Bogdan
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Posts posted by Bogdan
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These japanese guys are crazy :eek: :eek:
Complete madness would be to camo the panzers LOL
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Originally posted by Runyan99:
No, some don't. A few months ago, tobacco price increased dramatically and now, I've noticed it, there are many less people who smoke here. Things are changing, and smokers are progressivly considered as "cancers on feet"...4) Every Frenchman smokes. In fact, I am convinced that most of them inhale oxygen only through a cigarette, and I wonder how the French got along at all before tobacco arrived in the 1700s.
You're not so far from the reality5) Napoleon's tomb is the grandest I have ever seen. The dome and the chapel are like some kind of amazing Roman temple. It's like a memorial to a fallen god.
It's "au revoir" : good bye.Aurevoir, or something.
Have a good trip in France ! Enjoy wine, gastronomy and Normandy battlefield ! :cool:
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As soon as I bought my CMAK copy, and maybe before (!), the idea of a kind of total "Normandy CMAK conversion mod pack" appeared in my mind.
Unfortunatelly, this work appears to be VERY time-consuming. Look :
</font>
- Create an appropriate subdued terrain mod pack, with grass, trees and bases in order to better fit the Normandy countryside.</font>
- Create an appropriate sky mod pack. The actual Italian theater is way too hilly.</font>
- Create a complete building map set with shelters, houses and buildings. Quite a big stuff !</font>
- Do some minor enhancements about interface. Some attempts have been done very nicely yet
</font> - Realise MANY mods abouts units/uniforms/vehicles to correctly fit the NW european theater. Quite a big stuff too !</font>
IMHO, the best way to reach a satisfactory and fast result would be to take back some CMBB stuff, like terrain, trees and skies. But the main effort would be, for the realisation of a complete pack (including houes, terrains...), the complete renumbering of many files to fit the CMAK "BMP list".
In an other hand, the realisation of a brand new mod for all buildings is one of my CM dreams. But the task is long, and unfortunatelly not suited for my remaining free-time.
Finally, and some grogs can surrelly confirm that, another main hard work would be mod numerous units, vehicles and uniforms. It appears that, IMHO, this project may be realised by a TEAM of modders or by some kind people who could take time for renumbering existing CMBO/BB mods.
Anyway, a good point for us, CMBO nostalgics, is that BFC has given tall hedge/bocage tiles in the CMAK editor !
Some times ago (months), I planned to realize a good building mod for CMAK, to create a Normandy theater. As I live not too far from Normandy, I thought the job could be done. But, as I don't have too many time, the project gently disappeared from my "mods-to-do" list (and I'm very sorry about this). The solution for me would be to take pictures of actual french rural houses/buildings and give them to a modder who has enough time... ...who knows ?
However, anything I mentionned above is impossible...
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Originally posted by Lord Harmes:
I have been thinking of cheating on my home pc and installing CMAK on my work pc... the thought of this excites my very much, yet I feel so dirty!
LOL I also thought about this... ...but it was never possible.
If you can play at work, remember : TOGGLE SOUNDS OFF !!
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About high walls :
I finally found a perfect example of TYPICALL "high walls" I talked about. You can see that kind of wall almost everywhere in Normandy, in Center or in the region of Paris.
This picture was taken in the region of Falaise, southern Normandy. Please notice the little yellow box, on the left, on the wall. It's a letter box, approx. 1,50 meters above ground.
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Nice website Dalem :cool:Originally posted by dalem:The root page for my Euro pics is here.
...but your "Clicky map" shows a "Normandy red square clicky zone" in actual norther Brittany. Normandie's coast is northern, between the river Seine and the Cotentin peninsulae.
Ahh, those french guys, always whining
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Wow ! more than twenty replies in one day !
Thanks !
