gavinthecat

Yup good work, well definatly we want to capture the imagination of people downloading the pack with 2 basic classes of infantry, that which we can typify unfairly as, generic, (albeit there is an enormous variety of interesting so called generic units) And another class of exotic infantry units, consisting of 'visually' striking regiments, that are elite or famous in some form. So naturally the more standardised armies of the union will for example require more research, for i think we want to do more than have very similar guys with different regimental badges. Really we want different 'visual' looks so that those a little bereft of history, can recognise very clearly the difference in these regiments (and may then actually read the historical readme we shall include! That you will er be writing harvey *ahem* hehe So when looking for regiments, look for ones like well for example zoauves and for example like those european volanteers (thats two Biz i shall include ur volanteers reg, the marines and the europeans) THATS 3, STILL 17 TO GO! I am working presently on recoding all the old pbos guns into a single pbo, this is no fun and easy task, but will allow us to design a far superior coding structure for our units and will make in all, our mod more efficient code wise. This gives ample time for our researchers and others to make more regimental suggestions! So keep it up and most importantly of all post pictures or even crude illustrations of their uniforms, as these are the references we will end up using.

GREAT NEWS! Thanx to coffee and chocolate, our mod is now SCRIPT FREE! Thats right, everything is hardcoded as regards to bayonets and smoke effects. This means that of the 6 or 7 old scripts used, (and normally routed to be used many times over than they should) we will instead have ZERO - none! Instead we have a mightily recoded config.bin and that strange grenade to bayonet system (in case u want to throw dynamite well we're looking into that too) The important thing is therefore LAG! Whooosh, now gone, this means these units will run far faster than any using the old scripts. Meaning basically as fast as vanilla bis units more or less. TO BIZ---- HARLEY MEANWHILE Yup well u lazy horse scum baby toe sucking aliens! Where's all my regiment suggestions! You Biz, mentioned you could find more, well my lad now is the time go find me more, we have 7 Union regis to find, and 8 more confederates! Harley my trusty historian get on the case!

Right okay, so when u get the chance lay it on like im a 5 year old what this regiment looks like, and get crackin boys on some more, particularly unsusual looking regiments as well,

NEWS FLASH Alright, as you will remember, scripts were used for bayonets, which lead in turn to laaag... the enemy of all Whilst we were working in cwmod improving units/lods etc, we always imagined how we could escape the use of scripts with bayonets. The answer is actually quite simple, we have replaced the standard ofp grenade, with a short attack (animated bayonet thrust) that the AI is very prioritised into doing, at short range. Voila! Hence no scripts, hence lag reduction of about 99% in the use of bayonets! Hooray for dixie etc ----BIV Ah okay thanx, well thats good, see im making the rest of the union guys more dirty now, so that combined with these shiny guys as a regiment will be quite novel and intesting. Well sure thing I'll include that regiment, still tho chaps we need another 19 to finish the target, so lets get it started!

Alright more pics of anims, sorry if this is a bit boring, but i think some of you are probably intrigued by anims, soon we'll have more unit pics (specially when i work on our fancy regiments etc) See if ur playing a misison, having some fancy regiments to fight with or against can be great for character and depth etc so i look forward to making those. First off here are 2 anims, 1 the pistol idle anim, the other the crouched aiming anim.

Cool Biv got any more regiments to suggest, ill include that one anyway sounds fine but we need more lol Oh and post a pic! of their uniform etc

Okay dokey here is another picture from yet another animation This is the pistol walking animation, now i may make adjustments to it, but basically it slides so nicely into the aiming position, that i like this one, Also these are officially the most nightmarish things to try and make for ofp... blooming animations...

