Sparky9292 Posted August 12, 2000 Share Posted August 12, 2000 I want the programmers to add in the option of watching the entire battle (all 30 40etc turns) at once when both players are finished in a PBEM game. Watching 60 seconds, then loading another PBEM and watching 60 seconds, then loading another etc etc. is not my idea of fun. There are many games that allow recording of the entire battle like Age of Kings and Total Annihilation (yankspankers patch). Being a software programmer myself, I don't think that this would be too great a task, probably can be done in like 3 hours. I want the following: 1. A function that allows you to select an entire pbem directory, and then compiles all of the movies into one big movie file. 2. Allows playback of the entire movie with NO fog of war. 3. contains the VCR buttons that the normal game has. Then I can imagine an archive full of great CM battles that I can download. We could all make popcorn, drink soda, while watching some great entertaining battles. come on battlefront, YOU CAN DO IT, ADD THIS FEATURE PLEASE!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oddball_E8 Posted August 13, 2000 Share Posted August 13, 2000 I would just like to add my 2c here and say... PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikeydz Posted August 13, 2000 Share Posted August 13, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Being a software programmer myself, I don't think that this would be too great a task, probably can be done in like 3 hours. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> If they could have whipped it up in 3 hours, then it probably would have already been in the game. This feature is on the list of possible additions, but if it's planned for a later patch, or won't see the light of day until CM2, I couldn't say. There is probably about 20 threads alone dealing with this request, so if you seach you may find a more definative answer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guachi Posted August 13, 2000 Share Posted August 13, 2000 Being a programmer myself, I would NEVER say I could get anything programmed in three hours. Can you imagine the amount of TESTING this would need? If you REALLY think you could do this in only three hours, I wonder at the quality of your programming. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted August 13, 2000 Share Posted August 13, 2000 This has been something I and several other testers have asked for for MONTHS.. If it was a three hour job it would be in... Charles says it is complicated and would take a LOT of coding ( and he can code things damn quickly so when he says a lot I believe it..)and a long time to implement. It definitely is my "most wanted" feature for CM2 though and I know a lot of others feel the same so... I think best thing is just to sit back and relax and know that it is definitely being mentioned etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted August 13, 2000 Share Posted August 13, 2000 Being a computer support technician I wouldn't want ANYTHING on my computer that was programmed in 3 hours.Its bad enough dealing with products we spent 1000 hours on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mannheim Tanker Posted August 13, 2000 Share Posted August 13, 2000 ***Gritting teeth*** I believe this has been discussed already about 345 times...I'd love to have this feature too. Do a search and it will bring you up to speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevbo Posted August 13, 2000 Share Posted August 13, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Sparky9292: I want the programmers to add in the option of watching the entire battle (all 30 40etc turns) at once when both players are finished in a PBEM game. Watching 60 seconds, then loading another PBEM and watching 60 seconds, then loading another etc etc. is not my idea of fun. There are many games that allow recording of the entire battle like Age of Kings and Total Annihilation (yankspankers patch). Being a software programmer myself, I don't think that this would be too great a task, probably can be done in like 3 hours. I want the following: 1. A function that allows you to select an entire pbem directory, and then compiles all of the movies into one big movie file. 2. Allows playback of the entire movie with NO fog of war. 3. contains the VCR buttons that the normal game has. Then I can imagine an archive full of great CM battles that I can download. We could all make popcorn, drink soda, while watching some great entertaining battles. come on battlefront, YOU CAN DO IT, ADD THIS FEATURE PLEASE!!! