WineCape

Hello ... to all "PBEM Helper" users as well as to those that are considering d/l this pbem automation tool; Fire away any questions here with regard to the above program, as well any other information/clarification you need for this nifty pbem tool. Please note the latest discussion and version updates mentioned by Fuerte also here at this thread. Hopefully Fuerte can find some time to answer all questions here at this ONE thread without dealing with people on an ad hoc basis. Sincerely Charl Theron

Hello Fuerte Thanks for the quick replies, as well as for the fix mentioned. Another plus to be added to PBEM Helper is the willingness of Fuerte to listen to improvements, as well as fixing quickly the any bugs picked up bu users. Great work and keep it up. Schoeman, download the latest small added version 1.0.132. I have received your e-mail with regard to "test driving" PBEM Helper so that we can give feedback to Fuerte with regard to his latest version. I'll reply on 14/05 @ 9-12am (GMT+2) and setup a pbem game. Await my reply then. Sincerely Charl Theron

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mrcobbler: I'm seeing 'do you want to Host' messages when trying to 'Play'. What does that mean for CMBO? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Hi Fuerte, Schoeman. I also got this message, any light you can throw on this Fuerte?

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Colonel_Deadmarsh: As far as Fuerte's program, I'm sure it's very nice but I don't feel like learning how to use another one.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Hello Colonel, No offence to the great groundwork of pbem'ing already laid down by Kman and his One Click program, but Fuerte's PBEM Helper is really, really easy to use and setup. I used OneClick a lot, but installed PBEM Helperto give it a try and 10 minutes (yes 10!) was already using it without problems. Now with the added benefit of file sequence numbering, as well as smoother email/zip facilities (it supports both the SMTP and MAPI mail format) compared to Kman's utility, it is superior. It equals One Click now in file numbering and surpasses it with regard to file management without a doubt. It looks and feels like Windows and have an effertless install utility to boot (try not to be scared when it states that it needs a update in the Windows\System directory during the installation process - standard procedure that will not put in gremlins in Windows95 or 98 - just ask aaronb ) It works also well with pbem opponents that do not use the PBEM Helper, as long as you and your opponent stick to the above filenaming convention. The last which I use anyway as a matter of sanity given the amount of opponents I sometimes play simultaneously. Its only small quibble is... a) There is no Mac version....yet! Size of program = 2,43MB hardly a problem if you see the size of the CM mods that most people already have installed in their bmp folder! Give it a try. I suspect that Kman himself is USING PBEM Helperwithout saying so! :cool: C'mon Kman, admit it! He after all has contributed coding wise to the fleshing out of this nifty program. It also supports other pbem games, and has now been included on the commercial CD of Steel Panthers:WoW. Plus Harri Pesonen needs the WARM support of us here, being from a VERY cold place....FINLAND! Cheers Charl Theron PS: Colonel, I'll be happy to take you via a pbem on once you have installed PBEM Helper!

Kman, you are sometimes too gracious toward other programmers! PS: Kman gave some of his C++ CmOneClick code to Fuerte to convert to Visual Basic 6 for PBEN HELPER. Nice heh? Nevertheless, gentleman, check out Fuerte's new updated PBEM HELPER (version 1.0.128) immediately @ the site address posted above by Kman. Fuerte has now included file sequence numbering -- Hooraaah!-- upon my request if you use the prescribe format... FILENAME### where "filename"" = 8 or more letters/characters/spaces and even the underscore ("_") character where "###" = 3 numerical digits (001 or 012) Files can be saved in the excellent native format [.pbm], [.zip] and the normal/uncompressed [.txt], the last 2 formats for those who play pbem against non-PBEM HELPERS. So "Help" me/us God..... Cheers Charl Theron

Hello aaronb, Thanks for the try and doing a guinea pig on us! The question: Will you stick with this program? Fuerte, any updates/new planned feature(s) to be incorporated in PBEM Helper in the future, let us know sir! Sincerely Charl Theron

Brilliant idea Gentleman! A generator for the game paramaters will be good and *WELL* used on this forum with the different rules (viz. panther-76, recon rule etc.) With regard to a battle generator for force selection, give this a pass. (For the time at least) Although nice, I think time/program energy will be better spend with the former, unless this can be done at the same time (it seems these programmers are QUITE capable here anyway ) All IMHO of course! Sincerely Charl Theron

hehe... go on aaronb, take the big click with your mouse .... and click! Seriously, nothing, I repeat, nothing happens -- there is no screwing about with your essential/system files that will render your computer inoperable. I have Windows95 at work, Windows98 SE at home;"PBEM Helper" is installed in both computers witn NO side effects. Sincerely Charl Theron PS: Even the programmer, Fuerte, says so!

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by aaronb: I'll try it out. If it's actually better than OneClick, it must be amazing. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> How do you find the "PBEM" program, aaronb?

A *bump* to the booklet, NOT to the over-explained "we" rexford! Let us know when you have a firm print/publish date. Best wishes Charl Theron

Welcome to the Forum sir!

GUSTAAAAAAV, DORAAAAAAA where are you!!

