Erwin

I don't pop in here that often anymore, but saw this thread and wanted to chime in with my wishlist for Combat Mission. And it is three items long. This post will likely seem far longer than three wishes warrant, but I want everyone to get their money's worth
Wish 1: Campaigns
I used to play a lot of Combat Mission, going back to CMBO and on through most of the following WW2 titles. To get it out of the way, I love CM gameplay. For me it's the finest tactical wargame toolbox going. I can still, after nearly 20 years, remember specific moves I made playing the CMBO demo scenario over PBEM with one of my best mates. It takes a great game to have that sort of staying power in my limited memory. I say this to show that what I criticize is done out of a desire to see Combat Mission evolve, not out of contempt.
About 6 months ago I built a new PC. I have not reinstalled any CM title, which means this is the first PC I have used since CMBO that didn't have any CM games installed on it. And for me it comes down to content. Single scenarios don't light my fire. Campaigns are what interests me, and I've played them all. That might sounds like BS, but I mean literally, I've played every campaign that I could find for the titles I have. And honestly, that's not so absurd, as there aren't very many. Some I loved, some I didn't. Some were completed, but not all.
CM campaigns, with their episodic nature, lack replayability.  There are AI plans, sure, but moving the AT gun to a different spot doesn't make the scenario all that different really, and even then the designer needs to implement them in the first place.  Still the same forces, same map, same objectives. So I play it, either like it or don't, and then never play it again. The unknown is no longer. If I know the enemy has three tanks, and I've destroyed three tanks, I can deduce they have no tanks left. The uncertainty that makes each probe or advance so nail-bitingly thrilling is eliminated by prior experience.
Some of the campaigns are really well done, especially given the limitations of the engine, rules and toolset. But once played, I have no desire to try them again. Combine that with the very limited pool of campaigns available and you're left with nothing to play. I took a break of a couple years from CMBN. When I came back engine 4 had just been released. I ponied up the 10 clams and very excitedly went to find new campaigns to play. What a huge disappointment. After two years or so away I could find nothing new. Maybe there were a couple. I was expecting dozens.
For a campaign player Combat Mission has gone stale in my view. Why is this? Are campaigns so time-absorbing and difficult to make that few even attempt it? Are potential designers put off by the fact that what they finally do make didn't or couldn't match their vision? Are they left uninspired or dissatisfied by the process? Whatever the reason, the player base is left with little new, unseen content to tackle.
Well, I could just make my own campaign you might say. I could, but I don't want to, mostly because by designing each scenario myself, all of the uncertainty is once again gone. So that won't do. It's something you do for the good of the community, not for yourself to play I reckon.
For me this needs to change in order for Combat Mission to evolve. And for me there is only one practical way to do it. A dynamic campaign generator. The player needs to be unshackled from the tether that binds him to the mercy of folks generous and talented enough to provide this content for us. We need a way to create this content for ourselves, free of the laborious methods currently required, methods that remove any sense of mystery should we then want to play it ourselves. The current model doesn't work in my opinion.
If Battlefront won't give us this content (and I am not expecting it necessarily) and instead rely on talented players to do it while providing tools that don't make it easy, then it's clear a new way is required. For me, the single most important and needed advance in the Combat Mission series is a way for players to quickly and easily generate the content they are interested in.
I want to fire up Combat Mission, whip up say a company-sized campaign for US paras and have at it for the next two or three weeks. Persistent forces. Persistent map end-states. When I'm done I do it again, with whatever combinations I find interesting or intriguing. For me, this is the way forward. We have this amazing tactical simulator, but little focused content that I'm interested in, and I'd say my tastes are fairly broad. If Combat Mission had started three years ago I'd give it some slack. But after 19 years? it's beyond time to shake up how players get the content they are interested in playing. Put this in each player's hands, and cut that tether.
Wish 2: Artificial Intelligence
I stepped off my campaign soapbox as I'm going on too long, though there is more I'd like to say. But campaigns are reliant on the AI. The way it's done now, designers need to rely on placement and timing, and each scenario is playtested within an inch. Any subsequent changes to the engine tend to throw this off balance. If a scenario is designed with infantry acting a certain way to shellfire, and that reaction is later changed, it fundamentally changes how the scenario plays out. This needs to be disassociated from the design of the scenario. And the only way to do that which I can see is a good AI system, that allows units to decide for themselves how to proceed, not just acting on the whim of the scenario designer's vision. Combat Mission would improve exponentially in my opinion with a good AI, and it would be a fundamental requirement for a dynamic campaign generator. Until or unless the AI is redone, the campaign idea won't fly.
Wish 3: Combined Arms
I play campaigns as I've noted. But now and then I would enjoy a Quick Mission battle. Remember the Combined Arms setting for QMB? Where did it go? What happened to it? It was the only setting that both allowed me to fight a balanced AI opponent and at the same time not know ahead of time his composition (because I picked it).
I'll end with that. I could write pages of all the things I'd like to see in the next step for Combat Mission, but I'll spare you my ramblings. What I want most is a relatively simple way to create the content that interests me, in the format (campaigns) that I like, and do so without relying on anyone making it for me.
 

