Philippe

I'm probably weeks away from being able to download anything, but I hope that when I do I'll find that you've got license plates for Luftwaffe, Wehrmacht, and SS on your trucks and kubelwagonen.

Disregard that last post. I just figured out where the mod. But I would still really like to see the original behind it, with any information that is available about the photograph.

For some reason my brain isn't working too well this week. Where exactly are we supposed to look to find that mod? I thought it was under Gautrek/other/all at cmmods, but it doesn't seem to be there. And is there any chance we could see the original photograph the mod was based on?

You may not have looked in the right place. All the cmbb scenarios from the old Scenario Depot were posted there, and are still there. There are about half a dozen zip files to download. Go to cmmods, go to cmbb, go to designer name padivine, go to all and then other (or maybe its the other way around -- I can't remember) and you'll see a bunch of files all named scenario depot salvage. Download all of them, but be aware that there are about half a dozen that need to be replaced. You won't miss anything for the moment, because you will have downloaded several hundred files.

It looks like it will be down until next week. Since you're new you should visit Madmatt's semi-unofficial site at combatmission.com. Another good site for more recent mods is Gautrek's site -- some of them are spectacular, and a lot of mods tend to migrate there whenever cmmods is down. In general you should poke around in the resources section (the fourth section down at the top right of this page) and follow some of the links.

I really wish the author of this thread could correct the faulty grammar in the title. It is really annoying to be constantly confronted with an infuriatingly simple SAT Verbal section question every time I glance at the list of CMBB threads. And since I have an unfair advantage in noticing this kind of thing because my original native language is NOT english, the problem is that the "of" in the title should be "have". The word "of" is not a verb in any language that I am aware of. Honest. Please do the needful before I turn into even more of a hopeless pedant than I already am.

The wrong-way sign essentially means that enough of the program is present to make CMMOS want to find a particular bmp number with cmmos extension in your cmbo bmp folder, but that it couldn't find what it was looking for when it tried. It probably doesn't guarantee that all of the program is in place, or that all of the required rules and rulesets are in place, or some combination of the two. So the bottom line is that to make sure that the programming will work, you're better off safe than sorry. My advice is that you go to the CMMOS section of Madmatt's semi-unofficial CMHQ (aka combatmission.com) and make sure you have downloaded all of the rules and all of the rulesets for cmbo cmmos. And it won't hurt to download the program itself if you have to (it's not that big) because I think what is on the website is slightly more recent than what was on the cd's. Just be sure you look in all of the right places in the cmmos section, because it is easy to get confused and overlook things. Once you have downloaded all the program, ruleset, and rule zips, shut down as much of your computer as you can. Then do the unzip and install routine. I mention this because that particular self-installer was very sensitive to programs running in the background. After you're sure you've got the program installed, make sure you have all the bmp zips downloaded. Unzip them to a nice safe neutral place, then copy and paste the bmp's (but only the bmp's) to the cmbo bmp folder. This is very different from how things work with cmbb cmmos. Cmbo cmmos is a manual process. In cmbb cmmos you have to use the configure button. In cmbo cmmos don't even think of touching the configure button. The configure button is not your friend, and it will confuse you even more than I do. If you meditate on this a couple of times a day and give it a try very calmly when you have a lot of time on your hands and aren't in a hurry, eventually you'll get the hang of it. Then you'll reach true wisdon and realize that, just like swallowing, it's easier to do than to describe. There's a version of cmmos at cmmods that was not put through the cmmos cabal's rigorous testing program, but that works on principles similar to cmbb cmmos. When you have mastered the versions that exist at cmhq to the point that you can switch back and forth at will and rewrite the rules and rulesets, then you will be ready for that version. For reasons that are too complicated to go into I prefer the cmhq version of cmmos, which is the one that I use. Note that about 85% of the mods that you would want to experiment with are in cmbo cmmos. The number drops to about 35% for cmbb cmmos, and is probably below 10% for cmak cmmos. These percentages will continue to go down, because new mods keep coming out and the cabal doesn't exist anymore. People sometimes bemoan this fact, and wonder why cmmos mods aren't being produced anymore. The reason is simple. The first two years I was involved with CM I did a lot of editing and as a result never had time to play the game. Editing and writing rules and rulesets is a thankless task and not much fun, and you eventually decide that since time is limited, you'd rather spend it playing and making your own mods, rather than fiddling with other peoples. A shame, because cmmos is really good at handling mod options.

