Satchel

Destructable bridges would be of great value in strategical hindsight, excellent mission stuff would become possible with implementation. An bridgelayer as backup and last resort once bridges have been destroyed would balance it somewhat again. If an opponent managed to destroy all bridges to keep the fight airborne, long range or only with light troops, there is the possibility of total surprise when you cross the river at a point that´s not within his expectation and covered by observation. If you´d however get caught by crossing a river that way, the limited maneuvering you can do will make you a sitting duck for Planes and helicopters. But before seing rivers and bridges i personally hope for more varied terrain in a possible OFP 2, that not only consists of either slopes or flat gound, but also ditches, bumps, craters, dugged in fortifications/ trenches etc.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (MosquitoMkVI @ Mar. 06 2002,16:37)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Can 3d tools help you cheat in a game? NO (if the server in question does not support the mod being used then it WON'T run on it!!! You will never go up against an enemy with a plasma rifle online, unless admin for that game server installed the plasma rifle mod!!<span id='postcolor'> Sadly this is not correct , 3D modelling tools enable you to modify/replace any existing model ingame, such as to make them unproportionally big for example or adding large spikes, so you see them from a greater distance. This also is no Server-Client thing, but clientside only.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (WKK Gimbal @ Mar. 05 2002,03:11)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I haven't noticed any difference when using T&L in OFP, I just leave it turned on for psychological reasons, lol<span id='postcolor'> Hahaha, that´s got to be the best reason i´ve ever heard to enable T&L in Flashpoint . Regarding speed; i recently bought a Geforce 3 TI 200 to replace my Geforce 2MX- the major performance gain i expected in OFP didn´t occure, although all other games i currently posess, like FS2002, IL-2, Ghost Recon and MOHAA not only look much better, but also run faster a multitude of times with the new card. The reason why OFP didn´t run much better is without doubt my CPU, which is a Duron 700 o/c to 900MHz, so i guess the processor dependance and according load in OFP is very high compared to other games, eventually the CPU is doing some operations that could be handled by the graphics card faster. I also heard that OFP runs best on Voodoo5 cards. If you really want to speed up OFP, a fast CPU and more than 256MB RAM are the best ways for doing this. I have 384MB RAM btw.

I see no reason boycotting any products from BIS just because of their decision not to make the modelling and editing tools available to the broad mass- Personally i think that´s the best way to ensure good quality mods and prevents a massive flood of cheats that would, without doubt, come with a full public release of all editing tools- just look at such games a Quake/ Halflife/Unreal and their endless modifications- i wouldn´t touch those games with a ten foot pole if online gaming is a primary aspect for me, nor could i be arsed to test out 100´s of modifications to find a well made. I learned from the soundmod i made a great deal, regarding such things- I know what a changed config.cpp can do to Flashpoint and i can imagine what would be possible if everything would be accessible by everyone. It´s not that BIS doesn´t make the tools available at all, they just make them available to projects that have a thoughtfull torough concept and sound seriously as i understand- what could be wrong with that? It ensures quality work and leaves out half-arsed things, like they´re available for many games mentioned by someone  earlier above- how much of the available mods for a particular game are you playing when 100+ are available anyway? 1, maybe 2- most certainly the best and most popular high quality mods, right?? Such as CS for Halflife, or infiltration for UT. The rest you´ve probably never heard of anyway and never installed it, as it´s also a compatibility issue when you are playing online, you want to make sure you get into games without getting a msg like "Missing file SDKFZ". I come from Rainbow Six/ Rogue Spear/ Urban Ops/ Covert Ops/Swat3, all games where there is also an assload of mods available with according cheating worrys, the majority of the available mods crap with just a handfull of good conversions- additions that are actually used in online games. So you use maybe 2 mods out of possibly 100, sparing the remaining 98%, so where is the need to have a complete addon flood disaster where noone is able to overlook the sheer mass anyway? If you want to do addons or mods badly, work out a concept and find ambitious like minded people to get started into the OFP modelling buisness, can´t be this hard or am i wrong !! I´m sure that anyone with a good concept really ambitioned about modelling for OFP will stand the best chance of getting the tools from BIS. Furthermore i think that support from BIS for their product is unmatched so far, they are constantly improving the game, as if they would have nothing else to do like working on other projects. I witnessed many games where nothing happened after a single patch or no patch at all have been released, leaving the game buggy and crappy, there are many of such examples i could list here. Those complaing about "lacking" support have not the slightest clue about gaming software or buisness in general, making me believe OFP is the first and only game they´ve ever played, or they are just notorious bashers, as they appear in any game in any genre. What BIS done so far for OFP is way beyond whats usually practised, most of what we did get for free is sold seperately for all games i know of as expansion packs, yeah i guess you can say that "really..reallly bad support"- get a grip on reality.

