AKM

One of the things that would be an important inclusion in any v1.09 patch would be to match the machinegunner's running speed to that of the rifleman's, so that formations aren't broken apart during movement by the MG moving ahead far too quickly. It's a pain in the ass to have the MG killed off in the first ten seconds of any firefight, especially in WWII where bolt-action rifles are the norm.

You're welcome. As much as I'd like winter kit, you've also said that won't happen. I'd ask why, but to realistically portray Germans in winter in 1941-42, you would need a tremendous number of models, many of which would probably not work too well with OFP's animations and the like - for instance, those 'Rope coil" over-boots. Probably wouldn't work too well. Belgerot: I've been reading some memoirs of German and Russian officers, and contrary to popular belief the Russian withdrawl in 1941, when it wasn't simply unleashing the Panzers on undefended ground, was a very hard-fought affair. One German officer mentioned that "dislocating the Russians into terrain such as marshes and forest proved to be a mistake, as it gave them the advantage of the terrain and these nests of Russians would constantly raid our units, requiring us to block off the forests and thus weakening our combat elements." Then there's the story of a KV-1 that kicked the crap out of prettymuch everything the Germans had in one sector, until they were able to immobilize it by blowing off a tread with a PaK-35/36, and then slowly work a FlaK-18 (88mm) around to its rear to take it out. And then there's the "superhuman efforts of the Russian engineers in which they constructed three pontoon bridges in the span of one moonless night, allowing a strong Russian counteroffensive to completely halt progress in this sector for a period of three days." All great things for mission making. Try setting up a mission where cut off behind the lines, your band of Infantry leaves the forest to raid something and then try to get back to friendly lines. At night - I'd recommend a full moon so you can actually *see,* but it all depends on how new your monitor is. (The old ones tend to be much darker, making it much harder to see things at night. With my new monitor, I am enjoying such missions immensely.)

Tiger wasn't introduced to combat until 1943, and so far all LibMod stuff has been '39-41. So unfortunately I think its unlikely that bdfy will show up and tell us that the Tiger and perhaps the IS-2 will be showing up. As kickass as that would be. Any new Infantry / light vehicles, like German armoured cars or Mountain Infantry units? All the same, looking forward to the fortifications and BT-5/7.

Excellent. Many thanks, these will see use in my missions.

Camouflage pattern seems almost a little too dark, but works pretty well on Nogova because it's so lush green there, unless they're inside a forest, then they tend to silhoutte themselves because they're so dark. The boonie hat / bush-hat has a slight clipping issue along the front edge where the brim attaches to the cap, the head is visible and "pokes through" slightly.

I concur fully with crave22. Many thanks, downloading now!

Looking pretty good there. Which transport truck will be used to supplement the UAZ-469b? I'm guessing URAL - you could try to get permission for SFM's Ural 375D and 4320s, or Nashe Orujie's ZIL-130/131 pack, or just retexture the BIS one since it's not such a bad model. Camouflage cover or at least OD Green cover over the loadbed and you're good to go.

Unfortunately for Armed Assault. But, thanks for the clarification, hopefully at some point in the future I'll be able to check out the Bushwars kit in ArmA.

As always, looking good. Those'll be handy to duck into for cover when an MG-42 opens up from down the street.

Right, despite an instinct to keep my mouth shut, I'll go ahead and ask for clarification. If I understand correctly, most work has been handed over to the Bushwars mod, who are working in ArmA. But "most" is not "all," and Williec mentioned on the 18th of April that the SADF Infantry were done but lacking a few finishing touches - once again, if I understood correctly. I ask because I just completed a few renditions of a mission where you play as SA Mercs on Tonal Redux. The South African Infantry could be a feature in a few missions.

CAR-15 is safe-semi-auto, as is M-16A1, so there shouldn't be a problem with JAM, you just let the CAR-15 eat the 20 round 5.56x45mm automatic-capable magazines. To my knowledge, 20-round mags were the most common, and typically loaded with 18 rounds, which JAM won't allow. The 30-round magazines were not common until war's end, judging from the books about LRRPs, Rangers, SEALs, and MACV-SOG that I've read, as well as a handful of accounts belonging to helicopter pilots, Infantry, Armour, and Artillery fellows. Perhaps it's just me missing them in the selection, but the MACV-SOG units that are in VTE all wear OD Green. Normally this'd be fine, but an improvement would be to "Vietnam-ize" a handful of fellows with black PJs or NVA jackets and the like, equip them with AKs, which was reportedly rather commonly done.

