Philippe

Still not having any luck, or rather, still tending towards the cowardly side. What I found on that Guru site was a bunch of Detonator drivers, which looked very close to what I need, but I wasn't sure. Is Guru3d the best site for what I want, or should I be looking elsewhere. The funny thing is is that it doesn't like the site that I remember visiting when I first heard about the drivers.

Another way to get and use Magua's Normandy Mod is to go to CMHQ and get the CMMOS Buildings set and the CMMOS Field and Stream edition. This will allow you to use parts of Magua's work, or to restore that Eastern France/German terrain when you don't feel like fighting a battle in the summer of '44. On the subject of CMMOS and avoiding pine-tree laden terrain, let me mention that one of the tree sets in Field and Stream is specifically geared to emphasize deciduous trees. You also need to look at the CMMOS version of Ed Kinney's new tree mod. It includes a very nice plane tree as well as an option to downplay the fir trees as appropriate. And because it exists in CMMOS format, the switch back and forth can be made by a simple mouseclick on an icon.

Now that Winter Wonderland is essentially finished and off to the testers I've decided that it actually is time to update my drivers. I'm embarassed to admit that a couple of weeks ago I knew where to look for the Beta versions of these drivers, but now it escapes me (add this to a growing list), even after using the search engine. I could have sworn MadMatt had a thread on this on the non-technical board, but for some reason I can't find it. Could you tell me where I can download these from ? [This is really embarassing. I've even been to that site and actually started to download them about six weeks ago before I chickened out.]

Thank you for your informative and detailed responses. Now I'm not forgetting the armour camouflage question because I have a nagging feeling that certain units tended to use certain patterns at certain times of year. But I'm going to continue to beat a dead horse for a bit. I haven't done any primary research myself so I can only ask questions, and even then, the focus of the questions is really limited to textures that are currently available in CM. My first question is, did every single uniform and camo type currently available in CM become available before June '44 ? I'm assuming that would mean they had all been introduced before March '44. Did any of them come into existance after that, and if so, approximately when ? If any of them were issued after June '44 I would suppose they would be a little less common during at least the first month. Were any of the camo types "old" models that would still be seen alongside the new ones, but that were in the process of wearing out (and therefore, by wear, tear, and implication, a little less common)? [As an aside, I gather that the ideal would be to have slightly different uniforms on each member of a German squad]. Were any of the camouflage types more favored in certain seasons ? And even if you didn't want to wear your spring foliage camouflage in the autumn, was there anything you could do about it? That is, just because something was less favored doesn't mean it was still used...but was it used as often, or was there even a choice. Did anyone wear winter white camouflage in the summer of '44 ? What about the Spring of '45 ? And is it even possible to know the answers to any of these questions ? Michael's site, by the way, is a wonderful compendium of information on uniforms. I have spent many happy hours there in the past, and recommend it highly to anyone who hasn't seen it. [ March 09, 2002, 02:31 PM: Message edited by: Philippe ]

Why is it a shame? Sounds a bit like trying to get everyone to conform to one person or one group's idea of what is 'historically correct', a consensus I don't think everyone could ever agree on. If it's a question of not knowing what's 'historically correct' I wouldn't worry about it too much, go with what you like. If it's something that really bothers you then by all means do some research. -john</font>

At some point in the near future there will be new CMMOS editions of the Allied and German uniform sets. At the same time, the CMMOS vehicle project rolls on and it is not impossible to imagine a time when every German vehicle and gun will come in mono-colour, tri-colour, tri-colour ambush, hasty, all of the above with zimmerit. And all Allied vehicles will come with various types of high or low visibility markings, aircraft recognition, and the like. And all of these vehicles will be able to be switched between appropriate nationalities and even specific units. Much of this work is already done, and those who have had the patience to learn to use CMMOS have been rewarded by being able to switch back and forth between unit designations and nationalities on the major vehicle types at will. There is only one problem. Most of us, myself included, simply don't know enough about the finer details of World War II to know when to use one particular uniform as opposed to another, or that a particular unit was using hasty camouflage in one month and tricolor ambush with zimmerit in another. An enormous amount of effort is being pored into making sure the details are correct, but many of us, in the absence of encyclopaedic knowledge or a short and concise guide, are forced to resort to picking the camouflage and uniform details that they think looks coolest. This is a shame. The purpose behind all those choices in CMMOS should be to make in possible to be historically correct, not merely fashion conscious. So here is my question. It's actually two questions, and it is really an appeal. Could someone give a month by month breakdown of what uniform camouflage types one would be likely to encounter in Western Europe from June '44 to April '45 ? And there is a parallel question for vehicles. Could someone give a month by month breakdown (or perhaps unit by unit) of camouflage types, and, perhaps, an indication of frequency with which one would encounter things like high or low visibility Allied markings, aerial recognition panels, and the like. The answers that I'm looking for, by the way, need to be able to be reduced to two or possibly four charts that can be incorporated into the appropriate places in CMMOS. I know there are some truly amazing concentrations of knowledge on WWII details out there, so here is a chance for the truly knowledgeable to make a significant, immediate, and lasting contribution to CM.

