ww2steel

I also add my vote to several others on here that I sure would like to see it as a module rather than a stand alone. That way I can still play on maps I already made, plus, hopefully it would add a bit of content to the Normandy/ Market Garden scenarios. (Plus, I hate to keep installing the same program over and over, simply wastes space on the hard drive.) They were talking about a NEW CMSF instead of a 3.0 upgrade. Probably easier, but that city map I spent 200 or so hours on.... all wasted. I loved how CMBB went from, well Barbarossa to Berlin. I could build scenarios to mix and match whatever equipment I wanted. (I also love the early war stuff.) Once again, MODULE PLEASE, even if it's still $55. (I know that throws a wrench into their "CMBN Master Installer" theory though.) Mike

Well, that was easy! Thanks Kieme(ITA). Since it's a known I will proceed to make a swamp.

Okay, playing CMSF a lot recently and CMBN a lot when it first came out you could start with flat ground, make concentric rings going higher to a peak- with gaps in between- and it would make a nice hill. It was just like the elevation lines on a topographical map- far apart was nice and gradual, close was steep. The computer would interpolate and give you nice terrain. On some maps in CMBS, I try to do the same and it doesn't interpolate. (See attached.) I get stupid looking rings with base terrain height in between!!! So, to make a hill I have to code in EVERY SINGLE SQUARE. That's not going to happen even on a small map. ADDED INFO: Starting a new map, it works. Which means that this map broke somewhere along the line. Maybe the bridge? Maybe the water? Maybe a "Steep" tag? I'm doing some checking. Thanks, Mike

Exculsions, Dudes, exclusions! Not to double post, but for ease from the thread I started in the tech forum: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?p=1565979#post1565979 In my 9/2014 Avast version: I restored the files from the "Virus Chest", which was stupid hard to find: main menu, click the magnifying glass tab icon on the left (Scan screen), then one of the little links at the bottom is the only way to find your virus chest, and all the goodies Avast has hidden from you. I had to click the "Gear" tab, antivirus tab, half way down the list to "Exclusions", then entered "D:\CMSF\*". (Enter whatever your base game directory is.) I had to do internet searchs for BOTH of these because there are so many friggin submenus of submenus of submenus, then what you are looking for is hard to spot anyway. Not talking bad about Avast, it works well and as FREE! They did make the GUI crazy hard to navigate recently though. Avast was screwing up the exclusions (right click "restore and exclude" didn't take) until I entered them manually. If you don't do them it seems to randomly do it to you for no reason. I forgot it had done it to me years ago, and after several times playing and several months of "upgraded" Avast, suddenly my game be busted. Some guys reminded me of the problem and a frustrating, but relatively easy fix. Hope this helps, Mike

In my 9/2014 version: I restored the files from the "Virus Chest", which was stupid hard to find: main menu, click the magnifying glass tab icon on the left (Scan screen), then one of the little links at the bottom is the only way to find your virus chest, and all the goodies Avast has hidden from you. I had to click the "Gear" tab, antivirus tab, half way down the list to "Exclusions", then entered "D:\CMSF\*". I had to do internet searchs for BOTH of these because there are so many friggin submenus of submenus of submenus, then what you are looking for is hard to spot anyway. Not talking bad about Avast, it works well and as FREE! They did make the GUI crazy hard to navigate recently though. Mike

TADA!!!! Well, sort of. I use Avast, and sure enough, it had moved all .exes to the "Virus Chest", which in the newest version was impossible to find. Then, it was nearly impossible to get it to apply (seems buggy), but it's all back and I think the exceptions held. Good grief! Who thinks it's a good idea to more something to the virus chest without at least notifying the user???? I also found the exe for some hardware in there... which could easily explain some system reset issues I've been facing for a little while too. ANYWAY, Thanks! I would have been MAD if I had reinstalled everything and then found out it was the stoopit virus software. I say we just chop all virus writers' hands off and be done with it. Mike

