umlaut
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Posts posted by umlaut
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Although, now am torn since Aris has a similar mod as well. It feels like a betrayal...
A camouflaged defensive works mod? I haven´t come across that one. If it is Aris´ normal defensive works mod you mean, then that is what my mod is based on (the CMBN version).
So you could actually call it a tribute
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maybe a patch, or how about some screen shots of the toys we'll soon be playing with.
Like an in-game screen shot of one of these for instance?
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Did the Germans actually have camouflage sandbags?
Michael
Probably not - and that is not what these are. Even though it is not easy to see on the pics above these are actually supposed to be sandbags/trenches/foxholes with camouflage net draped over them. You´ll see if you get closer.
I know that probably wasn´t a regular practice, but the point with these mods is to make defensive works less obvious and spottable in game.
This was the only - reasonably - realistic way to do it that I could think of.
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Hi
Just tested if my camouflaged defensive works mods for CMBN would work in CMFI too. They do.
Here are some pics - and where to get them (I don´t think there´s any reason to upload them to the CMFI section as well)
Cheers
http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=108424
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Well, in my experience orators are quite the opposite: They are considerably harder to get to pack up than to deploy
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Great screenie, Tashtego
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When making such tight turns you should always use the "slow" movement. Are you doing that?
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We can't camouflage AT guns and defensive works realistically either
I have recently attempted to do a bit about that - at least visually. See link in my sig line.
More on topic:
Very interesting read, kensal. Actually, what struck me when reading the account was how much this correlated with my own experience of fight hedge row battle in CM:BN. Yes, it is undoubtedly easier to beat a german defender in the game than in real life. But this is a game, so it shouldn´t be too frustrating to play (actually people tend to complain that my scenarios are too hard. So maybe you should try them - allthough they aren´t typical bocage battles
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Graphics don't matter - game play matters.
If graphics were the most important thing we'd all be playing FPS dejour.
If graphics mattered I would have been playing CMSFbetween 2008 and release of CMBN. Instead I chose CMBB.
If graphics mattered I'd have a heap pile of mods besides No opening music and grid lines.
If graphins mattered I wouldn't use gridlines- way too unrealistic.
Can CMx2 graphics use some fine tuning? sure it can. The 2 things that gets me the most are:
1. A tank that will have a tree protruding thru the hull. Collisions of 2 objects that then over lap.
2. The soldiers G.I. Joe hands. - permanently stuck in two positions. Even when they are performing buddy aid or something else - GIJoe hands.
Well, your last two points kinda proves that graphics do matter to you too.
But we all have different preferences: I would never dream of using grid lines - they totally ruin the game for me. I would be nice to have them if they could be toggled on and of in-game, though.
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Having played CM since CM:BB I am really enjoying the graphics of the CM2 engine. I spend a lot of time on ground level - just admiring the action. That said, I think there is still plenty of room for improvement. In my opinion, escpecially in these fields:
Building damage:
One slightly damaged building looks fine, but several damaged buildings look quite unconvincing, as the texture for heavy(?) damage seems to be the same hole in the wall - limited to the same floor. A heavily damaged five story building will thus have five identical holes in the each floor. I really hope that we will get more realistic looking damage here: For instance halfway collapsed buildings and empty burned out shells, where only the other walls remain standing - and preferably a combination of the two.
Vehicle damage:
I´d like to see knocked out vehicles that look more like they have been knocked out. Bent guns and armor plates, holes in the fuselage, wheels falling of - and the occasional flying turret
Also one of the things I really liked about Achtung Panzer (though I don´t like it enough to actually play it) is the animations of tanks throwing a track.Clipping:
Troops and vehicles being impaled by trees and tanks driving through each other doesn´t do much for the immersion.
Animations:
Generally, I´m quite happy with the animations of the pixeltruppen. But a few of them needs an update in my view. Especially the "hunt" animation which always makes me think of a bunch of guys that have had an accident in their underpants. I´d also like to see more variation in their postures: When you look at a squad kneeling behind a wall most of their postures are identical.
