medlinke

1_ Battlefield Decay *Dry Grounds decay from fields to flat, desert like areas *Damp Grounds decay into wet and then muddy ground areas *Dynamic weather that can change randomly during a battle *Viewable physical damage to terrain from shelling. Off board naval bombardment created major crators...it'd be nice to actually have that impact play. I know it was a factor on Pointe du Hoc... 2_ More realistic unit AI. Fear is something palpable and simply affecting command is pretty generic. Why not have fight or flight take over and have flight take over PRIOR to getting all hacked up and bloody. If I'm in a unit that needs to defend and I see a much larger unit coming, I don't care necessarily that my orders are to stay...likely I will want to get out of there and that probability should be included in the AI's fight or flight routine. 3_ Player Tendency Tracking! I want to have the game store my tendencies. For example, what I choose to buy on QB's (in general terms like force composition slants). Also how I tend to play...aggressive with armor, and defensive with troops? Maybe I rely heavily on bombardment or smoke? The system would, over a period of time, build and refine a profile of how I play in general terms (do I favor the right of left flank for attacking? how large of units do I tend to move simultaneously together? etc.) 4_ Better Animation - Not meaning more polys per-se, but just smoother animations. 5_ Details - I want to see things like animals, details of life (cars on streets in cities, broken buildings that vary in appearance or destruction, fields with tall grass, shrubs, and gullies...you just MORE and better implementation of the things that already exist in some sense in the game. 6_ Mixed fighting forces - I want to be able to build fantasy battles with germans and brittish fighting russians or Americans and Russians fighting brittish! 7_ Game Map = Game World - I want the size of the map to scale to the world size!. The current configuration with the map as a tabletob in a generic world is okay, but it would be better to think and see the map as the ONLY thing in the world with edges that close off the areas in some way. 8_ Full Scripting Engine - It would be nice to be able to build fully scripted missions. EXAMPLE: Build a mission for the Americans to do Objective 1 then have a set of circumstances arise (reinforcements, mission end, or counter-attack) then do objective 2 that was contingent upon Objective 1 and the new set of circumstances. 9_ Models, Textures, Game Executable as separate entities - This will foster a more open community of resources that will then include folks building custom solutions and implementations of the game! It would be fantastic!!! 10_ XML game output. It would be cool to have the game record the key stats of each battle in an XML file. That file could then be uploaded to a league site and that would report the battle with complete stats so that leagues could do more tracking and create more elegant game recording methods!

thanks!

A while back I thought that there was a pretty complete sound mod for CMBO that dealth with Small Arms Fire, Explosions, Armor Penetration, etc. Anyone know where that's at?

My archive of MODS went kablewie...The CDs that I had them on got scratched and they are now ruined. ARG! In any case...I have a fast connection and want to download a Mod-Manager and a really good cross-section of mods (ie Terrain, armor, inf, sounds, markers, vehicles, skies, etc) However...doing it through cmmods.com take about a million years because every download is 2 to 3 cick just to get to the download page! So...I was wondering if there was some "beast" file out there or files... My archive was like 700 - 800 megs of mods... Any ideas?

I'm not entirely sure. I know early on they claimed that there were significant implementation costs involved in installing it on their servers and with users affecting server stability by not testing it locally and having things go wrong on the live servers. They have it now for 199.00 bucks a year. Not a bad deal considering the benefits if you are really married to .NET.

