Ithikial_AU

@BFCElvis - For pinning please.
 
Steve has let me off the proverbial leash to release some bones for CMBN in 2023.
 
Relive the opening days of the Normandy Campaign from the perspective of American and German forces fighting for control of the Cotentin Peninsula of France. From D-Day through to the 13th of June, take command of forces from the 4th Infantry, 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions, as they fight for a foothold on the western edge of Operation Overlord. Alternatively, take command of German formations in the area, including the 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment as it tries to hold back the Allied Invasion.
A Taster of Included Content
 
-          Three Campaigns
o   We Start Here – Follow the exploits of the 101st Airborne and 4th Infantry on D-Day. Follow the first paratroopers to hit the ground just after midnight, through to the evening of June 6th. Get off the beach.
o   Purple Heart Lane – Command the 101st Airborne from the Battle of Ste Come du Mont through to the Battle of Carentan.
§  A slight experiment in campaign design, allowing the player to fight a rolling battle at their own pace over several in game days. Can you keep pace with history or will the 17SS Panzer Grenadier Division arrive in time to make your task more difficult?
Current count, 110 scenario variants so that is quite a long campaign script.
§  A recreation of the Carentan Operation from Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord.
o   Fist of Iron – Take control of the 17SS Panzer Grenadier Division on the 13th of June as they launch their counterattack to retake Carentan. Can you defy history?
-          Scenarios (purposefully incomplete to leave some surprises)
o   La Madeleine / Tare Green – The 4th Infantry Division head north along the beach to clear the German Strongpoints.


o   Clash of Eagles – 101st Airborne and 6 Fallschirmjäger Regiment elements clash around Vierville.
o   Hill 30 – 101st Airborne try to hold the line southwest of Carentan against a determined 17SS Counter Attack.
-          Master Maps
o   Seven maps covering just over 70 square kilometres of now famous battlefields, recreated from Allied aerial photographs and D-Day planning maps from 1944.
-          (Possibly) Master Unit Files. In combination with the Master Maps will allow players to easily put together fight their own linked multiplayer campaign battles. [Let me know views on this one].
Requirements
 
Players will be required to own:
-          Combat Mission Battle for Normandy Base Game;
-          Commonwealth Forces Module;
-          Market Garden Module; and
-          Vehicle Pack.
 
Likely Questions
 
Why are we going back to D-Day?


When the CMBN base game was designed there was a conscious decision to focus on the US Army and German Heer forces only. This meant that key German formations that were fighting around the 101st Airborne area were not available. With Waffen SS and Fallschirmjäger formations now part of the game family we are able to recreate these famous engagements inside the CM2 engine. It's also a chance to present a number of different tactical scenario situations rarely used in previously in stock scenarios such as the use of naval gunfire, extensive fortifications, spotting victory point allocations etc.
Why the focus on the 101st Airborne? No love for the 82nd Airborne?


There are already a number of community made scenarios and maps available for players focusing on the exploits of the 82nd Airborne to the north of the location depicted in this Battle Pack. We didn’t want to crossover too heavily with the work the community had already undertaken.
Will any new formations or units be added to the CMBN family with this release?


No. Like other Battle Packs the focus is on campaigns and scenarios. Unlike Modules which focus on the new units and formations introduced, Battle Packs provide us the opportunity to mix and match all the content available in a game family.
What’s the release date?


When it is ready. This will be sometime after the CMBN Steam release. This pack has also been a bit different when compared to others to date. When this was announced at the start of the year the actual work had only just commenced rather than being in development for some time already. Saying that, the mapping is virtually complete and scenarios are being built.
How will I be able to get my hands on it?


From all the existing places you can currently buy Combat Mission products.
In the promotional photos that bush is 0.764 meters away from where it was historically!