I have CMSF paradox, updated, and Marines, Brit, and NATO modules. No hardware changes, only about a week since I last played just fine, and all modules are gone, only base game patched to 1.32. What gives? All installed software is legit (no torrents or any other similar crap). Except for the EBayed Paradox all is downloaded from Battlefront. Battles show in red, saying I need the module installed. They just disappeared! Help?!?! Thanks, Mike

Sorry if I missed it. I was looking forward to seeing some AA action with 3.0, but then remembered that CMBN... has no dedicated low altitude AA assets. What will actually fire at aircraft now, .50 cals? all MGs? 222s? (and probably not given CM1 reasoning) 88s? I have BN + commonwealth. I'll probably get it eventually anyway, but I searched around here for about 45 mins and found nothing answering it. Thanks!

??? Am I missing something (as this is the base CMSF forum), I am on 1.32 with all modules. On mine it's 40 seconds to reload each tube on the Bradley in my game, for both M2 & M3, the same reload time as all other TOW systems except that it was a single missile loaded each 40 seconds. On mine it will fire two, reload if not moving (but if moving it is instantly loaded once the order stops, if time has expired). The only quirk I see (other that being to short of time) is that if you fire one missile and they start a loading drill (which they do on their own) that for the next 40 seconds they are a sitting duck, even with all weapons otherwise ready. Regardless, it seems to work pretty well to me without adding a complicated reload command.

Okay, I thought there was stowage for 5 and 2 in the tubes, online sources said the same. Never been in a Bradley though. The primary question was the Abrams. It seems the hull ammo is left out completely. I figure there is a reason, but, why?

Hello, I'm sure this is answered somewhere in here, and I've found some that get close- but I've been searching for an hour to no avail... Why does the Abrams only seem to reflect turret ammo stowage in game? I am finding that the M1A1 carries 40 (as it always has) and the M1A2 carries 42 - but in the game I am always getting -6 (34/36 total) rounds for each. I hear that this is in hull storage, why is this not in the game? (Also, shouldn't the M2 Bradley have 5+2 TOW? And the M3 crew seems odd too.) Thanks!

I downloaded and installed V1.11 then simply reinstalled 2.0. I figured it would work, and thankfully it seems to have. Okay, all back to normal. Spotting seems to work. The Marder crew is back in the vehicle. Spotting is back to normal. Shaders work. Etc. So it seems the only real problem is a lack of a version checker, and my lack of reading. (The auto - road is stil unusable, in my opinion.) I found the internal hotkeys file. Appropriately modified. I'll see if it will let me mod my original post to appropriately reflect what was wrong. Thanks for your help, everyone! I'm glad to see everything working (reasonably).

Weird on the patch order thing. I think I only had V1.10. I most certainly only did the 2.0 patch today. The only oddity was the install checkboxes (which appears that it should have been a radio button). (paraphrased) 1) install 2.0 for CMBN only 2) install 2.0 for CMBN + commonwealth With 2 or both checked it was like 2.7GB or something. I unchecked 1. When looking at the .brz files there are ones for CMBN and Commonwealth, so it seems that it must have installed both correctly. I got no errors. The only oddity was during the unpack and megre of the .brz files (done in sn outside folder, not messing with CMBN). When I merged them there were two of a single file: smod_german_m43_officer-sr_uniform.bmp . I just thought that was a bit odd. Doesn't seem relevant though. Can someone please check their Data folder. Should there be a .brz for V1.11? I only see 1.10. Was I missing a piece? Shouldn't the installed have errored if it couln't handle the version that was installed? Thanks, Mike

Had latest available patch of CMBN commonwealth before V2.0 today. I'm surprised a version checker would even let people put 1.11 on top of 2. Thanks though.