That's good to know, I was wondering how to get them to fire more than a single salvo at a target. Unfortunately you've still got some minor bugs. Nothing that makes it unplayable, just things that need a little fiddling. The 81mm Mortar Battery under Groups>Axis>Armour is a little strange. If you place it on the map and then attempt to edit the unit leader or any of the mortars to set yourself as a gunner, loader, or the battery commander, the game seems to think you're on Side Allied, and it won't let you do that. But if you custom-place the battery, placing the battery commander and the individual mortars, then grouping it all together through click-and-drag, it works fine. The machinegunner still outpaces the rest of the squad, he runs too fast. If he ran at the same speed as the riflemen in the squad there'd be no problem. Good to see you fixed the ammo problems with all tanks, now the machinegun doesn't magically reload. The movable guns are a nice touch as well, it's a shame we won't be seeing heavier stuff like ZiS-2 76.2mm gun and soforth. Overall, nice piece of work, many thanks. Edit: - Forgot a bug in which you spell "goggles" correctly on some units but incorrectly ("Googles") on other units. Also, no Russian motorcycle that I've noticed yet, maybe I'm just missing it, but I'm pretty sure I saw some dispatch riders for the Soviets. Edit II: - Also, antitank guns and the like often display as "Jeep with Machinegun." Stringtable error, or a nessecity due to new coding being forced to work with the OFP engine?

Quick note regarding Commonwealth battle equipment; I recall a conversation about how closely you should mimic H&D-2 and you mentioning that the general-purpose pouches, the large ones we all know as being stereotypical of Commonwealth units, would be standard for pretty well everyone. That would be confirmed by what I'm seeing in pictures and reading in memoirs and the like. Snipers favoured the small leather ammunition pouches that clipped to your belt over the large pouches, and were much sought after. The GP pouches were used by everyone else though, but riflemen often carried bandoliers of ammunition, slung across the torso. H&D-2 provided an example of that, but sometimes two or even three were carried. This seems to be common only to a handful of riflemen though, if I were forced to give a percentage I'd say perhaps 15%.

Many thanks - bolshoye spasibo, BDFY & LibMod Team.

Damned shame then, really limits the usefulness of LibMod. Funnily enough we found that LibMod worked fine in MP so long as we avoided tracked armoured vehicles. Using just light vehicles and Infantry it worked fine.

The problem is pretty obvious if you're trying to move 'tactically,' IE: Not charging headlong into German fire. The MG quickly outstrips the unit, generally getting quite far ahead. This only seems to happen for the jogging animation though, not the sprint. Then there's the hull-fitted machinegun issues that cause massive desync in multiplayer, making it effectively impossible to play combined-arms or tank-fights in LibMod with a few exceptions (Using those tanks that aren't equipped with the hull-fitted MG script, for example), and even that causes LibMod to desync more than any other mod.

Yeah, dredging this up from Page 28, but it seems that after the landings on June 6, the proportion of helmet scrim and net went up hugely, and was sometimes nearly an "excessive" thing. May be safer to have nearly every Mk. III netted, and a good 75% of those scrimmed as well. Having a hard time finding images of unscrimmed and/or un-netted helmets post D-Day. M1/M1A1 Thompson was pretty popular with Commonwealth troops, when they could get one, which was not often unless they were CDO (Commando). So if/when those American-kit additions to Caen '44 are released, perhaps a small patch to include a handful of fellows toting Thompsons for the Commonwealth end of things. The Thompson wasn't commonly found amongst the Commonwealth units on D-Day, I have yet to see one, but it seems that in Northern Europe it was fairly common, to the point that one could almost opt between a Sten (Mk.II, most commonly) or a Thompson.

Acknowledged - and of the other question, regarding the running speed of the machinegunner compared to everyone else in the section/squad?

