voidhawk

I've sent the final(?) beta to the people who showed an interest above; stay tuned...

Early feedback indicates that some of the regular (as opposed to the winter or tan add-ons) bitmaps may be missing; let me look into that before placing the mod on a website. Thank you all for your interest so far - I will send you all an update as soon as I have it available. (If you don't want another big email let me know!)

Michael Dorosh - thanks for the offer, but I actually deliberately skipped those when generating the annotated bitmaps. That way when you click on a vehicle you can use the textured side view as a reference to the annotated 3d model.

I was able to shrink the zip file down to about 2M (most mods for the kbyte!) and sent version beta 3 to the folks who showed an interested above. Let me know if you don't receive the file soon.

After having just very recently received CMBB, I created a new set of annotated bitmaps for all the base vehicles (i.e no winter or tan textures) in the game. You may remember I did a similar thing for CMBO, but unfortunately I no longer have my website... This is a rather specialised mod that replaces all the vehicle textures with a colour-coded set of checkerboarded textures (16x16 pattern) that also contain the numbers of the bitmaps as part of the textures. So, by applying this mod, you can see right away what textures are used for any vehicle, and how those textures are mapped to the 3d model. I'm still refining the resulting bitmaps, as the much larger number of files involved (2836 CMBB vs. 768 for CMBO) means the entire zipped set is still a little larger than I'd like...5.4M to be precise. In the meantime, if a small number of people would like to take a "beta-tester" look at the mod, please let me know here and I will send you the mod in another day or so (make sure you can receive emails that large!) In the long term, assuming there is further interested in this mod, it would be great if somebody could host it on a mod website. I could also probably come up with a CMMOS compatible set as long as I know what file name convention to use, although as this is a global mod CMMOS may not be the best mechanism to use in this instance. I personally just make a copy of the bmp directory, and extract the zip to the copy, and then rename the directories such that the "active" one is always "bmp". You do need about 700M free disk space to make that copy though! [ October 20, 2002, 11:38 PM: Message edited by: voidhawk ]

You are right; it probably is: if (EfowIsOn()) { ++Easiness; }

SuperTed himself seems to have disappeared? Has anybody heard from him lately? My emails to him have gone unanswered so far. YankeeDog and I are slogging it out around turn 18 of 28 in an infantry-heavy battle. And when I say infantry, I mean all kinds of infantry...

Try clicking on the headings there, i.e. "Battles", "Operations", etc. Had me stumped for a while too

Thanks for making all these AARs available, and in such a nice format too. I have enjoyed reading (and watching) them so far, and will continue to learn from them as the tournament progresses. I know how much time can go into creating AARs, so all the effort is much appreciated.

I used to have this problem; updating my drivers did the trick.

Yes, the irony was not lost on me...

Thanks Leta and Walker (and for your AARs too!). Now, if somebody could host these AARs on a website somewhere, I would be happy to add some screenshots of key events for my AAR(s)...hint hint?

Just wondering if anybody other than Ted and the most recent participants reads these AARs, as it takes a lot of time and effort to put them together...