Stixx, I need to confirm your address, so please e-mail me at padivine@aol.com. For some reason the mailer-demon just kicked back the files I sent you on the 7th, so I'm pretty sure you didn't get it. Once I have your address I'll resend.

[The following is copied from an e-mail] Quote If I understood your posting correctly you want a RuleSet for a personal grass set. Attached find a Rule and an Icon. Assuming that you have downloaded Field and Stream, or at least the Grass section (RuleSet 351), just add this icon and Rule to the RuleSet 351 folder. Next, make a copy of your grass and put it in a separate folder. Add an extension of _st to each bmp. If you're feeling lazy, make an extra empty folder and use the BMP Munge program that comes with CMMOS. Then, when you have your bmp's with altered extensions in a safe place and they look ok, copy them to your CMBO BMP folder. I haven't tested this thing (can't, for obvious reasons) but it should work. If it doesn't, e-mail me. Unquote And if you hate the icon I used you'll probably have to explain yourself to Marcel Vie. Alternatively, don't say anything, take a screenshot of some grass with your mod, go into Paint, save the screenshot, crop it down to a manageable size and an interesting image, and shrink it to 64x64 pixels. Then rename it so that it has the same name as my trademark Maxfield Parrish dreamer (I think the name is "st_g"). [ March 07, 2002, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: Philippe ]

A file named 1234_md has a funny extension. In its natural state it would just be named 1234. The bmps go into the CMBO BMP Folder. Don't put anything else except bmps in the BMP Folder. The file lists (if any) go into the GEM Software Productions/CMMOS File List folder. The ONLY thing you will see in the File List folder is a bunch of text files. Don't put anything except file lists in the File List Folder. The RuleSets go into the GEM Software Productions/CMMOS folder along with the other RuleSets. I haven't gone into the contents of a RuleSet folder, but don't worry about it. Just keep the contents of a RuleSet folder inside that RuleSet folder. Do not, for example, decide to look inside a RuleSet folder and notice that there are icon bmps and then copy them to...wherever. Leave the insides of Ruleset folders for some day when you haven't been driving for 14 hours. And with any luck you'll never need to go there. There are a few cases where you already have the RuleSet installed and there is no need for File Lists additions. In that delightfully simple case all you have to do is copy the bmps with the funny extensions to the CMBO BMP folder. However, this is assuming that you have downloaded and installed CMMOS in the first place. As an example, if you download one of the Field and Stream grass textures, you will see neither RuleSets nor File List Additions, just bmps with funny extensions. But in order to get the thing to work you will have to have already downloaded the RuleSet and File List additions. The Field and Stream Readmefirst file has an explanation of some of this. [ March 06, 2002, 11:15 PM: Message edited by: Philippe ]

Most CMMOS enabled mods have three components: Rulesets, File List additions, and BMPs with funny extensions on them. Remove the BMPs with funny extensions on them from any container they are in and copy them into the CMBO BMP folder. Keep the RuleSets in their folders. The folders will have names like RuleSet001. Look inside the GEM Software Productions folder which was created the first time you set up CMMOS. This folder is completely separate from CMBO (if you happened to put it inside, chaos will eventually ensue). Inside GEM Software you will see something called CM Mod Option selector. Inside of that you will see a bunch of folders, many of which will have names like RuleSet002. Put the RuleSet that you are trying to install into the CMMOS directory so that its folder shows up sitting next to all the other similarly named ones. Finally, take another look at the contents of the CMMOS directory. You'll notice a folder called File Lists. If your mod happened to come with File List Additions, put the contents of your File List Additions folder (if you have one), or, more simply just put any stray File Lists inside the File List folder in CMMOS. Do not put any folders in the File List folder. At this point, you should be able to go back to your desktop and click on the red CMMOS icon. One of the tabs that you'll see at the top of the page in CMMOS will have the name of the RuleSet you're trying to install. Click on it. Then you'll see a bunch of icons. If there are no advanced rules involved, click on the icon that you want. If there are options you'll see a screen with blank holes that you put dots in to choose particular options. If there are advanced rules (you can tell because an icon will seem to be repeated in a darkened area), try selecting the advanced rule option first. And if that doesn't work, do it the other way around. Just don't give CMMOS too many commands at once, and never try to run CMMOS while CMBO is still running. (If you start a scenario, realize you need to make some visual changes, shrink the screen, apply the appropriate CMMOS mods, and go back to CMBO, nothing will have changed. You have to get out of CMBO to make it work). Hope that helps.

