Flesh

Thanks! I was a bit pushed for time, so I hadn't got around to doing this. BTW the grass in the shot, which is my grass mod, is based on the FGD grass mod by gunnergoz. I need to contact him to obtain his permission to release it. However, I can't find his mail address. There was no "readme" with his grass mod. Anybody have his address?

Thanks!!! I'm glad you like it. Makes all the hard work feel worth it. As far as other mods are concerned, I have a grass texture ready to upload. Unfortunately, it's based on somebody else's grass. I'll probably have to get their permission before I can release it. Anyway, here's some info on the grass: It's basically a "dappled" grass. By that I mean that it features a mixture of various shades of green and brown. It looks sort of like the kind of grass you see at the end of a long, hot summer. You know, where some of the grass has been bleached by the sun, while other patches are still green. At least, that's the way I view it. You could also consider it to represent "patchy" grass, with bare soil between clumps of grass. BTW it's actually the grass in the screenshot included in the smoke mod zip file. However, I now have a version that I've blurred in order to obtain a "smoother" texture, with a less grainy appearance. I suppose I could upload both versions - blurred and non-blurred. IMO the blurred version works best if you're not using antialiasing. The non-blurred version would probably be best if you are. Anyway, I'll post soon with more news on the grass front.

I've uploaded a new version. Here's the URL: http://dave.allbizhost.net/Flesh_Faint_Smoke_2.zip I've added two alternative textures. These ones are non-transparent. Also, one is dark. The other is light. Hopefully this will satisfy anybody who didn't like the idea of transparent/faint smoke. Any comments?

Okay folks, lets not get bogged down in debates over the chemical composition of smoke... The main thing I wanted to do with this smoke was to have some nice, pale greyish smoke. The transparency thing was an afterthought. I think I still have a version somewhere that isn't transparent. I suppose I could upload this one too for people who don't like transparent/faint smoke. Also, I'll take a look at making this CMMOS compatible. Hopefully I should have this sorted in a day or two.

I'm glad you like the idea behind this mod. Anyway, any thoughts on how the mod looks? Do you think it looks at all realistic? I'm quite willing to attempt to improve this mod in response to user feedback.

I've created a smoke mod for CMBO. Here's the URL: http://dave.allbizhost.net/Flesh_Faint_Smoke.zip Here's some background info, with regard to my motivation for doing this: There are various smoke mods available for CM that make the smoke very dark or black. Unfortunately, the same smoke texture is used for burning vehicles, buildings and terrain. In my opinion, I don't think the sight of a burning wood or forest emitting jet black smoke is realistic. So, I resolved to do my own, more grey texture. I also had the idea of adding lots of holes (or pink spots) to the texture to make it more transparent, and thus fainter. This has the added benefit of allowing users of low powered machines, who can't use the high quality smoke setting, to experience transparent smoke. Anyway, I'd appreciate some feedback from anybody who downloads this.

I question that. Barring anything specific that you can cite, I would say that it was due simply to the standard Wehrmacht practice of giving preference to teletype and landline as the means for transmitting operational orders when ever that was possible. The times when Ultra was most fruitful were when a landline was not available. These included transmissions to sea, to Africa, whenever landlines had been cut either by air attack or partisan activity (such as was the case during the Normandy fighting), or during situations where the fighting was particularly fluid, either advancing or retreating rapidly. Obviously, a set piece attack following a period when the front was stable, such as the BotB, would have had landlines readily available. Michael</font>

Hmmm, what if BTS was to add some kind of "plugin" system for these kinds of mods (as in apps like "Winamp", "Photoshop" etc)? Third party modders/coders could create them and then either sell them or give them away. Also, this would free up BTS from having to code these mods themselves. Anybody willing to pay for a smarter AI player that had been created this way? Maybe even one that allowed you to tweak all of the facets of it's gameplay?

I question that. Barring anything specific that you can cite, I would say that it was due simply to the standard Wehrmacht practice of giving preference to teletype and landline as the means for transmitting operational orders when ever that was possible. The times when Ultra was most fruitful were when a landline was not available. These included transmissions to sea, to Africa, whenever landlines had been cut either by air attack or partisan activity (such as was the case during the Normandy fighting), or during situations where the fighting was particularly fluid, either advancing or retreating rapidly. Obviously, a set piece attack following a period when the front was stable, such as the BotB, would have had landlines readily available. Michael</font>

I don't know - but I'd imagine that it's pretty hard to get hold of. Your best bet would probably be to search on the web and see if it's available from Amazon or any of the other online video retailers. [ August 18, 2002, 07:46 AM: Message edited by: Flesh ]

Well, the amount of secrecy that surrounded the German preparations for the Battle of the Bulge suggests (at least to me) that they had started to smell a rat...

How about "Cross of Iron"? What about "The Eagle has Landed"? Also, for a realistic depiction of the Eastern Front, I have yet to seen anything as good as "Come and See", a Russian film about the partisan war.

Ultra seems to fit the bill alright. However, don't forget that the Soviets had an absolutely *MASSIVE* spy operation in pre-war Germany. In fact, German counter-intel radio operators, who were attempting to intercept the radio traffic of these soviet spies, dubbed them the "Red Orchestra", due to the huge volume of signals. I wonder if this network continued to operate during the war? Also, there is the possibility of anti-Nazi Germans having fed information to the Allies. There was a large underground network known as the "Black Orchestra".

I've been doing some research with regard to the possibility of writing a program that will automatically add the forces produced by these rules to a CM scenario. Anyway, I found a way of doing it that does not require reverse engineering the scenario file format. However, it does require a *LOT* of work as there are so many different units in CM. Here's the gist of my method: It is possible to script/drive the CM scenario editor from an external program. To achieve, this the external program must make use of the system api calls that are used by the apps known as "macro recorders". This is quite complex and involves a lot of trial and error - but it does seem possible. I have already verified that it is possible by using a macro recorder that I downloaded from the net. So, when these rules stabilise, if there is sufficient interest, I can have a go at doing this. Also, some help with unit lists etc. would be appreciated if/when the time comes. I can elaborate on the technical details involved if anybody would like me to. [ August 18, 2002, 03:28 AM: Message edited by: Flesh ]

Yeah, I'll keep playing CMBO when CMBB is out. Why? Different setting with different units and weapons. Also, I'm still interested in CMBO mods. Speaking of which - Tom, are you gonna upload the smoke mod I sent you to your site?

30. 31 on 21/08/02.

I've been thinking along these lines (solo campaign rules) for quite some time. I reckon these rules could be easily implemented as a computer program. I'm a computer programmer myself, so I can help out, if needed. However, it would be really cool if we could do a program that generates CM scenarios for the campaign. So, in this regard we have two options: a) ask BTS nicely for the details of the scenario file format and hope they are feeling charitable. reverse engineer the scenario file format ourselves. I must admit that I don't hold out much hope for option a. Also, option b could prove very difficult. Anybody else got any opinions on this? [ August 06, 2002, 02:41 AM: Message edited by: Flesh ]