Disclaimer: I was testing, rather than playing, so maybe I was noticing things I had ignored before. I have played the game extensively (though not to the nutty extend of CM1 that I did). Granted, I only drove the Tiger around in Sherman-land for about 20 mins, but I've NEVER had an unbuttoned, unstressed, undamaged, stationary tank crew not spot another tank sitting on a road broadside 20m ahead. I'm talking like one minute or so, not five seconds. Clear LOS to the ground, so certainly to a vehicle. As soon as the crew bailed out, they got MGed. The remaining dudes got back in, still couldn't see it. Marder III, have a screenshot, but it's more than 19.5k and I don't feel like uploading to my website. Did it in both the editor and gameplay, buttoned or not. Key cutomization now internalized? Okay. I'll look. It's still using parts of my custom list though. What can I say. The transparency went from none to "maybe it's there" to "I think it's there" to "where's my map". Opinion, sure, and that's mine. Trees, dude, trees. The experience I have always had (but now I second guess myself): The game I played last night (V1.1 or whatever it was) I had my Panther driving through tree tiles and it would actually avoid the trunks that were there and go through the gaps. When the Cromwell VI fired at it, it hit a trunk and exploded. When I started getting plastered, I couldn't back up through the cluster of trunks behind me. There was a complaint (that I think was fixed) that in multiplayer games that the opposite players would have trees show up in different places (the trunks, not the tiles). I remember it being fixed in a patch. I am aware of running over infantry and, at least with a lot of CMSF recently, my partial understanding of which vehicles can drive through which vehicles. I'm not talking about that. Didn't feel like "playing" long enough to find any "real bugs". Sounds entertaining... (not really). I guess I have to unistall and revert to 1.1.

I briefly tested the V2.0 that I bought today. Here's what I find. Problem 1: A quick evaluation battle. Dawn, clear skies, unbuttoned. My Tiger crew can literally drive within yards of an enemy vehicle and not see it. No damage to the Tiger's systems. It saw NONE outside of 50m. I bailed, checked where a Brit Sherman was, climbed back into the Tiger, and drove to where the gun tube was literally inserted half-way into the turret... and they still couldn't see it. Suddenly, it appears (gun barrel still inside his turret). Both fire. Both tanks explode. Problem 2: Marder III gunner and driver stand high out of the vehicle with arms extended. I haven't noticed this on the few other vehicles I've seen since V2.0 "upgrade". Problem 3: it seems the new hotkey commands are non-customizable, which breaks my customized hotkeys. No new hotkey file? Am I missing something? I don't see target armor arc, of course, in my old file. Half of my old keys work, half don't and have been overwritten by 2.0 non-customizable ones. Problem 4: shaders. Maybe my computer probably can't do it, don't know, but shaders only toggle to "Off". Problem 5: the overlay. You have to completely exit the game to load a new overlay? Seriously? You can only have one loadable overlay hidden in your Z folder??? There are not enough overlay transparency steps. Honestly though, combined with Google Earth, that feature is REALLY COOL. Problem 6: The "Auto Road" tool. It automatically makes goofy and non-connected roads using only half of the available tiles. Any transition tiles (from straight to turn, for example), are not coded. It FREQUENTLY cannot figure out what to do, so it just inserts random tiles in between the two points. Unless it's a straight, unconnected road, it's actually faster to do it manually. Oh, and I never use highways in CMBN, but of course the most difficult roads to place... the tool will not do. Problem 7: tanks drive right through trees, but then drive around trees that weren't there. This never happened before. I only heard about this in multiplayer games, and thought it was fixed for them anyway. Well, that's all I noticed in the first hour. How do you get a refund???? I am VERY disappointed. Maybe something broke on the install, doesn't seem like it. I certainly hope Battlefront would not turn out something of this horribly low quality. I'm sure I will get roasted alive for complaining, but I hope you understand my frustration!

I read somewhere on here that it wasn't on the priority list for CM2, that they were focusing elsewhere. Also (perhaps primarily) because it was being used in a very gamey fashion and required recoding to fix. This is what I remember at least. I, for one, really miss it!

