Peter Panzer

Not to seem ungracious less than a week after the release of v2.11 but... Normal Dude mentioned there is presently a small patch in production for Fortress Italy, which seems like it is focused on eliminating several of the visual oddities that have crept into the latest build. Will there be a corresponding version for the Normandy game? I sure hope so, it would be a great little bow to place atop the more performance centric 2.11 patch. From the outside looking in, it seems like it could be a quick hitter that would knock out pesky distractions like... Cover Arcs not functioning with halftrack based flak vehicles The heads of gunner models on halftracks snapping forward when the idle animation loops The 2nd wheel on the right side of the PSW 231 not spinning when the vehicle is in motion The commander's arm of the PSW 223 "clipping" though the turret of the vehicle model Floating MG42 (heavy) topcover assembly and bipod when the crew is movingIn any event, thanks for the continued support and clever know how that makes Combat Mission, hands down, the best tactical wargame on the market.

Since folks have already hashed out the key, big picture point about this change, I’ll add this tiny footnote: It looks like shifting the position of the gunner model induced a hiccup in the idle animation. Watch carefully and you’ll see the model’s head, at least for the German representation, quickly snap forward when the animation cycle loops. Glad to hear the overall, in-game effect is as intended though.

akd: I see you making the rounds on this forum quite a bit in a number of different areas, thank you for always being so helpful. George: There was a pretty low signal-to-noise ratio in that thread, but it was a reference point nonetheless. Thanks. Mikey: I understand how these vehicles were employed historically and I believe I understand how they were intended to function within the game - something must have got lost in translation when you read my post. In sum, this class of vehicle is handicapped by a known bug effecting the game's response to player issued cover arcs in relation to the proper traverse and orientation of the gun mounts. Stand by for the next patch. I'm relatively sure the sun will rise tomorrow and life will go on, but man, this is a personal bummer as the new flak vehicles and German light armor were my primary motivation for purchasing the Market Garden Module.

Befitting the title of this thread... The 2nd wheel on the right side of the PSW 231 does not spin when the vehicle is in motion. The commander's arm of the PSW 223 "clips" though the turret of the vehicle model.I was hoping these were caught and applied in time for the 2.11 patch, but they didn't make the cut. On the plus side, the crew of the M18 no longer protrudes through the turret of their vehicle.

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong, but it looks like the Cover Arc function does not work on the US and German halftrack based flak vehicles. I've observed the following with these five vehicles: Zugkraftwagon 8t 37mm Zugkraftwagon 8t 20mm Sdkfz 10/5 M16 M15 The weapon mounts become unresponsive at the forward limit of their rotation, near the driver's position, if a right facing cover arc is issued one turn and a left facing arc the next. It's as if the game doesn't know to simulate the mount rotating around the rear of the vehicle to switch sides and gets stuck trying to rotate over the front of the vehicle instead. Mounts do not revert to their default position (rear facing) like other AFV's when a cover arc is cancelled. Which makes trying to correct the issue above very difficult. Mounts do not align to the actual cover arc direction specified by the player. If an arc is assigned to a 90 or 270 degree position (directly over one of the sides of the vehicle) the mount will either rotate to the full limit of its traverse, near the driver's position or execute an incomplete rotation to the 120 or 240 degree positions.At the moment, this looks like a problem that renders an entire class of vehicles very difficult to use effectively or with any degree of fun, at least for me, within the game. If this does turn out to be a game issue, it's especially disappointing as it comes freshly on the heels of the v2.11 patch and it will likely be a long time until a correction would potentially be made. Have others experienced this as well? Is there a special technique one must use to get these vehicles to apply and respond to Cover Arcs?

Nice catch Rommel. This happens on the PSW 231 model too, but I believe akd reported it earlier this week. Small bugs like this re-emphasize just how many, for lack of a better term, "moving parts" there are to this game. Which brings me to this previously unpublished image of the BFC road wheel testers in the field. Just look at ‘em would ya? Gettin’ mud and god-knows-what all over their cute little outfits in service of OCD wargame nerds the world over. If you look closely, you can see the patch materializing out of the distant haze. I’m no MkVI drive train expert, but that looks like an entire “swing arm” and axle laying on the ground in front of that crew. Part of me wonders if the hole the guy is standing in is actually the resulting crater from a mine that just put the mush on their ride. I’m also guessing the rod in the foreground was used to leverage off the road wheels. Anything resembling expedient field repair and/or upkeep on those things must have been one colossal enema - smiles for the camera though.