I'm deep underwater studying for my Series 7 and trying to survive in a new job, so I can't respond to this in my usual fashion. However, if you do a search under my name and CMMOS you should come across several posts where I explain some of the ins and outs of getting CMMOS 4.03 to work (4.03 is the one you'll find at CMHQ). Essentially you have to have CMBO installed to C:\Program files\CMBO, and CMMOS 4.03 installed to C:\Program files\GEM Software productions\CMMOS. Other configurations are possible in theory, but too much trouble for me to talk you through. If you're talking CMBO CMMOS (as opposed to CMBB CMMOS) make sure everything is unzipped. Make sure the bmp's with the proper extensions have been placed in the bmp folder. They won't overwrite anything. If they aren't, the icons for that particular mod on the menu screen will have a big "wrong way" line drawn through it. Rule of thumb: you don't see an icon, you don't have the mod installed. Read all the CMMOS program notes several times. It is very necessary and will help you sleep. Don't use any CMMOS files from cmmods until you are sure you know what you're doing. Remember that to install a mod you have to hit the "Apply" button at the bottom of the control screen. CMBO CMMOS works differently than CMBB CMMOS. It is simpler and easier to set up, but not as elegant to use. If something doesn't happen when you expect it to, learn to read and interpret the CMMOS log file to figure out what might be going wrong. The log file will tell you interesting things like half the rule sets that you thought you had were installed incorrectly. But not succinctly. Search and Readme files are your friends. The CMMOS program was written by Gordon Molek, but it operates through a bunch of instructions (known as Rules and Rule Sets) that were written and tested by a group of editors in conjunction with Gordon. For one reason or another we've all had to move on with our lives.

There is interest in CMBO scenarios, but there will be even more interest if you construct the map from survey maps and aerial photographs, and use a few primary sources (or as close as you can get) for the OOB. The French are addicted to hiking and publish outrageously detailed maps that include all the contours. There are plenty of sources for modern aerial pictures, and quite a few wartime ones that will help you get the vegetation cover in the right place. Same goes to some extent for Germany. Kingfish is very, very good at this sort of thing, and you might want to get in touch with him for a few pointers.

First, to discuss this kind of thing meaningfully will require a bit more precision. Let me make a few comments that may help clarify things a bit. The CMBB Special Edition has two kinds of mods. First, it has a program called CMMOS 4.03, and a bunch of mods that only work with that program. Second, it has a bunch of stand-alone mods. CMMOS mods can only be installed through the CMMOS program. Stand-alone mods can be installed the old-fashioned way. Here's an example of the old-fashioned way: You see a mod somewhere that you like, probably on the web, probably at cmmods.com. You download it to somewhere safe and unrelated where you will be able to find it again. You make a folder and name the mod after that folder. You unzip the downloaded mod to that folder. Note that if you already have the mod, say, because it happens to be one of the Special Edition stand-alones, you just copy and paste the zip file to a safe place, and unzip to an appropriately named folder. I've written other posts about this in pornographic detail in some of the other threads, so if you search around a bit you're bound to stumble on one of my replies. Once you've unzipped the mod you want into a folder, it's usually a good idea to take a careful look at what is in that folder. Specifically, jot down on a piece of paper what the bmp file numbers are of the files that you're planning to install. Before you install anything, make a subfolder called something like "Mod I wanna install/BTS originals". Then, go into the cmbb/bmp folder and copy all of the bmp's which have the same numbers as the ones in the mod, and paste them into that sub-folder with the funny name. You will make lots of mistakes, especially early on, and if you've made a back-up it will spare you having to reinstall the game again because you messed up the mods. Now that you have a back-up, go back to your mod. Look in the folder. You'll see a bunch of things that aren't part of the mod. Usually this might consist of a readme file (which you should read -- they never tell you enough, but they're good for you), a jpeg example of what the mod looks like, and maybe a photographic image or two. The reason I mention this is that you don't want that stuff in your bmp folder when you copy it in. Now what you do is to simply copy the bmp's of the mod and paste them into the game's bmp folder. It will overwrite a bunch of stuff, but because you started by making back-ups, if you don't like the way it looks it will take you ten seconds to reverse yourself. Now what was that question again ?

I'm familiar with the term MLR from the early seventies, and didn't realize that it dated back to WWII. Did MLR change meaning over time? In seventies-speak MLR and FEBA were most certainly *not* the same thing. FEBA was your outpost line, where you picked off Soviet light vehicles. MLR was where your infantry was dug in (three alternate positions -- which is why I have trouble thinking it's gamey to split squads at the begining of a scenario to dig more foxholes).

I suspect the problem here is that we are dealing with an individual who is actually unfamiliar with books, the publishing industry, and writers. As a result he can't understand the difference between something produced by a starving writer hoping to eke out a living on the proceeds of his next advance (and whose ability to keep producing may depend on that cashflow), and the overpriced popular garbage that he probably listens to courtesy of an incredibly greedy popular music industry. I doubt that he has a thousand books in his home, and he certainly hasn't read that many in his entire life (apart from comic books). A reader would have more respect for writers. What more should we expect from someone who probably doesn't even know what a book is?

