US Civil War Mod ver.1.0 Beta Released

[joshnolan225 0]

hahaha, i hear ya, hope you get out of yankville soon

[gavinthecat 0]

Hi there well its good old me again,

Well just to give you an update on the progress of the new units,

1) All the weapon models bar the deringer have now been updated with groovy new textures, (some minor adjustments to models and lods) and with lod textures. I will include news pictures of the firearms shortly.

2) Basic confederate soldiers and union, NCO's, and some artillery crew and officers are completed, the models have completely reworked texture lods, that will see a considerable performance increase in comparison to the older versions (ps picket, that is in comparison to our older versions, a comparison to bas units is irrelevant.)

3) Artillery, have been retextured, and resized to better proportions, and ive added a vintage 12pdr to the mix too, also tents, a caravan and other field gear has been retextured. Much of the wagons etc arent of course, looking just fine and dandy.

4) Civilians are being retextured, the new pack has some mixed 20 or so in the making, comprising a range of urbanites, frontiersmen, cowboys, women and of course perhaps children *wink*

5) All units have blood textures

6) Ai has been redefined to use weapons, more appropriately, at different ranges, etc, before we had no code or hte AI ranges, that has now been applied, and should make the artificial opponents appear more intuitive in their use of weapons.

Over all were looking at a considerable increase in the overall number of units, being some 120 in the next release i imagine, that said, the new units certainly are not irrellevant, and in performance you will notice improvements, as special attention has gone to reducing the sizes of textures used in other lods, and the number of polys.

If you have any questions or want to offer me any help, contact me on my msn, in the meantime i will go make some pics

[Sepe 1]

Hallelujah!

But how 'bout adding long march songs into the mod, preferably with only drums as music or maybe those mouth-organs and stuff the soldiers carried? Just for cutscenes, as the soldiers were singing to pass time. Maybe a full-lenght Dixie's Land and the Battle Hymn of The Republic? And then there's this one which I don't know the name of, but that's what reminded me of those mouth-organs... I saw a video clip where Southerners were marching and playing this... Don't know.

[gavinthecat 0]

Yeah sounds like a good idea, we could apply that i think, im certainly working on some musicians and regimental banners, some had their own theme, we could perhaps have a script made, where they play some tunes lol

Oh and also,

7) New pistol animation, - is getting made by crib or wildo lol, which will be vital really to rid ourselves at last of the old pain in the bum modern pistol anims.

Okay here is a picture of some of the civilians being worked on, much is all work in progress u understand, ive been updating textures mostly, and when necessary editing or adding models. The range of civilians will increase considerably to about 20 units possibly more.

This will allow u mission makers to add more depth to ur campaigns, populating ur maps with civilians dedicated categorically to urban towns, countryside, cowboy bandits/ marshals, and certain amusing town characters, for example, the town mayor, the bank manager etc.

Anyway heres some so far, they all have blood textures of course.

http://img214.echo.cx/my.php?image=somecivs2rt.jpg

[ProfTournesol 956]

Lags come from scripts too, the bayonet script is very laggy (cause when activated, units constantly search for enemies) : the "fix bayonet" one must be used only when units are very close to enemy lines, through the "on activation field" of waypoints. Doing this, and using other scripts making the game more civil war looking (units marching in line, sound scripts etc), i can have battles with at least 200 CW men without too much lag.

[gavinthecat 0]

Thats a good point profs, of course with the old units, there were little if any lod textures, which contributed to the slowdown they could cause as well, i have little doubt however scripts (albeit the vital bayonet one) will contribute not doubt extensively.

Im making some pics tonight guys, u will finally get a chance to actually see some of the wip lol, im just finishing some work on a zoave.

Just to clarify on some confusion (as my mentioning in this post isnt all positive) I am part of the cwmod, and am currently recruiting and organising a team of addon makers. It is true, to the detriment of me sounding pompous, that i believe the units of old were in need of a complete overhaul.

This was to ensure their graphics were improved, and that lods and cpu use were enhanced. That said the achievment of colleagues to make so many units is outstanding. Yep it attracted my attention the mod, after its release, because it showed their really was a desire in the community and an ability to recreate combat environments from the past

I did offer to trig, that i would make my own civil war units as alternatives in a different mod, (inevitably competing) but would prefer to make them for cwmod, on condition that they would replace the old, this offer was albeit grudgelingly accepted.

