Lucky_Strike
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Posts posted by Lucky_Strike
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1 hour ago, NPye said:
I've updated the trains and engine, giving them better textures to fit the mod better:
These are really looking the part now. Nice job, we like a lot!
1 hour ago, NPye said:New Box Car as the model was intended... BTW I can't texturise the roofs, they just turn the top into a stretched mess...shame but no biggy.
I must admit I never really looked too closely at the textures in the UV editor. I could see a bit of stretching, but left well enough alone as I know this can be quite difficult to resolve. I may take a look to see how it's been mapped but doubt it'll be an easy fix. As you say no biggy.
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35 minutes ago, JM Stuff said:
well we are already with good intentions...if only we could manage anim and added some...I will check tomorrow in another game like Napoleonic or something else perhaps older games were using the same anim names like mds for Return Castle Wolfenstein, let us hope ??
JM
Yeah, if we are gonna find a solution to the mds and animations it would be in one of these older games. Some a still active. That guy that I mentioned to you previously is still doing stuff, so might be able to offer you some advice.
35 minutes ago, JM Stuff said:I will not be sure seeing all stuffs that you Harry and nigel were doing for a week ago !!!
Hehe. It's all good. Nigel's trying out Blender as well now, so there's one more of us. There are definitely some folks lurking around who know a bit about this stuff as well. I just wish BF would get on and release BN on Steam as that will attract a lot of new people who might also be willing to have a go.
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1 hour ago, NPye said:
I just had a look at the model, awesome mate, love how it's a self contained scene. And it works, I bet that gave you some headaches...lol
Cheers. It was just easier to make it that way, so players can add a few bits and use it. It was not too bad, remembering what to do in Blender was the biggest pain since I hadn't used it for about a year when I started. Good learning experience and I'm now ready for some more goodies. Gonna get back to making some defensive works, burnt ground and trees.
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1 hour ago, NPye said:
Hey this just made my day... awesome bud, love the little details like wine bottles and ammo boxes and great presentation....Cheers a great asset to the Mod...
Thanks Nigel. Do your magic with it.
I reckon it would be a fun scenario to pair it with a Pantherturm on one of your wide open streets. They used them all over the place, have you got the Panzers in Berlin book by Panzerwrecks? There's a whole chapter devoted to the Bodenständig Kompanie. Gives locations for some of them.
Thanks for the screen grabs as well, nice to see it picking up your local textures and using the modded ones. Your low rubble walls are much better than the stock ones.
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2 hours ago, RockinHarry said:
Lovely!
Finally one can try it out! 
Very cool promo pic as well! Kudos! 
Thanks Harry
1 hour ago, RockinHarry said:So dumped it all into my mod folders. @NPye Berlin mod last version I have, then followed by Pz4 mod beeing last in my z folder. Looks like this then. Guess either I´ve stuff missing or has to do with my own tweaks in Berlin mod folder. Berlin mod tag is in as well. Bits of lost overview the past weeks here.
That looks like it's the stock Pz IV G, which is strange. Try taking off the [berlin] tag from the scenario and the textures. The mod should then be used in preference to the stock textures. I've tried this in a basic scenario just to look at all the PzIVs side-by-side.
2 hours ago, RockinHarry said:finished the same way. A third came into view few seconds later and shared same fate. (no screenie)
Way to go! Iron Crosses all round.
So long as it's got the element of surprise, a bit of luck and FoW it stands a fighting chance, I think the best I got was about seven minutes before a IS 2 punched a rather big hole in it. The commander will stay unbuttoned for a good amount of time if he's set to crack which really helps with spotting.
35 minutes ago, RockinHarry said:Checked my mod list order, but no luck.
Are both you guys on Mac?
Yes, but I did test it on my PC as well. I reckon your first hunch about tags and other mods is probably more likely. I'll go and check it on a fresh install on a second copy of RT see if I get any issues.
37 minutes ago, RockinHarry said:At least found a better and working DoF FX now. Another play test here. A fourth russkie made it almost unnoticed to point blanc range.
Great. The ReShade how to is on my list now that this one is out.
I had a similar sneak attack experience. I guess they're only using the gun sight and the commander's vision slits when buttoned. The hull crew are blind, so it's down to about 60% spotting already.
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3 hours ago, JM Stuff said:
Lucky there is some stuffs for you
Ahh, you's da king of flavor objects!
