2-systems, Top 3 Wish List, Thanks...
 

Thrilled to hear that the Benicia situation's figured out! Yay! :)


In regards to supplying weapons/gear, if it's not too much trouble, could you supply two different systems? One that's geared towards "evolving gameplay" and another for those that want the immediate gratification of being able to cuddle up with their favorite lead-spewing babies?

The "evolving gameplay" system would be setup realistically. Legitimate weapon dealers at bigger locales would be able to supply a larger catalog of weaponry immediately from the game's start, and allow access to those weapons that they could order. The newest weaponry/gear could be ordered with a 50% down payment, and then take 3-4 weeks for shipment. There would be quite a price penalty to be paid for the shipping and handling, but as a major conflict heats up, the price/time cost would gradually reduce as these weapons would already be "in the pipeline" to the conflict zone since it's now a good source of dependable income for the weapons manufacturers. Eventually even the best "special forces" gear wouldn't have to be shipped at all. They'd be readily available at the better shops. Perhaps a bonus could be supplied to the Player for those traders he frequently shops from. Black market dealers can occasionally get their hands on such premium weapons, and perhaps have them delivered a week or two earlier than the legitimate dealers could, but their prices are much greater. Yes, I know that having Players wait for 2-4 weeks' worth of game-time is a pretty hefty "penalty," but it seems more than fair to me so that they can get their hands on a brand-spanking new HK416 or a SCAR...

The "immediate cuddle up" system would be accessible via the radio, and the Player could order up weapons/gear through it. They'd pay a normal price for the items (I'd make ammo available for ordering too), and then they'd spawn nearby, akin to ordering up a mercenary. This setup would be ideal for those Players who don't like the slow buildup to the weapons and gear that they love. They simply want their babies now so that they can execute the combat as they see fit.


Top 3 Wishes for the Next Release
(1) Supply ammo boxes that come pre-mixed with different ammo types. Graphically, such boxes would have two colors on it, color-coded to indicate the ammo mix inside. In bold font would be the following combinations:
AP+FMJ
AP+HP
FMJ+HP
The rounds could be mixed in one of two counts: Burst and Alternate. A "burst" count box of mixed ammo would be that the first of three rounds would always be a single AP followed by two FMJs. An "alternate" count box of mixed ammo would simply alternate the rounds so that it would go "AP, FMJ, AP, FMJ, etc., etc."

I strongly feel that a ton of Players would appreciate being able to purchase pre-mixed boxes of ammunition. While the Player can do this himself in the game, it's very time consuming, boring, and a third of the time the GUI doesn't display properly till a reload of the last save is done. This is more than a little irritating when it happens.


2. Ensure that windows always permit the Player to see the enemy on the other side of the glass. The reasons for this are pretty obvious, because to have an enemy see you when you can't see him, even though they're just 5 feet away from the window's surface is, well, pretty golly-durned frustrating. :)

3. Supply better Tips to aide in figuring out the gameplay. I'm talking about for items such as how to setup claymores, which I still haven't been able to pull off properly! :evil: I'd also list the Top Ten major changes that the latest release of the Blue Sun Mod supplies, and that includes managing taxes on a territory.

4. "Yes," I know that I said that this would be my "Top 3" list, but this last one's so low that I thought that it wouldn't hurt to mention it anyway... Allow the player to pickup and carry three medium-sized stones per single box, which can be used to throw towards the enemy to make them think that a grenade has been thrown at them. I've read about some rather nasty firefights in the Pacific Theatre during WWII where the American soldiers were so low on grenades that they alternated throwing stones at the enemy. It got to the point that when the light was dim enough the Japanese ran away in terror nearly every single time a stone was thrown.



If, as you mentioned earlier, you can get Brigade E5's helicopter into the game, that would be awesome!

If anyone has the mind and fingers to do it, it's you man! :grin:

Hopefully, the upcoming release of Jagged Alliance 2 Back in Action won't draw you away for too long. I am SO disappointed to hear that there's no fog of war, that only one attachment can be setup per weapon, and the game's being released so that it's not "mod-friendly." What in the world are the developers thinking when it comes to making these three HUGE blunders?! :evil:

I very rarely purchase "brand new" titles at top price, and I was seriously considering doing so for JA2 BiA, but it's hard for me to imagine doing so now. If they were smart, they'd release a free demo a week prior to release, because I can't imagine the wrath they're going to receive if they force JA2 lovers to shell out hard earned cash for a game that they're going to end up hating!

Honestly, as much as I admire JA2+1.13, the best tactical experience I've ever had in a game is 7.62, but that's primarily due to all of the work poured into it to improve it through the Blue Sun Mod. Seriously, 1C should be cutting you a BIG check every now and then!

Good luck R@S, and thank you for all that you freely do for us!

Really? Those limitations for BiA? Not mod-friendly? That.. sucks.

Oh well, meanwhile, I shall play some more JA2 1.13.. It's not the same with turn based and action points, though :/

I love 7.62's gunplay a lot more. Shame it had to be made on such a wonky, wonky engine. Those crazy Russians.

@ Kyle

I have stopped adding features that makes the game easier, it ruins the fun. So for the new supply system I feel strongly about letting the evolution take it's course.

1: I never felt that making mixed ammo clips was time consuming or annoying. And never buggy! And I like to change my variation as the game progresses, like having 2 rounds AP, then one HP. Or 2 HP, then one FMJ.

2:That's an issue with the mapfiles, not possible to change.

3:Like telling people to read the frigging FAQ.txt located in the game folder?:-P

4:Might be possible to create a grenade without a bang, I'll look into it.

@IceShade

I haven't heard a peep from you about the new weapon sounds, are they to your satisfaction?

:-(



:-(


Well, maybe make it a little more detailed then, supplying step-by-step example wouldn't hurt. The taxing system was unknowingly bedeviling me. For instance, I didn't know why I had a -14 rating from the compound that I cleared to retrieve the CIA documents. After the bandits were all killed, it wasn't occupied by anyone other than a couple of the slaves I set free, the "Mayor" (that title for a small military installation that you control strikes me as odd, please consider changing it from "Mayor" to "Coordinator" or "Facilitator"), and the valet driver. It didn't dawn on me till much later that I had jacked up the tax rate at the Palinero bank before I had conquered anything. I just wanted to see if the system would give me free money, and it rightfully didn't. But even though I wasn't in control of anything at the time I made the request, it must've been applied to the military base as soon as I liberated it. I later lowered the tax rate to see if the -14 would go away, but Real Life kicked in and I haven't been able to see if that would affect any change in the positive direction. Players need to know that playing around with the tax rate at any bank, before any territory is conquered, is going to impact what happens as soon as a territory is taken over.

The same could be said in regards to building up a militia. I tried that shortly after I gained the radio, yet there wasn't a number displayed on the screen to show that a militia was being raised, nor were any men present whenever I returned to the base. I had plenty of money for the moderate number that I ordered, so I was left wondering "How long do I have to wait till I see any results?" And, I wondered, "What would they be armed with?" Could I arm them individually with weapons that I looted, or...? These kinds of questions weren't answered in the Read Me, and it's this kind of thing that I think that should be fleshed out, so players have a better idea as to what to expect.



:grin:
Yay!


:cry:
*Sniff-sniff...sniff-sniff...*
Would it make it any easier if I said I could live with your style of ammo-mixing?

Puh-please... My...um...puppy...that had a bright red bow around its neck...just got ran over by a...semi truck...and my heart's already crushed...and I don't know how much more...pain...I could handle...sniff-sniff...

May I just echo Kyle and add my thanks and appreciation for all your hard work on BSM, Ras and others. Good work fella(s).

Was this assked earlier but can items be re-combined to form a stack? nothing uglier than 20 half empty cartons of ammo each with it's own slot in inventory.

What about the big ammo box's? can they be altered so spare ammo can be put back in? what if it was classed as just a very large magazine that didn't fit any gun?

R@S I wanted to thank you as well for all your hard work modding this game. I have enjoyed it for a few years now and always come back to it to see what you've done. We owe you and all who helped a huge thank you!

I have one question about ver 1.9 - I no longer have the character type selection on first entry, and while the CGL goes up my character level stays at zero. It sayd I have points to spend but no dialog to spend them.

Am I missing a new dialogue at the start of the game?

Again, many thanks!

PS: 1.9 looks and sounds fantastic!

see?

@ Kyle
I know there should be a better written FAQ, and maybe someday someone with some spare time will write one. But until then you will have to actually learn as you go. About the militia and their numbers. Each time you order more men, you do that by increasing the city's budget. The amount you increase varies, as do the number of men you will be able to have on the budget and the current salary of one single man.

And all the militia doesn't always turn up right away, sometimes it takes a few days before the numbers fit the budget you set for the town. This is why you should keep an eye on the "Check Economy" page when using the field radio. It tells you the most important parts, and the number of militias you have.

I know I said that I wouldn't add things that would make the game easier, but I might have to do that anyways. I was thinking of writing out the rank on enemies tags, like "Bandit Leader" or "Rebel Commander". The reason behind this is actually not to make it easier, but to balance another new thing that might make the game even more difficult. I plan to boost enemy AI and it will be tactically prudent to choose the right targets. There are 5 types of enemy soldier for most factions, and they will be more intelligent, see and react better. By putting their rank in the tag will make it easier to spot the biggest threat, apart from what type of weapon he's carrying and what current action he's performing. I think it will be very fun testing this once I have it ready:)

@Tozmeister
The stacking of ammo boxes are hard to do, would require some serious exe hacking, well out of my league.