In fact, credit is given to you KMAN in "PBEM's" release notes. Well done! How about you trying PBEM, then play/fine tune PBEM's source code to make it *even better* Kyle? Kind regards Charl Theron

No no! Don't cane him gentleman (probably used his mother's credit card anyway, so beat the living daylights out of him anyway ) Same thing happened to me when I ordered my copy. Complained about the first one not arriving. BTS send a second one (without charge) as it was "presumed lost in post". Both arrived, the lost one a few weeks later. Apart from this upstanding citizen above/or his mother, also the honesty of Steve/Charles/Madmatt that should be applauded. Sincerely Charl Theron

I've discovered a PBEM "automation" program by Harri Pesonen called "PBEM" (v1.0.120) after reading about it on a post here on the Forum. -->"PBEM", size 2.41MB Installed it and it seems OK and easy to use. Compared to KMAN's "CMOneClick", it looks/works much slicker than KMAN's version, any comments, experiences? - (sorry KMAN! ) Sincerely Charl Theron

Sorry Franko, for some reason my computer did not load the 2nd screen of this post when I clicked on it, thereby missing Manx's info that it was downloadable on his site. Apologies.

I would love to have a copy send to WineCape@global.co.za ! BTS, give this man a JOB! Kind regards Charl Theron

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by bluemx: Lets face it CM is the best wargame most of us have every played ever - it beats all computer games,board,miniture and counter wargames I ever played and I have played most of them all. So after CM4 then what? Well here is a few ideas.....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Hi Bluemx, you're welcome to put your ideas in the summarised post @ http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=018670 . Sincerely Charl Theron

Of course, before I forget, Denco's website to be found @ http://mapage.cybercable.fr/deanco/ for those that wants to give his CM interfaces a try. As if not most people here are already using it!

This found on Deanco's website. Old news for some, but still a fine achievement. Quotes verbatim below... <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! PLEASE READ! Hi folks, Some of you might have been wondering about the recent lack of updates to this site. Some of you might be thinking that I have lost interest in Combat Mission. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. And, in conjunction with the Forward Observer's Sidewalk Sale, I have a very special announcement I'd like to make. The reason I have not had time to update the site is that I have been hard at work, designing the in-game interface for Combat Mission 2. A few weeks ago, out of the blue, I recieved an email from Steve Grammont, asking me if I would do the design work for the main interface. Well folks, when I read that, I got up and went out of the room and stood in the hallway for about a minute. I said to myself, 'Dude, that email is not there. It never happened. You're seeing things.' and so on. I finally got the courage to go back into the room and took another look. Sure enough, the email was still there. I read it carefully this time. It finally sank in. I'd really like to tell you what happened after that, but I lack the words. Let's just say that boy, I was one happy puppy. This feeling was one of the best feelings I've ever had in my life. I was gonna be working on the sequel to what I considered to be a groundbreaking, innovative, and enormously fun game. I was working on a game I admired, and would be working with the people who made that game. What a tremendous rush, folks. You can't imagine. My only (minor) regret is that my then-girlfriend and now-wife was not there at the time I got the mail, so I couldn't share that super happy moment with her. But you can't have everything. Now I want to get one thing straight with y'all, so listen up. I know absolutely nothing about CM2. My build uses the CM1 engine so it's like playing CM with another interface, that's all. All I am doing is drawing the interface. So, I don't know if those exploding dogs y'all keep raving about are in the game. I don't know if the engine is gonna model the Russian tendancy to do X and Y, or if the Uberstompingwhatchamacalit is gonna have the correct ROF. I repeat, I know absolutely nothing about CM2, so please folks, spare me the emails. You (and I) will just have to wait for Steve and Charles to release screenshots, give details, etc. However, I think there is one thing that I AM allowed to talk about, and I'm gonna do just that. I just want to tell y'all what a rare privelege, honor, and learning experience it has been to work with Steve and Charles. I can assure you that both these guys are professionals, right down to their fingertips. I can tell you that they've never, not once, been anything else but kind, supportive, and encouraging. I can tell you that they're ready to go the extra mile on the little details. I can tell you that they leave no stone unturned in their quest for perfection. I can tell you that nothing is left to chance, or glossed over. I can tell you that the phrase, 'AAhhh, that's good enough' is not in their vocabulary. And I can tell you that if Steve and Charles pound on the other parts of CM2 as hard as we've pounded on the game interface, then, fans, you have nothing to fear. CM2 is gonna be one kickass game. Thanks for listening, DeanCo--<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Make your interface a smash hit on CM2, Deanco! Cheers and all our best wishes, Sincerely Charl Theron

POST IT! at http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=018670 . Why not, seems a possible idea for the future? Kind regards Charl Theron

Thanks for the Internet link to the video of the Firing of Dora, the sister gun of Gustav, gentleman. The link where the movie file can be downloaded again is http://www.geocities.com/wittmann63/clips.html Impressive stuff! Kind regards Charl Theron

