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Section Leaders: July 2000 Archive
22:20 EST Spent most of the day trying to navigate the confusing world of on-line travel reservations so tonight's update is a little small but still of good quality. Turns 16-20 of the Fionn Vs. The US Cavalry After Action Report is now available and the movies are included for your viewing pleasure. Get all caught up right here. The POTD for this evening shows off the latest mod that is gracing my Combat Mission BMP folder. It is none other than the new Plush Terrain by Richard Tremblett and the texture set is available right through here. Just click the thumbnail above for the full version. -Madmatt 21:25 EST Another Texture bonanza tonight so lets get on with it. First off David Molinarolo sends word that his new Allied Winter Uniform set was missing a file so he sent in a newly fixed version. You can grab that file in here. IX Angela Deth sent in a very nice pack of new terrain tiles. This set includes a new Stone Bridge, Water and Ice as well as a Snowy Stone Wall. Take a look at her work here. Ok, the greatest war movie of all time is unarguably Kelly's Heroes! Disagree? Get your own damn website then! As long as your on mine then you will agree with me on this one! Anyway, we now have a whole Mod section dedicated to Kelly's Heroes. We have some replacement American Profile graphics courtesy of Dan Bergman and a whole 15 megabyte theme song for Combat Mission taken right from the movies intermission. So drink some wine and eat some cheese and put away them negative waves as it's time to rock. Lastly the whining and jealous moaning of those of you with Macs has finally sunken in so we have gone ahead and converted the default Grass and Snow textures with the Grid overlayed on them for you. Go and get grided right here... Freaks! -Madmatt 22:10 EST We have some new Winter Uniforms which are improvements
over the earlier set from David Molinorolo. David calls these
Version 1.1 and they are vice nice and have found a home on my system
(at least for now! SinPoet has rounded some new portrait graphics that you see at the info screen when you click on a unit. He has 17 German Portraits covering 7 different types of units. Have a look at them here. Tonight's POTD gives us a nice 'Tower Cam' view of a Winterized German Attack. Beautiful aint it? -Madmatt 20:15 ESt There is nothing quite like a Friday to end a long week. Thankfully this, and most work weeks always seem to cap off with a Friday night and I can't think of any better way to enjoy it than to hang out here and check out all of our latest updates. First off, I would like to say something about
tonight's POTD. boom... Now then, we can't start a weekend without a proper send off from Max Molinaro now can we? So to provide just the right 'spin' to the weekends festivities we have a new little treat from Max sitting pretty in his own personal Gallery. That bad boy is now well into his 5th page and you can reach them all via our Screenshot Section or more directly right through here. Not too long ago Ed Durkin sent in his own customized Mod which made the Allies uniforms much more weathered and earthy. He has since modified the British uniforms in this set and we now have the new ones in the 3rd Party Mods Section. I I am using them myself and they are very nice and deserve a peak. Grab this, and all the other 3rd Party Mods, in our dedicate section here. And what better way to round out a fat and juicy update than with a new After Action Report update? The Report for turns 11-16 of the Fionn versus the US Cavalry AAR is now ready and the movies are also included. Check it all out in here. Some very important news on the current status of the Combat Mission Meta Campaign was just released today and you can read all about over at our CMMC host site the CMHQ-Annex. Or you could just click this line! And lastly, I just wanted to thank everyone who has submitted scenarios and operations into our Scenario Depot. It has been a huge success and we now have close to 50 battles residing in there! Give yourselves a round of applause, you deserve it! Drop in and see what new has popped up today. Remember, I update the Depot several times daily. -Madmatt 19:45 EST Sorry for the draught of updates this week but I got rather seriously ill and have only recently been able to get any work done. With that being said, I offer up tonight's goodies. As you should all know by now, Battlefront.com has made the new v1.03 patch available. This has a ton of tweaks, fixes and some new