MPK

Basically it's all about dealing with well-recognised problems with the CM Op system and the never-ending search for Realism and Fun -which are not always mutually exclusive... No doubt CMx2 will address some of these issues, and equally certainly We the Players will find new problems and ways to work around them. [end of speech, cue applause, catcalls]

To clarify (sorry, I'm doing too many things at once...got more windows than a greenhouse) I don't need to make the map scroll backwards in this situation... all troops,supplied or otherwise, are within the battle window;indeed, how could they not be. An interesting related point is that byallowing my opponent's Panzers to bypass my troops perhaps also means the battle window won't advance... again, I'm not sure if this is how it works, because the battle window is pretty big for this Op...

should be easy to test...make a skeleton Op in the Editor, and play around...

That's a good point, no_one... According to the CMBB manual, if the defender in an Advance or Assault Op can reach the enemy's map edge it's Game Over. I've never done it, so I dunno... When I said that I was trying to push the frontline to where my cut-off infantry is, I meant the area in which troops are supplied...my Forward Edge of the Battle Area, i.e that if I can link up with them, they will be resupplied.

Just picked up what looked like an interesting book about the German special forces-style Brandenburger Regiment (later a division)authored by someone who claims to have served with them: "Assault From Within" by Georg Von Konrat (Tandem, London, 1970) Begins with interesting account of his training and adoption of a Russian identity, but starts getting weird when Barbarossa starts... on July 22nd, 1941! The July dates are used across the next 10 pages or so...so it's not an easily explained typo. Then they get their Tiger tanks... in July 1941. Then they see long columns of Russian prisoners bound for the rear to join Gen. Vlasov's Free Russian Army...in July 1941. Then he has an encounter with an imperious officer from the 'Gross Deutschland Waffen-SS Division...' The book is represented on it's dust jacket as a work of non-fiction... "A valuable contribution to the secret history of the Second World War" -Book Exchange "Fascinating and sinister story" -Manchester Guardian etc etc Can anyone direct me to a better source on the Brandenburgers? thanks, Matt

Obviously, I don't understand how this stuff works, only that my opponent first requested that I send my turns zipped, then we discovered that his email provider has a temporary block on zips..there is some reason (which he has not gone into) that he wants all turns zipped...I dunno.

Sorry Redwolf, I don't get what you're saying...when zipped, the big, big files are emailed quicker than if they are not zipped...what do you mean they 'get bigger in transit'? Doesn't Winzip compress the file, so it is smaller?

Redwolf- I agree, it's mostly not necessary... although on a really big Op the files can get past 2mb in size... Schrullenhaft- yes, renaming the .zip file extension IS the idea...but when I use the 'rename' function in win 98 SE I get a file name like 'Blau1_001.zbr.zip' (to use your example) and this doesn't fool the virus filter...i.e I can't get rid of the .zip part via the rename function...my opponent thinks it's possible, but doesn't know how to do it... thanks, Matt

A PBEM opponent has current trouble with his email provider: an anti-virus measure means that temporarily he cannot receive winzip files. Supposedly there is a way to rename .zip files so that they will slip under the radar, whereupon he will rename them and play the turn... I've tried this, can't make it work... Does anyone know how to do it? I'm running Win98 SE. Thanks, Matt

Thanks again, George Mc Slave On!!!

Entirely off topic, Eichenbaum, your OSF Fire and OSF Explosions mods are way, way cool! (Just applied 'em) Thanks, Matt

Thanks George Mc, email sent. chers, Matt

An example, Patrick, that might help to explain why some are interested in this idea: I'm currently playing a huge Op, in which my opponent's Panzers have broken through my gun line and advanced about a kilometre. Large amounts of my infantry (and a tank or three)were left behind in forested areas, from which they have been conducting hit- and-run attacks on German HT's and soft motor transport over the last 3 battles Just as actually would happen, they are running out of ammo (especially Molotovs). It would be unfair and unrealistic for me to be able to pull those troops back behind my own lines (magically passing through the German forces) just because the CM Op system allows me to. Therefore, I have launched a counter-attack to push the frontline to where my beleaguered infantry are... If one thinks of the first couple of months of Barbarossa (for example) where the Panzer Divs cut off huge amounts of Soviet troops that continued to fight on from the forests (see Paul Carell, 'Hitler's War on Russia' for several illuminating accounts) then this needs to be simulated...

One might say the same thing about the ubiquitous German halftracks: ie that they are too vulnerable to be used... (see various long-running debates on this forum, the most recent being in regard to JasonC's Kursk campaign) As the Soviet player, I have devoured hundreds of halftracks, when they are used foolishly by opponents... The real issue, IMHO, is one of map size (and this relates to soft motor transport as well)...on a big enough map you can use your transport effectively to switch troops rapidly from one area to another, stopping short of the actual 'hot' area and disembarking troops... This is not to say that MC troops did not in RL actually sieze bridges in 'hot' areas, or perform other very dangerous tasks... Like the horsed cavalry issue, this has been warmly debated a lot...

I seem to remember that this concept [voluntarily and honestly restricting the re-positioning of ones forces between battles in an Op]was recently discussed in some part of the Forums, but I can't find it... I'm interested to see what the consensus of opinion was...e.g are Night battles considered differently, should reins have to make their own way to the FEBA, and other questions... If someone can point me in the right direction it would be appreciated... thanks, Matt

Thanks junk2drive- Gallear's page is great (haven't seen it before...though I am playing one of his hosted Ops; "Ghosts of Napoleon" which is really good, BTW) The Mod Advice is exactly the stuff I should have read first, but hey, you get that.

I'm more computer illiterate than most, DEY (my wife always maintains that the only things I've learned to do on the comp are surf porn and play games)... Having said that, is there a MOD FAQ for newbies?

In a previous post, I complained that some winter mods didn't seem to 'work'. Turns out that some mods, when extracted from their zips to the BMP folder, create new subfolders within the BMP folder, which are not read by (in my case) CMBB.exe and thus do not show up when you play. So...you need to make sure that the Modded BMP's are really in the BMP folder... I'm probably a lone babbling idiot, but thought I'd better post this solution in case someone else has the same problem.

weird... thanks for your efforts... it may just be "some computer thing" I'll keep playing around thanks again, Matt

You're truly a prince, Junk2drive, but I've unintentionally misled you- I mentioned 'Der Manstein Kommt' in passing to explain why I'm suddenly winterizing... I have a little thing I did in the editor for checking the effects of mods, and it has ALL vehicles available to BOTH sides (excluding Minor Powers) in Winter '42...and a few that are not; so my problem with HT's and some other mods is something else. Thanks, Matt

Are you using CMMOS? no are the mods made for CMMOS? no are the problem mods for CMMOS? no One of them is: CANON_WHITEWASHED_SDKFZ_251_10 which seems to have nil effect... thanks, Junk2drive

Obviously, I meant T34-76...

I'm currently concentrating on units available in Winter 1942 (because I'm playing 'Der Manstein Kommt'by PBEM)... Principally, I'm having problems with T43-76 mods and German HTs...

Just got around to Winterizing my copy of CMBB using the excellent textures available at CMMODS...thanks people for all your hard work... Some Mods however, seem not to work... that is, they extract OK, but the vehicle itself doesn't change... Is this perhaps related to the presence of different options (tac numbers, stripes, red stars etc)within the zip? I dunno...any advice appreciated.

Thanks again, junk2drive...I'm on it.