Zveroboy1

A new WIP wargame:  Miracle on the Dnipro covering the initial phase of the war and the assault on Kyiv.

The designer's diary might be of interest to some:
https://sdhist.com/first-draft-of-history-russo-ukraine-war-d-b-dockter-mark-herman/

Some more pictures :

--------------------------------------------------------------
Mini map pack for Battlefront Combat Mission Red Thunder
--------------------------------------------------------------
 
Description:
 
Three maps in Estonia one in Latvia.
All the maps in this mini pack are based on google earth satellite images, photos and also street view when available, not historical maps. So obviously these locations were not identical during ww2. I however tried to downgrade the type of roads when I thought it made sense, on rare occasions removed a couple of houses or farms here and there but for the most part they're as accurate as I could make them.
Some have attack or meeting engagement setups, some are raw (no deployment zones or objectives). The latter will require a little bit of work to be playable.
I tried as much as possible to frame the maps so they're versatile and can be used in various ways: both for meeting engagements and attacks. But there are also usually several possible setups that you could use i.e different directions for the attack with potential objectives and road in all cardinal directions. There is often not just one single way to play them.
It should be noted that most of these maps, except Talvikese which is fairly open with rural terrain, are basically dirt roads going through forests, marshy ground and lakes. So it can be very easy if played as attacks or assaults to block the roads with anti tank mines depending on the deployment zones. So you could just have infantry battles, have an agreement with your opponent to limit the usage of mines or even modify the terrain a little bit by replacing marshy ground with mud or something else where needed. Or just play them as is. It is up to you.
Feel free to use them for whatever you want. Simply credit me and provide a link to this thread.

The maps:
 
1/ Estonia - Kapera (raw map)


size: 1408 X 1072m
type: forest/rural
60km west of Pskov
google earth coordinates: 57°46'12.40"N 27°19'33.80"E

2/ Estonia - Kahri Koorvere road


size: 1168 X 1184m
type: forest and lakes
35km south east of Tartu
google earth coordinates: 58° 5'19.20"N 26°58'28.02"E
Includes both a raw map and a version with a red attack setup. The map with the attack setup is slightly cropped on the northern edge for gameplay reasons so I decided to also include the original one.

3/ Estonia - Talvikese (ME)


size: 2688 X 2832m
type: open/rural
20km south of Tartu
google earth coordinates:  58°12'3.76"N  26°49'7.02"E

4/ Latvia - Courland - Lemzere (raw map)


size: 1776 X 1008m
type: marshy forest and lake
55km south west of Tukums
google earth coordinates: 56°36'15.63"N  22°34'36.97"E
 
Download:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8d4xsu2bbu1sbbe/CMRT Baltic mini map pack.rar?dl=0
 

Installation:
 
Extract the map in the following directory:
Documents/Battlefront/Combat Mission/Red Thunder/Game Files/Scenarios
 
Zveroboy
 
 
 
 

--------------------------------------------------------------
Mini map pack for Battlefront Combat Mission Red Thunder
--------------------------------------------------------------
 
Description:
 
Three maps in Estonia one in Latvia.
All the maps in this mini pack are based on google earth satellite images, photos and also street view when available, not historical maps. So obviously these locations were not identical during ww2. I however tried to downgrade the type of roads when I thought it made sense, on rare occasions removed a couple of houses or farms here and there but for the most part they're as accurate as I could make them.
Some have attack or meeting engagement setups, some are raw (no deployment zones or objectives). The latter will require a little bit of work to be playable.
I tried as much as possible to frame the maps so they're versatile and can be used in various ways: both for meeting engagements and attacks. But there are also usually several possible setups that you could use i.e different directions for the attack with potential objectives and road in all cardinal directions. There is often not just one single way to play them.
It should be noted that most of these maps, except Talvikese which is fairly open with rural terrain, are basically dirt roads going through forests, marshy ground and lakes. So it can be very easy if played as attacks or assaults to block the roads with anti tank mines depending on the deployment zones. So you could just have infantry battles, have an agreement with your opponent to limit the usage of mines or even modify the terrain a little bit by replacing marshy ground with mud or something else where needed. Or just play them as is. It is up to you.
Feel free to use them for whatever you want. Simply credit me and provide a link to this thread.

