Invasion 1944 v2.6 (CO)

[Gunter Severloh 3948]

I think he has removed the burning tank crew running from the wreck for realism purposes

Should make that as an option, I prefer realism but being a game an extra feature for burning crew would add to the fun, just think the crew is

burning and running around, that means their not dead yet, you could shoot them too, but if you were to keep this feature and make it as an option,

then maybe make it random so every tank you destroy like 3 in a row or something silly you dont see 9 guys running around on fire all screaming, lol that be like a 4rth of July circus!

[PacUK 1]

burning tank crew was a really impressive and spectacular feature

Well all it was is the flamethrower effect which still exists, but I was trying to get Animosity to make it a very rare chance thing. So maybe we'll sneak it in somewhere again.

UK players who didn't catch it should try and catch Mark Urban's "Tankies" on the iPlayer. First part covers early war and desert, second part Normandy and beyond. Reasonably technical with some good footage - Urban was a Chieftain commander in his youth.

Yeah highly recommend it, a very good watch.

then maybe make it random so every tank you destroy like 3 in a row or something silly you dont see 9 guys running around on fire all screaming, lol that be like a 4rth of July circus!

Part of the problem is the old system was a bit bugged, nearly every tank was insta-cooking off and setting a lot more people on fire than was generally intended. The feature was always just a cool little bit Macolik added after his flamethrower work. But the way tanks are knocked out now is very different and has quite a few stages so a lot of the time the tanks been disabled not destoryed or blowing up which sends the crew running away. We'll see what happens in the long run.

Just finished the 100 player battleground tests, tracked down a lot of little bugs that I need to go back and refix in the standard ones that should keep me busy today. My plan is to overhaul all classes and tweak a couple more pieces. I've noticed a lot of confusion as to who's who while playing with certain classes that I want to try and address too, by using more distinctly different units on the missions. Also the old marker system is finally working which displays all units on the map so you can actually see where the fight is and enemies massing for attacks and such that should prove to make for a much tighter experience with less blind wandering and people getting lost on unfamiliar terrain. As always I'll be looking to get feedback on these so if people don't like some of the changes its very easy to roll most of them back. But so far playing solo at least it seems like a huge improvement!

The main change has been the class list, I noticed a lot of units such as medics and engineers went unused. So I've switched the guns about a bit and added a couple more fun ones to make things a bit more varied where possible:

Sniper - K98k/Springfield, added extra mags for full ammo

Soldier - G43/Garand, added extra mags for full ammo

AT - G43/Carbine, 3 rockets, removed rifle grenades

MG - MG42/30 cal, maps using us airborne will now use A6 with stock/bipod

Medic - Mp40/Thompson, smoke grenades

Engineer - Mp43/BAR, satchel + mines (/bangalores for d-day)

Soldiers will still form the core units with their long range accurate rifles, and grenades for clearing out areas. AT soldiers now have enough ammo to actively engage tanks before rearming with a better chance at defending themselves but not sustain a firefight with their limited rifle ammo. MG's are still vital support able to lay down heavy suppression (causing visual and physical effects on players and AI). Medics now make for great squad leaders and support units able to both engage and cover units during an attack with their smoke and automatic weapons who can then reinforce and heal players. Engineers now make ideal defensive units with much more firepower they are ideally suited to holding flags or setting up ambushes around vital points. While snipers now carry enough ammo not to have to abandon good positions too quickly to rearm.

If the gametype continues to be popular there are still features that we'd love to see implemented but again its only worth our time doing this work if the players want and use these maps and the active servers support them! I've had a blast everytime I've had an opportunity to play the current ones and the new classes changes have really added a lot. It would be awesome to see 100 players running about battling for control in I44 so I hope it goes down well. Currently there's just one map featured, a slightly expanded version of the current Neaville with different capture positions the make a better use of the maps features and landscape. I'm hoping I'll have time to add another for this release but if time gets a bit too short you guys will at least have its template to use to create more. Anyway enough rambling I really should get back to work on this release!

[ProfTournesol 956]

It took me some times to understand that Animosity is actually someone. Silly me.

Edited January 22, 2013 by ProfTournesol

[PacUK 1]

Heh yes Animosity242, not some angry fella sat in the corner shouting and cursing at me to work :D Some of you might have made it onto the 82nd's server yesterday, we were giving the new 50v50 Battlegrounds mission template a run and it looks to be great fun. I'm adding in some final balance fixes that should help a lot, thanks to everyone who was on!

