Flavor object upgrade poll

[Mord]

What would you like to see in a flavor object/terrain/doodad update in CMSF? Besides water and bridges LOL.

Right off the top of my head, I'd like to see a few more palms, smaller ones, around head height and maybe a palmy looking bush. Also, placeable casualties, carts, a couple beat up, rusty car body husks, and head stones, would be cool too. I am sure there is more but my brain is dead.

I know what a few of you will say but fire away. I am in the mood for some day dreaming...at least until the Marines show up.

Mord.

[Splinty]

Satillite dishes, they're everywhere in the Middle East. In the poorest part of East Baghdada district called Obaydi (sp?), even the folks who lived in mud huts had them.

[Sequoia]

I like most of what you mention but I bet placeable casualties will never happen.

I'd like to see the small vendor stalls you see in third world cities on many street corners. Maybe that's what you mean by carts. You can place a bunch together to make a market place that really looks like a marketplace.

Satellite dishes also come to mind. They're more common in the third world then some might think.

Edit: Posted before I read Splinties entry about satellite dishes.

[Guest Guest]

deleted per user request

[tc237]

Haha, the Satelite dishes, yeah that is one image of Iraq I won't forget.

When we got to Baghdad in mid-2003, there were almost no Sat dishes on the roof tops.

When we left a year later, it looked like the back lot of ESPN or NASA, every roof had like 4 Sat dishes.

I remember that the street markets had stacks of Sat dish boxes piled up right on the curbs, selling like crazy.

To me, the Sat dishes were the definition of freedom. (that and bananas, cause Saddam hated them they were banned, or so the interpreter told us).

Parked cars would be great also.

Probably impossible, but overhead wires would be authentic.

Concertina Wire, Barbed wire, Chainlink Fences.

Tables, Chairs.

Culverts, above ground pipes, Gas Station type objects.

Everything LongLeftFlank wrote about describing walls in his Ramadi thread is dead on.

[missinginreality]

Yes some industrial things would be good - someone mentioned a while back now of just having a few blank geometric objects like cuboids for containers etc that we could texture ourselves. And definitely wrecked/abandoned vehicles would be a good addition.

And goats.

[The_Red_Rage]

-Fortified versions of current buildings

-Some sort of basements for larger buildings (classic tank ambushes are conducted by placing teams in basements and third floor levels)

-Working sandbag emplacements

-Prepared trenches and defensive works in general (from my understanding

Syrians would be deploying according to old school Soviet static defense doctrine, and all they get right now are slit trenches that are barely better than open terrain)

- "Checkpoint" structure (solid defensive position for a platoon sized unit out of concrete blocks)

-Guardtowers/ OP posts

-Prepared vihicle trenches (or at least the "Dig In" option from CMx1)

[missinginreality]

- "Checkpoint" structure (solid defensive position for a platoon sized unit out of concrete blocks)

Hmm, I'm wondering, if BF did provide a generic blank cuboid and [a big IF here], flavour objects could be placed in the 3rd dimension too, we could then go about building our own concrete block/hesco walls, tank barricades etc.

Although I am aware that in the strategic environment as depcited by CMSF some of these things would not be in place, we could still stack containers, block walls etc.

Replete with goats

[vincere]

Realistically cars would have the single biggest impact for me, especially if they provide some limited cover.

Fantasy, well that would have to be fleeing civies. Even if its just a chance of seeing one or two groups per scenario fleeing from the combat zone.

[bodkin]

Yep everything everyone has said plus maybe things like street stalls, buses, oil pipelines that burn when hit, minarets, shoe shine boys, carpet salesmen.

[LongLeftFlank]

For flavour objects, in addition to those mentioned already:

1. Metal shipping containers (like you see on semitrailers)

2. Small outbuildings (sheds, outhouses, big stacks of crates, etc). No problem if you can't go inside them and they don't need to provide cover, just block LOS.

3. 2d decals so we can put windows, pulldown doors, graffiti, signs, hanging rugs, etc. on specific walls. Just give us the blanks; we'll do the rest.

4. If you do vehicle objects, I'd like to see different sizes/types: car, small delivery van, autobus. Also different condition -- intact (parked), wrecked/junk, burnt out wreck.

5. Awnings for shop stalls. This should be a relatively simple mod of the bus shelters, just blocking LOS. Provide a couple of different colours for variety -- colourful and drab.

6. Some earthenware storage jars and wicker baskets a la Indiana Jones. I mean, you've got 6 kinds of trash bins in there already.

7. Can we lose a few park benches and get a table or two?

N.B. Putting flavour objects anywhere but ground level (e.g. sat dishes on rooftops) would probably require a significant programming change to allow us to click the height of an object. But if the building were destroyed, would it remain floating in midair?

