Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord  
v1.04 UPDATE PATCH - Windows

August 17, 2000
www.battlefront.com


This is the version 1.04 update for "Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord".
It updates versions 1.0 through 1.03.  Please follow these instructions:

1. If your current Combat Mission is version 1.01 or later, skip to
step 4.

2. Move the CONTENTS of the "New BMP" directory (10 files with names 
1720.BMP through 1729.BMP) into the "BMP" directory, which is located in
the existing directory where you installed Combat Mission (which by default
is c:\program files\cmbo). Make sure you move the ten files INSIDE 
"New BMP" into the BMP directory - do not copy the "New BMP" directory 
itself.

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

4. 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.


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



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
         v1.04     8/17/2000
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* Play-by-email format has changed.  Both players must use v1.04 to be
compatible. IMPORTANT: Upgrading to v1.04 part way through a scenario or
play-by-email is NOT recommended, due to a change in the way artillery
ammunition is tracked (see below).

* Scenarios created by v1.04 cannot be loaded by PREVIOUS versions of
Combat Mission.

* Artillery Forward Observers (FOs) track their ammunition by individual
shells rather than by fire missions.  So this will make it look at first
like they now have 4 times as much ammo, but they really don't.  Spotting
rounds now count against ammo usage.  Older scenarios are dynamically
updated when loaded to account for this change.

* Tanks are less likely to target a new, not-highly-threating unit which,
to engage, would require significant turret or hull rotation away from a
recent, important threat.

* Tanks with no target do not automatically return turrets to face forward
unless they are moving or hull-rotating.

* Enemy units must be closer before full identification can be obtained. 
	
* Mortars now have a more difficult time tracking moving targets.

* TacAI is quicker to move open-top vehicles away from mortar attack,
and to recognize .50cal MGs as threats to light armor.

* Armor penetration capability for high-explosive (HE) rounds fired from
high-velocity cannon has been toned down.
	
* Tiger tank now models the varying thickness of its mantlet armor (up to
200mm in places).

* Armor penetrations by MG bullets and small AP shells are somewhat less
likely to knock out the target (no change for 75mm and up).  And crews of
struck vehicles are less likely to bail out when no serious damage has
been suffered.

* MG fire against vehicles is now less effective (i.e. less accurate) if
the firer or target is moving.

* Large guns like the 88mm AT are allowed to use the rotation order (this
was a bug).

* Reinforcements are placed better around entrance locations.

* Small-caliber shells that enter a pillbox's firing slit are less likely
to knock out the whole pillbox.

* Vehicles with rear-facing guns (not including mortars) may not 'hunt'.

* Bailed-out crews are never eligible for exit points.

* Units are a little smarter about finding the "right" cover to move to
when they come under fire or panic.

* British 2-inch mortar is now able to run for short distances (like
Panzerschreck), but ammo load reduced from 22 to 20.

* Vehicles in hunt mode, whose guns are damaged, will stop movement and
consider evasive action.

* Very small changes made to vehicle unit point cost based on top armor
thickness.

* When one side surrenders, any prisoners it still has on the map are
automatically uncaptured.

* Slight modifications made to the firepower ratings for MP44, MP40,
Thompson SMG, and Sten SMG.

* Captured units cannot set off mines.  And the code that checks for
captured units escaping has been extended to allow units to escape
(sometimes) even when enemy guards are nearby, provided that nearby
friendly forces have a significant local superiority.
	
* Bug fix makes passengers free to disembark and re-embark on assault boats
without problems during battle setup phase and scenario editing.
	
* Bug fix: there is no longer a problem with quick battles when the
starting player chooses "human chosen" units and the other player has
"auto pick", with the first player's setup phase being skipped.
		
* Bocage blocks LOS less severely, provided the spotter or target is
adjacent to the bocage (bug fix).

* Sometimes very small reinforcement groups (e.g. one or two units) under
computer control had a tendency to sit still and not get involved in the
battle.  This is fixed.
	
* The No-Man's-Land Size setting for Operations no longer changes from
0 to 400 when saving/loading the file (bug fix).
	
* Area fire target lines disappear automatically when a unit is out of ammo.
	
* Movement paths created by the TacAI don't "hug" road edges so much.

* AI bug fixed so it does a better job 'defending' against an enemy exit
edge, even if the AI is the attacking force.
	
* Vehicles with limited AP ammo were sometimes overly cautious about using
it (e.g. SPW 250/9). This has been remedied.
	
* Canadians have use of 40mm Bofors AA gun.

* M3A1 scout car has 3 crewmen (driver and 2 gunners).

* M3A1 halftrack, M5 halftrack, and M3A1 scout car can still fire one MG
after suffering one crew casualty.

* Two-man vehicles that suffer a crew casualty will only display only one
crewman now (bug fix).

* Recoilless rifles are placed better (graphically) upon transporting
vehicles (bug fix).

* When a vehicle towing a gun is knocked out, the gun is not visually
'trapped under' the vehicle (bug fix).


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
         v1.03     7/26/2000
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* 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.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
         v1.02     6/21/2000
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* 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.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
         v1.01     6/14/2000
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* 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.