I am sure many of these things are already on BFC´s neverending to do list. I just hope they aren´t too far down. I also know that many of my wishes may present huge coding challenges, but that won´t prevent me from wishing.
So yes, I do think graphics matter. Both to me and to potentially new players. And I think it is nessecary to keep graphics up to date. I don´t play CM1 games at all any more and if CM2 hadn´t come along I would probably play Achtung Panzer now (and I am really glad I don´t have to). I have a couple of friends that looked at the graphics of CMBN and decided they didn´t want to try the game. And judging from what I read on forums, other potential customers do the same. That is really a shame, because CM is the best game around in my opinion.
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I think that what Seedorf is trying to say is this:
Are we aware that using flamethrowers leads to human torches writhing and dying slowly in agony - and to we want this in the game as well?
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You can always do some patchwork
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@frigo:
I don´t think it is possible to mod the bunker, because as far as I can tell there is no bunker file to edit. I think the game is simply builds the bunker by making a cube out of logs (If someone knows differently, please let me know).
And there is no way I can think of that would make a convincing looking camouflaged bunker when the game - as far as I can tell - uses the same log texture for all the logs in the bunker.
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Unfortunately, I can´t answer your questions, but I can give you wee warning regarding shipment of the game:
Several EU gamers have had an unpleasant surprise when recieving the CD ROM and manual by mail: An extra customs charge (import tax?).
In my case the charge - and handling fee from Danish Mail - meant that the game ended up costing nearly twice as much as BFC´s price.
I know UK players have been paying extra customs charge as well, so you should consider this risk before ordering the print version.
Previously (before CMBN), BFC have shipped their games to EU clients from Germany - instead of the US - to avoid this. There has been talk about doing that again, but I don´t know how this are now. Perhaps BFC could answer this?
Anyroad, CMBN is an absolutely fantastic game, so this should in no way keep you from purchasing - only consider which way is the optimal.
Cheers
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These mods are made in an attempt to make the defensive works less obvious and spottable in game. I have often thought that trenches and foxholes looked too unrealistic and were way too easy to spot.
One could probably argue that camouflage net was not often used to hide sandbags and trenches. But this was the only reasonably realistic way to conceal the defenses I could think of. You can of course still find the defenses if you look for them - but these mods should make it a bit harder.
These mods are based on Aris´ great terrain mods and are as such probably best used in conjuntion with these.
If you have other terrain mods in your z-folder you should probably place these files in a folder named "zz"
Uploaded to Greesasjades site: http://cmmods.greenasjade.net/mods/4855/details
Enjoy
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is there a way to toggle setup zones. they hurt my eyes and especially in low light conditions it makes it hard to study the terrain. or maybe there is a mod which makes setup zones more transparent?
I agree. That is a feature, I´ve missed too - for the same reasons.
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You´re welcome. I´ll PM you soon
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The danish gaming site, eurogamer.dk, has chosen CMFI as Wargame of the Year 2012.
To spare you from the horrors of Google Translate, I´ve taken the liberty of translating the words (it´s far from perfect but definitely better than Google).
The first article is the announcement of "Game of the Year" from december 25th 2012, the second part is the full review that was published on august 28th 2012.
http://www.eurogamer.dk/articles/2012-12-25-aarets-spil-krigsspil
Games of the Year: Wargame
There is no other game on the market today that is better at simulating a battlefield than Combat Mission: Fortress Italy. Every relevant factor is being taken into account when a game of CM is starting, and Battlefront, the makers of CM, doesn´t take any shortcuts in making the game.
Details of the armor thickness of the tanks, the artillery´s armament, muzzle velocity and the characteristics of the shells are all part of the game. The individual soldiers are treated with equal thoroughness. Every man´s psychological condition is being carefully monitored and if he is subjected to an artillery barrage or sees his comrades being shot then the game takes this into account.
