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Gryphonne

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Posts posted by Gryphonne

    Why was the interface not developed further?

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    I find one of the most annoying "features" of this UI, to be the many clicks you need just to get the information you want. Also, all the different panels with protection, ammunition, damage of vehicles should be visible *at a glance*, as well as all the orders for that matter, and not requiring an extra number of clicks.

    This UI is totally unsuited for larger RT battles in its current form. It's clunky, it's slow; and as Womble said, just because people get used to something, doesn't mean it's necessarily good.

    Throw in the clunky camera controls and during especially intense RT engagements I find myself cursing the interface of this game, definitely not enjoyable. It might have been more enjoyable if there wasn't such a thing as RT (Thus, WeGo TCP/IP), but that's another story. Luckily, the old hotkeys make this endeavour slightly more tolerable, but just slightly. The sooner a UI overhaul is done, the better. For the good of the game.

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    QB pricing oddities?

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    I agree. The Germans get 2 Panthers or Tigers at the same cost as 3 Pz IVs, and considering the common engagement distances in the game, and the great difference in protection levels and punching power between them, I have a hard time seeing how their relative value is accurately mirrored in their points cost. Maybe I suck at using the IVs, but against the American armor and ATG threats in the game, I'd take two of the cats any day (that I care about cost-effectiveness, that is) over the three IVs.

    And facing Tigers and Panthers with Sherms or Wolverines at a 2:3 ratio is not an inviting prospect unless there is good terrain for manoevering and setting ambushes.

    This is exactly why - when playing a sort of competitive QB - I would opt for bigger cats instead of a turretless box without any real protection. In addition, the JPzIV is only 20 or so pts more expensive than a StuG III, and the JPz IV has much better protection from the front. However, the JPz IV is also 40 pts less expensive than a Panther or Tiger, so while i'm in a shopping spree those cats look very tempting. Naturally, 2 Panthers vs 4 Shermans on a normal map isn't really enjoyable for the opponent.

    Also, the Marder is 110 pts and the 20mm recon HT 103 or something? What gives?

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    Artillery question

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    I've had an FOO with perfect line of sight to target (unsupressed) and LOS to the spotting rounds, miss all three spotting rounds (on board mortars), then call in FFE resulting in my artillery hitting absolutely nothing 200m away from target. Surely in real life he'd be able to adjust a bit better I hope? :')

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    QB pricing oddities?

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    I was toying around with the QB options and encountered some weirdness in the pricing of vehicles. Could anyone care to explain why a StuG IIIG is more expensive than a 76 Sherman (rarity aside)? The StuG is almost as expensive as a Tiger, and we know it's more beneficial to buy a Tiger rather than a StuG :P The StuG is approximately 290 pts, whereas the Sherman comes in at 260 and the Tiger at 350. I don't get it. Surely, this can't be a rarity question as tanks now have their own seperate rarity rating too?

    Besides, in CM1 the StuGs were about the cheapest armor you could get in the German inventory. They were overpowered then with the 80mm homogenous armour rating and underpowered allied guns, but in this game? they are fairly easily countered from the front and don't have a turret. So, any takers?

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    Anyeone working on terrain mods?

    in CM Normandy Maps and Mods

    Posted

    Okay - here's a screenie at 13:00 without the fog (BTW I tweaked the colour of the green grass for more contrast between the grass and the trees, bushes, hedges and bocage):

    cmnormandy2011052417051.jpg

    The colours are ok, too bad the lighting engine doesn't adjust the reflection of light on the trees. They should be much greener at noon at this distance... this results in quite a stark contrast between trees and terrain when you desaturate the terrain, which of course shouldn't necessarily be the case..

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    Anyeone working on terrain mods?

    in CM Normandy Maps and Mods

    Posted

    +1. I would like to try that too!. You can only tell so much from one screen, but my first reaction is that those colors look much more natural than the stock colors. Anything that makes it easier on the eyes, and helps with flickering is a big plus. No matter what I have tried I cannot get rid of the fuzzy static looking terrain I get only when I have the camera locked. I just went from a Gt8600 256mg ddr3 to a gt430 1g ddr3, and am still seeing no real difference in the cards especially when it comes to what I am discribing which is the landscape seems to vibrate kind of like static while the unit remains sharp when is camera locked and unit is moving. Is this just how the graphics are in the game?