We want chickens and geese and a dog, every farm has a dog that chases cyclists!
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3 hours ago, RockinHarry said:
there´s still lots of space in CMBN farm flavor objects so why not? CMFB cow and horse is here: \final blitzkrieg v100a\terrain\flavor objects\farm
farm4.mdr - cow
farm5.mdr - horse
Push over to BN, dead ones or them revived in Blender.
Will surely be interesting seeing pixeltroopers finding their paths among them.
Edit: As could´ve been expected they´re beeing considered obstacles.
Very nice, very rural and tranquil looking. Animal Farm ...
2 hours ago, RockinHarry said:Some quick and dirty fur color additions (negative color image of original BMP). So it works by means of indexing BMP files names as usual. (horse 1.bmp, horse 2.bmp etc).
That makes life very easy. A few different poses and we got a herd!
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4 hours ago, RockinHarry said:
The thing is one doesn´t always know what´s original MDR data and what beeing renamed by Blender (or importer?)
At last it helped looking at unedited MDR files with my HEX editor first and then compare and fix in Blender if required. That basically. Then building files get exported and functioning nicely in game. Original MDR texture naming is in fact just material name and then CM engine pulls textures from an internal look up table sort of. That´s the key point for buildings and similar stuff using indexed textures. Ah yes, that's a good solution. I wonder if this naming glitch explains why sometimes things don't export correctly. Most export errors I see are related to the two unknown metadata fields that always seem to be present in the list in Blender. Maybe they're references to an internal game database.
4 hours ago, RockinHarry said:Horse & Carts =
idea! @JM Stuff ?
Yeehaw!
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7 minutes ago, Vacillator said:
Was ist das mein herr?
If I was in a IVG in Berlin I would need new underpants every half hour...
Hehe, take it for a spin! Edit the scenario and add a few squads of supporting grenadiers, then plop some Russian armour out of sight around the corner at the other end of the map. Let the AI do its worst! Get your stack of grundies ready!
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7 hours ago, 37mm said:
I once wasted a month in blender trying to get a palm tree like this into SF2...
Replacing one of the huge Pine trees with something like a tall Dipterocarp...
https://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2017/12/5/dipterocarps
Also a teak tree would be cool...
I think they should all be doable to an extent. We may have to forego having the large palm tree fronds waving in the wind, but otherwise I don't think there would be any major issues. SF2 has a couple of unique tree types in terms of models, very different from the rest of the games. I don't know why they are only implemented there. Anyway since we are essentially in Italy in the Far East that's irrelevant.
7 hours ago, 37mm said:We replaced hedges with lowbocage in H&E as we didn't need the straight look of hedges & we ocassionally used them to thicken up jungles.
I like your thicket idea though, for CMFI, perhaps the grapevine .mdr's would be a better choice to play around with? Infantry & vehicle movement is severely hampered by them already.
Grapevines are something I haven't really looked at. They are very odd graphics/models but I suspect quite simple at heart, probably similar to bocage. They always associate with rocky ground I think, which probably adds to the hampering movement effect. I just had a thought about them, I wonder if they could be made to look like tea plantations ... is that a worthwhile use of time? Are there many tea plantations in the regions you're looking at? Either way we can surely come up with some creative uses for hedges, bocage and grapevines.
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5 hours ago, Erwin said:
Absolutely terrifying to the younger self, however, realised in later life, that all one has to do to get away from Daleks is to run up stairs!
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3 hours ago, RockinHarry said:
Damn Blender auto renaming stuff then getting exported with MDR file.
Yes it's a real PITA. I always forget it has a habit of doing this with some stuff, sometimes it's fine but with these layered, multi textured objects it seems to cause mayhem. I also noticed the glitchy ruined walls on the barn.
Seeing the horse I suddenly had a thought, we could hitch a horse to one of the carts as a flavor object, someone might find it useful ...
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3 hours ago, RockinHarry said:
So at last got it working as well. Hehe
Some minor issues with damaged wall textures left but should get it sorted out as well. Damn Blender auto renaming stuff then getting exported with MDR file. 
Great stuff Harry, proof of concept.
But I should point out there's another bug - there's a horse in the church, strictly against local bylaws! All horses should be tethered outside of the churchyard.
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This looks like the game cannot find a lot of textures, so you've probably either lost some of the game Data files or they have been moved so the game doesn't know where to find them.
