sander

Hi, Just a couple of screenshots of the Lowlands Warrior desert OPFOR: For BFS (Belgian Forces Studio) the same set of figures will be reskinned to portray forces for a possible Congo/Zaire or Rwandan scenario, with rubber boots and a combination of Warsaw Pact rain drop, French Lizard and Woodland camouflage patterns to match the local type of forces. Regards, Sander

Hi, 1. It was noted in reports by Dutch IFOR officers that in the various entities of Bosnia-Hercegovina, such as the Republika Serpska, soldiers and other armed individuals were simply relabelled as police by all of the former warring parties. They had camouflage uniforms and weaponry, but not the slightest inkling about law enforcement and the normal duties of police. Following these reports the designation word militia has been incorporated in the beret insignia of these units. The Bosnian Serb rebels did style their self proclaimed political entity the Republika Serpska. 2/3. Weaponry and equipment from various sources and of different antiquity could be observed in use. This included World War II vintage items of uniform. Aside from the regular JNA model steel helmets Soviet, U.S., WW2 German, East-German and British type steel helmets were in evidence. Weaponry was not limited to that in the pre-war JNA inventory. Different types were smuggled to all of the warring parties. Regards, Sander

Hi, After the marines have established the beach head earlier this week, the army now arrives to mop up. Among the new releases from Lowlands Warrior today are: * Leopard2A6(NL) by RASP * Minimi Para by Suchey and Earl * Huzaren Prins van Oranje (tank troops) in DPM fatigues by Matthijs and Sander * Luchtmobiele brigade (airmobile brigade) in DPM and desert fatigues by Matthijs and Sander * Korps Commando Troepen (army special forces) in DPM and desert fatigues by Matthijs and Sander * Limburgse Jagers (armoured infantry) in DPM and desert fatigues by Matthijs and Sander Also released are some OPFOR forces: * Yugoslav militia in M89 by Matthijs and Sander The Lowlands Warrior team wishes to acknowledge the kind permission from SCARS for adapting his Leopard2A6 addon and that of Earl and Suchey for allowing to create a standalone version of their Marine Assault Pack Minimi Para machinegun. In addition thanks are due to the Invasion 1944 team for use of parts of the MLOD US paratrooper, BAS for their desert boot textures and to Mike Schell for his crease texture templates created for Ghost Recon. Ofcourse, none of all this was here if it wasn't for the effort of the BIS developers of OFP. The units are available for download in a collector's pack and individual files from the: Lowlands Warrior download page In addition V2.1 of the RNLMC has been released to address some faults in the earlier released 2.0. Enjoy! Sander

Hi, Snipers are planned, but not to be expected in the immediate future. Both weapon - and soldier models and textures are far from completed. Designated marksmen and snipers of the Koninklijke Landmacht (Army) generally use the Accuracy International AWM in .338 Lapua Magnum calibre, those belonging to the Korps Mariniers (Marine Corps) are usually equipped with the SSG 69 in 7.62x51 NATO calibre. Small numbers of Barret .50 rifles are also in the inventory and some FAL rifles with scopes have been retained for training. There are some other types of accurised - and sniper rifles in use by special forces units deployed in support of law enforcement, but these are not used for normal 'green' operations and are thus not planned to be made. Regards, Sander

Hi, The colours are consciously faded and desaturated somewhat to get the look of old worn fatigues of the oude hap rather than the bright radiant colours of the factory fresh uniforms of fillers. A campaign is planned, but that is a long term project as it requires various other projects to be finished first. Various options for scenario's are currently considered. Headgear and level of protection for all sorts of troops depends on the situation. Commandoes, like other troops, will wear body armour, helmets and berets when deployed to show the flag, and other gear in other situations. Not all operations require the same posture. Regards, Sander

Yes indeed, a Lynx would be very nice. We will reskin it as soon as you have made the model. Regards, Sander

