Complete Winter terrain sets?

[Yskonyn]

I read something about a Battle of the Bulge complete winter terrain set, which suposedly was very good and it was for CMBB (why then call it BotB? I dunno, don't ask). I cannot seem to find it.

Also do you know if it's indeed any good or do you know other nice winter (or non winter for that matter) terrain packs which enhance the original graphics?

[Wicky]

Ardennes terrain mod

At CMMODS looks a bit low res as its a port from CMBO from the days of lowly graphics cards

CMAK - ardennes terrain 1 of 2 - Terrain

Unit Modified:

Brush, Dirt Road, Grain, Open Ground, Paved Road

Winter Mod? Yes

CMMOS Compliant? No

Description:

These are personal choices for Ardennes snow terrain Tom Klimisch's TBM mods from CMBO. All I did was renumber them for inclusion in CMAK. file 1 of 2 has muddy roads, tree bases, grain and brush. 2 of 2 has the snow and light snow. Shows elevation variations well.

Designer's battfront.com handle or name::simovitch

There is also nice sunflower field mod that I recommend

[Yskonyn]

Thanks Wicky, but mainly I am looking for CMBB mods.

[Wicky]

"Battle of the Bulge complete winter terrain set" was originally made for CMBO and ported for CMAK. If you get to the learn the bmp convention that BFC uses you'll probably find that this'll drop straight into your CMBB bmp folder and work. Remember to back up the original files if you don't like the low res files.

If this isn't what you were looking for, feel to search over at CMMODS for another BotB winter mod made for CM.

At present there are plenty of mods of all sorts that can be chopped and changed between CMAK and CMBB but do so with caution as the models were sometimes changed.

[Yskonyn]

What the difference between 'Hi-Res' versions and 'Low-Res' versions?

Hi-Res suggests that it would be of better quality, but most of the Hi-res terrain I found is very blurry, while the 'Low-Res' versions seem to have more detail/texture to them.

For example look at the terrain mod made by Captain Wicky over at CMMODS.

Also, do you suggest using gridded terrain sets? I tend to see those as 'table-top board game'-additions to CMBB and completely destroy the ambiance. They are, however, efficient for quicky assessing terrain elevation.

[Wicky]

Hi res and low res are literally what they mean - more a legacy from CMBO which came with standard low res graphics as video cards weren't as powerful as they are now, and modders produced hi-res mods for those who could handle it

CMBB and CMAK use as standard what you could say are hi-res files and if you are having problems with how they appear you might need to drop some of the visuals like trees to low and doodads to off. If you play on big maps with large amounts of forces with all the visual effects on, you might need to consider a graphics card upgrade

Gridded terrains are a matter of personal taste, I use them for as much of the terrain as possible as an indicator of the lay of the land defilade esp' in snow and desert sceanarios, Otherwise the BotB mod and most open ground terrains use a colour/texture gradation to also help in plotting contours of tile elevation.

Try it and if you can't get on with it revert to a more conventional

Originally posted by Yskonyn:

What the difference between 'Hi-Res' versions and 'Low-Res' versions?

Hi-Res suggests that it would be of better quality, but most of the Hi-res terrain I found is very blurry, while the 'Low-Res' versions seem to have more detail/texture to them.

For example look at the terrain mod made by Captain Wicky over at CMMODS.

Also, do you suggest using gridded terrain sets? I tend to see those as 'table-top board game'-additions to CMBB and completely destroy the ambiance. They are, however, efficient for quicky assessing terrain elevation.

[Yskonyn]

My hardware shouldn't be the problem: P4 2.4Ghz, 512MB RAM (400Mhz), GF4 Ti4200 128MB.

Still the hi-res packs seem more blurry than the low-res ones how could you explain that?

What I mean is, if Hi-res means better quality/more details then I do not see it...

[ January 10, 2005, 03:23 PM: Message edited by: Yskonyn ]

[Wicky]

I can't really comment on PC rigs but if I overload my mac hi-res mods such as buildings and skies I get problems - Oddly on a mac the optimum card to have is an ATI 32mb card - Go figure...

Still it looks as if you are experiencing down sampling where your system is resampling the bmps and displaying at a lower res to function overall. This will happen when you have a lot of screen candy and busy large scenarios.

[Yskonyn]

Ah now I see what you mean. Sort of MIp map procedure, but no that's not what I mean, sorry for being unclear.

I am talking about the previews included in the ZIP files of the mod. The tiles shown there are more blurry and less detailed than the original CMBB ones (hope I don't get flamed for this, I am not trying to insult people, its just a technical question).

Take, for example, DD's hires terrain (non snow).

[junk2drive]

If you can learn to use McMMM you can swap out those mods to see which ones you like best.

