Combat Mission Shock Force - Video AAR (VAAR) Contest

[Moon]

CONTEST CLOSED! AND THE WINNER IS...

CplSteiner with "Safe House"

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOUR BRAND NEW MATROX TRIPLEHEAD2GO SURROUND GAMING MODULE!

ALL OTHER ENTRIES WILL RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF CMSF:MARINES OR A STORE COUPON FOR $25! WINNERS WILL BE NOTIFIED VIA THEIR YOUTUBE CHANNEL ACCOUNTS.

Win a Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Edition multi-screen Surround Gaming Module (a $329 value)!

(Second prizes: free copies of the upcoming Module Combat Mission Shock Force – Marines; a $25 value each)

Official VAAR contest page: http://www.youtube.com/group/cmsfvaar

What do you need to do to win?

• record a gameplay video from a Shock Force combat mission
  
• record your voice narration (or subtitles) over it
  
• upload the video(s) to YouTube and submit it to the VAAR Contest Group at the Battlefront YouTube channel
  
• wait until you’re picked as the winner

Combat Mission Shock Force is one of the most detailed and accurate simulations of modern tactical ground combat ever designed. It’s not an action game, but requires thoughtful military strategy and tactics in order to win.

We want you to share your tactics, bold moves and brilliant maneuvers with other players! And we’re going to give you something for it, too. Sponsored by hardware manufacturer Matrox Graphics, you can win a hot TripleHead2Go Digital Edition multi-screen Surround Gaming Module!

Contest Rules:

In order to be eligible to win a Prize, all contestants need to accept the following Rules. Failure to accept the rules automatically excludes a participant and all his entries from the contest. Battlefront.com, Inc. reserves the right to alter the Rules without prior notice.

• Recorded visual video content needs to be solely depicting gameplay action from the game Combat Mission Shock Force, with the latest patches installed – i.e. v1.08 or newer – or from the latest demo version available (v1.07 or newer).
  
• By submitting an entry in the contest, the author grants Battlefront.com, Inc. unlimited, irreversible and royalty-free rights to use the submitted materials in public, in any way, shape or form, without restrictions.
  
• The use of copyrighted materials is not allowed. Each participant warrants that any materials he is using are free of copyright and other restrictions, and agrees to indemnify Battlefront.com, Inc. fully from any such claims. Battlefront.com, Inc. reserves the right to reject and remove any materials from the contest, at any time and without prior notice.
  
• Each submitted video needs to include a voice narration, or subtitles. The visual and audio contents are to be free from inappropriate materials, such as sexual or racist remarks, excessive violence and other offending contents, but other than that can include whatever the author deems fit, e.g. an explanation of the tactics used by the player, reactions to the moves of the enemy and so forth.
  
• The winners are determined by a board of jurors formed by Battlefront.com, Inc. employees. User votings for the videos on the YouTube channel are taken into account but are not the sole determining factor.
  
• Winners will be announced publicly within a few weeks after the contest is closed, and will be notified by email to claim their Prizes within 30 days. Failure to claim a Prize within that period forfeits any right to it.
  
• Any disputes are solely judged and solved by Battlefront.com, Inc., without any form of and right to appeals.
  
• A participation in the contest (submission of materials and/or admission of materials by Battlefront.com, Inc.) does not guarantee nor imply any rights or benefits for the participants.
  
• Members of Battlefront.com, Inc. and Matrox Graphics, Inc. and their families are not eligible to enter in this contest.

Prizes:

First Prize

The winner is going to receive a TripleHead2Go Digital-Edition multi-screen Surround Gaming Module for free. Combat Mission Shock Force introduced full compatibility with TripleHead2Go in the latest patch (v1.08), allowing users to hook up three monitors to their PC for the ultimate Surround Gaming experience! The TripleHead2Go Digital-Edition is provided by sponsoring partner, Matrox Graphics.

