AdamPraha

Yep, true. To a certain extend the mods are good for the CW and MG modules, too. But certainly not for FB, Downfall or RT.

It isn't under Falaise's name: CMBN : Terrain Vegetation
But as mentioned above, this is strictly for the Norman countryside. It wouldn't be useful for Eastern Europe.

10 years ago? Then have a look again. It is very different and easier to navigate nowadays.
Lucky Strike‘s and Falaise‘ mods cover the environment of BN. I.e., trees, bushes, hedges, grass, etc for BN only. They cover it all in one, but only for summer 44. One exception: Falaise‘ mod consists of three different packages, one each for June, July and August 1944. He lives in Normandy and obviously had to make it perfect. 😊 Both mods are great. Lucky Strike‘s is perhaps a bit more colourful. But again, what suits you better depends on your liking.

Did you already take a look at the FGM Depot?
At least you find the mods and scenarios sorted per game and per „topic“. So, it‘s easy to decide which mod works for which game.
But as George said: Many will be included in @37mm selection already.
Regarding „one mod to make everything prettier“: Well, that’s difficult anyway. Your taste is not necessarily my taste…. E.g., if you prefer Lucky Strike‘s or Falaise‘s environment mod for BN is quite much a question of your personal preference.

Join the happy people. 
 

Yeah...  it's better to buy direct from BF.  More money for BF and very rare to have had problems...  And BF tech support is xnt.

That's what I've always done. 
But it's an interesting question.  If you can buy outside Steam and get a key to run it on Steam, can you buy it on Steam and *somehow* install and run it outside Steam?  Not sure as I've never tried.

You can shoot out of buildings, even though they have a backblast but it is not always the best way.
Usually when you fire it indoors everyone in this floor gets pinned which makes follow up shots difficult and gives the enemy a chance to retaliate.
So rooftops, ruins, foxholes, craters etc. might be a better option if they are available.
There was a time in CM where it was not possible to fire those weapons indoors but BFC patched it out later.
 
No offense but I call this a myth or maybe it was patched out as well some time ago... I don´t know.
In all my matches I never had a wounded soldier because of the backblast of those weapons. They get pinned or even panic but I doubt that they can be wounded this way (even though it would be realistic in some cases).

They will. Roof top will be not too bad but inside they usually suppress themselves. I once had a team fire from a small shed and lightly wound themselves. Basically the back blast has an effect if they are in an enclosed space.

Some weapons cannot be fired from inside buildings (or can be dangerous to the firing unit).

@AdamPraha Just to be clear: What are we talking about ? (On map) cannons or off map artillery ?
 
Anti tank guns and infantry guns need to have a direct contact that they aquired themselves. It is pointless if or if not another trooper of their formation has seen the target before. No contact, no shooty shooty.
Information can be shared by soldiers but that only means that the unit will have it easier to spot the enemy. It is not automatically visible nor is it guaranteed that he will spot the enemy too even with the same Line Of Sight. (LOS)
Infantry guns and some howitzers may be called in like artillery while being on map. However most maps are not big enough to use them properly (minimum trajectory).
Guns will only shoot automatically once an enemy appears in their sights and when they have a chance to destroy it (unit in effective range, proper AP-ammunition and so on).
 
Mortars are almost the same. If you are getting them up front they need to see the enemy for themselves to automatically engage them. Otherwise you need to set an area fire command on the desired place or you call them in via the artillery-setup option with an HQ unit.
The forward observer you mention is mostly there for artillery pieces like heavy guns and mortars. They usually can call those in faster than normal HQ teams and is therefor an important asset.
He won´t do any magic in terms of spotting. He has binoculars...that´s all.
For some heavy artillerypieces you even require a forward observer. Otherwise you have no access to it and therfor cannot fire it.
But again: Artillery will also not fire automatically, it needs a straight up input from you.
 
 

I see your edit in the first post.  I'm just starting a PBEM in CW having never played it before.  It'll be okay won't it 🫣?
As for your question on a graphics mod, I don't know but others may...

