Maximus

Well, I think you guys are missing one of the better tank-killer tanks in the game. My vote goes to the Sherman V Firefly. Decent high-velocity gun to take out those pesky Panthers. Remember, they give Whittman a run for his money in Villers-Boccage. I used one to take out a Panther in "Cambois" that was hiding between a couple of small houses. I ran him up a road at full speed to an intersection that put me in a direct side flanking shot. As it got there it spotted the Panther, turned its turret, aimed, and smoked the Panther. The Panther's slower turret couldn't turn fast enough. LOL! So there shoots the theory that the Panther is the best tank. Hell, look at the original splash screen, it features a burning Panther. [This message has been edited by Maximus (edited 11-02-2000).]

Let this be the new Peng thread! There's some funny stuff on here already! LOL! I just think Matt likes things that can be as shiny as his noggin. You know padlocks are mostly shiny metal objects.

Hit "Print Screen" and then go to your favorite photo editing program and hit "Paste > as new image" or something like that.

Gotta love the US where the Vice-President Al Gore (also a Presidential candidate) is on a late night talk show where the host, (I ain't naming any names, but his initials are Jay Leno) pokes fun at Al's Halloween costumes from the past. Freedom of speech is where it's at, man!

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by IntelWeenie: Face it, computer games of any genre must keep up with current technologies and methods or they will be slowly forgotten no matter how fun they once were. Since CM is a 3D game, it will be compared to other 3D engines no matter how fair those comparisons are. Some other (bigger?) companies are probably trying to emulate CM's success right now and the easiest way for them to entice borderline customers away from CM2 if with better graphics. I'm not saying that graphics demands more attention than gameplay, just that it does demand attention of some sort. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I have to disagree totally with that statement. In the RPG crowd, there are people who love going back to the original D&D Gold Box series which came out way back in '88. They used EGA graphics for crying out loud! But the true RPG fans go back to them because they were great games. A game (or series of games) is rated for their quality. Hell, I wouldn't mind going back and playing Three-Sixty's V for Victory series on my old original 386-33. My friend and I used to have a ball with those games, especially the Veli-Lukiye version. Hell, we still talk about one hot-seat game we played. Where he as the Russians thought he had me beat after encircling the city and taking several hexes into the eastern edge and then my SS reinforcements finally show up and decimate entire stacks of Russian units. OK, so saying that other comapnies are trying to emulate CM's engine, maybe. But what about the entensively researched guts of what CM is. OK, so a company puts out a new 3D WWII strategy game, but what if they use physics like in Sudden Strike? What a bunch of garbage. The graphics in CM succesfully accomplish what they are supposed to. Yes, all the mods have made them better and yes, there is room for improvement in CM's graphics over the next sequals, but that is just cosmetic. And still, I'll probably upgrade my computer before then, 'cause I've had this machine for over 18 months now and have already upgraded everything except the processor. ie. 64MB -> 128 MB, PCI64 Soundblaster -> SBLive!, 8MB Intel i740 card -> 32MB Viper 770 TNT2 Ultra. So processor and motherboard are next. ------------------ "Rule#3: You must be a member of my Meta Campaign to take part.(doh!)" - Rob/1

Flight Leader by AH was also a bitch. Aparently it sounds a lot like Air War mentioned above.

I should get my site up before too long, gotta transfer over all of my zip files to my 'downloads' folder. I think you'll like it once I get it up. It shares the same theme across all of the pages and uses shared borders. Again, it will be a MOD HQ, so anybody that wants to get a mod up quickly, just send it to me.

Try now.

Here's a Winter Tiger based on the MDMP-2 Hi-Res Tiger. Here's a Winter King Tiger based on that green striped King Tiger by..umm, sorry who it was by. [This message has been edited by Maximus (edited 10-31-2000).] [This message has been edited by Maximus (edited 10-31-2000).]

Looks awesome Marco! I guess this sort of texture was was should have been on them originally. And don't forget to check for those pink spots on the low-res version.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by David Aitken: Apologies to BTS, Fionn informs me that Schurzen are indeed realistically modelled. =) David<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yes, I thought they were. There was some discussion about that before the release.