Posted by Joachim :
Thanks Joachim, I wasn't sure it was that german town which adopted a grid pattern.What you mean is Mannheim. Planned and founded in the Renaissance using a city grid...Posted by Dalem :
That's exactly that kind of tweak that I think it would be nice to take into consideration. Even if it works in the actual CM engine, it would be nice, eye-candy; to actually have another type of road, named "track" or "path" for example.Now, as far as roads & tracks, back when I played BB I made a handful of rural maps that handled that simply by leaving a clear path through woods/scattered trees and labeling it "Road" or something.Posted by Sergei :
I totally agree about the tile's size. In one hand, a smaller topographical grid could bring some more details, of course. But in the other hand, designing a map would become a real nightmare ! You can actually set preciselly the topography for every 20 meters tile and it can be sometimes very long and painfull. I cannot imagine myself scanned 1:25000 scale map and import them in a new Mapping Mission version which handle 5 meters square tiles !I don't think tile size has to be made smaller or tile-based maps be even totally abandoned (which is one option of course), it would be enough to add a few tiles (like buildings not centered on the tile they sit on) and allowing walls to run between tiles, not just through them. This alone would allow for cities where all buildings aren't in a nice+neat grid.However, I think the actual editor system is nice and accurate. The probable solution would be to add many more tile types and handle tile's borders, in order to put wall (high walls please), hedges, fences ot tree lines for example.
Another great improvement would be to work in cooperation with Mapping Mission system in mind. The map layer is very usefull device for every map lover. It brings higher accuracy.
About town/village designing :
The actual road system, which of course may be ameliorated-upgraded, can actually provide a wide pannel of patterns. Look at the CM editor tile pannel : 3/4 of the board is made of every road tile actually available. Apart from the lack of another kind of road (yes, two type, paved/unpaved is good but fail to recreate small rural paths), I can live with it !
The actual weakness would be the lack of house/buildings tiles, in regard with the plethora of road tiles. There's absolutelly no house tile made for 45 degrees corners. That's, IMO, the main drawback.
Here is an example of a small village of western France, near Dreux :
...and there an alsacian village :
...here a small town of Luxemburg, called Garnich :
(Here is a more detailled map of the town ).
Of course, these maps are post WW2 but the historical village, the original road pattern and houses "distribution" is the same as ago. Please observe how "non-geometrical" is the road network, compare it the topography. Have a look at the villages : the center is totally build up, with narrow streets : it's the older sector of the agglomeration. It's exactly what CM editor actually failed to reproduce. Unfortunatelly, little towns like that are very numerous in Europe, each one with its specificity and regional variants, of course, but which dated, in majority, from the middle age or earlier.
See also all those curves...
About bocage :
Posted by Michael Emrys :
Glad to make you learn somethingAre you quite certain of that? I'm not trying to argue the point, but I do want to pin it down. This the first time I ever heard this. While it does not seem beyond possibility, I have to wonder if it was the standard. I have to wonder if all the hedgerow breaching techniques I've read about would have worked against stone walls.This is an interesting subject, which doesn't really fit this thread however. But, like dalem well said it, I can confirm that the majority of the Normandy bocage (and by extension the bocages of Brittany, northern France and southern England) come from a rural and agricultural activity. The main goal was to correctly delimitate agricultural fields and orchards between several peasants, by erecting walls.
Here is a web page in french that explains it (pictures are evocatives) :
The "talus" shown here is the ancient stone wall, which has been slowly "colonisated" by a vegetal biotop. It's now a mix between stones and earth and remain the unique "vestige" of the original wall. Ditches were made from irrigation and prevented from flood. I guess also that the main wall's orientation took the main winds into consideration (mostly from the west, from the ocean, in Normandy) in order to protect vegetation.
If I find some good weblinks, I'll list them here.
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Hi,
Reading some thread here and there, it appears that the « CMX2 » subject is in every mind (including mine, of course !). Even if nothing yet (informations, timeline, screenshots) has been released by BFC staff, guys here keep throwing threads about the future game, wishing and whining for new functions, more realism, cosmetic-graphical improvements and many other candies.