A question for you, BDFY. Have you fixed the run-speed of the machinegunner and his custom animations? As it is, he outpaces the section very quickly, makes it hard to keep it together. Then there are the issues born of having the custom run animation for the anti-tank rifleman, but those're mostly forgivable because that is a beast of a weapon. Will v1.08 possibly include the German equivalent, the Panzerbuesche '39?

If that had "7.62x51mm" stamped on the reciever just forward of the bolt, I'd swear it was a picture-perfect replica of the Yugoslavian Mauser I handled so long ago back in my hometown. Gorgeous. Do you happen to have a quick list of Infantry weapons you're planning on-hand?

Fab: I've said it before but I think you've got a damned good plan for your release there. I know that with basic vehicles and a handful of fixed weapons and a mostly detailed Infantry and Weapons package, it will be possible to create missions that showcase OFP's capability and the Caen '44 content easily. Again, my thanks. I will now return to plotting out missions on Anjou Island, since I haven't had much of a look at your island yet. I suspect many of the mission concepts will translate to the Caen '44 island pretty easily.

Well done, Red Devil! Except I think most Canadians in Italy wore khaki / brown, instead of the greener uniform. I can say that fairly confidently because of what I've read, in which the khaki uniforms seem prevelant. However! To my knowledge, no Canadian units in Italy were transferred to the Western Front prior (If at all throughout the war) to June 6, 1944, thus they would have completely missed D-Day and any fight around Caen. So as Red Devil said, "Green Canucks, Brown Brits." I've seen some of this in museums, the thing that struck me is that it's not an OD green, but it is definately more green than the British battledress. I'm sure you'll get the colouration right - it should be rather effective in Flashpoint, methinks, on most islands. Another thing that was on my mind besides shirtsleeves, were the leather assault jerkins. I know these were worn when it was raining, sometimes, and they seem to be a popular item of kit in Holland, but I don't know about D-Day and D-Day + 20 and all, because I don't see many of them in use until the Canadian and British units actually get to Northern Europe / Holland and all that.

Sounds lovely, you've grasped the essence of a proper OFP release; you need Infantry and something to transport them in. Armour, given how much of it is floating around out there, is truly a secondary consideration. It would seem that the RCA used primarily the "Priest" SPG in terms of self propelled guns, not a clue what they used as a towed gun. Fifty-fifty Brown/Green sounds like your best bet, in all honesty. Most of the kit I see is brown, but they're also wearing the Mark II. Some of the stuff I've seen first hand, is green, with the Mark III, but I've seen precious little of that. You're right when it comes to not trusting colour plates - I'd say that for the sake of gameplay, and because I know at least myself and a half-dozen others who'll be making missions for this after the release, the two sets of Commonwealth troops is probably a good idea. I cannot say with absolute certainty, but I'm fairly certain that the uniforms were not mixed and matched with regards to colouration; green jacket and brown trousers, for example. However, I do see a lot of Commonwealth troops in their shirt-sleeves, even in battle order, so sans jacket, in short. Makes sense in Italy, since it's damned warm there, but I don't know how common that practice was in Europe. Sounds like you've got everything well in hand. Looking forward to seeing it in action.