Well, Gen. Sosabowski, I almost mentioned your name in the "Polish" thread, but forgot. As a tongue-in-cheek joke of course. But seriously, after playing "Cambois" with the Polish, my infantry was about totally useless as they kept ROUTING when they got shot at.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Warmonger: Knowledge and hardware should continue to improve, so why shouldn't the CM program continue to evolve... it would be nonsensical if it did not...if it doesn't it shall be replaced by another software company...we all know that ! Regards, Warmonger<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> First of all, why is it that all newbies always bring up the above bolded comment? In answer to that query, I must refer you to the Battlefront.com Manifesto which simply states, that BTS is not the very least worried about such an occurance. -------------------------------- As for my graphics card.... My computer came with an 8MB Intel i740 AGP card. It was OK, but shortly thereafter I purchased a 32MB Diamond Viper TNT2 Ultra V770. My CPU at the moment is a Celeron 433 w/128 MB. Yes, CM runs pretty good, but I do still get slowdowns on the large maps, but I run a lot of HI-RES MODS. Hell, I've hi-res'ed all of the uniforms myself. I'm seriously thinking about a CPU/motherboard upgrade within the next few months up to a AMD board and AMD Duron 700MHz for just a couple hundred bucks or so. ------------------ "Rule#3: You must be a member of my Meta Campaign to take part.(doh!)" - Rob/1

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Elijah Meeks: Maximus, a number of your examples are issues of tactics, not nature or nurture. Blitzkrieg was a new strategy, not the outward expression of Aryan superiority. Perhaps certain doctrinal differences should be factored in but they need to be well researched and not so anecdotal.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Isn't that what we're talking about here? Aren't tactical doctrines in someway or another related to nature of troop beliefs or fanatism. For example, if an army is destined to fight a war quickly in order to minimize casualties, wouldn't their troops go above and beyond the call of duty quite often in the heat of combat. Well, some of my examples may have not been entirely correct, but my point was that having some sort of "quality" or "behavior" coded into the troops is definately needed for accurate portrayal of the world's armies. I mean, damn, as an American soldier, I surely wouldn't wanna be compared equally to a Polish trooper. LOL! Well look at it this way. Compare a US soldier of 1991 to an Iraqi soldier of 1991. There's MAJOR differences in the quality of troops there.

JESUS fellas, drop the politically correct bull**** and face up to the fact, that each country's troops fought differntly than another's. Crap like this argument is where I get sick and wanna throw up at all the politcal correctness. Hell, we all want CM to be as historically accurate as possible and when something that is obviously important to accuracy as this is, people start throwing a ****-fit. Even when comparing German troops and American troops. German troops were fighting (whether brainwashed or not) for extreme nationalism. Their doctrine was to fight to the last man even if they were losing. American troops were fighting under a doctrine that said the quicker we get this war over the better. While the British fought a war where their doctrine was to take a tea break every few hours even when they had a strict timeline to adhere to, ie. Market Garden. As far as Russian troops go, their doctrine was to push out the invaders of their homeland at all costs. Therefore the poorly trained and/or commanded troops resorted to wave tactics. "Send enough men towards the enemy, eventually the enemy will crack." Japanese doctine was to overwhelm their opponents with superior numbers and organization. So to end in point being that if nationality factors aren't incorporated into the CM series, then it'll become just another game with different units. ------------------ "Rule#3: You must be a member of my Meta Campaign to take part.(doh!)" - Rob/1

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mr. Clark: The mods are just icing on the cake people. I personally play the game w/o any mods. They don't affect gameplay.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yes, but they do affect visual accuteness. I couldn't imagine loading up a mod-less CM right now and playing it. It would be like standing naked in front of the White House Press. "Now I thought I had everything when I left the Lincoln Bedroom. WHOOPS, I FORGOT MY MODS!!!" ------------------ "Rule#3: You must be a member of my Meta Campaign to take part.(doh!)" - Rob/1 [This message has been edited by Maximus (edited 10-30-2000).]