Oh i didnt actually but just post ur suggestion here Biv then we can discuss it and have a barney over it, like i say suggest regiments chaps, maybe ones that have a distinctive look or are particularly famous for some other vibrant reason, but post em here in the thread etc. Ur right canadian *stares ahead* Must focus!!! As regards to the female soldiers etc, yeah well I'll add an er... cowgirl and probably a prostitute to go with the 'sanitary civilian women lol'

hmmm ill maybe adjust the torso slightly actually, but straight back, well he wouldnt actually stand completely straight? ill post another pic with adjustments and see whats that like and heeyyy it does not like weird god damn u! Ive seen plenty of cowboys like that sonnyjim er

Okay about time for another picture! I know how much u guys all hate if a mod edits a picture to make it look kinda funky, so thats er exactly what ive done lol oops (okay i just made it look old thats all promise) This is our pistol aiming animation for guys and officers (at present they have to use 1) but i think its a good compromise, it gives aiming for the officer, but a kinda ragged look suitable for the dirty fighting of bandits etc. There will be walking anims too with just 1 arm holding the gun (oh fun fun can't wait to do that argh)

Yeah just read about him, wow one hell of a guy huh! Wowee shame the french didnt build that cool dome turret designed vessel he did at the time either! Well there u go, wikipedia serves all my historical searches lol (er well not all but u gotta praise it hehe)

Damn u ugly fiends get to work, Someone recently pm'd me about being a beta-tester, this is welcome but at the moment we are not quite so near as to be recruiting beta-testers. We will however, from a website (When we put one up) from those who become members of that forum (when that forum is put up) allow registered folk to become official beta testers when that is ready, in about hmm a months time probably. The beta 1.0 will be the island, units, weps and animations, just without our finished horses and campaign (probably) however anyone wanting to beta test can contribute ideas in this thread for the works development, that is most welcome. I will post some pics of some regiment variants later today /// Oh and i almost forgot! There has been speculation from inside and outside our mod as to the general 'character' of our finished work, i.e. is it hisotrical? or is it action movie like etc. I think this needs to be clairified as to what the mod is achieving. While our central campaign is in some elements an action-adventure rpg, make no mistake, that the units themselves, and locations with future maps, will be historical in nature. We believe the finished mod will allow for thee most accurate and diverse representation of the civil war, and of the wild west technically possible.

Well im amazed at the expertise here even on ironclads! lol this does go to show the enthusiasm here for realism and accuracy. Of course we cannot sadly fully recreate the AI use of a full ships arsenal, i think its all a question of context however with such a unit. An ironclad or monitor etc, I think used in mildly supportive role, is realisable in the mods context, if you see it as a localised shore bombardment vessel, as opposed to a ship vs ship affair. Though we can code the vessels to shoot one another lol (imagine that could be amusing given the ecp water effects) Alright then, well I think its time for a bit of unit expansion too, as im focussing on our infantry at the moment, why you ask? Well its easy to make variants for us, because our units are modular, so why not add a stack of new ones to the mix. Now I can make units based on being told which ones to look for, but i cant mentally come up with the famous kinds of regiments we would like to include. Already we have the ... all the zoauves and others that were in the cwmod 1.1 (that is cos mind we were doing the new version of that unit pack, so we were directly replacing the old ones, when we were all in that said mod.) But that is only about 6 special regiments... I WANT YOU to make suggestions of the regiments you would like to see included, they may perhaps be things like the cwmod have recently added to their mod, (we can make them too, we're a different mod, have a different mod folder) or they can be different. I WANT lol to hear from you suggested regiments, with a link and hopefully a wee reason why their important. I intend to add about 20 famous regiments, each with 2 NCO's, (these 'famous' regiments will have their own vehicle class' SO GET TO IT - HELP THE MOD lol

Righty okay then, well we need more animations, before we can honestly believe we're in the ol' 1860s The new reload anim, (u can check this page or go back 1 to see it) isnt too bad, (tho it will be improved a tiny bit) but here are some other animations we need to do. * Crouched reload o' muskets * 1 armed pistol fighting + reloading I will work on the pistol anims next and will post some clips supa soon when those are done

