Rocket-Man

Just because they only have one programmer does not mean they couldn't hire another one or contract the mods out or even have somebody do the programming on a commission basis. It's not like component programmers are such a rare commodity that potentially profitable coding has to be passed up due to the shortage. I obviously have an ulterior motive in suggesting a Combined Release of CMX1 - I would like to play it. But my other ulterior motive is to perhaps, in some small way (other than buying their programs of course) help Battlefront to be a profitable company so they will eventually be able to deliver a WWII version of CMX2.

With all the previous statements from Battlefront regarding the CMX1 engine, I too think their position will be that they have no intention of releasing a combined version or of ever again modifying the CMX1 code at all. However, I think their reluctance to even consider the option is a bad business decision. I know the people who work at Battlefront are working there because they get paid (otherwise they would obviously find another job that does pay), so if they have an opportunity to make more money, why wouldn't they take advantage of it? This of course assumes my initial supposition that the sales of a combined CMX1 would exceed the cost of making it. Has Battlefront ever looked at this business option? I don't know, but I thought I would bring the idea to their attention and get the communities feedback on it. In the end the whole concept will probably go nowhere, which is a shame because we will probably be waiting years for the WWII version of CMX2.

I think you missed my point. What I am suggesting is that there is a business case to be made for developing and selling a combined release of CMX1, regardless of whether or not CMX2 is a success or that you or I would necessarily buy it (although I certainly would). Business make money by selling items that bring in more revenue than it requires to make them. I believe a combined release of CMX1 would pass this simple test.

Since there is no unified thread for all CMX1 games, I am posting this here. I think Battlefront is missing out on a good business opportunity to make some additional money from the CMX1 engine. I believe that if they did a combined release with all the units and terrain features from CMBO, CMBB and CMAK it would generate more than enough interest to cover their costs of making it. No marketing would have to be done because the target audience is people who already play the games, and the vast majority of them would find out about it through web reviews, message boards, Battlefront's website and word of mouth. If they wanted to sweeten the pot a little, they could even add a few units, like early war French tanks, and/or fix little bugs like the turn rate of tracked vehicles. I am no programmer, but it seems like this would be a fairly easy project that could be completed in a reasonable amount of time. And ,if Battlefront does not have the in-house resources for it, I'm sure they could find some programmers in the CM community who would do the job for a percentage of the sales. I know Battlefront has long maintained that they are through with the CMX1 engine, but I find it hard to believe that any sound business man would turn down an opportunity to make money if a compelling business case can be made. Now I don't want to get into a discussion of what features/units people would like to have added to such a combined edition of Combat Mission. What I am interested in is what people think about the basic idea. Any comments?

I would be interested in comparing them _UXcva if you could post them at CMMods.

Files sent _UXcva. Let me know if you have any questions.

And has everybody forgotten Sergeant York?

_UXcva - How did you extract the grid? If you want, I can send you the grid template so you can play around with it.

They are from "MOD_TERRAIN_ARIDROCKS_VOSSIE"

Added files for Steppe, Open, Snow and Light Snow with thicker grid lines and tick marks every 5 meters. This series is named RM HC Topo Grid Thick. If you want to try these mods out, go to CMMods and search "By Designer" for RocketMan. [ April 22, 2007, 10:36 AM: Message edited by: Rocket-Man ]

One of the things that bothered me about CM when I first started playing it was how very hard it was to visualize the terrain I was fighting on (I was later to find out that the terrain I was having the most problems with was Arid Open). In an effort to improve the basic game, I turned to CMMods. The first thing I found was gridded terrain. That helped a lot, but wasn't exactly what I was looking for. Then I found GreenAsJade's High Contrast Mod and added my own grid to his tiles. This combination worked pretty well and overcame a lot of the limitions of the game engine. However, as I was playing a game using the Gridded High Contrast Arid Open tiles, I noticed that almost all the "bends" in the terrain took place at 45 degree increments around the perimeter of the tile (the exceptions are when the terrain changes 2 or more levels in height). So I added 1 pixel wide lines to the tiles at these "bend lines" and was extremely pleased with the results. It makes it easy for me at least to really visualize the terrain. If you want to try this mod out, go to CMMods and search "By Designer" for RocketMan.