Good response. I totally understand that and as I said in my original post, I find cmmods to be awesome myself, that's why it's such a bummer that my new provider seems to have a problem getting to the site somewhere along the line! As for bandwidth costs... Check out: http://www.readyhosting.com You get unmetered bandwidth 500 megs of space free email accounts (unlimited), ftp access all the bells and whistles (you can upgrade to SQL Server 2000 for 25 bucks a year even. All for 99 bucks a year. I've been with them since October 99 and while they may be weak on .NET support or true Coldfusion hosting they've been pretty excellent otherwise. (They don't do MySQL at all...which sucks big time, but I don't use it anyway I'm a SQL guy) I have been a host for all the new patches that have come out including the 33 meg 1.01 patch. I did over 12 gigs of traffic on my site in 3 weeks and never even got an email from my hosting company. The only thing they ask is that you alert them if you anticipate high traffic because they will move your site to servers specifically set up to handle it. My peak month I did about 18 gigs of traffic in pictures, MP3s of a local band and live Dave Matthews Band MP3s (totally legal which readyhosting did question until I sent them the statement from DMB clearing it), a bunch of big files that I was working with in a Computer Science class and such. Again I never heard from them. I expect that MOD hosters probably do somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-60 Gigs of data transfer a month with uploads, downloads and the like. I also assume that cmmods probably hosts somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 - 5 gigs of MODS at this point on the low end. I definitely understand that there are problems with securing bandwidth, which is why it might be good to set up some kind of distributed model (like a Tucows kind of thing) cmmods.com ----------------- This becomes the host of the database and the main upload area for modders. Mods fall into 5 categories: Vehicles Infantry Sounds & Music Interface and misc markers Terrain Depending on which category it falls into there would be 2-3 hosts out there for EACH TYPE that would receive an email saying there has been a new upload in the category you host. That site www.modhost1.com would go and download the mod and transfer the settings into their database for hosting. The only thing that would change is the link on the cmmods.com site. Basically modhost1.com serves as a mirror for the file. Another site www.modhost2.com would go and download the file as well. Again a new link would be added showing a mirror to the file. This process could go until there are three hosts. After modhost1.com has the file though (this is the important part) cmmods.com could remove the file from their server. This may mean that when modhost2.com gets there the file is gone, but they could go and get it from modhost1.com and then just add the link back in at cmmods.com at a later date. In this way the bandwidth is distributed, not all files would necessarily be hosted multiple places, but it could ensure that: 1) There would be redundancy in the system 2) We could reduce bandwidth costs to the few brave souls who host mods 3) Encourage more people to host At 99 bucks a year I think most everyone could host 500 megs of mods. That's less than 10 bucks a month and like I said it's totally unmetered. So, if like 10 people did it would reduce the strain on cmmods.com and give everyone faster downloads. Just a thought. It would be fairly complicated though because you'd have to coordinate everyone with a new role of Mod Hoster...which would essentially mean that cmmods.com would have three roles: 1) Downloader 2) Mod Author 3) Host Each role has different rights obviously. Then a communication system would have to be implemented which would not be hard, but usually there is a fair amount of playing around with the settings to get it to work right... Just a thought...or wishful thinking!!!

It looks like it's a problem with my ISP...which is kind of what I figured since it always had good service with my old one (comcast vs. a local company ECI which is the ONLY one I can use in my new place) I'm dropping packets left and right to the IP of the site, and cannot even do a good trace route to it...very strange that it appears to be just that one site, but I suppose it could have a lot to do with how that site is hosted. It sounds like the site might be on the owners own machines, and he might be hosting it out of his house. So that could be the problem because that one IP may be causing me problems. I'm pretty clueless as to how to fix it...I may be OOL on this one which would really blow.

I have a cable connection as per my initial post. I checked my connection speed and I'm at 1.4 Mbs

Let me preface this post with a disclaimer... I love cmmods.com. I think it is an awesome undertaking, and it has added a lot of the community. This post isn't meant to me mean spirited at all. -------------------------- Are there any alternatives to cmmods.com? It is just very slow and it's taking me forever on a cable connection to download files. I think the fastest I've been able to nab files is like 48K. Does the speed fluctuate with the time of day, etc? Just looking for ways to get some of the larger terrain and sound files in an easier, less time consuming way.

If you review the designer notes for ASL you will find a discussion on the "realism" of the series. Ultimately sacrifices have to be made to allow for the game to be played. Very complex armor rules weren't meant for a board game unless that was all you intended on doing. Numbers can only abstract so much before you need tons of charts, diagrams, and special circumstances to govern play. In CM you don't have to worry about it. The computer handles those calculations and can provide a much richer simulation of the various conditions that might be encountered. Over the long haul I suspect that any general trend found in "real" warfare can be found to be generally the case in CM. The game isn't meant to be judged over a series of battles in one or two days, but rather over a long period of time. Consider the similarity to baseball statistics. How many pitchers have been on pace to win 20 games in a season? How many actually accomplish it? Looking at a single season one might surmise that pitchers who are on track rarely fail to win 20. But over a number of seasons things seem to balance out and present more normalized results. In CM, you can play 500 games and only see a shell ricochet into a building and catch it on fire 1 time. In other player's experiences that may happen more often. Does that mean that it happens too little or too much? Hard to say. Though I suspect over the hundreds of thousands of times the game has been played a very normal pattern of even the most remote incidence will occur appropriate to its real life counterpart. Keep that in mind as well.