*** AAR for "The Crucible"; Newbie Reject Finals *** Allied - voidhawk, Axis - Silvio Manuel *** The Scene *** Imagine a square map, entirely covered with buildings, city streets and the odd areas of open ground or scattered trees. Imagine this map to be roughly symmetrical about its top-left/lower-right axis, with 4 VLs along the sides of this diagonal. Imagine a night battle in the rain, with top-notch troops carrying demo charges and FOs with big arty who can't possibly see their targets unless they wish to be hit by their own shells. Imagine flamethrowers lighting up the night sky. Imagine the safe map edge (i.e. the withdraw direction) being towards the enemy's side. You have just imagined "The Crucible". *** Initial forces & setup *** A company of engineers, with 3 flame throwers, A sniper (useless with these short LOS!), A 240mm (!) FO, loaded with ammo And oh yes, all units are veteran or better, and start off padlocked... One of the VLs on my side is in the lower-right corner; the other is near the center of the map, with the other 2 VLs being diametrically opposite (i.e. upper left corner etc). All are in good defensible locations, in that the enemy would have to cross open streets to get to them. This does not help me, as I am 5 points down after the first game, and so need to either cause lots of casualties, or go on the offensive. I can not expect my opponent to come waltzing in and provide me the needed target practice, so I decide to focus on first setting up good defensive positions in the buildings in front of the lower right VL and the area between the center and lower-right VL using 2 platoons. I'm not too concerned about the center VL as it is surrounded by lots of open space and would be almost suicidal to attack. I will send the remaining platoon with FT support scouting towards the upper left VL, if for no other reason than to prevent my opponent from sneaking around my left flank unnoticed. Later, (when the promised reinforcements arrive) I plan to advance on the upper-left VL in force and try to flank my opponent's remaining forces. *** Surprise! *** At turn 4, as my troops ahead of the lower-right VL are moving into their defensive positions, multiple enemy units are sighted in the buildings they just moved into, and in the buildings I have not occupied yet - right on my front door! That is a surprise; how did they get there that fast?! A chaotic close-range fire fight breaks out, and casualties are taken on both sides. Amids the confusion 2 of the buildings on the far right catch fire, and my forces manage to catch the culprit and destroy it - an FT unit! The fighting ends a turn later as quickly as it started, with the Axis forces retreating but leaving behind more casualties than I suffered it seems. My defensive position is actually enhanced by those 2 buildings set on fire, as they now block a sneak attack along the far right map edge. That is a good thing, as my forces in that corner are now less strong than they were before, and would probably not be able to withstand another such attack at this time. In the meantime, my forces scouting towards the upper left corner have a run-in with a couple of enemy squads on reaching the heavy building on the top-left corner of the Twin Parks square. Apparently there is some disagreement as to who owns that property, but this is soon resolved as the resulting close-combat with demo charges reduces the property value to such an extent that both parties withdraw back to buildings on either side of the disputed property. *** Reorganization *** A company of '45 rifles with a LMG. .50HMG, a 105mm and 155mm FO arrive in the lower-left corner at the end of turn 5, and are soon put to work. Two of the platoons head up to the upper-left corner for my promised VL offensive. The remaining platoon and LMG units are sent to the lower-right corner to bolster the depleted defenses there. The .50MG is sent to the center VL building as it has a nice clear view across the Twin Parks. Turn 10 finds my assault force in position just across the street from the upper-left VL; I intend to keep them as close together as possible for maximum short-range effect. The previously disputed heavy building is now up in flames! I'm glad I moved out those troops earlier. This is also somewhat of a bonus, as it also blocks the obvious path for enemy units to advance on my center VL. So far enemy FTs have done me more good than harm it seems. In the lower-right corner I have set up a forward screening force in the buildings previously occupied by the Axis forces in turn 4. They are backed up by FTs slightly ahead and either side of my VL there, and also by the LMG in the building behind them. I feel good about this position. My only concern at this point is arty - those big shells can cause a lot of havoc if they fall in the wrong places. But, with the extremely limited LOS, all arty is bound to be highly inaccurate, and I will not make mention of any of the ongoing shelling (which continues pretty much throughout the entire game) unless it actually has some impact. (Heh!) The trick with the arty is to make sure that the target point is sufficiently far ahead of my own units (so that I don't hit them by accident) but at the same time not so far ahead that I can't hit any intended targets. This will prove to be a delicate balance for both sides... *** Despair *** My assault on the upper-left VL starts of well in turn 11, with all 5 squads assigned to that task moving in to the buildings to the left of the VL building. Not surprisingly, they come under fire from units in the VL building itself, but they in turn come under fire from a couple of squads I left behind just for that purpose. The only small problem is that I left one of the HQ units behind across the street, and it will now have to cover the open area all by itself and is unable to provide C&C for the units in the building across the street. The light building is quite crowded and not a safe place to be (coming under close-range fire from the enemy units in the heavy VL building), so I move most of the squads there into the next heavy building, which will also provide for a good flanking positions. But - disaster strikes! As my units are moving into positions, the heavy building is suddenly set on fire, and my units flee for their lives into the open. Remember, the safe map edge is ahead of me, so those units flee to the far edge of the map. At the same time the remaining units in the light building start to panic and run right towards the enemy VL building, and are promptly mown down, including both HQ units. The only positive news is that I manage to take out the FT unit and a squad in the process of the hurried burning building evacuation process, but I am left with only remnants of 2 squads in the buildings behind the enemy VL. I essentially just lost 3 squads and their HQs, and left 2 others much depleted. Just to add insult to injury, my 240mm arty, which was aiming at the general area to the upper-right of that VL, manages to hit a small building containing one of my elite engineer squads (one of the supporting ones) and wipes it out in one swell foop. It appears I also destroy a couple of enemy units across the street who happen to be moving between buildings, but that is a small consolation for losing the best part of an