blow56

WTF is the z folder? I have spotted a couple of nice mods I want, but the explanation to getting them to work says to 'simply put them in the z folder'. I have tried every folder I can think of - Misc, Data etc etc - but can't seem to get them to work.

Please, please, please - if you do nothing else with QBs can you make the battle length adjustable? I am tired of time-restrictions on these - it makes for an unrealistic rush. Similarly, can those designing campaigns/scenarios simply max out the timing? There are few incidences (and I know) of a commander forced into sacrificing sense and men in order to achieve an objective in 20 or 30 or 40 minutes. Scenarios designed on time-sensitive grounds are unrealistic.

Ah - I see the reasoning now. Brits in the Falklands. You should know that they only did this with any great success at Goose Green, when the Paras had a pop at eleven trenches, in the dark, filled with troops already on the point of giving up. After Colonel H got smacked, the Paras did the wild thing and the Argies caved in. In fact, if they had hung on a little longer, the Paras might have pulled back. Ex-Para, so I know. That said, the Paras (and Marines, sick though I am to have to say it) did first-class work with minimum (typical British Army) support and proper equipment. Still doing the old muddle through in Afghanistan, so nothing learned. The bridge mission - re-analysed it and found ONE Red driver of a knocked-out APC cowering under the vehicle and still on the bridge. Vagaries of the AI - he was hardly occupying the bridge, but it counted it. I wouldn't be so set against deployment areas if the time limits were maxed, allowing me to send out flank forces. Actually, on reflection, I prefer this, providing my start-points aren't compromised. Look forward to more from you.

Liked the maps and the scenarios are well-designed ... BUT Increase the times. There is NO reason for US inf to rush assaults. THis is a common problem and I never see the reasoning behind such rushing. If you want to create tension, have the enemy closing in on your objective - ie game it. Allow players to deploy. At the moment a lot of your missions waste some of the precious time simply getting troops into a decent attack plan. Cut that ludicrous 'take the hill' mission. No-one in their right mind would assault such a position with NO in-place attack plan and one battery of 81mm mortars - it was plainly doomed to failure and, seeing the impossibility of it, I did not bother, so conserving the valuable lives of my troops. Too Hollywood. If you want to rescue it rather than ditch it, give the US more arty or air, which is the only one to clear them off the top of the hill with minimal casualties. Not sure about the parameters of the 'defend the bridges' option. I killed everything that stepped on them, had troops occupying one of them at the end and still got a Total Defeat. Apart from that - good campaign.

I get that, too - peculiarly, the problem disappears if you zoom in.

Thanks for all your help - I will try the line feed suggestion - but if Cpl Steiner sends me his script, I will salute him. I will let you know if the line feed works once I manage to work my way through the Battles (no quick way of testing!!)

It is exactly the same as in Battles - create a Battle, pick a Btn, delete those units you do not want until you have your single platoon. In the next Battle of your Campaign, when you Import Campaign units, it will import exactly what you created in the first one - a whole Btn with everything already deleted but for the Platoon you want. Careful though - it will also import the other side's units as well, as Core, so you will have to delete them (unless you are fighting an ongoing series of Battles against the same enemy and want to keep them).

