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AlexUK

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  1. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to Paper Tiger in Updating Hasrabit   
    Well, it's been a really busy week this last week and because it's the last week of Ramadan, it's quite noisy at night, fireworks, drums etc, (silent through the day though) and so sleep suffers a bit. And that means I can't really focus to do a good job of AI planning. So instead, I've been reworking the existing maps to improve each of them and make the compounds and villages much more realistic. They're all real world places in Syria although from wildly different parts but the difference it makes in night and day. While they look like NATO maps now, they still strongly resemble the original maps which is a considerable improvement. And it hasn't required an enormous amount of work either. The best change made so far is The Guards Counterattack which looks pretty realistic in the moonlight. Screenshots will follow later but boy, is that a brutal mission!
    That map has been expanded quite a bit too as has the Barrier mission which has been reworked as a Prevent enemy forces from exiting the map edge mission. I'm happy with how the changes look too. They make the map look more interesting.
    Another mission that has been substantially reworked is the Buying the Farm mission. I was looking for a large warehouse feature in Google Earth and had the idea to make it a railway yard instead and so the entire thing has been redrawn, trees removed and elevation changes substantially reduced and rail lines added with bridges over them. It looks really good and I'm looking forward to trying it out.
    I've added a couple of new missions to the campaign to create a story line with consequences that matter including a new opener, which is tiny, but a lot of fun (for me anyway) and should allow the player to indulge himself letting rip with the heavy weapons in a civilian area, a welcome change from the usual Blue v red restriction. Called 'Overkill', winning this mission deters the civilian population from rising up and joining in the revolution at least for a few hours anyway. This allows me to create a variant of the opener which is much easier if you win Overkill. This required a new map but it's very small and I finished it this morning. Funnily enough, it started out as an experiment to see how the Special forces AA, Grenade and HMG vehicles work and I was so happy with the result that i decided to make this the new opener instead. So you have a single platoon and some new vehicles to play around with.
    Immediately after that, I decided to do a whole new map for Heavy Metal because I just felt I couldn't use the old one. It was too small and too artificial for what I need but I found a location to the SE of Damascus which fits the bill perfectly for a large mech/tank clash and have got it 50% done. It's an arid map so it's pretty open and flat but there are lots of berms which break LoS up.
    I have created the core unit file and done the admin for the campaign so that I know who goes where and when and have imported the new units into all the existing missions except heavy Metal so I've done a LOT this week, just no new AI plans which is the real work. With regards to the core units, I've decided to try out a couple of platoons of T-90s to accompany the Republican Guard. Now you have just two mech companies with attachments instead of three but I figure the T-90s will more than compensate for them. if they're too OP, I'll swap them with the T-72 TURMS again. There are three SF companies but one is designated for a special series of two missions on the same map (the second new mission) which it's unlikely to survive so there will be one company with attachments in each mission, usually Reserve Infantry and some tanks from the very bottom of the barrel, just like original Hasrabit.
    So, Ramadan ends mid-week next week and I have a week's holiday so the sleep deficit should get paid back quite quickly. Then I'll be able to focus on doing AI plans and testing done on some of these missions. I guess I'll have a better idea of how long this is going to take after we get back to work after the May Day holiday. I'm hoping it won't be too long as I'd like to have this wrapped up by mid-June. That's probably a tad optimistic but we'll see.
  2. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to Butschi in Creating Maps with CMAutoEditor   
    A little teaser:

    The new CMFI profile for CMAutoEditor is almost done.
  3. Upvote
    AlexUK got a reaction from pintere in How Hot is Ukraine Gonna Get?   
    If… and this is a huge if, western countries had not supported Ukraine with ammunition, arms and training, I can’t see how Ukraine could have got to now without capitulating. I assume they would have run out of heavy munitions long ago, based on latest US leak, and they wouldn’t have been able to disable anywhere near the Russian equipment/forces that they actually have. 
     
    They wouldn’t necessarily have been able to conquer all of Ukraine militarily but the damage inflicted would have led to Ukraine’s surrender. 
     
