Aquila-SmartWargames

You owe me a new pair of underwear...
 
Mord.

MY,  idea to created a fight underground and cellar in the thread What I'd like to see in CM3... is not really far away with these video... thank you Aquila-CM to let us dream with open eyes with all news every days !

Newest Release/Technique:

Okay a pair of Syrian soldiers and this radar station. Nothing new but look at the ground on the left. Here is a demonstration video what this is:
Terrain Cover
What it looks like in the editor:

This is basically a floating terrain object that allows to cover underground spaces or buildings.
Possibilities:
- Hide stashes or caches under them in caves which then need to be located by the player
- create underground tunnel systems
- create underground bunkers and basements
- the cover texture can be easily switched by any terrain or building ground texture or a new one can be created.
- if you have troubles with editor placement remove the blank.bmp texture which makes the primer shelter invisible
- with some size and height adjustments in Blender cover can be provided for deeper underground systems.
- its not hard to be located by the player, especially due to shader differences but it is still a nice method to get some underground/tunnel action into CM.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1tviryry89g6py7/AAAJpSvGH6u1iEx4WzwVLSnJa?dl=0
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Agho21MGTssHaTHHgpIcaQWqWpU?e=5rKEzK

Ruins Pack Release (WW2 + Modern)
High 

 
Low 

Use it so or combine it with visible/invisible Buildings, Walls, Emplacements, Wrecks etc. for LOS/Fire/Movement block and additional cover. Can be customized, textured, resized like all projects here.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1tviryry89g6py7/AAAJpSvGH6u1iEx4WzwVLSnJa?dl=0
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Agho21MGTssHaTHHgpIcaQWqWpU?e=5rKEzK

Ruins Pack Release (WW2 + Modern)
High 

 
Low 

Use it so or combine it with visible/invisible Buildings, Walls, Emplacements, Wrecks etc. for LOS/Fire/Movement block and additional cover. Can be customized, textured, resized like all projects here.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1tviryry89g6py7/AAAJpSvGH6u1iEx4WzwVLSnJa?dl=0
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Agho21MGTssHaTHHgpIcaQWqWpU?e=5rKEzK

Newest Release/Technique:

Okay a pair of Syrian soldiers and this radar station. Nothing new but look at the ground on the left. Here is a demonstration video what this is:
Terrain Cover
What it looks like in the editor:

This is basically a floating terrain object that allows to cover underground spaces or buildings.
Possibilities:
- Hide stashes or caches under them in caves which then need to be located by the player
- create underground tunnel systems
- create underground bunkers and basements
- the cover texture can be easily switched by any terrain or building ground texture or a new one can be created.
- if you have troubles with editor placement remove the blank.bmp texture which makes the primer shelter invisible
- with some size and height adjustments in Blender cover can be provided for deeper underground systems.
- its not hard to be located by the player, especially due to shader differences but it is still a nice method to get some underground/tunnel action into CM.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1tviryry89g6py7/AAAJpSvGH6u1iEx4WzwVLSnJa?dl=0
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Agho21MGTssHaTHHgpIcaQWqWpU?e=5rKEzK

Ruins Pack Release (WW2 + Modern)
High 

 
Low 

Use it so or combine it with visible/invisible Buildings, Walls, Emplacements, Wrecks etc. for LOS/Fire/Movement block and additional cover. Can be customized, textured, resized like all projects here.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1tviryry89g6py7/AAAJpSvGH6u1iEx4WzwVLSnJa?dl=0
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Agho21MGTssHaTHHgpIcaQWqWpU?e=5rKEzK

Apparently there is an exhibition for captured and improvised vehicles from Syria. An article covering it:
https://citeam.org/russias-syria-trophy-exhibition-mistakes-and-manipulation/?lang=en
 
I´ve included some objects into my latest playthrough and made some screenshots:
Train Engine Car + Couple Box Cars

Truck Pics

MOS already made some beautiful billboards. I throw also one in.
Warning Sign:

I`ll put the texture into slot 2 of the billboard release but will also upload it directly to the clouds.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1tviryry89g6py7/AAAJpSvGH6u1iEx4WzwVLSnJa?dl=0
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Agho21MGTssHaTHHgpIcaQWqWpU?e=vsLBGu

National Guard Armory, 933rd MP Company.  

