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Section Leaders: August 2000 Archive
21:25 EST The Mod onslaught continues tonight with the latest installment from Maximus as well another new one from Tiger. Check out Maximus's Hummel and Nashorn MOD HERE. Have a look at Tiger's (the person, not the vehicle) new battered Panther A over HERE. Ever wished there was say a list of 30 or so tactical lessons to be used for Armored Combat. Wouldn't it be great if this list was actually written by a German Company Commander with combat experience from the Russian Front? Well we got you covered. Our newest article is entitled Panzer Vorwärts! Aber mit Verstand! which translates to Armor Forward! But with Intelligence! It is a translation of a German training circular issued by the German Armored Force containing 30 basic lessons of armored combat on the platoon and company level derived from the Wehrmacht's experience against the Soviets and it can be found right in HERE. Tonight's POTD was a submission from someone who goes by the handle "The Adder" which sure is a lot better than the name on his email account. Trust me! Seems like the Ami's are having it rough in this one. And you thought all we ever did was Mods!?! -Madmatt 21:45 EST This weeks Maximus Mod Blowout with his latest creation. Umm well.. It's a.. Errr it's a, well lets just say that he let the cat outa the bag on this mod which you can find right through here. Now that he has had his fun I ask you to gaze above at tonight's POTD. I have put in a few of the new textures that make up MDMP-2! Mad Dog Mod Pack 2 is all finished and I am just getting the Mac conversions setup and hope to release this bad boy for the Labor Day holiday (next Monday!). Have a look as my little babies get ready to head Over The Top! I heard a rumor that the MDMP-1 was mentioned in the new Computer Gaming World magazine but have yet to see it for myself. Top of the world Ma!!! While we are on the subject of Mods, I want to let everyone know that I have updated the Submission section (located via the nav-bar) with guidelines and requirements for any submissions to CMHQ. I cover POTDs, MODs, Articles, AAR's and Heroes Corner submissions. The requirements have changed a lot recently but by following them I can get your stuff posted faster and with much less frustration, which is a VERY GOOD THING! Read the updated Submission Guidelines HERE. One last thing is an update to the MDMP section. I have just added some choice screenshots to show you what you get and have also incorporated the little patches to the big files. Any download made from there will now be current and include any of the earlier graphics and sound patches that I had released. Have a look for yourself! -Madmatt 23:15 EST Got wrapped up in some Real Life stuff again tonight so the update is a little late. But Maximus Mod Week continues on schedule and tonight we have some German utilitarian vehicles all winterized for you. The stock German Truck and Kubelwagon. They may not be as sexy as a King Tiger but you can't run an army without the like. Head over to Maximus's own Winter Camo page to grab this newest offering. Microsoft has recently released a new product called the Sidewinder Game Voice. I don't know much about it to be honest but what I have pieced together is it is some sort of voice recognition system with both hard/software. Either way, Combat Mission works with it and Maurice Buttazoni has already cranked out a voice configuration file for it. Its only 6k and you can grab it right HERE until I can find a better spot for it. -Madmatt 21:15 EST He is obnoxious, uncouth and stubborn but I can't fault his commitment to working on Winter Mods for the CM Community. I am talking of course of the frequently renamed Old Blood and Maximus, David Molinarolo. No matter what you call him, and I use a word which rhymes with " BASSHOLE ", he works hard and now has quiet a repository of mods. Many of these have not seen the light of day... Until now! Each day I will be posting a new Winter Camo Mod from David in what will become to be known as MAXIMUS MOD WEEK here at CMHQ. MMW kicks off with his newest StuG Winter textures. This set includes the StuG III's, IV's and even the StuH's. You can pick this up in the Winter Vehicle Camo Textures area in the 3rd Party Mods section. Mod is available HERE In what has been called a match made in hell, Stephan Galambos and Maximus also worked on another Panther A winter texture. This new variant is also available in Winter Vehicle Camo Textures area located right HERE. Many people really enjoyed the new Velvet grass textures posted yesterday but I have already received several requests to 'Grid 'um Up!". Ok, head over to the Grid Overlay Terrain section and you will find this popular grass now with a low intrusion grid applied. So far, all these cool mods have been feeding us with eye candy. Well I am happy to report that someone has finally decided to send in some candy for the ear. You can't have a good battle without a military and militaries have marched into battle for centuries with rousing music on their lips and in the air. Rommel (Filip Svoboda) has sent in several German, American and Italian military marches which can be found in the newly created Music and Military Marches section of the 3rd Party Mods page. Included in this offering is the Battle of the Bulge made famous Panzerlied anthem. Very cool. Check them out right in HERE. -Madmatt 20:00 EST The BIG ASSED UPDATE continues tonight with some new goodies. First up is a new scenario from Wild Bill. This is based on a historical battle near the end of the way by the city of Paderborn Germany. This is the PERFECT Double Blind scenario and we HIGHLY recommend that you DON'T read the historical briefing text before you play it. I have added some spoiler space in the briefing but you will really spoil all this great battle has to offer if you read too much. Another wonderful effort by the Granddaddy of scenario design. Call up your favorite PBEM buddy and fire this one up right HERE. Can't have a B.A.U. update without some new mods and that is handled this evening by Ed Durkin and his new Feld Grau German uniform mod. Ed has re-tinted and colored the gray stock uniforms and made them a much more greenish gray. They look cool and are located in the Uniforms section of the 3rd Party Mods area. You can grab them HERE. The month of August gave us some cool Pictures of the Day that have helped to show off the game and some of it's better elements. Tonight's falls short of those lofty claims but it does show what you can do with the Map Editor! Have a closer look at this fanciful offer right in HERE. I have also got around to updating the POTD Archive with all the pics for the past four weeks. You can find these and every other archived POTD in our POTD Archive.