You are absolutely right - here you go: /* Note the characters before and after this text. They allow designer to put in comments, or notes, such as why something was done a certain way. Anything between these characters is ignored by Combat Mission. Otherwise an error will occur when the Campaign is compiled. */ // Alternatively two back slashes can be entered to create a comment. There’s no functional difference between this method and the previous mentioned method. /* Campaign Header*/ [PLAYER FORCE] blue // options are: blue/red [HUMAN OPPONENT ALLOWED] no // no/yes [bLUE VICTORY TEXT] You won! [bLUE DEFEAT TEXT] You lost! [RED VICTORY TEXT] You won! [RED DEFEAT TEXT] You lost! /*Battle #1*/ [bATTLE NAME] Marching Through Georgia // note, do not include “.btt”, just the file name [WIN THRESHOLD] major victory // total defeat, major defeat, tactical defeat, minor defeat, draw, minor victory, tactical victory, major victory, total victory [NEXT BATTLE IF WIN] Kobuleti [NEXT BATTLE IF LOSE] Batumi // a blank signals an end of the campaign [bLUE REFIT %] 20 //always express this a number between 0 and 100 [bLUE REPAIR VEHICLE %] 40 [bLUE RESUPPLY %] 70 [bLUE REST %] 80 [RED REFIT %] 10 [RED REPAIR VEHICLE %] 10 [RED RESUPPLY %] 50 [RED REST %] 60 /*Battle #2*/ [bATTLE NAME] Kobuleti // note, do not include “.btt”, just the file name [WIN THRESHOLD] major victory // total defeat, major defeat, tactical defeat, minor defeat, draw, minor victory, tactical victory, major victory, total victory [NEXT BATTLE IF WIN] Burnati [NEXT BATTLE IF LOSE] // a blank signals an end of the campaign [bLUE REFIT %] 20 //always express this a number between 0 and 100 [bLUE REPAIR VEHICLE %] 40 [bLUE RESUPPLY %] 70 [bLUE REST %] 80 [RED REFIT %] 10 [RED REPAIR VEHICLE %] 10 [RED RESUPPLY %] 50 [RED REST %] 60 /*Battle #3*/ [bATTLE NAME] Burnati // note, do not include “.btt”, just the file name [WIN THRESHOLD] major victory // total defeat, major defeat, tactical defeat, minor defeat, draw, minor victory, tactical victory, major victory, total victory [NEXT BATTLE IF WIN] Baghdadi [NEXT BATTLE IF LOSE] // a blank signals an end of the campaign [bLUE REFIT %] 20 //always express this a number between 0 and 100 [bLUE REPAIR VEHICLE %] 40 [bLUE RESUPPLY %] 70 [bLUE REST %] 80 [RED REFIT %] 10 [RED REPAIR VEHICLE %] 10 [RED RESUPPLY %] 50 [RED REST %] 60 /*Battle #4*/ [bATTLE NAME] Baghdadi // note, do not include “.btt”, just the file name [WIN THRESHOLD] major victory // total defeat, major defeat, tactical defeat, minor defeat, draw, minor victory, tactical victory, major victory, total victory [NEXT BATTLE IF WIN] Zeda Sakara [NEXT BATTLE IF LOSE] // a blank signals an end of the campaign [bLUE REFIT %] 20 //always express this a number between 0 and 100 [bLUE REPAIR VEHICLE %] 40 [bLUE RESUPPLY %] 70 [bLUE REST %] 80 [RED REFIT %] 10 [RED REPAIR VEHICLE %] 10 [RED RESUPPLY %] 50 [RED REST %] 60 /*Battle #5*/ [bATTLE NAME] Zeda Sakara // note, do not include “.btt”, just the file name [WIN THRESHOLD] major victory // total defeat, major defeat, tactical defeat, minor defeat, draw, minor victory, tactical victory, major victory, total victory [NEXT BATTLE IF WIN] [NEXT BATTLE IF LOSE] // a blank signals an end of the campaign [bLUE REFIT %] 20 //always express this a number between 0 and 100 [bLUE REPAIR VEHICLE %] 40 [bLUE RESUPPLY %] 70 [bLUE REST %] 80 [RED REFIT %] 10 [RED REPAIR VEHICLE %] 10 [RED RESUPPLY %] 50 [RED REST %] 60 /*Battle #6*/ [bATTLE NAME] Batumi // note, do not include “.btt”, just the file name [WIN THRESHOLD] major victory // total defeat, major defeat, tactical defeat, minor defeat, draw, minor victory, tactical victory, major victory, total victory [NEXT BATTLE IF WIN] Kobuleti [NEXT BATTLE IF LOSE] // a blank signals an end of the campaign [bLUE REFIT %] 20 //always express this a number between 0 and 100 [bLUE REPAIR VEHICLE %] 40 [bLUE RESUPPLY %] 70 [bLUE REST %] 80 [RED REFIT %] 10 [RED REPAIR VEHICLE %] 10 [RED RESUPPLY %] 50 [RED REST %] 60

This is my second attempt to get ANY sort of answer from the people who know - using the two-Battle Campaign scripting example provided I cannot get any of my campaigns to go past two battles. I thought cut and paste (and filling in the relevant slots) would allow more. If I am missing some sort of two-battle limiter, please let me know - all I get is a .exe error which shuts me down just as the third Battle is loading. ANY help welcome.

Check Plans and Orders and make sure you start clean. If you have Plan 1, Order 2 and paint the map, make sure you don't have Plan 2, Order 2 painting somewhere else. The AI gets confused (and does nothing) or charges men off in the wrong direction. Check status of your troops. If they are Conscripts with Low motivation and poor leadership, they ain't gonna attack anywhere. Check status of your orders - use the Active setting if your men are reluctant to come forward. Its a whip to low morale. Ditch map setup areas; I find troops in them treat that as a final target. I hate em - issue Plans and Orders instead. Use Terrain Objectives, but carefully, otherwise they might clash with Plans and Orders.