Although i´m against selfpropelled or any other form of Arty in Flashpoint (out of game focus and balance purposes), it really is a good model of the M109.

Hi, there were quite some things i had to catch up, as i was not available the last couple of days; some job- and related personal things. The patch i missed, along with an oxygen that didn´t quite made it to the broad public as i understand. I´ve also read on the german Flashpoint site (www.flashpoint1985.de) that someone already makes a conversion of Dynamic Range to suit the new patch to my astonishment, normally i could be happy about it- as i could lean back as it seems others are doing the work for me now, but i´m not, and i´m going to explain why that is. First i believe that Wright really had good intentions when doing the conversion and as it seems he did a good job so far, especially as i didn´t called in the last couple of days, so one maybe could have thought Satchel dissapeared, but there are phases in my job where i´m away for a couple of days, weeks and rarely months- or don´t feel like doing things on the computer if it was a tough day or week. Now i´m going to tell you why i´m not happy about the initiative; the major concern about the initial release of the soundmod was the open, freely editable config.cpp, which enables everyone to change parameters that affect the core gameplay of Flashpoint, and could be misused for cheating in online games; such as adding more hitpoints, making vehicles faster, more zoom, more ammo, deadlier weapons...you name it. There were many e-mails and posts of ambitioned online gamers asking for countermeasures, as this is virtually a threat to online gaming. The next point is that users may invalidate their OFP installation by trying out (out of curiosity) different settings in the config file that screw their OFP completely, so a new installation may become necessary. To prevent this i planned to deliver an encryptet config.bin with the next update, as i was fully aware that the soundmod is not going to work with the new patch. I intended to contact BIS about it, asking for help once the new patch is released, so that there would have been only a very small error window for possible bugs and incompatibility in addition to make the file safer regarding online gaming concerns. However, i understand that for every patch BIS is going to deliver there will cracked config files, so i don´t know if this is even possible to make OFP less prone to cheating purposes, but nevertheless it would be a first step making it a bit tougher for everyone getting hands on a first class cheating ticket. If BIS doesn´t think it´s a good idea and decides not to give some small support regarding the config file issue, then there is no other choice than to use cracked config.cpp´s that wandered already through many hands, modifications possibly included, even before the first link to a soundfile has been made. An complete update including updated/ new sounds will follow either way, but i´d prefer to deliver the config file the safe way. As i assume Wrights file is already in widespread usage, it wouldn´t make much sense now to come up with an encryptet 1.46, so goals are to deliver a fully encryptet file with the next Flashpoint upgrade 1.50 (or whatever lies between 1.46 and 1.50), just that you know Wright unless another way emerges and proives valid for making soundmods work in OFP without usage of the main config file.

This Sound replacement package will replace pretty much all standard OFP sounds with 264 highly realistic samples of  actual real world weapons, vehicles and equipment. In addition it adds sounds to some actions that were without sound before. Here just a few of the highlights: - New movement sounds in 1st Person depending on soldier class and equipment carried. - New action sounds - New custom reticule - Realistic weapon-, explosion-, movement- and vehicle sounds - Multiple explosion effects for AP,HE projectiles, handgrenades and rockets - Multiple Ricochet effects Sites that are hosting the Soundpack currently: http://www.operationflashpoint.it http://www.rashbanor.neostrada.pl/DynamicRange.zip Thanks to Breaker and RashbaNor .