    Am I wrong?
  4. Like
    AlexUK reacted to Paper Tiger in My problem with CMBN  from a consumer perspective and why I didn't buy other CMs...   
    Well, I always admit that the two designers that inspired me the most when I was starting out with the editor were GeorgeMc, whom you know, and Pete Wenman who produced some really fine maps for CMSF back at the very start. He was also incredibly creative with mods.
    MikeyD put me on to Red v Red. It never occured to me to do that myself and he made an interesting and fun Red v Red mission which I enjoyed a lot - far more than the Blue v Red missions I played.
    There was a guy around called Webwing who also inspired me to make a campaign. He was working on something called "In Search of a Ghost" and I thought it would be cool to do a campaign all of my own.
    And finally, Bardosy who made really fun campaigns to play.
    I guess it sounds like I don't have an original idea in my head after reading that  but I was inspired by all of these folks and never copied. I've always striven to find my own style.
  5. Like
    AlexUK reacted to Paper Tiger in My problem with CMBN  from a consumer perspective and why I didn't buy other CMs...   
    Absolutely. I've always thought of AI plans as being one massive, game-length WeGo turn 'sent' by the designer to the player and as such, the designer can script some really surprising behaviour.
    For me, the improvements I'd like to see but probably never will are:
    branching AI plans artillery fire plans tied to specific AI plans and not the entire set delays to the above AI pre-planned artillery strikes All of those would make AI scripting even more efficient. But I'm finding that I can do a whole lot with the latest engine changes that wasn't possible before so I've got enough new toys to play with to enjoy working with the expanded features for quite some time to come.
  6. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to Falaise in Battle for Normandy v4.04 patch is now available   
    There was a time when there was a long discussion here in France about whether the g43 was present in the Battle of Normandy. Many have wondered about the fact that no photo showed it then, but since one was found.
    I have had the unfortunate habit of collecting battlefield relics since childhood and have had the opportunity to see nearly a dozen battlefield G43s both in working order and in dig out .
    the one I am presenting I found it myself 50m from the house at the time, in my commune of Coudhard in the pocket of the Falaise, the rear protruded from the embankment, when pulling it out a bayonet also came out!
    we notice that it has a rail to fix the bezel.
    I've seen fewer G41s from the battlefield 5 or 6 , I also have a badly damaged one found in the Tractable combat area
    the peasant had dug it up with the share of his plow and had thrown it into a heap of brambles


  7. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to BorderDragon in Updating Hasrabit   
    Exciting! Hasrabit was one of the first RvR campaigns I've played and is still very memorable. It offers a unique experience where the player is forced to be creative when given a force of mixed technical capabilities. I remember fondly of attaching a special forces squad to my reserve platoons to help spot in the night during the second mission, and, in the third mission, using a combination of smoke and berm drills in order to use the TURMS-T tanks to its maximum efficiency, then using them to help spot. It was a first where tanks, of all things, were used to recon for my IFVs and infantry... 
    Anyways, can't wait to see where you take this campaign. 
  8. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to Paper Tiger in Updating Hasrabit   
    As some of you will already be aware, I've decided to fast track revising my ancient 'Hasrabit' campaign and I've been busy with it since last weekend. I tried out the very first mission, Ambush, and didn't like it and my initial reaction was to abandon the original opening map and create an all-new Ambush map. I started work on it on Wednesday and I finished it earlier this afternoon. It's really big and very detailed but, well, I suspect you can already see why this map isn't going to work in this campaign...