I think they communicate, but if the mortar crew can't see the target (a unit or an area) I think they would have to be called in for indirect fire, which would take a few minutes.
I don't think they'll 'blindly' fire based on another spotter's info.

It depends... The range of communication between units is drastically reduced besides the inferior spotting. Imagine that a unit on hide keeps his head as low possible, maybe occasioanally looking Up to scout a bit and only whispers to others to not reveal its position to possibly nearby enemies.
So if the gun/unit is close enough they may still be able to communicate with each other but only at a short distance.

I thought so as well. 
Hiding is not normally a good thing if you want a unit to spot (and communicate that).  I learned the lesson when I hid everyone and T34s rolled straight past my troops with PFs, no shots at all were taken at perhaps 10m range.

I need some test to refresh my memory, but hide command will reduce the verbal communication range. 

Adam, your question rate is impressive 😉.
I know what you mean, but I think it's intended to quickly show you that your units are in the building, or that enemy units (or part of) have been spotted in those buildings.  I occasionally find it unrealistic, but I don't have a suggestion on how to improve it.  Do you?

I don't think there's any way to disable it right now. We could request to make building transparency togglable as a new feature in a future update, the way trees are currently togglable. But there's no guarantee that it would be feasible (every new bit of code risks conflicts with old code, potentially introducing new bugs), or that they would find time to do it even if it is feasible (they have limited resources and lots of other things they are also trying to do).

The entire point of this game is that not all crews are well trained or experienced.  Thats why designers can set those specific parameters on every unit.  They have significant impact on behavior under fire.

Looks good.

What about this SF2 mod:
 

There is a CMSF mod called "Heaven & Earth" that mods the terrain to that of an "unspecific" SE Asia that could be Vietnam.  From the manual:
Heaven & Earth is a supermod centring on the fictional country of Bong-Hai, the Bong-
Hai civil war & its messy aftermath.
The Bong-Hai Civil War is suspiciously similar to the real life Vietnam War but, for
technical reasons (architectural, floral, TOE, linguistic, vehicular & weaponry), because
the team could not truly represent that conflict we decided to go the fictional "Vietnamesque"
route.
The two sides are...
• The People's Army of The Free Democratic Republic of Bong-Hai & its People's
Militia insurgents (aka "The Roundheads")... they are the Earth component of this
narrative & are as similar to the NVA & VC as we can get them.
• The Imperial Army of the Divine Kingdom of Bong-Hai including its iconic, M16
wielding Imperial Cavalry (aka "The Cavaliers") .. they are the Heaven
component of this narrative & represent both the poorer & better performing
elements of the ARVN.
The Heaven & Earth modpack is designed for CMSF2 version 2.03 or 2.04, it is advised that
you use no other mods alongside Heaven & Earth as it is a complete package with a unique
UI, sounds, scripts, special effects, vehicle's & weapons... many of which are swapped
internally by the use of tags.

If I recall correctly, @kohlenklau made some Vietnam mods a long time ago.
PM him or search in the archives.

Do I understand your problem correctly ? You are wondering why the STUG won´t area fire at a point while being under canon fire, right ?
If Iam: Isn´t this kind of obvious why the Stug don´t want to be hit in the side ?
It is a general TacAi behavior to face the vehicle in the direction of enemy fire or vague enemy tank/anti tank asset - contacts. More so the TacAi can call for a retreat when bigger shots are intercepted by the armor and the crew cannot see the source of it.
And this would make sense as the crew should have some self preservation instinct in them. Staying in there longer the next hits may penetrate the armor or damage important components of the tank.
So the best idea would be to displace to another position as your current one has been compromised.

If it's TacAI is not coded as such you will probably come out 2nd Best. It is just my opinion. To find out for certain make a testing scenario in the editor. To establish reliable horizontal communication, I think you need to be inside four action squares. Better three action squares that is 25 metres and the Stug needs to be unbuttoned.