security enhancements to the game. Head over to the BTS download page and grab it. It weighs in at a very modem friendly 1.6 megs, both PC and Mac versions are available. Click HERE to view the Readme file from the patch. It's a big Mod night and the first one is a nice set of new Victory Flags. This new set from *IX*Angela Deth offers just about everything you could want. Full size and half size both as well as the Politically Correct (German Commerce Friendly) and Swastika German Flags. Everyone has their favorite Grass texture and Richard Tremblett throws yet another log onto the fire with his newest 'Plush Grass' set. This is one of the nicest yet and includes new Brush, Rough, Treebases and a very nice Stone Wall in addition to a full (20 texture) grass set. Both new Mods can be found in the 3rd Party Mod Section right here. Tonight's POTD was taken using Graphics from the Mods mentioned above and it also graphically shows one of the greatest changes you will notice in the new v1.03 Patch. One of the big changes is in the handling of units moving across open terrain. Lets just say the days of walk in the park MG rushes are long since gone. Trust me! Take a last look as this German Assault is about to learn a painful lesson regarding unsuppressed defenders and lethality. Be sure to take a look into our Scenario Depot as we now have over 37 Scenario And Operations for your downloading enjoyment. -Madmatt 23:00 EST AGHHHHH!!!! If I have to hack my way throw another damn texture set tonight I am going to PUKE!!! While I appreciate all the submissions I am really getting behind on the normal aspects of life, like breathing! I still have mods with new Terrain, Vehicles and more to get up later this week but for tonight I got another load of goodies. Lets begin. First off, per requests on the Forum, we have new SMALL VP FLAGS. This set includes both German flags (swastika and non) and the flags are on average about 1/2 the size as before. For those of you that can't wait for MDMP-2 and the German Winter Patterns there we have a FULL WINTER CAMO PACK from Maximus. This set includes every unit in Combat Mission except German crews and Volkssturm. Mighty Impressive. On the Grid Front we have four new Grid Packs including a really Cool Topographically Colored Grid, as well as grids overlayed upon the Original Combat Mission Terrain and the Low-Res MDMP-1 Grass terrain. As an added bonus, and just to piss some of you people off, we also have a HEX Overlay set. You will find all of these new textures in the 3rd Party Mods Section in the appropriately labeled area and that's ALL you will find tonight since it took me all damn evening just to get THAT done! There will NOT be an update as tomorrow evening I am breaking the Cardinal Rule of Combat Mission Design and actually meeting another member of the team (gasp) FACE TO FACE! Yup Rune and Myself will be hooking up to pound some brews and compare notes on who on the forum we think is the biggest wuss and who's ass we would most like to kick. Yes, that means YOU Lewis!!! See ya Wednesday! -Madmatt 20:35 EST As the weekend draws to a close we offer you a nice relaxing update to work the kinks out of those tired muscles. Now that the Great Grid Debate is beginning to die down we can again focus on what really matters, NEW STUFF. Our first batch of stuff is a continuation actually. Fionn Kelly and Major Chris Carnes are engaged in mortal combat (hmm, cool term, someone outa market that...Lu Kang!) and we have turns 6-10 of the Fionn Versus the US Cavalry AAR now ready and packed with movies to view. Head on over to the After Action Section to watch the action. And keep on the lookout for a new AAR coming from Major Carnes once this battle is completed. It's about impossible to surf the net anymore without literally tripping over new Combat Mission textures. Of course we are just as bad and have another new set for you to check out courtesy of Ed Durkin who has provided a more weathered and earthy color scheme to the the Allied Infantry and Airborne uniforms. Swing by the 3rd Party Mods Section and see what's cooking. Coming later this week will be new texture packs from Richard 'Bumpy Terrain' Tremblett and joint efforts from Stephan Galambos and Mr. Maximus Butticus. ;-) And rounding out this update is another loyal POTD which is now in it's 21st kick ass consecutive week of delivering the goods. This one is simple entitled 1200 points and I think the name speaks for itself. Of note in that picture beyond the forthcoming StuG and Jagdtiger textures is yet another