My experience as well. Of course, the going in reverse thing may just seem to be working because I always try to reverse slowly out of a bogging.

But the bottom line is that bogging is probably a misnomer. It probably describes the majority of cases accurately enough, but covers a multitude of sins. And yet I could have sworn that vehicles that move on Fast have a higher chance of breakdown than vehicles that move slowly.

Most of the Depot scenarios are on display in bulk at cmmods.com. A few seem to be unreadable, but Birdgunner is working hard to fix that.

My brain is a bit fried from my first day at work, but have you tried DD's textures? They're set up in CMMOS and probably come with the Special Edition, but I used to be fairly certain that they were also in the CMBB CMMOS 4.03 section at CMHQ( aka combatmission.com). I'm a bit gone in the head, but did you mean bush, bust, or brush? If I had the time I'd be tempted to make a bust mod.

Most of the Scenario Depot files have been moved to CMMODS as a temporary measure. They're contained in a series of zip files for each game. It turns out that several files that got into the collection were unreadable, but that is in the process of being corrected.

I have a hazy recollection that the english word prince actually does double duty for two different russian aristocratic titles. And I seem to recall that one of them was actually so low in rank that it was almost middle class. We'll need someone familiar with the nomenclature to confirm this, but if I'm right it wouldn't be at all surprising for someone to be what we would refer to in English as a Karelian prince. But there may have been a dozen of them, and it was probably the lowest rung on the aristocratic ladder. Emigres told all kinds of stories, and half the fun was that everyone believed them.

And please note that the instructions in the previous post only work for regular, non-CMMOS mods. A non-CMMOS mod has a file number that will look like 12345. A CMMOS mod will have a file number that looks like 12345_yournamehere. CM can't look inside of folders that it doesn't expect to find, and it assumes that files with CMMOS extensions don't exist.

How to install a mod in CM: 1) Download the zip file with the mod you want to install. 2) Create a folder to keep all mods for a particular game in. 3) Create a subfolder for the particular mod that interests you [e.g. Panzer III m]. 4) Create two sub-subfolders: one called "BTS original", and the other called "name of modder who made the mod of the Panzer III m that I'm interested in". Or sumfink. 5) Unzip your downloaded mod to the sub-sub folder with the ridiculously long name. Open it up, switch to thumbnails, and take a look around. 6) On a piece of paper jot down the file numbers of the bmp files that you see in the sub-sub folder with the ridiculously long name. Be careful, because they look like they're sequential but often they are not. 7) Go into your virginal CMAK or CMBB or CMBO BMP folder and make copies of every file number that you jotted down on that piece of paper. Paste them into the sub-sub folder called BTS Original (the first sub-sub-folder that you made). Hint: it is sometime easier to just copy a large swath of files from the BMP folder, paste them into the BTS Original sub-sub-folder, and then weed out the ones that aren't listed on that piece of paper. Second Hint: Do yourself a big favor and make a back-up of your virginal BMP folder. This will save you from having to go nuts later on when you realize you screwed up somewhere when you were installing one of the last ten mods. 8) You now have two sub-sub-folders, one with the unzipped mod and one with the original textures. You can switch back and forth without using a mod manager simply by copying and pasting the contents of these sub-sub-folders to your BMP folder. 9) As to why your mods aren't working, the reason is that you probably unzipped them directly into your BMP folder without looking. Haste wastes time in the end. Learn to go slowly if you're in a hurry. You've probably got the beginnings of a nice buildup of unrelated crud in the bottom of your BMP folder. And you've also probably got zip files and folders with unzipped mods in them, the most common reason why mods don't appear. 10) And yes, if you were to ask me how to eat you'd probably starve to death before I finished the answer.

Does this mod include correct license plates for all the vehicles? If not, it would be great if Pat and Dey could make three sets (blank, WH ####, SS ####) in their own style to go with it. I hate having to make my own license plates. They look pretty good, but it's really hard to mimic the style of someone else's mod (if the wear and tear on the plates aren't done in the same style they stand out, and you don't really want to notice them).

Version 2.0 has now been posted to CMMODS.

The stencil has the bold already turned off, unfortunately. I played around with it a bit and this may be a little better. I like the stencil concept because it is visually different from what gets used in the other nationalities, and because of that photograph of a Hungarian trench. By the way, what exactly is written on that sign? I'm assuming that it is something like beware of snipers in the woods surrounding our position...

With the offending text gone, all is forgiven. Feel free to bash the PC crowd to your heart's content, and please accept my apologies if any of my comments were too harsh.

I agree with you completely, Beorix. Exploding Monkey's signature is a testimony to his ignorance and very offensive as well. And only a very small step away from posting anti-semitic jokes...