My post here won’t list these sweet awaited features or question the CM community about « What d’you want in the next CM », just because that kind of thread already exists and the subject was/is/will be discussed many times. I hope (no, I’m almost sure) that these posts are taken into consideration by BFC designers in order to improve the existing project.
The point I want to discuss is in relation with map designing in general, and the scenario editor in particular. It appears, in my very humble opinion, that the graphical representation of the battlefield and terrain features in general are made « in an american point of view ». Some things seem to confort my idea.
Let me explain.
CMBO, CMBB and CMAK are tactical games which represent WWII era fights in the european theater (I don’t talk about mediterranean or north african ones, as I’m not very fond of them). That thing is very important. Then, one of the first thing to do, in order to create a conform 3D environnement, is to visit european places, look at pictures, maps and other sources. The best would be to visit, of course.
One of the first thing you will discover, visiting Normandy (for example), is that squarred road pattern, Magdeburg-type town SIMPLY don’t exist in the region. But it can also by verfied in entire France and surelly in Italy, Belgium and Germany (except Magdeburg of course
). Then, the CM editor is just unsuited to represent correctly such towns or villages. Consult a map of Bayeux and compare it to Manhattan NY (!) : of course the comparison is irrelevant but it will easely demonstrate the non-geometric road pattern of ancestral european towns.What about walls ? CM only represents one kind of stone wall, measuring approximatly 1 to 1,20 meters high. Hedges are represented the same way. You may know that a 1,20 meters high stone wall is simply not suited for its principal purpose : create an obstacle to invaders (it could be a jealous french peasant, wilds animals, wind...) and protect agricultural exploitations, orchards, gardens. These walls are very common in rural France, and in occidental Europe. But there are 2,50 – 3 meters high... The 1,20 meters high wall exist too, but there are often shorten high walls, which has been transformed for aesthetical reasons. I don’t advance that this kind of walls didn’t exist during the 40’s, I’m just warning you that another kind of wall exist(ed) too, and is/was maybe more common. Hegdes may be considered the same way.
Bocage. In the CM editor, bocage is simply consider as a « tall » hedge. It’s not. Bocage is first a stone wall, with trees over it. With time (bocages often date from centuries), vegetation created a coat of earth, with brushes and trees. On the graphical point of view, you can imagine the appearence of the 3D battlefield if bocage tiles were represented that way. On the 3D abstract representation, I wonder if this change would modify the LOS representation. It may already has been taken into consideration, I hope so.
Roads. It has been discussed many times, but yes, there are often too large, too wide to realistically represent french or italian rural road network. In clear terrain, we can accept a kind of abstract representation and use these 20 meters wide road. But some little roads (which still exist in Normandy nowadays) are simply too narrow to afford two cars lanes. And I’m not talking about tanks ! Same thing for Italy, with these many little rocky roads, along the mountains. Then, what happens with a little narrow road, between two hamlets, flanked by bocage ?
In town, the problem exists too, of course. Apart from the attempt, in CMAK, to reproduce narrow city streets, it’s impossible to represent nicely those little rural hamlets which are/were legions in occidental Europe, from Brittany to Russia. These villages were created at a time when cars didn’t exist. Transport was made by foot or by horses. Even in Paris, I could find you a narrow street (or two
)where a 3 meters wide tank would encouter many difficulty to pass. Then, in the coutry... !Of course, all these arguments may be schematic. As I don’t master all american/english linguistical « finesses », it’s a bit difficult to explain simply and clearly all I want to demonstrate. The thing I’ve in mind is that the CM editor, actually, is more suited to represent an actual american little town than a 1940’s village of Normandy.
I also agree that CM is mostly based on abstraction of reality. With that in mind, it’s evident that it may exists some tweaks to represent some terrain specificity that the editor cannot handle for the moment. However, with BFC planning another WONDERFULL wargame, it would be sad to continue to use tweaks and tips . It may be usefull to take into consideration the european architectural (I don’t find an appropriate word) complexity for a better representation of those historicall battlefields.