If I made the big ammo boxes as large clips you wouldn't be able to refill other clips from them. You would have to empty all the rounds first, then drop them on the clip you wanted filled. I know, weird, but those are the rules:)

@Dajjal
Open up the BlueSunMod.ini located in your 7.62\ini\ folder and set the ClassSystem to "1". Then you need to start a new game and select a class. Hope you haven't gotten too far into the game.

And welcome to the board:)

Oh I haven't played 7.62 in a looooooong time. I decided to try Jagged Alliance 2 with 1.13 and that reminded me of this, so I checked here again.

I just installed the latest version to check the sounds, fired a few from the shop and it's much better. It wasn't so much the quality, but simply that everything sounded the same.

It's impressive you still have the motivation to work on the mod after all this time. The 7.62 fanbase is rather limited!

That's funny, I'm in the middle of the "Shady Job" mod, it's very fun. I played 1.13 a little, but I have played it so many times before and got bored.

Small pond you say?:-P

Well, I still like to play the game, and as long as that is the case, I'll continue.

:shock:

8)

:-D

YESSSSS!!!!

R@S, what's the point in going over to play Back in Action, when it's not even moddable. With good ol' (buggy) 7.62, you can still play god, and have a cult of followers who ceaselessly worship you. BiA can't give you that! ;)

Seriously though, the above changes to the AI sounds AMAZING. I can't wait to try it!

In regards to the Read Me, perhaps I can contribute something to that. If you reply to any PMs that give fleshed out advice to others, feel free to send them my way. I'll organize them, and ensure that the spelling and grammar are correct, and send them your way on request. If, for whatever reason, they're not included in the .zip, then perhaps they could be offered in the first posting next to the latest release, and that way people could download it if they so desire. Let me know if you want to try this out.

I badly hope that BiA's developers are seriously reconsidering their "non-moddable" stance. Yes, I understand that it's partly due to having to pay someone else money to make the game moddable, and to ensure that there are tools available to make alterations to the game, but look at the years' worth of extra sales that the Bear's Pit community have undoubtedly driven (it was their work that convinced me to try JA2).

It would be interesting to know just how many sales of 7.62 have been generated since BSM's first release. Does anyone have any clues in regards to that?

I don't know about the actual sales numbers, but I have noticed a steady increase of people playing the mod. I think there are five times as many people that played BSM 1.8 compared to the 0.8 version, and keep in mind that this is 3 years after the initial release of the game. And reading from the reviews over at gamersgate, the only thing that seems to give the game a good rating is the fact that the unofficial patch and BSM has fixed many of the vanilla bugs.

But that's enough of me tooting my own horn:grin:

R@S,

Brilliant update with BSM 1.9. The sounds, the Kreb AK, the Walther W2000 - sheer brilliance. Well done to you and the team.

Your work on 7.62 keeps this as one of the games I return to time and time again, (it might be a small pond, but it has a hell of a lot of fish!)

By the sounds of things BSM 2.0 is going to be wicked, I can't wait. (Any chance of making the Delta Boonie hats a wearable helmet? - patterned to match the BSM outfits)

Keep up the good work

I did some testing a while back trying to add a balaclava, but never managed to get the coordinates right. But that was by replacing the whole head of the character model, adding a new hat should be a little easier. But my texturing skills leaves much to be desired, and I'm not sure if TodeswolF has time and will to make textures that matches his uniforms for it. But if I manage to export the hat from the delta model, I promise I will try to contact him about it. If he can't, I'll post the texture file somewhere and hopefully someone with some free time and skill could do it instead. But this depends on my success in the exporting part, I'll start working on it later this week.

I also want to add a few new types of armor, I started working on that last weekend. I managed to figure some things out that was holding me back before, but once again it comes down to my inability to draw new textures. There are 2 types of armor, the ones using a model that gets added to the character model(the big clunky ones), and the ones that is "painted" on top of the normal merc textures. Not sure which would be best to use as a template, and if it's the big clunky one, I should actually export it first and let Geroj do some adjustments, maybe adding textures in the process. But Geroj has exams all January and wont have much time until next month, so that would have to wait.

The next release of HLA promises to be something out of the ordinary tho, Deadhead has been working on some new merc bodies, and from the test version I checked out it's going to be awesome. And it might also include some stuff from BSM for a change, I sent them my code for the hospital/treatment system. And they are talking about adding a toolkit for repairing weapons, much like in BSM. As it is in the 0.7 version you would have to take the weapon to a mechanic/trader to get it fixed.

Do you mean these...? http://hla.3dn.ru/_nw/0/42502229.jpg

Moments ago was the first time I laid eyes on the new suits, and the details are astounding!

One could actually setup Russian and American factions that wage platoon-sized wars on one another! Imagine stumbling across, or getting caught up in such terror inducing chaos!

Whose side would one take? Pretty mind blowing to even contemplate.

What are the chances of BSM getting the above work from the Hard Life Addon incorporated into it? What a boon that would be!

I'd be happy to take a crack at the armor vests, that's if you found my previous work worthy enough. If you can export it, and send it my way along with what you want done to it, I'll see what I can do. Let me know. no insult will be taken if you'd prefer to pass it along to somebody else.

The more you write here, the more excited I get for what you still have up your sleeve.

They have never turned down any of my requests, so chances are pretty good. But we have an understanding about these things, their content is to be released in their mod first, so we would have to wait until the next version of HLA.

As soon as I have exported the model I'll make the textures available, if you have time you are welcome to give it a go:)

I got a request about fixing the GUI when you have more than 7 mercs, so I threw together this little quick fix for that:
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/824...1202437.th.jpg

Since some things in the GUI are hardcoded, there still are some issues.You have to click on the merc's forehead to select them, otherwise the one below will be activated, it's due to some hard coded stuff but it's as good as it's gonna get.

12 Merc GUI

Have fun

Happy to be of assistance...
 

The only real concern that I have with taking a shot at the armor vest textures is that all of the graphics programs that I use are free, like GIMP 2 and Paint.Net.

It's been ages since I came up with those two camo uniforms, but I'm pretty sure that it was Paint.Net that can automatically make LOD versions of the textures (I'll look it up to make sure). The point though, is that even the graphics program that I used "worked" at creating the LODs, they still wouldn't work in the game itself.

I'm a bit foggy on the details right now (and I'm in a hurry and don't have time to comb through my emails), but I'm pretty sure that I sent them off to TodeswolF to fix, but after that, I didn't hear anything more.

Do you know if he was able to get them working (that's if they were desired for BSM)? To save myself a bit of potential embarrassment if they are in the game, I haven't encountered them yet. The furthest that I've been able to get playing BSM is about 4-5 missions on behalf of the rebels, and then Real Life rears its ugly head and I get sidetracked for a long time. By the time I have the opportunity to play BSM again, and I check here, there's a new version released, so I start allover once more. Rinse. Wash. Repeat.

In any case, I'll "for sure" take a shot at the main image file, and if I can't get the LODs to work properly, I'll do what I've done in the past, which is pass the textures on to you or anybody else who has a better program that can make the LODs for us.

I'll be waiting for your call. :)

Well, that looks like a good portion of firepower :)

Is it possible to change the GUI so that it prompts the events on the upper part of the screen like in good ol' BE5? I like the map and want to read the events also. But with the 7.62 GUI I always have to switch between the modes.

@Kyle
It seems I got a bit ahead of myself regarding the Boonie hat, and to add it to the game requires a lot more work than I had anticipated. Due to the whole structure of the character models I would have to add the mesh file to every RPC's AZP archive(a bit over 100 since the JA2 mercs were added). They did add berets in HLA a long time ago, but those were only for the "IMP" merc and only 8 AZP archives had to be altered, and this might be something I actually have time to do. We'll see what happens.

@Mick
I totally agree with you about the sharing of the mini-map and event log, and I seldom use the mini-map anymore. The bad news is that the text displayed on the screen can be considered hardcoded, so I can't do anything about it. :rolleyes:

@all
I'm almost ready to start testing the new weapon order script, and maybe I shouldn't call it that anymore since in the new script you can order clips, ammo boxes and weapon attachments too. Maybe I'll add the armor too, but that can wait until I have some working code.

So far you'll get a list of what's available depending on CGL and type(weapon, clip or attachment) and the price of the item. If you select one it gets added to your shopping cart list, a list where you can remove items as well btw. I haven't decided on the time it will take for the shipment to arrive but am leaning towards 2 days for sentimental reasons. Once the shipment arrives it can be picked up at your local bartender, but that might be changed to a centralized point to at least give it something negative.

I will also have to make a list of what items should be available, but that's the fun part which I'm saving to last, motivating myself to get it done quicker:cool:

Ahhh... a modder's pride is a weird thing.

Even for an unknown and obscure game such as this, the modder's pride comes first. Other mods are competition and no way we're going to give them our cool features.

Your idea for enemy AI ranks is great, but rather than being spoon fed the info could you incorporate into the uniforms in some way? so you have to do some work and look for the give away rank insignia.

Will higher rank AI's effect morale? ie:- If a squad's sergent does down the rest of the squad would flee but if the sergents on his feet he can keep the squad rallied round him?




Edit:- I thought JA:BiA would be the death of 7.62 but it looks like it's going to run and run.