I am currently working on ASL 6, Red Packets. I am doing a few things with it. I am writing a tutorial and designer notes on how I converted the scenario, the map, etc. I am going to document the playtesting I am going to address the copyright issues that are involved. Keep in mind that IP is something that is also addressed by "copyright" in general, and that too needs to be taken into account. I am looking for some playtesters though. Email medlinke@msu.edu and you will be added to the list. I will be taking 10 people for the playtesting. To apply please send me: * Name * Email * Years playing CM * Why you would make a good playtester * Amount of time you have to participate in this playtest * If you would be willing to release your comments about the playtesting process, scenario, etc. If this sounds like something you would be interested in please let me know! Like I said I have room for 10 people. I will post back to this thread once everyone has been chosen. I expect the whole process to take something like 4 - 6 weeks in all. That will cover, technical problems, faithfulness to the game rules, addressing playability issues, multiplayer, balance issues, etc. The final reporting on this project will probably come out sometime in April. Keith PS. I forgot to mention the scenario has already been completed, so those signing up would be getting the scenario as soon as I got my playtesters. Check out a screenshot of the final map with unit placements [ January 27, 2003, 12:43 AM: Message edited by: medlinke ]

That is an intriguing idea. I believe it has been mentioned many times before though. There are some inherent problems just plugging one game into the other. The fact is, that even though it may appear that the games are very similar the code driving both games is extremely different. Personally, I still think the game engine rewrite is an appropriate next step and wouldn't want to see that delayed. Even though the game looks amazing now, there are some things that could use some updating in the engine department outside of graphical switches. So...while it's an admirable suggestion, I just think we will all have to wait until the promised West Front release comes back around in 6 or 7 years. Till then...just stay tuned for more amazing gameplay!

Having recently comitted the highest sin any CM fan can do...I uninstalled CM about 1 month ago. This was the first time since I received my beta copy that my computer had been without the game. When I got my new comp...WinXP was the first thing on, then I put on Combat Mission. CMMOS was never all that intriguing to me since I never had a problem manually doing the unzipping, running the batch files, and sometimes reworking them because they didn't work as advertised... Here is what I did D/L CMMOS and the rule sets. Install those. Now download the mods you want. I downloaded all of em because sometimes you have to use mulitple files to get the terrain CMMOS rules to work right. Now...download pkunzip.exe NOT WINZIP put a copy of it in each directory you downloaded MODS to. I split mine up so that they make sense when I back them up this time. Now click on Run type in cmd You are in at a system prompt now go to the folder you downloaded your mods to and have pkunzip.exe in type pkunzip *.zip C:\path to Combat Mission\BMP\ That will unzip everything. You'll have some readme files, just hit 'a' when those come up and walk away. A minute or so later your comp will be done extracting everything. Repeat this until all mods have been put into the BMP director in CM Now... Run CMMOS Go through and select your mods Start CM Test a scenario..I use a few different ones. Check out some winter ones, some falls ones, some with armor, some with different kinds of inf. If everything looks fine...you're all set. Usually it doesn't. That means 1 of 2 things 1) You didn't apply the mod, you just selected it and hit done or you didn't complete installing all the mods you wanted. 2) You messed up unzipping your files and they went to the wrong place Usually it's number 1, though 2 has happened on occasion. Do not give up. This isn't rocket science. Understand that what is taking place is file renaming. If you get that, the program should be self-explanitory. Finally.... Read the instructions. They are pretty explicit on how to do this. CMMOS posts are all over the boards to help, and it looks like you've had great help here. I just used 4.02 to install my mods about 4 days ago. So I know it works. Make sure you downloaded the FULL version. Let us know how it is going!

This is a great temporary solution...however...I still would like a CD with a working image, etc.

Got this upon 99% completion. If you need more info let me know. I tried manually copying the file to the harddrive, had same error message in DOS I tried to copy the CD to the hdd as an image and then put it on a new CD-R...same problem... Sounds like, as in the other thread, this is a problem with the image. My suggestion: 1) Get new CDs out to people who are affected with correct CD images at NO charge as we have already paid for shipping and handling 2) Never put all files into a singular 600 meg install file. If your file is messed up...everything is messed up...bad idea... CMBO was WAY more elegant in that sense.