    Please post to repository Flesh. Thanks

    Sadly, the rendering engine is a bit primitive, besides, what you are seeing is a natural effect because of the nature of the textures. I'd like to see some bump mapping ingame actually, makes everything looks less flat too and might take away some of this "static effect" in the process. I for one _really_ hope they will improve the graphics engine a bit and make it more 2011 standard.

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    Anyeone working on terrain mods?

    in CM Normandy Maps and Mods

    Posted

    If you just want desaturated terrain, check out Vein's desaturated terrain mod on the repository.

    I decided to attempt a thorough makeover of the terrain:

    1) Desaturated most of the terrain textures.

    2) Replaced and/or tweaked the red dirt/earth textures, resulting in more brown/sandy coloured dirt/earth.

    3) Replaced the default green and yellow grass textures with lower resolution files with a sort of "blotchy" look. I find them easier on the eye (lower contrast so less flickering while scrolling about). Also, as they are used a lot on most maps, the lower resolution results in a higher FPS (at least for me, anyway).

    4) Also knocked up new ploughed field textures while I was at it.

    5) Almost forgot - I also desaturated the foliage (trees and bushes), doodads (tall grass etc.), hedges and bocage.

    Here's a screenie:

    cmnormandy2011052406103.jpg

    Best comparison would be at noon (approx 1300 hours with the sun at its highest point), you have a screenshot of that?

    EDIT: oh yeah, and without the fog, just clear or "hazy" conditions.

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    BFC, another maybe feasible request ;)

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    I've been wondering on how to improve the terrain in CMBN lately, and I heard someone speak about atmospheric depth of colour, thus adding a blue hazing/fading.

    Now I've noticed this is already possible with a "thick haze" weather effect. Is it thus possible to add this effect as an option to the game without affecting anything else?

    I think the atmospheric depth would pull the colours together in the distance and create a far more natural effect? Also, i've tried modding the far away textures by adding hints of cyan/blue, but this doesn't really work as the cutoff for the textures closeby and in the distance is too sudden.

    Perhaps you guys could also add an "ultra" setting to the graphics which forces the terrain lower lods even further away? some very powerful machines would probably be able to do this anyway.

    Regards,

    Gryphon

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    Gryphonne's tiny grass mod

    in CM Normandy Maps and Mods

    Posted

    Yeah, I know what you mean. The lighting really seems to affect the colours (in both good and bad ways).

    Are you going to do more?

    I'm contemplating ;) but I really need to figure out what look I'm aiming for and try to keep it "tied together" ingame. If I'll extensively modify all sorts of things, vehicles or infantry might seem out of place.

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    Gryphonne's tiny grass mod

    in CM Normandy Maps and Mods

    Posted

    I've a very quick & dirty mod to the grassy terrain in CMBN; trying to remove the extremely limish green look when the sun is high up in the game. If there is interest in this mod I'll upload it to the rep. In the meanwhile I'm planning a larger re-saturation/re-color mod for the terrain but nothing set in stone.

    Anyway, let me know what you think.

    http://imageshack.us/f/9/grassystuff.jpg/

    Below is a small picture from an empty map in the scenario editor for comparison. The time is 1300 hours.

    grassy2.th.jpg

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    Tree Force-fields

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Yadda yadda big trees respect. I'm not buying that a 10kg+ chunk of metal travelling at approximately 500-800m/s is going to get stopped dead by a tree or small branch. That may be true for a seqouia or some ancient forest, but definitely not for 90% of the European trees typically found in the countryside.

    IIRC there was also a US training film on the effectiveness of .30 cal ammo, needless to say, the bullets went straight through a typical tree with ease. Now try a 75mm AP shell or even a .50 cal. On top of that, we had wooden pillboxes made from typical logs in CMx1, these were penetrated by pretty much everything. So why not trees now?

    We continiously discuss armor penetration on this forum and are not amazed that some AP rounds can penetrate up to 10 centimetres of armor or more but some people suddenly believe a tree with less than ten times the density is going to pose a problem. It might throw the projectile off course, but it's not going to stop. Sometimes I don't get you guys ;)

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