The maps:
 
1/ Estonia - Kapera (raw map)


size: 1408 X 1072m
type: forest/rural
60km west of Pskov
google earth coordinates: 57°46'12.40"N 27°19'33.80"E

2/ Estonia - Kahri Koorvere road


size: 1168 X 1184m
type: forest and lakes
35km south east of Tartu
google earth coordinates: 58° 5'19.20"N 26°58'28.02"E
Includes both a raw map and a version with a red attack setup. The map with the attack setup is slightly cropped on the northern edge for gameplay reasons so I decided to also include the original one.

3/ Estonia - Talvikese (ME)


size: 2688 X 2832m
type: open/rural
20km south of Tartu
google earth coordinates:  58°12'3.76"N  26°49'7.02"E

4/ Latvia - Courland - Lemzere (raw map)


size: 1776 X 1008m
type: marshy forest and lake
55km south west of Tukums
google earth coordinates: 56°36'15.63"N  22°34'36.97"E
 
Download:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8d4xsu2bbu1sbbe/CMRT Baltic mini map pack.rar?dl=0
 

Installation:
 
Extract the map in the following directory:
Documents/Battlefront/Combat Mission/Red Thunder/Game Files/Scenarios
 
Zveroboy
 
 
 
 

A new WIP wargame:  Miracle on the Dnipro covering the initial phase of the war and the assault on Kyiv.

The designer's diary might be of interest to some:
https://sdhist.com/first-draft-of-history-russo-ukraine-war-d-b-dockter-mark-herman/

Luckily the file horder that I am, I still had an old save file including the Dshk:

 
This file was from january 2021, so something happened here. Your turn.
Edit: I tried to recreate the same date and region of the file in the editor but the MG doesn´t appear.
But the fact that the game still loaded the correct model means that it is still in the game, though not available via quick battle nor editor.

The only mod to my knowledge that ever caused issues when patching is Vin's animated icons, the one with icons that replace the text that tells you what each soldier is doing at the bottom left of the screen. There was also my Afghan army mod which used a modified string file to replace the displayed names of the weapons (AK to M16). But I removed that bit when I realized it was troublesome. Both messed up the UI and caused you to see the wrong label/name on units or equipment after a game update or something like that.
There might be few others but really 99% of all mods are fine and there is no need to remove them when patching in my experience.

The only mod to my knowledge that ever caused issues when patching is Vin's animated icons, the one with icons that replace the text that tells you what each soldier is doing at the bottom left of the screen. There was also my Afghan army mod which used a modified string file to replace the displayed names of the weapons (AK to M16). But I removed that bit when I realized it was troublesome. Both messed up the UI and caused you to see the wrong label/name on units or equipment after a game update or something like that.
There might be few others but really 99% of all mods are fine and there is no need to remove them when patching in my experience.

Hmm to be perfectly frank, I don't care much if at all about the hypothetical setting any more. Battlefront had a prophetic moment when they managed to identify Ukraine as a potential hotspot and came up with a good scenario for it as a pretext to use the game as a laboratory for future equipments and tactics.
And that was just fine until reality caught up with it and a real war broke out. But now current events have diverged so significantly from the fiction that they have made it obsolete in my book.
Personally I'd much rather use the game as a sandbox to explore real tactics and actual battles than stick to an alternate reality. I can see the appeal but I mean it feels a bit absurd to keep exploring a hypothetical branch of history while a different reality is unfolding before our eyes.
The only reason I suggested this is because Battlefront tends to be quite mulish and always sticks to their guns no matter what and so I figured this modest list of tweaks and addition is the best we can realistically hope to get without having to wait 5 or 10 years.

