Mr. Snrub

I wholeheartedly agree, although France's opposition to the war (as well as that of Germany's) was focused more on the impact a conflict would have on regional stability. That implies that French economic interests could be compromised if the war was to go ahead - in that context, I suppose, France did not hide its concerns about economic links when opposing the US position. The issue about whether French officials were 'bribed' into opposing the war is almost a moot point, considering the US relationship with Iraq (and a host of other dictatorships) in the past. Also, anything coming out of the Washington Times should be subject to intense scrutiny. Doesn't charging France with having a lust for oil seem just a little bit hypocritical? I liked the 'bad guy' list at the bottom as well... Altruism in international politics is non-existant - an argument of this type basically boils down to who's arguing for the least selfish or harmful reason.

Hear hear, although I haven't downloaded it. Now I won't. I know that is my perogative, but I thought Inquisitor was being more than reasonable in his request for credit. Having been credited in a past version doesn't mean he's had 'enough glory'... Credit should always be given - it's common courtesy, and signifies respect for the addon you are using. Afterall it is someone's personal work, regardless of the legal context. Indeed.

An interesting, albeit slightly off-track, thought just popped into my mind... If Nixon has been absolutely crucifed by history for his involvement in the Watergate affair (a relatively insignificant event, in a global sense), then I am keen to see how Bush Jr. is judged by time - after perhaps destabilising an entire region/world, boosting extremist popularity and doing so with virtually no justification. I suppose we'll get a few versions of this 'history', but I think the vast majority will condemn TBA. Just interesting to contemplate what our grand-children will be brought up to believe...

Hi Walker - thanks for the info, it was an interesting read... It would be of no great surprise if it turned out that TBA had knowlingly used evidence that had been doctored 'in-house' by a politically motivated intelligence filter group, but so far all the evidence I've seen being used by the White House as justification for the war has just been of very poor quality. The more likely scenario, I believe, is that the administration let the intelligence agencies know what sort of evidence they were after (ie. pressured them), and the CIA et al. dug up everything that would fit the official White House line. Unfortunately for Bush, all this 'evidence' amounted to was... - a jumbled pile of decade-old analyses of Iraq's WMDs - ambiguous satellite imagery of truck trailers - old British undergraduate theses on Saddam's WMD programs - forged documentation of uranium transfer papers in Africa - the sale to Iraq of aluminium tubing which could in no way be used in WMD programs I would suspect that if the US government intended to purposely fake evidence (although, as Denoir said, who knows about the uranium?) they would at least fake something that was half-way credible. The use of this evidence just looks like desperate attempt at justification, coupled with a media spin machine on overdrive. Yet who knows - I would not entirely write off the prospect of one of Bush's cronies deliberately tampering with evidence, but its too early to tell just yet.

You don´t get it, eh ? Tenet is the one who gets blamed now but in fact the intelligance was made up by others, not the CIA. The CIA in fact warned Bush to use info on WMD´s, the nigeria WMD plot that had never happened. They had their hands tied and had to watch the TBA making up their own intel. The CIA is the last to blame in this case. It´s the TBA and G.W Bush, especially Cheney and Rumsfeld. To make up a conspiracy issue with Tenet included or even better run by Tenet is bullshit. That´s the greates stupidity release I have heard of lately.... Indeed - Tenet is being used by the administration as the fall-guy, the poor bastard who has to take the blame when Bush's/Cheney's/Rumsfeld's/Wolfowitz's mistakes or lies are uncovered. Tenet is just far enough down the pecking order to be comfortable for the administration to sacrifice, and high enough to satisfy the media. The unfortunate fact is that the intelligence agencies are having pressure applied to them from above to come up with results that would justify the already-decided Bush plan. The CIA then goes and digs up the only data it can find which backs the White House's position - 'evidence' which is either vague to the point of being useless, is 12 years old or is a complete fabrication (as is the case with the African uranium). Ultimately, it is the administration who decides what evidence to use in making its case for war. For them to blame the intelligence agencies is a cynical (and hypocritical) attempt to divert criticism. The boys in the White House aren't stupid (at least at playing politics), and know that while they won't convince everyone, the faulty 'evidence' they provide will be enough to get widespread domestic backing for a war...

