Ithikial_AU

Evening all, @Juju has announced that he was stepping back from modding and after working as a tester for a few of his releases and then helping out directly with R2V he's graciously offered to handover the care of his long running UI mod to me. As he said, "Please look after my kids". JuJu has provided me with all the original .psd files now so it's easier to update and add things in with the new content matching pretty close to the existing mod. This is still well and truly his mod. Now I'm no artist but have been labouring away behind the scenes for a few hours every week and learning quite a bit as I go along. Please be a bit more patient. There's been no CMRT F&R update from me but this is because I'm trying to hit these three goals before sending to Bootie for upload to CMMODS. Number 3 is the big one but a huge time saver going forward. 1) CMRT F&R Update - Done - just tweaking (I may release this separately so you can overlay it on top of your existing UI mod). Also fixes the mod to reflect the changes that were brought in with the background panels in the update. 2) CMFI R2V Update - Fixing up some of my mess with shadows and colour correction in the last release. 3) Mod Unification Project - JuJu had different background textures for each family which made the workload quite high with not a lot being easily transferable between the families.. well without standing out like a saw thumb. I'm switching this around so for example the same M1 Garand Weapon Slot texture will now fit in in CMFI, CMBN and CMFB. Over time there's also been updated different icons for the same weapon, vehicle and special equipment icons between the families so I'm unifying the look there as well. CMFB icons get the preference given the slightly better detail. This also makes life a lot easier if and when future modules are released. I should says this doesn't mean the all the mods will now look identical, the exact opposite, however the comment elements like weapon slots will carry across the game families. Think of it as the kids are still unique but I'm sending them to school and making them wear something resembling a uniform. A few things that I'm not continuing or putting on the table now so there is no shocks later on. Most of this is largely due to time and I have no idea how to set up an script for the Paint.net to do some of this repetitive work automatically. Batch processing doesn't appear to be a thing. (I'm not paying subscription money to Adobe). - Reducing the options for the "Yellow Weapon Slot" textures to just the red cross option. The many options JuJu provided over the years here is an absolute time sync to create each one by one for every weapon BF has modeled in WW2 era CM2. It's actually an enormous list now! I won't rule it out down the track to bringing some of them back or doing something new here. Vinnart has already had an interesting idea, but I want to get something out sooner rather than later. - Portraits - Will fill in the gaps if I can get crafty enough and it meets my own (probably too) high bar. These are tough to get looking right. Backgrounds will be tweaked to sort of match the uniform of each branch to separate them out a touch. (See preview pics). - Never going into Cold War or the Modern titles. JuJu didn't and neither will I. Preview pics (I know about the black line running through the centre panel).

And all fixed. Same link.

Oh yeah whoops. Will msg Bootie

https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/combat-mission-battle-for-normandy/cm-battle-for-normandy-campaigns/the-lions-of-carpiquet/

As per the campaign briefing maps and some tips earlier in this thread, there is no need to "save scum" this one (or mission 2 hopefully!) like this to get a situation where you have less than 50 casualties. The majority of these forces are never used again in the campaign except for a some of the reinforcing infantry and StuGs and if you get a victory here.

How big is the battle? Particularly the count of forces operating on both sides and the map size? Also your PC specs.

It's in the briefing. The SS Infantry you're commanding were rushed out of local training schools that with a mix of German and local Latvian signups to the Waffen SS. In a perfect recreation their voices would a mix of German and Latvian speech in game. Same as the Artillery Batteries - green recruits hence the very slow response times. This is the German Wehrmacht directly after the end of Barbarossa and as the Falaise Pocket realities are setting in. It's a dogs breakfast and anything with a rifle is being thrown at the enemy to stabilise the line. This is in the same geographic vicinity but is before the Courland Pocket. There was a separate pocket that trapped Army Group North east of Riga for a few weeks, which the action depicted in this campaign helped reconnect a land bridge to those forces. Then rather than retreating from this precarious position Hitler ordered the forces of Army Group North to hold fast. A little time goes by with the Germans being slowly pushed back and then the Courland Pocket is formed as they are cut off again. Interesting side note, if this action had failed, Army Group North probably would of been annihilated / surrendered leading to a bigger capitulation from encirclement than was suffered at Stalingrad in terms of manpower.

<-- Designer. Not giving anything away. 1) Going to have to use those tanks in not the best of conditions. 2) You have lots of time. 3) Remember the reserves that will come in. 4) The forces aren't central to the other battles so push them a bit hard. 5) It used to be harder.

@Bootie!

Good! Saves me some work.