Erwin, thanks. I went over to the "dark side" and ride a desk for money. I'm still in the cockpit maybe once a week. Maybe I'll go back to flying full time, I hope so, but the stability, knowing I have a good job, is nice. Interesting thing... I now work with a guy from Hungary, so I got to impress him about my knowledge of their WW2 armor. He loves to quiz me on old military aircraft, which I am decent at. It seems I have to unlock secrets from this guy by earning them. He flew in Korea, had four kills... flying a MiG15... switched to our side after he ran out of gas behind our lines due to "bulletholes", flew for the U.S. Air Force training U.S. pilots (REAL OPFOR!), then had an airline maintenance career. He's flown just about every awesome military aircraft up to the start of Vietnam. Me109 & FW190, YAKs, MiGs for the Hungarians, P-51, F-86, F-100 for the U.S. (Plus many others.) Oh, and after I told him about WW2 armor he told me about a specific battle he saw as a kid. He described the shelling (by both sides) while he was in a bunker. I guess he did come out for a second, he watched an 88 (he looked through pictures and later IDed it) eliminate a T-34. Said that it fired, the round penetrated the turret ring and the turret was "ripped off" (internal explosion, of course, but he was 9 at the time and doesn't claim to know anything about tanks). He said it eliminated two or three Russian tanks. LLF, you've put some thought into that! Sounds like fun! (For a game, I mean!) Certainly plausible!

China vs Soviet, CIS, Russia (whatever is appropriate for the story line). Leave it up to individual interpretation as to who started it (hence, the bad guy). For an expansion add in western units that could fight on either side. We could even finally have Japan! Nobody's specifically the bad guy, and it would be original... however, might not sell to well over here without U.S. units from the start. I know I can leave it out but... I'd buy it!

Not really sure what LLF was getting at. Being confused I am just restating that I play the Russians as the GOOD guys (blue), trying to put down "Syrian" insurgents by using the best "Syrian" equipment in the game (I have to do this red on red but the Russians are still the blue side). If the Russians had an extended deployment into an urban hotzone I'm sure those prototypes would be available in short order to the troops. Given that T-90s, BMP-3s, and a lot of pretty good small arms are already in the game, a Russian "good guy" EP should be very easy to do. I'd buy it, of course. I know this will probably not happen since CMSF is hmmm, CM version -5, if I remember correctly. (Italy, CMBN+Comm, Afghan, all later).

I sure would love to see an expansion pack for CMSF with modern Russian troops (on our side, or on either side!). I have mixed together several Red on Red scenarios and have had a lot of fun, but would like to see some newer stuff. A BMPT (urban combat vehicle on a T-72 chassis), BTR-90s, BTRTs (T-55 chassis urban infantry carrier), night vision, etc. It seems like the basis is there already. Just a quick expansion... pleeease?

Thanks. I opened the discussion in the correct mods forum and someone suggested GIMP2, which I downloaded. After some work figuring out the programisms I got it worked out. It works in SF and BN. Wish I had figured out the cross thingie, that would have been much easier! Anyway, I unploaded them to the SF mods repository with some batch files for easy switching of the game files in and out. Glad you liked my idea. I did play a game with no icons and no discs. It was pretty cool, but the lines are still there. Looked neat though. Just bought the SF 3 module bundle. Time for some fun!

Yes, the cross is very helpful, but sucks for screenshots. I'll get that one too. I got GIMP 2.8. All four are done. I'll include the folders and batch files I made for easy switching between transparent and original. Uploaded to CMSF (CMBN later if it works, I'll check first). Thanks for all of your help. (Can't link to download until reviewed by admin)

Got it. I'll get all (four?) of the bases transparent and then upload in case anyone else wants it. It makes gameplay hard, so it's pretty much only for capturing unit data.

Making progress... Before I could only make it different size squares and would lose the A-Channel. I managed to make a green smiley face that is still a disc. I managed to make a doughnut with the Alpha channel reversed. I might be able to get it soon. Be nice if I could dock these toolbars somehow, but first things first.