Since BFC is so good at minding the small details, I’ll add these observations. I just purchased the Market Garden Module last weekend, so bear with me if these things have already been pointed out. The long tarp/canvas “shared gear” model that is randomly assigned to Commonwealth AFV’s floats above the rear engine deck when paired with the Daimler Dingo Scout Car. The commander's arm protrudes through the turret wall on the PSW 223 model. I don’t recall seeing this prior to the Market Garden Module. This is also noticeable with the new M18 turret/crew. I’m curious, is the PSW 231 model included with Market Garden the version intended for final distribution? I ask because there seems to be a bit more reliance on textures to give the illusion of 3D objects rather than actual parts of the model itself being “built up.” I noticed this particularly on the small ports on the turret (compare with artist's rendering below). Also, the MG34 is a blankly colored cylinder. This reminds me of the scaled down German AFV models accidentally packaged with the Commonwealth Module that were later replaced with much better versions. Perhaps this is all just the result of an intentional economy of effort, but I thought I would ask.

Aris: A few loosely connected comments… Watching your commitment and continuous improvement is almost as fun as using your work in-game. Seriously sir, you are ridiculously good and I am thrilled to see you enhancing the Market Garden content. I think the updated MkIV and more recent M4 packs you have shared are some of your best offerings yet. I hope you do include decal options every so often as they add an eccentric bit of character to the game. While division markings could be omitted, vehicle numbers and the occasional hull/turret artwork (your M5’s are brilliant) are always a flavorful treat to see among the virtual hedgerows. Thanks for the Pak40 and British towed ATG’s. They aren’t the most sexy pieces of hardware in the game, but they featured prominently in the types of engagements Combat Mission portrays. Here’s looking forward to seeing you turn your attention to the German Flak vehicles and Marder I and II at some point. While there are far fewer modders for CMx2, those who do contribute make up for the lack with wonderfully high quality work and you continue to be chief among them. We are very lucky to have you - keep having fun and raising the bar!

Rambler: Thank you and congratulations on completing this project, I know it was a long time coming! Personally speaking, I think your versions of the M1A1 carbine and M1903A4 knock it out of the park - you continue to have a great eye for detail. So, when are you and LukeFF going to host a private range session and barbecue to let us all run some rounds through this mods real life counterparts?

Fuser: Do you have any interest in weathering the US and Commonwealth small arms and crew served weapons (M1919, Vickers, etc.)? I love what you did with the German weaponry for CMFI.

I had to laugh upon reading that, as I recall many hours of blissful diversion in the library stacks reading about Kampfgruppe Peiper and the fighting in the Ardennes when I should have been focusing on material more directly related to my thesis! I stumbled onto Beyond Overlord via the more unconventional route of the tactical shooters of the period: Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear, SWAT 3 and the original Ghost Recon. Like most of you, I have always been drawn to games that have a go at presenting as much fidelity to the real world as the developers can muster. Combat Mission opened up the possibility to experience admirable levels of realism well beyond the fireteam without getting into the impersonal abstractions operational level games dissolve into. Once I got a taste of faithful reproductions of platoon and company level combined arms actions I was hopelessly snagged. I'm not sure I qualify as a "Gamer" given that CMBN is the only title I own, but if there is another piece of software out there that even comes close to what BFC delivers I certainly am not aware of it. This is to say nothing of the generously gifted modding circle and helpful online community that adds other facets of appeal to the experience. To that end, I wish BFC nothing but continued success and I hope Combat Mission is a labor of love. What's more, I eagerly look forward to them resurrecting the long dead squad-based shooter genre!

I happened across this video the other day and thought it might be of value to folks 'round these parts. While I cannot verify that every second of footage is, in fact, from the "Battle of Caen," based on still images and B/W film I have seen from the period it appears that a worthy portion of it actually is. On the whole, it's also some of the cleanest and more vibrant HD combat footage I have seen alleging to depict the Normandy fighting. Whether it's the colors for the modders, the terrain for the mapmakers or simply a compelling reminder the events we dramatize on our computers had consequences for real people, I hope this short piece is informative! If you liked the one above, here are a few similarly produced videos, albeit more slanted to the German perspective, from the same author: The Atlantic Wall (if nothing else, note the eggs-ala-panzer at 3:25)

This is tangentially related at best, but another support weapon team issue I noticed with v2.0 is that mortar team and ammo bearers for British Airborne forces are rendered using the British Infantry models. Hopefully, this has already been noted and will be addressed in a v2.01 build.

AlexUK: I transitioned from a PC to a 2012 iMac earlier this month and I can tell you unequivocally the observation above is spot on. I was planning on a Win7/OSX Bootcamp setup anyways so I simply installed my existing copy of CMBN on the Windows side. Presently, you will not see the advantages of antialiasing or ansiotropic filtering if you elect to go with a dedicated OSX install. In fact, attempting to apply the former in Mountain Lion caused the Mac Demos (CMBN and CMFI) to lock up most unpleasantly on my machine. That said, CMBN/CW/2.0 on the 2012 iMac via a Win7 install looks absolutely amazing and performs as exquisitely as it appears. I have also applied numerous mods and the advanced shaders from the CMFI hotfix resulting in what is, without a doubt, the best Combat Mission experience I have had since discovering CMBO over ten years ago! While Apple has made strides with the latest iMac, in my opinion, it's still preferable to have a OSX side for work/productivity and a Windows side for gaming. Ultimately, you will have to decide for yourself what balance of visual quality and performance gets you to your happy place. If possible, see if you can try the demo on a PC and experience the difference for yourself.

