Roster No. 228 Posted June 14, 2003 Share Posted June 14, 2003 Okay, here's something for newbies like me, which the reviews don't mention: The much-ballyhooed "improved graphics" amount to nothing more than "do-it-yourself bitmaps" which the consumer has to manually and somewhat painstakingly apply himself! :eek: Of course I do appreciate the fact that such mods had been included at all, but why not AUTOMATE the process for the customer? Now I understand from other threads on this forum that sounds and terrain had indeed been automatically updated, and I gather that not everything else has been, so as to allow end-user customization (with which policy I certainly concur), but the customization could surely be made a lot more user-friendly for newbies! Something along the lines of, say, CMMOS? Which, BTW, I haven't figured out either...instructions are scattershot, assuming a certain familiarity with "the modding scene"...but my point is that there should be some other way than having the user figure these technical matters out on his own. :mad: I'm afraid this "parents' garage" approach won't work very well with those of us who don't care to tinker underneath the hood, so to speak...we want to install the thing, and just enjoy it from there! I almost feel like I'm in DOS-compatibility hell again...I mean, in going retail, BTS/BFC is obviously reaching out for a larger audience, and most people expect a certain "fire and forget" facility.... And yes, I did read BTS/BFC's included instructions, such as they were (not), on the two .html files which, curiously enough, bear different names but the same exact content! I quote, in relevant part: "The mods we have included on this CD you can find in the Mods directory. Each mod file should have in its zipped contents a text file that will explain in detail how to install it. For some it is as easy as unzipping it's contents directly into your Combat Mission BMP folder on your hard drive. Others may contain their own batch files that allow for customization and extra effects. "TIP: A good rule of thumb is to first copy and unzip any mod to a temporary folder on your hard drive and then review its directions." Actually, no mod contains instructions as such, but designer's notes. There seems to be no mention of what to do with the graphic files, except to just stick 'em in the "BMP" folder. But what happens to the old, original, ones? :confused: Surely a much more "elegant" solution is possible! Should have put the disclaimer "some assembly required" on the cover! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roster No. 228 Posted June 14, 2003 Author Share Posted June 14, 2003 Oh yes...so what the upshot of all this for me is that I've paid retail price (plus tax -- NYC sales tax is now 8.625%!) in anticipation of all the improved graphics and extra scenarios...but due to my own technical incompetence and resultant technical cowardice, I won't be enjoying the eye-candy! Of course, at least I have the additional scenarios...I remain fascinated by this wargame, and do wish it continued success, but I implore y'all to please stop being such "geeks" and take care with regards to the finer details, such as the layman's POV! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edward Windsor Posted June 14, 2003 Share Posted June 14, 2003 Originally posted by Roster No. 228: There seems to be no mention of what to do with the graphic files, except to just stick 'em in the "BMP" folder. But what happens to the old, original, ones? :confused: Hello Roster No. 228. In the above example, your original BMP files are overwritten and lost. Therefore it's worth backing up the folder before playing around with anything, just in case you do something you later regret (which I have to admit is very rare - most of the mods are much better than the original graphics, although this may not be the case with your SE). CMMOS is just a simple way to drop graphics in and out - if a mod is available on your system it will do the necessary to ensure it appears in the game. When you tire of it and want a change, you can often select another version and there's even an option to help you reinstall the stock BMPs from the CD. It's kind of hard to explain, especially for a technophobe like me. I'd suggest you play the game for a while and then see if you want to go to the trouble of modding it. I imagine you will and that after a quick play with CMMOS it will all be much easier than you may imagine. Teddy 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted June 14, 2003 Share Posted June 14, 2003 I thought they were shipping a mod manager :confused: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edward Windsor Posted June 14, 2003 Share Posted June 14, 2003 Originally posted by redwolf: I thought they were shipping a mod manager :confused: I think they did - it was certainly possible with the CDV version - but I'd be amazed if they shipped it with more than a handful of CMMOSified mods to give a "taster". When he finally takes the plunge, installs the program and plays around with it, he's going to want to know where to get the rest of them Teddy 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT Posted June 14, 2003 Share Posted June 14, 2003 Concerning CMMOS and CMBO, I am revamping the entire system. There are new rulesets or more accurately revamped to work in the same was as in CMBB. Mods are NOT unzipped into the bmp/wav folder. They are installed into CMMOS and unzipped as you needed them. So the base game will never change and you just load or unload them depending on your battle needs. I have already done the rulesets, but some minor changes are planned. Some new rulesets were created and I am still debating about some mods, such as the flags. I have finished but need to test the German uniforms and vehicles, summer and winter. I am working on Allied vehicles and collecting uniform mods. The Allied vehicles are extremely complicated and I cannot find some mods that rulesets mention so I am having to drop some options. I have yet to do the terrain. I do plan to work up my theater mods such as Desert Fox and especially the Pacific. I probably won't do the Russian front mod, Frontovik. I might do Fading Hopes which is early Europe. MikeT 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzertruppe Posted