HOW TO MAKE A BIG MOD (TEST DUMMY LOG)

[kohlenklau]

 

[kohlenklau]

The Danish orchestra! Damn, I would have loved to be there when they played this.

Edited March 19, 2023 by kohlenklau

[kohlenklau]

sorry, Gary is eating dinner...

I am a HUGE Ennio Morricone fan, so you get 1 more.

 

[kohlenklau]

OK, Gary is back. 

...and now Part 5

But first some gameplay video from the big action!

 

I held off to tell you my Franco-phile audience, that this last turn was very bad for our gallant men riding the iron horses. This a composite image of great horro.

Major Tron ordered or suggested with great fervor, a temporary halt. 2 of the light tanks took that as permission to basically shut down the engines and maybe have a smoke. They were under the close observation of the enemy tanks and both were eliminated.

We have but just the few still fully operational Char B1 bis, just 2...and 2 remaining R35. 

Driver: <But mon commandante, are we not 3 Char B1 bis, including our tank?>

Major Tron: <Driver! FULLLL REVERSE!!! Take us to a good vantage point to observe...>

Driver: <MON COMMANDANTE!!! It is Floch! He has returned to sanity and is attacking!!!>

They gasped to see an unusual weapon. A massive gun mounted on a half-track! The irony stung them with pain. The French army had been the first to experiment with half-tracks. The Germans took careful note and went onward. The French leadership dropped any special focus to the concept...

Edited March 19, 2023 by kohlenklau

[kohlenklau]

...and now Part 6

Bufla...a name which the men will fear.

Floch is no more. The 88mm round makes its mark.

Again the Bufla punches a hole through a 2nd Char B1 bis. 

Major Tron bites down and spits out his cigar:

2 destroyed.

Only 1 left to try.

I must stay here and observe its progress...

He looks at his men and then smiles.

DR-IVER! FORWARDDDDDD!!!!!!!

...to be continued...

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by kohlenklau

[Artkin]

On 3/14/2023 at 9:46 AM, kohlenklau said:

Trying to have a new PBEM tonight with my buddy @Heinrich505

A looooonnnngggggg skinny map. Approx 300 x 3000

in progress

A fictional French armour attack. A few platoons of R35's and a platoon of CharB1bis enter on the west edge. Historically unsupported by any French infantry.

Gary only gets some light anti-tank defenses at the start.

But then he gets a platoon of PzIII Ausf F with a PzIV Ausf D and a PzII Ausf A.

Later in the scenario, when things get a bit dicey, he will get his darlings, 2 Buflas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The French objective is to cut the rail line at a <fictional> lovely little town called Saint-Grammont-sur-Merde

 

I love these sort of maps. They can feel ridiculously huge when they're tight like this. Being able to make 8x2km maps in CM currently helps being able to simulate deep penetrations of lines.

[kohlenklau]

La grande conclusion

We shall see what happens in Saint-Grammont-sur-Merde...

The Bufla destroys an R35. Maybe the last of them?

Major Tron watches Pelou enter the village...

<I will recommend him and his crew for medals!>

DRI-VERRRR!!! FORWARDDDDDDD!!!! Cross the bridge and go to the left of those houses!

Pelou's tank moves slowly down the main street. The Bufla is only around the corner.

Major Tron comes around to draw fire for Pelou. Pelou is ready to turn sharply as soon as he clears the small bicycle shop.

Major Tron pumps his fist! Now Pelou! Now!!!!!

Pelou's gunner fires and hits.

SAINT-GRAMMONT is ours!!!

FIN

Edited March 19, 2023 by kohlenklau

[kohlenklau]

My sincere thanks to everybody that dropped by to see the last few posts as my good buddy Gary and I had a fun FRANCE 1940 PBEM. 

 

[Butschi]

Hm... maybe my next CMAutoEditor profile should be CMFI? Hm... Belgium has ... adequate elevation data available ... University of Texas has some nice topographic maps... Dinant, anyone? Oh dear, I definitely should finish my other projects first...