It would also be great to see some degree of randomization to the gear portrayed on the Commonwealth infantry models as it does not seem they got the "2.0" treatment. This is really up to BFC to implement properly as it already occurs with the US and German infantry, but perhaps an enterprising mod utilizing transparencies can achieve an interim solution. Relatedly, I'm not entirely sure the randomization of externally stowed gear works for Commonwealth vehicles either. For example, the CW Shermans look sterile in comparison to the depictions of the US M4's. Of course, Rambler's small arms mod for the CW infantry would be a big plus too. I know he was working on this at one time and seemed to be achieving very nice results.

As a newcomer to OSX (Montain Lion) and CMBN, am I correct in saying there are no options to manually apply antialiasing with a Nvidia GPU? I am strongly considering purchasing a 2012 iMac (Nvidia 680MX, 2GB GPU), however I am not sure what use the visual benefits of such a capable graphics processor are if, in the end, the edges of the models are still displayed in a jagged/blurred fashion. Could some of you more experienced OSX players give me a better sense of what I could expect from the game visually if the Nvidia GPUs operating under OSX cannot be manually set like they can in Windows - perhaps even share screenshots with a specific emphasis on antialiasing capability? Does the high resolution of the 2012 iMac (2560x1440 native) offset the need for antialiasing? Thanks for helping me get a better understanding.

Aris, you're a great sport about all of this! I'm still routinely impressed by your consistency and drive - what's more, your aesthetic just nails it everytime! Depending on your plans, I'm hoping you will offer up a PAK40, FLAK36 and a revision to your floating icons in the time you have allotted yourself. Best of luck with your new home, that in and of itself can be quite an adventure!

No inconvenience here - thanks for being open to feedback and please keep up the amazing work!

Aris: It's great to see you applying your talents to the Normandy game once again! A few questions and hopefully constructive observations regarding your latest icon set if you don't mind: Are the icons for British and German combat engineers supposed to be the same (soldier carrying a panzerfaust)? Do you have time/interest to create dedicated icons for the British Sniper and Forward Observer that reflects the khaki/drab color scheme of the other British icons? Perhaps as additional "Use only with British" options. It looks like the latest upload was missing the FOW icon for British "Heavy Weapon" and the British Ammo Bearer icon was missing the bullet silhouette.Hopefully, this doesn't come across as nitpicking, but you strike me as a guy who appreciates detail and unity of design. Thank you again for your seemingly endless stream of gifts to the community!

Originally posted by Schrullenhaft: Perhaps this has already been addressed elsewhere, but what implications does this have for all of the present texture mods? Will they no longer function in-game after v2.0? Will they function, but not be bump-map capable? There's an awful lot of quality, user contributed work that would go by the wayside if the present texture format becomes totally obsolete/incompatible.

Lord almighty, and here I was worried that the ghost of Sam Houston had disposed of him in a bayou. This would be great if possible - perhaps there might be US, German and Commonwealth "packs" so as to break up the overall workload. You know, I'm trying to help here - it's not that I selfishly want those slick weapon textures on my hard drive ASAP. I'll add my thanks as well. Rambler, you put out some great stuff and your time is most definitely appreciated!

Rambler, our resident small arms texture guy, started on these way back when, but I suspect Real Life may have interceded in the meantime (original thread). I hope he is able to finish as his work injects additional life into the infantry combat just as Fuser's efforts invigorate the armor engagements. From what I can tell, the Webly, Sten(s) and Vickers HMG still need his sweet, ever lovin' touch. C'mon Rambler stop acting like a responsible, well-balanced adult and feed the insidious beast that is your inner wargame nerd!

Fuser: Your work and effort continues to be absolutely extraordinary - I really can't thank you enough for the manner in which you have improved the game experience for me. Since you are revisiting some of the CMBN models, do you have any interest in taking a swing at the Flak 36 and Pak 40 given that both pieces saw action in the British and Canadian sectors?

Rambler: I'm curious how this mod is coming along - might we see these files soon or is there a lot of work remaining? Your small arms textures for the base game are fantastic and it would be great to see the Commonwealth forces get up to speed.

Vein: Great to see you still kicking around - your Heer uniforms for CMBN are absolutely fantastic and, in my opinion, remain unsurpassed on many levels. If the time and motivation is there, the Commonwealth Module uniforms would certainly stand to benefit from your eye.