@Iceshade
Would you care to explain your comment a bit more? If you are going to insult someone, don't be vague about it:-P:grin:

@Tozmeister
That's just the thing, the gov, rebels and Palinero army all have their rank on epaulets. Knowing which is which, and the camera work involved looking at them closely, will most likely drive most player insane. Having their rank in the tag makes much more sense since the info is there already, it's about making the game more fun to play.

Since I have only done some initial testing on the AI I can't say for sure how they will react and how their morale will affect gameplay. The thing I said about their rank being of importance to the player was that a higher rank means higher skill and attribute stats. As I said, I've only done some initial testing, but the game is much more fun(read: harder) since the enemies react better and some of them are quite deadly if left alive for too long.

Just a jab in general.

"But we have an understanding about these things, their content is to be released in their mod first, so we would have to wait until the next version of HLA."

I don't understand this. They have no people to persuade to play their mod with cool gadgets and advertise their mod with "We have feature X! This other mod doesn't! Exclusive features!". The fanbase is too small for that. It's better to just share resources and make every mod as good as possible. Without mods, this game would have been really dead. It's already desolate. I don't understand the competition, or pride.

It's just the same with any mod in any game. In ArmA2, a certain guy who made really good models and vehicles did not want to share them with another really big popular mod, because he saw them as competition. It's just baffling. If all mod makers would just cooperate and share resources, the game the mods were made for would just live longer and be better overall.

But we do share freely, and I understand why a guy working hard making something for HLA would want it to be available in it before anywhere else. And by doing so, making sure it works as it should before anyone else starts messing with it.

And BSM isn't really in competition with HLA(BSM is the quirky little brother:-)), and those who can usually play both since they offer a wide variety of additions and gameplay. This might change once BSM 2.0 is released and translated to Russian tho, at least then the number of players playing BSM might get closer to the number playing HLA, mostly due to the long periods between HLA releases.

And for the record, BSM wouldn't still be developed hadn't it been for the support we have gotten from the guys behind HLA. They have spent many, many hours educating me on how to mod the game. Learning the language of the source code was a very steep hill for me since I had no prior skills in programming, Deadhead's patience when teaching me was a monster task.

So I guess from the outside it might look like there isn't much communication between us, but that's wrong. And just because there is little activity in some of the forums doesn't mean there are noone playing the game. There are still thousands of people playing the game, and that number seems to keep growing steadily.

Detectable shipments=ambush ready...!
 

R@S,

Don't let an ounce of stress form on your brow over not being able to supply me with the default textures. You're plate is already substantially full. But if you happen to be able to get it to a state that you're happy with, don't hesitate to reach me.

That said, let me see if I can convince you to add even more to your plate! Yes indeed, I'm a generous guy, aren't I? ;)

I'm not keen on the idea of having the equipment orders shipped to just one centralized point. It's just seems too "gamey" to me.

But you could come up with a semi-viable back story that takes away the sense of it being "gamey." Perhaps that the region is such an unstable cauldron that arms restrictions are exceptionally tight, and that the deepest penetration that the suppliers can get "highly specialized" orders in is to one port, which is a neutral location, and one that is, sadly, routinely patrolled by potential combatants from every faction, some of whom are plain clothes agents with sly eyes and twitchy fingers... Man, I like the sounds of that! Alright, so it might work and not feel gamey... Another way to jab the Player in the eye for making special orders is that the order is randomly placed at the location, forcing him to have to sneak and skulk about checking out one shipping container and crate after another in the hopes that he finds his order sooner than later... Yeah, the more I talk, the more I like listening to myself! Imagine that! My wife wouldn't be surprised at all. :grin:


Another structure that you could establish seems a good deal more plausible to me than the above, and that's whenever an order arrives, there's a 15% chance of enemy plain clothes agents patrolling the area, as well as a 25% chance of enemy bounty hunters/mercs being entrenched in a sweet ambush position or two (randomly determined, of course!). These enemies would be "active" immediately upon the Player's spawning into the city/town. The items would ship to whatever locale one ordered them from, whether it be from a bar or a black market dealer. One could up the believability factor by reducing the odds of an ambush by 5-10% by ordering one's weapons through the black market, but as I mentioned before, this is a premium means of purchasing the products. Who knows, maybe the Player could be allowed the option of paying extra just to reduce the odds of his shipment being detected and used as a trap against him and his squadmates.

If you want to get really nasty with the "detected shipment" you could also include a 50% chance that by the time the Player gets there, the weapons have been removed from the area and taken to another city/town! Ohhhhh man, that would suck! By searching the corpses, the Player would find out where the location was, but would have to infiltrate the unfriendly area and search the trucks/crates/cargo containers in which his shipment was randomly placed.

I wouldn't place it too far way, at most, perhaps 1-3 locations away from the original delivery point. Again, randomly determined (the further away the shipment's been redirected to, the more time the enemy had in securing it before the Player arrived).

What I also like about the "detectable shipment" scenario is that it really increases the level of uncertainty. Suspense, even without direct action, can really get the adrenaline pumping in a good way.

Which causes me to wonder: is it possible to have plain clothes agents on a map without having their weapons already in hand? Talk about an immediate attention getter! It would be neat if the AI of undercover agents could be written so that they don't take immediate action for 3-7 minutes, using that time to get into position to do a sudden attack from the rear.

All of the above could also be balanced out by adjusting the likelihood of detection based on the Player's level and just how hated he is by opposing parties. The more of a thorn he is, and the more effective he becomes, the more resources are devoted to ambushing him where it's likely he's going to be, such as picking up a shipment of equipment. I would probably cap the maximum level of detectability at 45-50%, because, once again, ambiguity is exciting too.






It's hard for me to not imagine that with the new rank-based AI that you're working on that morale wouldn't be affected by whomever is killed. That exists in the title to a limited degree already, doesn't it? It sure seems like it to me, and makes perfect sense. If that could be increased even more, then more power to you. I also think that it's a good idea to include the target's rank in its dog tags. Yes, it's more believable to have to zoom in to search for the rank on the epaulets, but it's also a chore (like having to manually mix up one's ammo for magazines, but I'm not a stubborn bugger so I won't say another word about how annoying and time consuming such "features" are), so, to speed up gameplay and increase the "fun" factor, presenting a more simplified solution seems perfectly fine to me.


Having contributed to many mods over the years, I genuinely sympathize with badly wanting cool features that another modding team is working on, but I also totally understand why they'd want said features to appear in their own creation first. It's a matter of pride, and, of course, creator's choice. If there were a more formal "merging" of the two mods into one enormous supermod, then I'd expect the sharing to be more open, but then the circumstances are very different from what they are now.


I have a feeling that if the producers of Back in Action don't make some substantial allowances for deep modding, that a good deal of those frustrated players will be much more willing to finally come 7.62's way. It's been AGES since a title has adequately come close to inheriting Jagged Alliance 2's mantle, and the community rightfully devoted to that title are quite reasonably frustrated.

Turn play or not, there's nothing like 7.62+BSM's gunplay. And I routinely sing its praises wherever I go. If BiA ends up being another nosedive into the ground for this genre, then I'm completely confident that 7.62's and BSM's numbers will grow. And deservedly so.

The work is terrific, and deserves praise, even if due to engine limitations, it'll always be a "diamond in the rough."



Before I forget, R@S, could you alter the main BSM screen so that it also displays the current version number? Yes, I know that one could check the Read Me, but I'm a "proactively" minded kind of guy, and its display would certainly eliminate any future confusion about what version a person is/isn't playing.

Also, I advise including a Read Me in the very first compressed file with a brief description of how to install the mod (I'd just include the text from the very first post). This is in case anyone passes the files along to anyone else who isn't acquainted with this thread, and also in case it's ever offered up for download through another site.



Have a Great Weekend, All ! :)

Not sure but...
 

When I try and download the Blue Sun Mod parts listed at the starting of this thread, I get to the Mediafire site and hit the download button I get A URL:Mal warning from my Avast and from Malwarebytes programs which blocks the actual web site address containing the files.

Now I have in the past disregarded this same type warning only to end up with a redirection virus or other nasty thing that is a pain in the butt to get rid of. Will someone please check out the actual site that is holding the files or re-upload them to a different site or location and or CHECK them for a virus. I have downloaded from Mediafire before without this kind of warning as well as other files I have downloaded today from other sites with no problems. My sons computer did the exact same thing with the warnings when I thought it might just be my machine and was going to have him download the files.

@Kyle
The ordering script is already done, but making additions and changes is easy. The problem is time, I have a few other things that needs my attention, like to total revamp of all the shop inventories.

But this is how it works at this moment:
You'll get some dialog options of what types of items you want to order, weapons, clips and ammo boxes, armor and weapon attachments. Once one is selected, you'll get a list of what is available depending on your current CGL. Items will appear 1 CGL earlier than in most shops.

Once you click on an item it will get added to your shopping cart, and once you have browsed and selected the items you want, you go to the check-out counter. There you'll see all ordered items, the total price and the time it takes to deliver. Here you can also removed any items from the list, and you'll get a warning if you don't have enough money to complete the purchase. Due to engine limitations I have limited it to 3 simultaneous orders at any given time, but if you have 3 orders pending, the second the first order arrives you'll be able to place another one.

