Binkie

Actually, certain classical and opera go very nicely with the shelling and the MGs, thank you very much. How do I know this? Because if I start a music source before launching the CM Movie Utility, I get shared sound and can listen to both. But with my Win 98 SE, as noted by Kirill above, the regular game takes over all sound channels. Whether I start it before or after launching CM. Perhaps all these other happy posters here are running NT or 2K. Oh well.

Ack! I am tired of forgetting the tape player in my son's room and then he goes to bed and I have to plot all my moves to silence instead of Ravel and Liszt. I could sure go for some CD- or MP3-of-choice support in CMBB. Thanks for listening!

I have to disagree, MrSpkr. I don't feel that someone should have to give up their right to privacy of their tactics/formations just because they played a game with you. It should be a choice to divulge such personal (to some) information. However, although we have both obviously had some troubles with past opponents, I think we'll find when it comes to full replay excitement and the fame of internet-posted instructional opportunities, there will be plenty of folks willing to give up their passwords.

Hmm, hadn't thought of that, MrSpkr. Definitely a bit of a problem there. But if you are able to switch viewpoints and disable fog of war and such with the movie utility, couldn't you get all that information anyway? You would just load up the files as if it was a finished game (unless it checks for an exchanged AAR file) and could then examine your opponent on the replay. The fog-of-war options you mention are great, there are similar options in AOK's recorded games, which obviously increases their instructional value immensely. But they should require the opponents password. [ 08-01-2001: Message edited by: Binkie ]

Geez that reminds me, BB. I want the ability to have the computer take over a PBEM game midway, for all the times my lame opponents have quit on me when they start losing badly. I'm assuming that the opponent AI is more biased toward minute-to-minute decisions rather than overarching strategies, based on its rather poor performance, so maybe this wouldn't be so difficult to implement. Ah, the joys of sitting back and telling BTS how easy it would be to add code, eh?

Golly, I hadn't even realized the part about exchanging whole battles with each other. I was just thinking about my own selfish pleasures, watching all the little people jump when I tell them to jump! Bwahahahahaha!! Seriously though, I've downloaded a couple of movie sets with AAR texts and it was a real pain to set it all up, what with so many files to manage, even with Kyle's sweet CM Movie utility. As a veteran of AOE/AOK (try not to judge me too much on that), I have had a lot of fun watching experts play against each other, and those recorded games are often a two hour commitment each! Imagine how many "recorded" CM games you could squeeze in in that same amount of time! Start the beer a chillin'! Now that I'm thinking more about it, this could be a cool-factor feature that significantly increases the CM fan base and builds a stronger CM community out of some of the current (but little-heard-from) players. That's sure what it did for AOK, not to mention raise the level of competitive play across the board because advanced strategy demonstrations were so easy to come by. No wonder this is on BTS' list as IMPORTANT.

...wouldn't it be great to have an option to save each movie file to disk during a TCP/IP game? I know, I know, YET ANOTHER feature request, but I for one am as excited about the full movie playback as I am about any other single feature coming in the new game. The file is obviously stored locally during the playback phase, so wouldn't it be simple to write it to the hard drive? Obviously a bit more effort would be required to add the appropriate "checkbox" to the options page however. Hehe. And not to dilute the main request here, but hey, I would also give some skin from my left hip if the design of the CMBB continuous movie player could be considered so that it might work with my old saved CMBO PBEM files! Assuming in advance, of course, that the code comes out pretty clean and doesn't devolve into the "ugly hack" that Steve mentioned earlier...

I think the problem is that the reasonable & mature gamers just move on when they see a pissing contest, so you don't see a lot of reasonable & mature posts on those threads. The rest of them put one hand down their pants and start flailing the keyboard with the other. It's too bad that Tiger took it so seriously...this is the first time I have seen the little argument hoars cause us some real damage here. I'll never forget the time I posted a request for a rubble mod (specifically directed at Panzertruppen, no less) and Tiger had a nice replacement available within a few hours. Damn.

Yeah, yeah! I'm having the same problem but would love to try out that new grass...

I just noticed this...I've got a truck, supposedely capable of 43 mph, going through scattered trees. And then my infantry goes by them like they are standing still! I didn't take the time to measure their speed, but geez, it was shocking to watch! I understand that caution is necessary while driving in any wooded area, but I think that this huge speed hit (which I'm assuming was more intended for the larger AFVs) is quite unrealistic for small vehicles in the scattered trees terrain type. Thinking in terms of Real Life, I would think that although tracked vehicles have a traction advantage over wheeled vehicles when moving across roots, brush, fallen saplings, etc, wheeled vehicles can more quickly maneuver around the low-branching trees, and could drive right underneath the tall-branching ones. Plus the traction issue is more relevant to the probability of bogging, right? It seems this is a seperate consideration in CM, even though a driver of any vehicle would operate it in such a way as to minimize the chance of bogging in the first place. Perhaps this could be considered for different scaling for CM2 and beyond? Maybe larger, tracked vehicles suffer a certain percentage of speed reduction while jeeps and trucks suffer a lesser one?