Hi, Thanks for the comments. On the subject of Dutch helicopters, the RNLAF Tactical Helicopter Group uses the Chinook 47D and Cougar transport helicopters and AH64D Apache attack helicopters (one crashed in Afghanistan last sunday ). There is also an SAR flight with AB412 rescue choppers. Recently the BO105 light observation chopper was retired from service. The navy flies a number of UH14 Lynx helicopters in ASW and utility versions. There are acquisition programmes for new helicopters, the NH90 for the navy and a light utility programme for the air force, though the latter may be slashed due to budget constraints. The current Dutch infantry fighting vehicles are of the YPR765 family. They are slated for replacement by either the Ulan or the CV9030 tracked fighting vehicles which are now undergoing field trials. For peacekeeping operations Patria wheeled APC's are used. The Boxer is due to replace YPR765 APC variants in supporting arms. Regards, Sander

Thanks for the comments. To answer various points raised in different posts: A V2.1 version of the marines will fix the magazine problem for the demolitions soldier. A backpack version of the troops will be included in a follow-on LLW pack on a later date. The FDF Patria is being remodelled and reskinned as the Dutch GVV, but that is not yet ready for release for some time to come. It is not possible to change the flag and play them as Americans. It would mean loss of Dutch citizenship when enlisting in a foreign army in real life. Regards, Sander

It seems that the Leopard 2 has a similar problem with Swedish mooses as the Mercedes A, I guess. Regards, Sander

Hi, Thanks for the comments. To answer various different points: --- Camouflage patterns The RNLMC adopted UK DPM camouflage clothing during the 1970's as they increased cooperation with the British Royal Marine Commandoes in the UK/NL Landing Force. Starting with the UNTAC mission DPM fatigues were replaced in RNLMC service with US Woodland uniforms. This pattern has not been adopted for rain or cold weather clothing which remains UK DPM. Body armour and helmet covers are issued in DPM as well. Load bearing gear varies as some is privately purchased and can be observed in both Woodland and DPM camouflage material. The Koninklijke Landmacht (Royal Netherlands Army) started to use DPM uniforms from 1990, the Dutch pattern differing slightly in colouration from the British DPM. However as for the Netherlands the uniforms are dyed ochre before applying the print, used and faded NL fatigues get a more distinctive brighter yellowish overall tint. Before DPM Goretex parkas were adopted for general issue, privately acquired Woodland pattern ECWCS gear was used by many troops. Small batches of UK desert fatigues were used by the RNLMC during the Provide Comfort relief operation in Northern Iraq. However US style three colour desert camouflage was adopted for general issue, going through several different variations before settling on a distinct Dutch cut. --- Berets Navy and RNLMC troop are issued very dark blue, almost black, berets, military constabulary medium blue, air force units wear greyblue berets, most army units currently berets in various shades of khaki (shortly to change to green), airmobile units maroon berets, KCT (special forces) green berets and tank troops black berets. Cap badges indicate branch of service and/or parent regiments. To preserve regimental tradition after the reduction of forces and unit amalgations even individual companies may wear distinctive beret emblems. --- Dragunov Opfor units use BIS weapons only, there are no plans to make more precise enemy weaponry like the M70B Kalashnikov clone. The intention was just to have more appropriately looking opponents than 1980's Soviets. Regards, Sander

Hi, If you want to discuss Dutch military addons in the beautiful Dutch language visit the: Lowlands Warrior forum The Leopard1 BARV idea has been floated but that would only be a long term project. We are currently hard at work to relase new troops, weapons and vehicles in the not too distant future. Regards, Sander

Hi, A prime source of information to base your camouflage textures on is: Henrik Clausen's camouflage site This contains a lot of large clear pictures of patterns from all over the world and useful links to other sites with collections of camouflage clothing. Using textures taken directly from photographs often does not work fine when viewed in OFP. As many other textures have a drawn feeling to them, the texture would look 'off'. Therefore on can better trace the photograph with the absolute minimum of colours to create a background (eg four for US woodland). The resulting hard edges can always be slightly smoothed afterwards, but not too much as otherwise converting to paa or pac format can give unexpected and unwanted results. This background may then, if the size is not large enough, be duplicated and pasted together to form a larger area. The result would be a very flat texture, but preferably you would want to reuse that background for a variety of different textures, all of which would require different areas to be darkened or lightened. For that purpose it is best to add another layer. Black and white templates with creases and folds can be added on top of the background camouflage pattern and the layer set to multiply the colours and then finally flattened. Alternatively one can use the colour burn and dodge tools to create shadows and highlights, but if you plan on making more than one set of uniforms, it is worth considering to put some time and effort into creating standardised templates for the cloth creases. Such templates are included in the BAS infantry kit, but these are for Resistance civilian style rectangular texturesto cover a single body part, not the original OFP setup where up to three or four pictures were used for a single body part. The colours should initially be matched closely to the photograph, but in my experience should be darkened considerably if they are to give the same impression in game. As a rule of thumb making the tga textures around fifty percent darker in a photo editing program is never far off, and adjustments can always be made afterwards to taste. Regards, Sander