A couple of people wrote in to mention that the weathered M8 and Stuart mod pack apparently contained some misplaced winter textures for the Crocodile fuel trailers. This has been remedied and if you are seeing winterized trailers just re-install the croctrailer.zip file and it will fix it all up. The British vehicle pack was also updated with a newer muzzle brake graphic that will fix some transparency issues with some of the main guns. You can grab that file by re-downloading the weathered British pack or just grab the stand alone file right here. Beginning tomorrow will be the first day of a week long assault on the senses! Maximus Mod Week will feature all new Winter Mods from this bad boy of the Mod scene. He may not be mobile but he can MOD! We will also have a several new Marching songs to get you into the mood to play Combat Mission. Like you needed something though! -Madmatt 23:00 EST For those of you that have been living in a cave for the last day or so you might want to know that BTS released a new Combat Mission patch yesterday. Details can be found below in yesterdays update. Now then, for the rest of you we have MODS! You people love them and we got tons of them. In fact, for the next few nights we will be releasing all sorts of Mods. Everything from vehicle textures to Military Marching Music. So what do we have for this evening? Well lets review: The biggest one is a whole new set of grass and terrain tiles from Richard Tremblett. This set is called the Velvet Grass set and his by far the best grass mod yet released. Richard has also reworked just about every other terrain tile in the game to better match the coloring of his new Velvet Grass. Everything from the roof tiles to the Church itself has been redone. Both his new grass and terrain tile textures can be found in the 3rd Party Mods area. If you were counting on some new vehicle textures we have you covered there as well. JohnS has again updated his Dusty series of vehicle textures and has also added the M8 Howitzer Carriage, Stuart and Crocodile Flame Trailer to this impressive collection. The newest dusty versions and the additional vehicles are all available in the Vehicles section of the 3rd Party Mods area. If you don't like weathered and road dusty vehicles he has also sent in his Factory Gray Tiger texture. JohnS has really come far in the short time he has been doing texture mods. Check out what this rising star in CM-Mod scene has for you right HERE. Max Molinaro has supplied tonight POTD basically cause I was too damn lazy to do my own. Its a HOT ONE! Check back with us tomorrow and the the days ahead as the MOD assault will continue with new Winterized Textures care of Maximus as well as some new music files and German uniforms! -Madmatt 01:45 EST Why yes, yes I SHOULD be asleep right now but who could sleep when PATCH v105 IS OUT! Yup, hot on the heels of the v104 comes v105!!! This sweet baby has a few long awaited enhancements including visible building damage indicators among many more TacAi targeting and turret behavior tweaks. If you would like to read what's been included I have the full readme file available in the Patches/Demos area. Or you could just as easily click HERE. And once you are ready to grab the actual patch you just need to: Follow this link for the PC version! or Follow this link for the Mac version. By the way, saved games between v104 and v105 are completely compatible so you will NOT need to worry about losing any games midway through. Now you will get to see what I was so busy with all week! -Madmatt 22:45 EST Been involved with some heavy duty testing all week (you know what that means!) so I didn't have time for a proper update. Kwazydog has sent in some even more improved Tiger textures and that's what is currently on display as the POTD. Enjoy! -Madmatt 22:35 EST Ok, I admit it... I was watching Survivor and there is no update because of it. Sue me! If it makes you feel any better I am also testing the next Combat Mission patch and preparing MDMP-2 as well. Ok, here is a new another POTD for you to tide you over. Just like Rich, this Tiger is the sole survivor. -Madmatt 22:30 EST Still playing catch up with submissions and other web work. For that reason there should be a great deal of material coming out here in the next few days. Expect some good news about MDMP-2 as well as all new textures from Maximus and Richard Tremblett. Speaking of MDMP-2, have a look at the POTD and breathe in this awesome Tiger texture care of Kwazydog himself. A legendary talent and a great friend. The CM community is truly lucky to have such a member. Have a closer look. Go on, you know you want to! Now for those of you that just have to have a new texture to play with we have a nifty King Tiger awaiting you in the 3rd Party Mods section. This particular texture is a really cool autumn camo leaf pattern and was done by Fox Keri. This and many other vehicle textures are available HERE. -Madmatt 22:15 EST As promised, we are back. As you may have heard, this past weekend I was