 

>>>>You have to change your avatar name to  Aquil-Ace CM <<<<<   

Captured/Insurgent M2 HMMWV V4

The M2 HMMWV being one of the few vehicles that can be made accessible to foreign crews in the editor I´ve created a highly randomized insurgent version with a frankensteined appearance to depict the lack of spare parts etc. However main goal was to test how far randomization can be done for a single vehicle. Here is the result:
- Will randomly display spare wheel
- Will randomly display gunners camo net
- Will randomly display makeshift door or other replacement doors in several colors
- Will randomly display the hatch in the back either in different colors or removed.
- Will randomly display frontal protection and tire mudflap.
 
How to do it:
1) When you want randomized gear in Blender, name a model part "gear" + (Number) there is a chance that it will displayed or not:
1) EXAMPLE: name spare wheel model "gear15". It might be displayed or not. You may get a vehicle with alot of "gear" models or you may get a vehicle with little "gear" models.
 2) When you want your vehicle to display exactly ONE option of many use -optiona -optionb -optionc as suffix to the model name.
2) EXAMPLE: name spare wheel on the vehicle´s back face "spare-optiona" , name spare wheel on the left face of the vehicle "spare-optionb" etc.. Either the back face spare will appear or either the left face spare will show on the vehicle.
2) EXAMPLE2: name a door that uses a desert texture "hatch1-optiona", name a door that uses a woodland texture "hatch1-optionb", name a door that uses a blank texture "hatch1-optionc". Result: either or desert, or woodland, or a invisible/no door will appear. (I used this on the hatch in the back when you watch the Insurgent Humvee Showcase.)
3) Sometimes you may not want to have all options the same chance to display. For example I didn´t want half of the HMMWVs to have this makeshift door. I believe this little trick should work. Create several duplicated of the model you want to show often and name them for example: "hatch1-optiona" "hatch1-optionb" "hatch1-optionc". If you add now the model you rarely want to see with "hatch1-optiond" it should have an average appear chance of 25% in this example.
4) Was curious if weapons could be utilized with the -option feature and I added a DHSK to my Insurgent Humvee which then should be randomly displayed instead of the M2 but upon export it threw an error. 
 
Tiger with Camo Nets

1) The Tiger uses a quick recolored camo-net model & textures from the British CMSF vehicles. You can basicaly do this to all vehicles and it isn´t that time heavy. 
2) When adding camo or other stuff to the vehicles, make sure that you attach them to the correct parent. I.e. Camo nets for the turret should be attached to the turret so when the turret turns, the camo nets will follow and stay in place.
3) I tried to add CMFIs own bush models to the Tiger which looked beautiful in Blender. However in the games only the wooden base is visible. Perhaps someone else will figure this out or find an good bush substitute in the game files.

4) I am pretty sure there are more models suited for camo addons to be found in the CM game files.
 
Downloads in the cloud.

Captured/Insurgent M2 HMMWV V4

The M2 HMMWV being one of the few vehicles that can be made accessible to foreign crews in the editor I´ve created a highly randomized insurgent version with a frankensteined appearance to depict the lack of spare parts etc. However main goal was to test how far randomization can be done for a single vehicle. Here is the result:
- Will randomly display spare wheel
- Will randomly display gunners camo net
- Will randomly display makeshift door or other replacement doors in several colors
- Will randomly display the hatch in the back either in different colors or removed.
- Will randomly display frontal protection and tire mudflap.
 
How to do it:
1) When you want randomized gear in Blender, name a model part "gear" + (Number) there is a chance that it will displayed or not:
1) EXAMPLE: name spare wheel model "gear15". It might be displayed or not. You may get a vehicle with alot of "gear" models or you may get a vehicle with little "gear" models.
 2) When you want your vehicle to display exactly ONE option of many use -optiona -optionb -optionc as suffix to the model name.
2) EXAMPLE: name spare wheel on the vehicle´s back face "spare-optiona" , name spare wheel on the left face of the vehicle "spare-optionb" etc.. Either the back face spare will appear or either the left face spare will show on the vehicle.
2) EXAMPLE2: name a door that uses a desert texture "hatch1-optiona", name a door that uses a woodland texture "hatch1-optionb", name a door that uses a blank texture "hatch1-optionc". Result: either or desert, or woodland, or a invisible/no door will appear. (I used this on the hatch in the back when you watch the Insurgent Humvee Showcase.)
3) Sometimes you may not want to have all options the same chance to display. For example I didn´t want half of the HMMWVs to have this makeshift door. I believe this little trick should work. Create several duplicated of the model you want to show often and name them for example: "hatch1-optiona" "hatch1-optionb" "hatch1-optionc". If you add now the model you rarely want to see with "hatch1-optiond" it should have an average appear chance of 25% in this example.
4) Was curious if weapons could be utilized with the -option feature and I added a DHSK to my Insurgent Humvee which then should be randomly displayed instead of the M2 but upon export it threw an error. 
 
