HOW TO MAKE A BIG MOD (TEST DUMMY LOG)

[Artkin]

18 minutes ago, kohlenklau said:

What are you asking? I got confused.

If the pak36 was mentioned as included with CMRT. There is an equipment list for F&R here and pak 36 is not in it: 

https://www.battlefront.com/red-thunder/cmrt-fire-and-rubble-module/?tab=toe

 

[kohlenklau]

13 minutes ago, Artkin said:

was mentioned

no idea. sorry. But not a big marketing ploy as the humble door knocker!

 

[kohlenklau]

CMFI FRANCE 1940 MOD PACKS

***I don't have them ready yet****

But here is my system I am going to use! It will be a "tiered" system or whatever might best describe it. I will package the mods to release with scenarios in a consecutive manner over the next couple weeks or months. If you are wanting to play the mod. You gather up all the mod packs as we go on into the summer. Start with bronze, have fun with a few scenarios that have been matched to what bronze mod pack offers. Get it? The scenarios will say somewhere what mod packs they need. If it says silver. then that means both silver and the base bronze. Gold scenario needs gold but also silver and bronze. Finally the diamond scenarios will need diamond and the 3 others. I could have skipped the words bronze, silver, etc and just used A, B, etc. but it seemed a nice way to think of it.

FR40A BRONZE LEVEL MOD PACK (should be next weekend 4/8/23 along with several teaser scenarios!)

FR40B SILVER LEVEL MOD PACK 

FR40C GOLD LEVEL MOD PACK

FR40D DIAMOND LEVEL MOD PACK

I have mods I am still working on and they have been conveniently assigned to the last mod pack, the DIAMOND level.

The above system SHOULD allow scenarios to be staggered in development as well. @kevinkin

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by kohlenklau

[quakerparrot67]

 i've been following this for a while but haven't posted yet.  gotta say,  kohlenklau,  jm,  falaise,  and anyone else involved, thank you. this si a great project and i can't wait to try it out with all the mods and gets some shots of the early war action.

and kohlenklau, if this is your last hurrah, it looks like a good one.  i'm a rivet counter by nature, but for something like this that wasn't going to happen under those constraints, this is just fine....  if it wasn't for you visual modders i wouldn't dig the  game quite  as much as i do.

 

cheers,

rob

 

[kohlenklau]

6 minutes ago, quakerparrot67 said:

rivet counter by nature

I AM trying to see where the mod can be "rivet counter friendly" and that is where the bronze, silver, gold, diamond levels ALSO come in. The initial parts should be the most friendly to you. The deeper toward diamond, then it goes into territory you will probably not feel comfortable with...

10 minutes ago, quakerparrot67 said:

great project

THANKS ROB!

[quakerparrot67]

21 minutes ago, kohlenklau said:

I AM trying to see where the mod can be "rivet counter friendly" and that is where the bronze, silver, gold, diamond levels ALSO come in. The initial parts should be the most friendly to you. The deeper toward diamond, then it goes into territory you will probably not feel comfortable with...

THANKS ROB!

i guess i should say i'm more of a visual rivet counter- if it looks good for the screenshots and functions basically like it should then i'm fine. i do like bfc's  strictness on factual data, but bfc isn't doing france 1940.  in the spirit that your team has given this  to us (convoluted sentence-fragment of the year)  i will enjoy it all.

[kohlenklau]

Just now, quakerparrot67 said:

i guess i should say i'm more of a visual rivet counter- if it looks good for the screenshots and functions basically like it should then i'm fine. i do like bfc's  strictness on factual data, but bfc isn't doing france 1940.  in the spirit that your team has given this  to us (convoluted sentence-fragment of the year)  i will enjoy it all.

I appreciate the kindness in that attitude you say you will approach the mod with.

AND YOU ARE RIGHT!!! BFC is never going to do this so this is all we've got using CM.

I am not promising 100% satisfaction. I predict somewhere in the 83+/- % satisfaction OVERALL.

Today I will continue my lecture on "FAKE LOBSTER" and it gets more intense with the German Armor Mods.

 

 

[kohlenklau]

"FAKE LOBSTER" continued

Continuing my lecture on the elephant in the room..."fake lobster" I call it.