Easiest solution would be a reinstall of the affected games either fresh or from a backup. Alternatively, if you have a recent backup, you could try copying the contents of the original Data folder into each of the affected game's Data folders to replace JUST their contents.
Make sure you backup your saved games/campaigns etc and any mods you might have installed BEFORE doing any of the above.
Otherwise you should raise a help desk ticket.
Good luck.
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39 minutes ago, NPye said:
I retexturized the Tram... big improvement and now looks smashed up which suits the Berlin Mod perfectly...
That's great N!
Now you have the Blender file you can try new things with this one. I did wonder about options like an open topped one, filled with rubble as part of a barricade, not sure what the interior of the tram would do, it might need work so that it's texturised. Also thought about having one flipped on its side, but the underside is not that good. You should be able to make extra versions, just remember to have unique textures to get them predictably appearing in game.
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8 hours ago, RockinHarry said:
GIMP ain´t that bad. And it´s free, just like Blender. Doubt one could "master" PS or 3D Studio Max in few days as well. Really depends on what you want achieving and in my case things are rather limited and focused on certain stuff only. Don´t need ~70-80% of all the apps capabilities anyway.
Yes, being unfair to the free stuff. It's all down to what one is trained on. Adobe is also renowned for obfuscating the simple as well. And where would we be without Blender?
8 hours ago, RockinHarry said:Blender runs straight out of the box. And you can have installed and run different versions concurrently without the Win10 hassles. Python is needed for some of Sbobovyc´s external tools and IIRC Blender im-/exporter uses Blender´s internal one sort of. Yet have to install this Anaconda thing on my puter, likely this weekend. We´ll see.
Yeah, I have four Blenders and two pythons installed all coexist happily. The reason I Thought we needed to install Python was for Sbobovyc's import addon. For sure his earlier mdr cracking stuff used Python, but I never used those. But it's all clouded in the past now. So long as Blender does what I want it to I'm happy.
8 hours ago, RockinHarry said:To be honest I feel I´d just scratched all its capabilities at the surface. But when I get things to work, it all makes sense thus far. Don´t even take reference to guides and help files while learning. Maybe my long past apprenticeship as technical drawer and bits of experience with (old) 3DS Max helps here as well. But I intend learning Blender in more organised ways and getting a broader base. Ya know it kills inspirations and ideas if you can´t put them to practice quickly.
I do think having the right aptitude really helps. And it does get easier once some of the odd terminology and methodology starts to make sense. I think it's very easy to get over enthusiastic at the start with this stuff, willing everything to just work without any understanding of what's happening. I know for my part I just expected things that work in Blender to subsequently work in game, but, as we've all experienced, that's not the case. We then have to try to understand why, as well as understand that the tools we have are incomplete, and therefore limited.
8 hours ago, RockinHarry said:But Blender also reassigns stuff silently at times. So always double check for this stuff before exporting to MDR. Another lesson learned....
It can be sneaky that way. It also has some sort of memory regarding textures, sometimes linking them even though they are not necessarily in the same directory as a model, nor even linked to the model originally. Useful occasionally, other times not. I guess one day it would be worth collating all this learnt knowledge into a guide ... or BF could help us and go official on all this ...
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8 hours ago, RockinHarry said:
What´s a Daley?
Yes, it was late ...
3 hours ago, Erwin said:Assumed it was ref to a Dalek. Happy memories...
... is what Erwin says. Hiding behind the sofa on a Saturday night! Cybermen!
Though I could have gone for a Salvador Dali melted clock to add to surrealism of Rhino.
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39 minutes ago, Artkin said:
Lol.. sounds like GIMP
LOL Yep, that's the one, GiMP on steroids.
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3 hours ago, NPye said:
over complicates everything, i'm sure there are reasons for it but dam it FFS.
Open source ...
3 hours ago, NPye said:I gotta a feeling that the .MDR is one of the reasons BF never updates animations or stupid bugs like stuf driving through flavour objects etc...
God, I hope they have a better system that what we have. I think they use Max or something pro level, could be talking out my proverbial though ... I think the reason for slow updates is bottlenecks in their organisation and ...
3 hours ago, NPye said:... also I bet it's impossible to move to a modern 3d platform... they made their bed in the first CMx2 and now they have to stick with it????