Okay then Lt Hunter, if your happy to do that it would be massively appreciated, i hadn't thought of really including them but i say what the hell. So if you make them and you want my help texturing them your more than welcome, I could make some crew variants I think, just so u can offload the boys for a wee bit of R&R lol Cheers Wildo, and hey ofp anim isnt too hard, its just its limitations that are frustrating, but obviously the guy that made it is in ofp community terms a genius and brave soul etc

lol well wildo's got a point u know, but don't worry canadian our mod will make its first phase release relatively soon. So anyway, I was saying before how kids were cacking poopsies in excitement over horses and saddled pig units etc, when really we have yet to actually fix infantry. Our mod and cwmod both use the same inherited mix of Wilcos animations for example, but while wilco's venerable sympathy mission (that he did im sure) was okay i think its time to try and improve on them a bit. Particularly with soldier animations, for example the reload, we have the old animation where a guy is ramming a rod into the middle of the musket, while theres no cartridge spitting or locking or fanpartakating and to make matters worse the code made the animation last for like 6 seconds, meaning for ages ud wait till ur gun was ready to fire... WELL - NO MORE lol, Here is a sneak peak at the new 'version 1' 14 second reload animation, that includes our chap, Grabbing his pittle Biting his pittle Pouring it in the ol' musketo Ramming his ol' rodico Then locking his licking and primed and ready. Where as this 50 frame animation uses mostly original frames, we used 1 or 2 of wilco's old to save time etc So take a look, and bear in mind, we can change these animations too. http://www.newagefilm.co.uk/OFP/1.wmv

What should the planking be like Harley and i'll get zalmoxis to adjust it lol Its kinda funny tho, shows what nerds we are when it comes to, getting the planking right on our er steamboat... (we'll juts never tell any girls about this) but seriously hehe what should zalmoxis do (cos its an easy template to change anyway)

Wellllll... I am wanting to know, how much and what do you want from the first phase release of this mod, to you, the chiiildren, the people that we love who care about our mod hehe Give us an idea or any suggestions you have for what we should include in the first phase release, (bearing in mind, more it is the longer it takes to make - produce etc)

Ah a little late, some of you may have seen these before, but it seems many of you guys haven't, in any case these are the latest versions. There are too many unit types and variants to fill up in these screens, so we have put up a sample, i'll continue to post more pics of the mod as we go along, so we'll get through all units eventually. Alright, first of all, here are some UNION infantry, there are several basic types, (1 with no equipment, straps) 1 with equipment straps & pouches) and 1 with everything, backpacks etc.) There all cleaner in comparison to the Confederates, who do not all possess shoes or boots either. I will do some dirty Union troops (though they'll all have shoes) Also in the UNION pic, is a standard bearer, a cavalry sergeant and a Colonel. (there are loads of cavalry and other types) Alright, now some confederates, there are 22 variety of basic confederate soldiers, with different matching clothes, shoes etc, that should be more than enough for the basic rebel infantryman, from butterscotch to grey, its all here. Note there are many specific rebel and union regiments too, but these are the basics, with em is a Sergeant Major, checking em' over (in front of a town opera house.) Also someone emailed me asking if these units would have BLOOD TEXTURES, wow note the caps, yep as far as im currently aware, all units have blood textures. Some of them are quite hideous. So here's a pic of some Berdan Sharpshooters standing triumphantly with a local sheriff over some poor reb EDIT// Ah what the hell, heres 1 more pic, some more UNION cavalry, note their carbines, and two UNION zoauves (again forgive any typos) of the 14th Brooklyn, and 5th NYC, (yep the 5th NYC guys do have wee golden tassles u just don't see em in this pic cos their hiding behind their hats) Its very possible some of you wont know what the heck zoauves are, basically to cut a long story short - just check wikipedia ooorr, basically the us army at this time were most influenced by france, and in france a bunch of guys that dressed like their colonial (north african soldiers) like moroccans etc, were considered pretty crazy and wild, (i.e. brave) so of course, in the USA, regiments wanting to be like this, had themselves fancy zoauve flamboyant uniforms, and were known to be basically a bit braver, (or were supposed to be.) If any of you disagree with my complex historical analysis, i assure you i don't care, so lets not get this topic hijacked by a historical debate (again check the net and read about em' but they'll be cool units to have

Dada! From Zalmoxis a very valued member, comes a vehicle for our civil war mod, and hey presto here you have it, a steamboat! We will make a version with an adapted turret, in navy colours too lol! There will be some custom cargo animated positions for this, should be uber cool, will show more pics ingame when zalmoxis finishes coding it.