    It just doesn't look like any of the other maps in the campaign. It actually looks like the maps I made for the NATO campaigns. So I'm going to use this in Retribution which will come a bit later. I'm not teasing you by showing that in a thread purporting to be about Hasrabit, it's just that it's the end result of 3 days of work and I'm very happy with the end result. I'd LIKE to use it but the other maps would all look utterly incongruous beside it and I certainly don't want to redo them all.
    Hasrabit is an old campaign and so I'm not going to change very much with it because otherwise, what you'd get wouldn't be 'Hasrabit' - it would be a whole new campaign using similar forces. So it's going to be an update instead. I'm going to improve the old maps for sure and make them look more Syrian, adding water and bridges for example and redesign the compounds and villages so that they look much more realistic. And bye bye to the vast glowing fields of wheat, the lush, green grass and the dense forests that made the maps look more like NW Europe. I'll expand a few of them, particularly the ones with armour clashes but otherwise, they will all stay pretty much the same. I'm also going to stick with the totally made-up background story as again, this is Hasrabit and there's no such place or governorate and so I'm just going to let it be. 
    I've also decided to keep the original Ambush mission but take out the artillery strike on your starting positions and also remove all the trees and the mud which was everywhere and replace them with orchards. That huge yard will also get removed and redone with something that looks more Syrian. I suspect that the river will also have to go but we'll see how I feel once real play-testing starts because the bridges are a pretty bad bottleneck which the AI can't handle very well..
    Which brings me to what will definitely change - the AI. I was rather surprised to find that the AI attacks in almost every mission and that's going to be fun to do. The old AI plans are atrocious though as are the set-up and positioning of the AI's units. The player set-ups look really terrible too with very narrow set-up are areas with units all crammed together so all that will change. I now have 16 groups to work with and can give them far more orders with some special ones which were not in the game the last time I played. And, of course, some triggers.
    So, that's the plan as it stands. I've made up the new core units file and I've already started improving the existing maps. So, I'm going to import the new units and get down to some serious play in against the old AI plans and OBs before I rip them out so that I know the original intention behind the mission and try to stay faithful to it. I'll probably add shots of the 'finished' maps here as I go. I suspect that by the time I've finished this revision, I'll have relearned all the skills I formerly had and will be able to do a better job of the new campaign I plan to follow it with.
  9. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to Paper Tiger in The next project   
    Well, well, well. I just fired up the first mission of Gung Ho! with the Gebirgsjagers and holy crap! I'd forgotten how much fun this formation was to work with. So I guess this is going to get a bit more loving for the time being. And no javelins!
    If anyone is able to answer, I'd like not to use the Fuchs vehicles and have a pure Infantry formation (of course, I'll be using those wonderful Weasels and the Wolves.) I can rationalise it by saying they were choppered in in the briefing if necessary but from what I recall, they're a formation that fights in all climates and terrain and is intended to operate without vehicles. I'm sure they'd much prefer to ride across the hot Syrian country but war's tough.
    I might have to use some Fuchs carriers for the bigger maps like the  Chaparral map where you have a lot of ground to cover but otherwise, there will be no carriers. I don't even want to use the Leopard tanks either - they're not a part of the formation but could be attached if I really need them.
  10. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to Paper Tiger in The next project   
    With USMC Gung Ho! up and ready to be played, I started work on Hasrabit yesterday evening. I've examined all the missions, made some notes about OBs and the over-all plan behind the campaign and initial ideas how to improve on it. It's already a fairly solid design, two core unit forces that never meet but have two interconnected missions - a pattern I've used in most of my campaigns since.
    I opened up the first mission, Ambush! in the editor and changed the marsh tiles to river and used proper bridges. I can see I was a little over-zealous with flavour objects back then to but otherwise, it's clearly an old map but functional so I decided to give it a spin. A nice small company of Special Forces to work with, excellent, so I devised a plan and hit START. OMG! What a disaster.
    Sorry but that's just not my style any more so I'm going to have to make an all-new map to open the campaign (Dinas got it right) and I've got a doozy of an idea of what to do for it. I expect I'll have to do this with several of the missions but what the heck, it's work I enjoy. But I like to play the game from time to time too so this is how I'm going to progress.
    While getting new maps prepared for Hasrabit, I'm going to create a fresh core units file and make the German Gebirgsjager version of Gung Ho! to play at the same time. Work title is 'Gebirgsjagers Vorwarts!'. If anyone has any feedback on Gung Ho!, please let me know so that I can incorporate that feedback into the German version. I don't need to have my ego stroked (any more) or even need lots of feedback from a host of players, just one or two comments will suffice to let me know if it's up to scratch or not. I trust you guys to give me useful feedback so don't be shy.