So basically for the old release i have used as a template for the new pack, replacing all, and expanding that content by some 50 + units. Overall about 70% of the work is complete, so progression is going well.

Sorry to ramble on, i noticed already Prof, you've worked on some musicians, i would like u to contact me on msn, and would like to discuss integrating ur work with the release.

[gavinthecat 0]

Most of my work has been on the weapons and confederates, civilians, etc but heres a sneak peak at some of the early developments on some of our union gents.

http://img54.echo.cx/my.php?image=zovies7sq.jpg

[Triglav 0]

Errr Gavin...

Actually in the debates we had, it was said that your units would NOT replace current ones, but come as an extra addon.

It was never "grudgingly accepted" even though I do believe that is what you constantly try to force upon us with your ultimatums ("Accept my units as a replacement of your own, or I will create my own CWMOD which will be so vastly superior, it wil bury yours!" and "Sorry guys, but if I release my stuff it will destroy you...").

And as far as you being part of CWMOD...

In some way everyone who contributed to CWMOD is a member...However, every single other person working on this mod was a team worker. Something you will never be with your overinflated ego.

When the team needed you and gave you a chance to make all soldiers, you didn't do a thing.

When we had to do everything from scratch, you didn't do a thing.

Team members HELP when help is needed. Not when it suites their modding career.

Only once the mod caught recognition, when it was downloaded over 10000 times, you appeared, and pompously declared "it is now worthy of your attention", and that we should "be honoured and glad you are willing to rework everything" (...or if we don't, you'd bury us anyway...)

As far as I'm concerned, you can do whatever you like, release whatever you like, I've got better things to do with my time than deal with another egomaniac...the world's full of them. If other CWMOD members will be willing to put up with your attitude issues, I won't stand in their way. But don't expect me to be involved anymore.

Thanks to everyone who helped in the true sense.

Thanks to everyone who is still working on the mod.

Thanks to everyone who is having fun with the mod.

Triglav over and out.

P.S.

And I do hope Gavins stuff will be so great to make it worth all this aggravation.

[gavinthecat 0]

Whhooooooaaaa slow down triglav!

My god i dont know where ur coming from with that level of hostility! I really don't, yes we made agreements, and we BOTH made our cases affirmatively and quite aggressively, but certainly our agreement placed me in support of cwmod.

The unit pack did replace all the old units in that, it included all the types of unit in the old pack, but u didnt want them to cause ur units to be like deleted or u know, overwritten etc (which was perfectly fair and obvious) so we agreed, instead of making a competing mod, which wasnt an invention to compete with cwmod, but just me continuing my wildwestmod that had always included the civil war period *ahem* that i would agree instead to work with u guys.

Even the old units use stuff that i happily donated from my own units, to help u trig, i certainly have no bad feeling towards you.

From the start of this thread, as ive discovered, you have created an impression that im a cuckoo stealing ur nest, when i understood myself to in fact be a member enhancing ur mod, under a deal we made.

Note, this also, is never ever a discussion that should be held over a forum like this... hrmph, but should be on msn triglav.

I was happy to do my own thing trig, you wanted to negotiate a deal, to reduce competition, me not wanting to compete against a mod i consider brave and innovative, made me accept the deal we agreed on.

To you guys reading this, let this serve as a tragic lesson for how things as usual go a bit crazy at times in mods, but dont worry me and trig will sort it out.

[bigus_dikus 0]

well I hope you guys sort this out!

lets be constructive here ... not destructive!

as far as i'm concerned trig rules the roost.

nuf said about that.

hey Proftournesol what did you do to get 200

troops into action? be intersested to know

just to check it out. I think the most I had

was 120 before it got a little laggy.

whats your putey specs?

bigus

[gavinthecat 0]

yup well bigus don't worry it will be, berden sharpshooter pic coming up and trig, contact me on msn u fiend u lol

//edit

and here it is lol, a link to the berden, ive made him pretty scruffy, but i will make his shoes dirtier still

http://img190.echo.cx/my.php?image=berden1oc.jpg

[ProfTournesol 956]

Well Bigus, just a standard PC (2.8 Gh+512 Mo RAM), with a normally good video card...and using your island,which is less laggy than Gettysburg. Nothing else. A Battle with 10 groups of 10 men each side, some sharpshooters and cavalry men, a canon defending a bridge, and a few other things i've done (transport waggons, ambulance waggons). And a few scripts. But no fix bayonet order until units are very close (around the bridge), and then of course less numerous.

