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Gordon

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Posts posted by Gordon

  1. Originally posted by adzling:

    Hey Gordon all i really need is a file that contains your camo texture overlays as delivered to marco; no need to detail how you arrived at those camo textures.

    If you have any info as to how those camo overlays and destroyed vehicle effects were added to the base textures supplied by marco that would be appreciated but please don't let that delay the posting/release of the camo textures themselves.

    But that's my point, it's not simply a camo overlay like you would drape a camouflage cloth over the object. The digital camouflage is actually three separate disruptive layers applied over the base color layer (which some sections patched to account for weird stretching in the 3D model), and the splinter camouflage was all hand drawn and matched across sections of the vehicle skin). So, to make a long story short, it won't be as simple as me publishing one BMP file of the digital camouflage pattern.
  2. Hello all,

    I've just been made aware of this thread, and I'm the sap who was conned into doing all the camo jobs for the original textures. smile.gif I can try to put together a package of information on how I did the original camo and destroyed vehicle effects so that folks can better integrate new vehicles with the existing designs.

    Disclaimer: I am not an artist, graphical designer or any such what not, and I haven't even played them on TV. ;) I'm just a software engineer who learned how to perform a few simple tricks in Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, so the way I did all this is probably not the best way, but it got the job done for me, and your mileage may vary.

    Due to real-life I don't know how quickly I can get stuff put together, but hopefully it won't take too long. I'll probably start a new topic announcing when the information is available so that any questions or updates to it can be kept in a common thread.

  3. Originally posted by NG cavscout:

    </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Battlefront.com:

    NG cavscout... missed the fact that you got deployed. Remember that unlike the Peng thread, where you are now matters :D

    </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> I want to see how BFC models an insurgent team lit up by a Humvee mounted 240.

    Depends on the range. The 240 Watt Bulbs are only good out to a few feet in the desert. Or are you talking about Humvees with the cool neon "gangsta" lights along the bottom? That adds a little contrast to shadows at close range. It also changes the lighting effect when the insurgents are lit up.

    Hope that answers your question!

    Steve

    smile.gif </font>

  4. Originally posted by Peter Cairns:

    The frustration with the 45sec delay in the gully is for me accurate and correct, as once in it you would have to go slow as from outside it is really hard to know exactly where it goes, and easy to losse your bearings.

    Whether intentional or not the need for multiple way points simulates this slowing due to staying in cover moving in unknow dead ground and having to "take a peek" to affirm your position.

    No. The 45 second command delay doesn't simulate the slowing down due to staying in cover ...

    It simulates your men sitting around on their asses, smoking a cig or pissing while they should be moving to the end of the gully. Making a gully out of rough terrain that slows movement down simulates the slowing down due to staying in cover ... that you refer to.

  5. Philippe,

    Some excellent ideas. Your "Gully problem" is an especially vexing issue. Sending a squad down to the end of a gully, or 120 meters down a gully to flank an enemy shouldn't impose a 45 second command delay penalty because it requires 10 waypoints to keep your men in the gully. I'm not sure if this can be solved (if at all) by better waypoints or better AI.

  6. Originally posted by Philippe:

    Gordon, what do you think accounts for the difference between Zaloga/Grandsen and the comments in the threads? Could your quote have been referring to first year of the war, with the Italians turning green later on? And were there really only two types of tank-like units in the CSIR ?

    No idea. As far as I know, Zaloga's a pretty thorough researcher, but there's only half a page of text in the "Italian" section of the book. Those are the only formations listed as having significant numbers of tanks and no mention is made of later repainting.

    I haven't looked at the referenced threads to see what's being discussed, but if you like green Italian vehicles, go for it. When it was time for doing the artwork for the CMBB Italian vehicles the Zaloga book was our reference.