Yeah, yeah! And I'd also like the option for the computer to take over one side midway in a PBEM match, for when my opponents quit when they are losing!

Yes, yes! That is my sound card, though I am using the 2048 drivers (sounds like I'm a little behind - pun intended). The other thing has has happened to me exactly once, was no explosion sounds (HE hitting the ground mostly), and only about 20% of the expected infantry voices/screams during a movie replay. It's only that one file, and it happens every time I try it. Kind of a bizarre bug, eh? Perhaps I should send it in to BTS for analysis.

Once every five or so movie files that I watch has the stereo sound backwards...sounds coming from the left are heard on the right, etc. I keep a clean system and have tested my windows sound installation. Anyone else hearing this problem?

Thanks. Yeah, I was just wondering if they maybe had a magic map or something of the exact mine placements, and could thus move through with impunity. Lol. Not a very realistic notion, eh?

I think the original request is a good one, one that is fairly necessary in the ongoing quest to make tank commanders more humanlike. I'm hoping for some other mission-critical commands to be added for armor at some point as well. DO NOT ENGAGE NON-AT SOFT TARGETS (which would solve the first problem), for example, or how about TRY TO ANTICIPATE COLLISIONS WITH FRIENDLY VEHICLES AND DO SOMETHING CLEVER ABOUT IT, LIKE AVOIDING THEM. I'm serious.

So is it a bad idea to run my troops through those minefields I just placed? Perhaps I will think my defensive options out a bit better next time.

Looks really nice, goz. A bit more realistic than your speckled, but richer in color than dd's. I've always been a fan of your treebases. I would only offer a suggestion to make sure that the woods bases for this grass not be so dark as to mask some of the modded Axis infantry.

Ok, I thought I'd drop one more comment into this one... After some reconsideration due to this thread, I now use two different terrain sets depending on the game at hand. I always use dd's trees and brush, however, they are simply the best. For those classic, historical fights, or anything that's going to get REALLY bloody, I also go with DD's grass and tree bases. This is just gritty, war atmosphere stuff. The most subdued of the subdued, almost in sepia tone. Only note: woods bases are a bit too dark for some of the modded German infantry to be clearly seen against them. Now I have a livelier, greener set to choose from as well, something with a nice springtime feel to it. It harkens back to the original CM graphics, though it's definitely refined and toned down suitably. It's Desert Fox's grass fitted with gunner goz's spring/summer treebases (NOT the fall set with the reds and browns - I batch copied and renamed so I would get the first set no matter what the scenario date). These are both extremely well crafted mods, and to gunner all I can say is, those bases are brilliant in their simplicity. Whadya use, the MS Paint spray can tool? Seriously, even if you choose another grass, give gg's bases a try if you want something nice and straightforward, that won't take the whole terrain set in its own direction. Good luck to all.

Hey man, did you get the PBEM you told me to send over? Been waiting a while for some kind of reply.

Now that's quick service! Thanks Desert Fox!

Ack! We need to get Desert Fox's terrain hosted again! Can anyone upload it to a dedicated fan site?

Thanks, Matt, I'll be looking for your reply. As far as I can tell, this issue and the problem with the second PBEM plotter seeing the enemy units' new stances/AFV-buttoning status are the only totally unfair PBEM conventions that need changing.

This is an interesting observation, Dschugaschwili, because I thought that the firing delay of units was saved from turn to turn. That is, if an AFV is engaged and is just about to fire again at the end of a turn, doesn't that timer get saved? Doesn't he fire right away next turn rather than start a whole new delay? Just my offhand recollection, but I thought I had noticed this with infantry, AT guys, etc, also.

I've noticed this before but it just cost me LOS for one of my bazookas in a PBEM, so I'm mad. It seems that instead of fulfilling the complete time delay for an AFV smoke round, if the 60 second action phase ends during that delay, then the smoke is instantly produced at that point. This means that my opponent's PzIV smoked my guy about two seconds after the round hit the ground, instead of giving him one or two more shots at the start of the next turn. Obviously I would like to see that time delay "saved" and continued into the next turn. Just wanted to bring this to BTS' attention for consideration.

I'm a little squeamish about giving out my mailing address, but why don't you send one to each of the Combat Mission fan sites for scanning and posting there? Unless it's already in digital format, then so much the easier... Would save you a lot on printing and postage, too.