Once the order arrives it will be added to your personal storage at the bartenders. This is a shared storage space available at any bartender at any city, so all you would have to do to pick up your order is by going to the nearest city that has a bar. But as I mentioned earlier, I would like to add something negative to this, so I have been toying with the idea to add the shipment to the player safe at the Player Base instead. That would mean that the player would have to have the base under control, and having something shipped to your door step is something that happens every day in the real world.

@Headshot
I suspect the warning you get is related to the new "offensive" pop-up window mediafire has implemented. I don't think (and really hope) that it would do anything harmful to your system. As for the files themselves, I have checked them with Comodo and ClamWin and no haven't found anything wrong. You will get a warning once you run the BlueSunMod.exe, but the code injection is part of the fixed exe and nothing to be alarmed about, just add it to your exception list.

Consequences of regional destabilization...
 

Out of the concepts that you've presented, I like this shipment-structure the best. And it would be punitive, having to force the Player to travel all the way home in order to get the delivered goods.

Maybe you could still work in ambushes tied to shipment-detection as I mentioned above, although they would now have to happen along the potential travel routes to the Player's base instead of being setup at the city/town where the gear was originally ordered.



Under normal circumstances, I completely agree with you on this, however, the reason why I proposed what I did was due to the highly unstable circumstances that naturally befall a region caught in the grips of terror-inducing war. The entire region is highly dysfunctional, the postal system is barely operational (think about all of the "delivery" type missions the Player is asked to carry out in the game due to it not being trustworthy and for being inefficient), and foreign imperialist powers (and organized crime too) have their filthy and greedy hands into everything.

I feel that what I proposed reflects this, and furthermore, makes it highly personal. While every RPG (tactical or not) has "postman missions" in them, few game producers make them impact the Player's direct interests; the item/message mostly belongs to somebody else. It's a given, of course, that all of these postal-missions force the Player to put his life at risk, but far too few of them are wrapped directly around the Player's own desires. What I propose does. The awful hook of it is that the threat of one's shipments being discovered is always there. So it's not just a "one time" potential threat set against one's own interests, instead, it's chronic.

If such a system could be setup, it probably wouldn't be too much work to establish "exclusive" delivery lines/points of extravagant equipment to the Player, but that's only if he's willing to work with agents from MI6/SIS, OGA/CIA, SVR (Russia's foreign intelligence agency), and the like. Dancing with the devil has its advantages and most certainly its disadvantages.

It's too bad that what I'm proposing here is too complicated to implement, as I strongly feel that it would add a lot to the game, simultaneously touching the Player's wishes much more concretely while also constricting him into a deeper sense of the awful nature of operating in a hostile region.

The english version of "Marauder - Man of Prey" is released and there is a lot of extra maps (~10 + 5 variants). It's possible to import them ?

Here is the list of maps :

avtaikin.azp
avtaikin_geom.mesh
avtaikin_grass.mesh
avtaikin_phys.mesh
Bazaar.azp
Bazaar_geom.mesh
Bazaar_grass.mesh
Bazaar_phys.mesh
dk.azp
DK_cut.azp
DK_cut_geom.mesh
dk_cut_grass.mesh
DK_cut_phys.mesh
dk_geom.mesh
dk_grass.mesh
dk_phys.mesh
final.azp
Final_cut.azp
Final_cut_geom.mesh
final_cut_grass.mesh
Final_cut_phys.mesh
final_geom.mesh
final_grass.mesh
final_phys.mesh
home1.azp
home1_geom.mesh
home1_grass.mesh
home1_phys.mesh
home2.azp
home2_geom.mesh
home2_grass.mesh
home2_phys.mesh
Home3.azp
Home3_geom.mesh
Home3_grass.mesh
Home3_phys.mesh
menu.azp
menu_geom.mesh
menu_grass.mesh
menu_phys.mesh
MILITARYBASE.azp
MILITARYBASE_geom.mesh
MILITARYBASE_grass.mesh
MILITARYBASE_phys.mesh
Pentagon.azp
PENTAGON_CUT.azp
PENTAGON_CUT_geom.mesh
Pentagon_cut_grass.mesh
PENTAGON_CUT_phys.mesh
Pentagon_geom.mesh
Pentagon_grass.mesh
Pentagon_phys.mesh
rreserve2.azp
rreserve2_geom.mesh
rreserve2_grass.mesh
rreserve2_phys.mesh
ruins_cut.azp
ruins_cut_geom.mesh
ruins_cut_grass.mesh
ruins_cut_phys.mesh
ruins_night.azp
ruins_night_geom.mesh
ruins_night_grass.mesh
ruins_night_phys.mesh
Rusreserve1.azp
Rusreserve1_geom.mesh
Rusreserve1_grass.mesh
Rusreserve1_phys.mesh
rvsn1.azp
rvsn1_geom.mesh
rvsn1_grass.mesh
rvsn1_phys.mesh
Rvsn2.azp
Rvsn2_geom.mesh
Rvsn2_grass.mesh
Rvsn2_phys.mesh

I know that this question is off topic, but where did u find Marauder - Man of Prey, with english translation? Thanks

@casper357: That my question too.

@ R@S: after installing the "12 Merc GUI" must i start an new game?

@Kyle
It's very disappointing that you haven't played the game more, then you's have known about the Boblings and their gun smuggling business.

@Casper
I did try it and it seems they are not compatible, the gane engine has evolved too much.

@Melthorse
No new game is required for the new GUI, you can even increase the merc number in the BlueSunMod.ini without restarting your current game.

And it's very nice to see you all come back to this game, I guess the news about Bia sparked your interest again:)

"Man of Prey" locales, and 12 man GUI installation...
 

It's been quite a while since I even thought about this title. I thought that when the 7.62 production went defunct, that Man of Prey was never finished. Looks like I was wrong.

From the Google keyword search that I did, it looks like someone used Google Translate to translate the Russian text into English, although he warns that in spite of his best efforts, a good deal of it doesn't make any sense. The translations were done well enough that one can successfully interface with the game and play it, although the translator of the English Pack warns that the title is extremely hard, even on the Easy setting.

No, I did NOT download the game, just the pack (it was only 2MB in size so I knew I wasn't getting the title).

From the very recent and non-legitimate means of acquiring the game in English, I'm going to make a haphazard guess that the "English" version of the game are majorly-good translations, or...?

R@S, the HLA team, did they port over their new bodies over from Man of Prey, or...?

The U.S. troops in MoP look...weird...with the red lenses. The look of the full-head helmet doesn't bother me a bit, as the game is set in a fictional universe and they probably went with the whole "Land Warrior" concept the Pentagon was pimping for a while. If that red lens was made clear or honey-colored, with a couple of light-blue colored HUD projections on it, that would then fit me perfectly fine.


I've done several keyword searches for the game to legitimately buy it, but have had no luck. Does anyone know any differently? I wouldn't hesitate to buy it if I could, especially since it looks like the developers of the game made the StarForce protection optional in the patches. I hate StarForce, and there's no way I'd purchase it if it couldn't be fully disabled/removed altogether.


I'm a big supporter of DRM-free titles. This Christmas I purchased all of the classic isometric Dungeons & Dragons RPGs through GOG.com at an extra cost of $5 more than buying all of them collected together on a special 2 disc DVD collection available at the mall. I'd rather see GOG.com get my money.


But back on target...


The world of Man of Prey looks a lot more fleshed out than 7.62. There's a great deal more furniture to contend with, and it looks like one can actually move through piles of junk and debris, and, better yet, use it for concealment and cover. In 7.62, it frustrates me to no end to see the hurricane ravaged portions of the region, and one can't even walk over the debris, let alone actually use it tactically. The same goes for the wrecked buildings too, and that holds true for even the buildings that are lightly damaged.

In any case, it would be great to get those maps into BSM, although I'd strongly consider clustering them together into their own region, either far north or far south where the climate could be more plausibly explained as being temperate in nature. Who knows, maybe a large slavic community settled there in a fashion far more benign than how Nazis were smuggled out of Germany by the U.S. and the Vatican to Argentina, Brazil, and the like. Maybe all of those immigrant Central/Eastern Europeans think that their vodkas taste supremely better with the larva from the hypopta agavis moth floating in them? A slavic-form of "tequila?" :grin: Seeing all of that European architecture lit by the tropical sun might be a bit surreal on the eyes too - hey, I want to see it!


Has anyone here played Man of Prey? Is the tactical gameplay as solid as 7.62's, and is its storyline more engrossing? The GUI looks really stripped down, but that doesn't automatically mean that it's tactically inferior than 7.62. Any opinions...?


Oh, and R@S, how does one get the 12-man GUI installed in BSM? Do I have to start my game allover again, or can I keep using my Saves, or...?

Oops!

It looks like you replied to the earlier posters' questions as I was writing up my own! :grin:

Yes, I did get as far as the rather bizarre (yet refreshing) Bobling brothers and their smuggling trade at the port. I like them. :-)

I still need to know how to install your 12-man GUI though.

Too bad that the engine's changed too much to integrate those maps into 7.62's universe.

My other questions above still stand though. Any answers to them in regards to the quality of Man of Prey and sites to legitimately purchase it would be greatly appreciated. :)

Extract the archive to you game installation folder, it should add a BMP folder to your game diractory if all goes as it should. But to be sure it works it is better to extract it to a temporary folder first, then copy the BMP folder to your 7.62 folder.

And while I am posting, there was a question about the new CheyTac intervention system over at Taktikzone.de that I wanted to answer, so if there is anyone reading this with an account there, please pass on my answer to GNU.