The battlefield is chaotic and it is a man´s job to keeping track of it all. But the satisfaction of accomplishing a difficult task without losing (too many) troops is incomparable. Even though the game with modern eyes looks a bit dated graphically, don´t be fooled: Combat Mission is the peak of wargaming at the moment.
But "noblesse oblige", and time will show if Battlefront will manage to stay in front the coming years. So far the game has evolved in a very technical direction, in the sense that the developers have focused on refining and perfecting the qualities that the game already posseses. We hope to see more genuine innovation in the years to come.
There are competitors on the field and ukrainian Achtung Panzer from 2011 is very close to rival Combat Mission´s unsurpassed simulation.
Combat Mission is also available in a light version for iPad.
http://www.eurogamer.dk/articles/2012-08-28-combat-mission-fortress-italy-anmeldelse
Combat Mission: Fortress Italy - Review
The king of tactical wargames, Battlefront, has delivered a stand alone expansion for Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy that was released last year and became Strategy Game of the Year at Eurogamer.
The new game is called Combat Mission: Fortress Italy (CMFI) and portrays, as the name more than implies, the battles in Italy between the americans and the axis powers. Apart from new units, fitting sicilian houses and trees, the new module promises improvements in the shape of some long awaited graphics love.
The germans get new Luftwaffe units, amongst other the notorious Hermann Göring Division, the americans get the Rangers. But real star of the game is the italian army. The italians of course were, to be honest, an unintentionally comical element in WWII from time to time. They surrendered often without even being shot at, and their equipment and uniforms have since been the source of a certain amount of amusement amongst fans of military history. Especially the green feather in the baret of the Bersaglieri forces (that I believe they still wear today) seems a tad anachronistic, but that is all part of the charm of leading Mussolinis finest into battle.
In CMFI you can explore the cause of why things went so wrong for them and I´m not revealing too much by saying that it is all about organisation and equipment. After a couple of turns in the mud against the americans one understands with brilliant clarity why the italian soldiers weren´t compelled to embark on great heroic deeds: Their equipment in CMFI is exactly as bad as we´ve read in the history books, and they suffer from a disastrous lack of NCOs and officers in their units. There is a lack of machine guns and automatic weapons of every kind and their platoon of 30+ soldiers has only one single officer to control them - and no NCOs on squad level. This may sound traumatic, but it is actually tremendously amusing to lead the italians, and in order to win using them you have got to have a firm grip on your tactics. That Combat Mission as a historical laboratory in this way spendidly illustrates these points is symptom of the game´s amazingly thorough simulation.
If you disregard the new equipment, the new building types, improved terrain representation (slopes and mountain sides now work) CMFI is almost identical to CMBN in every aspect. There are optimizations many places, most are invisible but important - for instance this reviewer has got a feeling that machine guns have recieved an overhaul.
But the great, new feature that has been trumpeted in connection with the launch are the graphical updates and those are unfortunately a mediocre affair. Albeit optimizations have been made moving around the map still feels slow and albeit shaders have been introduced - that is objects casting shadows on other objects - the terrain in Combat Mission is still - for lack of a better word - undramatic. That is a pity. Well, hardcore wargamers can survive on 16 bit ZX Spektrum graphics they say. But statistcs show that it is the sexy screenshots that´ll make the bank notes leave the wallet.
Another new feature is bumpmapping, and that helps make the ground a bit more realistic. You can see that the graphics have been improved, but here we wish that Battlefront would increase the speed in this field.
There are features we wish to see introduced in the series. If you play real time - and I always do, even though it took a long time to convince me (one of the things I didn´t know I liked, but Battlefront convinced me about), then the game still give the player too little feedback about what is happening around the map. The consequence is that when you play big scenarios there is no other option than play turn based, one minute at a time. Otherwise you are going to miss too much and the scenarios will end up being confusing, disorganized brawls.
This interface itself that normally has worked fine for me has suddenly become irritating. The reason probably is that the keyboard short cuts only work if you have pressed F6 and have switched to the correct tab. This sentence won´t make much sense, unless you have the game yourself. But trust me, the extra key stroke quickly becomes a showstopper (correction: it sometimes works like this and sometimes in the old way).