There is always the reverse side of charging for handling...and that is the consumer expects handling to be...well...handled... Meaning...if people don't get their CD shipped the day of release, why the heck are they paying handling? If an outside company is shipping / handling then build it into the price. Tacking on cost for "handling" means I am paying EXTRA for a service. If it's part of the overal unit price, it means it is INCLUDED in the cost of the game and shipping will happen when it does. Now...if my shipping is STILL 7 dollars then it better be heckuva good shipping considering the Non-Bulky rate, as I know that the shipping per unit is probably around 4 bucks. Which leads me to my final point...Since we are paying for handling...the damn thing better go on the 20th to everyone who pre-ordered. Otherwise, BTS hasn't fulfilled their end of the shipping and "handling" bargain. So...that means the NEXT time around...or for future customers...the price should be bundled with the cost of the product per unit. Then shipping can occur when the company can accomodate. The BTS / BFC business model is extremely interesting to me because it is so clodgy and thrown together without consistency across products. I really love the companies and developers involved, but there needs to be some consistency in the business model / communications / dissemination of information. A lot of that is really a result of the company's success and inability to grow with the demand / demands of the customers. Altogether BTS is doing well, however...as time goes on, more substantial and understandable business wordings and operations should be implemented... I'd defintely be willing to help out on that task as a consultant with experience.

LOL. Maybe we are just too confident in others....probably because we are young and naive eh? Ahhh...the french...great a bread...****ty at war.(although...Kick Ass Special Forces)

I personally, no help, have packed , shipped, and prepared over 1,500 personalized shipping orders for schools in 1 day. I started at 7 and left at 4:30pm and I was done. One of my secretaries quit...so I had to take over so things got out on time. If BFC can't do that much in 1 day...I'd be shocked...especially since shipping labels are simple with mail merges, etc. I'd imagine that a good printer, plenty of labels, and about 3 people could do almost 5,000 in one day if they worked on it straight for 8 hours.

I speak for steve when I say... Pre-Orders....HAH! Cabana Boy! Another Corona please...and don't forget the lime!

Copyright issues for ASL Remember that MMP is not really the controlling figure here...it's Hasbro They are VERY serious about things such as: * Scenario Card Text (don't just dupe it) * Graphics BIG TIME (just don't do it for reasonse already mentioned) * Scenario Names (though close approximations are fine) etc. I am looking forward to the Commisar's House myself...however, I think that there are some really intriguing battles in the Journals etc

Honestly, the majority of the "game" is really just how the system generates the QB setup. That's where the main bulk of the rules set in. It's a fancy wrapper for "clan" competition really. For instance, a "clan" would be an army. Therefore you could essentially see a development of community around it. Which I think has really helped in games like Counter-Strike where Clans form the backbone of innovative play styles and tactics. I'm hoping for the "game" to be a community building effort. The depth and detail of other games is really just too much to handle well in this sort of setting as far as I see it.

CMBB Demo for Windows Just unzip and execute the file! Have fun!

Thanks for the tip. I have looked through their rules. However, I'm not trying to tread on their domain. They are very good at what they do. This has a few more roles (resource manager, tactician, and politician) which add some complexity. As does the fact that multiplayer communities suffer from astronomical player drop. Basically, the help that's needed is in deciding the best way to: 1) Hand off units where the commander has quit the game 2) Handle resource management (ie. How much food makes an army more effective?) etc. Keith

This is NOT Off-Topic. I am currently working on creating a CMBB / CMBO internet campaign game. It will be entirely dynamic / database driven and can involve an unlimited number of players. It is an alternative to league style play. Here are some features. </font> Chain of command </font> Army Resource Allocation determines Battle Setups </font> Dynamic Setup of Battles </font> Unit Promotions & Demotions </font> Operational Level Maps </font> Numerous Unit Citations that affect unit composition </font> Clans can develop their own Army with Divisions and Regiments </font> Private Forums for each Army Group </font> More features coming soon </font>The reason I am posting this now is for really 2 reasons. 1) I am looking for some people interested in helping develop the rules for the system. 2) I want to know what features will make this something that many people will use. Thanks! Keith [ August 31, 2002, 09:57 PM: Message edited by: medlinke ]

Hi MadMatt, I will volunteer some space on my server. I have unmetered traffic, and...once I get the stinking file I'll post it. However, I need to know what I need to do to be listed as an official download server for you. Thanks Keith