M. Bates

The problem appears to be that CMBO "veterans" in Europe cannot get their PC game direct from battlefront.com. Is the size of Western European based PC CMBO players - who have been part of the "CMBO family" for two years - large enough for someone like CDV to insist upon having their custom. I.e., CMBO Euro PC players who purchased CMBO from BTS must be small in number. But on the other hand... why couldn't the people who are complaining about CDV, simply get their copy from a US-based retailer, like Amazon.com? Also, people will be too busy playing CMBB to bother with the manual. Europeans fighting to get their hands on the "enhanced" CDV CMBO game with extra CD containing extra ,mods and scenarios seems like a very long time ago!!

AFAIK, Europe has its own source of CMBB distribution in Ireland. The question is, do the Europeans get their games despatched on the same day as North America, or do the games get sent from the USA, to the Europe warehouse, and from there to the individual (meaning that Europeans have to wait longer). Also, is the Macintosh version shipped directly from the USA to Europe?

Except the American Revolutionary War and War of 1812 that is! </font>

A handful of English football thugs could conquer France in, say, six weeks.

I think that every type of shockwave has now been exhausted Good work everyone. Don't forget to submit your shockwaves to CMBB web sites, so that other players can benefit!

Even a socialist beer would leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

IMHO, the Citadel scenario has a nice epic feel to it. It's interesting to play around with the new cover commands, and setting up the ideal "kill sack". It's challenging from either side. Yelnia Stare is only a bit of a stinker because of lack of buildings. A few buildings dotted around would give a bit more variety. I think Yelnia Stare is supposed to show off human waves and the new machine guns. In short, the demo is ideal for experienced CMBO as it gives a good work out of all the new features. I'm not sure how new players would view it.

No problem! When yours is done, maybe Pud could put it on his site so that people can choose from different Shockwave Sets. Don't forget, you only have room to play with at the top left and top right of the explosion... unless you make the shockwave smaller to have space at the top too. The secret might be to play around with the use of transparency to create gaps. If each stage of the shockwave is radically different, then maybe it will be even more eye catching.

Hi gang, Change the color to whatever you want. The only reason it starts off yellow is (1) just for visibilities sake, (2) it looks a bit odd when tanks/AT guns fire, to have all the white smoke AND the white shockwaves. It's fairly simple to change the color, and there are only 6 frames of animation, so it's a good idea to tailor it to individual taste.

Hehe only just noticed your topic! Nice screenshot too.

Okay, the bmps have been re-worked in Graphic Converter and are hopefully now PC Friendly. The dot transparencies have been removed. Final version to be released this Sunday.

Hi, the "dots" are the result of transparencies (pink pixels) and are intentional. It was intended to let the background show thru a little, to make the shockwave meld together with the surroundings. If the transparency of the shockwave is unpopular with people, then I will remove all the pink pixels from the .bmps and concentrate on giving detail to the shockwave blast.

There is a benefit in that you get a wider POV of the battlefront. Possibly not quite so good for replaying tank to tank kills where you out-flank an enemy Panzer and shoot into his side

Hi, What have I done to offend you?

Hmmmmm. The bmps were edited on a Mac in Photoshop. I'm at a loss as to why they don't work... I'll email them to you as PNGs.

Hi, If you click the Shockwave link, it takes you to a page with a preview pic and a link to download the zip. Don't worry, I will email the mod to you (plus anyone else who prints their email in this topic).

First of all, I have found a rough fix to the lack of Shockwaves in CMBB. The CMBB Shockwave Mod affects one half of the explosion animation, combining elements of BTS' original design with an animated spherical shockwave. I have tested and tested many ways of achieving shockwaves in CMBB and this is the result, though it won't be to everyone's tastes. CMBB Shockwave Mod Secondly, I have made a CMBB Interface Mod which is 90% completed. It tries to achieve a retro CMBO look with the CMBB interface system. Includes a new easy to read info font. The orders menu is also modded (still needs 5 orders or so to be modded), CMBB Interface Mod At the moment I do not have web space to host the interface mod. If anyone can host it (few megabytes) then that would be most helpful. I don't want any credit for the mod, I just want it to be an option for CMBB players. [ September 05, 2002, 02:39 PM: Message edited by: M. Bates ]

Dorosh - I like what you've done with the weapon graphics. I'm not familiar with ASL, though it looks like a nice "board game" retro style. As it happens, I have my own interface mod to be released this weekend.

View 4 in CMBB is alright, but I can't re-create CMBO View 4 using the Shift-A Shift-Z tilt. Zooming looks a bit weird. I think CMBB's Views are biased towards looking at the horizon, whereas CMBO was more "top-down". Problem with seeing more of the horizon/treeline is that you see less of your units. I think CMBB's cameras were made with AFVs and Kursk in mind.

There are still remnants of the CMBO militia in the hills over-looking Western Munkeeland! Since the year 2000 they have become severely inter-bred. Find them and KILL them!!

Despite the realism/humidity/metereological discussion, at the end of the day, shockwaves made it easier to see what was going on. I like CMBB's more realistic graphics. However, throw in the lack of the shockwaves along with darker terrain and it can get tricky to see what's happening. I wouldn't support forcing shockwaves on to other players, so it would be good if they were optional. In any case, the decision has already been taken, the game is days away from release and it is too late.

I wish I had your confidence... Text or text&graphic would do the same and better. Squads can't split? What game are you playing? Because if CMBB is filling a 16th of the screen with pretty weapon graphics, why not tell me something useful at the same time? The point is that the portraits inadvertently let you know the rank of unidentified AFVs. I agree! Brush your teeth more.

Um, yes, actually, they do. Go to the Yelnia scenario. Find a Russian squad with a couple of PPD SMGs. Then go find one with a couple of PPSh SMGs. Note the difference. They look NOT AT ALL alike. And all that for a virtually trivial difference in game terms.</font>

Funnily enough, I just checked and CMBB no longer has tank buttoned and infantry morale status in the same place which is better than before. Okay, the typewritten font was not pretty. But (1) it was not all in capital letters and (2) it was always printed as white text on a black background. AARs in CMBB are a vast improvement. As for the other stuff, well why is the space alotted for movie controls and map controls actually *less* than before? And since CMBO people will have increased monitor size and monitor resolution, making the buttons appear still smaller. I am not referring to any author/mod in particular: I accept also that 'total rubbish' was a silly thing to state. In a creative process, the movie director is often the last person to realise that other people will not view the finished product in the same way that he does. CMBB's interface is very different to CMBO's interface despite the fact that both games are essentially the same, accepting the point that new features have been added. I believe that CMBB's increased interface is not justified by the number of new features in the game. It is inevitable that people are going to comment when a demo is released. anyone who creates an interface for a video game is clearly talented. Just because I disagree with decisions taken does not mean that I think you are a poor designer. ( )

This is just a personal opinion, but ALL of the CMBO interface mods were total rubbish. Gimmicky graphical substitutions for perfectly good text originals. What is the point of putting infantry weapons on the status bar? Do they give a firepower figure? No. Do the graphics actually tell you what the weapons are? No. Either print *in text* what the weapons are or take away the entire panel altogether! Presumably, someone purchasing CMBB already knows what a German rifle looks like, and if they don't, well the 3D men are actually holding one of the ruddy things! I now know what the mini-map does. Yet again, is it really needed? Isn't this information already available a million times before in the briefing? Do we really need this distracting, useless waste of screen space? Why not cut out this stuff and *increase* the size of Combat/Stealth/Morale/Command bonuses???