For more information, please visit:

[Combat Mission Shock Force Surround Gaming Page]

Second Prize

Runner-ups for the main Prize are going to receive a free copy of Combat Mission Shock Force – Marines upon release. Marines is the first module in the Shock Force series of tactical ground combat simulations, adding the troops and equipment of the US Marines Corps to the game, along with new Red forces, missions and maps, and exciting new gameplay features.

Combat Mission Shock Force – Marines is not affiliated nor endorsed by the United States Marines Corps in any way. The Marines Module is scheduled for release this summer, only from www.battlefront.com, and will cost $25. It is an expansion and requires any version (retail or direct) of the original game Combat Mission Shock Force to play.

Duration:

The contest launches today (June 9th) and will remain open for entries for a period of at least two months. This period may be extended or shortened at Battlefront.com, Inc.’s sole discretion.

Sample videos!

We have uploaded a few sample VAARs to the Battlefront.com YouTube channel in case you’d like a better idea of what a video AAR should or could be. Check them out at:

[battlefront.com YouTube Channel]

[ June 09, 2008, 04:52 AM: Message edited by: Moon ]

[C'Rogers]

Can we submit more than one entry?

[Moon]

Yup, as many as you like, there is no limit.

Martin

[Cpl Steiner]

Are MODs allowed if the author gives permission, or does it have to use only the stock graphics and sounds that came with the game?

[Moon]

Mods are allowed.

Martin

[Cpl Steiner]

Originally posted by Moon:

Mods are allowed.

Martin

Excellent! My US troops are heavily modded right now, with I think the 1st ID arm patch plus random eye protection and random differences in camo pattern. They look cool as hell!

[Dhul Karnain]

great idea. you people have them all the time.

that's why i love BFC. thumbs up

[handihoc]

Does the fact that it's open for at least two months mean that we've still got to wait at least two months for the Marines module?

[Moon]

Not necessarily. It only means that whoever wants to wait with getting the Marines module and see if he can win it for free will have to wait at least 2 months.

Martin

[Paper Tiger]

So how does one go about making one of these videos? I have FRAPS and it will record but I have NO IDEA how to go about editing and adding subtitles etc. I have a bit of time on my hands just now so if it's not too difficult and doesn't require TOO much time, I might be tempted to try making one.

[Moon]

So how does one go about making one of these videos? I have FRAPS and it will record but I have NO IDEA how to go about editing and adding subtitles etc. I have a bit of time on my hands just now so if it's not too difficult and doesn't require TOO much time, I might be tempted to try making one.

Fraps is a good start. For editing, you can either buy a software package (I can recommend Camtasia from personal use; there is a 30 day trial out there, too) or simply do it with the free (and included in Windows) Windows Movie Maker. WMM doesn't have so many features but all the necessary ones are there, and you can cut, create subtitles and voiceovers etc. Pretty easy to learn.

[Paper Tiger]

Cheers. I've found Movie maker so I'll start dabbling around with it later today. Using Fraps to record movies is a REAL memory hog though!!!

[Moon]

Yes, it will be hard to record at hi-quality settings unless you have a REALLY fast system. You should also consider recording at half-size, not full-size. Unless you're planning to release the video to movie theaters at some point, half-size is good enough (and certainly for movie sharing sites like YouTube for example).

[Berto]

I used iMovie on Mac.

[Paper Tiger]

Yes, it will be hard to record at hi-quality settings unless you have a REALLY fast system. You should also consider recording at half-size, not full-size. Unless you're planning to release the video to movie theaters at some point, half-size is good enough (and certainly for movie sharing sites like YouTube for example).

Since you guys will have the full rights to whatever I post, I guess that'll be up to you. 'CMSF: The Movie'.:cool:

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do this as the FRAPS file sizes are GINORMOUS, and I don't have a lot of space left on my hard drive. I'll putter around with it though as I'd really ike the free Marines module. The triple Matrox prize thingy would just be a bill for two new high spec monitors. I can't see me selling that to the wife especially as I'll be touting for a new processor as well as a brand spanking new HD DVD player before the end of the year.