  7. Well, it may or may not be definitive, but according to "The Eastern Front: Armour Camouflage and Markings, 1941 to 1945", Steven Zaloga and James Grandsen:

    Although Italy employed many tank and cavalry units in the anti-partisan role in the Balkans, it made no major contribution of armour elsewhere on the Eastern Front. The only major units were those of the 3 Divisione Celere with its LXVII Battaglione Bersaglieri Corazzato (with L6/40 light tanks) and the XIII Gruppo Semoventi (with a squadron of Semoventi da 47/32).

    The L6/40 tanks and the 47/32 Semoventis were finished in dark yellow sand colour overall (giallo sabbia scuro), which proved to be less than ideal in the Russian terrain. As a result, mud was often smeared over the tanks to provide some camouflage.

    There's no mention of repainting the vehicles green. That's not to say that it couldn't have happened.
  8. I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere, so hopefully this isn't a duplicate question.

    Is vehicle/gun motion being improved in the engine or will it still be abstracted? Specifically, all tanks can't pivot on their center point by counter-rotating their tracks, but must rather brake one track which slews the vehicle around. Wheeled vehicles also must engage in some sort of slewing around, or turn in with a series of forward and backward motions, which of course gets even more complicated when towing a trailer or gun.

    So, just wondering if we'll see any improvement in this area with CMx2.

  9. Drift definitely varies from object to object. Wind can either accelerate or counteract drift depending on the wind direction and speed and the current's direction and speed. Tides can be modelled as a form of current and the change in water depth attributed to tides probably isn't significant enough within the time frame of a CMx2 game.

    However, we MUST have waves, even though "Charlie don't surf!"

  10. Originally posted by Battlefront.com:

    For example, allowing Soldiers to stand on their heads and breakdance takes a bunch of time to code and do animations for. But it is the TacAI where the real problems lie. The TacAI is the part of the game that needs to know in what context is breakdancing the correct choice, what it needs to do prior and post dancing, how it affects other behavior associated with outside factors (like being shot at while dancing vs. dancing in mud vs. being on top of a vehicle, etc.). The StratAI probably doesn't even need to know about this.

    Yeah, a silly example, perhaps, but it is valid.

    Steve

    Ok, we can now rule out another possible topic for the first CMx2 release. It won't be "CM: Grand Theft Auto." :rolleyes:;)
  11. Originally posted by Battlefront.com:

    The one problem is the vehicle graphics for a situation like this... I can't see us making a summer set of textures for a winter only Module. There are ways around that though.

    Steve

    You'd probably have to beat the volunteers away with a stick if that was the only "problem." ;)
  12. Originally posted by KwazyDog:

    Columbus, that shouldnt be necessary as files should be named in a reasonably straight forward manner (depending on how late I made them ;) ). For instance a Pz-IVg tank might be made up of PzIVg-turret.bmp, PzIVg-Hull.bmp and PzIVg-details.bmp (details could be anything...for instance we may put the vision block glass in a seperate 'material' in order to all up to add reflection to it).

    Modding should be really interesting for you guys in CMx2 by the way! The considerably more detailed vehicles are both a blessing and a nightmare, hehe. For instance, much of the detailed that had to be simulated by textures in CMx1 is now handled by the model itself (and has light reflected off it correctly by the engine of course). Thus, for instance, in CMx1 we needed to create a raised surface around an engine cover by hand giving it a 3D appearance including simulated lighting...that wont be necessary any more. On the other hand if you want to get a neat row of bolts around the top of that engine cover they will need to be *exactly* in place or they wont actually be on the raised surface.

    The results though should well be worth the effort!

    Dan

    Disclaimer : And the Pz-IVg was just an example...it should not be taken as an indicator of CMx2 setting either way :D

    Actually, upon reflection, I'm rather puzzled. If the dimmensional aspects of the models are going to be lighted dynamically, then any "drawn" details, e.g., rivets, bolts, and other added "stuff" won't stay in synch with the dynamic lighting as the model moves with respect to the light source. Will this cause too much of a visual disontinuity to make it worth while adding such details?
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