incarnation of the Grass textures (now optimized for game speed and elevation discrimination as well as appearances) and the a very early first draft of the new Distant Horizon Landscape graphic. Zoom in on the goods right over HERE. Note: I have again contacted the web Admin at TGN about the Netscape 'Black Screen' Issue. If this happens to you please notify me at my email address above and tell me: What page it occurs on and what Netscape version you are running. Thanks... -Madmatt 19:30 EST It's called G.O.T. and stands for Grid Overlay Terrain and its about the coolest thing to come along for Combat Mission since... since... Well since the last cool thing. It's pure GENIUS and the key is in the simplicity. Why not simply take an Opaque Grid and apply it over the top of all the Grass terrain tiles?!? Well you can see the remarkable results in the POTD's above. Every little dip and rise is now immediately detectable and clear. Never worry about LOS and getting into that perfect Hull Down position again. Now there is no way to 'toggle' this on or off, it's all or nothing but they are quite cool and really help on elevation discrimination. Before you go and run and beg BTS to consider doing this natively inside the game you need to know that this was looked at but due to VRAM and polygon count issues it was decided to stick with realistic looking, ungrided, terrain. So please don't bug BTS about it! We have three versions for you with more to come. Currently we have a grid versions of the MDMP-1 Hi-Res Grass, the version 1 Bumpy Grass and the Default Snow textures from the actual game. The Low-Res MDMP and Regular Default Grass on on their way soon! The 3rd Party Mod section has been updated with a new page with pictures and info dedicated to these textures and I HIGHLY suggest you check them out. Also be aware that the Scenario Depot has also been updated like crazy lately and there are now 24 battles up there just waiting to downloaded, played and ranked! One standout is a new version of Elsdorf by Wild Bill Wilder. After some suggestions on the Forum he has gone back in and made some changes and tweaked the Reinforcement locations among other things. Check this and the other 23 new battles out right through HERE. -Madmatt 20:10 EST Ever wonder how our own Grandmaster of Combat Mission, Fionn Kelly, would do when put face to face with a man who does this sort of tactical thinking for a living? Yeah, me either, but what the hell, we have the answer for you anyway! In what will no doubt be a eye opening experience for both participants we have another After Action Report between Fionn and US Cavalry Major Chris Carnes. Thats right, it's: FIONN VERSUS THE US CAVALRY!!! They opted for a quick and dirty DYO game and the setup and first five turns and movies are now ready for you in the After Action Report Section. This will be another 'Fionn Only' AAR so that in itself should probably clue you into the results. But then, you just never know. Head on over and take a look! Today's POTD gives us a nice 3/4 perspective view of the latest thing outa the Kwazydog Texture works. Zoom in on it here! -Madmatt 19:30 EST Sorry for the delay in updates but duty has called and myself and the Beta Team have been hard at work testing the new 1.03 patch. We think you will really like this as it addresses many questions/concerns/suggestions made on the Forum recently. Still looks to be a week or so off though so just be patient and BTS will get it to you once it's all ready... Something else that should be ready sooner rather than later is the Mad Dog Mod Pack 2. We also have no firm date but the features are beginning to burst at the seems and reach critical mass. Have a look above at a pair of POTD's that give you the current versions of the MDMP-2 StuG III (check out the improved skirt armor) and newly unveiled Jagdtiger. Bringing up the rear is the beautiful Jagdpanther from MDMP-1. Some one else that has been busy busting his butt cranking out some nice textures is Stephan Galambos. This time around he has updated his Pz IV set with better skirt camo and some added dirt to the vehicles. He also has a nice winterized Panther A ready to grab. And while we are on the topic of textures upgrades, Richard Tremblett has modified his earlier Grass textures and taken a new approach. He has condensed the 20 separate tiles into a new set of three and results are quiet interesting. This newest set also includes reworked Treebases, Brush and rock heavy Rough tiles. Have a look at them all in the newly re-indexed (again) 3rd Party Mods