CM: Anthology...will it cause problems with games in progress?

[GDog]

I am looking at a copy of CM:Anthology and see that it claims to have,

"97 new scenarios and operations, hundreds of graphics mods, a full featured mod management tool"

I have just recently installed CMMOS but have not familiarized myself with it or installed any mods.

My question(s) is, is this special version of CMBB going to install all of these mods for me that I would otherwise have to download and install individually.

Secondly, I assume I could back up all my PBEM matches in progress and user made scenarios and continue using them after the re-install. But I don't like to assume!

Anyone who has purchased and installed the anthology who can comment, it would be much appreciated.

[Colonel J Lee]

Actually, the CMMOS utility AND separate cut-and-paste mods in folders are available on one of the CDs that come with the Anthology. The ones in the folders have to be installed by you (like downloading files from CMMODS web site). In other words, CMBB Anthology (which I have) has the extra scenarios on the CMBB disc (1 of 3 discs that comes with the game) AND the mod utility (which you already have), AND folders with CMBB mods that you can unzip and paste into your Bit Map folder in the game program folder. I would advise you to copy the original folder of Bit Maps so that you don't have to reinstall the game if you want to remove mods you get tired of (that is, return to the original artwork for uniforms, terrain, or vehicles). Thankfully, there are instructions for all of this on the CD for CMBB (I think it is the CMBB CD). BTW, the CDV discs for the CM series is a GREAT deal - I paid $15 for all three games (which would go for $60 or $70 here at BFC). Also, you get some GREAT mods and the mod utility! I hate saying that, because I really love battlefront, but they seem to be okay with it as they have posted pro-CDV messages on their forums.

[GDog]

I'm sold.

I think I will pick it up as it doesn't sound like I will even need to re-install CMBB to access the mods & scenarios, correct?

CMAK is what I am really after, I recently signed up with the CM group "Band Of Brothers" and it sounds like there is a strong calling to have both games.

It also sounds like I will be able to load all the mods at once if I wanted, or at least have them all ready in a folder to select from and try out.

I'd like to do everything for Battlefront I can also, but it's just to sweet of a deal to pass up, besides I bought CMSF full price...yeah thats it, thats how I will justify this!

Thanks for your reply J. LEE

[Colonel J Lee]

If you have CMMOS, you can use it in conjunction with some of the mod options on one of the Anthology discs (I haven't done it). I use the folders which have mods and cut and paste them into my Bitmap folder. I simply haven't taken the time to figure out the utility or install it. The mods on the disc are obviously NOT exhaustive. David Inglett from this forum has a wonderful site, CMMODS.COM where you can download mod folders and paste them into your bitmap folder for the game -- for free!

If you do not save and rename the original bitmap folder, though, you will not be able to get original graphics for any units without removing and re-installing the game. So copy the BMP folder and rename it something like "BMP originals" and then you can start dropping mods into the CMBB BMP folder. Have fun, Gdog.

[British Tommy]

I use the McMMM mod program which allows you to install and uninstall mods which means the original BMP graphics are still there if you want them. The program is very easy to use plus, it can be used for CMBO, CMAK and CMBB.

[Sivodsi]

Really I don't think its necessary to buy CDs just because of the extra scenarios. Go to the scenario depot and the the proving grounds for new scenarios (probably including anything that's on the CD, but if not who cares?). There are quite a few other sites that have quality scenarios downloadable for free.

For mods, anything that CMMOS can do, MCMMM can do, and MCMMM can also deal with any zipped mod that is at CMMODS.

Of course, its your money, so buy it if you want. Helps the economy and adds to global warming.

[Colonel J Lee]

That's true about the scenarios. The Scenario Depot is great and I've downloaded a few from there. The advantage of buying the CDV anthology is the price. That's the only reason I bought it. The other stuff is "gravy" (bonus material).

BRITISH TOMMY/ SIVODSI: what is McMMM? I have never heard of it! Is it superior to CMMOS and easier to install/use?

[Philippe]

Just to clarify, McMMM is very good for wholesale mod swaps. I don't think it is as good as cmmos for making changes to the options on a mod.

