CMFDR

Also in Hainaut, and basically in the whole Flanders historical region.
Now there might a few windmills in the Ardennes and Alsace, can't prove their existence by a pic though.

CMFDR, great points... I will have to make those adjustments.

Sahrani Liberation Army
by IICptMillerII

The Sahrani Liberation Army (SLA) is the army of the fictional country of the Democratic Republic of Sahrani from the videogame Arma: Armed Assault made by Bohemia Interactive.
I decided to make this reskin because I've always liked the "generic OpFor" look of the SLA. The "lore friendly" loadout of the SLA is mechanized infantry in BMP-2s (Syrian 
Republican Guard formation) along with T-72M1s. However, all T-72 variants and the BMP-1 have been retextured as well to allow for flexibility when using the SLA.
This modpack will replace the following stock Syrian assets:
Regular and Reserve infantry
BMP-1
BMP-2
BRDM
T-72 (all variants)
Shilka
Special Forces (NOT Syrian airborne)
Voices:
In Arma, the SLA have hispanic heritage, thus speak Spanish. However, I have given them Russian voices and names as these assets are readily available from Combat Mission Red
Thunder and Combat Mission Black Sea. Going through the process of creating a whole new set of voices in Spanish would have taken me too long and been far too labor intensive.
Infantry:
Both Regular and Reserve Syrian infantry have been retextured to look like SLA soldiers. Regular infantry have their rifles model swapped to use the AK-74. This is purely a
cosmetic change, as the game still simulates them firing the 7.62mm round of the AKM. Additionally, the stock helmet texture has been remade by SaintFuller to model the Soviet
SSh-68 helmet. The textures for the helmet were made by SaintFuller and tweaked by myself. All other infantry textures were made by myself.
Vehicles:
Included are reskinned BMP-1s, BMP-2s, T-72s, BRDMs, and the Shilka. All textured by myself.  

Especas:
These are the Special Forces of the SLA. They are equipped primarily with AKS-74Us and wear green berets into combat instead of a combat helmet. The stock Syrian Special Forces
are used to represent the Especas. The AK-74Ms and helmets have been model swapped for the AKS-74Us and berets. The beret is from Combat Mission Battle for Normandy with the
retexturing done by myself. The AKS-74U model is from Shock Force 2. All other Special Forces textures were made by myself.

Known Bugs:
Sometimes, swapped model textures will "flicker" when viewed from a distance or from up close. To my knowledge there is no way to fix this. However, it is mostly unnoticable.
Credits:
Battlefront.com for making Combat Mission and most of the base textures and models
Bohemia Interactive for making Arma: Armed Assault and the SLA
IICptMillerII for making most of the textures and model swaps
SaintFuller for making the SSh-68 helmet model and base textures
Usage:
You are free to use this mod how you like. If you use any assets from this to make your own mod, just be sure to give credit where it is due.





Download Link:
http://cmmodsiii.greenasjade.net/?p=8070
 

1. Create your base pattern to be double the size you'll need it. Either from scratch or if it's a bugger like the US camo find a good swatch image online and splice it together using the clone tool or masked layers or whatever.
 
2. Fill the uniform layer with your pattern and resize so the pattern is the correct size to its real world counterpart. Make the pattern different for each arm/leg (move it up or down on one leg for variation), and make sure you note that the pattern is the right way up (as the arms on the bmp are head to toe).
 
3. Add in creases on a new layer using a much darker version of your base colour. Make a selection on your base layer pattern a little larger than a crease and use 'Transform/warp' to bend the pattern around the crease so that it looks more realistic.
 
4. Add a vest base colour. Find a few images of the vest you want and start selecting bits and reconstruct it on your vest layer. You will probably need to clone bits, warp bits and even redraw bits in to get a complete vest depending on how accurate you want it to look.
 
5. Add in shadows along the vest bits. Not too deep. A 4 pixel brush at around 60% opacity should do it. Or you could ultilise Drop Shadow if you know how to use it with deftness.
 
6. Repeat 4-5 for knee pads etc.
 
 
This is just a broad stoke guide to making a diffuse map. You could add in cloth texture patterns, dirt, desaturate bits where the cloth would be stressed - knees, elbows etc.

If you need any advice just drop me a PM.

Attached is the layout of the Russian uniform showing which bit is which (if I recall correctly).

