Lucky_Strike

LOL you know it's worth it... I feel for ya I don't know how many times i've changed the maps as new photos come through etc. I often expand then expand again due to an interesting feature new by... I think i've actually gone mad.....lol
This is what i'm like just updated the Billboard for the bloody 5th time... but was worth it much improved and fitting. Cheers bud that model you are preparing is making me happier everytime I see it...lol

 

It's the life of a modder/mapper 🙄 - but yeah, so far we're happy bunnies, and yes, the billboard looks great. 

Haha. I've come up against it before with a few tree models. It appears in an error when export fails, something about 36000 x 2 +1 so around 72000 faces I guess. By modern standards that's nothing, but ... optimised engine anybody ... this year maybe ... or not.
Anyway I know we can get this one well under that. My last rough decimate on it got the count down to about 60,000.
Yeah , I'm gonna try a few things see what works best. Good thing is this is so big it can hide a lot inside the structure. Still only one FO at the moment so will be able to place another bits around it without issue I hope (assuming not too much jumping around of FOs). We'll still suffer vehicles and pixeltruppen sinking into the surfaces, but mostly I'm hoping we can keep them out. Worse case scenario we can place some proper hedgehogs across it to at least keep the tanks out ...
Back to it ...⛏️

At the moment I'm not decided. If we use the right types of flavor objects (fountains) they'll works as barricades. If I build it into the model, then we'll need something inside to act as a barrier - tall walls, fountains again or similar. The problem with walls is they are locked more closely to the grid so I need to build the model around their positions to be useable. With FOs we have more flexibility but the objects offer less blocking of LOS etc. I'll experiment with both to see which I think will work best and still give you a working model that folks can't moan too much about, might end up as a combination for the best of both worlds.
Progress is happening. Using the dimensions from your last map I have now fixed the size pretty much - don't change your map now 😬 There's an issue with the model jumping to one side by about a metre which is incredibly annoying. This hopefully won't be too noticeable once she's given a bit of a bombed make over. I have worked out which buildings can be placed internally and have started to figure out the texture mapping so that we don't just have the one texture ...

... the statue was easiest to separate and is wearing its own texture now. From this side you can see how it's all just off centre - notice the tram tracks. I'm going to alter the model slightly so that the buildings are inside the colonnade - means the model won't be as accurate but there's no other way to adjust for the grid and game's inability to lock FOs in place properly - bug, bug BF, BUUGG BF.

Notice how the right guard house sits outside the colonnade ...

... same on left, just a bit less so. Once inside the colonnade I hope this will be less of an issue visually. Then we'll have useable buildings. I'm going to remove most of the roof from the wing, just leave the gable and roof platform. 

From the opposite side it doesn't look too bad already. Destroyed modular house amongst the columns will offer some potential combat positions. The roof will be gone here as well and some columns destroyed as per ref images, similarly with the other side.

Before the barricades go in! Scale is not too bad - compare to this 1930's image 🛩️...
Okay off to remake it for the fifth time ....... 🤪

I hope I could port the missing ones over to CMRT (and vice versa if useful) My first attempt on porting a mod build flat roof (from BS) wasn´t successfull but got to investigate some more. Might have to do with internal numbering system and in worst case it´s all hard coded. We´ll see.
 

When playing as the Germans and something goes wrong the words "Unter den Bloody Linden" fill the air.

A quick walk up the Unter den Linden.
 

I can't wait to replace the gate but here's my latest...

Sorry bud you aint retiring anywhere...lol ****ing fantastic dude....Wow wow and wow

Ready for download. It uses my expanded CMRT Romania Mod. Thanks to @JM Stuff for his Romanian helmet!
In the dropbox is the modtagged mods folder and another folder ONLY USE WHEN NEEDED that changes soldiers names, changes the intro music and the splash screen at the start.
It is just a tiny teaser scenario to mark the anniversary... 
DIRECT LINK HERE
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/p5jbkp5gtw2xp91/AACmKz3ggh-R2BieZUB74npBa?dl=0

ROM MALENKAYA KLETSKAYA
^
19 November 1942. Kletskaya, Russia. It snowed last night and the temperature is below freezing. There is a light fog and a stiff wind off the Don River about 5 km to the north. The Romanian 3rd Army guards part of the northern flank of the German 6th Army fighting to conquer Stalingrad about 125 km away. 
^
You are a Romanian Locotenent <Lieutenant> in the 13th Romanian Infantry Division. You are assigned to lead your weakened rifle platoon huddled in the burnt out husk of a Russian village. Your limited construction materials have provided some small wooden hut shelters. You also have a few sections of trench and some foxholes. There is just a small number of guns spread out along your entire division's defensive sector. The length of the sector is double what was taught back at the military academy. Your area has just one small gun as its share. You have one squad out on sentry duty but have alerted your entire platoon. You just called the company on the field phone and your captain has assembled a small reserve team that can arrive at the south edge of your map in 5 to 10 minutes.
^
In recent weeks, the Soviets have slowly taken a bridgehead along the Don. Their probes have expanded it a few times as well. No effort to attack the bridgehead has been made due to our army's limited resources. Things seemed quiet until the last few days. Numerous vehicle sounds were heard. What is to come across the thin barbed wire marking the battle line?
^
Use your limited assets to try and hold back the Soviet assault. THE SOUNDS OF AN ENORMOUS ARTILLERY BARRAGE HAVE JUST STARTED. Take cover! Your sector will be pounded hard at any moment!
^
You have ABOUT 20-30 minutes to accomplish your mission (random additional time). Points are awarded for destroying enemy units and holding your terrain objective. There are also parameter bonuses for both sides for keeping friendly casualties low and inflicting high casualties on the enemy. BunNoroc! <Good luck!>
 