Hmm to be perfectly frank, I don't care much if at all about the hypothetical setting any more. Battlefront had a prophetic moment when they managed to identify Ukraine as a potential hotspot and came up with a good scenario for it as a pretext to use the game as a laboratory for future equipments and tactics.
And that was just fine until reality caught up with it and a real war broke out. But now current events have diverged so significantly from the fiction that they have made it obsolete in my book.
Personally I'd much rather use the game as a sandbox to explore real tactics and actual battles than stick to an alternate reality. I can see the appeal but I mean it feels a bit absurd to keep exploring a hypothetical branch of history while a different reality is unfolding before our eyes.
The only reason I suggested this is because Battlefront tends to be quite mulish and always sticks to their guns no matter what and so I figured this modest list of tweaks and addition is the best we can realistically hope to get without having to wait 5 or 10 years.

IMO there are three essential things we need if we want to be able to model the current conflict better.
- Much better drones: we need drones that are able to spot static infantry pretty much anywhere except inside buildings.
It wouldn't even be that hard to do for Battlefront really. There is no 3D model needed for it. Just take the Zala as a base, change the icon and description and just tweak its values by increasing the spotting capacity tenfold. Even though it would be obviously nice to have, we can do without Lancets or even quadcopters being able to drop small bombs but the drones we now have in the game can barely spot static infantry in the open. This is quite bad.
- Heavy machine guns like Kords or even older DShKs. They are very important for long range urban fighting and we have to substitute US HMGs to make do, it is immersion breaking. If it is a TOE problem, just make them available as separate teams in the editor.
- T-80s
There are tons of other things we would ideally need. But these three fairly simple additions would go a long way. I am omitting western equipment transferred to Ukraine on purpose because this would require lots of work. These are what I think are essentials and would love to see an small upgrade pack with them. Just make it a different timeline so we can keep the alternate really/future conflict with fancy toys without having to revamp everything. But personally I'd be really disappointed if BFC chose to simply ignore the current developments and decided to stick with the sci fi version. I understand the DLC is basically done and it would be daft to just scrap it. So just give us both.

 

should I make the map destroyed or leave it be?

I would be happy to help I’ll work on the northern part of Bakhmut 

This is what I've got so far.
map B: Budenivka district 1500 X 1100m

I think I am going to try and focus on the southern flank; I have been studying Suriyak maps to find the actual directions of the attacks in each sector. I want to do one of the Optyne road and another one near the Mig monument at the entrance of Bakhmut which is actually right next to this map here.
Ideally we'd need the Azom complex and some iconic tower blocks. Some AFU counter attacks could be nice too in the Kischiivka sector for instance.
If there are some people who are interesting in participating to the project but are not familiar with Bakhmut, this is a good resource. With daily updates showing the frontline inside the city and where exactly fighting took place. I mean clearly the whole city was a battlefield but in order to frame the maps correctly, it helps to know the directions of the thrusts. Often you can see block by block where the fighting occurred. 
 

This is what I've got so far.
map B: Budenivka district 1500 X 1100m

I think I am going to try and focus on the southern flank; I have been studying Suriyak maps to find the actual directions of the attacks in each sector. I want to do one of the Optyne road and another one near the Mig monument at the entrance of Bakhmut which is actually right next to this map here.
Ideally we'd need the Azom complex and some iconic tower blocks. Some AFU counter attacks could be nice too in the Kischiivka sector for instance.
If there are some people who are interesting in participating to the project but are not familiar with Bakhmut, this is a good resource. With daily updates showing the frontline inside the city and where exactly fighting took place. I mean clearly the whole city was a battlefield but in order to frame the maps correctly, it helps to know the directions of the thrusts. Often you can see block by block where the fighting occurred. 
 