Thanks Babra for the pics! Great one of the scale model. Did Dora see any active service, i.e. did it Fire in "anger" at any placements/troops? If so, were the firing sequence as well documented as those of Gustav's? Does anybody know what museum, if any, some of these ol' Gustav/Dora shell are stored for display? Kind regards Charl Theron

Schwere Gustav -- 'heavy Gustav' -- was quite simply the largest artillery piece ever built (800mm or 32-inch), and it is unlikely that such an enormous piece will be ever seen again. Although of fairly conventional design, 'Gustav', as it was known, weighed over 1350 tonnes, with a barrel length of nearly 29m. It had a range of over 47km, and required a crew of up to 2000 men to set up and fire. It fired a 7100-kg shell! The following taken from "History of WWII", an interesting read: To prepare the Germans' attack on the Soviet fortress of Sevastopol, the Germans assembled a massive gun park, including the largest artillery piece in the world - 'schwere Gustav', an 80cm caliber monster gun mounted on a railway train which trundled to the Crimea on specially laid track. Well ahead of its progress a small army of labourers started to prepare the gun's chosen firing position at Bakchisaray, a small village outside Sevastopol. Well over 1,500 men under the control of a German army engineer unit dug through a small knoll to form a wide railway cutting on an arc of double track, and the sides of the cutting were raised to provide cover and protection for the gun. On the approaches railway troops laboured to re-lay track and strengthen possible trouble points against the passing of the 'schwere Gustav'. Work on the eventual firing site reached the point where the area behind the curve of firing tracks resembled a small marshalling yard. Two guard companies constantly patrolled the perimeter of the gun position, and at all times there was a small group of civilian technicians from Krupp who dealt with the technical aspects of their monster charge and advised the soldiers. Firing commenced on 5 June 1942. 'Schwere Gustav' was but one voice (albeit a loud one!) in a huge choir that heralded one of the largest and heaviest artillery bombardments of all time. (By the time Sevastopol fell early in July 1942, it was calculated that no fewer than 562,944 artillery projectiles had fallen on the port.) "Schwere Gustav's" first targets were some coastal batteries that were engaged at a range of +/- 27,340 yards, and all shots were observed by a special Luftwaffe flight of Fieseler Fi-156 Storchs assigned to the gun. 8 shots were all that were required to demolish these targets, and later the same day a further 6 shots were fired at the concrete work known as Fort Stalin. By the end of the day that too was a ruin and preparations were made for the following day. At best the firing rate was 1 round every 15 minutes! The preparation of each shell and charge was considerable and involved taking the temperature of each charge, accurately computing the air temperature and wind currents at altitude and getting the shell and the charge via pulleys to the breech. Projectile and charge then had to rammed accurately, and the whole 29-meter barrel had to be elevated to the correct angle. It all took TIME. 'Schwere Gustav' was in action again on 6 June, initially against Fort Molotov. 7 Shells demolished that structure and then it was the turn of a target known as the 'White Cliff'. This was the aiming point for an underground ammunition magazine under Severnaya Bay, and so placed by the Soviets as to be invulnerable to conventional weapons. It was not invulnerable to the 80cm 'Gustav', for 9 projectiles bored their way down through the sea, through over 100ft of sea bottom and then exploded inside the magazine!By the time 'Gustav' had finished its 9th shot the magazine was a wreck, and to cap it all a small sailing ship had been sunk in the process! The next day (7 June), was the turn of a target known to the Germans as Südwestspitze, an outlying fortification that was to be the subject of an infantry attack later. After 7 shots the target was ready for the infantry to storm, and the gun crew were then able to do some maintenance and a short period of relative rest until 11 June 1942. On that day, Fort Siberia was the recipient of a further 5 shells, and then came another lull for the gun crew until 17 June, when they fired their last operational shell against Fort Maxim Gorki and its attendant coastal battery. Then it was all over for 'schwere Gustav'. Once Sevastopol had fallen on 1 July the German siege train was dispersed all over Europe, and 'schwere Gustav' was taken back to Germany, where its barrel was changed. Including the 48 operational shell fired against the Crimean targets, 'schwere Gustav' had fired about 300 rounds in all, including proofing, training and demonstration rounds. The whole 'Gustav' project had absorbed immense manpower and facilities of all kinds, all to fire 48 rounds at antiquated Crimean fortifications! By May 1945 'schwere Gustav' was scattered all over central Europe. The carefully planned trains had been attacked constantly by Allied aircraft and what parts were still in one piece were wrecked by their crews and left for the Allies' wonderment. Today all that is left of old 'Gustav' are a few inert projectiles in museums. Now, in all probability, Gustav will not be seen in CM2, but please Wild Bill, give us ONE battle scenario in CM2 where we could use this almighty thunder! That’s 1 shot every 15 turns -- LOL! Yeah, amen! Anyone with photo's of almighty Gustav, please link it for us here so we can wonder in amazement at such ... wastage of precious war material and manpower!! Hehe. Brgds Charl Theron

Dunno if this has been posted before, but the search reveals nothing. Is a mod available with regard to a neater looking tank's gun-fired muzzle flash? If not, is it possible to mod this, or is it hard coded? Kind regards Charl Theron