Even swap in gridded for setup and swap out for turn 1.

DD's are good as is the OSF from Eichenbaum.

[Wicky]

If you are refering to the preview screenshot jpg that some modders include in the mod folders/preview at CMMODS and the terrain looks blurred then that is obviously how it possibly looks and shows that in an image editing programme bmp artwork can look OK but in game, for the before mentioned factors, appearances can degrade.

Also take into account how jpg compression can alter a preview image.

[Yskonyn]

What about the SPI terrain and doodads?

I havent seem em yet, that's why I ask.

Thanks for the extensive feedback so far!

[Wicky]

I've no idea what you mean by 'SPI terrain' and If you've fired up a scenario in CMBB doodads are everywhere - check the keyboard shortcuts to toggle them on and off to see what they effect.

Might I suggest that you rein in your mod lust for a while, play a few CD scenarios and take a note of anything glaringly hideous and as you go along check out CMMODS for an alternative.

CMBB and CMAK were much better out of the box in artwork terms compared to CMBO when it came out due to BFC recruiting artists from the avid BO modders who showed what could be done.

What the CM series all have in common is that none of the games came with winterised equipment and troops due to limitations of CD disk space. That'll be obvious and easily rectified when it gets chilly.

Originally posted by Yskonyn:

What about the SPI terrain and doodads?

I havent seem em yet, that's why I ask.

Thanks for the extensive feedback so far!

[Philippe]

I think he means the lower resolution 'Saving Private Ivan' terrain mods. Acronyms should usually be avoided, because they tend to make the user unintelligible rather than cool.

Not sure how they look. I prefer to use higher resolution graphics, and if that means avoiding larger scenarios because my computer can't handle it, so be it. I (as player) probably can't handle the monsters either, and in any case it bothers me to get involved in an orgy of micro-management if all the little details aren't covered (supply dumps, aid stations, replacement pools, rear area logistics). The game does a better job of modelling smaller battles, and they run better on my computer and in my mind (the voices, the voices...).

Anyone who has ever made a mod remembers what it feels like to look at the fruit of your labors in jpeg. Low resolution jpeg image quality can make a beautiful mod look terrible. You use it because it's small and gives an approximate sense of what your work looks like. Image Shack doesn't host large images, and in any case I wouldn't want to upload them: it's bad enough uploading the mod itself. Uploading, by the way, is slower than downloading.

[MikeyD]

If you're playing Ardennes you might want to check out the CMAK side of cmmod.com for my winter skies, Northwest Europe. Author MikeyD listed under 'other'. Here's the cmmod.com screenshot. Works in CMBB too.

MikeyD's Winter Skies

[Yskonyn]

Nice they look cool, Mikey. I am a fan of your work anyway, so I am sure to check out your mods once I get on with CMAK. Currently I am quite busy with CMBB, modding CMBB and finally winning a scenario in CMBB...

So that's several times CMBB, people, Combat Mission Barbarossa to Berlin... see? No need to talk about the other Combat Mission games and their mods as I was not refering to those. I am looking for mods for CMBB, C.M.B.B.

This happens every time! Once you ask for info about a mod for Combat Mission Barbarossa to Berlin, people start to talk about mods for Combat Mission Afrika Korps and Combat Mission Beyond Overlord... What's so difficult?

Why are you reverting to technical blabla, Philippe? Yes indeed I was refering to the Saving Private Ivan mods, but no need to tell me your problems, go to a shrink for that, please

Uploading is slower than downloa... sjeesh!

To get back on subject: I am currently quite satisfied with a little bit of many mods, I use fire and explosions made by Eichenbaum, parts of the winter landscape made by Juju and Tanks a Lot (yeah, yeah it's old... but nice ), Tanks a Lot's trees augmented by Strontium Dogs hires trees, also his Ice water.

Of course MikeyD's dirtwinter roads to complete the whole set along with Undaunted's skies.

(Not to talk about Juju's and Tanks a Lot's buildings, bridges, shacks, walls, fences, etc augmented by Johnnymo's building sets 1 and 2)

Nice looking overall (winter) terrain, I'd say.

Any additions or changes you guys suggest?

[MikeyD]

CMAK was only mentioned above because that's where the winter skies mod is stored. It's not good cmmods.com etiquette for a modder to post the same mod on both the CMBB and CMAK sites so some hunting is required to locate shared mods.

You can throw this CMAK mod (and many other mods) into the CMBB game too. Just back-up your originals 'just in case'.

[Yskonyn]

Ah, see so there are nice little secret shared skunkworks projects going on which seemingly are for CMAK only... UNTIL you find their true power and they can be put into CMBB too!