First, all mods are CMMOS compatible. What is more important is whether or not they are CMMOS-enabled. I only belabor the point because the 'compatible' terminology tends to give people a misleading impression of what CMMOS actually does. The largest collection of CMMOS-enabled mods that I know of is sitting in several places on CMHQ. The second largest CMMOS collection is usually sitting in the invisible testing area of those involved in the CMMOS project. There is a conspiracy afoot to CMMOS-enable everything, eventually. So it's not a bad idea to check with the CMMOS cabal first because somebody may already be working on the fourth comprehensive edition of the very thing you were interested in. Anyone can CMMOS enable a mod. All that is needed is a little understanding of how CMMOS works, and a bit of patience. First, Gordon has included a marvelously instructive and continuously updated readme file with CMMOS that tells you how the program works and gives very detailed and explicit examples of the syntax required. Second, you'll need to write a RuleSet which is nothing more than a set of instructions telling the CMMOS program what to do. Third, you'll have to give file name extensions to any bmps mentioned in your RuleSet. Sometimes (but not always) you also have to make additions to the File lists. Then you have to de-bug, because as simple as it sounds it never quite works the way you think it will. Finally, you get someone to test it for you. This is necessary because after debugging the RuleSet will always work on your computer because of all those tiny little fixes that you made and then forgot about, but won't necessarily work on someone else's. At this point you're ready to publish. [ March 06, 2002, 09:31 PM: Message edited by: Philippe ]

Winter Wonderland, the snow-covered version of Field and Stream, has three programs in it that specifically address this problem. If you save your personal favorite winter terrain set (while the standard road tiles are included), after you install Tom's bridgetops you can switch back and forth without any harm done. You can also, thanks to the magic of CMMOS, switch back and forth between the individual parts of all the winter terrain mods. And of course, if you're lazy, you can switch back and forth between the mods themselves. Winter Wonderland is now undergoing Beta testing, and should be out in about a week or two, at most. It includes a CMMOS RuleSet for BTS, Gunslinger, DD, the Abominable Snow Mod (Juju and Tanks a Lot's deep winter snow mod), MDMP, a few textures from Gary Kump and Gwen de Lucera, and, of course,the CMMOS version of Tom's Bulge Mod.

If you download Field and Stream you will be able to save three personal sets of natural terrain, at least one of which might as well include your own grass. Note that the Field and Stream personal choice feature only saves Field and Stream related textures, and does nothing with buildings, snow, uniforms, etc. (Snow terrain gets saved in Winter Wonderland, which just happens to be sitting in the Beta Test area...)

CMMOS is the thing that lets you play around with mods without messing up the insides of your computer.

I was very excited when I heard that the new drivers eliminate some of the visual oddities in CM, and have recently upgraded my drivers. I'm sad to report that it has had no effect. I believe the reason for this is that I'm using a Dell-branded version of the video card, and thought it might not be a bad idea to use a Dell-issued version of the driver. As far as I can tell I'm now probably using a version of the driver that's about six months old, though this is a guess based on my cynical estimate of how long it would take Dell to do whatever it is that they do to drivers before they can call it their own. The installation, as far as I can tell, was successful. There was a terrifying moment when my drivers were uninstalled and my monitor looked horrible. There was another confusing moment before I realized that all my resolution settings had been changed, but everything looked great. If there has been any increase in frame rate I haven't been keeping close enough tabs on it to notice, but then, I haven't played IL-2 recently. So where is all this leading ? If I want a more substantial effect than what I got with the Dell driver, I'm assuming I need to use one of the Beta versions. This makes me a bit nervous, admittedly, because the Dell branding camouflages the video card model to a certain extent. If I wanted to play it safe I suppose I could wait six months and, if I don't forget (and I won't), install the driver that people seem to be installing now after Dell gets around to releasing their own version. But if I don't want to wait, what are my options ? Is it safe to slap the latest beta version of a driver onto my system ? How would I know if there were compatability issues ? Can I do damage to my system if I apply the wrong driver ?