Let's go back to the graphics issue. There's an argument that cropped up way back last spring before the Gold Demo was released that decribed this issue of today. Let me start of saying that Combat Mission is a WARGAME. So in order to justly compare its graphics to other games, you should compare them to other wargames. CM's graphics are LEAPS ahead of other computer wargames to date. And that's really stoked the interest to most of us veteran members here. The wargaming community has been looking for a game like this for years, even decades. But the only thing was, was that computer technology hadn't the capability until just recently to have game of this magnitude. Still think CM's graphics suck. Just punch up a big map like "A Walk Through Paris" and then tell me if your computer doesn't start whimpering. The point is that many people over-estimate what today's hardware can do. Yes, they can render incredible scenes from QIII and STV:Elite Forces, but just how many polygons is there on the screen at one time? Not too many. It's just thge wonderful textures over them that make them look so good. Remember everything on the CM battlefield is a polygon, except for the 2D tree sprites, of course. So there is a tremendous amount of polygons to render then you add all the textures to them and you've gotcha a CPU intensive environment. I'd write more, but it's Dinner time. ------------------ "Rule#3: You must be a member of my Meta Campaign to take part.(doh!)" - Rob/1

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Samhain: I think the point is that the V3 is now quite dated technology, though of course it might fit someone's needs quite well. (I used to have one myself, btw--a nice card.) If you have a powerful processor and play graphics-intensive games (i.e., the great majority of titles), it may be wiser to invest in a GeForce2, V5, or ATI Radeon. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Exactly my point. Thank you very much Samhain. Buying a Voodoo 3 now is like upgrading to a PII-450 from a PII-233. What's the point? You're buying obsolete equipment. And why do that when the newer stuff is less than double the price. For example, a PII-450 is probably around $80, but a AMD Duron 700 is only $140. A 700MHz Duron runs better than a 1Ghz Athlon, BTW, due to the Duron's full speed cache. So would I spend $80 on an obsolete chip or spend just a little more for a new chip. I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count on the one I'd buy. So what I'm saying here is that if you've got an AGP slot I would definately go with at least a Nvidia TNT2 card right now. Which is what I have after I researched over a year ago and discovered that 3Dfx Voodoo 3's and under ain't worth a damn. ------------------ "Rule#3: You must be a member of my Meta Campaign to take part.(doh!)" - Rob/1

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mr. Clark: I LOVE CM, and I still would NEVER consider buying a 64 meg card next year just to play CM2. I just bought my Voodoo 3 3000. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> You bought a Voodoo 3 3000, recently? You wasted your money, bub, IMHO.

I think the biggest improvement is just to add dynamic lighting effects. Think of it this way. During a night battle, when the tank fires, it lights up the surrounding area a little bit. And then when the projectile hits home, the resulting expolsion glows as one would expect. That right there would improve the overall immersion to the game.

I made it into a little skull and crossbones icon instead of the red cross thing. To me, it is a little clearer to what that symbol means when it's a skull and crossbones instead of a red cross. This file is to be used along with -DeanCo's "black" user interface mod. BTW, my mod site is nearing completion. I just gotta spruce it up some more. It's looking pretty sweet now though with a standard theme across all pages. Trying to get this site looking as good as I can for my initial offering. It appears that I'll be hosting it over at www.geocities.com/ol_blood_n_guts/ Email me if you want that graphic. davem@shawneelink.net ------------------ "Rule#3: You must be a member of my Meta Campaign to take part.(doh!)" - Rob/1 [This message has been edited by Maximus (edited 10-29-2000).]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Der Unbekannte Jäger: Hmm I must admit I messed around with the sky textures as well and noticed those blocky bmps for sky use but I couldn't seem to find where they work. One thing I found makes the skies look better is to try and get the grain down a bit so once you are in the game it looks more solid without all the little pixels. But does anyone have any idea what the more blocky shaped sky textures are for? The Numbers are 1430 1431 1432 1433 1434 1440 1441 1442 1443 1444 Any info would be great thanks. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yeah I can't figure out what the more blockly sky textures are for either. But I took Gunslinger's "clear sky" files and used Gaussian Blur on it to get rid of the pixelation. Tried it with the overcast ones and the image really got messed up due to the huge blown up effect it does in the game.

CMHQ

That's pretty funny Lewis. Love the thread title as well.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by coralsaw: Thanks Bruno. BTW it is PIII 500, 128MB, ATI AGP 8BM card, and yes, win2k is a hog! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> It seems to me, the biggest problem is the 8MB video card. Can't hold a lot of textures with only 8MB. So with Win2K being a system hog, it's pulling resources away from video/system memory sharing, I think.