HintJ
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Posts posted by HintJ
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Game main menu - settings - control.
Thanks! Also, in the demo, I noticed I could rename units. For example, I changed a unit's name from A to B, but when the unit dies, the smart cam still refers to it as unit A.
Is this something that has been fixed in the current version?
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I looked at the online manual and it doesnt appear to be complete--where are the Numpad controls for the camera?
Does anyone know where a complete list is?
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I suggest getting a mouse with as many programable buttons as possible. Mine has 8. I have the buttons set for camera controls, and cycle through units. Second invest in a Notromo speedpad, or equivilent. Both will increase your speed, and ease of command and control for not only this game, but most any game. With turn base it speed is not critical. Lots of times I use spacebar commands, and my mouse commands.
I've got a Logitech anywhere mouse. My opinion is that Logitech has some very elegant products, but their drivers/software generally suck, so I just use the generic windows drivers.
8 Buttons! Man that seems like a great idea.
What kind is it, and what utility do you use to program it?
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I play with a checkbook at my side. Every time I launch a Javelin, I send $40,000 to Lockheed Martin.
Wow!
Here's an idea: Before you play a game, figure a value for each unit. For example, in U.S. Dollars, maybe $3 for an Abrams, $1.50 per Bradley, $1 per Stryker, and maybe $0.25 per each soldier, or however you feel appropriate.
Then, after each game, figure the total Dollar amount of lost men and vehicles, and donate that amount to a game developer you want to support. In that way, you feel more involved by your losses in the game, kind of like the way a sports fan bets on sports--the money makes him feel more involved.
Another way would be to keep a 9-volt battery nearby while playing, and whenever one of your guys get wounded (you see that red cross), you could stick the battery on your tongue and get shocked!
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If I played RT with no pauses the way I play the game, an eight-year-old girl would stomp my ass into the dirt!
On a side note, I've suceeded in creating a sticky selection! YES! I CANNOT DE-SELECT ANY UNIT ONCE I SELECT ONE!
I'm currently playing the original campaign and my commander is in a big dust/smoke cloud, and I can't select or see or click any unit whatsoever except the commander!
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Also, with Glovepie I'm currently writing a script that attempts to make a *sticky selection*, which means I won't be able to de-select units. In iron mode, if no unit is selected, then the human player gets a borg-like view of the game--I think this is cheating.
I've also de-activated the ordinary use use the = and - keys, which I consider a cheat also. In other words, if a unit (group of units) becomes isolated from the commanding unit, they are lost! Interestingly, if a commanding unit gets isolated, nobody can be selected!
I'm thinking about using Glovepie for radio simulation. For example, I have a unit that I want to instantly select by radio when I say "Come in Bravo two," or whatever. Then I figure how many times the = key should be pressed to select it, and have Glovepie press the = key that many times when it hears me say "Come in Bravo two." Once selected, I could also have Glovepie playback a sound (.wav file in the Glovepie folder) that says something like "This is Bravo Two," or whatever.
That way I could send a recon unit ahead and lose normal contact, but select via vocal commands simulating radio contact.
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Right ok, I was thrown by your second post.
Personally I love just watching things unfold, that's what I do most of the time: set up a scenario in the editor and then just see how things play out, occasionally nudging my guys around to keep things going. I've always played on Iron too. I set up a rough approximation of the battle of 73 easting the other day, trying to get it to play out as close to the real thing as I could, got pretty close which was cool
I'm interested in the whole voice commands business though, how do you do that? I tried a while back with ArmA2 and [name of program forgotten] but couldn't get it working.
Well, let me first say that voice commands in CMSF seem rather superflous, since pressing hotkeys or the spacebar is quite convienient already.
I use Glovepie. I used to use a program called Shoot, but on my new laptop, Shoot isn't working right.
Something's wrong with the Glovepie homepage. It seems someone violated terms of service or didn't pay for the website hosting. You might have to look around the internet to find a 3rd party site hosting Glovepie.
There's some decent tutorials on youtube, for example:
I
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I play with restricted suppressive fire. I let my guys shoot at buildings where I suspect enemy units may be. But if one of my squads get ambushed by an enemy unit in a building, I will try to resist the temptation to have all my other guys spam that building until they get a contact marker.
