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magomar

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Posts posted by magomar

    Idea for the CMSF Scenario Editor

    in CMSF Scenario and Mod Design Forum

    Posted

    Originally posted by shadowgamer:

    I've been able to find a number of topographic maps of Syria on the web, and have been using the contour lines on these maps in creating CMSF maps. Currently, drawing a contour line in the editor means clicking on tile after tile along the length of the desired line. You don't have to click every tile, but the spacing between can't be too great, or else you may have unpredictable results (especially if there's a concentration of directly-set elevation tiles nearby). This can be very time-consuming.

    It would be very helpful if the editor allowed you to simply draw a contour line by clicking once on each end of the line. You'd hit a button -- say, "Draw contour line" -- then click the two ends of the line, and the editor would set elevation at every tile in between.

    Also, while I know the game file formats in general are closed to the public, is it possible that the map/scenario file format could be published? I'd love to be able to make some simple tools for myself to aid in making CMSF maps/scenarios.

    I don´t think that would occur. I the CMx1 series there were people developing great tools, like a converter between scenarios and operations, and between different games in the series, as well as a wonderful map editor that allowed you to import bmp files with heights coded in different levels of grey, or the possibility of having an overlay image to help you represent a map based on an ortophotography.... and, in order to communicate with the game, the only option for the programmers was.... to simulate a human user working with the editor by generating keyboard events. That was a great idea, but it had many issues.

    Since BFC seems to be against opening stuff, the community has been requesting more features and improvements in the editor, and I even remember some of the programmers of these wonderful tools offered himself to integrate their tool in a future release of the game, but that never happen.

    All in all, we should be keep asking BFC to include some nice features in the editor, that would be highly appreciate by scenario creator...

    [ February 08, 2008, 03:02 PM: Message edited by: magomar ]

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    This would be a great feature.....

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    Formations work fine in Theater of War, don't they?

    So why something similar wouldn't work in CMx2 ?

    Probably a smarter Tac-AI would do the trick for some situations and some basic formations (line, column), but a human user would probably use some other formations that shouldn't be decided by the Tac-AI, like "dispersed" or "tight" formations, vee or echelon formations.

    Anyway I do not think this is a priority, IMO there are other things that would have a much greater impact on the playability and enjoyment of this game.

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    Entering Hell v1

    in CMSF Scenario and Mod Design Forum

    Posted

    I have just played it, and I have enjoyed it very much, the 1.05 patch seems to be a great improvement (what a pity the new bug with low walls).

    Very nice MOUT in this battle, the infantry using

    the assault order did great, at least in my case.

    Thanks for the scenario. Looking forward to see more of you ;)

    ************* SPOILERS *************

    I won a Major Victory in my first attempt with only 9 kills, and lost no vehicle. The enemy surrendered before even attempting to assault the factory (the ruins of it). Therefore, to make the game more challenging I would remove some arty and some the second tanks platoon. Consider adding more red forces too, at night the US is in great advantage, specially now that infantry reacts much butter.

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    Suggestion for map editor: Graphic files as overlays

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    Originally posted by magomar:

    MM (Mapping Mission) is a wonderful tool by L.Tankersley to edit maps and export them to CM

    It has features such as overlaying a bmp, or reading a bmp with a height or terrain color-code and other utilities to simplify the map creation process.

    The only con is that since the scenario format of CM is a proprietary format, the communication between MM and CM is done in a very unreliable way: generating key events from MM while staying in the CM editor

    I think the last version of MM was the 1.12, that you can find here

    http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=003400;p=1#000000

    You can see some screenshots of MM here

    http://cmscw.50webs.com/tutorials/tm-4-edicion.htm

    Best regards

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    Suggestion for map editor: Graphic files as overlays

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    MM (Mapping Mission) is a wonderful tool by L.Tankersley to edit maps and export them to CM

    It has features such as overlaying a bmp, or reading a bmp with a height or terrain color-code and other utilities to simplify the map creation process.