In the minor complaints department I will mention the lack of a overview of the forces at your disposal on the map. But that is one of those things that one could imagine would become a part of an overall "feedback" improvement. Multiplayer is the same as always. Head to head play or PBEM. We keep our fingers crossed for the eventual introduction of coop play against the computer.
War is drama of the highest caliber and that is why generations of young men (and a few girls) are drawn towards wargames year after year. And I am not ony talking about Call of Duty, but also the more "dry" types of wargames: The tactically, realistically and historically correct ones. Like for instance Combat Mission which for the twelfth year running holds on to the throne as the king of tactical wargames. But the throne is faltering.
The drama of war is quietly on it´s way out the backdoor of Battlefront´s perfect laboratory. The new graphical updates that is part of the justification for the not insignificant price tag of 50 dollars is not very impressive and compared to the competition (Achtung Panzer) they seem like archaeic afterthoughts.
In Combat Mission there is a lack of tanks exploding (there are no visible signs of damage etc), track prints in the mud, dirty vehicles (why do all tanks look like they have just rolled out of the factory?) and dramatic lighting.
Noblesse oblige. Battlefront is the leader in the field and we look forward to seeing them take war gaming to the next level, as they did 12 years ago with the original Combat Mission. What it takes right now I can´t say, because the game is unsurpassed, but I believe that this is one those things you will know when you see it.
Battlefront has the confidence and the experience to give the customers what they didn´t realize they needed. We can´t wait.
8/10 (score)
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Yes, the story is definitely interesting. Unfortunately, the writing is rather clumsy.
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It´s not in. According to wikipedia it did fight in Normandy in august 44. My guess is that BFC didn´t consider it numerous enough to include it in the first releases. Hopefully it will show up in the "Odd´n Ends" pack.
I´d love to get my hands on a Brummbär too.
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Tanks can cross shallow fords, not deep water fords. The issue here is "some games" built prior to version 2.00 (not sure about version 1.11) where the fords worked before, will not carry armour in version 2.00. Looks like this is due to the tiles next to roads or tracks and effects how the armours behaviour.
Good example is the ford in the woods next to the central bridge in Huzzar Redux... where the armour and half-tracks did cross but now cannot.
In addition if you play a scenario where tanks were expected to be able to cross, by the scenario builder it may unbalance the scenario when this is no longer the case. Not to mention how many players, will know which fords he is expected or not to cross.
In some cases the "green arrow" still shows a permitted path, for armour...
This is really interesting to me, as I have been experiencing some ford crossing problems in a scenario I began before 2.00 - but completed after.
Could you please elaborate: Do these problems only occur in scenarios built before 2.00? If so then I guess they should work again if I "rebuild" the them in the editor in 2.00, right?
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I had thought that Arnhem was planned to be the last module and the only release left for BN would be the Odds 'n' Sods pack.
I see no reason why the "content" Steve mentions shouldn´t be a pack.
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Well, I just made a test on my iMac - and sort of came to the opposite conclusion:
The game looks a little better when running on Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.8) than on windows XP via Parallels. But this may be due to the fact that I can not turn antialiasing on in Windows.
The big difference - on my iMac - is that the game runs horribly in Windows. Stuttering is the best word I can come up with at the moment. But I cant tell if this may be due to some settings on my machine.
My advice to you would be: An iMac is a great computer, I can only recommend it. But I don´t think you should make the desicion to buy one solely on it´s capacity to run CM. If you do buy one - and get Bootcamp or Parallels - I recommend you download the demos for both Mac and PC and decide which one looks best.
Cheers
Also one of the things I really liked about Achtung Panzer (though I don´t like it enough to actually play it) is the animations of tanks throwing a track.
Pushing Tanks
in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy
Posted
The short answer is: No, you can´t. There are long threads about this, of you want a detailed explanation as to why - try searching.
Cheers