entire company. This is indeed a dark hour for the Allies. *** Back on the defensive **** While I'm sulking about my losses, the enemy takes matters into their own hands and start advancing both in the top-left corner (where I just lost that squad to my own arty, and hence opened a gap in my line there) and in the lower-right corner where various enemy units bump into my screening force. The upper-left advance is soon put to an end by my second line units there (mainly HQ units), but my lines are thin and I move the remaining squads into better defensive (as opposed to offensive supporting) positions, including the FT unit I have there. My fear is that a concerted enemy attack could blow right through my lines and flank my lower-right positions. My lower-right screening force is in no shape to stay where it is, as enemy units are seen all around. They withdraw (well, run, remember - withdraw is ahead!) back into the buildings around the VL and wait for the enemy to to start their assault. The drawback is that I lose sight of exactly where they are, but they really have nowhere to go but towards me, and my FTs, LMG and 4 depleted squads are waiting with ambush markers set on the streets in front of them at turn 15. Those burning buildings on the far right are really coming in handy now, as I do not have to waste units defending that area. In effect, the only 2 buildings the enemy can use as an offensive springboard are surrounded on three sides by my units, and are within reach of my FT units... *** Revenge! *** Turn 16. Ah, sweet revenge! Enemy units in both buildings are spotted by my FT units, and the right-hand building is promptly set on fire. Enemy units come fleeing out towards me (that reverse friendly map edge thing again), and come under fire from not just the FT units again (I have never seen so much FT action!) but also from the other assorted units that are just waiting for that very event. It is a real bloodbath, and in the end only one remnant of an enemy unit survives the cross fire and runs away to my map edge. Some enemy units are also attacking the heavy building just to the left of the now burning building, and my depleted forces there fight back well but are taking casualties and are in real danger of being over run. But then in a double-revenge move, enemy shells start falling in that very same area and take out all enemy units assaulting my building! The whole area is littered with enemy casualties and my casualties have been relatively light. How soon my despair over my earlier failed assault turns into hope that I now still stand a chance (remember, I have a 5-point deficit to make up). I feel that if I can hold my positions I stand a good chance of winning - but there are 6 more turns to go, and a lot of enemy arty still to fall. *** Under siege *** Enemy shells of all calibers start falling around my positions in the lower-right corner, and some of them land close enough to, or right on top of buildings such that I incur some casualties and/or need to vacate heavily damaged buildings in a rush, as I obviously don't want my troops to be in them when they are destroyed (it might cause them to do the dreaded "forward-withdraw" too). I try to strike a compromise between keeping troops safe and at the same time re-building my defensive positions. Turn 19 finds enemy units advancing through the line of buildings along the right side of Twin Parks, including right into the heavy building that I successfully defended in the turn 16 action, but proved to dangerous (for me) to defend any further. My arty, which I have targeted in such a manner that short-landing shells should hit those buildings, manages not to do so, and most shells land long, not doing any damage as far as I can tell. In the meantime the enemy, presumably thinking that my center VL location can not be that well defended, rushes 2 units up to it right across the Twin Parks area (or perhaps they are spooked out of shelled buildings?). Anyway, they are soon cut down by cross fire from both the .50 in the VL building and from a squad overlooking the Twin Parks from the left in the heavy building there. However, the enemy's idea (if that is indeed what it was) is not so bad it seems, as I only have one much-depleted squad guarding the right-hand approach to the center VL building (as well as the .50 and sniper in the building itself). I split up the squads guarding the now very quiet top-left corner, and rush some of them over to the suddenly active Twin Parks area. Around turn 21 enemy shelling forces my sniper to run from cover and right across Twin Parks; bad move! Continued shelling around my lower-right VL forces the units there to seek safety in less-damaged buildings which are no longer prime defensive locations. I can only hope that the enemy would not want to advance with those shells falling around them. The heavy building just taken over by enemy units there is blown up by a big shells; whose, I don't know! This also takes some pressure of the lower-right area, as another potential jumping-off point is now gone. I'm almost out of HE ammo at this point, which is a shame as my 240mm FO (which still had some shells) is taken out when an enemy shell destroys the heavy (!) building he is in. *** End game *** The enemy has one last surprise for me - more units - that make a last-minute rush from the right-hand side of the Twin Parks to the light building just to the right of my center VL. That building is only defended by a 1-man squad (suffering from HE and direct fire from enemy units) and a company HQ. Although they fight gallantly, and inflict many enemy casualties, they are soon overrun and destroyed or pinned down by the assaulting units, which are themselves supported by yet more enemy units in the buildings on the right of Twin Parks. I have one small surprise of my own - I sneak one of those left-over units hiding behind the enemy's top-left VL closer to the building, hoping (with the help of my other unit already close by) to at least contest that VL in case there are not too many troops left there. *** Outcome *** The top-left and my center VLs are indeed left contested; the other VLs are left one each; no surprise there. So, it is all up to the casualties suffered: Axis - 236 (61 KIA), 47 OK Allied - 186 (51 KIA), 94 OK I understand now that the enemy has concentrated just about all remaining units into that final attack, while I have units left scattered all over the map. Final score: Axis 41, Allied 53: Allied Minor Victory, but more importantly, enough to overcome my 5-point deficit from the first game. Thanks to Silvio Manuel for a very entertaining (but stressful!) game, and Ted for thinking up such a nasty, nasty scenario. *** Final thoughts *** Flamethrowers rule low-vis city fighting. All attacks that failed did so because of flamethrowers scattering the attackers. The heavy arty presence was kind of overkill on this map, especially considering that all shelling was very inaccurate. I felt that it added too much of a random factor to the game. Although the all-infantry battle was certainly fun, I could imagine the same map being used with mixed infantry and light armour-type forces. Throw in some roadblocks and/or player-determined A/T mines and A/T teams and it would be a whole new game. And oh yes, some FT vehicles!