targeted by someone with the malicious intent on hacking into and subsequently bringing my server for the CMHQ Annex and workstation down permanently. This had the effect of limiting my access to THIS site (which is run on a separate server) and also brought my Chat, ftp, and mail subsystems all down as well as the entire Annex site which hosts the CMMC project. I was not pleased with this. As such I spent all weekend fixing my system and in the end I was able to repair all the damage with a minimal loss of data, mostly just archived email. I strongly believe that my outspoken position on piracy and my past and current actions against so called 'Warez Sites' hosting Combat Mission was the cause of this attack. I have said it before and will reiterate it now. Piracy is wrong and if it promotes this sort of behavior by those that participate in it then it is also pathetic. My resolve is even more firm than before and when I see Combat Mission posted somewhere I will bring all the powers that are available to shut those sites down. So if you host Combat Mission and don't want a call from your ISP or from the Software Publishers Association than I suggest you remove it. Next time you download that warez copy of the latest 0-day game you think what kind of people your actions are indirectly supporting... Think hard as those same people tried to take this site from you. Sorry for the heavy reading above but it's time someone took a public stand on this issue. Ok, pontification mode off... So now that everything is basically back to normal operating mode what do I have for you? Well about some new mods? First out of the gate are a pair of new or rather not so new, Dusty textures from jonhS. The first set is a weathered set of Shermans that mods all the allied tanks that share the basic Sherman chassis which is just about all of them. The second set applies the same weathering and road dust to a variety of British tanks which include the Firefly, Cromwell, Challenger, Churchill as well as all the British Sherman variants. Both sets can be found in the Vehicle area of the 3rd Party Mods Section. Jeff Pinard has also sent in a set of replacement Exit and End of Battle sounds. They aren't exactly militarily themed but you give them a listen and try um out. This mod is located in the Interface subsection of the 3rd Party Mods Section. This evenings POTD gives us a nice view on a little vehicle that is often overshadowed by his sexier cousins and kin but let me tell you something. The little M8 mortar carriage can dish out some hurt. Test drives one today right HERE. I intend in getting all caught up with the Madmatt's Mod Guide and POTD Archive later this week. We should also have a new After Action Report starting soon as well. -Madmatt 24:00 EST Well I guess I can now reveal what it has been that I have been so feverishly testing. the v104 PATCH IS DONE!!!! Yup, and if you thought v103 was huge wait to you get your eyes on some of the stuff we have addressed in v104! Have a look at the Readme file Here and pick up the copy of the Patch itself from BTS's webpage HERE. It is NOT recommended that you upgrade your existing PBEM save games on v103 to v104. We suggest that you finish your existing games first and then run v104. There are some significant changes to artillery accounting that are the primary cause of this suggestion. Old saved games will still work however, but there are so many changes in v104 it would be best to start with a clean slate. This suggestion is only for saved games that you re currently playing. Normal Scenarios and Operations which either came with the game or were downloaded will be fine and can be played immediately with v104. Ok, so now that you have had a chance to breath again I have one other little goody for you. As you may know I recently ran off to Europe for a week on the spur of the moment. Well it was Germany to be exact and ever since I got back people have been asking me over and over how it was and whether or not I was going to post any pictures. Well it was amazing and the pictures just got developed so I am now ready to unveil Madmatt's Montage of Mad. It is CMHQ's newest Special Event and it's a photo and journalistic trip through my demented existence and those who are unlucky enough to cross my path. Have a look and a laugh right here, I think you will enjoy it! Seems a lot of people are chatting about the German 'Ambush' camo patterns on the Forum and oddly enough we just happen to have a Ambush camoed Mark IV all ready to go in MDMP-2 which should be out soon! Have a look at we have been cooking. Tomorrow should be another big day with a new Scenario which is perfectly suited for double blind play (in fact I am going to make SURE its played blind!), some new game sounds and the much ballyhooed on the forum Dusty Sherman and Dusty Brit mods. This was all meant to have gone up tonight but the late release of the patch sorta of delayed things a bit. So I will see ya tomorrow. -Madmatt 21:45 EST Been putting him some heavy amounts of