Am pretty sure that that were all included when I sent them to Bootie for CMMODS IV.  So, they will turn up.

Have found friendly fire casualties can be fairly common - caused mostly when a friendly "big gun" (50 cal and larger) fires on an enemy that is close to or in line of fire of a friendly - the friendly can easily get killed by proximity - eg: fire grazing the ground where the friendly inf is lying.
Care has to be taken using arcs etc and relative placement of friendly inf and vehicles to avoid the above (as much as possible).  Generally, you want to avoid having any friendly to be along the fire line of a "big" gun.

Weird.  I don't think anyone has noticed this before.  

Weird.  I don't think anyone has noticed this before.  

Well, you go find a man to do the heavy lifting work - like always...  Silly...

Also a revamp of the ACQUIRE system so that adjacent units could swap ammo (at least) with some limitations and time penalties - thus eliminating the non fun "make work" aspects of 1) split squads 2) embark several teams 3) ACQUIRE ammo and weapons 4) Disembark 5) reintegrate the squad 6) split the squad again to desired teams.
Also would like to see a "Wait in Ambush to shoot, then scoot to cover" order for snipers and AT teams.

Some of started with CM1 in 98/99 if that's what you mean.

Well Booties' new CMMODS 4 will have em.  But, it may take a while to get that up and running.  

Hi George...  Is this a "new, new" version, or the same version we chatted about a week or so ago?
(I just finished playing "v6" and it was xnt fun.  So, will be a bit sad if this is an improved version as am not sure if it's suitable for replaying.)

No causality implied but also good to keep in mind that the affected object is the most numerous flavor object on the map.
Was your map "just" large or did it also feature a ton of flavor objects either of a specific given type or in overall quantity?

However, I still remember when the same thing was said way back when about there being no chance of a CMSF update.  But, some of us kept lobbying for it and eventually...  So, there is always hope...  (ie: "Never say never...")

Assuming that you absolutely must go thru a forest the first tactic is to go very slow, stop for a minute or more and let your units listen for enemy sound contacts.  Once you hear an enemy, in CM2 that sound contact is an accurate location of an enemy unit.  One needs to AREA FIRE at the sound contact to suppress it while moving an assault element closer until positive ID is made and one can TARGET it (assuming your guys aren't firing at the enemy on their own initiative. 
If the scenario doesn't allow sufficient time to move thru a forest slowly and carefully, or have enuff ammo for a lot of AREA FIRE, then send nasty complaining e-mails to the designer.
 

Tent (All CM games)

 
 

I add everything to the same folder.
Do not download the complete folder multiple times. 

About Model Part Exchange and Mounting Different Weapon Stations and Guns
Stryker with 30mm Mount (Proof of Concept Prototype, no Release)

 
British Scorpion with 76mm cannon (released, part of Falklands Vehicle Collection)

Also see the UAZ MG, or the Jeep conversions for the H&E Mod.
1) Moving parts/turrets/weapons between existing models is pretty straight forward. Simply import the 2nd vehicle model you want to take a part from and remove it/ "unparent" and install/"parent" it on your target vehicle.
 2) With Blender/CM2T I´ve noticed that there is a tendency that when you move/install multi part gun/turret and then export your new model, there is a tendency for the gun/turret parts to get distorted in their position. You need to reimport, correct, reexport. This is perhaps required several times until all parts stay in place. 
3) When planning a vehicle modificaton involving new turrets and weapons naturally think about what vehicle you want to replace with it. The vehicle to be replaced should resemble the new weapon/turret characteristics. You don´t need to stay with the original military branch or even nationality as Combat Mission enables scenario designers to setup missions with mixed forces involving ALL branches, factions, Bluefor/Redfor assets at the same time for one side.
4) Also its good to put your new vehicle in context of its environment and technology, especially when recreating specific time frames. For example with the 1967 Six-Day war vehicle collection a good choice would be to do a Red vs Red and replace all the oldest Syrian Tank slots with the Arab/Israeli tanks and then pitch them against each other. The oldest Syrian vehicles don´t come with this superior optics and the ability to kill everything on the battlespace in matter of seconds which then results in a more authentic depiction.  It isn´t hard to guess that replacing a new gen M1A2 or T72T-T/T90 with a Arab T-34  would result in a tank that over-performs in its 67´ environment. Alot factors can also be influenced by crew experience.
5) Don´t forget to turn "Export Metadata" on when your vehicle has tire wheels or track wheels. Check Blender tutorial in this thread to understand importance and current limitation of this setting. 
And yes technically it would be possible to depict the Korean War with replacing all CMWW2 German assets with existing Soviet Red Thunder assets (preferably waiting for the Late War RT module) to create an US/Commonwealth vs Soviet-equipped force situation. it would require some consideration on what to replace with what, alot of file renaming, and considering how to set the experience levels to depict the conflict in a best possible way but it could be done. Furthermore the H&E mod advances and assets will open up more options for Asian scenarios.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1tviryry89g6py7/AAAJpSvGH6u1iEx4WzwVLSnJa?dl=0
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Agho21MGTssHaTHHgpIcaQWqWpU?e=5rKEzK