Section. Up on the CMHQ Scenario Depot are some new offerings. I have changed the format to provide some basic instructions on uploads and what the different fields actually mean. Please try and fill everything out as thoroughly as you can when uploading and I will get the files approved and ready as soon as I can. -Madmatt 11:45 EST Since I will be away most of this weekend I have gone ahead and assembled just about the largest update I have ever posted. That's right, it' the night of the: BIG ASSED UPDATE VERSION 1 BAUV1 starts off with everyone's favorite feature, the Picture of the Day. For tonight we again give a view of the StuG III (with fashionable skirt armor) from the soon to be released (don't ask, we don't have a firm date yet!) MDMP-2. Click the thumbnail above to view the full version of the POTD. What's a Friday without another Max Molinaro picture? Well, I guess we won't know the answer to that since we HAVE a new picture from him. So we might as well all suffer together by heading over to his 5th page on the Max Molinaro Gallery located HERE. Ok, since we are on a roll now how about we introduce a new section? Ok, introducing the newly configured CMHQ Scenario Depot! What is it? It is a fully automated Upload/Download/Ranking and Search page for Combat Mission Scenarios and Operations. You can upload your best work and it will track the files by download amount and player voted rankings. Please be sure to fill out ALL of the fields when you submit a new battle as they tend to be a little generic but still fit Combat Mission rather well. This system is the best way to submit scenarios to CMHQ as we are much too busy to personally review each submission. There are currently 13 battles setup and ready for download so Have At It! Now then, the CMHQ Scenario Depot is really serving as a repository for quick and easy uploads. We still have our Scenario/Operations Section right here and will maintain a more in-depth focus on selected scenarios. This section will always provide tactical analysis, maps and briefings and will really focus on efforts by some of the more established scenario designers. And since we are on the subject of scenarios, how about we give you a new one? Ok, done! Fionn Kelly takes a look from both camps of this new ASL conversion from Berlichtingen based on the PP01 "Cut the Road to Marseille" scenario. This is a fun little French armored assault against the beleaguered German defenders. Fionn offers up some very useful tactics and the scenario is also available to download and play. You will find all these goodies in the aforementioned Scenarios/Operations Section right over HERE. So impressed by the size of BAUV1 yet? No, ok how about I inform all you Mac weirdo's out there that the MDMP-Mac Sounds for Combat Mission are now available?!? Yup, 30 megs of Hi-Action version and tweaked sounds are now available for those of you that favor the little Apple. You can get your Mac fix on the Mad-Dog Mod Pack page located through HERE. AND THERE IS STILL MORE!!! The last new tasty treat we have for you is even MORE winter camo textures!!! Yes sir, Stephan Galambos has assembled all his old favorites as well as some new PSW and SPW 250 series vehicles in one new MEGA Pack with over 30 vehicles and guns! We also have all his older packs as well as stand alone versions of the Pumas and SPW 250's ready to snag. Not to be undone, David Molinarolo (Ole Blood & Maximus) has also sent in some new textures and give us his renditions of the SPW 250/1, /7, /8 and /9 halftracks. The problem of having to choose which winter texture to install is one I think we can all live with. Have a look at all these textures in our 3rd Party Mods Page right HERE. -Madmatt 20:30 EST It's just been a non-stop texture fest this week and there no letup in sight. With six new textures from Stephan and David we now have over 35 separate Winterized models available! And I will have even more for you later this week. Tonight's POTD gives you a brief look at the new textures available for today. We should also have new versions of the Grass posted earlier this week along with some other terrain textures. Check them all out in our 3rd Party Mods Section. Also be sure and read the great new review of Combat Mission from Combatsim.com above in the Spotting Reports area. -Madmatt 19:05 EST This Just In.... David Molinarolo has just emailed me to say that he will have even NEWER and IMPROVED versions of his textures (King Tiger, Infantry) ready for tomorrow so you MAY want to hold off on his new King Tiger... For now...