The sniper must use a weapon from the list below and stay within 5 meters of the spotter.

The spotter must have the Vector 21 laser rangefinder in his hands and the CheyTac Advanced Ballistic Computer in his inventory.

Right-click on the ABC(CheyTac Advanced Ballistic Computer) and select "Calculate Input" and the sniper will get a boost in Sniping and shooting skills.

If the sniper or spotter moves away, or any of them removes the items they are holding in their hands, the boost the sniper got will slowly turn back to their original settings.

Weapons included in this system:
- CheyTac M200 (.408 CheyTac)
- Gepard GM6 Lynx (.50 BMG)
- Accuracy International AS50 (.50 BMG)
- Barrett M107 (.50 BMG)
- Barrett M90 (.50 BMG)
- Barrett M82A3 (.50 BMG)

@ R@S : ok too bad it's the only thing interesting in the game.

@Melthorse @ivanra78 : you don't want to know. I love 7.62 and I love it much with BSM but Marauder is a very shitty game. It's only a series of missions and all the good things of 7.62 are gone. There are also ridiculous bugs, for example you can't get to the settings menu, it crashes the game...
If you still want to know, it's published by Buka in english.

Wow. That's very sad to hear. :cry:

Looks like I'm giving up buying the thing. It would be interesting to hear how the production went so poorly...

Thank you R@S for the installation instructions. I'm going to wait on implementing it now, as I started a new game, and won't be needing it till I build up enough money to recruit beyond six.

BSM questions
 

Hi, I have a question about BSM.

OK one of the main things that puts me off about 7.62 is your allies going hostile from accidental damage especially since they don't mind grenading or outright shooting my guys in the back. I've used GuineaPig's ini which gives you some leeway on harming civilians but has anything been done in BSM to keep your allies from going berserk from a single grenade fragment?

Neutral AI too sensitve to Player's squad but not to enemies...
 

It's funny that you bring this up when you did, because last night I escorted Miguel to prison, and we then get ambushed by 8 smugglers. Since there's only one entrance point to the prison, I set my three men up to triangulate and concentrate their fire on the single doorway.

During the course of the battle, the smugglers threw three grenades at the prison, none of which cleared the wall. One exploded immediately in front of/slightly below the guard tower, another detonated right near the exterior entrance of the gate control booth, and the third sounded like it exploded right up against the base of the wall, where two guards were no more than 7 m. away.

One would expect the prison guards to start unleashing righteous lead on the smugglers assaulting their prison, right? Wrong! :evil:

Instead, they just kept on calmly doing their sentry duties. That is until I sent Pquito up top in the guard tower, he was easily 2 m. to the side of the guard, and every time he opened up on a smuggler, all of the prison personnel became hostile to my men, even though no one was directing rounds their direction!

When I exited the prison, I discovered that one of the guards by the gate control booth was bleeding out, and doubtless due to receiving shrapnel from a smuggler's frag.

I can understand why guards native to an area would have to be "immune" to the incoming rounds of enemies, so that it would prevent the Player from gaming the system by deliberately placing men immediately behind guards to use them as human shields and in the hopes of provoking them to align themselves to the Player's cause, but what happened last night was ridiculous. Two grenades should be more than enough to compel the sentries to respond.

Is there any way to make adjustments to the neutral armed AI that are more reasonable?

Sure, it can be done, and I already have the code ready for testing. The problem is that there might be some unforeseen consequences, and it could be used as an exploit. I think the exploit can be circumvented by having the friendly fire count at 2 or 3, so if the testing goes well I will simply add an on/off switch in the ini. I always forget how much guinneapig's work is part of the foundation of BSM, so I'll take this opportunity to give big ups to him for his contributions.:grin:

Thanks for the replies.

I'm not qualified to comment on potential technical issues:)

As for exploits that's up to the player. I mean in the base game you can select easy money and buy guns from the sporting goods dealer and then sell them for a profit to the bartender. Worse you can follow the rebels attacking towns and spectate from someplace safe and then scoop up all the guns, armor, grenades and other goodies.

I know you are right and that I should relax my sphincter when it comes to what other players might do with their game, but... I like having a tight one:grin:

But yeah, not being forced to avoid friendlies when they happen to occupy a good spot will actually increase the tactical possibilities. So it will be part of the test version and hopefully it will work well and not cause any other problems with group relationships.

New Maps
 

R@S,

If there is no possibilty of new maps would it be possible to recylce some of the old/reloaded ones into additional scenarios?

I had a crazy thought that maybe you could take Santa Maria, remove all the civilians from it (AKA Organ Donars - Collatoral just doesn't describe them) and turn it into something like the golden turtle mission from E5?
- A large prize defended by Immortal's - Maybe a cache of unique guns, or a helicopter for Skyrider. A proper use all your ammo, resort to pistols, grenades etc type of battle. (Maybe with a dose of the old NHS free health service at the end of it!)

(- Maybe it could even start by springing the Shaman from El Vertigo al la Tanya.)

Another idea meandering across my brain is some hostage rescue missions, set in the existing towns, but with all the hostiles and victim in a CQB setting. (All the lovely CQB weapons in BSM, and nowhere to play with them!) Putting less-armoured targets in these settings would keep the player using pistols and sub-machine guns into the high CGLs as they would have a benefit in these types of mission.

Just my tuppence worth, it's easy to think of the ideas, far harder to implement them.

I have played with the recycle idea and there has been one thing holding me back. The boxes on those maps are shared, so no matter what you do, if it's in the box in Santa-Maria, it will be in the new one as well.

But since we have no map editor, it might be the only way to add "new" ones. And like you, I really like the CQB fights you get in cities. I have added a few such missions, the Paco ones, to the game, but those are fairly early on and you don't have a very big selection of weapons. Well, you actually do now that there is a lot of WW2 stuff added, but it would still be fun with more of those type of battles.

Adding a few scenarios with some of the city maps where all the normal people are removed, is a good idea. It would have to be at a fairly high CGL, but it would be fun. I'll see what I can throw together when I have time. I have a pretty full work-load ATM, with the new shop inventory to go though, and updating most of the enemy load-outs. But the latter needs to wait until I have added all the weapons I plan to for the 2.0 release, so I might be able to squeeze something together in-between.

And don't be afraid of throwing out ideas, even if they prove to be impossible, more often than not do they at least lead to new ideas that are possible.

Thanks R@S

The battles I always enjoyed most in E5 were those were you ended up firing all your weapons.
Not just a 50m gun battle, but having to get in close to flush out the enemies in the buildings.
Even if it was only one or two it always made carrying a pistol/shotgun/SMG a worthwhile option. The speed advantage beat the damage advantage, and with the likes of AFP's Immortals MP7, you got a lot of both.

With the likes of Santa Maria, the stuff in the boxes is fairly low level so I don't think it would be a game breaker if you made the new missions high enough cgl. You've (rightly) nerfed the easy access weapons.

Yeah, I understand where you're coming from.

What's always somewhat intimidated me is the sense of tension and fear that one can experience in this game. The fact that one can zoom in so close to see what's happening makes it a more visceral experience.

I recently posted at the Bear Pit forum that the biggest drawbacks to me in regards to this engine has been the lack of fully accessible buildings. By that I also mean being able to blow in walls. But those times where one has to take advantage of interior and exterior spaces simultaneously, well, it gets hard to breathe sometimes.

I'm all for "recycling" urban centers for combat. R@S, is there any way to get the civilians to flee an area (run far away and then fade out as they're removed from the map), and/or have them huddle together in one or (at most) two rooms of enter-able buildings? This would be a believable way to handle them, rather than have them crisscrossing streets.

Also, and I'm just throwing this out there partly out of curiosity, but is it possible to port over STALKER models into the game? STALKER's developers have seriously given their blessing for porting over their content to be used in mods.

Sorry guys, going to have to make a short reply, feeling a bit under the weather and are afraid of rambling incoherently:)

I'll make a few CQB mission with enemies equipped with MP7's, KRISS Super V's and other high quality CQB weapons. Promise I'll get started once I feel better.

Models from STALKER can be imported, if they don't have too many polys, which usually is the case.

Thanks R@S,

I think I'll go practice those CQB skills.

(I Hope you feel better soon.)

Rest as much as possible, and get some hot chicken soup.

I hope that you feel much better soon.

Classes disabled for ver. 1.9?
 

R@S,

(or anyone else who happens to know the answer), was the class system disabled for ver. 1.9 of the mod? I've leveled up, but every time I select "class parameters and skills" nothing gets listed to select.

Matter of fact, I don't recall even selecting my class for Kurt.

Only respond to this if you're feeling healthy. Rest!

Yes it was but can be re-enabled. Open up the .ini file and change the setting from 0 to 1 or vice versa. Save .ini. Requires a new game to take effect though.

R@S,

I want to ask non-mod question for, you know new JA comes with similar system as 7.62 are you gone look for it? yeh you make very good work with 7.62 but in JA community like Bearpit or JAgalaxy to many modders work together it seems much easier to crate mod that you want to build there.
I wander are you gone a look for it?

R@S,

Would it be possible in BSM 2.0 to add something like the PO 3.5 x 21 scope for the AK's.

It's kind of a Russian equivelent to the ACOG.
(http://www.kremlinoptics.com/catalog..._3_5x21_p.html)

Can I also put in a request for an eotech type open red dot scope for the HK mount? They would sit nicely on an MP5 or G3KA4.