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> ----------------- I also think that would be a great addition to an already great game, but i'm sure that if they don't put that into this game, they'll surely incorporate that into the sequel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sailor Malan Posted August 13, 2000 Share Posted August 13, 2000 I would like to congratulate all in this post. When I read the title I hesitated to open it, because I thought that the inside would look like Caen once the Allies captured it - all smoking ruins and dead bodies! Instead no one got killed, or even slightly charred. However, Sparky, please write out 100 times (without cut and paste) 'I must not start new threads without using the search to see what has already been discussed! Seriously guys, I am sure that a newcomer to this forum would think that CM is full of holes. Let's lay off BTS for a bit, and give them a chance to tell us what their plans are. It feels like a load of school kids in here, always wanting what they haven't got. (I saw a list of 'wants' for v1.04 practically before 1.03 was on my machine) In my opinion, CM is the best game I have played ever, and if they never touched it again (or did CMx, where x=2 to n) it would still be an amazing achievement. < moralise mode off> All hail to BTS! ------------------ The conception of such a plan was impossible for a man of Montgomery's innate caution...In fact, Montgomery's decision to mount the operation ...[Market Garden] was as startling as it would have been for an elderly and saintly Bishop suddenly to decide to take up safe breaking and begin on the Bank of England. (R.W.Thompson, Montgomery the Field Marshall) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky9292 Posted August 14, 2000 Author Share Posted August 14, 2000 Well, I've searched, and now know that there's been a billion posts about this same thing. I just don't know how difficult it would be to make a little proggie that just splices the movie files together and wallah!, a movie is built. Just multiply 60 seconds X the number of turns, and you have your movie. If the game can play a 60 second movie, why can't it play a 600 second movie? Please enlighten me. ----------------------------------------- Anyway, I think all of these requests are petty in the big picture, because CM is a fabulous never been done before game. I hope and pray that CM does not go the way of Total Annihilation where the Cavedog team left the course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikeydz Posted August 14, 2000 Share Posted August 14, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>If the game can play a 60 second movie, why can't it play a 600 second movie? Please enlighten me. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Now you want free programing lessons too??? Why can't we just leave this issue with the fact that.... This feature is on "The List" Not knowing anything about programming, I'm happy to take BTS at thier word that this is not something that they can program and throw together in 30 minutes, so when it does make it's appearance, the wait will be well worth it. Patience....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guachi Posted August 14, 2000 Share Posted August 14, 2000 Watching the entire movie was more than just on 'The List', it was at one time a promised feature (like TCP/IP)! I can only assume the programming challenges were so daunting that it was shoved aside to make room for the possible and not just the hoped for. I would PAY to have this feature added in. I think it would be a great selling point for an expansion. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted August 14, 2000 Share Posted August 14, 2000 " Just multiply 60 seconds X the number of turns, and you have your movie. If the game can play a 60 second movie, why can't it play a 600 second movie? Please enlighten me." *chuckle*> let me guess, you're not a programmer right? Also, IF you are in charge of setting development goals for programmers let me assure you that they hate you and have little voodoo dolls of you they stab after every meeting . Short answer.. If it was simple it'd be in already. Since it isn't you can guess it isn't simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasd Posted August 14, 2000 Share Posted August 14, 2000 isnt it enough that they made you game that didnt suck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mannheim Tanker Posted August 14, 2000 Share Posted August 14, 2000 "isnt it enough that they made you game that didnt suck?" ROTFLOL! True enough. I guess that's why I was gritting my teeth. I often must bite my tongue when asking about "new" features, because I feel a bit ungrateful in doing so! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L.Tankersley Posted August 14, 2000 Share Posted August 14, 2000 I'm going to hijack this thread to argue for a similar but different feature. What I'd like to see (possibly in an incremental patch) is the ability to save a 60-second movie of a single-player turn. AFAIK you can only save movie files as PBEM files, so if you're playing against the computer (or possibly even hotseat or, in future, TCP/IP) you can't go back and watch turns after the fact. It seems more likely that this would be feasible to implement, since obviously CM is already capable of generating a file containing a one-turn movie. Anybody else like this idea? Anybody going to let me know that I'm an idiot because you already can save movies of single-player turns? ------------------ Leland J. Tankersley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apex Posted August 14, 2000 Share Posted August 