Guess that were 5 or 6 beer to much last night I forgot about the comp....it was still running in the morning, sorry guys However, i´ve changed my mind about the not very common (but nevertheless realistic) brownish earthtone coloring used on the Apache before, as you can see on the pic. Hell, if it i don´t release it today, i will never get finished with this, as i always find a minor thing that gets my attention and could be done better, it´s either near perfect or i don´t like it, not much inbetween...... Should be up in about 1-2 hours, check back then. BTW, the glas i painted it for better contrast, gives a minor advantage in low light conditions when not using NVG´s.

I would like to see a fictional (not science fiction) conflict in a hypothetical modern scenario, but without the high tech weaponary already available nowadays, like for example OICW, proximity controlled submunitions in small arms, or new generation IR/Thermal devices. Maybe a small scale crisis in Korea, Drugwar in south american locations, more focusing on infantry than vehicles..... as it´s this OFP does best.

There is one thing with 23.xx Detonator drivers and above and GPU tweaking programs for NVIDIA cards (NVMAX/GTU/Rivatuner), unfortunally it´s the most important setting in terms of graphic quality in OFP- the LOD setting, more specific negative LOD. All Detonators 23.xx and above have a bug, not allowing for the setting of negative LOD´s. Even if all the other options work in GPU tuning proggs in conjunction with 23.xx + Detonators, this one setting doesn´t work, as i said it´s not in relation to the tuning prog, but more the fact that all new detonators are missing the option in the core. This is quite sad, as the 27.xx Detonators are good ones, but if you want the ultimate in visuals and used negative LOD before with NVMAX, you don´t want to miss that feature. So if you want to use negative LOD´s, stay with Detonators below 23.xx, as the setting works there. BTW, new Detonator drivers also have different Registry entries for D3D, because of that Tuning programs didn´t work at first with these new Drivers, as all D3D entries have been renamed and rather work now by a cryptic number entry. This is the result *cough, cough* of Microsoft working closely together with NVIDIA for their nonsense WHQL shit.

Yeah, that bike is cool , kinda reminds me of when i was around 15 years old; there was an old (guess 60´s or 70´s) Kreidler 50ccm standing abondened in the subterranean garage of our housings at this time. As it seemed to belong to nobody, we "organised" fuel and a starting ignition plug, and drove it through the fields and wood on weekends, although it was not build for driving on other ways than on roads, a streetmachine.

Oh well , at the moment i couldn´t afford it anyway to get into 3D modelling, neither time- nor moneywise. I´ve just bought Reason (a software synth), among some Hardware equipment last month, in all over 830 EUR, so that i´ve got pretty much empty pockets for any luxury of the bigger sort the next couple of months. I´m also not wrong by thinking that it takes an insane amount of time to get into 3D modelling right?, i mean if you don´t just want to make a sphere and 5 sticks that resemble a human? I´m pretty good with texturing though.

Does this picture indicate what i think it does..... we get a motorcycle with resistance? I always wanted to cruise the islands with a bike, and this looks like the right tool for doing this with style . Looking really good! More here: http://www.flashpoint1985.com/temp/main_res.html

I guess i would first redo everything already in the game, especially playermodels....the unfortunate part is i have z.e.r.o. 3D modelling ability, never touched the subject.