Everything is a work in progress. Also, I suggest you may want another glass of a fermented vegetable drink.
Wait a minute who the hell are you?
One of the volunteer beta team. Like GeorgeMC and JonS before me, one of us generally leads a Battle Pack development though this time I've been lucky enough for a number of other betas to help out and get all that mapping done. Also dabbled in some modding and YouTube in previous years.
Can we see some pictures?
Oh alright.

This has always been a confusing part of the campaign design process and IMO not the best defined part of the instruction manual. I wasn't around behind the scenes when the CM2 engine was being developed so unsure of the development intentions at the time. I've always strongly assumed it was option 1) from the list but not aware of of any definitive test of answer being stated on the matter.
If the original intention was that all core units are buffed whether they appear in the scenario or not then that had to of fallen away pretty quickly as designers immediately used the system to jump back and forth between multiple core units being split up and appearing in separate scenarios but affecting a joint final outcome. The CMBN - CW Campaign "The Scottish Corridor" springs to mind as a clear example.
I'd be surprised if it was anything but option 1.
There were some changes in CM2 Update 2 or 3? That altered how reinforcements worked. Initially if the script had a 10% value assigned then there was a 10% chance that the entire unit would be replenished back up to full strength. Now it's a flat 10% replenishment across the core units but not exceeding full strength. Far easier for campaign designers to plan for now and helps them set the narrative between scenarios. 100% replenishment is the unit going off the line for some time and getting a period of rest, refit and replacements. A 10% replacement is a nice way to reflect some time has passed between engagements and a small number of the casualties have been tended to by the medics and able to be patched up enough to fight again.

Bootie has the updated package. Should be on CMMODS sometime soon. Easiest way to update is replace the whole file and click "replace all". Only needed for CMBN and CMFI.

Bootie has the updated package. Should be on CMMODS sometime soon. Easiest way to update is replace the whole file and click "replace all". Only needed for CMBN and CMFI.

I have a fix but need to get it to Bootie. Enough bmps to cover the new version of the button and old.

I have a fix but need to get it to Bootie. Enough bmps to cover the new version of the button and old.

I have a fix but need to get it to Bootie. Enough bmps to cover the new version of the button and old.

"The Battle of Tukums" campaign update relates solely on the first mission. Changes make the mission a touch easier by reducing some Soviet forces on the map and making the briefing clearer that there are reserve forces for your side. The player will still need to be aggressive and you their vehicles a bit unorthodox manner to push through. The forces in this first mission are not heavily relied upon for success in follow on missions.

To echo what IanL has stated here, please note that it is slowly being chipped away at but I have a "real life" job to attend to that has it's own ups and downs. (Still trying to win Lotto and retire to a life of wargaming). I don't work for Battlefront but keep them in the loop with the status of the project. BP2 - Utah Beach was always going to be a release beyond CMBN coming to Steam. The big milestone was getting all the maps pretty much locked away before Christmas (70 sq km+ worth) except for the odd touch ups here and there while scenarios are being built.
I'd imagine it would be similar to CMSF2's release on Steam where the whole game family came out at once, but @BFCElvis should be able to confirm what exactly comes out on Steam on the 28th of March.

To echo what IanL has stated here, please note that it is slowly being chipped away at but I have a "real life" job to attend to that has it's own ups and downs. (Still trying to win Lotto and retire to a life of wargaming). I don't work for Battlefront but keep them in the loop with the status of the project. BP2 - Utah Beach was always going to be a release beyond CMBN coming to Steam. The big milestone was getting all the maps pretty much locked away before Christmas (70 sq km+ worth) except for the odd touch ups here and there while scenarios are being built.
I'd imagine it would be similar to CMSF2's release on Steam where the whole game family came out at once, but @BFCElvis should be able to confirm what exactly comes out on Steam on the 28th of March.