Edited March 19, 2023 by Butschi

[JM Stuff]

8 hours ago, kohlenklau said:

La grande conclusion

We shall see what happens in Saint-Grammont-sur-Merde...

The Bufla destroys an R35. Maybe the last of them?

Major Tron watches Pelou enter the village...

<I will recommend him and his crew for medals!>

DRI-VERRRR!!! FORWARDDDDDDD!!!! Cross the bridge and go to the left of those houses!

Pelou's tank moves slowly down the main street. The Bufla is only around the corner.

Major Tron comes around to draw fire for Pelou. Pelou is ready to turn sharply as soon as he clears the small bicycle shop.

Major Tron pumps his fist! Now Pelou! Now!!!!!

Pelou's gunner fires and hits.

SAINT-GRAMMONT is ours!!!

FIN

So I was not far away from my deduction 

France Allemagne 2-0

Beautiful job Phill a moment of suspens but a real moment of joy !

Edited March 19, 2023 by JM Stuff

[JM Stuff]

34 minutes ago, Butschi said:

Hm... maybe my next CMAutoEditor profile should be CMFI? Hm... Belgium has ... adequate elevation data available ... University of Texas has some nice topographic maps... Dinant, anyone? Oh dear, I definitely should finish my other projects first...

Yes in Belgium from the German border to the sea you are on  level 5 when you have your feet wet you are on the level 0 and see the English Chanel, so with your tool will not be too difficult to represent Phill next step stopping the German close to the Albert Chanel and protect the rest of the country, but saddly no B1.

(Just joking)

Edited March 19, 2023 by JM Stuff

[kohlenklau]

I was thinking that I would do CM stuff until the end of the year but this mod is going faster than I thought. I might be done in just a month or maybe 2 at the most. The summer will be great to not have CM modding in my head. I still will play a few games now and then but no more modding CM. Maybe on June 1st 2023 I will stop CM modding forever. 

I look back at my various mods and I might be wrong but I think only 1 guy ever did a scenario with my mods. Dragonwynn took the CMRT Finn Mod and made an entire campaign. I think I did use my mods to once help a guy or 2 or 3 learn the basics of scenario writing. Nobody else ever did anything with them on their own. Maybe a few guys made stuff for their own use but not released. I asked a few folks but nothing ever came of it. Oh well. Nobody owes me anything. Just an observation.

But maybe I also have not used other people's mods to make a scenario? Hold on. I did use a bit of NPye's stuff for CMRT Stalingrad to make a scenario or maybe 2. 

Here again lately I have asked in the forum posts for folks to feel free to use my mods to make scenarios but no nibbles at the hook. Speaking of nibbles at the hook...I am thinking of getting into fishing. A buddy of mine is a Korean war veteran. He is 90 and is at the end of his life. Going through chemo. I will have lunch with him and his wife on Wednesday. He loves to fish. I hope I can take him soon. 

EDIT: OK, I now remember that I think KevinKin (maybe that guy?) DID make several CMRT scenarios using the winter mod from 2015. Credit to him!

Maybe I forgot a few others. So, not zero but a very small list.

EDITED AGAIN: I am not fishing for compliments. I am not special and I do not need any encouragement or appreciation party. I think this same thing happened to other folks who do mods in CM and even other games. Maybe some modern titles get more usage because they are more popular. Perhaps 37mm has seen use of his H&E stuff by others. I don't know. 

one last thing. Nobody MADE ME do all this. I 99% enjoyed the effort and learning to use software and make things. A lot of fun and mental challenge. For some reason I felt the urge to make stuff not normally seen and that might be a curse. The curse is soon over. Thanks to everybody who did enjoy the stuff. I hope you did. I will be here a few more months and then "toss in the towel" as WimO said. Many folks pulled the wagon alongside me AND STILL DO. It was often a team effort and I met great guys along the way. BarbariCo with the winter mod comes to mind. What a fabulous talent. Juju made me special custom stuff. So did umlaut. A few other guys helped. Frenchy with 3D stuff. Jace11 and another guy helped with splash screens. I forget right now to name everybody.