I really don´t care if game mags didn´t give OFP the highest rating and "be all end all status" over other titles in 2001. Games are personal taste, and such is the oppinion of those gamemag dudes doing the rating. I didn´t bought a game mag for over 1 1/2 years now, cause i get all the information i need faster and cheaper via the net. Most gamemags are extremely biased anyway......what sells bigtime is action, and not so much games where you have to learn your way into, like it´s partially true for OFP. Also gamemags get an assload of preview demo´s and games to test, there´s not much time to spent on a single game i assume, that would enable them to test toroughly every aspect of it. The majority want action arcade, thats why this portion makes up the biggest part of gamingmags with according coverage. They are part of the industry and as all others will have to go with the trend to be successful.

I was a huge fan of Sierra´s SWAT series of games, especially SWAT3; i never experienced better coop and Teamwork in any game online. However, among all the realism and believable reconstruction of SWAT callups and procedures, there were many restrictions, gameplay flaws and other shortcomings. Now it looks like Sierra and the team around Rod Fung listened to fan input and have been working secretly on a new generation of SWAT, that looks and reads like it´s not just a follow-up to the series, but a complete redo and workover that has nothing in common with the original SWAT series games, except police duty. As i read the preview and saw some pics it almost make me bite my tongue, judge for yourself: Some features: - The game's weapons system will now allow for modularity. To be specific, most of the guns in Urban Justice will have a number of hardpoints that you can attach six different types of upgrades to, including stocks, grips, magazines, optics, and suppressors, and within these categories, you'll find a myriad of options for a near-infinite amount of customization options - You'll be able to choose from an MP5, MP5SD, MP5K, MP5 PDW, UMP45, M4 RIS, H&K G3, H&K G36C, P90, Steyr Aug, M4A2, AK-47, AK-74U, AN94, Super 90, and countless others (the final number is not set yet, but it will be staggering). -Two different side arms apiece. Making that possible is a virtual arsenal of pistols that includes the Glock 21, Glock 19, FN57, Colt 1911, M9, Beretta 93R, and USP 40, and they too will be customizable with laser sights, bigger clips, and silencers. - Modularity also extends to your element, as you can outfit your officers with a variety of helmets, elbow pads, Kevlar vests, camouflage, goggles, gas masks, and even sunglasses. You can also choose what kind of ammo to load your primary and secondary weapons with--from buckshot to hollow point to less-than-lethal rubber bullets--and you can even choose what kind of handcuffs your element will carry into battle. - Urban Justice will take into account the weight of all of your ammo and reduce your movement speed accordingly. And while that has been done in other games before, Urban Justice will be one of the first games that actually reduces your weight as your character uses up ammo, drops clips, and throws away grenades. What's more, you'll be able to choose from six different physiques--two female and four male--and each will have a distinct walking speed, strength, and tolerance for pain. - Takedown 3D engine, which, according to Fung, will feature an impressive particle system and boast technical niceties like per-pixel lighting, dynamic shadows, and 5,000-polygon character models that use facial animation and lip-synching technologies. All the characters in Urban Justice will also have 29 unique hit "zones"!!! Woahhh! - Multiplayer component out of the box, a lesson Sierra learned with the original SWAT 3, and while the different gameplay modes are still in flux, the final number will probably be close to eight and will include options for deathmatch, team deathmatch, VIP protection, and cooperative play for up to 24 players. - Go prone, drop or pick up any gun or piece of combat gear (this applies to the bad guys too), and subdue your target by slamming the butt of your gun into his (or her) stomach, though too much of this maneuver will get you slapped with a police brutality fine. For the full preview head over here: http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/previews/0,10869,2848268,00.html (be sure to check out the 10 screenshots) Can you say fucking amazing? I got my expectations and hopes stacked up high for this piece of software, hope they will manage to finish it by the end of this year. This together with OFP and Falcon 5! , and i won´t need any other games on my HDD.

I don´t know if i´d be willing to pay 100$ for VBS-1, assuming it would be made public and commercially available one day (what i doubt will ever happen), most of VBS-1 would be certainly very boooring stuff for the casual computer gamer- the lack of real entertainment value, most likely Flashpoint players wouldn´t be able to understand and handle the content. By saying "boring" i don´t refer to models or anything visual, but more to the core components RL military simulations are  made of, the majority of the Flashpoint community wouldn´t be happy with "playing" it for sure, apart from seing some new weapons.

