounds are not audible.

- Flamethrowers stop firing once their AREA target is burning.

- Map elevation algorithm is improved, making roads run more smoothly up/down hill faces, not stair-stepped.

- Gun crews won't abandon their (functioning) guns until they're fully ROUTED (rather than BROKEN) provided they have less than 50% casualties.

- Sneaking units, when fired upon in cover, are more likely to stop and return fire rather than keep moving.

- In the action phase the rewind button would sometimes cause a building-destruction animation to play at the incorrect time. This has been fixed.

- Fanatic units are subject to panic (like normal units) when attacked by flamethrower.

- Captured (or escaped) infantry is allowed to move at run speed, regardless of initial weapon type. However, this can only happen as a result of running for cover when under attack; no captured unit may be given orders to "run".

- Smoke shells leave a small impact crater.

- When a unit kills an enemy armored vehicle, it now (usually) plays the appropriate voice sound effect.

- "Detailed armor hit text" is not shown to the enemy when a vehicle is hit by a mine or artillery outside of enemy observation.

- When repositioning a unit during setup, the colored line always turns red to indicate that a position is not allowed.

- Sound contacts are no longer indicated (to the enemy) as knocked out or destroyed even if they actually are. And if destroyed, they are not shown on the map at all. And they are never shown as being located off the map edge.

- Armored vehicles are slightly less likely to be immobilized or receive gun damage from nearby blasts (e.g. artillery).

- You can give movement orders to bogged vehicles, which they'll execute if they're able to un-bog.

- Split-squads' casualties are tallied correctly in the after-action report.

- 'Target Next' order works for vehicles with machineguns but no main gun.

- 0 vs. 0 final score is reported as a 'draw' not an Axis victory.

- Units 'notice' more quickly that an enemy unit has surrendered, and don't shoot at them just seconds after surrendering.

- Bailed vehicle crews who are less than 'fully' spotted are drawn with generic infantry uniforms.

- Infantry moves more slowly on slopes.

- Automatic force picker for Quick Battles picks fewer defensive fortifications.

- Captured guns and mortars are tallied correctly in the after action report.

- Interior graphic problem with the SPW 251/1 halftrack fixed.

- If a tank became immobilized while rotating its turret, sometimes the turret would keep spinning. This has been fixed.

- If you move a vehicle carrying passengers during setup, its passengers' command and control links are updated immediately and correctly.

- No 'reinforcements have arrived' message is shown if all of them are airplanes.

- Vehicles in 'hunt' mode are a little more likely to stop before shooting.

- Sometimes the 'hide roofs' and 'transparent buildings' options would interfere with one another. This has been fixed.

- When loading or saving a file in the editor, the dialog 'default' directory is the Saved Games directory.

- Slight problem of diagonal bocage and walls not quite matching 3D placement on map is fixed.

- No prisoner will ever be shown as "reloading".

- Some open-top armored vehicles were suffering crew casualties from nearby explosions, even when buttoned-up. This has been fixed.

- Unit editor allows U.S. Paratroops to carry up to 3 rifle grenades (was 2).

- Bazookas, panzerschrecks, and PIATs display caliber and muzzle velocity in data window.

- Sometimes reloading a 1-player game would have the wrong fog of war setting (it wasn't being reloaded properly). This is fixed.

- Sometimes shells were passing through buildings when firing at the top story. Fixed.