hank24

My fault. Now I have found the cause. I had all 'unused mods' transferred to a folder I called NoZ, but I left that under the Data Folder. I thought these would not be used, but they were and there was one called Editor Tree Mod which was the cause for the marks. It was just an indicator for one, two, or three trees. Sorry for this trouble - at least I've learned where you don't put unused mods. @ASL Veteran I think I will restart with an intact bridge. Now after I've heard so much about the scenario I am eager to play it this weekend. Thank you for your inspiration and effort. Fortunately, I am in a situation to use CM at work and there I designed a scenario for CM:BS, it is smooth but a real effort. I don't find the time to do that privately after so much computer stuff professionally, but I will be at (on?) pension in some years. Sweet dreams of nice landscapes ready to be completely destroyed ;-)

Thanks @Combatintman, good idea. Worked with Bandicam. See picture of Bois de Baugain.Full of strange marks.

OK @benpark, no test at that place. Seems to be at squares with some less accessible terrain, only. Never at plain grass or field. I just checked all the other games: It seems to be at each map of CM:BN, in Arnhem, Commonwealth maps, and the base module. Some woods are full of it. None at CM:RT, CM:FI and Gustav Line, and none at CM:FB.

Would somebody without these marks would like to try to cross this wooden fence with a Panther? Mine cannot. Might be an interesting test.

Completely empty Z folder now, strange markings still present.

Hi Pete, did that, restarted CM - same Picture, all xxx and xx still there. Then I took all mods except JuJu's UI Mod (will never leave that) from my Z folder to another one, restarted CM - all xxx and xx still there. Buh, looks like I have a unique version of CM. Something as valuable as a rare stamp?

Hi all, now I've got some screenshots and info on installed mods. Strange, seems like I am the only one. Maybe @ASL Veteran knows what it is, I think he is the author. By the way, how do you get a screenshot from CM? Did not get it with Print key and not with PaintShopPro. Always the Windows background, only. At the detailed Picture below, my Panthers refused to cross the fence between 4444 Meadow and 6666 field. My CM:BM is Version 4.00, Game Engine 4. Active modules: BN base, Commomwealth, Market Garden.

Hallo all, really strange, the symbols are not on your screenshots. At my map editor they are small and superimposed on a single action square. I am not at home, will send a shot tomorrow.

OK, will be back home tomorrow evening and make a screenshot.

When you follow the road from German set up zone north you come to two houses. The fence, wood patches, and low bocage north of the second show small xxx and xx printed over the terrain symbols at the map editor. It is not ditch lock. Can be found at many other places, too. I think the xx were yellow not blue.

Hello, I am just playing MG Counterattack at Son and encountered problems crossing some hedges and fences with tanks. To find the reason I opened the map editor and found some pinkish xxx symbols and some light blue xx symbols at precisely these squares. Is that a way to block a square for vehicles and/or foot soldiers? How are these symbols generated? I did not find anything at the manual or editor. Concerning the scenario. It Looks promising, just a Little too much traffic management for my taste, but the scenario author (thanks ASL Veteran) stated that he tried to replicate the Dutch polder terrain. So, I have to live with it and try my best. Unfortunately, I have this impassable canal bridge in my version of the scenario though I have patched everything to V4. I think, I will play it up to that bridge, see no way to change that thing mid-game.

I think I have read that the MG3 will be kept by the Bundeswehr for certain roles like vehicle mounted MG. And I remember that many people preferred it at the long firing ranges in the Afghan mountains. Phantastic machine, my favorite weapon when I served. A little heavy at 11.5 kg, but the best thing to have when the bad guys show up. Once we removed each second round from the belt and fired on a 30cm (12.2 inch) target at 600 m. No problem to hit with the first shot. Additionally, it is really robust and the exchange mechanisms for barrel and breechblock are very well designed and easy to use. By the way, it is the only machine I ever heard of that the performance was lowered. It fires a little slower compared to ist father, the MG42. The reason mentioned was that no materal can stand that amount of heat and besides that, nobody can carry so much ammo forward. Not sure that 10 to 20% lower firing rate really cures that. Certainly, the M2 HB and MG3 will be in service for many more years to come. One thing that always annoys me a little when playing CM is when the MG is fired in a kneeling position. There is no such position in the instructions (if I remeber properly) and it would produce an awful wandering upwards. Nearly always it is fired lying on the ground, or, during attack from the hip with the strap fixed to the centre and slung around the neck. Left hand then takes both legs of the bipod. Nice, stable firing possible then like the automatic gunners in Alien2. It was in the Bundeswehr regulation and I did it. See Wehmacht usage at

Everytime when I bought a computer the last 18 years, the first and most important thing is that Combat Mission is running smoothly on it. I love to plan, see the replays and the unbelivable variation in these games. Best thing since I played wit 1/72 Airfix figures in my youth.

I would really like to see a Fulda Gap game show up sometimes. It should present the time of the seventees, because it would be very different to WWII and not showing all the software driven gadgets we see at CM:BS and CM:SF. There would be a very variable terrain, lots of interesting equipment of many different nations and lot of opportunities for add on modules. Even if it takes some years from now, it should definitively be on the roadmap. For me a must buy. And, additionally, many German terrain items could be reused from the end of WWII module already planned. Man, I would love to initiate a counterattack using Leopard1, HS30, recon with Hotchkiss SPz Kurz or Luchs and all this other fancy equipment against hordes of Sovjet tanks.

Kaunitz, your assumptions are correct. Sturm - quick dash to the enemy einbrechen - entering enemy Position. Niedergekämpft - defeated. Sorry for reacting so late, was very busy.