Never mind. I was following the Scenario AAR guide, which is wrong, because it specifically states the file name for the overlay is "special_editor_overlay.bmp" when, in fact, it should be "special editor overlay.bmp" WITHOUT the underscores. I had to find this in the v3.01 manual.

You may want to fix that, especially when you are shipping something with the product.

Well ................. Waiting on Rome to Victory and have to get Coup de'tat out the door.  But it will eventually get finished.

Also ich glaube, ich habe jetzt die Antwort auf mein Problem gefunden. - es liegt wahrscheinlich am Spiel oder/und  an meinem Laptop selber. Wahrscheinlich sind es zu viele Dateien im Spiel , (Einheiten und auch die Maps wenn sie zu gross sind)   die für mein Notebook zu viel sind.    Aber trotzdem Vielen Dank für die Antworten !

I generally feel with Bulletpoint concerning the pine trees. Currently we can only "improve" by use of adding bocage and bushes to the forest interiors (see Kaunitz "improvement suggestions" thread), as well as adding bumps to the terrrain mesh to increases density and cutting LOS/LOF. Modding also helps by making bocage look like parts of pine trees. Examples below show crushed and fallen trees in a pine forest by adding bocage objects, as well as other stuff from the flavor objects collection. While the flavors do nothing for cover and concealment actually, they improve the scenery greatly IMHO. It´s still WIP (CMBN), but will be released to public later this year. Adaption to CMFB will follow.

Low bocage flavor object put at the bottom of single pine trees. I also made a custom ground tile set for pine tree forests.

Some pine tree flavor objects with some damage from shrapnel on the bark texture. Low bocage (true terrain type, not flavor object) with leaves/branches swapped for the pine type, serve as fallen trees and branches.




 

Here's the Turkish G3 rifle in Dutch hands. the model borrowed from CM:Afghanistan and the texture reworked. It replaces the plain Dutch C7A1 (Canadian-made M16)
 
 

Yes, It looks like it does.
I meant to test it a while back but never got round to it.  It seems to work which is surprising seeing at it uses tagged models, I thought only textures worked.  I just made a mission in the editor and added the tag - went to 3D deploy - got berets, then removed the tag - went to deploy - got helmets....
Try it and see, wont work if you have the original mod installed though... remove that first...
 
tagged berets... using a mod tag (tag included in the zip for importing to scenarios)
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OXXCzzzXA2GW1G-5GrrJsF9l5ll2KGjN
Useful but you won't get them in quick missions and such... unless the QM map has the tag.
Tagging models opens a few other doors I expect.. hmmm....
Someone probably spotted this before, but what would you use it on...? Vehicles, uniforms... buildings, weapons...?

Great find Jace11 👍

Absolutely, my friend, anytime. I am glad the thread has helped so many people. I almost didn't write it, glad I did.
 
Mord.

It's just a bitmap, it's not a used texture, seems like a placeholder or something. It's name is building108-bogus (00).bmp. I found it while looking for something else in CMBN files and realized it was missing in FB, but all the other files for the windmill were. When I put it my FB "z folder" I found the windmill in the editor. Guess just its presence or absence is what determines whether the windmill appears. Maybe better to ask BF why they did it this way.

Windmills are present in FB's archives but not available in the editor despite Holland being depicted as one of the locations. Here is a way to enable windmills...
It's triggered by a "bogus" bitmap. Simply add the bogus bitmap to your Z folder. I included a snow roof too.
The windmill will appear in the editor as the last (bottom right) independent 4 story commercial building.
The windmill works exactly as in CMBN, but it's snowbox is square. So in deep snow conditions the snowbox around the bottom floor looks a bit wonky. 
 
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jtX0EIDwY6OLKPYiIp2JgYSM6lk7V3aU
 
This discovery leads me to ask what else can be enabled by bogus bitmaps...? There is a lot of content in the brz files of FB that don't appear in game like various others bridges e.g canal bridges.

http://www.militarystory.org/relazione-sui-fatti-darme-dal-10-luglio-a-2-agosto-1943-a-cura-del-vii-corpo-darmata/
Reports on combats (feat of arms) from the 10th of July to the 2nd of August 1943 at the VII Army Corp (roughly)


If it get that one correctly, it basically shows where parties happened and whether it was a killer or not?