This is what I've got so far.
map B: Budenivka district 1500 X 1100m

I think I am going to try and focus on the southern flank; I have been studying Suriyak maps to find the actual directions of the attacks in each sector. I want to do one of the Optyne road and another one near the Mig monument at the entrance of Bakhmut which is actually right next to this map here.
Ideally we'd need the Azom complex and some iconic tower blocks. Some AFU counter attacks could be nice too in the Kischiivka sector for instance.
If there are some people who are interesting in participating to the project but are not familiar with Bakhmut, this is a good resource. With daily updates showing the frontline inside the city and where exactly fighting took place. I mean clearly the whole city was a battlefield but in order to frame the maps correctly, it helps to know the directions of the thrusts. Often you can see block by block where the fighting occurred. 
 

Welcome aboard.
Okay cool, yeah no rush. The plan is to release something this summer. End of June or July, something like that. We'll see.

Nice work. It is cool to see all the  various mods made by the community all put together.

One of my ongoing side projects (aimed, mostly, at the new influx of Steam Players) is to host an 'All in One' for every CM game here.
CMSF2 has been a bit of a mess on that front with separate modpacks for Syria, Afghanistan as well as old dropboxes of content from SF1 scattered around the place.
This has now all been brought together under one package... a proper 'All in One'.
Arguably this 'All in Ones' primary feature is a vast mass of content (361 scenarios* & 31 campaigns) which has been organized into four different categories...
 
Syria
The default modpack should be fairly familiar to many consisting of (tweaked) versions of @Kieme(ITA)'s outstanding terrain & buildings mods (I also added a few of @Zveroboy1's Allepo buildings), @MikeyD's horizons, @Pete Wenman's flavour objects, a tweaked version of @Sir Lancelot's realistic Syrians, @Jock Tamson's unconventional & (tweaked) British mods, tweaked versions of @AtlasActual's Canadians & a few bits & pieces from @mjkerner's USMC mods. There are also some .mds fixes by @Kevin2k & @Jace11. Many of the old SF1 vehicle mods by the likes of @Ryujin, @M1A1TC, @Kieme(ITA) & @Marco Bergman will also be quite familiar. @Mord's Marine vehicles have been given [brown] tags & so don't conflict with the US Army vehicles.
UI mods are provided by @xacto, @SteppenWolf, @Vinnart, @Mord & @MikeyD. Whilst music is a mix from @Blimey & (I believe) @Augusto. The ME effects compliation & ME soundscape (with its expanded dynamic range) & voices by waclaw, @George MC &  @Mord complete the package.
What might not be familiar is that I have added "rudimentary weathering" to (I believe) every vehicle in the game & used @JMDECC's .psd layers to add dust to every uniform.
207 user made scenarios & 23 user made campaigns are set in Syria.



There are three zip files inside the Syrian mod folder labelled Afghanistan, MENA & OPFOR. Unzip ONE of these files to activate that particular regions mods...
 
Afghanistan
Users of the (now discontinued) SF2-Afghanistan 'All in one' will be familiar with this mod option. It is in essence a fusion of @Zveroboy1's excellent Afghanistan, Taliban & ANA mods alongside a port of Combat Mission: Afghanistan's terrain & @Bil Hardenberger's Afghanistan trees as well as various doodads from @SeinfeldRules & @Kieme(ITA). The modpack has been tweaked & simplified somewhat from the 2021 version but little has really changed.
There is now a folder for appropriate text changes (renaming "Syria" into "Afghanistan" for example) however this will only work for the current game version (2.06). This folder will have to be deleted for all other game versions prior or to come.
2 user made campaigns & 44 scenarios have been given an "AFG" prefix to highlight that they are set in Afghanistan.



