AndrewTF

Since I, like the rest of North America, don't actually have CMAK yet, I've spent my time making mods, especially as I've played both demo scenarios to death. I gotta say, these are so cool that when I tested them in-game I peed my pants out of excitement. Well, no, I didn't, but you get the point. In solidarity with my American brethren I will not release these until my copy of CMAK arrives in my mailbox, so those stinkin' Euros with their highfalutin' full versions of CMAK can't get their hands on them before us. How about some preview pix? Hope you got your spare undershorts handy. Let's start with the Americans. Note the cool HBT pattern that I managed to work in to the uniform. If anything it's a little too noticeable so I may try to tone it down a bit. The HBT trousers now have pockets, as they did in real life. HQ units. I made everything up in Photoshop except for the binoculars, which I made from a photo of real WWII US Army binocs that my uncle is currently selling on ebay. Nice timing, as I really did not want to draw these by hand. I also made new US tank crews, which for some reason I don't have a screenie of. I should post one as they're also supercool with all new coveralls, helmet and stuff. Now for the Germans. These aren't just warmed-over CMBB BMPs. No sir. They've been totally reworked to reflect the coolness that is CMAK! The back view to show the field gear. Note that all gear is now "from scratch", as I got rid of the crappy "cut-n-paste" photo canteen. They're really not all that hard to draw in Photoshop, providing one has pretty good control of basic shapes and--as my old college art teacher used to stress--values. A little knowledge of Photoshop technique helps, too. HQs, again. The changes here are a little more subtle. Note the new-and-improved MP40 pouches on the platoon leader. So... what are other modders working on? It would be cool if you'd post screenies to this thread, if possible. I'll even change the title if necessary. If for some reason screenshot hosting is needed let me know and I might be able to post a few on my server.

I agree as well. Best. Game. Ever. I also agree about the wine. Notice how my mods have been steadily improving ever since my donation?

Is it just me or do units seem to be making better use of walls as cover? Notice how in both scenarios there are several default positions located behind stone walls in what is otherwise open ground. It seems in CMBO and BB that units were never quite sure what to do behind walls, except cower in terror. I played "Line of Defense" second time around as the Germans, and not only did my units seem to behave better in that situation, but I noted that several advancing American squads seemed to make use of the walls as they attacked my positions.

Yeah... the "smiley face" version isn't ready yet. Thanks for the comments, everyone. This is basically my CMBB SPW 250 mod with "Afrika Braun" overpaint and some weathering. And in case you're wondering why I don't add more weathering to mods: this was a royal pain in the butt to do. Not difficult, but time-consuming. The results look great though, I have to admit. The whole SPW 250 series is more or less ready to go. I'll probably also adapt the Kübelwagen and some SPW 251s. There are rumors of an American uniform mod, too. Stay tuned. I'm pretty excited to see what other modders have in the wings.

Over here, at the CMAK forum.

The SPW 250/11 halftrack for CMAK. I'm showing it here in CMBB because it doesn't look so hot in the CMAK demo with the downsampling due to my old PCI video card. Hope this makes those who always whine about the vehicles not looking weathered enough happy . Crew is wearing faded version of the DAK uniform mod. Not ready for release cause it's not perfect yet Also on deck: the SPW 250 Neu series for CMBB and most likely CMAK. Here's a taste of the 250/1 This also needs a touch more work. More stuff to come soon...

Yeah, they'll be up there eventually. Real life has occupied a lot of my time lately.

WOOOHOOO </font>

I have yet to re-post the Soviet uniforms. I can probably get the regular uniform mod uploaded this evening. I am currently going through the winter uniform mods and making some improvements (like felt valenki boots and such) that make them a little more realistic. Unfortunately, simulating the long greatcoat would be tough as the 3D model cannot be altered. I suppose I could try painting the greatcoat skirts on the soldier leg. I don't think it would look all that good, but then again I've never tried it.

...get in line. Seriously: really nice work on those Panthers. They give me a reason to fire CMBO up again. And it looks like you're doing this on a Mac, too!

Ready for download once again at the CM Mod Database. Downloads include: </font> Italian uniforms with optional Bersaglieri and MVSN uniform options and cool helmets with stenciled markings on the front.</font>Hungarian uniforms with really cool new fieldgear, insignia, and stuff.</font>Romanian uniforms with two uniform options and helmet covers.</font>Outer Slobovian uniforms including all-new historically-accurate Airborne Camel Cavalry (Bactrian) outfits with optional black vinyl Lederbundhosen and chrome-plated helmets.</font> Go get 'em!