  11. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to Paper Tiger in The next project   
    BTW, Hasrabit is still the #1 priority. I've been working on the map for the new opener all morning and it's shaping up as it wanted it. I read through the campaign and mission briefings last weekend to reacquaint myself with the backstory and it's a bit <cough> out there, as in just me making **** up. 'Hasrabit' is an actual place that I found on Google maps as the map for Strong Stand was (yes, that location looked like that back then with walls and orchards just stopping for no good reason.) The real 'Hasrabit' is a small town just to the south of Damascus International Airport but the name appears in Arabic and I'm too lazy to translate it. [lightbulb moment] Perhaps one of my Muslim students could translate it for me. But otherwise, all the maps are just my creation. You have to remember that there was no scenario overlay back when I made both this and Dinas so the maps are imaginary. Ambush!, the opener is probably the least useable so it's gone but I want to keep the rest as far as that proves possible to do. Otherwise this project will take me MONTHS!
    So the campaign backstory will need to be reworked a bit. There's no Shuruk valley or river and since I'm more than capable of doing real-world locations in the editor, there's no good excuse for making it all up entirely. It's still going to be 100% fictional because the campaign is called Hasrabit although I'm picking a few choice real-world locations for the new maps. But Hasrabit will stay as the titular Governorate and it will feature a mix of locations from near Hama and Aleppo as well as the old imaginary maps. I'll try to keep it consistent, Special Forces in the greener orchards and the Republican Guards in the more open, arid areas.
    And I'm going to add a new mission to it for an important campaign branch.
  12. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to Paper Tiger in New campaign - USMC Gung Ho! available   
    Okay, that's it uploaded. The picture failed to load but I don't care about that too much at this point.
    https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/cm-shock-force-2-2/cm-shock-force-2-campaigns/cmsf2-usmc-gung-ho/
    This is a six mission campaign featuring Bravo Company of 1st Battalion 8th Marines. I should mention that it's a rework of my much earlier CMSF1 campaign of the same name but it's so reworked that it's really an all-new campaign that takes advantage of all the CMSF2 features. You'll need the NATO module to play this as the Syrian Airborne features in one of the missions. Sorry about that but I guess most folks reading here already have the full Monty.
    It's designed primarily to have fun with one of the most unique factions in the game, the USMC, a light infantry formation that punches far above its weight even without the air support that you'll have in these missions. It should also be quite challenging but not too challenging. Mission 3 - CAAT among the Pigeons is intended to be very easy, to allow you to let rip with a rather unique formation within the MEU. 
    I look forward to hearing how you get on. Perhaps you can tell me how many kills HITMAN got in your campaign? You're not beta testing this - I've already played this myself but that's a potential issue, it's been tested by one player with a particular play style and skill set. I try to break these missions but I'm not as creative about that as some of you will be  If you find any typos, let me know. I've been scanning the texts these last couple of days and can't see any but that's likely fatigue. Unless something egregious is found, you should be safe to complete a campaign before a revision comes up. I'm hoping that won't necessary but I've done this before and it can always be improved.
    With the exception of CAAT among the Pigeons, each mission has several AI plans to give the campaign replayablity. So, if there's enough interest in it, I will return to this to make a new version featuring the German Gebirgsjagers which look like they'd be a blast to play with as well and not need much work to be done beyond making a core unit file and importing the units into each mission. And finally, I want to make a Brit forces Light Infantry version but that will need more work to do.
  13. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to kohlenklau in FLAK36 winter mod?   
    Thanks Jacob. I do remember! We had to modtag [autumn] to make it look right. It has been a blast to delve deeply into this hobby and I have met a lot of great people. Some folks I am sure I rubbed the wrong way. I think I have rubbed BFC the wrong way too. Oh well. 
    Looking back at CMAK and the other CMX1 stuff, I wonder if the hobby has dwindled or expanded up to this point? BFC is always tight-lipped on sales numbers. But maybe with STEAM, this will all get a new vitality, a new influx of modders...? In a few years I might have to poke my head into the forum under a new account to see what is happening....
    best wishes to you. I am not gone yet but time zips by...
    ~Phil
  14. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to Hilts in Coming soon - USMC Gung Ho!   
    Excellent! It's always good to get new and revised campaigns to play, from a craftsman.
  15. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to Paper Tiger in Coming soon - USMC Gung Ho!   
    Well, it's been a lot more work than I'd anticipated. This is a rework of my old USMC campaign, a six mission campaign I put together shortly after the British Forces module for CMSF 1 was released. I spent SO much time making 'The Road to Dinas' that I missed playing with the USMC, which has turned out to be my favourite US formation to work with. 
     