Just to keep you busy :)

@ myte1why

post #798, page #80

Thanks for the answer Badbru.

Ugh. I'm not going to restart the game though to enable it. I'll just play the game "as is" till R@S releases the next version.

Could someone tell me why it was disabled? Balance issues? Was it irrelevant? Too many people didn't like it, or...?

I finished Basic train missions but have a couple Question
 

Ok the basic training missions were fun, but after I completed them and was taken back to Santa Maria, where I accepted the mission, Paquito is nowhere to be found. I was given my gear back and went back into the bar to speak with the bartender but he has no dialog for what happened to my translator / companion?

This is annoying to say the least. The car we came in is still here WTH.

So what now, and do all the extra missions, HLA, and the history of weapons, etc. do this?

Headshot

Its probably been discussed somewhere before but I havent come across it either here or on the BSM forum ,but what about Mortars? ala JA2? The trajectoral aspect of it seems to be more or less in the game with the parabolic hipshop you get with grenade launchers, but its range can be a tiny bit limited, New anims for troops would be the issue im guessing?

Needless to say BSM is amazing already ,good work thank you etc!

@Veilrider
I'll see if Geroj feels up for it and if he can take some time away from his studies, I'd like to add the PO 3.5 x 21 scope as well. As for the EOTech with HK mount I'll ask cyr_v if we can use his, he's the one that made such things for HLA.

@Kyle
Thanks for your concern, I'm starting to feel better today so I think the worst is over.
The reason the class and level up system is turned off by default is weird and would take too long to explain. But in the 2.0 version it will be turned on as default again. It is actually a very popular system, at least for those who has actually tried it. And now it seems like BiA will have a similar system, but not as advanced by the looks of it.:-P

@Headshot
Paquito is somewhere in the sector you left him, so look around a bit more. Start by checking near the entry points. All three mini-campaigns share this quirk, any companion will stay in a random location in the sector you left them(started campaign). If you can't find them, exit the sector, travel a bit and then return, if you are lucky they might be in a spot where they are easier to find.

@Loss Leader
There might be mortars in the future, I think one of our Russian friends are working on it. But it's a very complex thing to add, so it's not possible to say if it will done. I might look into it as well, when I have some spare time, but then it would be moar of a tweak solution than a good one.

I'm happy to hear that you "turned the corner" and are finally starting to feel better. Being sick SUCKS. The only upside to it is the joy one feels as one's body finally starts kicking the illness' butt.

I'm happy to hear that your class based system is popular with those that have tried it. The extra degree of control is nice to have, and allows more influence on the tactics that are exercised out on the field.

I'm not surprised that what's been cooked up for BSM is more robust than what's been done for Back in Action, especially after the announcement that there won't be any fog of war in the game.

Such a design decision to me is just stupefying. Listen to any veteran, or read any firsthand account of a veteran's recollection of combat, and the majority of their experiences is tied to the great threat of the fog of war. It's what causes terror in the hearts of all the combatants, no matter which side of the conflict they're on. A person's willingness to step into The Great Unknown is what courage is all about. Hopefully it's courage mated with intelligent choices, and a good deal of plain Luck as well.

Last night, I had my squad attack the base that holds the documents that Lond wants. I headed straight to the nearest warehouse, closed the doors behind us, and assigned three men to the two front doors and Kelly to the single rear one. Would I have liked to have her firepower devoted to another one of the front doors? You bet. But not knowing exactly where the enemy were outside meant that I had to deal with the economics that I had, so the opportunity cost of covering our backs was the loss of badly needed firepower to the front.

BiA's system is going to make all of that critical thinking, all of that suspense, just nonexistent!

The only way that I'll ever purchase that title is that if they release modding utilities robust enough to do away with the badly misdirected game mechanics. I could care less about how awesome the graphics are. Really.

I have to say though, that at the rate that the PC gaming producers are insisting on including heavy-handed "punish the consumer" DRM, limited installations, and the like, the more that I'm choked out from buying products I'm interested in. Last night, Crysis Maximum Edition was for sale on Amazon.com for just $2.99, but there's no way I'm ever going to install it on my system with the crap that comes with it. If BiA has SecuROM, or any other invasive ware on it, I won't be getting it no matter how awesome it is.


I'm happy that an attempt's going to be made at getting more Russian optics into the game. Let's hope that it works out.


In regards to the mortars, one of the things that I like most about 7.62 is its strict focus on infantry vs. infantry parameters. I would prefer to have lightly armed and armored vehicles to make an appearance before mortars, but I think that getting operable vehicles that can be crewed is more than likely a massive endeavor, so I've never even mentioned it before till now. If mortars can be made a reality, then great, if not, then great too.


I hope that by the time you read this that you're all better! :)

Thanks R@s. I'll be keeping my eyes open for the next BSM version.

JA:BIA huh? I've just had a feeling from the day it was announced it was going to be bad. I don't have much faith in bitComposer, big difference between JA and Zoo Tycoon:) And when they pulled that "give us your opinions on turn based combat" crap I lost what little interest I had.

Playing JA2 gives me ideas as well. :P

Is it possible to give magazine counters different colours, based on their contents? (AP ammo red, HP blue, etc). And is it possible to obscure these counters when in combat?

Sorry, I can't do anything regarding the text displayed for the ammo count without that part of the source code, which isn't available. But I have thought about adding color coding for the clips, leaving it up to the player to keep track on what they put into them. I can make new clips that have red or blue tags and add them to the stores, but I can't prevent the player from putting HP bullets in an AP clip once it's empty. And the task of editing the model skin as well as the shop image for all those clips would take a lot of time, maybe you can take some time away from playing JA2 and help out?:-P

Thank you very much heimdal, not just for passing on my message, but also for giving such good support to out German friends, vielen dank:)

Brilliant!

If you're going to follow through on the color-coded magazines, perhaps go with three different codes, something like:

default (for ball/FMJ rounds)

blue (for hollow point or whatever rounds)

red (for armor piercing or whatever rounds)

and

violet (for mixed magazines of the above).

Perhaps just make it look like there's a single strip of colored masking tape stuck around the magazine, near its bottom.

Maybe orange too, for whatever mix.

Nice idea with the color coding of the magazines. Hope it works out.



By the way, has anyone here played "Alfa Antiterror"? If so, could I get some two sentence summations as to whether or not its worth purchasing. Thanks! :)

Kyle: Alfa Antiterror

In my opinion

Yes I've played it, No I wouldn't recommend it. The Plan and Go system it uses is no fun for battles. Not a patch on E5/7.62.

Hmm...interesting.

Have you ever played any of Battlefront.com's "Combat Mission" series? Particularly the very first one, set during WWII? To myself the whole "plan and go" genre is quite addictive, as it really makes you feel quite helpless to give these orders and then see the morale of your men break because they turn a corner and suddenly encounter two platoons charging their way.

This level of realism is believable to me, and I'm more than willing to work with it.

The second Combat Mission series, set during "modern" times, is also quite good, although I gave up playing it altogether because for some inconceivable design decision, they decided to drop the easy-to-readjust waypoint system to one of delete-EVERY-waypoint to get to the one that needs actual repositioning. What a time killer that is!

Do you just "hate" the whole "plan and go" game mechanics no matter what title uses it, or is it just certain titles (such as Alfa) that you don't care for because they did a poor job of utilizing it?

Because if you strongly dislike "plan and go," then I'll probably still be tempted to buy it unless some other major negative is pointed out, such as brain dead AI.

It's been a while since I played it, but my abiding memory is of frustration.

Gamers gate have it for €9/€10, try it and see.

Hi all. First time posting long time follower of this forum. let me just start off by thanking you R@s and your team Wozzi, Deadhead, Nightprowler, TodeswolF, toneone1, guineapig, Dodger Bullet, theBrain, legionnaire=M=, Matze, D_F_N & Geroj for making me endlessly love this game even more with your continued work on the BLUE SUN MOD.
Reading that 2.0 may be the last update i felt the need to register and say a personal thank you to all you guys and to tell you what an amazing job you all have done. So Thank You!!!

@Kyle

Yea i played Alfa: Antiterror quite abit. Its gameplay is alot like Frozen Synapse and requires a lot of well thought out tactics and lets you hope that the brilliant AI doesn't figure out what you are trying to do. And no the AI is not dumb at all. They will try take cover, suppress you, snipe you and flank you. And yea they know how to do it way better than you. I once hand my entire 5 man squad pinned by two well placed guys wielding PKMs while their other guys jumped the wall behind me and finished my entire team off with their AKs. I couldn't do anything but cry. Did i mention Iron man mode is on by default :)

As for for your soldiers they are not mindless machines, they will get scared/ panic, comment/ celebrate/ cry for help, dive for the nearest cover (Like in Company of Heroes). You and make them peek around corners lean and shoot around corners, lob a nade around said corner, jump high and low walls, climb on top of low buildings etc. They also gain exp and level up in campaign mode. Or you can play skirmish, hotseat or via Lan.

The maps are huge with lots of options and force players to choose the best weapon for the squad members. some guns can lay down heavy suppression but have to be fired from prone position. Others let the soldier move to flank but do little damage, Or go silent and flash-less with your suppressed guns all the while praying that the soldier you have been grooming and pumping money in to train for the last 3 levels doesnt get sniped from a well hidden sniper while peeking is head around a corner. Or those assholes with the PKMs spots him first :evil:.

