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Flesh

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Posts posted by Flesh

    New CMBO smoke mod

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    hope you don't mind if i show it off. (not sure if it IS showing either) nice grass too!
    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?
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    New CMBO smoke mod

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    Originally posted by lcm1947:

    Hey there flesh I just took a look at your new smoke mod and must say it's a keeper. Big improvement over the darker ones although they have their place for sure. Looks like I'll be switching them around as both are certainly good. The added plus in your's would be that you can see through them better. I did have trouble seeing through the dark ones so your's will really help there. Thanks for thinking of us and you work. Good idea. Are you going to try something else as far as mods?

    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.

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    New CMBO smoke mod

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    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.

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    New CMBO smoke mod

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    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.

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    Soviet Intelligence, Lucy, and Ultra

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    Originally posted by Michael emrys:

    </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Flesh:

    </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Michael emrys:

    </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted 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... ;)

    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>

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    Would you pay for a special terrain Add On - Berlin? Grain Elevator?

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    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?

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    Soviet Intelligence, Lucy, and Ultra

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    Originally posted by Michael emrys:

    </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted 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... ;)

    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>

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    Just seen the movie "When Trumpets fade"

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    Originally posted by zee:

    But i wish they made a damm Movie that was SPN like but Set on the german side! i mean comon you could make so many awsome movies out of stuff the germans whent throught during WWII.

    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.

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    Soviet Intelligence, Lucy, and Ultra

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    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".

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    Rules for a solo QB campaign

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    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 ]

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    Rules for a solo QB campaign

    in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

    Posted

    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.

    B) 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 ]

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