Kwazydog

Its am M203A1, which is a shorter version of the old M203. All objects in game are now scaled to actual measurements, so unless we use a reference that gives an incorrect size they should all be accurate. Dan

Wow, what a fuss, some people sure get their knickers in a knot. Flamm, the puzzle does contain the title and developer of the game I believe, which is what most people will be interested I think. Im not too sure what the concern is about it not being the box art, its more of a desktop wallpaper as I understand it which Im sure will be released as a complete image shortly.

Steiner Steve or someone else can probably answer this better than I, but+ I did recently watch a documentary on Lima company in Iraq. Near the Syrian boarder they came up against insurgents using AP rounds from regular AK's, and apparently those things went straight through the vests of the guys that were hit with them (as least in the cases they discussed). One guy was even shot through a door I beleive, yet was still killed by the round. Dan

Michael, dont be a drama queen, hehe. Martin wasnt serious and he was referring to you using language that was against forum rules, not about asking the question. I realsie you probably werent being serious but others might not get that Guys, its just a bit of fun and as Martin mentioned elsewhere he cant release the news in detail just yet. If you want to wait for the full press relase no worries, chill out, wait for it to arrive and avoid the threads its being discussed in. If you want too have a bit of fun and a laugh with it like others are doing in the General Forum thread on the topic then there is that option too Dan [ July 24, 2006, 08:03 PM: Message edited by: KwazyDog ]

Saviola, the point of me locking that thread was clearly too end the discussion on this forum. Starting the thread again with absolutely no regards to my post or wishes is inappropriate, and is a perfect example of why we had to close the political forum in the first place. If such disregard for the moderators wishes continue we will be forced to strictly enforce the no political discussion rule once more. If you feel the need to repond to someone in a closed thread I suggest taking it to email. Everyone should note that continuing a locked thread it is a bannable offense as we do not have the time to constantly be checking for such actions.

Yup, we have. The reason for this Matthias is that from our experience people often revert to personal abuse during such. In fact we even used to have a dedicated forum where people could discuss such things, but it took many many hours a week to moderate and despite several warnings that we would have to shut it down if the personal attacks didnt stop, they continued. It was unfortunate but as our time to moderate it was limited, that is the action we had to take. I have left this thread open as initially it was somewhat on topic, but as you can see by the last few posts it is already heading in the wrong direction. We have left a thread open in the general forum to discuss this topic providing it remains on a civil level, and Im happy to say that it has thus far. As this is a game forum its probably best to take this discussion to that thread for now, or off site if it is likely to become heated. Dan [ July 23, 2006, 02:33 PM: Message edited by: KwazyDog ]

I ordered one earlier today and Im pretty sure Steve did too Dan

Yes, just to add to this I beleive it is becuase of the 16 bit shadows ATI cards use. When a light strikes an object at a sharp angle it causes artifacts across the objects surface with the particualar algorithm we are using. Chalres is still looking into the issue and we are working on a couple of alternatives, but unfortunately it has been a problem. To be honest we were just discussing this and are looking into it deeper. Currently no, I cant say Ive seen any in desert cam yet either, but it is an assumption we are making that they will move to it sooner rather than later. We have a few people we can ask about this and will try and dig up more info! Dan [ July 20, 2006, 03:46 PM: Message edited by: KwazyDog ]

Hehe, ctually Im sure Chalres already had the engine coded up to handle the ballistics of spit, Ill pass it on! The reason Im not too worried about it at this point is that graphic cards render lighting quite differently in game than you see in these renders, so Im going to have to adjust the lighting either way once they get in game and Ill be sure to look at some more reference shots when I do .

Loki as I mentioned above these are renders at the moment, out of our 3D modelling software. in game shots will be coming in the not too distant future with a little luck Dan

Hi Guys! A few very quick answers... Hi Thomm! Yup, these are still renders...Chalres is still working on the engine but we have tied down the 3D side of things to a point where I can start making the models and getting them in game. Actually the slat armor does cast shadows onto itself at the moment but there are some limiting factors with even current 3D graphics cards and shadow mapping that may cause problems here (self shadowing that is), more so with ATI cards, so we are testing this some more. And thanks again for the diagrams Mikey, they were a great basis to work from! *kick* Seriously dont worry about this stuff until you see in game shots John, Im just sticking all these items in the same scene with the same lighting at the moment to save time. Actually I had the gear on there but had to take it off as we were in a rush for these and they were giving me a problem...hopefully in game most vechiles should have varying degrees of geared stored on them I cant see the image above at the moment but colour should be just about spot on as I was able to pixel match it to photos from Iraq. The vehicle above is definately more tan than what youd except to see, but Im pretty sure that this is becuase of the sunlight in that render was later in the afternoon and had a yellow tinge to it and thus giving the entire scene a more warm feel to it. Dan [ July 18, 2006, 06:25 PM: Message edited by: KwazyDog ]