IT'S TEXTURE DAY!!! Well in a literal plethora of texture goodness, Stephan Galambos has unloaded TWENTY ONE new winterized vehicles! This mega pack is now available in our 3rd Party Mods section. Today's POTD is a quick review of all the new textures all lines up for your viewing amazement. David Molinarolo (no relation, don't ask!) has also sent a new texture and while its not as numerically endowed as the other pack, he does have a very nice Winterized King Tiger to download. Get a look at these and other Mods right through HERE. -Madmatt 22:45 EST Just found out the grass textures on the 3rd Party Mods page was missing half the textures! Sorry about that! The full pack (11mb) is now available.
Weather is getting rough here so I need to cut this update a little short. Tonight's POTD will serve as a little sneak peak at a Mega Winter Texture Set that Stephan Galambos has planned for later this week. We will have all the goods for ya right here when he finishes them. Have a close look at some of stuff that will be included in this next set from Stephan. And for those that can't wait for new textures, well, we got some! David "Ole Blood and Maximus" has done up a very nice winterized German Lynx Pz IIL. Head over to the 3rd Party Mods Section and grab this puppy! It rocks...HARD!!! -Madmatt 11:05 EST We must apologize for the lateness of tonight's update but there is so much going on here that it is quiet chaotic. An to think, sill me thought that once the game came out I would be able to slow down some! We begin tonight with a fresh new POTD showing off the latest from Master Mod Man Dan 'Kawazydog' Olding. This sweet baby will be prominently featured in the forthcoming MDMP-2. Take a gander at her right HERE. Our 3rd Party Mod's Page has undergone a MASSIVE upgrade and we now feature new graphics that covers; New Grass Textures, Winter US Infantry Uniforms, New German Flags, Winterized Pak 38 and 40's as well as many models of the SPW series halftracks. There are also winter camoed versions of the Marder II, III and Wespe SP-Guns. So head on over to this remodeled page and start grabbing this treasures now! I am still waiting on the implementation of all my changes to the TGN Scenario Depot for Combat Mission but people have still been uploading files and we now have 11 scenarios available to download. You can get to the depot through the link on the banner at the top of the screen or just use this LINK until I get it added to my navbar. This whole section should be undergoing a massive update very soon to make it more accessible and better laid out. You can subscribe to the email notification system there though and that way you will know whenever a new scenario is added. -Madmatt 18:50 EST Been a few weeks since Max dropped a whopper of a picture and he cerrtainly pulled out a classic tonight! His newest offering strikes such a familiar cord you will be bound to love it. Have look at Max's new fifth page to his own personal gallery right through HERE. Mad-Dog Mod Packs. They are synonymous with quality and features and we aim to continue that tradition in the eminent release of the MDMP-2. One of premier textures in this next pack will be the StuG III. Check out the detail on the rear and along the hull with the zimmerit coating. This masterpiece is from our own master of the digital palette, Dan 'Kwazydog' Olding. Zoom in on these prowling StuG's by clicking HERE. This weeks POTD Archive is also ready and can be found HERE.
And don't forget, if you have Combat Mission News, be sure to click on the SPOTTING REPORTS graphic above and send it to us! -Madmatt 22:00 EST Seems Combat Mission is making HUGE waves all across the online gaming sites and I have posted 3 new stellar reviews in the Spotting Report Section above. Have a look at what others are saying about our favorite little game! Tonight's POTD features some new textures from Stephan Galambos. We have a winterized Marder II textures well as a trio of SPW 251 models. Take a closer look at what Stephan has done right HERE. Head over to our brand new 3rd Party Mod section and see what we have for you. -Madmatt 22:15 EST While he can't best the 'Master of the POTD', yours truly, I have to admit Trent Yoxall has some talent. Have a look at this rarest of the rare, a guest POTD right HERE. You may notice that I have added a new link table above called Spotting Reports and in there I intend on posting news from the various Combat Mission related sites. Since being totally omniscient tends to tire me out quickly I would appreciate webmasters and viewers alike to alert me when they something noteworthy. You can click the Spotting Reports graphic as it is also a email link that will automatically insert the proper address and subject header to submit your news! The initial testing of our own Scenario Depot has been complete and you can have