14, 2000 The video datastructure exists in the PBEM files. It's just a matter of exporting playdata into that structure (happens for every PBEM but not AI/HS games) and modifying the player to sequentially play these files while skipping the user input phases. Not a three hour job, granted, but nothing requiring lots of new code either, the player is there, the data format is too, that's the work that took effort. That is, if CM used a object oriented language apex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daveman Posted August 14, 2000 Share Posted August 14, 2000 I suppose you could save your single-player turns after you've plotted orders and go back and replay them. Trouble is the movie phase may play back differently as the computer is redoing all the calculations (ie, shots that hit first time may miss on a replay). ------------------ "You know our standing orders. Out of ammo become a bunker, out of commission become a pillbox, out of time... become heroes." - The Beast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Madmatt Posted August 14, 2000 Share Posted August 14, 2000 Guys this is a subject that keeps cropping up and beleive me Steve, Charles, The entire Beta Team and most importantly YOU all want this but the fact remains that it is NOT an easy thing to implement. It's not a matter of streaming the PBEM dataset or just redoing the code to create longer turns output files. The game was designed from the GROUND UP to handle data for 60 seconds of game time. Thats all. As many many people have said, this is not something that can be quickly implemented in. Trust us, we want it too! I have been involved with this game for almost a year now and its been asked for since day 1. Charles has always come back and said that he would like it to but its difficult. For Charles to say something is difficult means to any other programmer: THATS ITS DAMN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE! I think that we have a greater chance of seeing single play saved movies than full battle playbacks though. One other thing to think about is file size. Sure a small DYO 800 battle the turns are quite small but when you start playing some monster Operation where the files are over a meg in size a 60 turn battle can quicly become VERY bulky. You think your system goes slow NOW when it only has 60 seconds of data to think about, imagine how slow it may be come with 10 or 20 times the data. I am not saying we won't ever see this feature, I just want to stress that Steve and Charles want it too, its just a lot more complicated than people seem to think. Thanks! Madmatt ------------------ If it's in Combat Mission, it's on Combat Mission HQ! CMHQ-Annex, The Alternative side of Combat Mission Combat Mission HQ CMHQ-Annex Proud members of the Combat Mission WebRing [This message has been edited by Madmatt (edited 08-14-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Breakthrough Posted August 30, 2000 Share Posted August 30, 2000 I hate to bring this back to the top but I did a search and this was the first one that I got to hit on this subject! After reading this one I am going back and play with it a bit and see what was said. I would like to say one thing though, I would rather see this put in before the TCP/IP, it should be a priority. I think it would round out the game. This was the first thing that I noticed missing from the game not TCP/IP. I would prefer not to wait for it till the second generation game! Let me end this by saying this is the game I have been looking for sense I got my first computer and my life will not end if I don’t get to see this put in. I just wanted to put my 2 cents in on the subject!! ------------------ When you find yourself surrounded and can't get out call on Sgt. Breakthrough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky9292 Posted August 31, 2000 Author Share Posted August 31, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> One other thing to think about is file size. Sure a small DYO 800 battle the turns are quite small but when you start playing some monster Operation where the files are over a meg in size a 60 turn battle can quicly become VERY bulky. You think your system goes slow NOW when it only has 60 seconds of data to think about, imagine how slow it may be come with 10 or 20 times the data. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> No, it's much more simple than that. Yes I am a C++ programmer. Basically, when CM knows a movie is about to be generated, it appends the pbem file to the previous movie pbem. You wouldn't email this one, but at the end of the battle, you could just load this one and it would the entire movie with no fog of war. It's so simple, it's ridiculus that this feature is not in CM, all battlefront needs to do is have CM append the movie files on one big full movie file....... at the end of the battle you would be allowed to see the whole fight. This is a feature that NEEDS to be in CM; the whole game is about just sitting back and watching your orders execute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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