On the 2.64 front I found a few more little bugs that I've fixed up so the release is now looking pretty tight. If all goes smoothly I should have time to fix the current battlegrounds with a few new fixes and improvements used on the 50v50 template, and if there's any time after that I'll be looking at doing more 100 player missions across the other maps (Neaville is currently the only one). Looks promising that we'll release this weekend though!

[konyo 14]

I made this Trailer/Teaser today for Invasion 1944 :D

Edited January 23, 2013 by konyo

[PacUK 1]

Cool video! The voiceover had me give a little chuckle, we might have to poke you for some voiceover work sometime heh! Great stuff!

Now onto a little business, any bright scripters out there that can spare a few minutes to a amateur like myself, I've been trying to incorporate a very simple teleporter script for group members to jump to their squad leaders position by using an action attached to a flag. I think I have it working, but don't actually have anyway to test it multiplayer, so if someone could give it a quick look over and let me know I'd appreciate it, before I slip it into this rather epic D-Day 50vs50 Battlegrounds, you can view the script here: http://pastebin.com/hJv84KfU any feedback or improvements are welcome, again this is super basic scripting level so feel free to point and laugh!

Onto some lovely pics, well not that lovely as I had my gfx at normal gameplay settings, not super prettified but here's a quick glimpse at the new Battlegrounds I am attempting:

The map covers most of Omaha with Rangers landing at the D-3 draw (hopefully the landing sequence will work, and give the Germans time to man the defences!):

WN68 overlooking the beach must be captured by the Germans to prevent American Armor from making it off the beach:

St Laurent holds the key to the route inland for the Americans, with WN67 to the north east its also a last chance for the Germans to keep the Americans on the beach:

The crossroads east of Colleville must be taken by the Americans so supplies and reinforcements and push on the large town of Cabourg and prevent German Armor pushing up from the South:

Colleville's church holds a commanding view over the nearby terrain, allowing either side to direct mortar fire on approaching enemy forces:

A small group of US Airborne hold the town of Cabourg against overwhelming forces until Armor from the beaches arrive to secure the area.

This Battleground has a few special features, such as the squad leader teleport to support its use of most of the map, armoured units can only be used by units of the same side (though soft vehicles and static weapons are fair game), certain german static weapons (primarily the beach defences) can be knocked out permanently and do not respawn, US Airborne start in control of Cabourg but cannot use any armored vehicles including ones from their own side (free to use soft vehicles and statics however). One of the main differences is both sides forces start off scattered across the map, with the Rangers (currently pending script tests) landing ashore and 101st inland the Germans must use their established footholds and strongpoints to their advantage. It looks to be a really exciting spin on Battlegrounds and I hope the new improvements will make it even more fun to play. Fingers crossed everything goes as planned and we should have things out to you all this weekend.

[domokun 515]

I've got to agree with you on the voice-over, it was great though I thought the script was little hackneyed.

Actually I'd be happy to contribute to I44 as a voice-over, though I'm rather British sounding :D

PM if you're interested.

v2.4 looks awesome. I can't wait to join my first 50v50.

BTW I know it sounds like a silly detail but is there any chance of replacing the compass and watch on the map with more authentic ones?

[giallustio 770]

@Pac

Why did you choose that approach?

Maybe there's a reasone, this is why i asked, but i prefer something like:

_group = group player;
_leader = leader _group;
if (_leader != player) then
{
titleText ["Get Ready", "BLACK OUT"];
sleep 3;
titleText ["Get Ready", "BLACK FADED"];
sleep 2;
titleText ["", "BLACK IN"];
player setPos (getpos _leader);
};

Obviously my 2 cents ;)

[PacUK 1]

BTW I know it sounds like a silly detail but is there any chance of replacing the compass and watch on the map with more authentic ones?

Not silly, it is something that's always kinda nagged at me, unfortunately interface stuff was never something we knew how to fiddle early on, and once we knew how just one of those things we never had time to change. Hopefully one day, if anyone wants to do the gfx for them, or just provide some decent references to the pieces used back them, we can see about it for 2.7 :)

Why did you choose that approach?