 
"Middle East & North Africa" aka "MENA"
Whilst planning the 'All in One' I was considering updating the old "Road to Bahgdad" mod by @Blimey using primarily the cool DCU uniform mods by @beeron & @Damian45.
However as I sorted through all the user made scenarios, I came to realize that there were many other Middle Eastern scenarios set in places like Libya, various fictional Middle Eastern kingdoms, various training camps & even a blue on blue battle set in an Egyptian shopping mall.  As such the MENA modpack was born... the best way of describing it is "The Middle East but NOT Syria".
Terrain & doodads are a port of the old SF1 terrain & (I think) is quite pleasing to the eye (it also looks much sandier than I remembered). @SteppenWolf's UI & music take centre stage here & more of @Zveroboy1's buildings enter the mix. There's a few different vehicles by @M1A1TC, some more voices by @Mord (as well as a different mix of portraits). @JMDECC's .psd's have been used to create alternative red uniforms alongside his Iranian vehicles (although these have also been rudimentarily weathered &, inspired by @IICptMillerII's sandy vehicles, recoloured somewhat).
There is also a folder for appropriate text changes however this will only work for the current game version (2.06). This folder will have to be deleted for all other game versions prior or to come.
2 user made campiagns & 60 scenarios have been given a "MENA" prefix to highlight that they are not set in Syria.



 
"Generic OPFOR"
The old SF1 content creators (and some of the newer SF2 ones) were an adventurous & experimental bunch and, with only one CM game to work with for many years, unsurprisingly made a considerable amount of content set in alternative theatres. There are scenarios set in Europe, in Chechnya, on Artic Islands, nuclear wastelands, Africa, South America, New Zealand, New England, various fictional countries... I think there's a Chinese invasion of the United States & a zombie attack or two.
To mod all of these places would be impractical to say the least, so I came up with the "Generic OPFOR"... they are everyone & nobody, everywhere & nowhere.
Terrain is a mix of the old Euroscape & Syrope mods by @dpabrams & @birdstrike respectively as well as their US vehicle mods. @Kevin2k provides the Syrian & British vehicle mods whilst @JMDECC provides the various woodland uniforms. I also added some @Oleksandr uniforms to the mix.
Yet more of @Zveroboy1's buildings are added to the mix alongside the modern UI mod by @Kinophile. I have no idea where the music tracks are from.
There is also a folder for appropriate text changes however this will only work for the current game version (2.06). This folder will have to be deleted for all other game versions prior or to come.
4 user made campaigns & 50 scenarios have been given the "OPFOR" prefix to highlight that they are not set in the Middle East.



 
There's also another two additional folders...
Extras & Options
Here you will find various extras which can be activated when needed or desired for example there's a modern version of @RockinHarry's re-animate mods (I used a lot of SF1 animations for the modded stances) designed to keep the pixeltruppens heads down & (possibly) increase their survivability.
There's the old SF1 marsh & mud to water mods which can be used whilst playing SF1 campaigns which are meant to have water on them (the old content creators did not have access to water so often made do with marsh).
There's an untagged night effects pack designed for dawn/dusk scenarios (this will also have the added benefit of removing all those sunglasses... your troops will no longer wear shades at sunset) as well as @Kieme(ITA)'s optional HD highway pack (these look good but don't work with every maps highway set-up).
Modtags
There's not many but here you will find @Zveroboy1's ANP pick-up, a weathered & desert version of @Chelentano's T-34, the old "Road to Bahgdad" cemetary mod & @Pete Wenman's squalor mod. They're activated automatically.
 
DOWNLOAD LINKS & INSTALLATION
 
https://www.mediafire.com/file/hk8tt6jfxv2ro8l/CMSF2_%27All_in_One%27.7z/file
https://app.mediafire.com/izmk6muctniv5
Unzip the file & add the "Z for Syria" folder to your games data folder (the folder with the .brz files in it)... that's it.
For the content, add the campaign .cam files to your games campaign folder & the scenario .btt files to your games scenarios folder... I suggest adding the content to folders which only contain base game scenarios & campaigns.
 
*I have updated a lot of the old SF1 maps which featured marsh being used as pseudo-water with proper SF2 water however there's nothing much I could do about the campaigns (other than provide the old "marsh to water" mods as an optional extra).

Cool, I'll probably have something ready soon. I am not even changing all the textures really. There won't be grass; I tried but couldn't come up with anything better than what is already available and there are some other tiles that are perfectly fine for what I have in mind so there is no point in trying to reinvent the wheel.
Yeah you could be onto something here, that would explain the presence of these extra minis. However I have unpacked cmbs' terrain brz and there are several minis for the same tile in there but perhaps it is just a remnant of a previous title and not even used by the engine who knows.