Tiger with Camo Nets

1) The Tiger uses a quick recolored camo-net model & textures from the British CMSF vehicles. You can basicaly do this to all vehicles and it isn´t that time heavy. 
2) When adding camo or other stuff to the vehicles, make sure that you attach them to the correct parent. I.e. Camo nets for the turret should be attached to the turret so when the turret turns, the camo nets will follow and stay in place.
3) I tried to add CMFIs own bush models to the Tiger which looked beautiful in Blender. However in the games only the wooden base is visible. Perhaps someone else will figure this out or find an good bush substitute in the game files.

4) I am pretty sure there are more models suited for camo addons to be found in the CM game files.
 
Downloads in the cloud.

Captured/Insurgent M2 HMMWV V4

The M2 HMMWV being one of the few vehicles that can be made accessible to foreign crews in the editor I´ve created a highly randomized insurgent version with a frankensteined appearance to depict the lack of spare parts etc. However main goal was to test how far randomization can be done for a single vehicle. Here is the result:
- Will randomly display spare wheel
- Will randomly display gunners camo net
- Will randomly display makeshift door or other replacement doors in several colors
- Will randomly display the hatch in the back either in different colors or removed.
- Will randomly display frontal protection and tire mudflap.
 
How to do it:
1) When you want randomized gear in Blender, name a model part "gear" + (Number) there is a chance that it will displayed or not:
1) EXAMPLE: name spare wheel model "gear15". It might be displayed or not. You may get a vehicle with alot of "gear" models or you may get a vehicle with little "gear" models.
 2) When you want your vehicle to display exactly ONE option of many use -optiona -optionb -optionc as suffix to the model name.
2) EXAMPLE: name spare wheel on the vehicle´s back face "spare-optiona" , name spare wheel on the left face of the vehicle "spare-optionb" etc.. Either the back face spare will appear or either the left face spare will show on the vehicle.
2) EXAMPLE2: name a door that uses a desert texture "hatch1-optiona", name a door that uses a woodland texture "hatch1-optionb", name a door that uses a blank texture "hatch1-optionc". Result: either or desert, or woodland, or a invisible/no door will appear. (I used this on the hatch in the back when you watch the Insurgent Humvee Showcase.)
3) Sometimes you may not want to have all options the same chance to display. For example I didn´t want half of the HMMWVs to have this makeshift door. I believe this little trick should work. Create several duplicated of the model you want to show often and name them for example: "hatch1-optiona" "hatch1-optionb" "hatch1-optionc". If you add now the model you rarely want to see with "hatch1-optiond" it should have an average appear chance of 25% in this example.
4) Was curious if weapons could be utilized with the -option feature and I added a DHSK to my Insurgent Humvee which then should be randomly displayed instead of the M2 but upon export it threw an error. 
 
Tiger with Camo Nets

1) The Tiger uses a quick recolored camo-net model & textures from the British CMSF vehicles. You can basicaly do this to all vehicles and it isn´t that time heavy. 
2) When adding camo or other stuff to the vehicles, make sure that you attach them to the correct parent. I.e. Camo nets for the turret should be attached to the turret so when the turret turns, the camo nets will follow and stay in place.
3) I tried to add CMFIs own bush models to the Tiger which looked beautiful in Blender. However in the games only the wooden base is visible. Perhaps someone else will figure this out or find an good bush substitute in the game files.

4) I am pretty sure there are more models suited for camo addons to be found in the CM game files.
 
Downloads in the cloud.

WOW! Thanks for sharing and explaining how you do it Aquila. Amazing..