Just afore I retire .... dawn creeps across Berlin ...

... or maybe we prefer a burning wreck to illuminate her ...

All one texture at the moment - I hate UVs.
Anyway At least it's possible to see this is why we need her!

Just afore I retire .... dawn creeps across Berlin ...

... or maybe we prefer a burning wreck to illuminate her ...

All one texture at the moment - I hate UVs.
Anyway At least it's possible to see this is why we need her!

Actually Nigel, looking at some of the photos of the gate around the end of the battle, it's quite clear that the archways were barricaded. The best photo I found so far is quite graphic so apologies for that ...

The three central arches are blocked by what looks like substantial back-filled rubble  behind sandbag or log? walls like we've seen elsewhere. Whilst the side pedestrian? archways are blocked with lower barricades, possibly combat positions? Looking at it from the opposite side it's clear that there were two or three tram or freight carriages used to further reinforce the central barricade ... 

... 2 May 1945, and this ...

... apparently from 1 Jan 1945, though could be later. In the last image it's possible to just make out some people who are standing on the barricade in the central arch just beyond the freight carriage.
So my question - would you like to go for barricaded and have the possible of a combat position?
Modelling the barricades would likely entail some hacked buildings, which could be placed in the arches minus their roofs. Your tram and rail carriages/box cars would make a great addition with a burning wreck or two ...
 

Just afore I retire .... dawn creeps across Berlin ...

... or maybe we prefer a burning wreck to illuminate her ...

All one texture at the moment - I hate UVs.
Anyway At least it's possible to see this is why we need her!

Actually Nigel, looking at some of the photos of the gate around the end of the battle, it's quite clear that the archways were barricaded. The best photo I found so far is quite graphic so apologies for that ...

The three central arches are blocked by what looks like substantial back-filled rubble  behind sandbag or log? walls like we've seen elsewhere. Whilst the side pedestrian? archways are blocked with lower barricades, possibly combat positions? Looking at it from the opposite side it's clear that there were two or three tram or freight carriages used to further reinforce the central barricade ... 

... 2 May 1945, and this ...

... apparently from 1 Jan 1945, though could be later. In the last image it's possible to just make out some people who are standing on the barricade in the central arch just beyond the freight carriage.
So my question - would you like to go for barricaded and have the possible of a combat position?
Modelling the barricades would likely entail some hacked buildings, which could be placed in the arches minus their roofs. Your tram and rail carriages/box cars would make a great addition with a burning wreck or two ...
 

Actually Nigel, looking at some of the photos of the gate around the end of the battle, it's quite clear that the archways were barricaded. The best photo I found so far is quite graphic so apologies for that ...

The three central arches are blocked by what looks like substantial back-filled rubble  behind sandbag or log? walls like we've seen elsewhere. Whilst the side pedestrian? archways are blocked with lower barricades, possibly combat positions? Looking at it from the opposite side it's clear that there were two or three tram or freight carriages used to further reinforce the central barricade ... 

... 2 May 1945, and this ...

... apparently from 1 Jan 1945, though could be later. In the last image it's possible to just make out some people who are standing on the barricade in the central arch just beyond the freight carriage.
So my question - would you like to go for barricaded and have the possible of a combat position?
Modelling the barricades would likely entail some hacked buildings, which could be placed in the arches minus their roofs. Your tram and rail carriages/box cars would make a great addition with a burning wreck or two ...
 

Actually Nigel, looking at some of the photos of the gate around the end of the battle, it's quite clear that the archways were barricaded. The best photo I found so far is quite graphic so apologies for that ...

The three central arches are blocked by what looks like substantial back-filled rubble  behind sandbag or log? walls like we've seen elsewhere. Whilst the side pedestrian? archways are blocked with lower barricades, possibly combat positions? Looking at it from the opposite side it's clear that there were two or three tram or freight carriages used to further reinforce the central barricade ... 

... 2 May 1945, and this ...

... apparently from 1 Jan 1945, though could be later. In the last image it's possible to just make out some people who are standing on the barricade in the central arch just beyond the freight carriage.
So my question - would you like to go for barricaded and have the possible of a combat position?
Modelling the barricades would likely entail some hacked buildings, which could be placed in the arches minus their roofs. Your tram and rail carriages/box cars would make a great addition with a burning wreck or two ...
 