On "Raggruppamento Tattico Scheiber"
http://www.militarystory.org/relazioni-fatti-darmi-della-divisione-assietta-10-21-luglio-1943/
 
Livorono Division reports of the battle of Gela ?
http://www.militarystory.org/la-battaglia-di-gela-il-carteggio-della-divisione-livorno/
An article on Gela from an Italian Army magazine :
https://bibliotecafascista.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/la-battaglia-di-gela-luglio-1943.pdf

Website on Elba island
http://www.elbafortificata.it/

Thanks,
unfortunately, no. There is a big blob of bytes in every campaign file that somehow encodes the core units of a campaign, but I have been unable to figure out how to extract that in a way that it can be loaded in the editor. The thing is, scenario files use some kind of compression algorithm (or maybe even encryption), i.e. you can save the same the same file a bunch of times and large parts of the resulting files will be different each time. It might be possible to make an empty scenario file and somehow glue in the core unit bytes at the right place and hope it loads, but I haven't done any experiments for that yet. In fact haven't done any work on the application in the last weeks since I'm pretty much 100% preoccupied with finishing my Masters thesis. Once that is out of the way I'll probably have time to do some experiments.
For now, uncam can do two things really well, which Mad Mike's tool (I always forget the spelling) can't and that is extracting CMA and CMSF1 campaigns and his tool is the only one able to extract updated CMSF2 campaigns, so everyone should be covered.

To illustrate Combatintman's answer above, here's an excerpt from the Canadian wartime manual "Infantry Training, Part I: The Infantry Battalion (Ottawa, H.M. Stationery Office, 1944)."

 
Edit:
And even more! Company Commander's verbal orders in various tactical situations. 

Orders for machine gun units | Wartime Canada

I don't speak Frankish :-)...but if he is referring to "a lot of Crashes', then also try to disable Shaders in Video Card and in Game to see if that helps any.

Making historical maps is somewhat challenging, but fun. Fictional is another way to go when you are figuring out how to make certain areas look good and offer game play opportunities (a gentle rise in a hill, etc). I do those (generally ending up as QB maps) when I get tired of doing the historical stuff.
Welcome to the new world of "I need this book for research". Which becomes piles of interesting, wildly specific books.
My own particular order of research (project dependent)- contemporary maps and photographs, personal experience (you have walked the area personally), then to personal contemporary accounts from books, modern day Google Earth and this tool to fill in any mysteries.
I do mainly WW2 stuff, so obviously if the battle is in CMBS, there may be more actual footage of the battle unfolding (chaotic and first person-based as that may be, it can still be informative as to the state of the terrain). This is also true for WW2 stuff, but the chance of finding footage actually from the battle is far more slim.
If I could give myself some advice when I first started with the Editor, I'd say approach things in the following order (will differ, depending on person!):
 
1. Research, accumulate as much information and imagery as possible to understand the action depicted, and the terrain itself.
2. Figure out the map sizing based upon one of the images (from a source like a map or an aerial image). What the purpose of the map is will help determine this as far as sizing. I generally do huge maps, but if you are doing something small/medium, consider adding some "extra" for maneuver if appropriate.
3. Create Editor Overlay(s). I might end up with 5-6 for one map, but that is serious overkill for most projects. I use Photoshop, and will have Layers for every source. Generally any period maps (in their own Layers), any aerial imagery from the period depicted, and then a GE image for any areas that may need clarification. Some of these I mark up if needed for ease of organization. One note- I may consider rotating the map to keep roadways at the correct angle for CM roads. That will save some serious agony later.
4. Create the blank map, sized to the area depicted.
5. Sketch the roads out. I adapt slightly to avoid "see-saw" roads and fences, etc. This is my one general concession to the Game. Engine. As long as you don't deviate too far, things should line up pretty closely with any map you have. If you rotated themap slightly, the road issue should be as minimized as possible given the tools.
6. Next I do heights based upon the heightmap Editor Overlay. I adjust slightly around roads, and often raise them in rural areas by 1. Railways get a bump of 2 sometimes if shown as "raised" on the source map. Check 3D view often, and adjust as needed. This can be time-consuming, but the work pays off if you put it in.
7. Sketch out any fields, forests, swamps or other large swaths of terrain. I have started using one tile of "Dirt" around fields. It seems to look realistic, and also allows me to sketch the fields out, then fill them in and plan it out a bit beforehand. This where you have to start mixing the historical with the creative stuff a bit. The fun stuff.
8. Trees in forests. I use a large mix, depending on the region. Look at GE Street View, and just observe nature to see how a forest grows. Generally smaller scrub, then the larger stuff. But some pine forests start more abruptly. I'm lucky to know a few forestry people, so I ask them weird questions based upon regional growth from time to time. You may find yourself on some obscure Estonian forestry website before you know it.
I only do the areas that I have sketched out with Light Woods or Heavy Woods. Don't feel you have to fill in EVERY tile with a tree. I often mix in tree-less tiles in forested areas with Dirt, Tall Yellow Grass and Red Rocky Ground (and others as needed based upon look and region)
9. Start dropping houses. Google Earth Street View and contemporary images will be helpful here. For CMFB, I think I traveled Stavelot, Noville and the other maps that I am forgetting now in Street View a million times. Along with looking at as many images of particular street corners in towns, etc to see HOW it looked as possible.
10. The final details. Put up fences, trees in areas where they grow in non-Woods terrain (around houses, etc)
11. 3D view. Look for problems. You should be doing this quite often during the entire process to be sure you are on track with making it look "right".