Fake lobster is when what you see on the screen is not 100% what the game engine thinks it is.

~~~~~~~~~

D. The Armor mods:

2. AXIS

a.PzIV D

One of my first Blender vehicle creations...this is an old mod I first did for CMFI CMAK2 AFRIKA. 

You purchase the PZIII Ausf N Support Tank in the game and my mod then makes it look like the hull of a Panzer IV with 8 road wheels vs 6 per side. The short barrel 75 modded to the PzIV turret. In the above shot I added the jerry can rack. The 808 turret numbers are upside down but I fixed it later. 

Here it is for France 1940

OK! Let us score it. So, it DOES have the actual short 75 gun. You can dial ammo supply down and try to reduce the HEAT rounds. I have read various about how much HEAT ammo was available and when. Armor thickness in certain areas is more than actual PzIVD. oh well. Love it or leave it I guess. I give her a good B+. She is part of the SILVER LEVEL MOD PACK.

I thought to go and remove the turret bin. I had an issue where I still saw shadows that it casts down on the engine deck. I am not sure how to stop them. 

b. Bufla

I made this for my buddy. It is a US Army M3 GMC as the host mdr. Interestingly there is a connection to France 1940 with the M3 GMC. The gun on the M3 GMC is from the French 75. From WW1 but modified. It is a Blender creation plopping a Flak 88 on the half-track from the Flakvierling. It is not as powerful as it should be. Nothing matches that damn 88. But it was fun to play with. I give her a C+. The Bufla will be in the DIAMOND level mod pack.

c. Pz III Ausf F with 37mm gun

The host is currently the US Army M5 light tank. The shell is the PzIII Ausf G with short 50mm gun. I did not mod the barrel to be lesser diameter. Trying to have an actual 37mm gun on a German tank. I give it a C+. I did remove the turret bin. I gotta rework the paint scheme. She needs work so she is in the DIAMOND level mod pack. Stall for time!!!

Edited April 2, 2023 by kohlenklau

[kohlenklau]

Remember our friendly rule!

Adding small things in Blender like a pistol port to REALLY have the look of some early Ausf is BEYOND MY SKILL LEVEL.

I will say that one good strategy I COULD easily employ is to offer a scenario where the above models would only be shown as inactive KO'd hulks. Just for flavor to get a good France 1940 vibe. These might still not look perfect down at the rivet counter level but at least they will not function in a manner non-historically and cause somebody stress or emotional discomfort.

[kevinkin]

Can't imagine what the Platinum Level will hold. Overall, a solid way to go about the mod. 

[kohlenklau]

AND the scenarios will be named to have the mod pack in the title (just the short version: FR40A thru FR40D).

for example...

FR40A FRENCH BREAD

Where the A matches to BRONZE level mod pack

 

[Vacillator]

3 hours ago, kohlenklau said:

The 808 turret numbers are upside down but I fixed it later. 

I remember that one Phil.  And I remember our North Afrika battles, great fun.

Anyway, keep up the great work my friend .

[kevinkin]

4 hours ago, kohlenklau said:

Where the A matches to BRONZE level mod pack

I think you would bar coded them if you could! LOL.

[kohlenklau]

ONCE AGAIN...

AN OPEN INVITATION FOR FORUM FOLKS TO WRITE AN FR40 SCENARIO USING THE MOD AND I WILL SEND IT OUT WITH ONE OF THE PACKS. PM ME IF INTERESTED.

[kohlenklau]

If anybody wants to team up to make a scenario, your first one ever I guess, I could lend a friendly hand and give advice to really make it go smoother and quicker.

I am gonna fully retire from CM stuff in 2 or 3 months so this is your last chance.

[kohlenklau]

I will consider I have lectured enough on "Fake Lobster" as nobody had any questions so far. It is what it is!

The current schedule for releasing the Mod is as follows:

Sunday 9 April: release the BRONZE Mod Pack and whatever BRONZE scenarios we have ready.

Sunday 23 April: release the SILVER Mod Pack and whatever SILVER scenarios we have ready.

Sunday 14 May: release the GOLD Mod Pack and whatever GOLD scenarios we have ready.

Sunday 25 June: release the DIAMOND Mod Pack and whatever DIAMOND scenarios we have ready.

Friday 14 July: Bastille Day. kohlenklau retires from CM. I will release a few last minute presents to the CM community.

 

 

 

[kohlenklau]

1940 Panzerwaffe beret...

[JM Stuff]

8 hours ago, kohlenklau said:

1940 Panzerwaffe beret...

Again a real touch atmosphere !

[kohlenklau]

@Damian45 and I teamed up to do the gas sheet pouch. I hacked it together in Blender and did an initial (lame) image. I combined it to 3 different existing gear models.  Then Damian showed up and sprinkled his usual magic on it.

[kohlenklau]

Belgian website where you can get maps. 1:25000

https://www.geo.be/map?l=en&x=519464.81&y=6553052.38&zoom=15&topic=fed&baseLayer=ngi.cartoweb.topo_bw.be&catalogNodes=1879&layers=top25map

[JM Stuff]

53 minutes ago, kohlenklau said:

@Damian45 and I teamed up to do the gas sheet pouch. I hacked it together in Blender and did an initial (lame) image. I combined it to 3 different existing gear models.  Then Damian showed up and sprinkled his usual magic on it.

Very nice the uniforms are really the specifics aspect of the early war, sometimes  little details are very important ! 

Yes Belgium, so a little country but, saddly, full of important and decisive battlefield moments of differentes epoques...

Edited April 5, 2023 by JM Stuff

[kohlenklau]

Here is a list of the folders of what is in FR40A BRONZE Level Mod Pack.

I will walk through each of what is offered for any comments and so folks can lick their lips!

[heerfj] is a folder of the mods to allow the fallschirmjagers (fj) to display like the German Army (heer). This is specifically so I can display the Pak36 37mm ATG. Only way to get it on the CMFI battlefield is by buying fj.

buildings: well, an assortment I grabbed way back. It can best be increased. I will swing through it and decide to add stuff from CMBN. I usually open both folders on the screen and split-screen them and grab copy from left and paste to the right and then bulk rename to add [france1940]

DMs 1940 Heer is the stuff from the land down under. @Damian45

DMs 1940 Waffen SS Camo. More modding love from the Southern Hemisphere.

FR40 French is a bunch of stuff that @Falaise and I cranked out.

German Gas Sheet the new gear item made in Blender and textured by forumites!

"Nice to Haves" are music, loading screens and splash screens.

mountains are your CMBN horizons.

Opel Blitz: somebody's early war Opel Blitz. Not mine. I forget who did it. I apologize.

Opel Kadet Jeep: an mdr rename to bring that Opel from CMRT to look 1940-ish.

paK36 37mm in early war colors I did with help from I think Ben Park. I think. 

R35. modding Italian R35 over to the French.

Stuka attack sounds: a scrounged mod with Hollywood siren and jericho's horn sounds and Stuka image for your air support

weapons swaps: renames of various mdr files

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

Just a part of the overall mod. Maybe build up some buzz in the forums. Get some attention. Maybe collect a few more scenario writers?

A mod in your hard-drive sitting unused --

--is a sad and lonely mod.

Edited April 5, 2023 by kohlenklau

[kohlenklau]

So many great scenarios that could be written for this mod. Just by myself or with @kevinkin, we just can't pay justice to what COULD be done.

Right or wrong, one good way to find the basis of a good CM scenario is to look at other games. ASL is one. Lots of scenarios of a certain type. Smaller OOB's. Not giant battalion level encounters. 

Here is an awesome one I would love to try and do.

IN FRONT OF THE STORM

The blitzkrieg in the West had begun. German forces were pouring into France at breakneck speeds. Bridges on the Moselle had been captured undamaged and the advance elements of the 34th infantry Division started to cross as soon as the obstacles installed on the bridges had been removed. One such bridge lay on the outskirts of the French town of Aessan. The job of holding this key objective was given to specially trained and equipped glider troops. As they arrived, they were joined by Vorausabteilung A which had brought up a 37mm anti-tank gun. At midday the 4th Spahis Regiment, supported by Hotchkiss H-35 tanks, counterattacked the bridge at Aessan.

Attacker: French (4ème Régiment de Spahis with Armor support)

Defender: German (Luftlande Kommando Hedderich and Voraus Abteilung A, Infanterie Division 34)  

https://www.aslscenarioarchive.com/scenario.php?id=56361

EDIT: LUFTLANDE KOMMANDO HEDDERICH was a German Army unit and they did not land in gliders. They took 25 Fieseler Storchs! 5 men per plane and it was a SPECOPS mission. 

https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=127886

Edited April 6, 2023 by kohlenklau

[kohlenklau]

Don't take it the wrong way! I feel really great to be headed out of this hobby. I feel I am leaving on a real high point. A personal high point. (But then you see @Damian45 and his great mods and I suck in my gut. Wow. Thank you for helping me on my final CM mod!) I am gonna burn bright these last few months!. My final projects. I will try my best to leave some cool gifts to the CM community.

https://youtu.be/ut27rZUgobQ

 

Edited April 6, 2023 by kohlenklau

[PEB14]

Hi kohlenklau,

I'm in to deliver one scenario. As I'm new to the business I aim to deliver it for the Gold Pack at the earliest.

Here is what I plan:

 

DROLE DE GUERRE

The front is sitting still. Apparently nothing happens on both side. But the war is not funny ("drôle") for everyone; on the frontline, the Corps Francs are active in infiltrating the German front line to probe German positions and discover German plans.

Fictional scenario but plausible and based on historical accounts.

Allied probe. Small or Tiny.

Date: TBD (January 1940 if you plan a France 40 Winter mod! )

Attacker: French (platoon-sized infantry force TBD)

Defender: German (outposts of an infantry unit TBD)