But why on earth would you want to play with an gamepad? It's great for some games, but for CM??
Personally, I love gamepads. I hate console gaming systems, but I love the gamepads.
I use the D-pad as W-A-S-D, the right stick for mouse and look around arrow keys, the start button for pause, the select-TAB, etc. I can lay back and play. I still use the Mouse and keyboard, but I can program the gamepad to restrict what exactly I can do.
For those familiar w/the "Iron Man" ruleset for CMBO, a player would be limited to certain keys. With a programed gamepad, these keys can already be set, and with practice become second nature.
I also use Glovepie for voice commands and custom Macros.
And Federico, I play realtime with the game almost constantly paused. It feels almost like a turn-based game. On larger maps I can easily spend one hour looking though the details on each unit for five minutes of realtime.
Perhaps I'm mildly autistic, but so what? This game is fun for me.
I also appreciate the other info so far from others as well.
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I'm thinking of those people who claim total victories on missions that I struggle with. I sometimes wonder if they play the game significantly differently than I play, too. I notice the personality types those who just play for fun, those who play for the realism, then there's those who play to WIN! - Win by any means necessary. I gotta admit those dudes scare me a little.
For me, the experience is key, not really winning all the time.
For example, it is very satisfying to ambush Strykers, and then have the dismounting infantry get hosed down by a PK machinegun laying low nearby.
I also enjoy the sense of confusion. If I simply wanted to win, I would do everything to reduce the confusion, and kill the entire purpose for playing--at least from my point of view.
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I got your sarcasm, though I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve.
What I'm trying to acheive, is to learn about ways others play the game, so that I can increase my immersion, and thereby my enjoyment.
I'm not here to flame the game. I really am having some satifying time w/the current version, but I have adapted my playing style. I suck at realtime, but I think a full minute is too long for Wego.
I was just wondering if anyone else here plays by certain *self-imposed* rules or techniques to increase enjoyment, like the old "iron man" rules for CMBO.
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Here's a hint,
Oh, I hope it pissed the mods off! It would give me an opportunty to explain the problem.
Which is: I have to log on five or six times sometimes just to post, and a double post is a result of this.
I would apologize, but I think not. I love the tone this is taking. I've never been in a flame war, so lets go! Lets get this character Moon involved, who, by the way, is a significant reason why I haven't spent one penny on the development of this game since the original overpriced release!
Yeah, Michael Emrys, thanks for demonstrating a tone that has led me away from this game (along with a broken laptop) for a couple of years now.
I thought the genius of my original post would shine through. Oh well, your loss.
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I've been playing a good bit of CMSF lately. I'm discovering ways to increase my enjoyment. My point here is to ask if anyone else has personal techniques for further enjoying the game.
How I like to play currently:
I play in realtime w/the game paused maybe 95% or more of the time.
I use a gamepad (yes, like as in Playstation) w/a free version of Xpadder to reprogram the interface. I do this to limit my control inside the game, like in *Iron Man* rules. For example, I play nearest to the ground view as reasonable, and while the game is rolling, my point of view is fixed (tabbed) to the last unit I selected, and I cannot give orders; I can only look around and zoom from a single unit's view.
If I want to give orders, I must pause the game. Then I have free range with the camera and menus, but since I use "Iron" difficulty, if I want to select a unit, I must click thru a series of units w/contact, starting w/a command unit. If I accidentally deselect--and thus reveal too much info on unit locations--I quickly hit a hotkeyed F12 (select last unit) so I don't get much of a chance to look around.
I keep a notepad listing all my units, by name, to keep up with them and remember what is going on. While paused, I like looking around from each unit's point of view. It's like reading a book. I takes me forever to play a game, but I must admit, I love the C2 and relative spotting.
Maybe someone has a suggestion that would even further increase my enjoyment?
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I've been playing a good bit of CMSF lately. I discovering ways to increase my enjoyment. My point here is to ask if anyone else has personal techniques for further enjoying the game.
How I like to play currently:
I play in realtime w/the game paused maybe 95% or more of the time.