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by kohlenklau

[JM Stuff]

2 hours ago, JM Stuff said:

Yes in Belgium from the German border to the sea you are on  level 5 when you have your feet wet you are on the level 0 and see the English Chanel, so with your tool will not be too difficult to represent Phill next step stopping the German close to the Albert Chanel and protect the rest of the country, but saddly no B1.

(Just joking)

so than !! ??

[Butschi]

59 minutes ago, kohlenklau said:

I was thinking that I would do CM stuff until the end of the year but this mod is going faster than I thought. I might be done in just a month or maybe 2 at the most. The summer will be great to not have CM modding in my head. I still will play a few games now and then but no more modding CM. Maybe on June 1st 2023 I will stop CM modding forever. 

I look back at my various mods and I might be wrong but I think only 1 guy ever did a scenario with my mods. Dragonwynn took the CMRT Finn Mod and made an entire campaign. I think I did use my mods to once help a guy or 2 or 3 learn the basics of scenario writing. Nobody else ever did anything with them on their own. Maybe a few guys made stuff for their own use but not released. I asked a few folks but nothing ever came of it. Oh well. Nobody owes me anything. Just an observation.

But maybe I also have not used other people's mods to make a scenario? Hold on. I did use a bit of NPye's stuff for CMRT Stalingrad to make a scenario or maybe 2. 

Here again lately I have asked in the forum posts for folks to feel free to use my mods to make scenarios but no nibbles at the hook. Speaking of nibbles at the hook...I am thinking of getting into fishing. A buddy of mine is a Korean war veteran. He is 90 and is at the end of his life. Going through chemo. I will have lunch with him and his wife on Wednesday. He loves to fish. I hope I can take him soon. 

EDIT: OK, I now remember that I think KevinKin (maybe that guy?) DID make several CMRT scenarios using the winter mod from 2015. Credit to him!

Maybe I forgot a few others. So, not zero but a very small list.

EDITED AGAIN: I am not fishing for compliments. I am not special and I do not need any encouragement or appreciation party. I think this same thing happened to other folks who do mods in CM and even other games. Maybe some modern titles get more usage because they are more popular. Perhaps 37mm has seen use of his H&E stuff by others. I don't know. 

one last thing. Nobody MADE ME do all this. I 99% enjoyed the effort and learning to use software and make things. A lot of fun and mental challenge. For some reason I felt the urge to make stuff not normally seen and that might be a curse. The curse is soon over. Thanks to everybody who did enjoy the stuff. I hope you did. I will be here a few more months and then "toss in the towel" as WimO said. Many folks pulled the wagon alongside me AND STILL DO. It was often a team effort and I met great guys along the way. BarbariCo with the winter mod comes to mind. What a fabulous talent. Juju made me special custom stuff. So did umlaut. A few other guys helped. Frenchy with 3D stuff. Jace11 and another guy helped with splash screens. I forget right now to name everybody.

 

I hear you. You've been in this for much longer than me but I get what you are saying. This community is so amazing and absolutely awful all at the same time. I mean you get some many likes and kind words for the stupidest little things you do. It can really be intoxicating and being only human I'd lie if I said I wasn't secretly hoping for a little ego boost with a few if my posts. On the other hand, if you go and ask for feedback about your stuff you get "yeah, super interesting and I'd love to use it in the future but it's so complicated and I like to do it the classical way, anyway."

So you had better do it for your own fun at least as much as for others!

[kohlenklau]

2 minutes ago, Butschi said:

So you had better do it for your own fun at least as much as for others!