There is that. OpenGL is pretty ancient in game terms and having to constantly futz with stuff to just try and keep it all running must be an utter pig. There'll come a time when new OS's, GPU drivers and the like just stop supporting this stuff THEN they'll hear a lot more moaning. As it is I think it's teetering on the edge so let's hope they have a new engine ready to fill the void when it happens.
3 hours ago, NPye said:Also like many things in the digital world 3D seems to have it's own terminology... and confuses the user until it all fits in, I had the same thing when learning Wordpress from scratch...
Yep, it's a mighty steep learning curve for sure.
3 hours ago, NPye said:Is the MDR format designed purely for Combat Mission? and is that why we can only use blender, because that clever dude wrote the add on script for it?
Well we don't know for sure, but there are some very similar file types mentioned which were used in Castle Wolfenstein (I think that's what it's called). I was looking at something to do with the MDS files (the pixeltruppen skeletons) recently. It does seem that it's some sort of proprietary container system, but the stuff inside is basically obj files I believe (another 3D file format which is easier to open in lots of apps). Quite why they still use it for the models is anybodies guess, but they were/are not alone in using strange file formats for game graphics and models.
3 hours ago, NPye said:I have found loads of free models but they don't import as it says the textures are missing... I will persevere...
Yeah, this is often the case. Sometimes the textures and materials are wrapped up in the file and need to be extracted. Other times they are just not there as the maker was only interested in distributing a blank canvas model. You can occasionally guess and try your own texture depending on the subject, but then UV unwrapping rears it's very ugly head.
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8 hours ago, RockinHarry said:
Hm... haven´t experienced that yet, but I (try) open a *.blend file directly in my active 2.79. If I click-open a Blend file directly (in Win Explorer) it opens in newest my version Blender 3.2 automatically. But I just´ve grabbed few Blend files from the net 2 years ago, so it might be cause of this maybe. Blender UI can be saved as preset and reloaded if things get messed up. That in my 2.79. I´ve no experience with 3.2+ yet.
Mostly we're importing stuff or appending so hopefully you won't see it too often, it's just downright confusing the first few times it happens, then just annoying. Presets are the way to go for sure.
8 hours ago, RockinHarry said:Uh... that´s pro stuff way beyond my current abilities.
IIRC those conversions (obj) requires a Python installed, which I haven´t yet. Will do for Butschi´s terrain to CM translator somewhat later though. Think if I ever get that far dealing with UV map stuff, I´ll likely try learning in Blender instead. That´s the plan.... lol 
But, but ... you must have a Python installed already to run Blender, or am I thinking of something else altogether unconnected? Good thing with Python is you can have different versions live happily together so long as they're installed correctly. I think Butschi uses Anaconda, not that I know much at all about this stuff.
5 hours ago, RockinHarry said:That´s how my 2.79 Blender looks like btw.
This is the one aspect of the Blender GUI I do appreciate, it's very flexible for customising the colours and all that stuff.
5 hours ago, RockinHarry said:and that mysterious bench that got us a CTD
Frightened the life out of me first time. It was on my Mac as well which just never does that, well ... hardly ever. No crash dialogue or nothing, who'd have thought a bench could do that.
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2 hours ago, RockinHarry said:
Lol
Max was quite a lucky guy. The highly praised german comradery and such. Hehe, I did try to get a Daley in there as well, but couldn't find one that would work, people making them just make them too nice to chop up for CM!
2 hours ago, RockinHarry said:Well done Mark!
I take a day off and try the bench thing tomorrow again...maybe. Couple hours wasted due to wrong file name. Don´t even recall why the f*ck I even changed it in first place. lol But again, learned a couple new things so it´s all good at last. Yep, I think I've had enough messing with buildings for now, I going back to mud and dragon's teeth ...
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8 hours ago, kohlenklau said:
Each hatch has an origin symbol, a white circle with 3D red blue and green coordinate arrows. Over on the left you can relocate it.
Thanks, that's what I ended up messing with but I think all the extra stuff in the model must have created a glitch somewhere even though I was very careful not to move any of the original stuff til I got it working as desired. Ho hum.
Pacific War Project
in CM Fortress Italy Maps and Mods
Posted
Ii did have a quick Google about to see whether tea is grown much in SE Asia and Pacific Rim. Java, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma seemed to be the biggest producers outside of India China and Sri Lanka.
I did wonder if grapes were grown much in any of the affected countries. I'd imagine the climate is not great for viniculture.
Rubber plantations would be good. I'll have to keep looking for another use of the grapevines.