Combat Mission: Fortress Italy v2.

00 "Game Engine 4" README

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT README FILE BEFORE CONTINUING WITH THIS
INSTALL!!!
(This Readme file is also available after the installation inside the game
installation directory)

ANTI-VIRUS/SECURITY SOFTWARE WARNINGS

Certain anti-virus and other security software installed on your computer may
prevent the Upgrade from installing properly, or from running after installation.
This usually happens if your AV software settings allow it to use "heuristic"
scanning, which basically means guessing rather than scanning for known virus
signatures. Since our games are encrypted to prevent hacking, AV software is not
able to decode them, and this may result in what is known as a "false positive". As
long as during installation you see that Battlefront.com, Inc. is the originator of
the file, you can safely ignore such warnings and whitelist the file. If the file
was put into quarantine by your AB software, you can safely move it back. For more
information about false positives, whitelisting and heuristic scanning, please
consult the support manual of your chosen anti virus solution.

USER PRIVILEGES
The game does not require any "elevated privileges" (e.g. "Run as admin") under
Windows, nor any compatibility settings. 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).

MULTIPLAYER INFO:
Combat Mission 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.

NEW v2.00 GAME ENGINE 4 FEATURES

GAMEPLAY

* HULLDOWN COMMAND: Vehicles have access to a new movement command called Hulldown.
This command allows a
vehicle to move forward until only the turret is exposed to a specified target, and
then the vehicle stops moving. Here is how to conduct a hulldown command:
1. Select a vehicle and give it a Hulldown movement command. This is the furthest
point that the vehicle will move forward to if it doesn't establish hulldown for
any reason.
2. Optionally assign a Target command aimed at the point that you wish the vehicle
to become hulldown to. This target can be either a point on the ground or an enemy
unit. The command can be a normal "immediate" command or attached to the hulldown-
move waypoint.
3. If you don't assign a target command, then your vehicle will attempt to become
hull-down to the waypoint location you set in step 1.
4. The vehicle will follow the Hulldown movement command and move forward. When the
vehicle is hulldown to the designated target (or waypoint if there is no target),
the Hulldown command will be canceled and the vehicle will stop moving.
5. If the (optional) designated target was an Area Target, the vehicle will cancel
the Target command upon reaching hulldown. If the target is an enemy unit, the
vehicle will begin attacking the target once it reaches hulldown.

* IMPROVED INFANTRY SPACING: Infantry on the move will now respect each other's
personal space! While moving, squad and team members will maintain a few meters of
distance between each other. Soldiers will also spread out laterally on the move
when possible (some terrain may necessitate column movement, such as paths through
rough terrain).

* PEEKING AROUND BUILDING CORNERS: Infantry units positioned adjacent to building

corners will now automatically post some soldiers at the corners to observe and
fire around the obstacle. Machine guns and anti-tank weapons have priority for
positioning at the corner. If you only wish to man one corner and not the other,
give the team or squad a facing command angled slightly towards the corner you
want, and away from the one you don't.

* AI PROACTIVELY AVOIDS HIGH-EXPLOSIVE FIRE: The TacAI that runs soldiers and
vehicles will more proactively, and reactively, attempt to avoid incoming HE fire.
Two classic examples are that the AI will attempt to avoid being wiped out by
incoming artillery barrages and direct tank fire.

* COMBINE SQUAD COMMAND: Combine Squad is a new Admin Command for squads. This
command is useful for squads that have suffered major losses and need to
consolidate their remaining personnel into larger teams! When a squad is given the
Combine Squad command, the squad will reorganize itself into two teams (if it
originally had three teams), and will even out the number of soldiers in each team,
moving soldiers from larger teams into smaller teams. The Combine Squad command can
only be given to Squads that are un-split.

USER INTERFACE

* EXPANDED WAYPOINT DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: More special unit commands (such as Hide and
Deploy Weapon) will now be marked with white floating text above the waypoint they
are assigned to.

* CAMPAIGN BRIEFING: The overall campaign briefing is now viewable during any
campaign mission by going to the Menu Options Panel and selecting "Campaign".

* FORWARD OBSERVER KILL CREDITS: Finally, time to see how effective your artillery
really is! Forward Observers now get credit on the AAR for any casualties caused by
off-map fire missions called in by them.

* SCREEN EDGE PAN TOGGLE: Tired of trying to fine tune a camera position and then
messing it up by touching the edge of the screen with the cursor? Using the hotkey
ALT-E you can disable camera panning by touching the screen edge with the mouse
cursor.

EDITOR

* AI AREA FIRE ORDERS: The AI can now be scripted to use Area Fire! Each AI Order
can have a target zone designated. This is done by painting on the 2D map just like
a movement destination, but by CTRL-clicking instead. The tiles designated as
targets will be colored red instead of yellow. While that AI Order is being carried
out, the AI Group will attack the target zone with suppressive area fire if it
doesn't have any spotted enemy units to engage or other important tasks to do.
* AI FACING ORDERS: Each AI Order can be given a location for it to Face towards.
After painting the movement destination, Alt-click on a single tile that you wish
the AI to face towards. When the AI Group reaches its destination, it will pivot or
rotate towards the designated point.

* AI WITHDRAW ORDERS: By shift-clicking on the map, AI Groups can be ordered to

Withdraw towards their movement destination. Vehicles will move in Reverse to the
destination, while infantry will leapfrog back while turning around to face behind
them.

* CAMPAIGN RESUPPLY: Personnel replacements and ammunition levels are now more
uniformly resupplied across all core units between campaign missions, as opposed to
the all-or-nothing check on each unit done previously.

* 3D FLAVOR OBJECT CLONE TOOL: While in the 3D Editor, a flavor object can be
cloned by ALT-shift-clicking it. A duplicate of the flavor object will appear a
short distance away. For example, you can quickly populate a graveyard by placing
one tombstone flavor object in the 2D editor, switching to the 3D editor, and then
ALT-shift-clicking the tombstone many times to make multiple duplicates of the
tombstone.

* 32 ORDER AI PLANS: Each AI Group can now have up to 32 Orders, increased from 16.

* STREAM TERRAIN: Small streams can now be placed on battle maps.

GRAPHICS

* New tracer and muzzle flash effects.

Bug Fixes since v1.20 (Engine 3):

Weapons and Equipment:

* FIXED: Anti-tank guns not receiving the proper concealment bonus if they hadn't
moved since setup.
* FIXED: Minor texture issues with the M1903 Springfield rifle.

Vehicles:

* M18 Hellcat crews will no longer unbutton to man a machine gun if they have been
ordered to button.
* FIXED: Vehicle movement speed not affecting sound contact range.

Bug Fixes

* FIXED: Some password characters causing PBEM files to fail.

* FIXED: Various crashes.