eichenbaum

Wanted: Test Player At Eichenbaum.org we're working on a project called OSF. It's a campaign for CMBB. http://www.eichenbaum.org Due to a lack of free time for our current testers are we searching for someone with enough spare time for testing & AAR writing. For communication we use a (restricted) discussion forum so you need to be willing to write there. We're searching for an regular/advanced player who can easy discover the issues that need attention and write it down in English. All this on voluntary base with the only reward: Your name on the final product. E-mail: eichenbaum@eichenbaum.org Regards, Nils [ April 15, 2004, 05:00 PM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

nevermind. [ April 13, 2004, 09:57 AM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

I am not worried Nils

OSF will allow you to move on after a defeat. But only a limited amount of such manoeuvres are allowed. Once you come to the point you have lost too much men to go on; then you'll have to restart the campaign. Nils

Of coarse you can always see the difference between hi-res and low-res, but this remark is made in the context of how you play OSF: On huge maps (2x2 km). If you place the camera in the closest positions possible you can't get a good grip on what's going on on the battlefield. So most of the time you'll place the cam in the 2nd or 3rd position (Bird-view). All of the OSF textures are optimized for those last 2 positions except for Trenches, Barbed wire, Walls ect... Nils [ April 03, 2004, 10:27 AM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

It's a from German translated doctrine so this is no proof they realy used tracked vehicles. But it increases the chance. Nils

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein.

A downloadable version of OSF is on it's way. We're working on this with everything we've got. Not all the work can be put on the the internet because of their file size. Data transfer costs money; something we do not have to give away. That's why we're planning to bring out a CD-ROM. However we're not 100% certain yet because of the rights of CMBB and some other unresolved issues. So... you can download & play OSF from our website soon. Nils

Heeyy ... positive response That's what keeps us going... The knowledge that you're waiting for this. It's an OSF mod. After the rocks & stones had been made we needed to change the water tiles to. Once you're bringing in diferent color palettes you'll find you self modding the whole terrain. All mods you see here in these pictures are Eichenbaum's. They'll come with the campaign. I understand that you would like to have them now but patience is a virtue. No sorry, only Eichenbaum.org team members are able to play with these before the release of OSF. We're testing every minute of battle and every 20 square meters on these 2 x 2 km maps. Single- and multiplay. Especially the MP scenarios need so much time; 1 or 2 turns a day with 60x turn- scenarios. Also the grapics need a lot work. It's easier to create hi-res mods and make them look good then stay in the original resolution. 90% of the OSF mods are low-res but you can't see much difference from hi-res versions. We're also using special compression techniques to reduce the file size of the bmp's to 30%. And still you can't see the difference All this makes it possible to play OSF even with older PC's. Greetings, Nils [ March 27, 2004, 10:59 AM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

Café Central, Zat. 14.00 uur ?

Hey Theike, Kei goed man Let me buy you a drink ! Nils

And a new Screenshots page. The shots come in a sequence of 4 frames, representing actions during the battle for the Crimea.

Hi, Eichenbaum's Operation Störfang website has been updated: <center> http://www.eichenbaum.org/OSF.html </center> Check out The Siege of Sevastopol for some nice reading material; Written by one of the Eichenbaum team members Paul. Greetings, Nils [ March 22, 2004, 11:37 AM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

OSF will have a function to apply the MODs with just one click, play a scenario of the campaign and afterwards bring back CMBB to the state before you started OSF. These MODs won't be available separate from the OSF campaign because many of them aren't compatible with non-OSF scenario's. Nils

Mark, still after 4 days I don't see anybody complaining about your AAR. So... I guess you don't have to worry