I use a gamepad (yes, like an Playstation) w/a free version of Xpadder to reprogram the interface. I do this to limit my control of the game, like in *Iron Man* rules. For example, Except when setting up, I play nearest to the ground view as possible, and while the game is rolling, my point of view is fixed (tabbed) to the last unit I selected, and I cannot give orders, I can only look around and zoom.
If I want to give orders, I must pause the game. Then I have free range with the camera and menus, but since I use "Iron" difficulty, if I want to select a unit, I must click thru a series of units w/contact, starting w/a command unit. If I accidentally deselect (and thus revealing too much info on unit locations), I quickly hit a hotkeyed F12 (select last unit) so I don't get much of a chance to look around.
I keep a notepad listing all my units, by name, to keep up with them and remember what is going on. While paused, I like looking around from each unit's point of view. It's like reading a book. I must admit, I love the C2 and relative spotting.
Maybe someone has a suggestion that would increase my enjoyment more?
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Fascinating subject!
An idea for important radio messages coming in only from units with a radio capability, or visual contact, etc. is sort of necessary to know when to pause. Simply pausing every so often (w/out the all-important replay) doesn't work right now.
Any 3d RTS with a pause mode I try to play this way:
While the game is rolling, I'm zoomed into view the Command unit (or any unit I consider my personal respresentative.) I try my best to get a first person view for immersion, and while the game's rolling issue orders to that unit only.
Then, if I need to give orders out, I pause the game and zoom out to either a top-down view only (simulating a map view), or I lock and zoom in only into units I have contact with to see what's going on and to issue orders. But before I let the game start rolling again, I must zoom back into the command unit.
In other words, while the game is rolling, I'm seeing only a very narrow scope. This actually forces me to use the command unit to lead near the front of the action.
This system doesn't work too well right now in CMSF.
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By the way, if anyone's interested, I first tried this technique sucessfully w/a bizarro sceince fiction RTS called Earth 2160: There's even a First Person View where you can (somewhat) control any unit. Wherever I hear "There they are!" or "I'm taking damage!" I love to pause the game, hit the spacebar to goto the location of the last message, figure out what's going onand issue orders, then return to my commanders view, un-pause the game, and run his ass up to the action.
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Has anyone got the Map Converter working for CMBB ver 1.04 (Vista 64 bit)?
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I'm a fiddler and a tweaker, and part-time programmer. I've heard of Glovepie and yet I've never really been inspired to install it.
Why? Because I find I can do all the tweaking I desire just with the game interface, 99% of the time.
Perhaps it's one of those things that once you start using, you never knew how you went without? Afterall, it IS frustrating when there are unmappable keys in a game. With GlovePIE, there would never be unmappables.
The voice commands sound cool, but again I think I'd save that for star trek or submarine games. Combat Mission seems to be more a "clicker" to me
I've known about GlovePie for some time, but until recently I never used it. I saw a small tutorial on YouTube and and it suddenly occured to me how easy GlovePie is to use.
I've also used Autohotkey for key remapping, but Autohotkey will not work w/all games. GlovePie works with every single program I've tried!
I think you're right that Voice Recognition for CM:SF isn't more convienient than just pressing hotkeys. Perhaps using GlovePie for key re-mapping is more appropriate.
Another interesting feature I've found in GlovePie is the "Swallow" command:
"A very cool feature is that you can now swallow keys. When you swallow keys, other programs will not be able to read them. Only GlovePIE will be able to read them.
For example:
A = swallow(Left)
D = swallow(Right)
This means that when you press the Left arrow key the game won't receive the left arrow key, but it will receive the A key. If you didn't use swallow, the game would receive both the real key (Left) and the fake key (A)."
It seems the "Swallow" feature should be quite useful to prevent key assignment conflicts.
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* I'd like a way to map middle mouse button (or other mouse buttons) to f.ex. 'clear waypoints'. This doesn't seem possible at the moment.
Well, I've tried (quite unsuccesfully, it seems) to raise interest in a small program called GlovePie, where mapping the middle mouse button (or the other mouse buttons) would be quite easy:
Key.BackSpace = Mouse.MiddleButton
Put that in the script window of Glovepie and hit the "RUN" button, then start CM:SF, and you're all set.
With a modicum of effort, all keys can be reprogrammed for all commands--no need to even worry about what's included in the Hotkeys file.