time of some other CM endeavors so big time updates this week will be pushed back towards the weekend. Now that being said, the CMMC (Combat Mission Meta Campaign) section has been updated with some kick ass info from Head Honcho boy James Bailey detailing info on the our soon to be held CPX test. The CPX for those that aren't cool enough to have heard will be our first real run through of the rules and procedures which the GM's have spent the last several months hammering away at. Give this newest document a read and you will get just a glimpse of the incredible depth of play and detial we have worked so hard to give to the player in this. We think you will be pleased. You can find this and all info on CMMC by following the CMMC link in the nav bar to your immediate left. Couldn't be any easier! And for an added extra of what I have planned for later in the week, just cast your gaze above at tonight's POTD. This stain glassed wonder comes straight from the palette of Richard Tremblett. That's' right Mr. Bumpy and Plush terrain himself and he has a full load of new and improved textures that are sure to be nice and comfy on your hard drive!. Grab your rosary tight and peer into this picture a little closer. I also have some new replacement Exit and End Screen waves files as well new 'Dusty' Allied Vehicle mods and more. Look for these all by weeks end. -Madmatt 20:25 EST Been busy testing some new... stuff. Don't worry about what it is, you will see soon enough! But because of this work, the update had to be cut a little short tonight. What we do have may be little (only a 1k file) but it's very cool and a must have addition to the game. A fella by the name of DeanCo sent in a two little replacements for the default In/Out of Command radio icon that normally shows up in the unit info box at the bottom of the screen. What's cool about DeanCo's is that they are very HIGH VISIBILITY with the In Command being a bright Green and the Out of Command being a warning Red color. I am not sure what we can do for those of you with Red/Green colorblindness though. Perhaps I can persuade DeanCo to put a X through the Out of Command icon in the future. But anyway, this little mod is now available in the Interface, Flag, Menus and Unit Portrait area of the 3rd Party Mod Section. Whew, that's a mouthful. Ahh hell, just click HERE! -Madmatt 18:00 EST One of the cool, hmmm strike that. One of the many cool things about Combat Mission is in how so very often it will do or show you something that evokes an emotion that no other game has done before. I was playing Wild Bill's wonderful tank only version of Elsdorf last night and literally stumbled upon the POTD above. Everything about it seemed so... Real. The winter King Tiger texture is available in the 3rd Party Mods Section if you didn't pick it up the first time around. Have a closer look at this picture and reflect back all those months ago when the Demo first came out... Ok, now that your eyes have gotten their fill it's time for a little more excess. I recently received a nice little present from Desert Fox. That's the right, the same Desert Fox that runs the cool Panzertruppe website called The Desert Fox. Seems Mr. Fox was busy feeding the Mod bug as has turned out two very impressive Tiger E textures. one is for the Tiger IE "3.Kompanie, schwere SS Panzerabteilung 101, Turmnummer 314, Unterscharfuehrer Otto Blase, Normandy 1944" and the other is for a version with The Insignia of 1st SS Panzercorps, which was applied on the left hull front and rear and had the characteristic square cut-outs. They are both based on historical units and can be found in the brand new Vehicles subsection of the 3rd Party Mod area. Then of course you could just CLICK HERE TOO. And to wrap of tonight's update we have the concluding installment of the Fionn Versus the US Cavalry After Action Report now ready for viewing. Fionn covers the action in the last 5 turns and provides a wealth of debriefing info and insight. Movie files are also provided. Head on over to catch the last bit of action. Coming Soon: New 'Dusty' weathered Sherman Mod Pack More improvements to the 'Plush' terrain set with new Tree Bases & more Release Info on the MDMP-2 New After Action Reports Full Weapon Data Tables -Madmatt 13:20 EST Updated two areas in the 3rd Party Mods Section. There are two new mods for the Interface, Flags and Menus section now posted. One gives you some improved Insignia for the Scenario selection screen. The other is a stellar pack of replacement unit portraits which includes over 55 new unit pictures. These are taken from all your favorite movies and historical pictures and are very well done. Some will require a little file renaming but they are really cool. You can find both new files right HERE. One other Mod area was updated and that was in the Terrain Tile Section. The Terrain pack from Angela Deth was updated to include her Ford texture that was mistakenly left out from the earlier pack. This mod also comes highly regarded and can be found HERE.