Well my main concern is ArmA2 likes to fuck with groups, changing the leader when they died or became incapacitated with our wounding system, thats why I went for such group specific setup. Plus that I suck at scripting :D Originally I had planned to have it do several checks before setting the position, checking the group of the unit, that the preset unit leader was alive, and that the user wasn't also the unit requesting the teleport. When I failed miserably at that I went for a much simpler check as it was all I could get to work. Thanks for the variation its always great to look at how others would do it!

[mr pedersen 41]

Count me in on the battlefield!!

[domokun 515]

BTW thank you VERY much for pointing me towards that Tankies TV series.

It served as a reminder just how much better Panzers were compared to everything else and just how poor British tanks were.

I can't wait to get stuck in with v2.7.

A solid documentary delivered in a typically under-stated tone, typically plummy.

[PacUK 1]

Probably a slip but you won't have to wait for 2.7 for the tank improvements, they're coming in 2.64 which if all goes well should be out in the next day or so, get your tank crews ready!

[domokun 515]

Not silly, it is something that's always kinda nagged at me, unfortunately interface stuff was never something we knew how to fiddle early on, and once we knew how just one of those things we never had time to change. Hopefully one day, if anyone wants to do the gfx for them, or just provide some decent references to the pieces used back them, we can see about it for 2.7 :)

Superb! I'll have a look about at what might constitute a suitable replacement. But to be fair it might be tricky finding a credible alternative that was used by BOTH Axis and allies. Looking forward to the weekend. Take it easy in the big smoke.

[archsceptic. 10]

BTW thank you VERY much for pointing me towards that Tankies TV series.

It served as a reminder just how much better Panzers were compared to everything else and just how poor British tanks were.

I can't wait to get stuck in with v2.7.

A solid documentary delivered in a typically under-stated tone, typically plummy.

Unfortunately, as in a lot of pop-history programs, a lot of the same old myths get perpetuated about tank warfare in WW2. A lot of things get left out, whether it is for practical purposes - because they can only fit a certain amount into a specified tv slot - or whether it is poor research - I don't know.

If you want to get a better understanding of the big picture about pro's and con's of Allied tanks in the 2nd World War I would recommend having a look at the link below from the armchairgeneral.com forum and having a good read through the thread - that was contributed to by some very knowledgeable people. I think you'll be glad you did.

Hate to ask: Were any of the W. Allied tanks good?: http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59604

[jiltedjock 10]

Unfortunately, as in a lot of pop-history programs, a lot of the same old myths get perpetuated about tank warfare in WW2. A lot of things get left out, whether it is for practical purposes - because they can only fit a certain amount into a specified tv slot - or whether it is poor research - I don't know.

If you want to get a better understanding of the big picture about pro's and con's of Allied tanks in the 2nd World War I would recommend having a look at the link below from the armchairgeneral.com forum and having a good read through the thread - that was contributed to by some very knowledgeable people. I think you'll be glad you did.

Hate to ask: Were any of the W. Allied tanks good?: http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59604

The specifc programme, two hours long, we are talking about was contributed to entirely by the people who fought in the tanks in question. Specifically, the last surviving members of 5th Tanks, who went through France, Western Desert, Italy, and France again as members of 7th Armoured. One of whom, and I paraphrase, reckons the designers of the Cromwell should have gone on trial for murder.

Points of detail - fuel type, parts availability, reliability, armour slope - were addressed in the programme.

Edited January 26, 2013 by jiltedjock

[PacUK 1]

I just wish there were a couple of more episodes, would have loved it if they had spent an episode in each of the tanks they had used and expanding a bit more on the others in use, some info on the hobart funnies would have been great to see! Great show though I recommend it to all!

2.64 is all packed up and ready to go, just getting it onto filehosts and such now so it should be with you all pretty shortly, keep an eye out!

[archsceptic. 10]

I know all about the two part program that is being talked about, I watched it, and there is a fatal flaw in the programs that is repeated in these types of 'documentaries' that is served up time and time again. The very important issue to remember is that anecdotal evidence is not, and I repeat, not scientific evidence.