I don´t know if i´d be willing to pay 100$ for VBS-1, assuming it would be made public and commercially available one day (what i doubt will ever happen), most of VBS-1 would be certainly very boooring stuff for the casual computer gamer- the lack of real entertainment value, most likely Flashpoint players wouldn´t be able to understand and handle the content. By saying "boring" i don´t refer to models or anything visual, but more to the core components RL military simulations are  made of, the majority of the Flashpoint community wouldn´t be happy with "playing" it for sure, apart from seing some new weapons.

Getting no sounds at all is most certainly related to an installation error; have you placed the DynamicRange.pbo in your /Addons folder?- it only works from there. Also be sure to use the config.cpp that came with the package and place it in your /bin folder, after you moved the original config.bin to a save place (backup). For proper operation of the new sounds no other config.cpp or config.bin should be in your /bin folder. An included readme.txt file explains how to install the package btw.

Don´t see a problem with Playermodels having 1024x1024 pixel as a maximum at close range and use lower resolutions depending on range and framerate setting- pretty much like it is currently in regards to LOD Texture levels. If your machine can´t handle high detail settings, the dynamic engine uses the appropiate textures to keep the framerate.

I think we will be able to choose quality parameters we´d like to play with via the preferences menu, like we can already. In addition to 256x256 i really would like to see a 1024x1024 Texture option for Objects. PS: Guess it should be more like 10x10 clicks, not 100x100.

I like it for the fact that it´s an area weapon, capable of making mince meat out of camping clowns , snipers and other people that are to lazy to move . It´s also good for solving situations where the "frontlines" became static, a.e. 2 teams fight each other from stationary covered positions after they made contact somewhere. Not much further skill needed to use it, once you get the drift for estimating range and according weapon elevation. But i found the M16 /M203 Combo is more than sufficent for the job- most important you have 5.56mm as primary and the GL is just secondary, for these special situations where you want to affect a larger area, or fire from behind cover into the enemys cover, either forcing him out to expose himself, or killing him instantly in his hideout.

Malden, I especially like the area in and around Larche, Goisse, La Reviere, also the terrain W of the northern airstrip where desert-like flat terrain blends into some slopes with dry grass and bushes. It´s there i build my first Boot Camp, nice, long obstacle courses and shooting ranges look good there. What i´m missing on all islands are small bumps or ditches and high grass/ plants, that would make for some cover/ consealment in the open, maybe in OFP 2? Everon is too "green" for me and Kogujew is one big, huge hill, where any ground based vehicle and personnel have a hard time moving around on 85% of the island.

This is the important part for me: " Enhancing the Flashpoint universe, Operation Flashpoint: Resistance creates an additional 100km squared island complete with industrial-style buildings and original landscape scenery. Thanks to the use of high-resolution textures throughout, the visuals will be much more detailed and dramatic than ever before." The usage of high resolution textures means that the engine will support it apparently, in general. The textures we now have to work with are a maximum 256x256 px, making objects texturewise looking less detailed compared to other games. Once they got rid of directPlay and restricted network playability, OFP will be all setup to stay around for a long period of time on our HDD´s.

I´m not going to do the mistake comparing Ghost Recon to OFP - most OFP players are radical patriotics anyway (im not making myself free of that ), so it´s kinda useless to debate about it in this forum. Those 2 games are different and play different, i enjoy both of them. However i find that the current OFP models are a little to skinny for my personal taste, they should eat better . Adding a bit more mass to the right bodyparts would not only be eyecandy in terms of detail in the immediate surrounding- you would also be able to see a better silhouette across a greater distance, not shooting on "skelletons" anymore at 400m+. Also adding some more items to the load bearing harness and assault vests (Blackops), or making them a bit bulkier. This is of course my pers. oppinion.