Fab: Heh, I was just joking about the STEN shortcomings, but I appreciate your quick feedback. I was too busy ogling the screenshots to realize you hadn't actually replied to what I said earlier. Â If you do implement a stoppage script, it would be most at home on the Sten SMG, yes. The MP-40 was fairly reliable provided you didn't hold the magazine low, thus stressing it on its feeding process, and I've seen screenshots of captured MP-40s being used in just such a manner by Commonwealth troops; but determining if it's a Canadian or a Brit or a Pole or a Free Frenchman holding a MP-40 incorrectly and thus increasing the chance of a stoppage for that particular weapon, is a bit daunting (Freaking cool, but...) and really doesn't add that much to gameplay. As a matter of fact, all Infantry weapons of this period were pretty reliable; I hear very few mentions of an MG-34 or MG-42 stopping for any reason other than: "We are out of ammunition," "All of our targets are dead," or "The barrel has melted," and it goes without saying that BREN, quite simply, is the God of all automatic rifle design and should be worshipped on a daily basis. But that's just me. Summa Summarum with regards to weapon malfunctions and the like; not nessecary but would be cool to see if you put it into a small update that would come later, perhaps. I've seen a lot of the Mk. II helmets on Canadian troops, especially in the Italian theatre, where they were nearly always (Literally 95% of the time or so) scrimmed with net and possibly burlap/hessian and natural foliage; quite often we also see that characteristic "deformation" of the helmet which was infact an additional Individual Field Aid Kit / field dressing tucked under the helmet netting for quick access. Pretty sure you've seen this image before, depicting a Bren Gun team with Mark III type helmets, suitably scrimmed. I will check my Zuehlke books on Juno Beach and Defence of the Juno Beachhead ("Drive on Caen") momentarily and flip through the images there to see what was most common; it might have images you haven't seen, not that I'm seriously contesting your claims. You've done more research than I on this sector. But, all the same. It would appear that the Royal Winnipeg Rifles were predominantly equipped with the Mark III helmet, as was the majority of the Third Canadian Infantry Division - one image of a LCT loaded with CDN troops indicates that 75% had netted helmets, around 45% of that three quarters had scrim and net, and the remainder had un-netted, un-scrimmed helmets, simple paint only. Le Regiment de la Chaudiere appears to be equipped with a nearly fifty-fifty mix of II and III, and Major Fulton (Royal Winnipeg Rifles, Commander D-COY, awarded DSO for actions on June 6 1944) wears a scrimmed and netted Mark III. Highland Light Infantry appears to favour their tamoshanter or glengarries over helmets in some images, but all seem to have the Mark III type helmets. Canadian Tankers also appear to be issued the Mark Three, and yes, it would appear that every single man I can ID as a Canadian is wearing the Mark III type helmet. Most appear to have the darker version of the Commonwealth battledress uniform (eventually issued in a kind of green, wasn't it, rather than the desert-ish Khaki that had been used constantly before?) as well as the later-pattern webbing gear which was not designed to be blanco'd, etc, and was green, rather than tan. Definately helps with fieldcraft, that. And it appears that the Canadian Parachute Brigade (and associated battalions, not sure exactly how the CDN Paras were set up organizationally) wears exactly the same kit as the British Paras, so that should make life easy. Every shot I've seen of Polish troops seems to indicate they equip themselves as the Brits do as well. The "Holding Juno" book by Zuehlke indicates that the day after June 6, nearly every Canadian had a Mark Three with netting and scrim. Apparently everyone in Le Regiment de la Chaudiere wearing a Mark II was killed or got rid of it, since I only see Mark IIIs in photographs dated after the landings. And Regina Rifle troops all seem to have the Mark III with scrim, especially the "bush-heads" around this 3 inch mortar position from the Regina Rifles Support Coy. Canadian Scottish Regiment, once again, Mark IIIs, apparently - almost all netted and scrimmed as well. There was an engagement in Bretteville that might make an interesting SP / MP Co-Op mission in which Canadian troops were attacked by a platoon or more of Panther tanks (Approx. 5 - 8), with hesitant Infantry support. Most drove around the position firing into the town with mainguns and machineguns, while two penetrated the village and lit up a few buildings at close range; one was confirmed disabled by a PIAT launch and the crew STEN-gunned as they bailed out, being in the heart of the Canadian position and all. Fort Garry Horse Tank Regiment was equipped predominantly with Shermans, as a side-note, with a seemingly large contingent of Firefly Shermans with the long barrel 17pdr QRF gun; many vehicles attached to Canadian units seem to be Cromwells or even Churchills. Seeing a large number of Canadian Fireflies but I can't ID the Division or Regiment they're from, more's the pity. And it's occurred to me now I'm probably volunteering more detail than is needed. Whoops. A question now, regarding indirect fire and fire support; will there be an organic artillery system for Caen '44? I know of your 3" and 2" (Possibly the two inch, not sure) mortars, which I assume will have a proper ballistic trajectory a'la FDFmod, but will it be possible to set up a system not unlike the CoC Unified Artillery to get some fire support, or will it all rely on human intervention? Also, and to end this rather long post; you mentioned a vehicles pack to be released with Caen '44, including some SPA guns in there as well, or just MBTs, light vehicles, and other AFVs, since you mentioned it was to include "everything from the King Tiger to the Jeep," if I recall correctly?

Just as I'm looking for something new to do today, v1.09 is released. Many thanks, Solus.