And such a nice pose too!

Hmm, very quiet here. Too quiet. Last day of the various Newbie Tournament finals, and not a peep from Ted...no updates on CMHQ either...any Ted sightings anywhere?

Please don't post details yet as there is still a game in progress!!!

I'm awaiting the very last movie from Silvio Manuel for "The Crucible". Life is very tense, and has been since turn 2.

I have a very detailed first 16 turns of the game so far (17k!), then a gap, and somewhere on a computer (I'm not exactly sure which one :eek: ) a detailed end-game. I suspect it may all be just too much, and I may end up summarising it with a more general AAR, as you kind of "had to be there" to appreciate the details anyway. (Hi Silvio Manuel )

I tried 16-tap anisotropic filtering (using the NVmax freeware tweak program) on a GeForce 2 GTS, and the results were about the same as with 2x2 anti-aliassing enabled. However, the anisotropic mode introduced spurious extra pixels along the movements path etc. lines, and also twinkling pixels at the boundaries of transparant areas. I did not see any noticeable change in frame rate between those two modes, but that was just by looking and scrolling around a wooded map. Visual quality looked about the same too. The visual anomolies with anisotropic filtering enabled bothered me, so I'm back to 2x2 FSAA.

Amazing! In our game, after just 16 minutes there had already been so much action that I had almost run out of tanks, and both sides had suffered major infantry casualties. I was actually wondering at that point if I had enough left to even make it to 30 turns. Not that losing most of my tanks was a good thing, mind you. I am over it now, really, I am. Well, almost. They were in ambush postions too. Did I mention I was over it already?

Turned out one of those rear flags was not so secure after all In the end Silvio owned one VL; all the others remained contested. It was a real cliff-hanger and a suitable finale to a very exciting game. I'm sure our next game will be just as much fun!

My shins are still sore. And Silvio won that duel he mentioned; now my forehead hurts too Onto turns 29 and 30!

I used to have the same problem (with an NVIDIA card). This was my problem - and yes, I was using the Deanco "fix". The solution for me was to upgrade my drivers from 6.50 to whatever was current a couple of months ago. No more problems (W98). voidhawk

Problem fixed with new NVDIA drivers.