Walt Posted March 7, 2000 Share Posted March 7, 2000 It'd be nice to make a woulda coulda shoulda mod for CM eventually, but from what I've heard it's not very hackable. Will source code be released? Will BTS support a unit editor? I can just picture German squads with all their MP40s and 98Ks replaced with MP44s, and even A P1500 (you thought tigers and panthers were scary! 11" gun go BBBBOOOOMMMM!!!! ). Of course "land cruisers" would never have been practical, but they'd be fun to have in a game! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted March 7, 2000 Share Posted March 7, 2000 From the sound of it CM doesn't seem that hard to edit, but I'm just a lonely Company Commander so don't trust me. ------------------ The names Ash, Housewares Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hunt52 Posted March 7, 2000 Share Posted March 7, 2000 AFAIK, The units will *not* be editable. I think this is to preserve the realism of the game. - Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted March 7, 2000 Share Posted March 7, 2000 As far as I'm aware hunt52 is right. The vehicles (and all of their attributes) are hard-coded into the program. No custom units or user-modifiable attributes. I guess the concern was maintaining an even playing field for PBEM in regards to unit capabilities. The only thing that will be user modifiable (beyond creating scenarios/operations) are the bitmap "skins". Depending on how popular the requests are (and how willing you may be to PAY for them ), BTS may do some add-on packs for additional vehicles/units for the "Beyond Overlord" CM1 (this is strictly a guess, of course). If the code is what I'm lead to believe, then this will require a new executable in order to get these additional units. Of course, work on CM2 will proceed at some point after CM1's release. How soon the developement starts is up to Steve and Charles (and how well CM1 sells). Any add-on packs will delay CM2. Actually, it's kind of funny to be talking of delays in CM2 while we're still waiting for CM1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted March 7, 2000 Share Posted March 7, 2000 Ash (man, you sig line kills me ), we have put in quite a bit of effort into making it difficult to hack. The primary reason is that we didn't make CM like every other wargame before it. What I mean by that is that we don't have a simple and simplistic data file with rows of numbers that do not directly relate to the real world. Instead our data is much more decentralized and is directly related to the real world. If a tank has x mm of armor, the data says x. In other games there is some value to approximate the armor thickness, sometimes for turret, upper hull, and lower hull all in one (we rate each differently). The other reason we made the data tough to hack is to prevent cheating and/or wildly different mods all claiming to be "the real deal". Neither are good for Combat Mission. As of a moth or two ago the data became encrypted. This is not to say nobody can hack CM, but its very nature and deliberate discouragement means it won't be easy. And if someone thinks something needs to be fixed, we are more than happy to hear the case and make the change if we and our trusted experts agree. Been happening like that for over a year now As for Walt's request for funny or alternate mods, they unfortunately go out the window with cheating and chaos prevention. Can't have one without allowing the other. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted March 7, 2000 Share Posted March 7, 2000 Just an offside question for you Steve - does hardcoding the data into the individual vehicles etc make it possible for you to simulate something like spaced armour and composite (Chobham) armour? ------------------ 'Bitter Mike' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted March 7, 2000 Share Posted March 7, 2000 Not really. Stuff like spaced armor has generic code to simulate the physics. This has nothing to do with any particular model. The data for a specific vehicle then has to have some stuff coded up to tell CM where such stuff is on the vehicle. This is really no different than other games. The difference is that in CM real world values are used for stuff like armor thickness, top speed, ground pressure, etc. This means that someone's feeling that x value needs to be tweaked isn't valid unless they can show source materials for why it should be changed. In a traditional game a value for the front of a whole tank might be listed as "8", so personal opinions actually matter since the data is so grossly abstracted. This is why we don't want people mucking around with stuff because we either got it right or got it wrong. And if we got it wrong someone would have to prove that with hard facts, not personal opinions. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted March 7, 2000 Share Posted March 7, 2000 I'm quite happy with your answer about designing the game the way you want and preventing people from 'mucking about' with the figures. I guess what I really wanted to ask is if the Game Engine and the way you've hardcoded things will allow expansion into future scenarios allowing modern warfare (if you wanted) and incorporating such things as the armour I mentioned and possibly AT missiles etc. (Assuming you've already exhausted all the WW2 possibilities ) ------------------ 'Bitter Mike' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Posted March 7, 2000 Author Share Posted March 7, 2000 Could you guys add a unit without having to recompile the code for the game? Reason I ask is, maybe you could release new units over the net like some other stratagy games? Maybe a tank of the month page where you could download a tricked out PZIV, and the next day grab a Sherman mine clearing tank. I would imagine the answer is no, but it'd be so cool I gotta ask any way. P.S. will there be mine clearing vehicles in CM? I've heard varying assesments of their effectiveness, but... Better than nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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