To illustrate Combatintman's answer above, here's an excerpt from the Canadian wartime manual "Infantry Training, Part I: The Infantry Battalion (Ottawa, H.M. Stationery Office, 1944)."

 
Edit:
And even more! Company Commander's verbal orders in various tactical situations. 

Orders for machine gun units | Wartime Canada

Moderators, this is a general WWII interest piece. If it is not allowed, by all means let me know. 
With CM being as much of a simulation it is, many players and scenario designers probably have an interest in the nuts and bolts of the tactics, technology, and equipment in use during WWII. 
It took a long time for me to grasp the different ways in which combat units, especially infantry, communicated. Although there is a wealth of info the basics are lost in the pile of highly technical. 
I wrote up a bit of a primer for the US Army infantry commo tech and methods here:
https://battlelines.blog/2018/12/20/roger-that-army-communications-in-wwii/

These mud houses are my take on the typical houses found in Afghanistan, made out of dried mud. I based this mod on the green zone of Helmand province, therefore they are perhaps less suitable for the more mountainous regions where stones are more prevalent. But they will probably work better than the stock buildings anyway. I suppose they could also work for the more rural areas of Syria or Iraq.
These mud houses are made to work alongside Kieme's CMSF in HD buildings. You can have both mods installed at the same time. The mud houses, because they are located in a directory whose name begins with the letter z, should replace some of the buildings made by Kieme. At first I only intended to replace a couple of buildings but ended up making more and more so that only two of Kieme's buildings are intact so to speak.
Finally, although they are modular buildings and can have any number of floors, they work best for single or two storey buildings obviously. Not sure you could stack mud that high anyway.

The opium poppies replace grain tiles.
There are two different textures included in the mod. The default one and another one with a more brownish/yellow colour that is found in late summer when crops are ripe.


Not much to say about these.
 
TAGS :
In order to see the mods in your game, you need to add one or several of the mod tags that are linked to the textures.
mudhouse
mudwall
poppies or poppiesyellow
TEST MAP :
The mod also includes a small portion of an Helmand map I am working on, already set up with the mod tags so you can have a quick preview.
INSTALL :
Details on how to install included in the readme inside the rar file. I have uploaded two versions of the pack, one with all the files tagged and one without tags. Install the mod tag version, it won't interfere with your game unless a scenario designer adds the tags in a mission. The other version without tags, you can just swap it in and out of your fold folder at your convenience.
DOWNLOAD :
Mod tags :
https://www.dropbox.com/s/utekfowt06srp3d/zAfghanistan Mod Pack - Mod Tags.rar?dl=0
No mod tags :
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bob522itexpip3d/zAfghanistan Mod Pack.rar?dl=0
 
credits : Mord for the SF2 logo

Netherlands
Kind of the same deal than with the Bundeswehr, could be more granularity as egulations doesn't seems to be that much enforced there. 



("Holland" is a, common, mistake)

Germany
National flag usually on both upper arms (at the very least on the right), sometimes with "Germany" above it. Custom insignia on right upper arms (usually the mission's insignia, units' insignia doesn't seems to be worn on the combat dress. Until proven otherwise.)

I like the maps included in Black Sea's training campaign so I ported to Battle for Normandy, Final Blitzkrieg, Fortress Italy and Red Thunder to have my PixelTruppen train better.
More sweat, less blood they see...
To port the maps, I've used the novel Mutator tool developed by Stan Bobovych @sbobovyc, thank you Sir.



 


http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/cm-red-thunder/cm-red-thunder-add-ons/cmbs-training-maps-ported-to-ww2-bn-fb-fi-rt/