Ask and you shall receive: Finnish winter uniforms posted NOW at The CM Mod Database.

Sergei wins the prize. I'm uploading as much as I can as fast as I can, so please be patient. I'll see that the Finnish winter uniforms are posted ASAP.

Also... SU-76M self-propelled gun is now re-posted.

Remember this? My SPW 250-series halftracks are back on CMMods.com now! SPW 250/7, 250/10, and 250/11 are also available. Unmarked, Heer, and Waffen-SS versions included. Unfortunately the version with the Happygrenadier™ "Have a Nice Day" banner/beach towel is no longer available. A big, ugly, and historically accurate Nazi aerial recognition banner is included as an option, however. [ November 11, 2003, 01:42 AM: Message edited by: AndrewTF ]

I probably won't remove the grenade from these guys as 1) it's sort of my little signature for my German uniform mods and 2) I don't want to upload all the uniform mods again. Maybe I'll reconsider it for CMAK. As for the Soviet camo outfits: I don't know how often they were using in real life. Perhaps one of our resident Red Army grogs can enlighten us.

How's this? This is about as good as I can get it from the photos. My technique for putting together the camo patterns involves copying areas of the pattern from photos and using various Photoshop tools to put together something convincing. Obviously the better the images the better the final product. There's no shortage of people out there on the internet (where I've gleaned most of the camo photos) showing off pix of Nazi gear, but only a few Soviet militaria sites with decent photos. Anyhow, this looks pretty good. Unfortunately it has a tendency so look "sparkly" at long distances in-game, no doubt due to the contrast of the camo pattern. I've already knocked it down a bit here but it might need a little more work.

Mike -- *those* I might be able to do something with. I don't remember seeing images that big on that site before. Oldblood -- that would be nice, but unfortunately we can't change the 3D models, only the BMP skins that fit over them.

Thanks! Unfortunately I still don't have decent enough pix of the leaf-pattern camo to put together a mod. If you only knew the amount of pain that went into creating all the W-SS camo patterns... Will these do for the time being? In this case the amoeba camo was easy enough to approximate in Adobe Illustrator.

Now ready for download at the CM Mods Database: all three sets of Waffen-SS uniforms. Someone requested these so I thought I'd repost them, but not after I updated them with new field gear and a few additional improvements. Sets 1 and 2 include BMPs for spring and autumn camouflage smocks, and set three (as most already know) includes 44-dot and gray uniforms. Insignia is historically accurate so sensitive types beware Set 1: Set 2: Set 3: Also: does anyone know which *&$%*#@ BMP controls the top of the breech block on the German 150mm infantry gun? For the life of me I can't find it. If someone can tell me which one it is then I can release this In both gray and yellow versions. Please help!

I think you're probably doomed to trial-and-error I don't believe there's any kind of tutorial like this out there. As you stated, most of them deal with weathering and dirtying and camouflaging, etc. Most modders seem to mainly mess about with weathering, coloring, and details. There are an intrepid (or quite possibly insane) few (including myself, MikeyD, Juju, Tanks-a-lot, and probably a couple others whom I'm forgetting) who make mods "from scratch" using a variety of techniques. Most everything involves using the stock BMPs as templates and going from there. I, and I'm sure anyone else, would be more than happy to answer specific modding questions. Also, check out Gautrek's modding forum. I don't have the URL offhand but it's in his sig if you can track down one of his posts.

Yeah, I made an early gray version that is semi-historically accurate, as that uniform was apparently not issued until the winter of '42, which means either early '42 or late '42, depending on the source and my mental state when reading it. At any rate it was relatively rare at the time but looks a lot better in-game than your troops running around in regular uniforms. It was lost in the great CMMods.com crash of 2003 but will be uploaded again in due time. Real-life issues are getting in the way of my doing this in a timely manner, but it will happen, eventually.

I'll be uploading them again soon. Patience.

I think I can keep busy until then. The German uniform mods were the first ones I made, so there's room for upgrading them. I've made a lot of progress in making uniform mods "from scratch", and at this point I feel I need to go back and make sure the German uniforms are up to snuff, and I have an excuse to do so as I upload everything to CMMods.com again. BTW, the LW and new improved late-war Heer uniforms are now posted. And yes, they've been updated from my last update that I made about a month ago, so go download them now!

I'll include the helmet cover as an option.