[Moon]

I used iMovie on Mac.

Did you submit whatever you made to the Contest Group?

Since you guys will have the full rights to whatever I post, I guess that'll be up to you. 'CMSF: The Movie'.:cool:

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do this as the FRAPS file sizes are GINORMOUS, and I don't have a lot of space left on my hard drive. I'll putter around with it though as I'd really ike the free Marines module. The triple Matrox prize thingy would just be a bill for two new high spec monitors. I can't see me selling that to the wife especially as I'll be touting for a new processor as well as a brand spanking new HD DVD player before the end of the year.

Heh, well, you could always sell it.

Yeah, Fraps is saving the movie uncompressed. This makes for huge files initially. After you run it through Windows Movie Maker, they are compressed into .wmv format and are MUCH smaller.

[Cpl Steiner]

After reading this thread I played around with Fraps and WMM and managed to make a trial movie consisting of three clips with some transition effects between and some titles at the beginning. However, it has "www.fraps.com" at the top, and the CM:SF control panel at the bottom. Is there a way to crop the video to remove these?

[Moon]

The URL at the top appears on any free version of Fraps (which AFAIR allows you to capture up to 30 sec of video in one pass as another limitation). As far as the contest goes, it's ok to leave this on top.

WMM doesn't have any tools to cut a portion of the video as far as I'm aware. Other video editing software does, of course.

[Paper Tiger]

Groan... well, WMM can't do anything with the FRAPS files because of some codec issue. I have Vista Home 64 bit installed and it's ALL legit so what do I need to get WMM to open these files?

BTW, since the Marines module only costs around $25, I'm definitely NOT going to spend money to do this as I can't see me doing this again.

[Moon]

You shouldn't "open" the files in WMM, but "import" them.

[Paper Tiger]

Sorry, I should have typed import, not open. Anyway, WMM won't import the FRAPS file because of a codec issue. I did a search on the internet earlier and found this to be a common problem with FRAPS but no solutions.

[missinginreality]

I was wondering, where the rules state:

"Recorded visual video content needs to be solely depicting gameplay action from the game"

Does this preclude our adding post-fx, graphical overlays etc?

Cheers in advance

[Moon]

Sorry, I should have typed import, not open. Anyway, WMM won't import the FRAPS file because of a codec issue. I did a search on the internet earlier and found this to be a common problem with FRAPS but no solutions.

Weird, I have no problems at all. Maybe it's a Vista thing?

I was wondering, where the rules state:

"Recorded visual video content needs to be solely depicting gameplay action from the game"

Does this preclude our adding post-fx, graphical overlays etc?

Cheers in advance

Not at all. The base "recorded" content has to be from the game, but you can add post-fx as you wish (subject to the other rules, such as following proper copyright rules etc.)

[missinginreality]

Groan... well, WMM can't do anything with the FRAPS files because of some codec issue. I have Vista Home 64 bit installed and it's ALL legit so what do I need to get WMM to open these files?

PT,

You could give this a try:

http://avicodec.duby.info/

the link is at the bottom of the page for 1.2b110

analyse the fraps file then grab the codec separately. Might work?

Helped me out a couple of times

EDIT - sorry, my bad, I just tried it and it comes up with an "unknown" codec for fraps files.

Howevr, check out:

http://www.virtualdub.org/

or

http://www.tmpgenc.net/en/download.html

for converters

PS And if you're using Vista make sure you install Fraps as administrator. I've just tried it and opened fraps native avi's in WMM no problem. Also ensureyou have the frapsvid.dll in C:\Windows\System32

[missinginreality]

Not at all. The base "recorded" content has to be from the game, but you can add post-fx as you wish (subject to the other rules, such as following proper copyright rules etc.)

Choice, thanks for your very clear and swift reply Moon, much appreciated