    I thought I was just going to have to make up a new core unit file, sub in the new units and tweak a few bits and pieces to take advantage of the new systems but I ended up pretty much redoing it all from scratch. Anyway, let me show you the old maps and the new versions. Each picture is taken a 6 am in the morning from the same position so that you can see main differences.
     
    The first mission is Meet the Flintstones. This is a NIGHT Missions and this is the old map...

    And this is the new map...

    As you can see, it's pretty much doubled in size. If you've played the original, it will probably feel reasonably familiar with the old version.
    The next mission is The High Chaparall and the map for this one has changed very little. it's a DAWN mission.

    And here's the new...

    It hasn't changed much although there was a LOT of deforestation which took place to the new. Apart from the map, it's been reworked very substantially and the AI improved.
     
    The third mission was a real problem for me. It was originally called CAAT Fight and it took place on this map...

    The problem wasn't with the map but the battle itself. It was rubbish! It was an interesting idea and was inspired by the first episode of Generation Kill but it wasn't anywhere near as much fun as that episode. So this one got a new map and new forces with the same concept:

    I really enjoy playing this one. It's a NIGHT mission and, like the original, you only have the CAAT units to work with. But it feels completely different and I find it a lot of fun to play.
    Now we come to the HUGE reworks. These took over a week each to fit up and the missions needed to be redone entirely, new AI forces, new objectives etc...
    the first of these is Watching the Detectives. here's the old map...

    And here's the new...

    It's more than doubled in size and there has been very substantial enhancement of buildings complexes etc. This is a DAWN mission and has gone through several iterations before the right battle was found for it. it's a tough mission with the player attacking down a slope in full view of the defender with little cover to work with. it took many attempts to make this feasible and I'm happy with the end result. You need to take this one slowly.
     
    Then Mission 5, Bridges. Once again, the old map has been massively expanded.

    And the new one is almost entirely different...

    There are some similarities but as you can see, it's almost entirely new with new, more realistic villages added. Again, finding the right battle for this map has taken a lot of time and this is the mission I'm currently playtesting.  it'll probably change a little before I finish with it but I've finally whittled down the forces on both sides so that i can carry out the mission without having too much at my disposal.
    Al Qusayr
    The map for the last mission is almost the same. there are some significant improvements for it but you won't see these from such a wide angle. the mission has also been redone with new forces added and all-new AI.

    And there it is. I'll go into each mission in a little more detail later. This is very close to finishing now. I expect to have finalised it by the end of this month.
     
  16. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to kohlenklau in HOW TO MAKE A BIG MOD (TEST DUMMY LOG)   
    Gasplanentasche
    prototype 1. needs some position tweaking and some art tweaking

