Robert Olesen

OK, I knew I was going to get a bit of heat for this one It is rather odd IMO that CMBO does not have any way to access the main menu options using the mouse from within a game. I never noticed this before I ran into my keyboard problem, but it is a strange lack in the program. There can be any number of reasons why a keyboard falls out, and if it does while you're in a CM game your only option is to turn off the power for the PC. It should not be hard to implement and it need not take up a lot of screenspace - a single small button that gives you access to a main menu is enough. I still think it is a valid request.

Yes, I know that making "demands" like this is not popular, but I think this one is warranted. You cannot save, quit or any of those things in CM using the mouse while a game is active. This should be possible. My keyboard has no cable connection to the PC, it uses a battery driven transmitter instead. Sometimes it acts up, and refuses to transmit. It's not the batteries, they are OK. Anyway, the problem is that if this happens when I run CM, then I cannot exit or minimize the program. I know by experience that if I can open the keyboard configuration program then the problem usually goes away. But that is impossible when running CM because I cannot access the desktop. It happened this evening. I finally solved the problem (this time) by shaking the keyboard

I have a directory with shortcuts to the zip files I have installed. The shortcuts are numbered, so I can reinstall them in the same order if necessary. I can't easily go back on an install, but I do have a backup of the original files. I don't much like the batch file mods. I would much rather have some variant zip files with the real bmp file names in them, so that I could pick what to use and simply unzip it. But then, I don't have the need to switch between e.g. British and Canadian markings. What's DFDR?

Doug, I see that you are finally admitting to the actual state of affairs As for the artillery, it's only 75mm and 81mm, and I'm somewhat surprised to see how effective it can be. And I would like to credit Jason Cawley for inspiration regarding how to use it effectively. And, btw, you do have a hard task attacking uphill over open terrain that most of my units can see.

A typo It was ofc a schreck team.

Ahem - I remember somebody else asking the same question yesterday, or thereabouts Anyway, the "button" is located on your keyboard, and labelled PrintScreen or something very similar. It copies the screen pic to the clipboard. Just open another suitable program (Hit Esc or Alt-Tab on Windows to minimize CM) and paste it in. Be aware that it might pay to convert it to a jpg - these pics can take up a lot of space.

For a moment you had me fooled there My immediate impression was that you were talking about a series of CM scenarios, following the same unit through Europe. Then I thought: "How do you do a training scenario with all american troops?" - finally, i remembered reading something about a TV series. The scenario series is a good idea, though. Perhaps someone will rise to the challenge?

Wolfpack, Why don't you just pick the camera buttons from the gunmetal interface (2000 to 2015) and the rest from the grog interface? I personally don't much like the arrow shapes in gunmetal, but the pause/play facility with the green/red light is nice.

Today, in a pbem movie, I witnessed an American mortar team walk right by a Panzerfaust team of mine in scattered trees with no reaction whatsoever from any of the teams. They were so close they could have shaken hands, at least it looked that way. Yet the mortar team just walked past and onto the other side. The Panzerfaust team was sighting towards an ambush marker and was under fire from a crew across a road. I have a series of pictures to document it, but I can't post them. If anyone wants them, send me an email. The total is about 500K. Is this sort of thing supposed to happen?

Check this out: http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/015916.html

It's here: http://users.pandora.be/aneric/index8.htm I have played Assenois, station and Trois Ponts. I recommend all three, with the reservations stated above for "station" (which appears to be it's real name). The others are probably quite good as well.

The interface mods affect the way you perceive the information the game gives you (sort of obvious, I guess). They are all designed to present the information in a better way, with varying definitions of "better". They change the bottom part of the screen. The fonts used in the upper part can also be changed. Which one is best? Depends on your preferences. I definitely prefer my own (modified Grog, available at DeanCo's site) with the blue font from the gunmetal mod added, but a lot of people seem to be happier with the Gunmetal interface. Try a few, but make sure to backup all the affected files (I recommend making an "original interface" backup directory and copy the affected files there before installing any of them, you should restore the original before installing another interface mod).

Hi Olle, I have problems downloading from your site. The MSN password stuff doesn't seem to want me in - don't know what's wrong. Anyway, it is not really friendly to have to remember a password to download a file. Why not send the set to CMHQ or some other place?

Why not post it on a website (Battlefront or CMHQ)? Copyright problem?

I had a lot of fun too. I just wondered if I had overlooked something.