Will do Nick, thanks for the offer! Yup as mentioned the Stryker comes in at around the 8000 or so mark. We are making heavy use of LOD models to keep things running smoothly. These figures still arent set in stone at this point but we are getting good results thus far! Dan

Well we are stepping a little out of my knowledge of the details of the engine here but as I understand it rounads are now tracked in 3D depending on their flight path. For instance if you fire a Dshk MG at a Stryker, the rounds are tracked individually and can for instance hit the slat armor or pass between the slats (larger rounds of course wont fit through). I beleive the same applied to buildings too and thus an RPG round could either detonate on the outside or inside of a building and act accordingly, which is what I think you were asking. As I said though, I havnt had time to ask Chalres too many questions about the engine at this point and he is too busy to answer anyways, so dont quote me on any of that at this point Dan

I believe that the various aspects of each shell are modelled. For instance he OG-7V is designed primarily as an AP frag shell whereas the OG-7M (not shown above) is used for the same purpose but was not as effective as it was primarily an HE round. Im not aware of various fuses being available for the RPG rounds, as far as I know each round uses a specific fuse. Im not the best one to ask such questions of though... Dan

Angler and others, keep the politics out of it and keep your language to an appropiate level for this forum. This forum is for discussion of CMSF and related military topics. We have asked members to take political discussion to an off site forum linked too in our general forum area, as we dont have the time available to moderate these often heated debates. Please comply with the forum rules. Dan [ July 16, 2006, 01:50 PM: Message edited by: KwazyDog ]

The above is a render out of our 3D software of the in game models and textures. Once we get a little further down the track we will be able to show you guys some screen shots

Heya C3K! To be honest this would be another question for Steve when he is about, Im not too sure of the in game mechanics myself at this point, Ive been too busy elsewhere. Hehe, and Ill see what I can do about the wood grain I know you werent being serious but for those interested doing this allows us to save VRAM, which means more detailed textures as a result. The reason being is that one texture or bmp is being used on multiple models. The texture does contains all nexcessary detail for all 3 models (such as the iron sights vs the PGO-7 telescopic scope), but it also shares components where it is able too, such as the tube. Dan

Hi John! Yup, I do agree, in general from what Ive seen of them in the field they look much more matt. I supect that it is dust, grim and probably the lighting that make the two look different. Once they are in game Ill be sure to look into this. [ July 15, 2006, 03:46 PM: Message edited by: KwazyDog ]

Yes, and even the VL model should prove to be a concern. I beleive there is quite a well known case of a suspected VR taking out an M1 in Iraq through its skirt armor (at least, this is their current best guess I believe) that Im sure your aware of...for those interested check out the below. http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/default.asp?target=solved.htm Yup, from what we have found it looks like the Syrians do have reasonable quantities of the items mentioned above, Kornets, RPG-29's etc. Ive also found one reference to them having the RKG antitank grenades (which isnt suprising) which have actually had some success in Iraq. For the US player Id say that initially they wont find too many of these items in use against them, but will come up against more and more as they progress... I think so...urban areas in particular should be very challanging and a huge amount of fun from what Ive seen this far!

Hi Vetacon! I dont have anything ready just at the moment but Ill try and get some stuff out in a week or so if all goes well, maybe a collection of Syrian small arms next...keep an eye out here or sign up to the news feed [ July 15, 2006, 04:06 AM: Message edited by: KwazyDog ]

Hehe, tell me about it. Actually I think your probably right John, Ill be looking at the lighting properties once we get finalised in game and if need be Ill tone it down some. I based the colouring and lighting for the render on the below PDF which shows (I beleive) Russian sold variants of the rounds. Again, different manufactures have different colors for the same rounds, so it can be really hard working out what each should in fact look like what...the bulgarians for instance appear to use a very dark brown (which actually has a great shine). http://www.milparade.com/catalog/pdf/101.pdf Dan

Yup as mentioned we are using 3D Max 8 currently for out modelling and character animation (it has Character Studio built in now). We use Photoshop for the texture creation, plus I have a few other bits and pieces I use from time to time.

Well its Alpha as in anything can change at this point, but these are reasonably final with regards to models and textures.

The PG-7V is a HEAT (High Explosive Anti Tank) round, so the high explosive part does still pose a threat again infantry. It is a directed blast though, so you cant expect the results to be extremely effective unless the infantry. It would certainly be enough to encourage them to keep their heads down though! Dan