For those who are still interrested in the development of OSF (version 2); something to read: <HR> <center><u>Kuibishevo AAR</u></center> <font size="-1"> Place: Kuib'ishevo, Crimea Date: 7 November 1941 Type: Assault Operation; Axis vs. AI Short Description : After the German 132. Infantry Devision broke through the front line at Teberti the Russian 16. and 17. Naval Battalions tried to get back to the defense line. The 132. ID had to prevent this from happening and needed to cut off the retreating forces. Some Russian forces tried to get over the river Belbek at the town Kuib'ishevo, but the bridges were destroyed by artillery and air bombardments. A ford in the river makes it still possible for the Russian bridgehead to withdraw and escape over the Cherkes-Kermen mountain. You need to prevent this from happening and eliminate the forces in & around Kuib'ishevo. This will create a pass for the 72nd. to head on to a bridge, a few kilometers South-East of Kuib'ishevo. <center> Click to enlarge</center></font> <font size="+3">A</font>s the men make final equipment adjustments or smoke last-minute cigarettes, the expectant air is torn apart by the sound of rolling thunder, turning into a screaming express-train overhead as the heavy batteries to the rear pour their pre-planned barrage into the fort complex ahead. The bastion is known to be heavily occupied by the enemy, as the gateway to Kuibeshevo. Through the din, shrill whistles and hoarse commands are heard as the officers and NCO's stir the men into action.... A long ragged line of field grey begins to advance down the rocky slopes heading towards the wood line as A,B & C companies move forward under the watchful sights of many HMG & Field guns in over-watch. Elsewhere, the recon elements on the A296 begin to creep forwards towards the turn in the road....'Achtung' T34 !!...an NKVD roadblock is spotted up ahead manned by the steel mastadon with road mines to the front, an over-confident driver of a PSW edges his car to far forward and is instantly taken under fire by the tank and a hidden AT gun and is destroyed !...the men scatter into the trees on both sides of the road whilst the aufklarung column stays hidden beyond the turn. <p align="right"> <font size="-1">Screenshot by Eichenbaum</font></p> Over to the left flank, the pioneer units remain hidden in the rocks whilst the heavies and the 105mm battery take the fort under fire to soften up the defences. The barrage continues incessantly as the fort complex is steadily reduced and after 10 minutes the assault elements move forward towards the bastions ramparts, darting from rock to rock with their heavy demo charges and flammenwefers. Any retalitory fire from the fort is met with a hail of H.E. and tracer as the heavy weapons platoons let loose in support. Russian infantry driven insane from the fire intensity attempt to flee the ruins and suffer heavily in the open air, as more shells tear great holes in the walls. Meanwhile A,B & C kompanies are engaged in heavy fighting and struggling to advance as more and more enemy units appear from the forested slopes and catch some of our units fairly exposed as they cross the broken terrain or slide down rocky slopes. Unfortunately most of our heavy weapons are concentrated on the fort area and several HMG teams have to re-deploy to provide support, losing valuable minutes. To add to our troubles, the T34 from the A-road decides to advance up the rocky slopes and engage our infantry units..we have no AT weapons to engage it and begin to play a deadly hide & seek. The recon infantry un-supported by armour are also under heavy attack from red infantry elements appearing in large numbers from the wooded road side, fortunately good discipline has kept the platoon compact and they are able to form all-round defence and inflict heavy losses on the enemy !...any attempts to push light armour around the road-turn to support are met with AT fire and a halftrack burts into flame. By turn 17 our pioneer kompanies are clambering up the rocky ramparts to the breached walls, throwing satchel charges and fring short bursts of liquid flame into the chambers of the fort to wipe out any resisting Russians, some fight gallantly to the last while others flee in terror or surrender. In the fierce fighting,several surrendering russians are unfortunately torched in the confusion as the fighting rages inside. The pioneers storm through the fort complex firing from the hip and flinging grenades into every chamber until the last Russians are wiped out or fleeing down the far-side slopes. Casualties are light among the shock troops as the russians were so heavily suppressed or shell-shocked !! The fort is ours by turn 20, a signal flare shoots skyward to report the success ! <p align="right"> </p> <font size="-1">Screenshot by Trommelfeuer</font> The infantry kompanies gradually overcome the red infantry units and through a series of over-bounds, several platoons surge into the woods and overrun several enemy MG pits and AT guns. A couple of A-Kompanie platoons go to the aid of the recon troops and fire into the flanks of the enemy infantry attempting to overrun the isolated platoon, whilst still coming under erratic fire from the T34 and a light tank. After 25 minutes, the battle draws to a close as the enemy break off to re-group in the wooded slopes before us. The men stare about them in the pause in the battle to look for familiar faces of kameraden who have become closer than family. Ammo is re-distributed and wounded sent to the rear, as the units re-group ready to face a sure counter-attack from a desperate enemy. <font size="-1">Written By: JaegerMeister</font> <p align="right"> <font size="-1">Along the edge of a forest...</font></p><hr><p align="right"><font size="-1">Battle of Operation Störfang (v2). Soon vailable on Eichenbaum.org.</font></p> Regards, Eichenbaum Team [ March 02, 2004, 03:13 AM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

The problem with the colors can’t be solved as far as I know. I used different drivers and settings but none worked. You can switch to the desktop with ALT+TAB and back again after CM has started. This way the colors will be displayed correctly. Only you need to repeat this every time you start CM. Nils

OSF (internet version) will come in too parts because of the file size. The Installation package is growing day by day. The problem is that 'data transfer' like downloading costs money; Something we don't want to spend on this project because it's a free product. The first part will be called 'a demo' because you can start the operation in advance. The campaign will come into several releases spread out over a year.

You can create a 'keep troops' like idea in a few linked scenarios. In operations you'll have a 'keep your troops' in a small way. If the designer splits up a regiment onto a couple of scenario's you'll get a 'kind of keep your troops' on a operational scale like the moves in Panzer General. However on a larger scale the designing of CM battles becomes an unreachable task. Creating such large enviroments takes a life time when you're working with CM's scale. And beleive me I know. The 200 km2 we need to create for a campaign in development will take us a year. Thinking about research, writing briefings, designing, map making and most of all build a campign system (soon to be released). Compared to other games I find CM serious enough. It's not a shooter. It's very relaxing because of the breaks, but still exiting because you never missed a thing of the whole god d@#mn battle

Oh, that's a nice description. When do you expect we see your AAR ? :mad: :mad: :mad: Nils [ February 08, 2004, 03:22 PM: Message edited by: eichenbaum ]

Hi Chertio, It's nice to see you're having fun with the 'old' OSF. Like JaegerMeister said; wait until you see the baby that we're working on. A1, B1 and A2 show only 10% of how it will be soon. I am as anxious to get it done soon as you're hoping for a quick release. Nils

If you don't have it already; Download Install patch 1.03 to make sure you always have the right CM version for the battle. If you download a scenario that's made with 1.03 and your CM version is still 1.01 it won't show up in the list at all.

But you're still having fun playing it, don't you? Campaign is on the way...

Be careful what you say. This could be just the hammer on the head. Most monitors remember their settings for each resolution & refresh rate. When you bought the monitor and you had a setting : 1024 x 768 - 75Hz and the monitor adjusted to that, CM could have picked another refresh rate in the DirectX test. If you never adjusted the monitor in this mode it might need some attention first... Nils