Comments and riposts (err... replies !) are very welcome
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Paris, FranceOriginally posted by Paul camps:is it me or are the french are ignoring us!!!!
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Good initiative Gurra !Originally posted by Gurra:Thanks for your input!
Yes, Zimerodok did that, but I think they´re Paintshop Pro. I will have to get that program first and learn it.
What I really wanted to do, because I figured it would be reachable, was to do a nice series of whitewashed/wintercamo Sdkfz 250/251. I have been on this for a while, testing various ways to achieve this. I have a fair perception of how to add weathering and scratches and so, but on the other hand, there´s a lack of "punch" in the finish, probably because I´m not aware of techniques I should be aware of.
I guess I have to waste a little more time of my life, doing the trial and error.
I also planned to realize a set of SPW but I didn't begin anything yet : some wonderfull artworks exist here, made by great modders and this is just fine for me (I call it the "lazy modder solution" : let's the other guys (who are talented) working for you LOL
).However, if you really want to mod these vehicles with Photoshop, you may have two solutions : download a free version of Paint Shop Pro to convert PSP files to PSD files (Photoshop), or use the original BMP files (panzer gray version). You have to know that the PSP trial version work for a limited time : I suggest you to convert every "Modders series" !
You can also work from BMP files. This second solution is harder but I really think it's a good way to learn how to mod. Work with grey version and create layers with markings, non-camoed parts (exhaust pipes for example) and pink zones (transparent).
The motto is LAYERS ! Layers for parts, markings, camo scheme, spots, dirt, everything. Keep the gray basis at all cost, never work directly on. The only time I modified the original BFC stuff was for Jagdpanther and jagdtiger roofs. I completelly redrawn them ! I think I will never retry
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Ahem... ...I don't think BFC modelized it but, when MG crew ran out of water, IIRC, they used to pi$$ on it (or into the water tank) in order to refresh the barrel of the weapon a bitOriginally posted by Big Jim:Maybe scarcity of water in the desert then- they couldn't replace it, so they have to give the MGs regular rests to prevent overheating?
Grogs will surelly explain to us if this "technique" was often used or not.
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I've read somewhere that american M4 tank commanders fired at Panthers with phosphorus round, in order to blind the optic devices. Is that the same procedure you've just described ? German crews often bailed out then, due to fighting incapacity of the main gun.Originally posted by Biochem can be fun:In the book "Death traps", Cooper describes a situation in which a sherman was able to cause a Tiger crew to abandon their tank by a direct hit with a smoke round.
Maybe have a look at Vanguard "Lorraine 1944" campaign serie...
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Unfortunatelly not.
However, I have released a plain yellow mod for this beast and also a set of Photoshop files for modders. Feel free to mod it if you want to.
I don't remember if Zimorodok had transformed this set into a "Modder's serie" pack for Paint Shop Pro users. He did some camo schemes for the Jagdpanther, including a "Modder's serie" set, but nothing about the Jagdtiger, IIRC.
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Mwahahah !!Originally posted by Uzi:Dead Cows and telegraph poles
I really like those "first posts"... ...don't remember mine, but it surelly was a bit funny.
I imagine the BMP folder for that game :
</font>
- File 01 : cow's flank</font>
- File 02 : cow's face</font>
- File 03 : cow's... ...rear </font>
Then, entire threads will appear here, discussing about camo scheme for cows, what kind of cows where really in Normandy in june 1944, etc. Please !
What about a "smell malus" for troops passing near dead cows ?
HOWEVER, I find the telephone pole idea interesting. It would improve the realism of the battlefield, even if it is useless in the simulation. Remember Panzer Elite, for example, which proposed that kind of "cosmetic" device.
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Originally posted by Uzi:
Dead Cows and telegraph poles
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Thanks for the information.