    a little lower she said

  17. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to Paper Tiger in Gung Ho, Hasrabit and other stuff   
    This is basically me just musing although there is some news in this post.
    I'm in the final stages of putting together the first of three short campaigns, USMC Gung Ho. I thought there would be a very quick turn-around on this project because it was already largely finished and fully tested. I thought it would just require a new core unit file and a few tweaks here and there to take advantage of all the changes that have come over the last 10+ years. Well, was I wrong. One of the missions (CAAT Fight) was just absolute rubbish. I have no idea how I thought it was fun on any level. That required a whole new mission which I'm very happy with and much more in line with what I wanted. I ended up massively expanding two of the maps as well, (Watching the Detectives and Bridges if you're interested). The opener also got overhauled and expanded as well but not to the same degree that those two did. The AI forces in each mission have been reworked as well and the AI plans totally redone. So, it's been a lot more work to fix than I'd first thought.
    Anyway, it's close to the end and if you're familiar with the campaign design process, this is when I, at least, start to look forward to my next project. I've been focused solely on Gung Ho for the last few weeks and the AI is done for all six missions and final testing is under way. But, at this stage, I feel like I've seen it all with this campaign so I've started looking at Hasrabit and boy, did I get a shock.
    Hasrabit is basically my first real project and the AI design sucks! I opened up a few missions and had a look at placement for both and was very disappointed. Then the AI plans and was even more disappointed. I'd rate the current standard as unplayable but it's definitely fixable. The maps are actually quite good although a few of them would benefit from improving and expanding, particularly the armour clashes. I used to think anything over 1km in one direction was H-U-G-E.  And back then, it was. Computers are just so much more powerful nowadays that I can manage the massive firefight that results in the first five minutes of the Gung Ho finale without so much asd a hiccup. That would have dropped to about 2-3FPS on my old rig.
    So, once Gung Ho is finished, I plan to get to work on Retribution and Hasrabit together. Red v Red is where the real fun is at for me so I'm excited to revisit the latter and to start work on the former. I expect the Brit version of Gung Ho won't take too long to finish though but no promises. I don't want to fight 'Meet the Flintstones' again for a L-O-N-G time.
  18. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to WimO in Creating Maps with CMAutoEditor   
    OMG! Yes! I would also love to see this usable by CMBN. I would probably come out of map-making retirement.  Late war battles in the Netherlands anyone?
  19. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to kohlenklau in CMFI FRANCE 1940 DAR "1914 DEJA VU" (infantry battle)   
    The platoon mortar team gets into position on the far left flank. 

    Under the cover of 2 squads that have already crossed, the remainder of the platoon wades across the creek.

    We see our first French soldier. But maybe he also sees us. (Stick fence from CMRT. Wall texture from a CMBN mod or maybe stock, I forget.)

    The mortar team has binoculars and reports seeing a small vehicle approaching the farmhouse.

    It seems to be some hack job mod of the Opel Kadet from CMRT. Needs a better paint job but at least has some markings.

    The platoon is doing just as they trained.

     
  20. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to Butschi in Creating Maps with CMAutoEditor   
    I decided to create a new topic for this because "tool to set elevation in the editor" is no longer really a good description. Finally (from my perspective 😉) I managed to release version 2.0.0 of CMAutoEditor.

    https://github.com/DerButschi/CMAutoEditor
    Woah, Butschi, wait a minute CMAutoWhat? What the hell are you talking about? CMAutoEditor is a tool that takes "external" data, like elevation, and automates clicking in the CM scenario editor. This way it kind of works around "missing features" in the editor. Wouldn't it be nice to import something like a heat map instead of clicking elevations in the editor? Of course I can't change the editor but by letting CMAutoEditor do the clicking it does something similar.

     
    Version 2 is really a major update as it now includes importing data from OpenStreetMap. This way you can basically use CMAutoEditor to create a whole map for you.
    Still, feature creep and being overly ambitious is certain to kill such a small project so I had to triage what makes it into this release and what (maybe, provided there is enough interest on your side and enough time on my side) gets postponed to a later update.

    The cut affecting most of you is that for this release only CMCW is really supported. The reason is that there are differences in what is in the scenario editor for each CM title. That means not only are there buttons at different positions but there are also different buildings, roads, flavour objects etc. which need to be programmed as a "profile". I intend to modify CMAutoEditor in a way that the community can help with that but I am not yet sure how best to do it. So, for now CMCW only. CMBS should work for everything but flavour objects.

    Another thing I had to cut is support for Windows version older than Windows 10. I know, there are quite a few of you around who still field Windows 7. However, python is only supported up to version 3.7 on Windows 7 and a few of the libraries CMAutoEditor depends on require python 3.10. In addition, I don't have a farm of PCs idling at home where I can test different Windows version so I can really only develop for Windows 10. Sorry for that but maybe this doubles as a friendly reminder that nowadays Windows 7 is a security liability and you should upgrade to Windows 10 or 11. 😉
    There is of course a long list of things I'd like to improve eventually and given that this is a rather complex piece of code the chances that it is free of bugs is close to zero. So, feel free to contact me here or on github if you find something!