No, just normal written German. Not different from any technical paper I would write today.

Great find, very informative. Thanks.

Hi, on Monday I visited the Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung of the German Bundeswehr in Koblenz ( http://www.baainbw.de/portal/a/baain/start/ueberun/dasbaain/wehrtec/!ut/p/z1/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfIjo8zinSx8QnyMLI2MXAJcjQw8jT3CTIOc_A0cjYz0wwkpiAJKG-AAjgb6wSmp-pFAM8xxm2GsH6wfpR-VlViWWKFXkF9UkpNaopeYDHKhfmRGYl5KTmpAfrIjRKAgN6LcoNxREQAVReN-/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/#Z7_B8LTL2922DPE20I3HV5RBO0A23 ) It does not seem to be very well known and does not look spectacular from outside. But the content is really overwhelming. I expected something from Germany after WW2, but they have items from the first firearms to the last missiles from many different countries - even a WW2 machinegun from Japan. Some tanks, aircraft, many artillery pieces, tons of medium caliber AA guns, handweapons of all sizes and, last not least, many different uniforms (really Steve, they got them all ). It is much more than shown at any photos on the net, there is a huge magazine full of stuff not on display and a big library. So, if someone happens to be at the confluence of Rhine and Moselle rivers at Koblenz, this is a place not to miss. Unfortunately, the descriptions are all in German language, only. But, maybe, if Battlefront someday decides to plan a Fulda Gap '85 game and does some research there, I would be more than happy to assist concerning this problem. The other interesting spot in Germany is not far from my home, the Panzermuseum at Munster ( https://daspanzermuseum.de/ ).

Great News! Love to see this announcement. Maybe I could reiterate something of paramount importance. Will there be a Schwimmwagen?

Thank you DrifterMan for conducting this interesting test. The results look really strange to me, as an ex Bundeswehr soldier and hunter I shot the Sten Gun of today, the MG3 which is nearly identical to the MG42, the 98K without scope and and with hunting scope. In Addition the G3 made by Heckler & Koch which is similar to the Sturmgewehr44 concerning production principles. It should be no problem to hit an upper body (in foxhole) at 150 m with the first round for a trained shooter and well maintained gun with the 98K with or without scope, with the MG42 and with the Sturmgewehr 44. The Sten is another story, it is crudely built and has a very short barrel, so better used at short distances. Therefore, some points are disturbing in my opinion: Gewehr43 double efficiency of an 98K? OK, more volume of fire, but I would expect less accuracy at 150m at such small target due to short barrel. Very loud, hard recoil, much fire at muzzle. Problem of all these short guns firing 8x57IS like the Carcano Carbine which I fired once - never again. A 4x scope increases the efficiency of an 98K approx. 8 times at 150 m? No, never. At that range, an iron sight is not that bad. An MP40 and Sten (!) have double efficiency compared to MP44? OK, the MP40 was a well made piece of machinery, but still a SMG with short barrel and 9mm ammo loosing a lot of speed and thereby precision at that distance. MG34/42 double efficiency at 150m when firing mounted on a tripod? No, that effect comes very much further down the range. We made a test with MG3 firing single shots at a target 1ft by 1ft at 600m by pulling each second cartrige out of the belt. No problem to hit this from bipod with iron sights. Phantastic machine. Generally, I would expect the shorter, hi-cadence weapons to be more efficient at 40m compared to the longer, sinle loaders AND VICE-VERSA. A MG on a tripod is a weapon strictly for long range firing, it has a veeeery narrow field of fire and I personally would detach it from the tripod, when the enemy comes closer than 300m. At 40m you would suspend it on the middle pivot point for the bipod, allowing wide angle firing. This theme has the potential for very long discussions, so I was reluctant at first to start that, but DrifterMan's findings were so much off from my expectations. Please remember, this is just my opinion. Henning

Sorry, my writing was misleading. I am a german in Germany. As a civilian I played a lot against british soldiers here who conducted these big wargame conventions. Now I am with a major defence company, and, like some others here, use VBS3 among other simulation systems. But I don't like it very much - dumb AI, cluttered user interface. Difficult to control even a section of eight men.

That's the plan - prepare to be ready in some four years... Vgauntlet? Never heared of that. Basically, I would like to see if there is sufficient interest to attend a CM wargaming weekend with playing a common and guided scenario. There were big events like that at Rhendahlen barracks in the eightees and ninetees. Always a lot of fun, nice people and much beer. Some even burned their dice after a lost battle.

By the way, a little off topic, but as others have started to discuss this... Since some time I am dreaming of CM usage in some Computer Aided Exercise weekend like they were conducted at the good old times of paper wargaming by the British Army of the Rhine here in Germany. Hopefully, Battlefront is still going strong in four years when I will retire and can afford to spend the time to organise something big like that. Preparing and conducting such CAX was part of my business here at the industry during the last two years. A cheap hotel, big ballroom, hired computers for those not bringing their own, a nerd connecting these and preparing material for After-Action-Review and the forum, temporary licenses from Battlefront (?), a fitting scenario, a blue and red leader and some 10 to 20 players resolving any clash that shows up on the common situation map of the Excon (Exercise Conductor) which is kept secret to red and blue. Good idea?

On the other side of the fence it is equally difficult to implement a game like CM at the industry. After a long time of arguing I succeeded in using CM:BS and CM:SF as a sort of helper simulation and I am busy to expand this. Everybody here is surprised of the rich features of CM when they see it, but, unfortunately, implementing something serious will take more time and a good opportunity. Merry Christmas, Henning