I think this post will surelly interest Panther Commander...!
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You're probably right !Originally posted by MikeyD:I suspect one reason why they left the KT out of CMAK was simply so they could say "Just buy the other darned game!" You go to CMBB for KTs and IS-2s, and you go to CMAK for Lees and Grants!
Posted by JasonC :
...then, did Jagdigers ever fought in the eastern front ? :confused:I think I can add some clarification about the Jagdtigers east question, specifically the uncertainty about s.PzJgr 512. On the other thread you will find the basic account, that the unit was formed in January 45, got its Jagdtigers in February, and were sent west to Remagen. I believe that is all correct.But confusion arises from an earlier date for the formation of the unit, and the claim that part of it fought in Hungary. I think the issue was two name changes and one equipment change, the equipment change coinciding with the second name change not the first. To understand it, you have to follow the "pre-history" of the unit.
In early 45, sPzJgr 512 was formed from 1 and 2 companies of sPz 501. 3 company did not have vehicles and remained in the rear.
sPz 501 had King Tigers before this. It got its KTs in the summer of 1944, and took them to southeastern Poland in August - one of the first large scale uses of them. It also received a 4th company of Tiger Is from sPz 509, and fought in the east through November.
Then its remainder was redesignated sPz 424 and assigned to 24 Pz korps. Which was in Slovakia and then around Budapest - not in the early 45 counterattack period but in the late 44 defense, when the Russians first took it.
So this obscure redesignation, preceding unit did serve in Hungary. But it did not have Jagdtigers yet. With only remnants left in January, the crews were sent back to switch over to the Jagdtiger. The unit designation was then changed to sPzJgr 512.
They did not have enough for all 3 companies, and equipped only 1&2 only by February 1945 - long after they had left Hungary. Their next combat use was in the west against the Remagen bridgehead.
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LOL !Originally posted by Abteilung:I want my jagdpanther lowered, chrome rims, with tinted vision blocks, bumpin system, chopped top, flames painted across the glacis, and a massive blower sticking up from the engine deck.
Ohh yeah, and don't forget the fuzzy dice.
What about modding it ?
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Bad newsOriginally posted by rune:Nope it can't be considered as a fix, the base code is the same, but the models are different. This means the King Tiger is NOT in the code. Again, adding a vehicle is very time consuming. There are no seperate models per se, all are in the executable. Which was designed that way, btw. Also remember there is one, count them, one programmer.
Rune
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Note this quote on the Jagdtiger on the Eastern Front.Originally posted by Panther Commander:</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Bogdan:
...well yes but, please consider the case of Jagtigers in CMBB. No Jagdpanzer VI saw combat in the east during 1944-45 (only on the western front) and the vehicle IS modelled in the game !
The number of Jagdtigers produced was adequate to equip two units, schwere Panzerjager Abteilung 653 and schwere Panzerjager Abteilung 512. sPzJagAbt 512 was formed in the Summer of 1944 and was composed of two companies (1st company was commanded by Albert Ernst and became Kampfgruppe Ernst, 2nd company by Otto Carius) and was commanded by Major Scherf. Elements of sPzJagAbt 512 took part in the Operation "Fruhlingerswachen" in Hungary (part of VI SS Panzer Army), and then in the defence of the Fatherland on both Western and Eastern Front.
Enjoy.
Panther Commander </font>
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But no one is asking for anything so outlandish.Originally posted by Martyr:SturmSebber sez:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Oh please... well, it COULD have been possible for the Japanese to send a battalion to Africa by U-boat to help Adolf .. but did they? No. Should they be modelled because it COULD have happened? NO.
I guess what some of us hope for (humbly so, as BTS has already given us so much!) is the inclusion of just a little more to make the 44-45 European battles more fully possible in CMAK. People seem to want the King Tiger; I myself am more interested in some of the late war British tanks that didn't make it onto the CMAK CD.