EDIT : Hey guys, no civil war inside the CWMOD please...

[bigus_dikus 0]

But no fix bayonet order until units are very close (around the bridge), and then of course less numerous.

I basically have the same specs with an old ati 9600 pro.

got the new socket775 though.

interesting......gunna check this 1 out.

i've always started my missions by fixing

bayonets. looks like I might alter that if

I see an improvement. Thnx for the heads up!

any chance of posting the mission?

sounds like a good scrap.

bigus

[General Barron 0]

Hey all,

Sorry for just hopping in here, prolly asking a question that I should have been able to answer myself, but here goes.

This mod looks good, and it is a very interesting idea. However, I have never downloaded it since its release. I'd like to try it, but I can't find any missions on your website! Are there any missions made with this mod? Or perhaps the demomissions are included with the download? Like I said, I'd like to try this mod out, but I'd like to try them in an actual mission, not just looking at them in the editor.

Thanks,

GB

[bigus_dikus 0]

I'd like to try it, but I can't find any missions on your website! Are there any missions made with this mod?

Miniroll made a nice mission which is posted

here.

http://www.petrov-petrov.si/~triglav/CW/

and bigus made a couple mp missions a page or two back.

you might even see a thank you in the readme file to a guy named General Barron for his formation script.

bigus

[General Barron 0]

@ bigus_dikus

Thanks. I found your mission pack, but I can't seem to find where Miniroll's mission is... Also, I noticed a CTI map someone posted a bit ago, but I couldn't download it. I also remember Batdog made a mission with these units a bit ago, but it isn't hosted anymore.

Hard to believe that a mod could be downloaded 15,000 times and only have a few missions made for it... but I guess that is true for OFP in general . Boy do I miss the days of BAS, Gimbal and others, when each addon was released with a buch of great demo missions as well. This isn't supposed to be a slight against this mod, but rather against the community in general  .

-------------------------------------------------

On a side note, I noticed a bunch of posts complaining about lag caused by these units and their bayonet scripting. I mentioned this a while ago, but I would highly suggest that you guys (the mod team) look into the bayonets made by the OFP Taiwan Workshop team. Their bayonets use ZERO scripting, unlike the 100% scripted PUKF ones. It is all done via the natural config of the game, so it shouldn't cause nearly as much lag as a constant nearestobject loop.

I'm laughing on the inside now, because you'll see in that thread that everyone else was very hostile towards these newer bayonets, saying "what's wrong with PUKF ones?!?". I think I was the only one to point out that PUKF runs on a very CPU intensive script, wheras a configured weapon should cause no more lag than a pistol or other weapon.

Check it out here:

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....64;st=0

[tsalagikola 0]

I will check into the Bayonet stuff thanks General Barron and see what i can do with the weapons i am making

[gavinthecat 0]

Coolio about the bayonet scripts then, ive been working on the weapons tsalagikola (wow thats a mouthful too) are you working on cwmod ones? If so then best to contact me on msn, and we can discuss how we can integrate your work

Here is a picture showing the progress of our new weps, note the pictures in oxy are only cos i was going nuts taking loads of ingame pics lol, so the texture quality (looking less is cos of buldozers rendering etc)

In any case regarding the bayonets i think that would be the way to go, to experiment and utilise a less intense cpu code.

So anyway gives us opinions on these ;)

http://img120.echo.cx/my.php?image=guns2tm.jpg

[gavinthecat 0]

Just a nod update to ya all hehe,

Heres the Union guys so far,

Union soldier without straps,

Union soldier with straps

Union soldier with straps & backpack

Union soldier Corporal,

Union soldier Sergeant

Union arty crew

Iron brigade private, corporal, sergeant,

Zoave 5th NYC private, corporal and sergeant

Zoave (oh bugger um, the red legged devils etc) private, corporal and sergeant.

Berden sharpshooter,

So basically expanding on the original us pack, the cavalry will have a wee bit of experimenting wiht to try and make us a mounted dragoon type unit that works,

Anyway if u have Union requests for screens or more unit types, nows the time to make ur requests known.