An example of the difference if you push CMMOS to the limit would be Darknight's 21rst Army Group mod. It uses Andrew Fox uniforms as its base, but allows you to select any commonwealth unit in the European theater of operations and switch in its actual shoulder patches. I haven't counted but there must be well over a hundred different units in there. That's very different from having to decide to use the BTS texture or the ATF texture.

The downside to CMMOS is that it only exists in fully developed form (98 percent) for CMBO. It covers about 40 percent of what is out there for CMBB, and has very little coverage of CMAK. The basic problem with CMMOS is that it requires editors to convert mods to CMMOS format by writing rules for the program to read. CMBO was completely covered, but at some point along the line editors began noticing that they spent all their time writing rules rather than making mods or (god forbid) playing the game. CMMOS is a wonderful program, but people don't write rulesets for it very often.

I haven't seen the Anthology, but I'm assuming it uses the same material that was in the CMBB Special Edition. It is worth noting that the version of CMMOS found at CMHQ in the CMMOS section is a better and more recent one than the one on the SE disk. There are also many more CMMOS mods at the CMHQ site, which tends to have more recent versions of the ones on the disk.

Having said all that, the best place for recent mods (anything more recent than three years ago) is CMMODS. It has a few CMMOS mods that don't show up at CMHQ (such as Darknight's 21rst Army Group CMBO mod and some wonderful CMBB Tigers by Gordon Molek, the programmer who wrote the CMMOS code), but almost everything is in normal format (which is just fine for McMMM, except that you miss the options unless you spend a lot of time making multiple versions of each mod).

CMMODS also has a collection of about a thousand CMAK scenarios sorted by geographical area, and will soon have an equally large collection of CMBB scenarios sorted chronologically.

[Sivodsi]

Nice summary, Phillippe.

Its safe to say that the less you play CMBO, the less CMMOS becomes necessary. I don't have CMBO, and am not such a stickler for detail, so McMMM is more useful for me.

McMMM can be acquired from the mods database.

[ November 15, 2007, 08:05 AM: Message edited by: Sivodsi ]

[GDog]

Originally posted by Sivodsi:

Nice summary, Phillippe.

Its safe to say that the less you play CMBO, the less CMMOS becomes necessary. I don't have CMBO, and am not such a stickler for detail, so McMMM is more useful for me.

McMMM can be acquired from the mods database.

wow thanks for the info, from what I can tell McMMM is another Mod manager like CMMOS?

Still trying to get a handle on mods, I have yet to even load one so far...

Thanks again

[Philippe]

To get a handle on what's involved with mods you should probably try a few manual ones first.

A couple of things to remember: be organized and be redundant!

And never, ever, ever dump something directly into your bmp, scenario, or wav folders that you haven't thoroughly examined first.

Set up a folder in Program files called something like CMBB Mods. If you have a big hard drive, it might not be a bad idea to copy your bmp, scenario, and wav folders and put them in the mod folder with a name like bmp_original. That way you'll always have a back-up ready at hand. And it's very useful to have the originals in a separate place when you end up heavily modded.

To get a feel for how this works, pick something small and discreet, like a particular model of a tank. Then go set up a really small QB that only has that model of tank as one side, and save it.

Find someone's mod of that tank. Make a folder with the name of that tank on it. Inside that folder make two more folders -- one entitled BTS, and one with the name of the mod maker. Download the mod and unzip it into the mod folder with the mod maker's name on it. Then take a careful look at the bmp's in the mod -- go into the bmp_original folder that you made a few steps back and copy the same bmp's that are in the mod into the BTS folder. So what you now have is a folder called Tank with two subfolders: Tank/BTS and Tank/Modder. These two folders have the same bmps in each of them, though the modder's folder also has a few text files, a few option bmp's, and a few pictures of his mod.

You're now in a position to switch back and forth between between the modders textures and the original BTS textures pretty much at will. It's a fair amount of work, and mod managers will make your life much easier, but unless you get the basics down you may find that you have a thick residue of unidentifiable odds and ends in the bottom of your bmp folder, and some of your mods just don't look right (usually because of overlap that you can't sort out because you didn't read the modders readme file).

Once you get comfortable swithcing back and forth manually, you should then let McMMM and CMMODS do the work for you. I also suspect that you could trick McMMM into doing everything that CMMOS can do, but it would involve a lot of manual effort.

By the way, mods only effect your own game. The only thing that has an impact on anybody else is the scenario you're playing.