", including demo materials from the first module, "Commonwealth Forces". This demo version contains limited functionality and content to showcase the full version of the game, which can be purchased at www.battlefront.com.
Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy (CM:BN) faithfully recreates the experience of tactical land warfare in Western France during World War Two. Using the unique Turn-Based (WeGo)/Real-Time hybrid game system of the proprietary CMx2 battle engine, the first installment in this new series covers the three months after the Allied D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944, from Operation Overlord in June through the Cobra Breakout in August.
DEMO VERSION LIMITATIONS:
• only four scenarios, especially made for this demo version, are playable (Note: This Demo includes a training battle "Training Mission - The Road to Berlin", playable from the American side. We recommend playing this battle before the other two.), including one scenario from the "Commonwealth Forces" module.
• QuickBattles are disabled (but the QB setup screen is visible)
• multiplayer modes (PBEM/TCP) are fully enabled
• the Scenario Editor is enabled and fully functional, but it will not allow you to purchase units, load, or save any maps
• contains nag screens during launch end exit of the demo.
GAME MANUALS:
Included with this patch is a pdf version of the CMBN manual. You will need a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader in order view these manual. That program is free and can be downloaded from Adobe's website here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
INSTALLATION LOCATION (PC VERSION ONLY)
CM:BN defaults the installer to your "My Documents" folder. You can pick any other folder you like, of course. Please note however that since CM:BN is designed to allow you access to almost all game data files (for "modding"), installing into a Windows special directory (such as the "Program Files" folder, for example) may require special Windows UAC permissions to be set by the installer. Therefore, we recommend against installing the game into a protected Windows directory.
USER PRIVILEGES (PC VERSION ONLY)
The game does not require any "elevated privileges" (e.g. "Run as admin") under Windows, nor any compatibility settings. The "Manifest" file included with this installation signals to your Windows operating system that this is the case. Note that if you install and launch the game with elevated or changed permissions anyway, you will be required to ALWAYS run the game with these changed permissions from then on. For more information about "user privileges", please see the Microsoft Windows manual for UAC (User Account Control).
"VIRTUAL MACHINES", PROCESS MONITORS AND DEBUGGERS
The game does not run in a Virtual Machine environment, or even if you have partial virtualization enabled (e.g. the Kaspersky Virtual Keyboard) . It will also refuse to run if you have various intrusive process monitors or debuggers running at the same time.
MULTIPLE WINDOWS USERS (PC VERSION ONLY)
Please note that the game will usually only run for the Windows User Account that installed and launched it for the first time. If you would like to run the game on multiple accounts, changes to your Windows Account Control will be necessary.
ONSCREEN UNIT COMMAND MENU:
In order to view this new onscreen list of clickable commands, select a unit and press the SPACE BAR and a popup menu of available commands will appear. The menu can be dismissed with another press of the space bar or a mouse click anywhere outside the menu.
HOTKEYS CUSTOMIZATION HELP:
Combat Mission has two distinctly different approaches for using unit Commands via the keyboard; Relative and Direct. The Relative system involves a set of 9 keys centered around three rows of three consecutive keys each. These 9 keys match the 9 Command Buttons in the user interface's Command Panel. Each hotkey controls the commands RELATIVE to the position on the screen. For example, by default the U key activates the Top Row Left-Most key which would be FAST, TARGET, and SPLIT depending on which Command Group is visible (Movement, Combat, and Special respectively).
The Relative system is the DEFAULT, and implemented in the hotkeys.txt file inside the game DATA folder.
The Direct system, on the other hand, assigns a unique hotkey for DIRECT access to each Command. No attention is paid to the graphical representation on the screen. For example, if so assigned, F would issue the FAST command. T would issue the TARGET command, H would control the HIDE command etc... no matter which Command Group is visible on the screen.
To use the Direct system, you can use the "alternative hotkeys.txt" file found inside the game DATA folder. Simply rename it to "hotkeys.txt".
There are pros and cons to each system. The Relative system allows the player to keep one hand stationary on the keyboard and does not require any "hunting and pecking" to find the right hotkey. The downside is that when you wish to use two Commands in a row that are in different Command Groups you have to first switch the proper Command Group (now done using the F5-F8 keys). The Direct system allows you to string Commands together without concern for which Command Group they are in, but does have the drawback of requiring the hand to move and locate a specific key, which may or may not be easily memorized. Which is "better" comes down to personal player preference, therefore both are provided.
Whenever possible, the order buttons under the various Command Panels will display the assigned "direct" key in highlighted green text.
Note, we recommend that you decide which system you prefer and then either use the "hotkeys.txt" file or the "alternative hotkeys.txt" file. You can then further edit the keys to your liking, but it may be a good idea to use one or the other pre-set file as a base.
CHANGING GAME RESOLUTION:
By default, the first time the game is launched, the games internal resolution and refresh rate are set to whatever your desktop display is currently set to. We have added two ways to make adjustments to this settings.
From inside the game, go to the Main Menu, then select the Options panel. From there you can select the game to run at the following resolutions:
Desktop = (the game will run at whatever resolution your desktop is set to)
1024x768
1152x864
1280x960
If you want to run the game in a resolution and refresh rate not listed, you can manually configure these settings by editing the "display size.txt" file located in your game directory. Simply change the numbers that you see there with the width (in pixels) and height (in pixels) and refresh rate (in Hertz) you wish to run the game.
Example: For 1440x900 at 75Hz refresh rate, you would delete the numbers in that file and replace with "1440 900 75" (without quotes).
If you put in all zeroes example: 0 0 0, the game will revert to using your desktop resolution and refresh rate.
Exercise caution and only use a resolution and refresh rate supported by your monitor as damage to your monitor or display adaptor could occur, especially if you use too high a setting.
MULTIPLAYER INFO:
Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy uses the UDP and TCP port 7023 for all multiplayer games. If you are trying to HOST a TCP-IP game make sure and open port 7023 for both UDP and TCP traffic.
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