Added files for Arid, Sand, Grass, Open, Snow and Light Snow with thicker grid lines and tick marks every 5 meters. This series is named RM HC Topo Grid Thick. If you want to try these mods out, go to CMMods and search "By Designer" for RocketMan.

The turn rate of all CM vehicles is an order of magnitude too slow. Take the numbers from the first post in this thread and divide them by 10 and you would have much more reasonable turn rates.

Excellent description. That is exactly why I created the mod in the first place.

There are four types of terrain in CAMK 1) Arid 2) Sand 3) Open 4) Grass All North African terrain is Arid. Desert Terrain can be either Arid or Sand. All Crete terrain is Open. Italian terrain prior to sometime in 1944 if I remember correctly is Open, after that it is Grass.

I have never seen it on desert terrain.

I have the same color problem with the Topo Gridded Open terrain tiles on my home computer (ATI video card), but not on my work computer (NVidia card). In fact, if you look at the preview picture I posted with the Topo Gridded Open tiles at CMMods you will see what they look like on my home computer. My work around, as I stated in the notes section of the Topo Gridded Open tiles, is to substitute the Grass tiles for the open tiles. The note accompanying the CMMods Mod Info is - NOTE: For some reason my computer adds those ugly turquoise pixels at the higher terrain elevations, making this mod useless for me. I also hate the color gradations on this one. I use RM-GaJ H/C Topo Grid Grass for the Open terrain. To do this renumber the grass files from bmp 1550-1569 (the grass bmp file numbers) to bmp 1570-1589 (the open bmp file numbers) and save the renumbered files in your bmp directory.

If you don't like the open ground tiles (1570-1589), just take a set of grass bitmaps you like (1550-1569), renumber them to 1570-1589 and copy them to your bmp directory. Also, check out the high contrast open ground files done by Green as Jade, or the Topo Gridded versions of Green as Jades high contrast mods I did over at cmmods.

I am glad you like them. I originally made them for myself, but I liked them so much I thought others might enjoy using them as well.

I did mods for all CMBB terrain as well. Again, go to CMMods in the CMBB section and search "By Designer" for RocketMan. [ January 22, 2007, 10:05 AM: Message edited by: Rocket-Man ]

Thanks Lt Bull, I'm glad you like them. Terrain tiles can vary from completely opaque to completely clear, or any variation in between. The more clear area there is on a terrain tile, the easier it is to see the underlying open ground tile, but the harder it is to distinguish what the terrain is. Again, if you have a combination you think works out well together, let me know. [ January 20, 2007, 06:52 PM: Message edited by: Rocket-Man ]

No I didn't. I tried to find ones that made it easy to tell the difference between the trees and the bushes. If you can find ones you like better let me know.

I don't understand the question. Do you mean the brush and tree base terrain bitmaps I added my grid to look odd, or you saying the light snow grid open tiles look odd without brush and tree bases with a grid? Or did you mean something else entirely?

I was going to do one last mod for Topo Gridded Winter Roads, but the winter road bitmaps actually cover very little of the underlying tile. And the most important part of the tile for seeing elevation changes, which is the exact center of the tile where all the lines meet, is visible in all cases. Therefore, the current set of files at CMMods completes the Topo Grid series. I hope everybody enjoys them as much as I do.

Hate to do this to everybody who downloaded the updated CMAK and CMBB terrain files (RM Topo Grid Terrain) from CMMods yesterday and today, but somehow 635.bmp got included without any grid. Because the whole file is 16.7 MB, I created a file with just the updated bmp so you don't have to download the whole file again. The CMMods name is RM Topo Grid Terrain 635.bmp.