a sneak peak (and check out some new Scenarios too!) at TGN's Scenario Depot Page. Please note that this page is going to be getting a HUGE visual and functional overhaul in the next few days. I just wanted you to be aware that we would be accommodating player submitted Scenarios and Operations. This depot offers: Email Notification Player Ranking Scale Easy to use Battle Submission Form Full Scenario/Operation Search Engine This Scenario Depot is not meant to replace the existing Scenario/Operations page here on CMHQ, rather it is meant as a repository for player submitted work while my dedicated section will focus on fully playtested and analyzed battles. SITE NEWS: Currently the TGN FTP servers are experiencing problems which will make downloading any of the MDMP files impossible. The issue is being worked but we have NO ETA... -Madmatt 19:00 EST Been screwing with the layout and look of the page all day and more changes are coming. The big-wigs at TGN tell me that the Netscape problem with the ad banners should be all fixed but I still have my doubts. A great deal of people have downloaded the MDMP-1 files and many more are just waiting until they get their coveted CD's in the mail. To help ease the wait and to also serve as a sample of what's in store for you with the full pack. I have recently recorded one full turn of a little ambush DYO I whipped up. It is just over 2.7 Mb's in size but really shows off many of the sound improvements that I made as well as gives you a taste of my new Hi-Action sound effects. This wave file was downsampled to 22hz although the real in game sounds are 44hz. Give it a listen right HERE.
13:25 EST Here in the States it's JULY 4th and that means dangerous, potentially life threatening usage of high explosives all across our backyard grills and fields! What better way to celebrate liberty and freedom then to show a picture of a German Hetzer getting the living crap blown out of it? There is none! Have a look right here! We have also added some new patches and sounds to the MDMP page. Two voice samples from the original pack were re-sampled and cleaned up and I have also put up a 50% quieter exit sound. Head over to the MDMP page to have a look. -Madmatt
21:10 EST Seems we made a small mistake in the credits to the 3D rendered South Park picture above. It is in fact from a very talented soul by the name of Juz who runs a cool South Park site at www.sweeet.com I HIGHLY recommend you check it out! Sorry for the mix-up!
13:15 EST Over here in the states it is the eve of one of more popular outdoor holidays, Independence Day. Basically we get drunk, explode stuff in our back yards and celebrate our forefathers beginning a bloody and brutal war with England about 224 years ago! Woohoo! Lorak was the first to chime
in and take up my offer of cross site news coverage and as such I want
to let everyone know that he has recently added some new graphics
replacement files from NightCrawler which change the appearance of the
German flag markers and insignia and return them to a more 'historical'
version. He has also promised a handful of new scenarios as well! Today's POTD is a showcase of some of the work by Mr. Marcel Vie and was sent to Wild Bill who then forwarded it to me. Apparently Marcel took a real shine to Bill's Ramelle SPR scenario and whipped this little rendition up for him. It's bloody brilliant and he has A Thin Red Line one too which I hope to post soon! Perhaps I can get Mr. Vie to grace us with some more of his work as I am quite impressed! Hear that Max? You got some competition now!!! I don't particularly like Mac's. Sure I am bias but it's my website and can pretty much say whatever the hell I want. Ever since I released the MDMP-1 kit Mac users across the globe have raised up there tiny hard to hear inferior voices and pleaded that we do a Mac conversion. Well I really was planning on producing the Gameboy version but I guess we can do this for you since I am tired of hearing all the whimpers. So without further torment, we would like to announce: MDMP-Mac is now available! Ok, now for all the fine print. The sound Pack for Mac's is not ready yet. Don't ask when since we don't know. Soon! The guy that did the Mac conversion is on vacation and won't be back for about another week. So if you have questions, well TOUGH! I don't have answers. I don't know how these work, what to do to get them to work, how they look, how they were done, why they were done or even when they were done. All I know is that they are done and they have a readme file which is supposed to explain everything. So stop bugging me and point your icky Mac's over to the MDMP section and grab them for yourselves... Head over to the MDMP Section for the Mac Download links -Madmatt
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) The sets
are broken up for both Allies and Axis. 