In any case, no one expects BTS to pour a lot of time and energy into an update for CMAK now that they've begun work on CMx2. But if they find that bundling a few of the more common late-war AFVs into the 1.02 patch won't set them back too far, we would all be grateful I'm sure. The idea would be to make CMAK more expansive at the lowest cost in BTS' resources.
Obviously this is not a demand, or a petition, or a rant. It's just a suggestion. </font>
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I'm not sure this feature could be put in the actual game. IMHO, it would ignore months 'if not years) of historicall researches made by the BFC staff just for the player's fantasy. What would be the advantage of having BT7 or Pz38 tanks against late war machines ? Apart from the curiosity to see them blown up in flames, it's a bit difficult for me at this time to imagine the real interest of such a feature.Originally posted by farmerch:wouldn't it be a nice feature to have the choice to select all units we want, no matter when they were introduced?
on the game set up screen could be a feature "ignore year" and then one could select units from every year one want.
However, I modestly think that it would be nice to add the Kingtiger in the CMAK unit list.
Posting that idea here wasn't for opening the "Pandora box" and see another very long thread about "...and why not the Panther II infrared device ?" or "...what about the KV prototype with multiple rocket launcher (
) ?" It really doesn't interest me to see those museum curiosities engaged in a battle. Then, why not putting Velociraptors and Brontosaurus ?For me, as soon as a vehicle has a REAL operationnal life on the battlefield, it can be integrated on the list of units available. The IS-3, for example, NEVER saw combat in 1945 in Germany. Some sources even mentionned that it wasn't sure the tanks fought in eastern russia against japanese forces. And the IS-3 IS on the CMBB list ! Then, this tanks could easely be erased from the game, it really doesn't bother me !
But... ...Kingtiger SAW combat
It had an operationnal life during the war. I know this vehicle was probably never engaged in Italy (I trust in BFC researches about the subject) but was available at this date in other european theaters.Please tell me how many Jagtigers and Sturmtiger were built. Then, how many KT ?
Finally, as soon as BFC confirmed that they will never produce a major CMBO upgrade to adjust its details level to the CMBB ones, and, as soon as the company proposed CMAK, they could very easely imagine that the CM community, scenario designers and modders will surelly try to produce Normandy battles or stuff which stayed at a "CMBO level" ! Please !
Then, if the BFC guys really want their game to have a long life (...and if they want to have enough time to program CMX2...), they may have to know that including the KT to the unit list can contribute to
[ March 22, 2004, 06:47 AM: Message edited by: Bogdan ]
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Hello Gentlemen,
Just this simple question : why there's no Kingtigers in CMAK ?
...You may answer :"'cause there wasn't any units of that kind in Italy, you dumb !"
...well yes but, please consider the case of Jagtigers in CMBB. No Jagdpanzer VI saw combat in the east during 1944-45 (only on the western front) and the vehicle IS modelled in the game !
So, (and it's the main focus of my modest post), as some designers may, in a near future, plan to create "Ardennes" scenario or "Normandy" battles with the new game (which is more accurate and advanced than CMBO), the presence of this tank might be highly required !!
And don't tell me that this panzer would be difficult to include in a patch : it's already modelled ! :mad:
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...Yes, why not ? This distortion didn't appear to me. But it could be a "non-composite" picture as the photographer sit just behind the soldiers and the enemy is far away.Originally posted by Tero:What makes me doubt the picture is a composite is the obvious perspective distortion. The guy firing kneeling down would be something of a giant, like 2,5 meters high if the persepective was correct.
Also, the tanks are not kicking up any dust or exhaust smoke.
However, you just right about smoke for tanks ! I didn't noticed that
But is it a smoke dust I can see behind the PzIII ?Finally, we may had to check the shadows orientation. It sometimes give a the clue.
haven't been here in awhile
in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps
Posted
Smiley coming... 3... ...2... ...1... now...
!
More seriously, is it possible to have any information about the period of the year it'll be released ?