Mord
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Posts
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Joined
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Days Won
74
Posts posted by Mord
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I can't believe I didn't think of this before but gliders would be great atmosphere for airborne scenarios. They were highly requested for BN and MG scenarios way back. Some intact and broken ones would look incredible on the battlefield. As well as various parachute options that could be placed around.
Mord.
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51 minutes ago, Erwin said:
No point in offering so many choices when designers only pick vehicles from the same list of a dozen or so (per title).
Wars have been started for less.
Mord.
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1 hour ago, sburke said:
There are a ton of hints as to who the portraits represent both nationality and branch when you launch the scenario.
The camo gives it away for the most part, though the Dutch and Canadians may be more subtle (but you can see the differences if studied). But the Germans, Brits, Marines and Army are obvious when you see them. NOBODY is gonna confuse them. As for the branch types, there's helmet and headset/black tanker cap for armor, a beret for the airborne, ballistic glasses for mech, and plain faces for infantry in the examples above. The Syrians left to right, Reserve/Militia, Mech, Republican Guard, Combatants. I am at a loss at how any of these look the same.
Mord.
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8 minutes ago, MOS:96B2P said:
+1. Very cool. Nice work.
Thanks! Glad you like them. But these are just a minute drop in the bucket! This mod dwarfs the RT portraits. It's the biggest I have ever made. So, if you like these prepare to s*** bricks!
Mord.
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52 minutes ago, IICptMillerII said:
Great work! FWIW I think these are coming out extremely well.
Have you considered working on and releasing them in packs? Instead of doing the entire game and all modules, you could work on one module at a time. Might help to break up the work a bit and give yourself a sense of progress. Just a thought
Thanks, man! They are basically done. Just need to fix the Canadian Infantry and Mech Infantry. I am gonna release the whole thing as a beta version because ultimately I want to redo the US Army, Brits and Marines. I was never really happy with the British, and much has been learned since I first designed the US stuff, so I think I can make them look a lot better. But I am gonna move on to the FI mod and only screw with SF2 portraits sporadically. That way you guys will have something to use and I can dick with them minus the stress of needing to "finish" them.
Mord.
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By "cohesive" I mean that they are all designed in the same art style I don't mean clones. Ex: Look at the first Dutch I created. They look cartoony compared to all the other portraits, therefore they don't look like they belong. There's no cohesion in the design aesthetic. The fight is to get them to look like they were all created by the same artist. I am not an artist per se as I don't draw the pics, I manipulate them. Because of that I can end up with varied looks in the art itself. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to keep the design under control.
Mord.
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LOOK here!
Mord.
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Still have to redo two Canadian portraits and then I am releasing a Beta as I am still not happy with some of the first ones that were completed (mostly US and Brits) but it is time. Here's all the NATO portraits I finalized in the last day plus your first real look at the basic Syrian portraits.
TAKE NOTE of the date of the first post in this thread!
Mord.
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Here's some more examples, all finished in the last four hours or so.
I struggled off and on with the Canadians, especially the Armor portrait. I finally abandoned the old body type and redesigned one tonight. Now, I feel like I nailed it.
Next was the German Armor. I was actually fairly pleased with it for a day or so, but the more I looked at it the more I felt like it was out of proportion and out of place with the other Germans. So, I redesigned it a few hours ago. The second portrait had me feeling closer but was actually worse. Got it after some time experimenting with a painting of a dude's face I found. I think it KILLS!
Lastly is the German Airborne. I felt the face was too plasticy looking and I didn't like the coloring. Messed with it for a bit tonight (also using the painting I found) and the results look a lot better. BTW the original was using a model bust of George C. Scott as Patton.
This is my HELL! LOL. But I think you will agree that me being an anal bastard pays off in the end (pun intended). These pics went from crap, to so-so, to really nice by evaluating and nitpicking them until I hit a sweet spot.
Mord.