[Sepe 1]

Hey peoples, take it easy!

The original CWMOD team has made nice-looking units. Gavin has made very nice-looking units. But Gavin's units propably have a greater polycount than the others, so my suggestion is the same I've been using with different Vietnam units too: Your own squad be the best-looking there is (this means Gavin's now) and the others be the less-fancy-looking (trying to say, not so good as Gavin's but still good, the originals). That gives you the eye-candy and a good framerate.

I don't really understand you with this one Triglav, what's wrong with more Civil War units being made?

[gavinthecat 0]

Just to correct u, dyamite the polys are less with these units, and the textures are lower resolutions, u will notice a considerable performance increase, that is one of the main reasons i was doing these units with the cwmod.

Ill give u an example, the old units didnt have lods that were appropriately designated with the right distance ranges, some lods were even deleted, and all used the same textures as the first lod, (and not smaller ones) while high poly models were used in far distance lods and etc etc.

The first cwmod units were however an achievement in my opinion due mostly to their innovation and volume of work.

The new units however make no mistake, run faster, this is only cos ive been editing units for a few years, and worked with the big ww2 mods before coming here. (ask me to make a mission and im totally rubbish.)

And again like i say, im not in theory making these units except for the next release for cwmod, you understand chaps, as far as i understand, i am head of organising an addon team, recently discussed with el picket, to make for us an overhaul of all our addons to bring them up to the highest standard for both cpu and graphics. (most of all cpu) And for this we've recieved some help from bigger more experienced mods (with technology for enhancing units cpu usage)

So er, in other words, im not just this random guy whose making civil war units, until i know different, im a member of cwmod, and these are cwmod units in preperation.

and Good News. Jojimbo has donated from I44, the use of his model hands, letting us escape the bis hands.

EDIT//

also can someone link me an image of a colonel shoulder board, union please,

[Triglav 0]

I don't really understand you with this one Triglav, what's wrong with more Civil War units being made?

Nothing at all wrong.

It was the manner and attitude of discarding everything that was done (but AFTER it was done).

The mod waited 6 months for Gavin to do the units (we approached him about it in May 2004), as none of us knew how to make good ones. Then we spent another 3 months making all from scratch, then when it's done, and succesful, he suggests we dump everything and he makes new ones...

It kinda wasted a lot of our work then, don't you think?

ProfT made several new units, and I was the first to thank him and congratulate him for the effort. So I have no problem with people doing any kind of extras.

But as it was discussed previously in this post...there is quite some stuff still missing from this mod (a good horse, several specific units, generals, forts, eathworks, breastworks, etc, etc), and most of us thought expanding the mod should have priority over a visual overhaul...

Though if new units are added to existing stuff, I have no problem with that. Just adds more variety to a battlefield.

[gavinthecat 0]

A very early pic of some officers in development, would appreciate any pics of the braid shoulder straps for the rank of colonel union!

http://img50.echo.cx/my.php?image=officer016mo.jpg

[bucket man 2]

WTF!!?!??! Those officers are llike 100% better than the old ones! Not like the old ones are bad ore anything but those new ones seem to be much more detailed!

[Sepe 1]

Yes, Triglav, but I don't think it's a waste of work really. You know, if you peoples wouldn't have done 'em, I propably wouldn't yet have a nice, frequently used shortcut on my desktop called Flashpoint - US Civil War...

Maybe like, you peoples consider with the realism and stuff, and Gavin does the eye-candy? As to be honest, yes, his units look a whole lot better.

But for god's sake, not dump the old ones into trash! Let people have the choice to select what units they wanna use.

Ahh, again, I feel like I just talk, talk and talk but do nothing. I have a weekend to use, so maybe I should be creative and try to learn to model? Modelled some guns and aeroplanes years ago, hmm, we need a fort... I'll see if I can make meself go over the threshold, last time I installed Oxygen I had to reinstall Flashpoint...

EDIT: Not sure if you peoples noticed this one, but it comes with wooden walls which, I think, can be used to make a nice little fort. "Photos" to follow, one of them having the walls in too. http://ofp.gamezone.cz/index.php?showthis=8196

EDIT2: Here we are again, some pics just token and edited...

South won the battle, hooray, hooray!

Confederates engaging Yankee fortress

"Those goddamn rebels will never get trough these lines!"