GlovePie is free and can be found here:
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First, what kind of application is Glovepie?
According to the creator, Carl Kenner, with Glovepie you can:
"Control games and applications any way you want. Send fake keyboard keys, joystick actions, mouse moves, midi input or speech input to any program. Use a VR Glove, Wiimote, SIXAXIS, Emotiv Epoc, keyboard, joysticks, mice, touchpad or a microphone to control any program."
Sounds pretty cool! And it is!
Before you start using speech recognition, you need to go to the Speech Recognition options in the control panel, and train your computer to recognize your voice better. This obviously requires a microphone, and you may need to install SAPI 5.1 if your PC doesn't have speech recognition:
http://www.chant.net/downloads/sapi51.exe
instructions:
1. Download GlovePIE http://www.glovepie.org/glovepie_download.php
2. Extract it anywhere on your computer.
3. Run GlovePIE
4. Copy+paste or load a Glovepie script into the main window (Glovepie scripts have a .PIE extention.)
5. Click the "Run" button to activate the script.
6. Start CM:SF (or whatever program you want to use it in)
7. The script will run until you press the "Stop" button.
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For example, in CM:SF the escape key pauses the game. If you want the game to pause everytime you say "Time Out," you can type this in the script window of GlovePie:
Key.Escape = Said("Time out",5)
Of course, saying "Time Out" again will restart the game, so perhaps you should do it this way:
Key.Escape = Said("Time out",5) or Said("Continue Game",5)
Now when you say "Time out," the game pauses, and when you say "Continue game," it continues.
note--The 5 represents degree of confidence. Please refer the GlovePie Docs included w/the program.
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Another great feature is that all keys can be remapped this way:
Key.A = Key.B
This way, everytime you type "B," GlovePIE sends "A" to the game.
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The last feature I want to mention is Macros. From what I can gather, a macro is a series of key presses. For example,
if said("Hunt", 5) then
Key.F5 = true
wait 10ms
Key.F5 = false
wait 10ms
Key.K = true
wait 10ms
Key.K = false
end if
If the speaker says "Hunt," then the F5 key is pressed (true) for 10 miliseconds, then realeased, bringing up the Movement Commands. Then 10 miliseconds later the "K" key is pressed, selecting the face command. (If your hotkey file is different, just use whatever key you want.)
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Really, GlovePie is amazingly simple to use. Stangely, GlovePie seems only really popular w/people that want to use a Wiimote on their PC! Google Glovepie and you must sift through tons of Wii crap.
Also, GlovePie has perhaps the most bizarre user-agreement I've ever read: Glovepie will not work in Israel, and it cannot be used for any military purpose, and you must commit to using green energy.
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...demonstrate how truly EASY it is to script..."
AAAAAAARGH!
Remind me to demonstrate how truly easy it is to win DOD contracts. (Yes, it's all in the mind.)
Well, maybe I should be clearer.
You can download Glovepie, extract it, run the program as administrator, then copy and paste my code into the window of Glovepie, hit the RUN button, and then it works! You may need to remove these lines if you don't make your own "SquelchOn.wav" and "SquelchOff.wav" sounds:
if pressed(Mouse.XButton2) then
PlaySound ("SquelchOn.wav")
endif
if released(Mouse.XButton2) then
PlaySound ("SquelchOff.wav")
endif
If you want to, you can change the keys to be pressed--or the words you want to say--in the Glovepie window (or even in Notepad.)
(You may need to train Windows to recognize your voice better from the control panel, first)--Vista and Win7 have a voice recognition built in, or you may need to download this:
http://www.chant.net/downloads/sapi51.exe
I'm just scratching the surface of Glovepie's potential. I've replaced my use of Autohotkey (for key re-mapping) and Shoot! (for voice commands) with it.
So many people initially freaked out about the GUI of CMSF when it was released, but nobody considered using Glovepie to customize the GUI!
This next weekend will be a long one for me; I'll complete the script, and present a fully-working example, with instructions on usage and customization.