Well its not so much an RPG but it feels kinda like it, what w'ere doing is a weird system where u collect gold objects during the campaign, and depending on the number u derive by the end hehe, it will effect what ur career is afterwards (u know like the old Sid Meir Pirates Game hehe) So yep the missions are basically combat orientated, exploration with some stealth (but with alternative combat routes) but basically all the missions will be with the intended purpose of trying to make your character in the game more succesful i.e. richer, rather than to try and be some glory god patriot. (no offence to them, but our game will be a bit darker, bit more horrible hehe.) Regards also to you jamie for posting about our mod in your news section, In any case more screens coming soon, i'll put more of the union chaps up since its easy to get carried away with the rebs hehe

Okay dokey, now the mod comes with a super fancy groovy campaign, with wonderful voice acting and ridifculous shoot outs. At least its supposed to, the idea for these missions is that it tells the story of a mercenary who is hired by a corrupt island governor to fight in a confederate militia that has taken and held an island (our island 'Bitter island' that plays host to a variety of towns and villages, a large gold mine, docks and civil war era fort. In any case, after fighting gangs with this militia, the island is invaded by the union, and total nastiness ensures. But how do the Union get on the island? Well through a cool vehicle getting made. Zalmoxis is making a 3d Steam RiverBoat with a wee mounted custom cannon. Yey, i know a whole steam river paddleboat er thing! The island will be the first genuine representation of a 19th century setting with a large amount of custom models. Much is already done, but if you have something you would like to contribute to the island, a building, shack or something then rock on and contact me. Pics of the steamboat are coming by monday hehe

Yep, i thought why not post more pics of the latest units and fixed and revised units in development, ironically cos we were once in the cwomd, most of the units are the same as their 1.1, (but were the new versions to be released in that mods v2.0) however now they will be house divided 1.0 So, the pic above showed for example confederate zoauves (okay forgive typo) and so does this among others, (a sharpshooter and captain.) Oh! And Zalmoxis, a mod member has been working on a mysterious vehicle linked to our campaign, that i think will give ya a big surprise, pics of that wip coming soon!

Alright lets pump in some more information, Course meanwhile we've been excited like schoolgirls at the prospect of cavalry, in all their myriad of applied forms. We are currently talking with mods about our own idea of applying them, and seeking their chaarming consultation on the issue. As we have no doubt that making a fully animated single unit of horse + man is the best solution for AI enemy cavalry, it is a huge comittment in terms of work! Meanwhile infantry have been forgotten a little. We have a large variety, approximately 150 infantry units of various kinds, so its not a case of more, but better. We have a new infantry model in development that should be lovely, hehe, but is in development to replace the current one (do not fear though, the first phase release will use our current units, as you'd have just toooo long to wait hehe.0 ANIMATIONS - Wilco, who is currently retired, gave us permission to use his anims, he did too for cwmod, and so you will be familiar with them, the reload and fire anims. We are trying to update these animations a little, as the chap that drops the ball in the musket, and sticks the stove down, doesnt quite sync with the guns sizes etc. So we intend to replace the reload anim, to fit better with the guns, but also to try and make it fancier. Here's what he will do, 1) TAKE CARTRIDGE OUT OF POUCH 2) BITE IT 3) POUR IN END OF GUN 4) TAKE RAM, AND RAM IT 5) TAKE CAP and pUTS IN HAMMER, 6) THEN COCKS Okay, sounds impressive i know, bear in mind it might not be as glorious in execution, but this anim will last the full reload time.

lol well why not that should be amusing, we'll include that in the first release Okay, sure u seen this before, but this is the so called vintage cannon, for the confederates. See the rebels unlike the union didnt have access to as much state of the art weapony, so they pressed into service, older cannon, such as this 12pdr. Now the Artillery crew here, (there are two types in face included in the mod for the rebs) are you can imagine tho, their stuff was unpredictable