You cite one of the contributors mentioning that the designers of the Cromwell should have gone on trial for murder. But the documentary did not, for example, quote a Major from the 7th Armoured Div. who wrote a letter to a factory very close to where I live - which played a big part in the development of the Cromwell, telling the factory workers that he wished they could have seen the Cromwell's tearing through the Northern French and Belgian fields in their lightening 200 mile advance through to Brussels, Liege and Antwerp. The Cromwell's were able to advance quicker than the German's could retreat - and only had to halt when supply lines were over-extended. The same old negative cliche's get repeated in these pop-history programs over and over again - they very rarely mention the positive aspects of the western allied armor.

Cromwell's and Sherman's took part in the Berlin victory parade. King Tiger's, Jagdtiger's and Tiger's took part in no victory parades. The most oft repeated rebuttal to this usually is that the reason for this is the overwhelming allied superiority in air power, but this is a red herring. During the Mortain counter offensive by the Germans against the "Cobra" breakout from Normandy for example, British 2nd tactical airforce's help was requested by the American's to deal with the German offensive. British and Commonwealth pilots in 2nd Tactical claimed (anecdotaly) over 400 German tanks destroyed. Later inspection of the battlefield found the claims by the pilots to be over exaggerated by a factor of 97%. Air power was very good against soft skinned targets - not, upon closer inspection armor. Rockets and bombs very, very rarely scored direct hits on tanks. Soft skinned vehicles of course, don't require direct hits to knock them out - an adjacent hit will do the trick.

The strategic imperative for the western allies was for mobile, versatile, fuel economic, medium tanks that had better HE capability than AP capability, simply because statistically the gravest threat to allied tank crews were infantry manned anti tank guns and infantry with LAW weapons - not King Tiger's, Jagdtiger's and Tiger's - these were relatively very rarely encountered. Most armor encountered was usually Panthers 4 and 5 or SP guns that the 75mm M3 armed Cromwell's and Sherman's could defeat. The British did of course have the 17pdr to call on when needed, that could make an economic mockery of a Tiger or King Tiger. Eight of the very few King Tigers that for example took part in the Goodwood battle - two were brewed up by a Firefly almost as soon as they appeared on the battlefield, a third slipped into a bomb crater and could not climb out due to its own weight - and the rest fell back.

The western allies were up against constant ambush style warfare, where nothing in practical terms was going to protect tank crews from well concealed, well camouflaged and dug in 88mm's and 75mm's. The tank crews would have needed to have sat behind 250mm of hardened steel to be protected from such. It was never going to be practical or feasible to mass produce these types of vehicles. The best defense against the above was mobility and good HE capability - this is the fact of the matter - and, for some reason always gets left out of these programs. Fuel type is also a myth when it comes to "brewing up" stories, whether your tank engine relies on diesel or petrol is going to be very much a secondary concern to you when you have a tank full of yet-to-be-fired HE shells and their propellent exploding all around you. It's very unfortunate that this poor research gets regurgitated time and time again.

Edited January 27, 2013 by archsceptic.

[PacUK 1]

Invasion 1944 v2.64 Released!

V2.64 Changelog-

- [2.64] NEW Tank damage system overhaul by Animosity242.
- [2.64] NEW Doctor, and AT units added to Resistance, all units given backpacks.
- [2.64] NEW Panzerfaust 100 units added to German Factions.
- [2.64] NEW Fallschirmjager winter faction added to Germans.

- [2.64] FIXED Universal Carrier now takes damage.
- [2.64] FIXED Churchill front hatches added, commander view.
- [2.64] FIXED Panzer IV exploding on its own/small arms fire.
- [2.64] FIXED Panther & Tiger gear change volume corrected.
- [2.64] FIXED Panther distant texture, commander position, gunner sight foliage.
- [2.64] FIXED SdKfz234/2 Commander turned out view.
- [2.64] FIXED Hetzer missing portrait.
- [2.64] FIXED Hetzer gunner sights.
- [2.64] FIXED Sherman Wading tank mis-named DD.
- [2.64] FIXED Halftrack and Ju52 missing sounds.
- [2.64] FIXED Fallschirmjager texture appearing too bright.
- [2.64] FIXED G43 rear sight widened.
- [2.64] FIXED Backblast smoke reduced (should decrease lag and slow fps).
- [2.64] FIXED Slightest of tweaks to Thompson recoil.
- [2.64] FIXED Neaville Winter distant green colour.
- [2.64] FIXED Neaville foliage geometry's credit: Robster.
- [2.64] FIXED Omaha_v2 and Neaville weather configs.
- [2.64] FIXED Chernarus (and other maps) weather and sea issues.