June 14, 2003 Share Posted June 14, 2003 I too am not a computer "geek" and when I first got into the Combat Mission games I started out with CMBB. When my wife got me CMBO for Christmas I was disapointed with the outdated graphics. I just spent some time reading post's and tried to learn where and how to upgrade my CMBO. Go to Combat Mission HQ Look for a new mod (tank skin ect). Hit download....when it is done it will ask you where you want it to go......select "brouse" go to your hard drive "c" for me...find CMBO and click OK and the new mod will be unzipped into your CMBO directory. Leave CM HQ....go to your CMBO folder...find the file you downloaded......just copy the BMP files into the CMBO BMP folder. ( you can even click on the BMP files in the mod and "drag" them into your BMP folder....you will get a message asking if you want the file overwriten.....click on yes. When done...just start the game and the new tank skin,ect will be in the game. Hope this helps because this is the "layman" way of doing it. As far as the CDV edition you may have to unzip the files first before you can install them. I have found much better ways to add mods to my games but I wanted to try to explain adding mods as easy as I could.( grogs don't laugh). [ June 14, 2003, 11:54 AM: Message edited by: Panzertruppe ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roster No. 228 Posted June 15, 2003 Author Share Posted June 15, 2003 Edward Windsor: Thanks for your words of commiseration. The theory does indeed sound simple, but I'm running into very real obstacles, such as how I'm to determine whether I've already got some mod or other on the retail CD, in which case I'd just d/l their ruleset for use with CMMOS.... redwolf: no, the otherwise thoughtful folks at BTS/BFC didn't include any mod manager; hence my complaint. Considering that "improved graphics" is advertised on the back of the box, I feel a bit...uh, "cheated", in having to myself apply these improved graphics.... MikeT: Any word, please, on when your planned CMMOS "retooling" will be completed and available? I'm thinking I'll just wait for that, instead of trying to figure out whether I've already got certain mods on the SE disc (and thus just downloading their rulesets). Panzertruppe: Vielen Dank for the step-by-step instructions. I've kinda figured it out now -- in theory, anyway. The concern I didn't articulate in previous posts is how I am to avoid downloading mods which I might already have on the SE CD. For example, I see Andrew Fox' name on www.combatmission.com's mods download page, but it isn't entirely clear whether I may already have these multi-megabyte files on disc.... Of course, now that MikeT -- CMMOS creator, I presume -- has announced a complete revamp of CMMOS (I have the latest one as of 13 JUN 2003, v.4.03), I guess to streamline the process further and bring it in line with the way CMBB mods are handled, perhaps I'll just wait another few months until the proverbial dust clears.... In any case, this whole applying of mods should have been more automated, and "elegantly" so...I really do think BFC and/or CDV dropped the ball on this one. Sigh...I sure hope BTS/BFC doesn't devolve into another Atomic Games, Inc. -- which had also been founded by grogs, but which strangely went out of touch with their fanbase over time...besides much simpler and more elegant mod application capabilities built into the software itself, please, guys, in the next iteration, do include a REC function to the VCR as well! Early '90s sims running off an Intel 286 had this capability.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 I seriously doubt that the guys will ever become "out of touch with the fanbase" And yes I would also love a VCR function, including the ability to merge the movies all together into one great big huge movie. And not just that. I want to be able to edit it too. I think we could probably come up with some amazing looking stuff Of course, it'd probably be too big for most of us to download but at least we could have fun making our own. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edward Windsor Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 Originally posted by Roster No. 228: The concern I didn't articulate in previous posts is how I am to avoid downloading mods which I might already have on the SE CD. For example, I see Andrew Fox' name on www.combatmission.com's mods download page, but it isn't entirely clear whether I may already have these multi-megabyte files on disc....The simplest way is to install CMMOS v.4.03 and then simply dump all the relevant bmps you have (with the curious little "file extensions" or "codes" on the end) into your bmp folder. You'll soon be able to see which ones you've got (the relevant button in CMMOS will become active) or which ones you're missing (red circle with a line through it indicates you're out of luck). If you can be bothered, you then know which ones you still need to track down to complete the set - some of them can be tricky so just post here again if you need anything. Cheers, Teddy 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kwazydog Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 Roster, the CMBO special edition, as it installs off of the CD, is greatly different from the CMBO we were origionally selling. The buildings, trees, and all terrain have been greatly changed since the origional CMBO. I thought this was important to note as I think you are feeling cheated for reasons that you actually shouldnt be. If you download the origional demo you should see the difference . We included the mods seperatly (as a *bonus* on top of our graphical enhances) becuase we wanted to give people the ability to install the mods they liked whilst not having to install them all. Some of the mods are very large in size and on some systems with lower VRAM, installing all of the mods may slow down system performance. We also thought that this was the best way to make sure the modders recieved the credit they deserved for their work, as in the seperate mods they include a text file describing their work which otherwise could very well be overlooked. Dan [ June 15, 2003, 06:05 PM: Message edited by: KwazyDog ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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