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13 hours ago, Aquila-CM said:
Medium Airliner:
Holy crap, that was quick! SWEET!
Mord.
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Quote
Mord is his own worst enemy. He will see the imperfections whether we do or not. You always do when it is your work and you care about it. -sburke
QuoteAin't that the truth. It amazes me how many times I can go to bed satisfied with something I made and then hate it the next time I see it. But in the end it does make the mod better. I have remade the Dutch 3 times in the last week and they look 100 times better because of it. -Mord
I snipped sburke's quote and my reply from from another thread so I can display just what I was getting at. Here is an example of the evolution of the Dutch over the last week or so. It shows how the portraits can drift in an out of styles as well as losing the over all cohesiveness that can make them look disparate and throw off the design aesthetic.
LOL. It's also evidence of how being married to a certain style ultimately can end in divorce, no matter how hard you fight to make it work. It's a frustrating evolution but I find if I stick it out, and experiment, no matter how pissed off it makes me, I'll eventually find a happy medium. I am satisfied with them now and consider them finished.
Mord.
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Damn, man! I was so mesmerized watching those planes I half expected them to take off.
A couple mid-size passenger plane models would really do the trick for Aleppo and Donetsk scenarios.
With this revolution in modding it would be killer if BF somehow could incorporate a way to add these flavor objects into the game without having to overwrite other assets. THAT would truly be a great "feature" for an upgrade. This new style can change CM gaming forever. The ability to effect the atmosphere of scenarios is simply amazing! The sky is the limit. In all my years of CM gaming, collecting and creating mods, this is the single greatest discovery I have witnessed.
Mord.
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On 7/22/2019 at 9:06 PM, sburke said:
Mord is his own worst enemy.
Ain't that the truth. It amazes me how many times I can go to bed satisfied with something I made and then hate it the next time I see it. But in the end it does make the mod better. I have remade the Dutch 3 times in the last week and they look 100 times better because of it. I am very close though to releasing. Just need a few more touch ups.
Mord.
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On 7/20/2019 at 5:37 PM, 3j2m7 said:
and a little mistake that you (could do in the portraits) will not be visible from us
Thanks. But it's not little imperfections that drive me crazy it's the portraits looking like they are from multiple different design aesthetics instead of a cohesive set. It's a constant battle that I lose more than win.
Mord.
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2 hours ago, Aragorn2002 said:
Is it worth such agony?
No. Yes. Maybe. But I can't get better if I don't suffer. It's the nature of artistic endeavors I suppose. I've written off and on all my life and it invokes the same madness! Always in search of a perfect sentence or turn of phrase. But I can manipulate words 100 times better than I can bmps*. Only problem is, words don't make CM portraits! Modding is a disease and the only cure for it is to do it, for better or worse.
Mord.
*Grammar not withstanding.
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My problem is my abilities outweigh my ambitions! If I had better artistic capabilities I'd get less frustrated. Manipulation is far inferior compared to actual drawing skills. I'll make a portrait that looks great but then the next couple will look less and less like they are a cohesive set of pictures. It drives me f***in' crazy! One day I'll feel like I have finally hit a level of skill that I am proud of and the next my incompetence butt rapes me into depression. It's humbling and soul sucking. I've spent almost a year on this b**** and I am only gonna be about 65% happy with it when it's done. But I can't keep redoing everything or It'll never end. I am in a self-created HELL!!!!!
Mord.
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3 hours ago, sburke said:
I didn't realize the enormity of the task.
Nor I. JeeezUS! One minute I get happy, then frustrated, then depressed, then discouraged, then satisfied, then frustrated again! I feel like a teenage girl with a pimple on prom night! I actually laid down the first test pics for this f***er last August! Being so close is wearing on me. I needed to vent the pressure in my mushy brain!
3 hours ago, Erwin said:Ya gotta watch that "burn-out" Mord and take a break.