You should be fine with the draw distance when putting the cargo ship into one of these tall/big flavor object slots. However on big maps and very big flavor objects - such as the Cargo Ship - the limited draw distance of all flavor objects still can be noticed and it could be an idea to not use a flavor object slot at all but replace something like mentioned a vehicle (taxi, static t55 etc.) or an emplacement (bunker etc.).

You´ve made it.  The ball is rolling.
May the force be with you.

In the course of dozen playthroughs and experiments with Blender/CM2 Tools (http://community.battlefront.com/topic/118928-combat-mission-modding-tools/) several assets were created which I want to share with the community:
Big Cargo Ship

 
BF109

 
Radar Station

 
Downed Blackhawk

 
Fire Truck

 
Ambulance

 
Barricade + optional Smoke/Burn Stash (Wreck, an invisible alternative is created by 37MM)

 
Barricade (three sizes)

 
Humvee V3 Woodland (Randomized Gear)

 
Humvee V3 Desert (Randomized Gear)

 
Humvee V2 Geardo Desert (Permanent Full Gear) 

 
AFRICAN UNCON (now also including conventional African Forces conversion by 37MM, original work by MikeyD) 

 
Falklands War Scorpion, Scimitar, and Argentinian LVTP-7 conversion

 
Makeshift VBIED

 
Humvee Wreck

 
Uncaged M2 Stryker

 
Marines to Army Special Forces or Navy SEALS conversion skins (including work of mjkerner, Combatinfman, Blimey)

 
BMP1/2 to BMD1/2 conversion (with corrected hatches)

 
Desert KAMAZ Skin

 
Marines frankensteined Armored MTVR Skin

 
New Syrian Special Forces and Woodland vehicles (based on the work of various modders)

 
Syrian Winter Mod (just terrain and partial "winterization" of vehicles, created for a Hasrabit Campaign playthrough)

 
PK Pickup to PK UAZ conversion

 
Russian Forces (original work Euroscape + various modders)

 
US Army & Marines Woodland Forces (original work Euroscape + various modders)

 
All these mods and many more can be found in this Dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1tviryry89g6py7/AAAJpSvGH6u1iEx4WzwVLSnJa?dl=0
Credits to modders, 3D-Artists, and Battlefront.
For better quality footage and more information about 3D custom models check out the recent videos & descpriptions here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeK7fSyoEE8aorVLlVfNcAQ
The custom flavor objects have a "crate1" box placed into their center. Click it to interact with its placing. Zoom into the model if difficult. There are some FOV issues with bigger flavor objects can perhaps fixed by making the original "crate1" box bigger in Blender/CM2tools. Combine flavor objects with "visible/invisible" wreck objects to give them obstacle characteristics.
Good free library of 3D models you could use for importing. .max does not work with Blender. There are others.
http://www.cadnav.com/
Tutorials on Blender and CM2Tools can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkbTOSIrNV0&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXVAMaELSao&feature=youtu.be
The main intent was to explore the possibilities of this method. As I see this as accomplished I´ll step back now and hope it will motivate others to get into it. Prior getting into custom CM models I had absolute zero experience in 3D modelling, Blender or whatever but found my way into it in a short period of time and once you figure out the specifics it is not that difficult. Give it a try.  Anyone interested in custom CM models can reach out on Discord.
Happy wargaming.

UULLTTTIIMMMMAAAATTTTEEE POWWWWEEEERRRRR!!!

US Marines M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR)
- Marines´ new infantry rifle, based on the HK416
- wanted to at least once try & create a weapon
- blender file includes the M16´s standard ACOG and a front grip as alternative attachments.
- the body would look even greater but it doesn´t load its texture located in the m27iar_txt.bmp. I guess this has something to do with UVs but I don´t know much about textures.
- the alignment could be refined.
- original weapon status icons included but need to me modded. Weapon name can be changed in the strings.txt
- feel free to mod/fix this weapon.
- download in the cloud
- For creators: it seems that weapons with grenade launchers are modelled in fact as two weapons in Combat Mission. One with the rifle as "weapon" and one with the launcher as "weapon", both models look the same. I guess the game engine switches between the two seperate weapons while players won´t notice due to the same model. Keep this in mind when replacing Weapons with GLs. However this also opens new options: I guess you could replace the grenade launcher weapon completely with a new weapon (for example with a M79 dedicated grenade launcher). The infantry man then would use its M16 for regular small arms fire and occasionaly cram out its M79 to get a grenade off. Not tested. 
 