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The grid conflicts are solved w/macros. For example, the commands "face" and "Hunt":
if said("Face", 5) then
Key.F6 = true
wait 10ms
Key.F6 = false
wait 10ms
Key.G = true
wait 10ms
Key.G = false
end if
if said("Hunt", 5) then
Key.F5 = true
wait 10ms
Key.F5 = false
wait 10ms
Key.K = true
wait 10ms
Key.K = false
end if
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This here is just a rough-draft of some a sample script I run in Glovepie. It has some conflict issues with the keyboard command grid (like w/"Hunt" and "Face"), so don't expect this to run it perfectly. But I've got a good idea how to correct that
I'm also having real conflict issues re-assigning the right mouse button, so I used the XButton1 for orders. Not really necessary because the Spacebar is so convienient.
But I guess my whole point of posting this to to demonstrate how truly EASY it is to script for basic keymapping and voice commands in Glovepie.
/////////////Mouse Radio Button-put wave files into GlovePie folder
Microphone.Enabled = Mouse.XButton2
if pressed(Mouse.XButton2) then
PlaySound ("SquelchOn.wav")
endif
if released(Mouse.XButton2) then
PlaySound ("SquelchOff.wav")
endif
/////////////Mouse Drop-Down Orders Button
key.space = Mouse.XButton1
////////////General
Key.Escape = Said("Time out",5)
Key.Backspace = Said("Backspace",5)
////////////Unit Selection
Key.Equals = Said("Next Unit",5)
Key.Minus = Said("Previous Unit",5)
Key.Tab = Said("Lock Unit",5)
Key.F12 = Said("Last Unit",5)
////////////Movement Orders
Key.Backslash = Said("Reverse",5)
Key.B = Said("Move Fast",5)
Key.J = Said("Move Slow",5)
Key.I = Said("Move Quick",5)
Key.K = Said("Hunt",5)
Key.N = Said("Move",5)
////////////Combat Orders
Key.T = Said("Target",5)
Key.J = Said("Clear Target",5)
Key.G = Said("Face",5)
Key.O = Said("Target Arc",5)
Key.L = Said("Target Smoke",5)
Key.Y = Said("Target Light",5)
Key.Delete = Said("Clear target",5)
////////////Special Orders
Key.LeftBracket = Said("Dismount",5)
Key.Semicolon = Said("Pop Smoke",5)
Key.Comma = Said("Aquire",5)
Key.P = Said("Pause",5)
Key.H = Said("Hide",5)
Key.RightBracket = Said("Open Up",5)
Key.Slash = Said("Deploy",5)
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Maybe not everyone knows about Glovepie?
Basically, it's a small program that runs a script while you run other games/applications.
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I'm currently writing a scipt that takes advantage of a 5-button mouse and voice commands:
I'm scripting the extra mouse button 1 to the right mouse button (for free-looking), and the right mouse button will become the SPACEBAR, so that I can have a right button for drop-down orders menu, as in CMx1.
The extra mouse button 2 is a "push to talk" feature for voice commands. All the hotkey commands will become voice commands. I'm even putting in a *squech* sound when I push/release the 5th mouse button, like a real radio.
I'm considering the free version of Xpadder to program my gamepad to use as binoculars, and then I'll dangle the gamepad around my neck and use it exclusively for zooming in and free-looking w/the camera while my view is locked to a unit.
If anyone is interested, maybe I'll post the Glovepie script here when finished.
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Hi,
I´m thinking of buying a new laptop that can handle cmsf (and hopefully the new ww2 game). I´m curious, what are the specs on your new laptop?
/Henric
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I finally got a laptop that can handle CMSF.
My old laptop died around ver 1.11.
So now it's up and running at 1.21! A quick run looks very good.
I'm going to have some free time tomorow, and I'm going to spend some time w/all my gadgets (microphones, keypads, etc) and set this sucker up to my speed.
I'm thinking about mic/headphones for voice commands, my N52 Nostromo, re-programming my extra mouse buttons, and maybe even resting a gamepad on my lap for who knows what!
Maybe my slow,old brain can even handle real-time w/no pauses (probably not. But oh well . . . looking forward to being overwhelmed!)Anyone else here use programs like glovepie in this game for voice commands or anything else?
Any tips on how I should play CMSF?
in Combat Mission Shock Force 1
Posted
Maybe everyone would start playing as Syrians. I imagine you can get quite a few T-62's for the price of one Abrams.