OstapBender

A new report. I was able to successfully do something with the location text portion for a gear item in the mds file. Now for me, this is all foreign territory. I remember taking a college course to convert hex to decimal. I remember zilch. 
I opened the mds in HxD and copied the location portion of the gasmask gear entry. I have done some Soviet-era reverse engineering to find the similarity in the gear entry sections. I spotted the consistency in one section and what changed by the 3D location on the soldiers body. I think bip is "body insertion point" and spine 1 and spine 2 are different areas preset to be where the node of the gear mdr gets attached.
So, I just dragged and copied that part to the clipboard and then found the radio gear entry and dragged the same area AND PASTED OVER. Oh, I forgot to say I had done a lot of file analysis on this one and those 2 gear items HAPPENED to have gear entry text both with 74 characters. I took a set of 74 characters and pasted it over another different set of location info but ALSO 74 characters in length.
I fired up my test scenario with my z folder guinea pig mds file and radio went to the hip.
BINGO!

Bonjour Mr. Frenchy!
I figure this is a good thread to discuss what mds file shenanigans I have done...
In CMRT I am trying to make the early War look for the Red Army troops. This is the M35 uniform with a regular collar. A closed buttoned collar look is what I want. So I borrowed the German smock mds and renamed it as the M43 Soviet Gymanstikoya M43 uniform (mandarin collar with shoulderboards). 
I will use the terms shell and host. The "shell" mds title is the normal CMRT Soviet M43 uniform filename modded in GiMP to look like the older M35. It rides on the outside of the "host" of the German smock mds. The game engine only sees the host. The desire is for the player to of course see the modded shell. The file in the z folder says shell's title but inside is the host's hex data. Got it?
So, then you open the mds file in hexedit program and you look for the gear section of the file. I think it references like 15 or so gear items. All German of course. You can edit and rename these to the Soviet gear if you have a like number of characters. Some of them were right on the money. G-E-R-M-A-N is same as S-O-V-I-E-T. 6 letters each! 
german_radio = soviet_radio and the game engine knows who your radio operators are and plops a radio on the guys back. Similar to SMG armed guys get SMG ammo pouches, officers get "officery" stuff. It needs some position tweaking in Blender.
Sometimes you are stuck. The number of letters does not match. So nothing shows.
Then you go to Blender and you can make gear item A also have gear item B in its mdr file. Trial and error for proper body positioning in the game. 
In CMFI I just did the something similar with Free French at Bir Hakeim. The French nromally wear the US M41 uniforms and I put them in the British shorts. In progress but going well. american and british are not lucky perfect matches like I had in CMRT. In your host mds file you have to do a gear analysis of the number of letters as well as the target gear you WANT to see displayed.
28british_ammo-universal-right
27british_ammo-universal-left
24american_shovel-t-handle
23british_holster-officer
22american_shovel-e-tool
22american_pouch-compass
21british_pouch-compass
21american_ammo-carbine
20american_pouch-binoc
19british_pouch-binoc
19british_ammo-pistol
19american_ammo-rifle
18american_pouch_map
18american_pouch-aid
17american_ammo-smg
17american_ammo-lmg
17american_backpack
16british_backpack
16british_breadbag
16american_bayonet
16american_holster
16american_canteen
15british_holster
15british_canteen
15british_bayonet
15british_gasmask
14british_shovel
14american_knife
14american_radio
13british-radio
british_breadbag is in as american_bayonet
Now used Blender to add in both univ's.
Some soldiers are skipped for no breadbag.
Add canteen also later.
british_radio renamed as mdr for american_radio as british_shovel (only for radio operators). But needs position tweaked in Blender.
american_ammo-smg replaces british_canteen ***with a plan*** to paste over the shovels location data. add both univs later.
 
Of course you keep yourself sane by saving often and using a modtag for all these shenanigans.
Like the French Adrian helmet of the North African French Soldiers was mdr swapped for the kepi and then color changed to white.  modtagged! and the chin strap was alpha layered so it doesn't show. modtagged!
************
Both of the above mds shenanigan projects are in progress. PM me with any questions or offers to get involved and do cool stuff together.
 

I like that somebody pays for this forum and I can put notes here for myself and others.
This thread will be where I puke out all my unit purchasing hacks, tips and tricks.
Maybe nothing new but at least it is written down for folks I am working with on CM projects.
Feel free to add yours as well.
TIP 1
You can purchase teams and stuff from the enemy side. Go to data tab/page of the scenario. Look for
(1) allies vs axis (standard)
(2) axis vs axis
(3) allies vs allies
Select the one you need something from... either allies vs allies or axis vs axis. Then return to the units tab/page and purchase the desired team to the desired HQ. Then go back to normal data page setting. THEN SAVE! 
DRAWBACKS:
the new team speaks the language of the enemy, or one of the enemies but maybe not the enemy in this scenario. So theoretically I can mod American voices and names to German JUST FOR THIS BATTLE. Bulk renaming utility does most of the work. I push a few buttons. Uniforms/Gear can also be modded.
This can help you sneak in a mod via mdr renaming. The physics of the original host vehicle mdr are retained in the game. It LOOKS like a pziiiG with a short 50mm. But everything behaves and results like a Stuart M5a1 with a 37mm for example. You can hexedit the mdr to look for different bmp's than what the allied Stuarts look like. I better explain that...
MDR hex editing to change bmp file name
As we all know, you have a German helmet mdr and it needs like helmet.bmp
For a future mod, my team changed the partisan civilian hat to the helmet mdr and then change art for some helmet.bmp with "OTHER INSIGNIA". It looks great!
BUT there is a problem. Now the Germans need helmet.bmp and they also have "OTHER INSIGNIA"...
You can avoid the German units that need that helmet but that is a half solution.
Here is the better solution.
Open the partisan civilian hat mdr that was renamed from helmet.mdr in the free hexedit program "Notepad++" and search (it is a tool in the menu bar)  among the encrypted characters for English words "helmet", check the count, it is 2 places. 1 is important, it is the bmp file name generic filename. smod_german_helmet. The other helmet is just some internal description by the original file creator. German M43 helmet. That 2nd one can stay the same.
For the filename, CHANGE the t in hemet to a "g" and it is helmeg. It could be another letter. I just picked g.
SAVE AND EXIT.
Then change ALL your "OTHER INSIGNIA" helmets fielnames to be smod_german_helmeg with a "g" and the usual numbering. The same with the normal maps.
It works nice. Now the Germans can use the helmet also with no concerns on waffen-ss versus regular Germans.
TIP 2
 