Only downside is the inability to select special attachments like lasers etc. or i should say i haven't reached that far in game yet to see. [modding anyone ;)]

All in all the game is fun if you like a challenge and know that war is hell and seeing your well thought out millitary plan go through makes you feel like you are wearing stars on your shoulders to work the next day as though u are a general tht lead your men through hell and back and cant wait to get home from work and tackle the next level :D

Try the Demo first though. It will show you if you can be separated the boys.

:shock:
This sounds like the type of title that I am exactly looking for!

Thank you for your nicely detailed input. I am definitely going to purchase this title from Gamer's Gate as soon as it goes on sale. It's "DRM free" too, so that's a huge plus in regards to attracting the wee bit of money that I have in my too-small wallet.

Modeling morale is very important to me. Combat Mission does an excellent job at this, and from the sounds of what you're describing to me, ALFA's developers hit the nail on the head.

I was looking up information on the game, and came across actual combat footage featuring Russian SF. It was very telling when a group of 5-6 heavily armored and armed Spetsnaz formed a line, and started hugging a wall of a building. Suddenly, rounds were fired at the lead man, and ALL of them came running back towards the cameraman, a distance of 8-9 m. from the corner that started receiving fire.

Yeah, preserving one's own life is very poorly modeled in most every title that I can think of. Seeing the "best of the best" immediately retreat from incoming rounds like that says a lot on the power of that instinct.

Thanks again for your help.
:)

Mercs, where are they?
 

Hello everyone!
I have been playing for a few hours now, and I'm liking it.
But it's not all that fun on my own. I know you can hire mercs from Mercat the bars, but are there other mercs to be found?
Help would be appreciated

Talk to the bartender, ask him to show you what he's got, then select the "Borrow radio and call M.E.R.C." option. You'll get a chance to browse through all the mercs, and if you're short on money, buy a slave instead;)

And welcome to the board, both you and silentype

Yes indeed. The more the merrier!

You are in for a TREAT playing this mod!

Another option that you could pursue in regards to hiring mercs, is to take on the mission to retrieve the CIA files from the small base for Lond. Once the base is cleared, and one digs around enough, one will find a portable radio that allows for a lot of believable communications options, including those of hiring mercs! Bars no longer needed.

R@S, I'm not asking this to annoy you, although I know from firsthand experience how annoying this question is to receive as a mod developer, but due to some current and future Real Life intrusions into my schedule, my free time is going to get nipped in some major ways. That said, could you give me a ballpark figure as to when the next release of BSM is likely to be? If it's relatively soon, I'll give up playing BSM and focus on something else, and vice versa if it's a ways away.

If you don't know, that's perfectly fine. I just don't want you hating me for asking The Ultimate Annoying Question. Remember, I LOVE your mod! And since this mod's your "baby," that means that we're like family, right? :grin:

Yours!

Hopefully this is a simple question.

How much stuff can the safe / storage at your base ( once captured ) hold and why is it not linked ( after capture ) to your safe / storage area from the bars?

Transferring all the stuff manually is a pain in the butt, so before I start hauling all the loads, can you give me an idea on how much it can hold or should I just be using the bars storage?

An additional question does the playing for yourself option mean I really dont have to do the rebel nor government missions and still be find the fugitive?

Headshot

P.S. how many free mercs like Paquito, Benicia, and Kelly are available to actually stay with you, not like Skyrider etc and where can they be found? I like doing a locals only type of game without hired help so to speak.
I am now at player lvl 9 and cgl 7

@Kyle
The test version will be ready in two weeks, and official release in a month, hopefully.

@Headshot
The safes and storage spaces has no limit, sorry you feel the various handling task frustrating, I do too at times. I could link the bartender storage space to the player safe, but then I would have to put a limit on when you can access it at the bar. There are some things the the player safe that should only be access after you conquer the base.

Yes, the play for yourself campaign will reveal the fugitive's location.

There is one more free merc beside the ones you mentioned.

And I'm keeping myself short and to the point because I haven't had my morning coffee yet, no other reason, honest:)

@Headshot , R@S

There are, at least, two other free mercs. That you can have permanent in your team that is. Its difficult to remember all of them (Vanilla & BSM)

Awe crap! D_F_N is right again, I forgot about the 2 you get by following the vanilla quest line and finding Fakirov. But one of those is only avaiable if you follow the Government quest line, or is it the rebel? I keep forgetting it, been a while since I actually played those two.

Thank you for the quick reply.
The storage is only a pain because I am a pack rat and as part of the fun I have been collecting at least one of every item and its variation that I come across in the game. I don't go out to buy them when they pop up but only when found from combat etc. That of course and the hundreds of grenades and thousands of boxes and mags of ammo of all types. I could outfit the entire country with medical supplies and supply a small army of soldiers with battle gear. I will never use all this stuff but I hate selling items if I don't need the money. As it stands I am in about 30 days, at player lvl 11 / cgl 7, with about 400k in the bank, and about 100k in cash. The base has around 18-20 soldiers the Mechanic, Stephen Urbi, the logistics weapons supplier, etc.

Oh and if possible can you detail somehow the actual game mechanics of how stat and skill progression is calculated within the game.

I seem to see that weapons skills seem to get better when you miss rather than when you actually hit an enemy. Which seems backwards but when my sniping skill goes up it happens right after I miss a shot, not after one hits.

Strength is gained by being overloaded and moving about and stance does make a difference. The same as agility gained by moving in a crouch or prone and being overloaded also helps gain faster. But I have never seen Dex go up by doing anything nor stealth, nor camouflage, nor Health, nor energy. Yet the manual claims many of these can increase.

So what are the actual formulas if you know?

And what are the set limits, it says in the manual that Strength can be increased 30 points above the base ( your starting point ) but it seems you can only gain 1 point max in a 24 hour period on stats, where as skills can gain more.

Headshot

Wow! That would be neat if one could learn from making mistakes in a game. I've never heard of that for any role playing system, but it makes sense on a lot of levels. If such is the case for 7.62, then it's an even better simulator than I thought.

I've never paid that much attention in regards to how gains points in skills and stats. I only know of the most basic ones, such as deliberately firing a new weapon 100 times to become familiar with it, overburdening oneself and then go running back and forth a bunch of times, staying crouched and sticking to shadows boosting stealth. I didn't realize that it could be as fine-tuned as what you're asking. It would be nice to know with more specificity of how attributes and skills can be increased with greater certainty.

The flip side of knowing that, though, is the temptation to "game" the system. Having them fire off a hundred rounds with a new weapon doesn't feel like "gaming" the system to me, because it makes sense to target practice and extensively handle a weapon that's new to you. A player could call it "physical conditioning" to load up their squad with maximum weight, and then have them run back and forth till they're exhausted, but, for some reason, that feels "gamey" to me, even though it's a perfectly logical thing to do in the real world.

In some ways, I'd rather just handle my squadmates in a certain tactical fashion, and have them "naturally" evolve from the testing of their bodies/skills/minds to certain situations as they're exposed to/learn from them. If the development team created an engine that does a good job of doing this, then my admiration of them is only going to grow even more.

Thank you for the "heads up" on the prospective timeline of the releases R@S. It'll be helpful in regards to reserving time with my increasingly hectic schedule.

@Kyle

I consider it training, as you are a Merc, and should know how and what to train in order to get the best from your men. You also have to invest a great deal of actual game time commanding your guys to do whatever training is required.

Example - When your agility is around 80 or so it takes over 1.5 hours ( game time not real time ) to get your soldier to gain 1 point which can only be done once in a 24 hour period. That is about 12 -15 minutes sitting at your keyboard dedicated to training your merc or mercs in one stat ever game day. I dont think that would be considered gaming the system. If you want to gain the max of 15 Agility points you will spend about 4 hours of real time over a period of 15 game days just to raise that single stat. Also with all the game crashes I get I have to save about ever 5 minutes while training so I dont loose more than that when it happens.

I have found that training agility is fastest gained by overloading your guys so your net energy output is at about 150% and going prone and just going back and forth along a long street. Doing it crouched adds about 2 to 5 minutes of game time to this.

After you gain the 15 points in agility you can't train it any further, you must either cheat or use the skill progression by level, if activated in 1.9 at the beginning of the game.

I figure yea I can shoot off 100 rounds to be familiar with a weapon, and wouldn't you as a real Merc or soldier get used to your weapon and train with it BEFORE you went into combat with it?

I see these as great things that are built into the mechanics of the game and where there to be used by those who want to spend the time to do them and get the most out of their team.

But everyone plays differently and that is why the game is so good. I play JA2 and all its incarnations and love that game as well. This is a different animal and factors in alot of things no other game company put the effort into when they created a squad based war game. I just wish it was a lot easier to mod and that the source code could get released as well as a good editor.

Headshot

Throw any un needed to replenish base load grenades after a battle: see Dex gain response
This is one of the bonuses to using shotguns in the early part of the game as even when you hit, with buckshot, some of your round/s miss. Shotguns tend to increase shooting skill very effectively.
Throw any grenades you don't need after a battle. The throwing action will increase both your thowing skill and eventually your DEX. I've even heard of some people throwing spent smoke grenades over and over again.

I think there is a thread from a long time ago on this board that tells you exactly what you need to do to "train" your attributes and skills. As for the game formula I have no idea, only notions. I haven't had much time lately to play the game the way I used to where I also spent a lot of time ingame running around, throwing nades and firing machine guns. Nowadays I have limited time and find the BSM class system a blessing, I can still update the stats I want without the hassle of wasting precious game time.