More general requests for terrain:

1. Gates (doors) in high walls! I'm sick of having to leave huge gaps in my walls -- it makes the classic "sneak and peek" tactics of Mideast MOUT unreplicable in the game and also makes it too easy to keyhole RPGs on passing vehicles.

2. "T" shaped wall segments, as well as a segment that just goes halfway into a square and ends.

3. Real minarets, specifically ones you can only put 1-2 guys into, not whole squads. I know this would be a radically new building type, but every little town has got one and it's pretty tactically significant. You're gonna have to do church steeples for WWII anyway (yes, I know classic Norman churches are blocky but there's pointy ones there too).

[Mord]

Lots of great ideas. I'd love (and pay money), to have a module of just objects for scenario making, now that I got the map editor down it's something I'd like to delve into more. I wonder if BFC would ever consider farming something like that out? I don't know about the coding (I realize Charles would still have to deal with that part) but anyone who didn't purchase the object module could still play the scenario, just not have the objects in game? It seems to be popular with the Sims, granted they have a crap load more players. It would be cool though.

@Sequoia, Yeah, a vendor's cart is exactly what I had in mind, just couldn't think of the term when I wrote it.

All in all, I have really grown to like this setting and hope that map making wise we haven't seen the end of the line as far as any additions. When the WWII stuff comes out I can still see myself bouncing back and forth between the two.

Mord.

[Field Marshal Blücher]

-Prepared vihicle trenches (or at least the "Dig In" option from CMx1)

You can do this in the scenario editor already by altering the elevation. The only problem is that the player can't move them, but hey, the player can't move regular trenches or MG positions anyway . . .

[missinginreality]

Indeed yes,minarets and "T" wall segments gets my vote too

[afreu]

What happened to the water texture mod? There were some WIP pics somewhere on this forum.

What I would like to see was already mentioned, bridges, T and X wall segments.

[Scipio]

Steve has once mentioned that the BFC policy is to allow moding of the sound files and the texture BMPs, because they don't that everybody can make everything out of the game. I can understand that do some degree, especially regaring third party changes on the weapons systems and OOBs and such.

But I wonder if this is necessary for map objects, too. Do you know the game 'Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'? There is an official tool to add third party objects to the game. Of course I'm just dreaming, but something similiar for CMx2 would be great, too. I doubt that it would be dangerous for the CMx2 sales if people could enter new flavor objects, maybe even complete new buildings.

[The_Red_Rage]

With a game like CMSF there is very little danger from mod abuse. With regards to single player - player should be able to modify the game to their liking. With multiplayer, CM has a very dedicated and mature fanbase with little interest in abusing the system by modifying the game to their advantage. Plus the game is already unbalanced and we wouldn't want it any other way;)

Ability to add new objects will be huge for scenario designers. As a player, I want the battlefield to look less like it was made out of Lego and more like Beirut circa 1982.

[Combatintman]

My list of flavour/terrain objects (well starter for 10 anyway):

Hesco Bastion

ISO Containers

Sangars

Electricity Pylons

Circular Water Towers

Petroleum Storage Tanks

Satellite Dishes

Concertina Wire

Wrecked Civvy Vehicles

Oil Pipelines

[Mord]

But I wonder if this is necessary for map objects, too. Do you know the game 'Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'? There is an official tool to add third party objects to the game. Of course I'm just dreaming, but something similiar for CMx2 would be great, too. I doubt that it would be dangerous for the CMx2 sales if people could enter new flavor objects, maybe even complete new buildings.

I actually brought up something similar in a thread, way back, can't seem to find it now.

Mord.

[GraemeA]

How about walls that are at the edges of the squares (instead of bisecting them) so that they can enclose a surface without it "bleeding out" underneath?

[Mord]

I think the T and X sections were a coding problem, and maybe even the walls on the edges of the squares.

Mord.

[Mord]

Hey Steve, now that you are back for a few...how about an unofficial official, maybe, on the ideas in this thread?

Mord.

[Sequoia]

Since they're saying no new terrain in the Marine Module. I'm afraid that may very well mean no new flavor objects either.

[Mord]

This was more for a future update. I think he'd mentioned way back there wouldn't be anything editor wise added in the Marines. I am hoping that maybe we could get a patch sometime dedicated to flavor objects...or even a release before CMSF is left behind. 15 bucks for an object DLed would be pretty cool. I'd be willing to pay.

Mord.

[theFightingSeabee]

Civilians. And I really love the blank shapes idea too.y9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999997777777***********************************************************kjj

Wow, my kittens first typed words!!!