Quite right, and I also think that the Internet is a channel for bad attitudes, as anyone can be disagreeable or hostile for no real reason other than that they can - much like the animosity Denoir was discussing. The prevailing attitude on the Internet (a huge generalisation) does seem to be a negative one. It takes more effort to be conciliatory and constructive towards others online, and a much greater effort to create a functioning forum that won't collapse due to disinterest or hostility. That's why this forum (and the OFP community in general) seems to be an anomaly of sorts on the Internet. You have the unavoidable confrontations, but this is overshadowed - at least for me - by the incredibly constructive discussions/help and the number of addons that are being released.

That's the joke.

Looking unbelievably good! As good as 'Ash's Realism Pack' Bradley is, i'd happily replace it with a complete recreation of this calibre. The new NATO camo is great - very similar to Marfy's on SIG's US tanks...just gives that element of continuity... I'm eternally grateful that you decided to make new crewmen as well. With the standard of addons being released these days, the deficiencies of the standard BIS units are starting to show themselves. I agree with Hellfish that Earl's weapons would go great with the crewmen (do US armoured crewman carry M4's?).

It seems as though handgun support in OFP:R was somewhat ad-libbed by BIS at the time, where they didn't have the time or money to add new animations... I really hope BIS expands on the number of animations in OFP2 - I should expect handgun support to be organic, with proper animations. But as it is now, it just doesn't look right...

It depends upon whether he's creating models primarily for the benefit of the community, or just as a personal project for himself... Of course, it gets a little strange when you have 3 or 4 fairly decent, yet substantially different variations of the same addon floating around - but if he wants to make it, that's his perogative... Just to be be a bit pedantic, but I believe the CR-21 is South Africa's new assault rifle. The Israeli one is the TAR-21, and the Singaporean one is the SAR-21...what's with the 21's? Back to the models - its great that someone's finally making a new PK/PKM model. I've heard that Inquisitor might be coming out with one in his new pack, but its good to have a bit of competition... Oh, and BTW - are those some new tracers in the PK screenshot?

Cheers fellers! Not only a good bit of fun getting munched up by some 100ft rotating blades, but also spruces up the landscape... I've always wondered where some of the islands were generating their electricity

Looking good! Are you thinking of making any Australian vegetation? We have some pretty unique trees & shrubs, and it'd really add to the atmosphere. The standard OFP/R vegetation could pass for being Aust. (ie. the spinifex-type grass), but I'd love to see Eucalypts...

Looking fantastic! If you're not too rushed, would making Shell servo be a possibility, just for a bit of variety?

Perth should be relatively easy to make, being about 100 times smaller than Melbourne. Things to remember... - Swan River running through the city (CBD on the north side) - CBD is a bit of a grid layout - only two prominent skyscrapers - King's Park overlooking the CBD on the west side - nice, large beaches up and down the coast - large commercial port at Fremantle (perhaps a couple of American destroyers on shore leave? ) - my house is about 20km north of the CBD - if it's not there, there'll be trouble I'll try and think of some more things and dig up some relevant pictures of Perth, but it should be pretty simple to recreate as long as the river looks accurate... BTW, i've just come back from a road-trip across the Nullabor to Adelaide and Melbourne, and I've got some fairly good pictures of the Nullabor plain, the bush, Melbourne (although you probably know what Melbourne looks like), southern Vic. coast and some less great shots of Adelaide. If you'd like a bit of a look at some of these, give us an email/msg and i'll send 'em off to you

I just managed to finish downloading this monster, and I have to say I am in awe at it... This is just such an incredibly polished release - the addons, sounds, scripting, missions etc. I don't want to think about the hours you blokes must have stuck in to come up with this. I'll be the first to admit I know precisely bugger all about the Finnish Defence Force, but the quality of this pack makes that pretty much irrelevant Absolutely insanely good chaps!

I think much of what you are thinking of has been discussed here.