Erwin,
That's because they're not proper English bugs!  But here's what you've missed. Be sure to enjoy the pillar of grasshoppers and the fact the Forbes article writer doesn't know what UV light is.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2019/07/29/las-vegas-invasion-grasshoppers-swarms-may-last-weeks/#4f08a6667dc9
 
Regards,

John Kettler

Tiger Late with Woodland/Snow Camo
- a camo port of the previous one for the late Tiger with standard woodland + [snow] tagged version added.
- should work in all CMWW2 games as AFAIK they all have the late Tiger.
- alignment wasn´t modified from the previous mod and thus is not perfect as obviously the late Tiger is different from the early one.
- commander hatch now without issues, perhaps something wrent wrong in the previous camo net release one as the "origin" (the three colored arrows in blender) of the hatch was not placed at the hinge of the hatch (thanks @sbobovyc for the info).
- the video shows just a light snowy base skin but for the demo its okay. The camo nets would look more beautiful with a proper snowy Tiger skin.
 
Simple method to create snow and desert skins in seconds in GIMP 2
1) GIMP2 free photoshop tool
2) With it open your texture of interest
3)Decide if you want to modify the complete texture, or select specific parts of the texture, or temporarily cut out parts you don´t want to colorize (vehicle lights etc.) and paste them in back in place when you´re done.  
4a) Upper UI -> Colors -> Desaturate -> Colors to Gray will turn it into a snow skin
4b) Upper UI -> Colors -> Desaturate -> Sepia will turn it into a desert skin
5) done and save it
6 optional) refine it further (some good options are color-> saturation/brightness and contrast/hue chroma)


And be a cool guy and provide your creations to the community by either uploading it to CMMODS, clouds, or file hosters. Some options just take seconds and don´t be afraid about people being judgemental, The majority of the CM community are happy about every mod or skin.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1tviryry89g6py7/AAAJpSvGH6u1iEx4WzwVLSnJa?dl=0
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Agho21MGTssHaTHHgpIcaQWqWpU?e=5rKEzK
 
 

Ok - thanks for the clarification.  Keep up the fabulous work! 
 

MT-LBM-6MA (MT-LB V2) Release (CMSF2 and CMBS)
Desert

Green (CMBS Original with Added Gear) 

The MT-LBM-6MA comes with a 14.5 and 7.62mm dual weapon turret. I didn´t know that this vehicle variant existed in CMBS but it is a perfect match for SF2´s BTR.
- desert and green version available
- hatches corrected
- random gear added, gear comes with a dedicated gear texture which is only used by this MT-LB and which can be customized for example to make it greener
- replace the dedicated gear texture with a blank.bmp to remove the gear.
- new model can be used in CMBS alike, just rename the .mdr files to "mt-lbm-6ma.mdr" and "mt-lbm-6ma-lod-x.mdr". Hatches may behave different when disembarking as this is optimized for CMSF2´s BTR. However the often for model swaps troubling "Open Up" should work fine as it required no change.
- this model - no matter if used in CMSF2 or CMBS - is compatible with the already existing CMBS MT-LB texture mods out there. Replace the textures in the folder as you see fit.
- hatches are optimized for a BTR-60 replacement but it can also used for other vehicles such as the BRDM-2 (less passenger capacity). If you want to use it alongside my Makeshift APC mod I recommend to use the MT-LB for the BTR and the Makeshift APC for the BRDM-2.
- both versions in the clouds. I removed my old MT-LB mod.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1tviryry89g6py7/AAAJpSvGH6u1iEx4WzwVLSnJa?dl=0
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Agho21MGTssHaTHHgpIcaQWqWpU?e=5rKEzK
 