Oh, I have! More so on this mod than any other. I just came back to it after not touching it since May. The worst part about starting a brand new "from scratch" portraits mod is all the excessive prep work that happens before a single portrait gets made. But at least it's a one time affair. I was so frustrated last night I guess I blew up on my keyboard. Had some sleep so I am back at it.
@Aragorn2002, did you have a stroke in the middle of posting? LOL.
Mord.
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50 minutes ago, JulianJ said:
What's an SOP?
Basically tactics and procedures for tackling specific situations such as room clearing, door breaching etc.
Mord.
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Well that shows you how long this can take. I spent about four hours today just creating the German list (seeing what I could actually use in game), saving pics for their battalions, and hunting down all the Dutch battalion insignia. Never even got to prepping them (deleting backgrounds, shrinking, positioning etc.). I am done for the day. I am too burnt to try and do anything major. I'd spend time making pics tonight then hate them tomorrow and end up redoing them.
I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THIS S*** IS DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! MUTHER F***ER!!!!! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!! GODD&%$ MU&^$% F%$#IN' SUMB*&$#IN'BA^%$#@S!!!!!!!!!!! RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!
Anyway, thanks again, guys.
Mord.
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14 hours ago, Aquila-CM said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_of_the_German_Army
These will do nicely. There's enough info there to tell me what I need to know. Thanks!
@BarendJanNL and thanks again to you for your help.
Mord.
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Ok. All I need now are the Germans! Anybody? So close yet not quite there. If I get a list for the Germs I could have this hopefully wrapped up in a week (as long as the portrait designs cooperate)!
Mord.
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7 minutes ago, Aquila-CM said:
I took a look and its not that easy like I imagined due to the fact that the Muj are not like CMSF1 insurgents.
Yes, they are piecemeal not all-in-one (like Combatants). I think some of the Muj models have three parts. That's why I am wondering if a completely new "all-in-one" model could be swapped with the combatants?
Like this
https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/max-afghan-soldier/887725
or this
https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/mujahideen-rigged-3d-model/888605
Do you think that could be possible?
Mord.
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16 minutes ago, Aquila-CM said:
Perhaps its the same with the CMA Muj.
I took a shot at it back when SF2 first came out. It's not possible at least as far as I could tell. It about drove me crazy. It was hard enough trying to figure out how to do it in SF1. I never could, someone else did it. It may have been Blimey. Can't remember now. I suppose Muj are a mod too far. LOL.
Anyway, INCREDIBLE work with all this stuff. I'd love to see more like the radar tower. We sorely are in need of everyday type objects too. We should start a list that would make the environments feel more alive.
Mord.
Heaven & Earth: Project discussion thread
in CM Shock Force 2 Maps and Mods
Posted · Edited by Mord
You know, I have to admit I have never been interested in CM conversions because no matter how much skill and imagination that has gone into them, they have never really done it for me. Just Frankensteined wishful thinking that's never quite lived up to the vision. I was skeptical as f*** when you guys first brought this up. Figured you'd sling a few interesting environmental textures and paint some vehicles and that would be that. Interesting but ultimately filed under "Acquired Taste Curiosity". And I felt fairly blasé about sbobovyc's program as nothing substantial ever really seemed to come of it except for a helmet, in four years.
Boy oh boy, I have never been more wrong in my life. Because of you, @sbobovyc, @Steppenwulf and @Aquila-CM we have entered a new era — a frontier never thought possible. You have joined the ranks of the innovators and greats from CM's past; like Magua, Tom, Molek & Bergman, Ryujin (who produced the first hex edit), Dpabrams, Aris, Kieme, JuJu, @Vein, @LongLeftFlank, and the that crazy East Front genius, @Umlaut, to name a few. You fellas will be the giants whose shoulders modders we have yet to meet, will stand on. With the deepest respect, from a guy who has been dicking with bmps and wavs for a good long time, I am profoundly impressed with what you have achieved. I salute you all.
Mord.