I agree. I have had a good balance so far. Your map tools could really help the community. I hope it will be worth all of your effort. Only you can decide I guess. You cannot see if they use it. Maybe you can detect a good level of usage through downloads from your sites. Or from questions people ask you. Or if your youtube tutorial gets a ton of views and you become rich. Rico Nico!

[kohlenklau]

a link to info on 1940 KSTN for German rifle platoons. Good stuff

There is apparently some debate if in May-June 1940 the German platoons had 3 or 4 squads. It was in flux from three squads of 13 men to four squads of 10 men.

https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=217913

Edited March 19, 2023 by kohlenklau

[PEB14]

7 hours ago, kohlenklau said:

I look back at my various mods and I might be wrong but I think only 1 guy ever did a scenario with my mods. Dragonwynn took the CMRT Finn Mod and made an entire campaign. I think I did use my mods to once help a guy or 2 or 3 learn the basics of scenario writing. Nobody else ever did anything with them on their own. Maybe a few guys made stuff for their own use but not released. I asked a few folks but nothing ever came of it. Oh well. Nobody owes me anything. Just an observation.

Hi,

One reason may be that you did so much that it is sometimes difficult to find and sort everything. Last week I was having a look at your Kasserine scenario at the FGM site which calls for several modes: africa, wadi, saltmarsh, sidi, usfieldjacket, french...

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find them...

Before leaving, maybe you could do a list of everything you did (it will be a loooooon g list!), and perhaps provide link for it?

[kohlenklau]

56 minutes ago, PEB14 said:

One reason may be that you did so much that it is sometimes difficult to find and sort everything.

I don't think THAT is really a reason for people not using my mods to make a scenario.

The complexity and challenges of organizing mods and they get misplaced.

It is a good thing to discuss. Thanks for bringing it up! Tony loves to bang on my head about this! @Erwin  

So first let me try and remember back then to discuss this particular scenario and the mod pack it was sent with.

As I recall, when I uploaded the scenario to "The Scenario Depot" I also DID upload the mod package to a site called CMMODS III .

CMMODSIII is now non-existent and not all its contents were slid over to the new CMMODSIV.

So, the mod pack for Kasserine Rear Guard has likely vanished. Tony might have it! He is the duty archivist. $0 pay.

I will PM you a link to my goody bag so you can have whatever you would like from my collection. Crawl through my attic and take what you like from old boxes with army gear, canteens, maybe a Luger? hahaha

 

 

         

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by kohlenklau

[kohlenklau]

 Voulez-vous PBEM avec moi ce soir?

@FalaiseFalaise and I decided to do a PBEM to showcase the infantry aspects of the new mod. He defends as the French and I am the Germans.

 

[kohlenklau]

I modded a splash background just to set the mood a bit better.

Here is the scenario cover view

Here is the map I made. A farmhouse on a small hill beyond the creek. In the distance is some road the Germans use for running supplies as they race towards the Meuse or the English Channel. The French are using the farmhouse to spot for artillery and this Waffen-SS platoon must eliminate the farmhouse.

Here is my Waffen-SS platoon trying to be as "France 1940" as I can get them.

I am not a TOE expert. I asked one of the BFC bubbas for help and I got no reply. Maybe I am "persona non grata"? I attached a 50mm mortar to the platoon of 4 squads. 

 

I can only do what I can do. If you don't like this, I know it isn't perfect, but please just move along...

I am not Audie Murphy so this thread isn't about great tactics but I will use what Dick Winters taught me when I watched "Band of Brothers" and set up a base of fire off on my left flank. 2 of my 4 squads will go over there along with the 50mm mortar.  Suppress the farmhouse and allow the remaining 2 squads to make their approach and close assault the joint. If needed.

But first I gotta cross the creek. I made the map so I know where all the fjords are. FJORDS? They are in Norway son! What we have here is shallow fords. Like a Pinto with bad shocks? hahaha, what a jokester. 

I do not know where Falaise has set up but I will use the magic of television to show what his troops look like. He made some great gear mods and I think our France 1940 French Army ensemble looks tres magnefique. That is French for "we can do this crap but BFC can't?"