I keep getting .exe faults two games into the campaigns I have made. What am I doing wrong? Is there any specific order for the Battles to appear in the Cam Script? For example - I have Battles One to Five in a linear progression, but Battle Six is a what-if for a loss in Battle One and points back to Battle Two if you win it. Or is it a book-keeping bug, game to game? I have noticed that whereas the unit names are the same, the individual names are different, Battle to Battle - I thought exactly the same units were used, adjusted for losses? I used the two-battle script you provide in the manual, cutting and pasting to make more Battles and I cannot find anything wrong with that - but it is suspicious that my Campaigns cut out after two battles!

Actually, you can edit the individual battles and simply do the Make Campaign command again. I have two Campaigns currently, with all the briefings, texts, maps and individual battles in unique folders within Scenarios. Works fine. I can edit them whenever I choose. I just can't find the same Battles, texts etc for the Thunder campaign. They must be somewhere, otherwise the .cam could not access the info. A hidden file perhaps?

Where are all the TF THunder scenarios? I am designing campaigns and now have a series of folders for each, with all the battles, briefings, maps etc etc. Can't find anything like that for TF Thunder, just the CAM file. I'd like to tinker with some of the maps and make new games out of them, study the way they were made to get a better idea of how to link battles etc etc - so where do I get them?

Not looking for oceans or lakes or amphibious landings, or cool reflections or sunlight glittering on waves. Just a bit of blue and the fords from CMAK. Or even without the fords from CMAK and make the bit of blue impassable - I will find a way to run a dirt road or something else to make a ford. You can actually simulate bridges without them actually being bridges (see the Brandenburg scenario - full marks for ingenuity. I am not obsessed by realism - but no water, in pools or fountains or to make an oasis, sucks worse than a broken Dyson.

How do I get this scenario?

I posted this is in the main forum, but I reckon this is the better place for a response. No river tiles. Syria is not all desert and scrub - even the fountains and pools don't have a 'water' option. I would gladly sacrifice a gravel road tile if someone with more expertise than me could make a river/stream out of it. Marshy gullies only go so far ....

Wot - no water? Or am I too dumb to find it? I can't believe a tile for river was not included - Syria is not ALL barrent waste and desert. I am designing a Campaign scenario in the north, along the Turkish/Syrian border and the main highway runs the length of a river.

The Challenger concerned drove over a shaped-charge explosive, a sophisticated (and expensive) device not hitherto experienced in Iraq. The entire force of the explosion was upwards, through the thin bottom armour (the area where most armour can be shaved off, to save weight). The driver compartment is central front, which is why the driver lost his legs and the rest of the crew suffered only minor injuries - testament to the fact that the driver compartment is a box, armoured off from the rest of the interior. It is cramped and difficult to get in and out (through the frontal hatch). I have driven one, so I know. What this now means is that a: Terrs are getting better trained, armed and bankrolled. b: tanks, as the RSDG has discovered in other conflicts (Kosovo etc), are no effing good for police actions.

Fix the AMD graphics problem - it is ludicrous that a high-spec machine has to turn everything down and work on one CPU to get this to run at all. Fix the map view - it is clunky and unnecessarily awkward. You did it well enough for CM, so what made you change it to this? Get more of the map playable. Why offer a brilliant map then restrict play to a small part of it? Allow a retreat/get-out clause when you screw up so badly. I hate having to watch and wait until everyone dies before the debacle is over. Create your own battles. I can see why making new maps would be impractical but why not at least let me choose my own units and the opposition? Again - you did this on CM, so why not here? I have not experienced serious LOS problems, or felt that a Hide command was essential. Overall, I think the AI is a bit powerful, but there is nothing much wrong with that. I do think that the compensation is not good enough - I don't need a No Morale on lower settings, I need the ability to add more troops/art/air.

Thanks for that

Having to reinstall CMBB on a new machine (old machine scrapped) and so need to Patch it to 1.03. Now I find that the CDV site is down and the only other place for patches is 3D Gamers, who want to charge me money to do it. Seems excessive to me - anyone know a site where I can download FREE patches for CMBB?

Is CMMODS ever coming back? And does anyone know where to find a good Normandy mod for CMAK? I hear there is one somewhere, but CMMODS was the place for it to be.

Two small problems I hope someone can help me with. The first is finding the CMAk Normandy pack now the CMMods is down - anyone have one on another site I can get to? The second is the 1.03 patch, which consistently refuses to work, saying it can't load because Opendll is missing. Is this a Windows XP-related problem? I have tried re-installing the original game etc etc, with no success. I would like the patch because there are a few scenarios that not only won't play on my machine, but actually lock up entirely - Sicily 43 is one, Bridge at Cheneux another and there are more.