@Erwin The vehicles, skins, weapons, conversions you can use as simple "Z modfolder" jobs. The flavor objects need also to be placed in the Z folder but you shouldn´t do this blindly. They are primarily dedicated to scenario and campaign creators which then can replace specific flavor objects with them them and modtag them for their scenarios.
However "private users" still can use them but it requires extra work. You can basically open every scenario in the editor and place your own flavor objects into these missions without getting spoilered about enemy forces and positions. But it requires some knowledge about flavor objects and where to expect them. I started a scenario lately that features a radar station landmark, so I opened it in the editor and added the radar station. I often replace traffic light flavor objects as these are almost never used in rural/open terrain and they come with an excellent draw distance. But no matter if open or urban terrain with a good eye there are always unused flavor object slots with a good draw distance to be found for these personal edits. With some practice this just takes a minute.
blank.bmp

https://www.marcorsyscom.marines.mil/News/News-Article-Display/Article/1505738/marines-to-receive-more-m27s/
I think I saw some decent A2 models on CadNav
Would definitely make for a better swap.

I´ve just exchanged ideas with @3j2m7 about depicting the Balkan War or Israeli-Arab conflicts and noticed that I forget to mention this mini mod:
Six-Day War Vehicle Collection (Stug, Jagdpanzer, Pz. IV, T-34, T-55, Sherman, all with desert skins)
Similar to the Falklands vehicle conversion minimod this was also created. It includes Arab Stug, Jagdpanzer, T-34, and T-55 and the Israeli Sherman. If scenario designers should pick this up, they replace the static T-54 and static T-55 but keep in mind that there is no way to limit the fire arc of the STUG/Jagdpanzer so if you use them then only for the AI and place them in tank emplacements which limit their fire arc via terrain. A total conversion with infantry etc. if one would be interested should be certainly doable as most modern conflicts from post WW2 to up this date work pretty good with CMSF2s capabilities. Many infantry weapons of this war are already to be found in the various CM games. A Red vs Red scenario would be likely the best base and with the force selection trick you can also use further bluefor vehicles (and their reskinned/relocalized crews) if really required. You can do Red vs Red quickbattles and by human purchase and setup these tank battles fairly quick. Just have in mind what replaces what.
M1200 Armored Knight V2 for Recon Humvee

I think this was my first Blender modification created 3 weeks ago. Corrected hatches and removed the M2. Desert + Woodland Skin version.
MT-LB, BTR-70, BTR-70M, BTR-80 for BTR-60 Conversion

Replace your BTR-60 with other Russian APC with custom skins. Good for some enemy variety. (Credit to Euroscape authors for the BTR-70 skin). MT-LB swap is not very realistic as the real MT-LB has no 14.5mm. 
SPG Makeshift Car
One of the first models.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1tviryry89g6py7/AAAJpSvGH6u1iEx4WzwVLSnJa?dl=0
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Agho21MGTssHaTHHgpIcaQWqWpU?e=5rKEzK

Newest Release/Technique:

Okay a pair of Syrian soldiers and this radar station. Nothing new but look at the ground on the left. Here is a demonstration video what this is:
Terrain Cover
What it looks like in the editor:

This is basically a floating terrain object that allows to cover underground spaces or buildings.
Possibilities:
- Hide stashes or caches under them in caves which then need to be located by the player
- create underground tunnel systems
- create underground bunkers and basements
- the cover texture can be easily switched by any terrain or building ground texture or a new one can be created.
- if you have troubles with editor placement remove the blank.bmp texture which makes the primer shelter invisible
- with some size and height adjustments in Blender cover can be provided for deeper underground systems.
- its not hard to be located by the player, especially due to shader differences but it is still a nice method to get some underground/tunnel action into CM.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1tviryry89g6py7/AAAJpSvGH6u1iEx4WzwVLSnJa?dl=0
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Agho21MGTssHaTHHgpIcaQWqWpU?e=5rKEzK

Ruins Pack Release (WW2 + Modern)
High 

 
Low 

Use it so or combine it with visible/invisible Buildings, Walls, Emplacements, Wrecks etc. for LOS/Fire/Movement block and additional cover. Can be customized, textured, resized like all projects here.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1tviryry89g6py7/AAAJpSvGH6u1iEx4WzwVLSnJa?dl=0
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Agho21MGTssHaTHHgpIcaQWqWpU?e=5rKEzK

This will do for the CM2 graphics what MOS's amazing designs did for gameplay.  Very exciting.