You can still get a skill increase when you hit, but as you have noticed it happens more often when you miss. But I think that it makes sense the way it works now, IRL you actually learn more when you fail than when you succeed. Those Apeiron guys had a thing for realism, and in this case I agree with them:)

When I added the Mechanic skill I used a similar calculation where the counter to the next skill point got a bigger boost when you failed to repair a weapon than you'd get when you succeeded.

Health can go up, or so I've heard. If a merc gets injured and healed several times, the chances are that this attribute will get a point. I have never had this happen to me, I try not to get hit:-P

1 attribute and 5 skill points every 24 hours, not sure where the limit in the vanilla game is regarding an overall cap.

I made such a thread, but not many were willing to contribute.

And I've seen health go up, which happens when you get badly injured. I tend not to reload when I get really badly shot up (as long as I don't die!) And wounds are part of the deal when you're 4 guys against 50 enemies (Cali Cantinos last mission anyone?) without the advanced medikits option.

Ok a problem I just encountered has me a bit worried.

I am doing the blue sun missions for Tang and have gotten to the point where I have finished killing the guy in Olvega ( however its spelled ). On my way back to report in I stop in Campecina and when I am entereing the town the game crashes and go to the desktop. At first I thought maybe just a normal glitch I get sometimes so I loaded a previous save ( not the autosave one created just before the crash ) and again went back to Campecina with the same results crash to desktop upon entering the town.

I decided to bypass the town and finish the mission but now whenever I enter Campecina it does the same crash. Ok so I figure maybe it has somehow corrupted the Campecina data files etc. so to test it out I go back to a point before I kill the guy in Olvega but have taken the mission and enter Campecina before going to kill the guy and guess what no crash.

So I figure I will go do the mission and try again. I do the job as well as doing a battle along the way back towards my base and Campecina. I dont stop at my base and have taken no additional jobs etc but when I enter Campecina BANG crash to desktop again.

I tried resetting the random missions with a barkeep and that didn't help. I even tried not taking any equipment from the dead guys in Olvega but that did no good either.

Again as I have stated if I go back to an earlier save and redo the missions I get the same failure if not it works fine.

Any suggestions ... other than dont go to Campecina anymore?

Without the crash info from the log file it's very difficult to pinpoint the reason for the CtD, but I'll try to help you with some speculations anyways.

It might be an item on the ground left by dead enemies, the smoke grenade is notorious for causing similar issues.

It might also be one of those weird issues you get when you play the game for too long in one session that has caused some of the quest files or characters to get mixed up.

As for solutions, try speeding up time and skip forward 2 or 3 weeks of game time, then try to enter the city again. If you enter the map without a CtD, the problem was caused by an item on the ground. If not, then it might be the memory leak issue and you might never be able to enter that town again, unless something changes in the quest or character code.

If you are familiar with editing the save game files, you could try to swap the map files in the corrupt save archive with one from a working one.

Well, that's what I can do to help with the information you have shared, hope you'll be able to continue playing, with Campecino fixed.

R@S

You are uncanny ... I somehow got a cooked off smoke grenade in my vehicle inventory and if I enter Campecino or try and get rid of it in any random sector the game crashes.

So now the question becomes ... HOW the hell do I get rid of it from Urals inventory without causing a game crash.

Perhaps go to a different town and remove everything from the Ural except the grenade and then getting the barkeep to take care of the truck and blow it up?

Any thoughts?

I tried putting the spent grenade in the trunk of the Ural and then sold everything to trader in another town but when I go back to Campecino I still get the crash.

Headshot

As I remember it editing inventory in your save files is pretty easy. You have to unzip (with the azp utility) your save file, open the .sav up in a text editor, change the inventory, save the file, and add it back into your .sav, again with the azp utility. It's a few steps long, but takes about a minute, once you figure the inventory part out.

That might be an option but even after selling off the inventory of the truck including the grenade I still cant enter Campecino. So unless there is some way to find "IF" the Campecino sector contains a spent smoke grenade that isnt there etc how is that editable. Do you put one back in and is it tied somehow to the one that got sold off. Is there a time delay where sectors reset and dump all old data items etc? If so I can play around the Campecino area and just continue until it clears up on its own.

Headshot

Headshot,

Man, I feel for you.

*knock on wood* I've yet to encounter a bug as bizarre and complex as the one that you're describing, and I hope that I never do.

As awesome as the 7.62 engine can be, this is the anti-awesomeness.

Hang in there, and best of luck to you. *fingers crossed*

Alright ...

Well I went back and reloaded a save from 3 game days earlier just before the rebels attacked Campecina and left town and just let them fight it out with the locals. No stuff but no grenade problem. Maybe I could have just replayed it and been very selective as to what I dumped to the back of the Ural but oh well at least no crashes. Now I just have to replay about 6 missions and 6-8 ambushes to get back to where I was before the craziness happened.

Thanks to everyone for ideas and giving me a clue as to what went wrong, and rather than just keep playing and hope for the best I will just do it over again. Maybe I can try some different tactics like do an ambush mission in broad daylight alone with Ivanov my sniper. I got his camo up to 110 without the gilly suit or camo paint. With both I can be in a wooded bushy daylight condition and have the exposure bar around my ankles or at worse around my calves. I got in a firefight in one mission and a guy 15-20 meters away still could not tell where my shots were coming from.

A silenced 416 14" with Elcan and 6.8 rounds do wonders to the enemy at ranges up to about 90 meters. Oh and my sniping is at about 78 and shooting is at 75 so it is a toss up to use the Elcan or a red dot. At close ranges when they cant tell where you are, I just go with the Elcan.

Oh Blue Sun lvl 11 and CGL 7

Headshot

Ok

I just encountered another problem ... not sure if this has been addressed yet but here goes.

After accepting the mission from Tang you are told to go see his weapons guy for something special ... which is the CheyTec M200 and acc. My main character who is my sniper talks to the weapons guy and is to be given the CheyTec and the game crashes out to desktop. Now I have space in my inventory for the weapon and its accessories but everytime without fail it will crash before getting the stuff.
I checked the crash log and this stood out...

00:59.756 ERROR [0] .\Items\items.cpp (697) Item not found by name: 'Sniper rifle clip (CheyTac/7)'

Has anyone else run into this problem?


Fix 3 corrected the issue ... Thanks R@S

R@S can you send me a file to replace whatever is missing or otherwise help somehow?

Headshot

You were lucky there, was just about to hit the sack

Here's the fix, extract and put in your game folder, no new game is required.

http://www.mediafire.com/?jzjm5pms4u8yz1g

Nighty night, and good luck

I ran into a crash while playing the blue sun mod 1.9, its when you got to ask the librarian in Sagrada to take you to Rob Yu, the game crashed when the loading sequence was almost completed.

I digged on the some old post and some people said its an issue related with missing textures, how can I fix this issue?

I thought I had disabled this in the 1.9 version, but I guess I must have forgotten. If you used the installer you should have all the files needed, so then it couldn't be related to that. You will have to do it the "right" way, by fighting in the old mines and then talk to Trip, he'll lead you down to the bunker.

I'd like to mention that, goodness gracious, Jagged Alliance: Back in Action feels like a ripped console port of JA2. It's like.. JA2 lite. And this is not positive.

Play 7.62 with BSM instead. It is much better.

@IceShade: Yeah, 7.62 with BSM is much better than the new Jagged Alliance.

I hope the next release off BSM will come soon

Looks like bitComposer will be bringing back old features, so that is promising. Not to mention R@S is on the ball with his Blue Dawn mod, so the future for BiA is pretty bright.

It is, after all, a Western release and not made by a defunct Russian company like Apeiron. :-P I have hope.

Meanwhile, I'll play some 1.9. :D

Little minor nitpicking list, hopefully in time before 2.0?:


- The M93R has a full auto mode, which it shouldn't have.
- The Intratec TEC-9 has no weapon sounds (unsuppressed at least).
- AA12 has 30 round drums .. Shouldn't that be either 20 or 32rd drums (though I can't find any info on this 32rd drum)?
- Sterling L2A3 / L34A1 magazine has a secret alien code on it!
http://i.imgur.com/WygR7.jpg

Which version and wich program can I open and extract the .pak files????
Thanksss

[BSM] Remington rifles accuracy
 

Why are Remington rifles accuracy inconstant:
Remington 700 VS (5.56mm) = 90
Remington 700 VLS (7.62mm) = 58
Remington Seven LS (.30-06) = 59

Remington Seven has a bit shorter barrel, but ammunition simillar to 7.62mm.
I understand that for model 700 the LS and VLS are just different finishes, so let's put it aside. They have the same barrel length, so the only significant difference is in the caliber.

Is it true and correct that the smaller 5.56x45mm is much more accurate then its counterparts?

EDIT
I assume that Remington 700 VS is of higher quality build.

How can I make the Mechanic at my base upgrade weapons?
I have Benelli M4 Super 90 and MP5A4 in my inventory, but he just lists what he can do and don't upgrade any of it.

@IceShade
Thanks bro, all those issues you've reported has been fixed and will be included in the 2.0 version. Please continue giving feedback until the actual release since these are easy to fix.

@void1984
The Remington differences are because of game balance, realism takes a back seat in this mod when it comes to such choices.

Give the mechanic the manuals and he'll upgrade the weapon for you. Don't forget to read them yourself first;)