No. The number of door's and windows provide access points for pixeltruppen to view and fire from for that side of a building. Doors have the added benefit of building access.  When there is only one window you'll probably see your troops limited by the amount of fire they can put out or will clump together to use the opening to lay down fire - increasing risk of a HE shell or RPG doing more casualties the other way. Blown out walls improve LOS/LOF and reduce cover and concealment. Cases where troops ignore certain windows could be a reflection of angles and LOS calculations of where the target is situated relative to the shooter. Just because there is a window, doesn't mean it has LOS/LOF solution to a target.
My three gripes with modular buildings are:
- Targeting a building for area fire relies on being able to see the centre of the relevant floor even when you can see a corner or partial part of the wall.
- Can't remove floors to create open internal spaces within larger module buildings such as simulating giant factory floors or auditoriums.
- Can't create archways/bridges between buildings to allow vehicles to drive under into a courtyard or similar. (Yeah this one is a bit more bespoke).

No. The number of door's and windows provide access points for pixeltruppen to view and fire from for that side of a building. Doors have the added benefit of building access.  When there is only one window you'll probably see your troops limited by the amount of fire they can put out or will clump together to use the opening to lay down fire - increasing risk of a HE shell or RPG doing more casualties the other way. Blown out walls improve LOS/LOF and reduce cover and concealment. Cases where troops ignore certain windows could be a reflection of angles and LOS calculations of where the target is situated relative to the shooter. Just because there is a window, doesn't mean it has LOS/LOF solution to a target.
My three gripes with modular buildings are:
- Targeting a building for area fire relies on being able to see the centre of the relevant floor even when you can see a corner or partial part of the wall.
- Can't remove floors to create open internal spaces within larger module buildings such as simulating giant factory floors or auditoriums.
- Can't create archways/bridges between buildings to allow vehicles to drive under into a courtyard or similar. (Yeah this one is a bit more bespoke).

I mentioned about 1,500 pages ago in this thread about whether the West has strong enough supply chains to maintain a long drawn out conflict on a wide frontage 1,000 kms(+). I still hold those concerns with what I'm seeing in Ukraine. Even with all that Western kit that has been donated, the Ukrainian offensive appears to be only making marginal gains here and there. Happy to be proven wrong in the coming days but still appears to be a stalemate.
The West probably still expects modern wars to be short sharp affairs or against an opponent that is completely outclassed by all our toys. This war has probably thrown that perception out of the window. If the West has to go into direct conflict for a prolonged period with an adversary that probably won't back down after a defeat or two then it gets interesting. I admire the massive reforms that economies and the people had to endure in the 1940's. Switching over civilian factories to producing goods for the war effort effectively overnight. Needing to do that again in the 2020's I wonder what the result would be? "What do you mean I can't have my annual update to my iPhone?"
Hopefully there are some smart cookies trying to work out how to adapt to taking part in a wide scale prolonged conflict if the need arises.
@kevinkin - Aiming for perfection in equipment(?) is one thing but that alone won't win wars. I'd rather have a fully equipped and working battalion of Shermans than a comparative handful of Panthers with most back in the repair depot. Even today, an M1 Abrams can't be everywhere if you need to maintain a front the size of a country/continent. I'd imagine they also aren't quick to manufacture if the need arises/replace losses. The US Army wasn't perfect heading to war in 1941 but it got the job done in less than four years because it worked out what it needed and what was realistic to support overseas. It got the logistics chains more or less right.