Yeah, it makes no sense. One flat roof for the whole of the Eastern front is just lazy IMHO, especially as they already existed in CMFS2.
There never seems to be any customer feedback survey or mechanism. I know it's been said on here before that BF look into all the bugs and stuff reported on the forums, but feedback should work two ways, it's all very well saying we're listening and we'll fix these issues as we see fit, but there's scant proof that the system actually works that well. It's more a case of just enough to get by. I appreciate they're a small team but with the extra exposure they are getting from Steam they are likely to get a lot more criticism and pressure than what they've experienced in the past and their usual advocates will be on increasingly shakey ground. But then again if the pro military contracts pay well and they don't demand the same kind of attention as the consumer side where's the incentive?

Yeah I had a play around with using a bridge. It's quite useful for blocking LOS and traffic movement through the arches, but it's rather limited when it comes to skinning it and I couldn't really get it tall enough without some serious terrain upheaval interfering with the surrounding buildings and colonnade. I might have another look at ways to partially block LOS, perhaps with a hidden single level building on each side of the central arch, though might only need to be a rubble building at that. This would also offer some cover to pixeltruppen hiding in the arches as well as allow them passage whilst vehicles could still pass through the central archway.
Main thing is I think it's doable and will mostly function quite well.
Haven't seen it yet as it's not out for MacOS yet - some problems with the delivery mechanism or something like that. Nigel is exclusively MacOS so he won't have it yet. I may grab the Windows version and install it on my PC just to peek in the files. But I thought there weren't that many things in the patch. The list of bug fixes was pretty short. You'll have to let us know what you find Harry.

@NPye and @Lucky_Strike did you had a look at latest CMRT 2.12 patch content yet? I see lots of added and updated content in there likely relevant for running CMRT modding efforts. Just in case. I´m just browsing through unpacked BRZ files and make me an overview.

That's a big improvement on the original BF version.
Looking at the available independent buildings there are quite a few that I can't use as they are angled at 45 degrees 🤬
The biggest barns are all angled, so that leaves me with less obvious choices.
You said that you're not using "the Windmill and the Big Barns, or any of the shops and houses ..." Does this still stand?
I've played around with the footprint of the gate as it stands on your map, and I might have a solution to the buildings on either side of the central arches. I'm thinking that simple modular or indi buildings surrounded by columns from the monuments flavour objects would give a pretty convincing colonnaded structure whilst the guard houses were pretty wrecked anyway. I can make several different wrecked column monuments that you can arrange around the houses ...



... obviously doing a better job than me.
The buildings inside the colonnaded areas at the back (Tiergarten side) are completely raised to the ground just for rubble from the smashed roofs. The guard rooms are roofless. The columns can be placed quite neatly around the buildings and even inside if wished. If we have several heights of columns in varying states of destruction I think we are half way there. 
The central section could then be one very large flavor object placed over rows of columns, or similar, invisible flavor objects which work well for obstructing traffic, the only issue would be LOS through the central structure. One possible way around this might be to have the windmill made invisible, one either side of the central road. These would certainly restrict LOS but I'm not sure about how to limit access to them other than by using ground tiles. Otherwise there is the bridge if I can figure out how to mod that.
 

@Battlefront.com this member @kohlenklau deserves to receive the game CMColdWar as a gift for having fixed lots of little things with Blender: rear wheel of the Pattons which didn't turn (he doesn't even own the game), French and English helmets adjusted correctly on the heads of the soldiers in CMBN and CMFI, hull machine gun correctly placed when the PIII G turret rotates in RT, and the crews of Tiger tanks and some Shermans including the Firefly in FI which are correctly placed when the turret is unbutton.
Patton:
https://www.mediafire.com/view/cd6cgf3wit9isny/CM_Cold_War_patton.jpg/file
Tank Crew, Pz IIIG hull mg, French helmet:
https://www.mediafire.com/view/4251uqw5d9r0rax/PzIIIG_Sherman_Tiger__Adrian_helmet_fixed.jpg/file
British helmet:
https://www.mediafire.com/view/b86q16m967f4afg/helmet_british_fitted_Kohlenklau.jpg/file
 

- I confirm that the mdr is in the z folder with the other mods, and cw restarted. This is where I put the mdr of the m60 which made the wheels disappear.
- The helmet fits perfectly now and works in BN and FI! I didn't expect such a quick response. The British soldiers look great, now thank you very very much🏆🥇 King of Blender 👑
This mod should be reported in the relevant forums.
View british helmet:
https://www.mediafire.com/view/b86q16m967f4afg/helmet_british_fitted_Kohlenklau.jpg/file

I do wonder if BF do this on purpose just to annoy us! I also gotta question if they've ever been to Europe? Perhaps they came to the UK where we're fond of a bit of mock tudor ... 😆
Makes me 😴💤 I quite often end up nodding off in front of a tree model.

Here's my Gate effort.