Good work here Helifreak! If you don't get around to making an all new model (and maybe a Longbow version as well?) with all the fancy features, it'd be good to see a new version of this one with tweaks to the weapons - ie. new sounds, realistic damage values, countermeasures and all that... In the meantime, this is my standard Apache

I think you're talking about the BTR-60 (variously referred to as Chechen, Russian or Afghani - no-one can seem come to any agreement) with soldiers sitting on the roof that rolls over an AT mine or improvised explosive set on the road. The bodies do indeed go flying everywhere, but the BTR stays on the ground, albeit with considerable damage. Nasty stuff... I agree, that's how the explosion system should be modelled, but its doubtful that soldiers would 'take off' to the extent that did on the BTR if they were in a position other than directly over an explosion of that size. Hopefully if the system BIS devises considers the variable size/power of explosions, its angle relative to soldiers or vehicles & implements a proper physics system (ie. the influence the explosion will exert on an object of a certain mass), we should get something pretty accurate & spectacular

Sweet jesus! Those videos/pics are amazing... I'm really glad the Javelin's gunna be in the pack ... I remember Kegetys' Jav was really fun to play around with - made AT missions a lot of fun The AKS-74U looks outstanding, as do the soldiers... You've made a thing of beauty here gents, be proud of yourselves!

...ha ha smart one Have you ever try OFP in mp 6 vs 6 or some Coop 10 vs AI with GMR & @Ecp DR ?..eaven on dedicated server No ?! Well, try it with GMR and fue armord vehicles and you'l see... ......it's a SKY and GROUND for Single Player That's why I said you shouldn't use GMR if you want to play without lag, champ

LOL, it's unfortunately true - even if we stumble upon the right answer, being the fallible creatures we are we might never realise it. It's like history (even recent history) - we can make pretty good guesses based on all available evidence, but we can never be absolutely sure of anything. We might be missing a crucial piece of contradictory evidence when all the signs are pointing a certain way. I believe there are absolute truths (ie. how the universe started), but whether we have the ability to find out what they are is another matter... I don't think it is ture, I think there is a possibility we will someday understand the full process of the Universe. It's a serious presumption to say we will be unable to find the answer. What I'm getting at is that humans (due to our non-omniscient nature) cannot know absolutely everything about an event as broad as the beginning of the universe, especially since it was around 12 billion years ago (we still don't know for sure). We cannot know the nature and position of every particle present at the 'big bang'. We're probably arguing over semantics here. I agree with you that we can know the answers to many questions. However, these answers would be simply those 'proven beyond a reasonable doubt' - the kind that would hold up in a courtroom, and enough to satisfy most people. Unfortunately we, due to our limited capabilities as humans, cannot know the "full truth"â„¢, which entails absolutely everything about a specific event. We'd have to be God to do that