I mentioned about 1,500 pages ago in this thread about whether the West has strong enough supply chains to maintain a long drawn out conflict on a wide frontage 1,000 kms(+). I still hold those concerns with what I'm seeing in Ukraine. Even with all that Western kit that has been donated, the Ukrainian offensive appears to be only making marginal gains here and there. Happy to be proven wrong in the coming days but still appears to be a stalemate.
The West probably still expects modern wars to be short sharp affairs or against an opponent that is completely outclassed by all our toys. This war has probably thrown that perception out of the window. If the West has to go into direct conflict for a prolonged period with an adversary that probably won't back down after a defeat or two then it gets interesting. I admire the massive reforms that economies and the people had to endure in the 1940's. Switching over civilian factories to producing goods for the war effort effectively overnight. Needing to do that again in the 2020's I wonder what the result would be? "What do you mean I can't have my annual update to my iPhone?"
Hopefully there are some smart cookies trying to work out how to adapt to taking part in a wide scale prolonged conflict if the need arises.
@kevinkin - Aiming for perfection in equipment(?) is one thing but that alone won't win wars. I'd rather have a fully equipped and working battalion of Shermans than a comparative handful of Panthers with most back in the repair depot. Even today, an M1 Abrams can't be everywhere if you need to maintain a front the size of a country/continent. I'd imagine they also aren't quick to manufacture if the need arises/replace losses. The US Army wasn't perfect heading to war in 1941 but it got the job done in less than four years because it worked out what it needed and what was realistic to support overseas. It got the logistics chains more or less right.

Bénouville et Ranville Master Map is now finished. Size: 3248 m x 2128 m. Condition: Pristine, no German or British fortifications or modifications. Fully populated with flavor objecsts. Looks best when used with all available building, wall, flavor object, foliage and terrain tile mods. German fortifications and terrain modifications will be included in subsequent scenarios. Map will be posted without deployment zones or opposing forces so that it can be used for your own Quick Battles.

Also check for sub-system damage. Given the gun sticks out on top of the vehicle it's prone to being damaged if the halftrack takes some sustained fire. Something may have knocked it out when you weren't looking.

After declaring my retirement from making any more maps and scenarios for CMBN, I decided to put my feet up and start playing through a few scenarios and campaigns. I chose three that were thematically related and started to play. All three were supposedly historical or based on historical events. I found that I disliked all three due to the significant degree to which they deviated from fact both in mapping and OOBs. One was understandable because it was based on an ASL  scenario which was a derivative of the historical event. I decided to tinker with the small ASL version to bring it more in line with known historical facts but one thing led to another and now ... surprise ... I have another map in the works. Another of my huge 3248 m x 2128 m 'historicals'.  It would be more correct to say 'my interpretation' of the resources available to me constrained by the Scenario Editor's Lego-like construction set.
It is about 65% complete at this time. Another month of full-time work should finish it. I will give an occasional hint here at what is coming. If over the next little while you happend to guess what area I am mapping, I will  send you a screenie of the work in progress.
Hint #1: It is an overly huge map for what was initially an otherwise tiny event.
And PEB14 - you can't add your guess 'cuz you already know the answer. 😉
 
.

To echo what IanL has stated here, please note that it is slowly being chipped away at but I have a "real life" job to attend to that has it's own ups and downs. (Still trying to win Lotto and retire to a life of wargaming). I don't work for Battlefront but keep them in the loop with the status of the project. BP2 - Utah Beach was always going to be a release beyond CMBN coming to Steam. The big milestone was getting all the maps pretty much locked away before Christmas (70 sq km+ worth) except for the odd touch ups here and there while scenarios are being built.
I'd imagine it would be similar to CMSF2's release on Steam where the whole game family came out at once, but @BFCElvis should be able to confirm what exactly comes out on Steam on the 28th of March.

I remember tweaking and lengthening the tracers quite a few years ago now. I use them across all my CM2 titles. Trying to avoid the default laser beam look while some of the other mods made them far to small to be useful to inform the player of what is going on. Realism is fine and all but this is a game and I want to know what's going on and who is shooting who.
The addition of a hard coded "night" modtag meant you can swap out any texture you want to show up at night and it will show up in all appropriate scenarios without any messing around in the editor. Also have different faces in my install with NATO forces running around with black face paint / balaclavas etc. Just a cosmetic touch. Back to tracers. I tweaked the tracer to be a bit brighter and longer as you'd expect them to pop out a bit more in darkness compared to daylight.
If you don't like it, no hard feelings, just delete the tracer folder from your mod folder. Or just the ones with "[night]" in the file name.  