Hi, Actually, the new Dutch army jungle pattern still has a lot of brown in it, predominantly large ares that are orangebrown tinted, like many soil types in tropical areas, and smaller blotches of a darker brown. In addition there are patches in dark green and a very bright shade of green.There are also small areas of black in the pattern, but it does not contain the yellow sandcolour of DPM, which in the Dutch version can become more dominant with fading, as the pattern is printed on cloth already dyed ochre rather than on undyed cloth as other types of DPM. Netherlands jungle pattern shirt Netherlands jungle pattern smock Just to add some more on topic comments, good job on the pattern shown in the screenshots. Marpat and ACU pattern are difficult to get right when converted to paa and pac format. Regards, Sander

Top ten in descending order: 1. Operation Flashpoint 2. Civilisation 1 3. Rogue Spear 4. Hidden and Dangerous 2 5. Ghost Recon 6. Hidden and Dangerous 1 7. Rainbow 6 8. Grand Theft Auto 2 9. Conflict Zone 10. Wolfenstein 3D Regards, Sander

Russ-well

It is a little known fact that all jokes about the Netherlands and the Dutch are in fact of Dutch origin. One can tell quite easily because they are incredibly cheap. Regards, Sander

Hi, In addition to the changed textures, there are also a number of changes to the model to fit the version used in the Netherlands, among other things an AA MAG machinegun added to the top, the Dutch smoke grenade launcher configuration instead of the German one of the orignal and rolled up camouflage cloths on the sides of the vehicle. The MLOD model of the paratrooper can be downloaded here, as can the I44 German MLOD models Regards, Sander

Hi There are also Italian 'San Marco' marines. Regards, Sander

Hi, No problem for the twisted mind: To meet the requirements of the EU rapid reaction force an improved avionics version has been developed to make full use of the European Galileo satellite network: Special Cargo Helicopter Weaponsystem European INterventionforce Electronic Heads Up Navigation Display Regards, Sander

Hi, Due to budget restrictions heavy lift refuellable chopper and special ops insertion stealth helicopter schemes have been combined into the joint Advanced air-Refuellable Support Cargo Helicopter/Low Observable Cargo Helicopter programme. This will have a rear ramp for rapid deployment of Fast Action Response Teams. Regards, Sander

Hi, As I understand it the export versions of the Advanced air-Refuellable Support Cargo Helicopter are getting their own acronyms to reflect adaptation to local requirements: * Special Cargo Helicopter Weaponsystem Australia New Zealand. The airrefuelling means that once this get's up, it can stay up indefinitely. Hose and probe versions for Advanced air-Refuellable Support Cargo Helicopter and the Special Cargo Helicopter Weaponsystem Australia New Zealand are currently under development. Regards, Sander

Hi, That sounds like: A midnight clear Regards, Sander

Hi, Avon was right about the title, it was from a TV mini-series of the same name: World War III (1982) (TV) The description of the scene matched one I recall from seeing that on the tele. Regards, Sander

Hi, Here is where this can be 'stolen' from: A forum topic on the same subject Regards, Sander

Hi, This is the method that worked for me on the NZDF pack when I wanted to take a closer look at the webbing details: 1) Copied the original PBO file in order not to mess up the original 2) Removed first 46 bytes from the PBO file using a hexadecimal editor The string to be removed is: .sreV................product.OFP: Resistance.. 3) Saved this adapted PBO 4) Extracted the newly saved PBO using pbodecryptor 1.3 Hope this helps. Regards, Sander