Your custom model is almost ready. This issue is not difficult to fix. All models in CM require triangulated faces. What you have to do:
- Go into blender and select a model part
- point the cursor towards the model/3d screen
- press "TAB" you now in Edit Mode
- press CTRL+T, the model part will be automatically triangulated. (For your personal confirmation: In the left interface something with "beauty" should appear and you may notice additional triangle lines appearing in the model)
- repeat this for every model part
 
Not all custom 3d models require to be triangulated but when working on a new custom 3D model select a big part and test this step once to see if additional triangle lines appear in the model. If this happens chances are high that you need to do this for every part, if no new lines appear chances are high that the model is good to go right from the bat.

In the course of dozen playthroughs and experiments with Blender/CM2 Tools (http://community.battlefront.com/topic/118928-combat-mission-modding-tools/) several assets were created which I want to share with the community:
Big Cargo Ship

 
BF109

 
Radar Station

 
Downed Blackhawk

 
Fire Truck

 
Ambulance

 
Barricade + optional Smoke/Burn Stash (Wreck, an invisible alternative is created by 37MM)

 
Barricade (three sizes)

 
Humvee V3 Woodland (Randomized Gear)

 
Humvee V3 Desert (Randomized Gear)

 
Humvee V2 Geardo Desert (Permanent Full Gear) 

 
AFRICAN UNCON (now also including conventional African Forces conversion by 37MM, original work by MikeyD) 

 
Falklands War Scorpion, Scimitar, and Argentinian LVTP-7 conversion

 
Makeshift VBIED

 
Humvee Wreck

 
Uncaged M2 Stryker

 
Marines to Army Special Forces or Navy SEALS conversion skins (including work of mjkerner, Combatinfman, Blimey)

 
BMP1/2 to BMD1/2 conversion (with corrected hatches)

 
Desert KAMAZ Skin

 
Marines frankensteined Armored MTVR Skin

 
New Syrian Special Forces and Woodland vehicles (based on the work of various modders)

 
Syrian Winter Mod (just terrain and partial "winterization" of vehicles, created for a Hasrabit Campaign playthrough)

 
PK Pickup to PK UAZ conversion

 
Russian Forces (original work Euroscape + various modders)

 
US Army & Marines Woodland Forces (original work Euroscape + various modders)

 
All these mods and many more can be found in this Dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1tviryry89g6py7/AAAJpSvGH6u1iEx4WzwVLSnJa?dl=0
Credits to modders, 3D-Artists, and Battlefront.
For better quality footage and more information about 3D custom models check out the recent videos & descpriptions here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeK7fSyoEE8aorVLlVfNcAQ
The custom flavor objects have a "crate1" box placed into their center. Click it to interact with its placing. Zoom into the model if difficult. There are some FOV issues with bigger flavor objects can perhaps fixed by making the original "crate1" box bigger in Blender/CM2tools. Combine flavor objects with "visible/invisible" wreck objects to give them obstacle characteristics.
Good free library of 3D models you could use for importing. .max does not work with Blender. There are others.
http://www.cadnav.com/
Tutorials on Blender and CM2Tools can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkbTOSIrNV0&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXVAMaELSao&feature=youtu.be
The main intent was to explore the possibilities of this method. As I see this as accomplished I´ll step back now and hope it will motivate others to get into it. Prior getting into custom CM models I had absolute zero experience in 3D modelling, Blender or whatever but found my way into it in a short period of time and once you figure out the specifics it is not that difficult. Give it a try.  Anyone interested in custom CM models can reach out on Discord.
Happy wargaming.

That's one mighty nice looking billboard 😃

Amazing stuff.....I did my day's supply of likes long ago & I still owe you several more! 

LMAO! EVERY time Sequoia posts I find five other things in the link that would look awesome in game. It's a rabbit hole the size of the Grand Canyon.
The guardrail looked incredible (bottom right of the same link as the billboard). Pretty sad when you get excited about a "guardrail!"
 
Mord.

+1  YES!!  This is some useful stuff.  Thanks. 

@sbobovyc give the 3D available keys
@Aquila-CM open all  doors 
The others one, let us discovers ! !
BF watching on a staff map the situation !!