Mapping takes time and urban maps even more so. I still bow down to @benpark's Berlin mapping effort for Fire and Rubble to this day. Luckily @Schrullenhaft was already working on a map of that lined up pretty much perfectly to what I was planning to tackle so a team effort amongst the betas got it across the line. A few things are quite funny about the Carentan layout that makes it difficult to map in the CM2 editor mostly related to 45 degree road limitations. But why the community hadn't tackled these popular engagements... I honestly don't know.
Ste Marie du Mont... and I think a slightly older version of the map. Oops. What surprised me is the villages dotted around the landscape aren't necessarily as big as you would think once you've plotted all the buildings into the editor. Carentan is another matter.  
I see the others have already answered this but yes, basically just historically recreated units for how they looked mostly fixed on June 6th. These files are then imported into the editor so you can make your own custom scenarios with historical formations without the need to do your own historical research leg work. Also you can tweak them based on past engagements with your favourite MP opponent if you want to reflect losses in your previous games.
Most of the maps will be modtagged with some form of custom objects. Actually the beach photos already show this off if you want to try and spot it.  I do plan to add a 4ID and 70TB uniform files with the appropiate patches as part of this pack as it's not that hard to do. I'll post up the list of mod tags used so the community can go nuts if they want post-release.
I remember those games fondly. Scale is a bit out of whack, like attacking Ste Come du Mont with one depleted squad.  But they did have a strong focus on getting their maps right which is better than most other WW2 games out there. Briefly toyed with the idea of using top down screen shots from the game for a more detailed look at flashpoints for these bigger CM2 maps. There may also already be an easter egg or two buried away in the unit files. Actually my first ever scenario for CMBN was inspired by BiA: Earned in Blood mission... https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/combat-mission-battle-for-normandy/cm-battles-for-normandy/three-patrol-action/ 

I'll provide bones if and when permitted to.  

Yes. You'll need to jump into the editor and adjust the files before fighting a follow on battle based on whatever house rules you and your opponent determine is appropriate. A number of club campaigns have come up with different systems in the past. All this is offering is a starting point to save the historical leg work and run around to kick start a campaign between two people who want to play out Utah Beach "their way" rather than via scenarios trying to replicate history.
It's not one giant Axis .btt file but split up in the editor by regiment. So one for the 3/919 IR (the unlucky German sods stuck along the coastline), 1058 IR, the 6 FJR and 17 SS SSPzG Regt. Nothing stopping you from importing one other file into another, saving it and them importing it again into another to merge them all up if you wish. But be careful as issues may crop up in the editor with a force size that big. Talking easily 5,000+ soldiers in one file.

Hi,
As far as I can recall, I have never written a message like this one in a game's community.
I also confess that before arriving here, I've read once or twice that the CM Community is only made of fan boys, etc.
Now my factual experience is the following:
I joined 2 weeks ago and posted 12 questions by creating new threads or writing into existing ones.
I received answers from 17 mates, some of them participated in different threads.
@Artkin @Vacillator @Heirloom_Tomato @StieliAlpha @ASL Veteran @Ivan Zaitzev @37mm @kevinkin @Paper Tiger @Codreanu @PEB14 @Warts 'n' all @landser 
@chuckdyke @Bulletpoint @JM Stuff @SlowMotion ... sorry if I missed someone.
95% of my questions have been answered, the 5% remaining were not so important.
I've also received some help offer through private messaging from 2 guys who spontaneously call me 'mate' or 'friend' 👍
Thanks guys! Much appreciated 😀

And thanks to these authors because I have started using their MODs:
@Ithikial_AU @kohlenklau @Juju @Vinnart
Thanks also to @Bootie for his portal.
PS: quick question: when I write @nickmame_of_a_user he gets notified in the forum interface?

That could be on me as other projects cropped up but there definitely is a MS Word copy floating around somewhere. Whether it makes the public patches or not is not up to me.