That what developing now around Bakhmut is not classical WWII offensive operation with tactical elements not less than battalion or regiment. Despite you hear "3rd assault brigade" or "80th air-assault brigade", etc, indeed this is operation of dozens small pushes of small assault groups on the level of companies under battalion command. Russians in the same way hold multiple dispersed positions of squad/platoon size. So it's not quite coorect to compare this with WWII

So I have been toying with the map editor in Combat Mission ever since I got Black Sea a couple of years ago and I have half a dozen maps that I am fairly happy with, pretty much all of them 90% complete. Most of them are maps of the Donbas region where fighting actually took place but there are also a couple that I simply picked because the topography looked interesting. I have downloaded tons of stuff over the years from other people, scenarios, campaigns, maps and loads of mods so I thought I'd post what I have here. Is not purely unselfish because I also hope it might encourage other people like me to share their work with the community.
All these maps are based on real terrain and topography, using google earth, tons of photos and a bit of creative license from time to time. But I tried to stick as much as possible to the real terrain. I am going to provide a couple of satellite pictures for each one because some people might find it interesting to know where they are located. But obviously you're free to use them for whatever purpose you like and pretend it is a place in Greenland or Kentucky if you feel like it.
I decided to post them all in a single thread and plan on releasing them in the next weeks as I put the finishing touches to them. I got one of Nikishyno and Logvynovo in the Debaltseve area in particular that people might like.
Again feel free to use these for whatever you want. All I ask is that you link to this thread if you end up using them to create a scenario with one of them for instance. Also if you are some sort of genius or mastermind who knows how to create an AI plan for quick battles and make one for one of these maps, please post it here.
 
 

This image might help explain what happens if you use larger bitmaps for the mini's...

... the tiles on the left are using a 512x512 bitmap of this square pattern.
As you can see the game loads the entire bitmap & tries to spread it entirely over a large area.
The tiles on the right are using a typical 64x64 bitmap of the same pattern & here, once the pattern is finished with, the game just loads another one & keeps going until the area has been covered.
The reason why @Kieme(ITA) & @SeinfeldRules sometimes go for smaller bitmaps is probably because getting the colour right is the most important aspect of distant terrain.
Creating a large repeating pattern is often detrimental for smooth distant views. Here for example is the transition from HD terrain to a full HD mini bitmap...

Here's how it should look (with 64x64 bitmaps)...

Oh & here's how it looks if you shrink the mini's to 8x8...

 

I think there is a little bit of smug misinterpretation of what he actually said there. He was surprised by the napalm because you have to fly low and slow to deploy it. This implies either the Russians are either suicidal (and we haven't seen any massive losses in the VKS) or at least somewhat confident they can fly low and slow over part of the front. 
The other point which I think is worth taking seriously is the fact that the hundreds of russian planes currently preparing for the Ukrainian offensive don't need to be very effective to be a threat. They will introduce a significant amount of friction and constraints into the offensive, just like in Kherson. 
Related: a lot of talk here like the whole operation is going to be easy and the Russians have learned nothing/are terminally incompetent.
1. The Russians may be incompetent at (pointless politically driven) offence, but they are still stubborn on the defence. 
2. The Russian defensive trenches, mines and anti tank ditches are a formidable obstacle
3. The Russian air force will be used to bomb rear areas, ammo dumps, bridges etc. They may be slow to react and inaccurate but a e.g. bridge isn't moving anywhere and they will hit it eventually. That puts constraints on the operation. 
4. Russian EW and drones will be used to add more friction: your arty has to move due to counter battery fire, a Lancet hits an hq vehicle on the move, your attack is blinded by EW etc
5. The Ukrainian formations doing this did not exist this time last year. They have not had a lot of time to train together and are still quite green. 
I am not predicting disaster, in fact I think the offence will be a limited success, but I think we should not write the Russians off just yet.

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