They certainly do. If I were to prioritise, I would get - a subdued terrain mod (DD's is very nice) - a building mod (Magua's or Panzertruppen) - an interface mod (I prefer my own ) and follow up with as many vehicles, uniforms, guns etc. as possible. There are a lot of these. The default terrain is too bright, and the buildings not too interesting. The standard interface is close to being unplayable for me now.

I thought I would hear some opinions on this - perhaps I just need to develop my skills. Warning: *** Scenario spoilers ahead *** I recently played "station" by McAuliffe for the second time as German vs. a human opponent (pbem, same opponent). The first time I lost rather quickly, having no tanks left (due to a combination of bad play and bad luck). The second time I managed to exit one Panther and three halftracks (two with passengers), and hold on to all the victory locations along the exit route by the station. This gave an Allied major victory. It was fun to play, even with the loss, but I sincerely doubt that this scenario can be won by the Germans (except perhaps if played against the AI). The Germans are up against two infantry companies and two tank platoons with some support, in particular 4 guns. They have themselves 2KT's, 4 Panthers (IIRC), roughly one infantry company in halftracks and one without, plus some support. The Germans have a slight edge materialwise, and probably more pointwise, but they have to move their troops across the map end exit on the other side in terrain that is easily defended. So, I'm asking those of you who have played it, and ofc. the author himself, if you have had the same experience of imbalance? And, if not, how did you manage a German win?

Or, you could replace it with something else, e.g. the end battle sound (129) Jon Johnsons sound mod v1.6 contains a sound map, mapping wav files to sounds. I'm pretty sure it's available on CMHQ. It's large, though, so drop me an email if you want the sound map only.

So, That's why QRes doesn't reset the screen resolution if I use Alt+F4 to exit CM. I must sincerely apologize to the Mac community for accidentally doing that the other day (Alt-Tab works after all) .

I read through (most of) the thread referenced above. This seems to be a reasonable rarity system. Another, similar, way to do it would be to keep the standard point costs, but instead decide randomly which units are available and which are not. The proposed system leaves me with two questions, though. 1. Assuming the rarity option is used, how do non-grogs (like me) know when a point cost reflects rarity (i.e. when the unit is uneconomical to buy)? Will I get some info in the purchase screen telling me what the "standard" point value of the unit is, or how much the cost is higher then the "standard" cost (assuming it cannot be cheaper)? I think this is important, we don't all know these values by heart, and it can be hard to judge if a T34/76 costing x pts is a better buy than a T34/85 costing y points. 2. In a QB, restarting the game will effectively give you a different choice of units. This is not necessarily bad, but it provides the weak souls (not me ofc - and definitely not you either ) with a temptation to restart a pbem setup (as the first player) until you get what you want. I think the first point should be dealt with. I'm not so sure about the second. It would be nice if there was a simple way of doing it.

I just had this happen to me as well (using 1.1). A KT fired smoke rounds at enemy infantry. The smoke did not do me any good, and could probably have been put to better use elsewhere. Not a big deal, perhaps, but unnecessary.

Sure did! He couldn't help me, but guessed it was hardcoded. Might be right, but it doesn't fit with the way the other texts were made. Two I have identified having their own background bitmap, others write directly onto 1000.bmp. I think this is the only one that might be hardcoded. I was hoping that someone new better, or perhaps Charles or Steve could tell me if it is hardcoded, but I guess that's a long shot - they are most likely busy with other things.

I'm working on a change to DeanCo's Grog mod and ran into a problem. I want to change the black text background in the info area (center bottom) and can't figure out how to deal with the delay text (the number of seconds). All the others can be dealt with, either by changing 1000.bmp (the base bitmap of that window) or two other text background bmp files (1007 and 1082). But there does not seem to be a background bmp file for the delay text. Perhaps someone can point me to the right file, or be kind enough to inform me if this is hardcoded? Thanks

The first board wargame I made myself with a friend, based on Stratego but much expanded and with modern units. The first "real" board wargame was SPI's Panzer Armee Africa. Great game, but I usually lost. The first PC wargame was Steel Panthers (the first version). Played it for months - loved the campaign.

Just to contradict myself One more answer. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Big Time Software: Thanks Robert. I think people will generally not use this feature much because it should, in theory, lead to total mismatched battles. Steve<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I think you are right. I probably wouldn't (won't?) use it a lot myself, but I would definitely use it, either to educate myself in hypothetical situations, or because I wanted a force setup that did not quite fit into the given point limits. An thanks to Andrew for his suggestion, it is a good one.