6 – Compiling, Testing and Post-Release

“To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to have changed often.”

Winston Churchill




 


 
Compiling the Campaign – Putting the Final Pieces Together

You’ve done all the work. Time to put the pieces together and release it! Well… almost. True, it’s time to compile the campaign but then there comes testing and tweaking to make sure it all works and flows as you intended.

First, lets do the mechanical work and construct a campaign file. This is also the moment of truth to see if you’ve missed something big in your campaign script or the available scenarios. Remember you need to have multiple copies of the same scenario with a different file name depending on the campaign script and if there are more than pathway for a player to reach the same scenario.

Step one is to open your Core Unit File in the editor. This is the file with all the core units for both sides listed out that you have by now imported into each of your individual scenarios. It is also the file that should have the campaign briefing text and graphics. It will also have the small image that will appear from the campaign selection screen. At this point you should also ensure that all your campaign files are in the same folder alongside the Core Unit File. This includes all of the individual .btt scenario files and the campaign script document. Any other files such as individual briefings text documents and graphics can be in the same folder – they won’t stuff anything up but the game won’t refer to them either. These should already be imported into the appropriate scenario.

Step two is to click on the top left menu from within the editor and select the “Make Campaign” option. The image below is what I see when compiling my campaign for the Fire and Rubble release.


At this point a pop-up with a green background will appear. This is alerting you of the items you need to make sure this process will work and what will happen once you hit continue. Essentially, the same as I have just listed above.


If you are happy to proceed select the continue button. Something similar to the image below will then appear as the game asks you to select the appropriate Campaign Script file. It will search in the same directory and limit the selection to raw text files. Ensure you select the campaign script file and not a scenario briefing!

This is also a good time to point out that the campaign script text file name (minus the .txt suffix) will be the name of the .cam file, or the name of the campaign as the player will see it in the campaign selection screen. So ensure your campaign script document is not called “Campaign Script.txt” or something similar. In the image below you can see my campaign script highlighted in red text. The campaign title within the editor itself (refer to blue arrow in the image below), will be the name used by the game as the player creates saved games to come back to, so ensure there are no numbers in this title to prevent any funny errors for the player.


When you have located the campaign script click on it within the pop-up window and wait for a second. If nothing happens and you are just staring at the editor screen, then everything has worked successfully. You can now close the editor and from the main menu click on the option to start a new campaign. From this list your new campaign should already by listed as a .cam file has been created and added to the appropriate directory.

But in 95% of cases (reliable statistical analysis of campaign designers) something will go wrong first. In these cases the game will stop what it is doing and a .cam file will not be created. Essentially, nothing will happen. A red background pop-up will appear outlining the problem. Below are some examples of errors that can appear.

The first example below is an error caused by one of the outlined battles in the campaign script not existing in the directory. A common reason for this to occur is that the specific .btt file is in another folder or there is a naming difference between the .btt file and the script itself.  


The second error below is somewhat similar to the first except that a battle that the script is trying to make a connection to, (through a Win or Lose pathway) can not be found. A common reason for this is that there is no unique .btt file created for that part of a pathway – common in very long campaigns where the number of variants of the same battle can increase substantially. Alternatively and similar to before, the error can also occur due to a naming problem between the .btt file and the campaign script.


The final example is caused by some unknown characters in the campaign script the game cannot read. This usually occurs when players add dashes, semi-colons and other symbols into their campaign scripts and .btt file names. For simplicity purposes, avoid the use of these characters completely. The line number presented is where to look in the campaign script for the character that is causing the issue. A program like MS Word or Notepad++, which have line numbering options can help you edit your campaign script a bit quicker.


Note that the game will stop trying to compile the campaign as soon as it hits one error. This means that only one error will be displayed, and you will need to exit the game, fix the error, and then try compiling the campaign again. At which point you may hit another error. You need to fix each error as they appear until none are reported.