Rumor has it that Winter Wonderland is now finished and ready to go to Beta testing.

Furom ?

If you're still taking suggestions, Tom, do you think you could come up with a snow-covered double track railroad ? I know how difficult they are to do and am not trying to give you a nervous breakdown, but perhaps you could save yourself some grief and work off of Gunslinger or Richard Tremblett's tracks ? Single tracks bother me because the only place I can ever recall seeing them in real life is under a Christmas tree.

1) Any bmp-based mod can be CMMOS-enabled. And in a short while it will be possible to apply sound-based mods with CMMOS as well. Gordon, who is on vacation at the moment, is the central contact point for official CMMOS RuleSets. Besides having written the underlying program, Gordon assigns the RuleSet numbers (RuleSets are one of the things that make CMMOS work). He tends to know not only what people are working on officially, but what people plan on doing once they get finished (much of it unprintable). So he's your best source of information on who's writing what RuleSet at the moment, or who's making what CMMOS-enabled mod. The master plan, by the way, is that everything is going to be CMMOS-enabled eventually. I think one of the things that keeps some of the more obvious categories from getting done is that you may have a favorite mod and want to write a RuleSet for it, but for it to be meaningful you really have to write the Rules for all the other similar mods in that category (can't just do your favorite Tiger, have to do all of them and plan for the ones that don't even exist yet). In other words it can suddenly turn into a lot of work. 2) Writing RuleSets for CMMOS isn't that hard, but its trickier than installing CMMOS and a lot of people find that a challenge. Many Mod artists write CMMOS RuleSets, or are associated with Gordon's group. But I think a Mod Artist has enough on his hands just making the mod without having to worry about how it fits in with everything else. And it isn't really fair to expect someone to make a mod, CMMOS enable it, and then write RuleSets for everyone else's mods. So I think that until CMMOS becomes overwhelmingly dominant (which is exactly what is happening now) about half of the mods that come out will have to be converted after the fact.

CMMOS can only recognize and apply bmp files with file number extensions that match up to pre-existing rulesets. Field and Stream introduced a method of converting existing bmp files without extensions (e.g. a "hybrid" terrain set) into a set of bmp files with arbitrary extensions that pre-existing rulesets would recognize. In other words, as long as you stick with non-winter natural terrain, you can pretty much roll your own. Remember that Field and Stream does not include snow-covered terrain or anything man-made such as buildings, bunkers, paved roads, dirt paths, and things of that ilk. In a few weeks there will probably be a release of Winter Wonderland, the snow-covered companion of Field and Stream. Winter Wonderland will include at least one 'personal set saver'. A master plan exists for manmade terrain that is fairly similar in concept to what happens with Field and Stream. At present only the Buildings ruleset is complete (though changing in content), and Road and Track is being worked on. When what goes into each of the groups is finally stabilized, 'personal set savers' will be added in appropriate places. So manmade terrain will eventually be covered but it's too soon to guess at time-tables. I am not aware of any plans for 'personal set savers' for the other bmps (e.g. tanks, guns, people), but it wouldn't be hard to write, just time consuming. Gordon is away right now, but he is the man to lobby on this. And historically he likes to give people what they want. Alternatively, if someone wants to volunteer to do this themselves for public consumption, I'll be more than happy to coach them until Gordon gets back. [ February 21, 2002, 01:28 AM: Message edited by: Philippe ]

Not to worry, keep them coming, you're doing everyone a great service. We like public statements of ignorance. Besides, figuring out what questions to ask is usually two thirds of the solution.

Mais non, mais non, ne changez pas de traducteur en ligne. C'est fort amusant comme ca. Mais c'est quoi, exactement, la traduction de "Houba, houba, hop"? Et ou est mon sound mod Marsupilami?

"A foot of snow was on the ground and the temperature was near zero in what was the most severe winter in fifty years." The Abominable Snow Mod from Winter Wonderland Oops, my mistake...not supposed to show that just yet...

And for those who like Autumn leaves... Gunnergoz Speckled Fall Grass DD's and Gary Kump's Trees DD's Autumn Wheat Ed Kinney's Rough Gunnergoz Water and Ford

An early winter evening, 1944: Gunnergoz Speckled Winter Grass Nicholas Bell Muddy Hedge DD's and Gary Kump's Trees Nicholas Bell's Muddy Autumn Wheat Magua's Normandy Rough Gunnergoz Water and Ford