    Now, with all the caveats out of the way let's move on to the more pleasant stuff. 🙂 What's new in version 2? Well, of course OpenStreetMap data. You can import forests, rivers, roads, streams, railways, farmland, grassland, bushes, buildings and even bus stops, wayside crosses and much more. I improved the tools to import DGM data so that now arbitrary rectangles can be extracted. The information from this can be loaded into the OSM data converter so that you don't have to manually enter bounding boxes. (The geotiff tool is unfortunately among the things that didn't make it for this release so you are left with the previous capabilites). CMAutoEditor itself is now also much faster. Please note, that it may be too fast for what your PC can handle. If you experience "holes", e.g. when setting the elevation, that means the CM Editor is not responsive enough. I will make the parameters that determines the rate of clicking selectable from the GUI in a later update. Last but certainly not least there is a GUI for all the tools, so no more going to that evil shell, typing commands - kudos to @Dawntaker for supporting me with GUI making!

    One more thing. I won't repeat the mistake and not have a manual or tutorial video ready at release: Since my previous tutorial video is now totally deprecated I am doing a new one. This time, instead of just telling you what the different features do, I'll do a step-by-step tutorial in four parts where I will create an actual map. This way I will certainly miss a few features but you should get a better feeling of how to actually use the tools in reality. Part 1 is finished already and it covers "installing" (i.e. downloading the .exe files) CMAutoEditor, installing other necessary tools, selecting a location for the map in map.army, finding and downloading elevation data, downloading OpenStreetMap data and getting historical aerial imagery and working with it. So, basically the boring stuff, some of you might say, but possibly the most important part. 😉
    In the future I'd like to adapt CMAutoEditor to one of the WW2 titles, I think CMFB or CMRT would be best. Obviously present-day OpenStreetMap won't do for that. So, instead I'd like to make another tutorial showing how to use and old map or aerial image to make "OpenStreetMap data" from scratch and feed it into the CM scenario editor. Drawing polygons and tagging them is still - in my view - much more comfortable than clicking in the editor with some semi transparent overlay. So, if you have good material, go ahead and make a suggestion here. 😉
    I hope you enjoy this new version of CMAutoEditor and the tutorial video(s)!
  21. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to kohlenklau in HOW TO MAKE A BIG MOD (TEST DUMMY LOG)   
    Part 2 continued...
    we will take a break for lunch...

  22. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to Warts 'n' all in New campaign for CMBN: "Mission Boston - Objective La Fiere".   
    Thanks for all the work that you have put into this project. I have a battle with Big C to contend with at the moment, but hopefully it's been caught early doors. And I look forward to giving this campaign a go sooner rather than later.
  23. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to quakerparrot67 in New campaign for CMBN: "Mission Boston - Objective La Fiere".   
    sorry to hear that, hope it's taken care of with a minimum of pain, disruption, etc.  best of luck, man.
     
    cheers,
    rob
  24. Upvote
    AlexUK reacted to Paper Tiger in Experimenting   
    All true. I really don't like being misled by briefings except when it was the historical norm to do so - i.e. every German tank was reported as a Tiger. The mission itself is all that really matters and no briefing or artwork is going to make the experience of playing a stinker any better. But a bad briefing or artwork can diminish the experience of playing a winner. The briefing and the artwork helps build up a sense of anticipation in some readers and helps them to immerse in the scenario while others just want to get into the action NOW! 
    Edit to add:
    I also don't like the lack of control I have over what the Early Intel parameter reveals to the player - even on 10%, it sometimes shows too much. Using that setting also 'fixes' the AI plan before the player hits 'Start' whereas it is randomised without any Intel setting. The briefing and artwork can do the intel reveal for me rather than the game settings most of the time.
  25. Upvote
    AlexUK got a reaction from Warts 'n' all in Operation Boston - Objectie La Fiere enters final playtest today   
    I’m looking forward to it 🙂 It’s great that you have decided to do this!
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