My work will be a touch later than Frenchy's but I want to unify it a bit so there is one point of call for the weapon slots and silhouettes across all WW2 titles. Weapon slots will still need some game family distinctions given there's three unique backgrounds across the 4 titles. Still, plenty of progress has already occurred.

I should point out I'm trying to use @Mord's portraits as a base. Juju's portraits are very difficult to replicate for us non-artist types. Wonder of Mord has something planned for F&R anytime soon? Or something he can share .psd wise to make my life a little easier to create a consistent stopgap. Ta.

Small rough preview... needs more work. Everything texture does have first past though.

Um... JuJu has provided me with the .psd files to carry on the mod (from R2V) and I've been working on the same thing. Still working... but got the first pass on all silhouettes and weapon slots completed. I do like your MP3008's though. Tough little blighters to get right. Merge each other's efforts? I'm also trying to take this opportunity to unify the common elements across all WW2 family titles. I've get no desire to go to the modern titles.

You're welcome. A touch Hollywood for sure, but hopefully something different.

Select 1945 date and look for "Panzer Company (ad hoc)" under formations. It's an vehicle option for that unit.

The Panzer III's with their base sand colour could actually be more historically correct. SS Panzer Brigade Gross' armour were collected from wherever they could find a runner. This included in some cases training depots back in Germany. This occurred across July '44 and were in combat each day for the weeks leading up to the start of the campaign being played out here. Doubtful they had time to apply proper camo, but go nuts if you want. Actually I think the CMFI PzIII mods out there will work in CMRT.

Elvis forgot the mention those master maps alone add up to 235.77 sq km in total - for comparison, 0.8% the size of Normandy. Thanks for all your efforts over the years mate. They have been essential for me as well.

That was always the plan. At least in my head.

I haven't forgotten to finish this. Just split ten ways at the moment mostly due to real life work. Only two parts left to finalise.

I haven't even contemplated how to update the post-WW2 version for Cold War. I've been too busy with work/RL to think that far ahead. Good news is I'm due about 14 weeks of annual leave at this point so may tackle it later in the year. This will be well after the title is released however so keep records of your AAR screens and battle conditions separately until then.

I remember being around for the CMBO demo and release days and felt the odd one out being a teenager at the time. Had to borrow my mum's credit card and everything. Then there was the long wait for the package to be shipped with the CD and manual, watching the forums as members posted they'd received there copy. I can't remember if there was a download option but it probably wasn't viable on 56k dial up. Hazy memory on this one but IIRC, you've said in the past nationalities probably play a part in base game sales numbers particularly in the US where they seem to favour playing a game with their own country being present. Still the case? Is this part of the reason CM2 doesn't go to North Africa because the US 'chunk' is relatively small in terms of dates and forces?

I'm assuming you are new to the series? The best way I've tried to explain Combat Mission as a strategy title is it's more equivalent to ARMA or DCS than say Call of Duty. If you are coming off something like the Men of War or the Steel Division series there's still going to be a huge learning curve. (That's not to say those titles are inferior in any way - just aiming for a different audience). CM has always placed realism / history > gameiness. Don't expect everything you face to have a natural counter or for everything to be perfectly balanced - it wasn't, and the games reflect this and embrace these differences. Sometimes there simply isn't a counter at all and you need to think of adhoc ways to get around the problem to achieve your objective. MikeyD's examples about different small arms is a great example. Terrain plays a huge role in the effectiveness of infantry. You may have a company of Soviet SMG's at your disposal and feel invincible, but if your battlefield is open farmland and fields with clear LOS/LOF and I'm backing my riflemen and LMG totting Germans. Urban warfare... I'd probably back you in a straight up fight between the exact same forces. Or visually...

What can I say without breaking my NDA. Mmmm.... It's a small and highly experimental battle/situation. Certainly not 'tournament friendly'. If you were the commander launching this kind of action in real life I'd guess you'd likely be shot by your own troops. Sort of 'Hollywood flair' mixed with 'Kiwi Soldiers' kind of difficulty. At least based on testing results. I even lost playing my own work as the defenders. If you think this experimental idea is garbage, rest assured there's plenty of other more traditional thinking man's CM scenarios to get your teeth into with this module.

I need to upload the update that tool post-FR release. Haven't even put any thought how the Cold War should be covered. Simply not enough time in the day to work on it, plus coming home and doing the same thing I'm paid to do the eight hours before isn't the most appealing thing on the list. Latest serious update I did was a dedicated CMSF2 tracker (unreleased) with more detail for players running through the Blue force stock campaigns and scenarios for CMSF2. Essentially allowing you do track your progress against Operation Iraqi Freedom etc in terms of comparing casualties etc. Still a jumbled mess though with formulas everywhere.