[kohlenklau]

Here is the briefing for the French. 

Here is the French set-up. I used 3 different color zones to kind of force or allow some stuff to happen. left and right flank positions and the main area at the farmhouse. He has an LMG. A squad. A Breach team. A platoon leader and Capitaine Gourmand. Plus 3 foxholes.

Let us look at some of the French troops...(P.S. I don't have a PhD in French Military History, ok. Just trying to have fun and be creative.)

These are colonial troops. I guess from Africa. Their helmet has a crescent moon and R.F. emblem. Courtesy of @JM Stuff Merci JM. 

This is a Breach team of French. Falaise made the greatcoats and one has the collar badges for the regiment. He also made a bunch of gear and I will swing around to take a shot of their back sides. 

 

...and le derriere! Check out the canteen we made in Blender. It actually holds wine according to Falaise. (Red with beef. White with fish and chicken). He made all the textures. We are still migrating them out to the other troops. These guys are pretty much fully equipped.

Here is our rendition of the France 1940 French army squad. We wish we could ditch the SMG as desired but it isn't editable. We can play tricks to make it go away and not be present in a battle. The French had very few SMG's. They got several thousand out of Spain after the Spanish Civil War. They started making one. MAS-38. I am trying to get it Blender modded. No luck yet. I haven't had any success making a MAS-36 either. 

Here is another @JM Stuff Maybe he hangs around the docks late at night and got this 3D model off some drunk sailor? I don't know. Merci JM.

I made this mod of an SMG in Blender after seeing a photo in an Osprey book. Whatever!

Here is LT Falaise...What a man! Carries 333 rounds of ammo. WTF? I dialed the headcount down but the game doesn't dial down the ammo. hmmmm

Last but not least, Capitaine Gourmand. Where did they get that radio from? Jeez. I better swap that out for 2 tin cans and some string or maybe one of those funky Italian radios with the big hoola-hoop antenna?

TO BE CONTINUED

[kohlenklau]

The platoon mortar team gets into position on the far left flank. 

Under the cover of 2 squads that have already crossed, the remainder of the platoon wades across the creek.

We see our first French soldier. But maybe he also sees us. (Stick fence from CMRT. Wall texture from a CMBN mod or maybe stock, I forget.)

The mortar team has binoculars and reports seeing a small vehicle approaching the farmhouse.

It seems to be some hack job mod of the Opel Kadet from CMRT. Needs a better paint job but at least has some markings.

The platoon is doing just as they trained.

[kohlenklau]

The mortar team aims their weapon as the platoon comes up to the stone wall "phase line"

The enemy has brought up an HMG in the foxholes at the base of the farmhouse. But our mortar is slightly out of range and so they must pack-up and reposition closer. 

[kohlenklau]

Meanwhile...out at the road. The convoy is stopped as one truck has suffered a breakdown.

Can the French OP be wiped out before the artillery can target the convoy? 

Obersturmfuhrer Sumbrunn brings his final squad up on line as he orders the other 3 squads and the mortar to pour it on to suppress that HMG and the farmhouse 2nd and 3rd floors. He will accompany the assault squad.

 

[kohlenklau]

The squads use the firepower of the MG34 to get the French HMG gunner to duck his head.

Sumbrunn eyes the barn but sees no windows on the 2nd floor facing his men. It might be ok. But they will stay on the near side of this hedge. Or is it a low bocage? Hmmm. 

There is a chance to be ambushed by some hidden defenders. Perhaps a short burst of fire at the barn is prudent...

Sumbrunn adjusts his plan. 1st squad will come up to suppress the barn and the entire hedgerow while 2nd squad takes the assault mission up through the crops (Lucky_Strike's gorgeous mod) and towards the farmhouse...keeping a clump of trees between them and that HMG.

The mortar rounds fall near the HMG's position...

2nd squad splits into 3 parts and runs forward through the crops.