But still only presumptions until we have more facts I'm not really arguing that an alien species will be devoid of emotion (seeing as how 'emotions' are simply human interpretations of instinct, and all creatures - sentient or otherwise - must have instinct to surivive, as you said), but rather that there exists the possibility that an alien species would not necessarily have the same emotions or level of emotional activity that humans do. Emotions such as hate, for example, are necessary in a situation in which there are two competing species. If one of those species were to die off (for whatever reason), that would leave the other to evolve in relative peace, for perhaps another million years or so. There exists the possibility that the species that survived evolved "out" of the 'hate' emotion, for it was no longer necessary, and was potentially destructive within the social group. Just as emotions can evolve through biological/environmental necessity, so can they devolve for the same reason. For all we know, the alien species we eventually run into has been the only species on its planet for 200 million years - so for 200 million years it had been evolving without contact with another species. Or perhaps multiple species evolved on the same planet, but were isolated environmentally. Seeing as that has never happened on Earth (thousands of different types of species evolved simultaneously, each influencing the others' path of evolution), we cannot predict the path of evolution on another planet. Human emotions developed the way they did because of the nature of evolution on Earth. However, we cannot be certain that the evolution on another planet will be anything like that which has taken place here. Too many variables to make an accurate prediction. Humans from different parts of the world developed similarily (incredibly similarly) because... 1. We all originated in the same place - Africa - from which we spread upwards, through the Mid-East, up to Europe, across Asia etc. 2. Therefore, our biology is exactly the same, regardless of where humans settled. For example, an Algerian is 99% biologically identical to an Eskimo (allowing room for unique DNA). 3. Environmental conditions on Earth are incredibly similar, relative to possible differences between Earth and an alien world. Oxygen is everywhere, sunlight is everywhere (except for a few months in extreme latitudes), water is abundant. An alien world might have an atmosphere composed largely of nitrogen, or any other gas you care to mention. The planet could be in a twin-sun system. The point here is that environment determines biology, biology determines emotion, therefore if the environment is different, the resulting biology and mental processes could be far different to those of humans. You're making some pretty big presumptions here. What if the entire race agrees that emotions are irrelevant? What if the race is, or has become a linked collective? There's no telling how alien society would work - it could be a forced decision. Yet again, its a possibilty, but an unknown. If they have advanced far enough to develop foolproof genetic engineering techniques, then no harm is done. Much like cloning - if they have the capability to do it properly and efficiently, and lack the morality/religion/sentimentality that has so far prevented humans from venturing too far into the field, then it is a distinct possiblity... Nature is not particularly logical, it is chaotic and unpredictable. Emotions are necessary in certain situations, and it is logical for a species to have them, but it doesn't make their resulting effects logical. An alien species needn't be emotional to be intelligent - in fact, the employment of logical judgement and reasoning without emotional consideration could be argued to be a sign of a higher intelligence. I too have a good understanding of the subject (which unfortunately eludes a good many people) The problem here is this - you cannot presume the human race to be a template of all intelligent life throughout the universe. Undoubtedly some similarities between humans and an advanced alien race would be identifiable, necessarily so. But emotions aren't necessarily one of those characteristics that would be uniform across the universe, for the reasons I have outlined above. Environment is the major factor, and we cannot assume the environment on an alien world will be exactly like that of Earth. Even the slightest variation could lead to exaggerated differences between the two. Take the human race as an example. Think of human evolution as an experiment conducted in a lab. If we were to scrap the current experiment and run it again, there is only a small possibilty that the resulting dominant species (if there is one at all!) will be exactly the same as we are now. After all, evolution is based on chance. Any minute difference in any minute event in the 3 billion years of evolution could throw the whole path off. Think of two intersecting lines. At one point (the intersection) the lines were on the same path, but any deviation away from that point and the eventual end of the lines (the nature of the dominant species) will be in much different positions. Take the fragility of evolution, in which any tiny difference can result in a hugely different outcome, and stick it on an alien planet. The environment is different (perhaps remarkably so), and therefore the possibility that the resulting dominant species would be exactly like humans is about zero. Even that the species might resemble humans in some way is not assured. You talk about 'the laws of nature', but the only laws of nature we can observe and comment about are the ones taking place on Earth. There is nothing to say that the 'laws of nature' will be the same on another, life supporting planet. The simple fact is that, taking evolution into consideration, there are far too many variables to consider to come to any meaningful conclusion about intelligent life out there. We can reach a few, rather obvious conclusions, but the specifics (like emotion) would be mere speculation based on incredibly limited knowledge.

Exactly - I doubt their families would be as thrilled as us to have OFP Pavehawks for Xmas

A good idea, although I hope the physics are right. At the moment, depending on the size and angle of a nearby explosion, soldiers (corpses) can get flung ridiculous distances. If, say, a mortar shell flung a nearby soldier 2-5m or something, it would seem pretty realistic. Combine that with a ragdoll-like animation system (rather than the premature rigor mortis OFP corpses seem to be inflicted with), and you'd be on a winner That's mainly about getting killed I suppose, but it would work well for survivors also. I'm not sure whether a ragdoll system would work for characters that weren't dead, only 'flying', but it would be great if you were blown a couple of metres away, lying face down, disorientated for a few seconds (maybe concussed, temporarily shell-shocked) and maybe injured in some way. I can think of those moments now when you'd be advancing with your squad only for a mortar shell to land smack-bang in the middle of you, throwing you 3 metres away, disorientated but unharmed while the rest of your squad is dead/wounded. It sounds macabre, but I love those moments when you can't believe you've actually survived.

If you're looking for performance over visuals, you might want to play without the GMR mod and with reduced settings...