MP Missions:

[NEW] 
I44_C&H_Battleground_100_v103D.MCN_Neaville - Expanded 50v50 player Neaville mission.
I44_C&H_Battleground_100_v104b.I44_Omaha_v2 - D-Day Invasion 50v50 beta (still a WIP), works slightly different read the briefing for information!

[uPDATED]
All 1.03D Battlegrounds updated with the following:
-New class loadouts
-Fixed vehicle respawn when damaged/abandoned
-Added unit markers (both sides) visible in Recruit/Regular difficulty modes
-Couple other odd tweaks and fixes that should improve gameplay


Armor damage overhaul:

The new Tank Damage system incorporates a level of realistic armor penetration features not seen before in a first-person game.

Research stems from countless historical manuals, modern research books, and historical accounts.

Features Include:

Calculations for:
Armor Thickness
Armor Slope
Shot Placement
Impact Obliquity (Shots that impact at angles other than straight on, including rounded gun mantlets)
Shell Type (AP, APC, APCBC, APCBCHE, HEAT (shaped-charge), HE, APCR)
Shatter Gap
Armor Quality
Cast Armor
Face-Hardened Armor
Flawed Armor

Behind Armor Effects are also calculated for shell types, caliber, and velocity.
Effects Include:
Crew Wounding based on shot placement
Gun Damage
Track Damage
Engine Damage/Fire
Crew Compartment Fires

-Download and Installation-

Click the button below for instructions on how to download and install Invasion 1944 using Play withSix:

Archive versions available soon on Armaholic and ModDB.

[archsceptic. 10]

Thanks for this latest version guys, although I'll have to wait for an archived version as I can't get on with Play with six, it seems to be mainly set up to aid online players, and I'm strictly offline and doesn't seem to function for me the way it should - whether it's my anti virus (avast!) I don't know.

Cheers!

[Gunter Severloh 3948]

Woh!, Thanks for the release!!!.

I will wait for Armaholic to have it.

[PacUK 1]

I'm pretty sure the Six-Updater network carries I44 too so there is that option for those that don't like PwS's interface, but again please if you have issues with the software, use their support feature! I guarantee they will do their best to help and get it working for you. Archive releases are terribly slow and nearly impossible for us to support (especially once sites like Armaholic repackage them to 'ease' download confusion). Ultimately you can always use it as a download tool only and delete everything but the mod files. We still have users on our forums asking questions only to find out their are using ancient versions of the mod all the way back to 2.0 because they struggle with direct downloads and latest versions, PwS eliminates all of that for us and the end user.

[archsceptic. 10]

Something else I don't like about PWS is that it doesn't seem to allow you to chose where you want files saved to, and I have a small ssd for gaming and like to keep it streamlined with as little installed on it as possible. PWS forces me to save to "Documents" - I simply prefer to keep mods in the ArmA 2 folder and whenever possible download to a storage drive, then manually copy over to the game folder on the ssd.

[Strikor 10]

Correct, Six Updater carries it as well. Look for @I44.

[le_culto 0]

Thanks for the update, now Fallschirmjagers are really nice !

While testing the tank damage system, I noticed an error, just put a tank in the game and wait a little:

Edited January 27, 2013 by Le_CuLtO

[PacUK 1]

Best bet is to report it over on dev-heaven but looking at it I think its the same one we were experiencing very randomly and unable to find the actual cause. Though thinking about it now I think I may have an idea that the tank is registering infantry boarding as a hit when they collide with the model's geometry looking at that picture it seems a likely cause.

Something else I don't like about PWS is that it doesn't seem to allow you to chose where you want files saved to, and I have a small ssd for gaming and like to keep it streamlined with as little installed on it as possible. PWS forces me to save to "Documents" - I simply prefer to keep mods in the ArmA 2 folder and whenever possible download to a storage drive, then manually copy over to the game folder on the ssd.

Its actually the suggested location for mods from BI (though I don't think they ever told anyone). You can however easily change this directory, click the ArmA2 button at the top, then settings, then change the field next to Mods folder. Nothing is forced, you just didn't read the manual ;)

Edited January 27, 2013 by PacUK