09:50 EST Starting to get back into the swing of things so updates today may be frequent!
We start off with a resumption of the Fionn versus the US Cavalry After Action Report. We are now up to turns 21-25 and the movies have been included as always. Have a look at them right Here. In the Spotting Reports section you will notice a new link to a Gamespot feature. This is a wonderfully written postmortem of the entire Combat Mission project from start to finish written by none other than the games programmer, Charles Moylan. Check it out for a unique and accurate look at how Combat Mission came to be. Seems good old Max Molinaro was busy for once while I was gone and actually did something without my constant threats of physical harm spurring him on. Have a look as we re-visit our favorite GROGNARDS AT WAR! I have a great deal of files to get through but I should have some new Mods ready later today.
06:00 EST BACK!!! We had an incredible time in Europe but I am back now and need to get on with work. I have a lot of submission material to get through but I should have it all sorted out later tonight for a really good Update. Should have several new Mod graphics as well as the resumption of the Fionn vs. the US Cavalry AAR among other goodies. Stay Tuned! -Madmatt 23:58 EST Seems some people still haven't heard about my plans below so I have done up a little map which details some of my 'travel arrangements'. Enjoy! Click here to see what Madmatt has in store for Germany!
I AM OUTA HERE!!! Something occurred to me recently about Combat Mission. Every battle contains Germans, many of the fights happen in Germany, spread all over the maps are little German flags. Hell I even hear guys yelling out in the German language. And then earlier this week it clicked! I was being given a message directed solely at me and no one else. It was as clear as the LOS tool: TO GERMANY YOU MUST GO!!! So a couple of days ago I went to 11th Hour Vacations and booked me on the next plane to Germany, which just happens to be tomorrow!!! Yup I am taking a well deserved weeks holiday to Europe and nothing you can say will stop me! NAH NAH NAH!!! Many of my European Beta Tester Brethren are cutting short their "Advanced Analytical Theory and Beta Testing" classes run by Lewis to run off to the jungles of South America to try and escape my impending visit but I don't care cause I AM COMING ANYWAY!!! Lock up the llama's and guard the beer barrels! Germany! I can't wait! The land of...of...that funky double dot thing above some letters! Germany, birthplace of...errr...ahhh, SPEED METAL!!! Germany, home to millions of ummm.... Germans! Now then, you have tons of questions I am guessing, so lets go over them... Will the site be updated while you are gone? NO, I AM GOING TO GERMANY! When will you be back? WHEN I RETURN FROM GERMANY! Is MDMP-2 coming out soon? NOT UNTIL I GET BACK FROM GERMANY! Is Lewis an Asshole? MOST LIKELY, BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER SINCE HE WON'T BE IN GERMANY! Do you have any pictures of Lewis? YES
Where are you going again? GERMANY! Does the MadBot really hate me? DID I MENTION I WAS GOING TO GERMANY!?! Now that the horse is thoroughly dead and beaten I actually DO have some semblance of an update for you. Firstly you will notice the POTD today has a brand new texture in it. Yup that is a little Mark IV that Kwazydog has been working on and shows the new Ambush Camo pattern. I also got off my lazy Lewis errr I mean ass and updated the POTD Archive which you can visit right here. And lastly, leave it Max Molinaro to put my impending trip to Germany in focus with his latest and greatest Weekly Picture. Hmmm, I can't believe I got these Concorde tickets soo cheap! Check out his newest picture in his Gallery here. That's it, take care and I will see ya in about 10 days!!! -Madmatt 20:45 EST You show me a unstoppable tank and I will show you a man that is lucky enough to stop it. Not the most elegant of my many sayings but the picture above illustrates this point rather well. Even the mighty King Tigers can be stopped by Shermans when terrain and range are in not in their favor. Have a look at the resulting carnage HERE. Mods! You just got to love um, but many people are finding it hard to keep track of them all. In light of this situation I have gone ahead and made up the Madmatt's MOD Guide. This is a page in the 3rd Party Mods Section that lists all the best mods, in order along with information and comments which will allow you to make the most informed decisions on which mods are right for you. Just read through t he page and download the mods in order and you will be all set. The page is fully linked and you can grab all mods right from there! Check it out, I think you will find it useful! -Madmatt
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