    The only pro is that since the scenario format of CM is a proprietary format, the communication between MM and CM is done in a very unreliable way: generating key events from MM while staying in the CM editor

    I think the last version of MM was the 1.12, that you can find here

    http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=003400;p=1#000000

    You can see some screenshots of MM here

    http://cmscw.50webs.com/tutorials/tm-4-edicion.htm

    Best regards

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    bunkers

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    Hi

    I've been trying to flank the bunkers in the "Kurds attack" scenario, and to my surprise, it seems that the units inside a bunker can fire through the side walls !

    Has anybody else noticed that? Could be this a bug? Or are bunkers supposed to be like that?

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    Problem when making arty area target

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    Originally posted by Jon Sowden:

    SloMo and Magomar; yes, I know what you are talking about, and I described it in my post. You can view it as a bug, or you can view it as a realistic restriction. Either way it is what it is, the reason it occurs is well known, and there is an easy workaround.

    Complain, or deal.

    Your call.

    Are you sure you know what we are talking about? It is perfectly clear that both points (to indicate center and radius respectively) require LOS, OK, we are not discussing that restriction here.

    What SloMo and myself are telling is that if one accidentally tries to select the radius by clicking to a point without LOS, then one gets a message saying "click again", but it doesn't work, there is no way to select a new point with LOS, and one has to cancel the order and start again from the beginning. So i still think this is a bug

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    Why don't my troops follow my orders? (the fluffy version)

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    I have noticed the same behavior in the same scenario (the farm, right?), I order some squads to follow the ditch in advance, and some of them to go straight through the field, and all of them refused that path and went trough the dammed ditch

    I don't think that is a proper behavior. If we had different pathfinding strategies (by time, distance, cover, and so on)then I can understand that a strategy base on cover or security would probably chose the ditch, but I do not thinkt that is the case. I thought the pathfinding algorithm here is supposed to search the quickest route, right? Then either there is another reason or there is something wrong...

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    Shockforce, the RTS.

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    I agree that the UI is clumsy

    The new command system implies too many clicks for doing simple things, and you have to look carefully at the control panels to know at which panel you are (I am surprised that the command buttons are large and color coded, which is good, while the panel buttons (M,C,S,A) are so small), or you will end up selecting the wrong command ! I also dislike that there is no way to go to a given control panel directly, instead you have to cycle through them. In summary, the command system doesn't help to playing RT.

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    What was the reasoning about TCP/IP being real time only?

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    Originally posted by Percopius:

    WEGO is un-realistic. Commanders in reality can only give one order at a time (in this game you can give orders to multiple wiht Shift-Drag by the way) and can be overloaded with information. This can only be abstracty simultated in WEGO. This is already the reality of RT. WEGO is a gaming contrivence and as such, makes it a game, not a simulation. I am glad CM:SF is less abstract. I love abstract games, but I prefer simulations.

    Well, in reality you have a chain of command and many "commanders" receiving and giving orders simultaneously but at different echelons, while here you have a single player in charge of everyting. Having RT doesn't mean the game would be more reallistic. Perhaps RT is funny, perhaps many people end up preferring RT, but I think the argument of realism is not really against the WEGO approach.
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    What was the reasoning about TCP/IP being real time only?

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    Hi folks

    I strongly support a WEGO TCPIP mode

    I think most of us would like to have a WEGO TCPIP mode even if it means having no replay option, that's a secondary matter.

    Well, if adding a pause in RT mode would so easy, as Steve has suggested, then a WEGO TCPIP mode could be implemented just by keeping the game paused until both players hit the GO button, right?

    I think somebody else has pointed to the very same idea though using other words...

    [ July 28, 2007, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: magomar ]

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    Spanish Civil War Modification

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    Originally posted by magomar:

    thank you very much ! I was planning to ask you about that. By the way, are those scenarios on-line again? I got them time ago, but I think they were offline when our loved scenario depot dissapeared ! Anyway, I think some of those scenarios would require minor changes in the OOBs to fit into my modification. Let's see when can I put my hands on it again, I have no PC at home yet...
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