This is the old scenario maker trick you can learn! You have a leftover higher HQ you don't need or want in your scenario. I retired as an O-5 so I somewhat know the lonely feeling of not a general but no longer a junior officer down in trenches. Anything unwanted for that matter, you can assign reinforcement group R7. Then you set the R7 to show at the 3 hour point. Get it? It never arrives during your battle. This could also apply for campaign use of the core unit. Save some unit from participation. I think...   TIP 3 You can purchase teams and stuff from a different timeframe than your secanrio. Go to data tab/page of the scenario. Tweak the year and the date, go back to units purchase, now the Brazilians are there and you can purchase a tiny 37mm ATG. That early war feel. Then return to the units data/tab. Change back to your scenario date. THEN SAVE! 

Grunt - A Scout Team Dismounts


Armored Cav 113 Tucking Away From Soviet CAS

The Most Dangerous PRC on the Battlefield - Armored Cav RTO


Overwatch - Armored Cav Hammerhead

June 2, 1979, 0613 hours, Rulfenrod, West Germany
Remnants of a US mechanized infantry company push to establish a hasty defense as a bloodied armored cavalry troop withdraws through their line.  Opposite of them, a combined Soviet forward patrol and vanguard battalion rally to maintain their momentum and pursue the battle in depth.

Eyes of the Forward Patrol - Route Reconnaissance North of Rulfenrod


Ivan - Providing Security


Forward Patrol Light Armor Exploiting a Dried Creekbed


Moving to Contact - Soviet Recon Bringing Extra Ass

Finished CMFR To Berlin campaign.
One of the best CM campaigns which I played. Well balanced, historically accurate and tactically diverse. 
Every mission has something of its own. Nice job! 

Like the new helmet!

wow,SHH68,we all love it😍

Ok, that one is on me.  The air support works in the single player campaigns but of course this will be an issue in H2H.  Will get it fixed.

Free normal map maker, Zverboy1.
http://cpetry.github.io/NormalMap-Online/
 
Okay, just from a layperson's perspective (i.e., learning modding on my own and getting tips from and studying the big dogs), they add more depth and detail to the 3D model by creating lighting to show/highlight/fake? the high points and the low points to the texture bmp.  Okay, now someone with actual knowledge came come in here and unf**k this!
 
Edit:  The normal map maker is super easy to use. Just drag and drop the .bmp file, hit a button.  Voila!  You can get better ones, I'm sure, but they cost $, and these seem to work okay. They actually appear to have more detail than the ones in CM, but who knows...I suspect not.

1) CMRT v2.10 F&R archives contain quite a few normal maps where the syntax of the file name is different from what I would expect. Like "smod_soviet_m43_officer-sr_uniform_normal map 2 [guards].bmp" From glossing at other files, it seems the normal syntax is "smod_soviet_m43_officer-sr_uniform 2_normal map [guards].bmp". Or are both of these names workable for the game?
2) What is the logic when a variant (2,3,4, etc) or a mod-tag variation like [cavalry] is not available as normal map. Will it use the normal map of the base texture, without the variation number and/or mod-tag?
It is not always easy to see the effects of normal maps. At least not on my system. Which makes it hard to test..
PS: The normal maps for doors and windows in CMRT do not match the texture.
 

Talk about stepping in some lucky sh*t, this Sagger misses the M150 by flying between the launch tube and the hull!

No, I didn't use any face mod except for a new helmet and partial bone animation from CMSF1

I started with them closer to parity, again Soviets slightly higher, and then through playtesting we increased Soviet quality where it looked needed.  If anyone plays the US Campaign standalone scenarios as H2H, I would probably go in and tinker with the experience settings much closer to parity.
We really did it by feel, as opposed to any "realistic" metrics, largely because "realistic" metrics available were (and are) highly subjective.  The line in the West is that that the Soviets were largely nearly useless uneducated conscripts (which frankly has some truth) while NATO had highly educated professional armies.  The line in the USSR, was that the West was soft, weak and entitled (which frankly has some truth) while the troops of the Soviet Union were made of steel and sacrifice.  Which one is accurate?

Did someone mention the Volkssturmgewehr (MP-507) firing full auto? Because in-game it does even though the real gun is only semi-auto capable (it's even said in the manual).

Sure, standby...in progress. (slow rural Texas internet...)
smod_german_hat-m43.mdr is in v210e/soldiers 2/uniforms german other.
The textures are in v210d/soldiers 1/uniforms volkssturm.
CMRT F&R 15 COMBINED BRZ FOLDERS

Here they are...

Ma' boys opening up on my first enemy contacts in F&R.