Duke of Richmond BAG help! Mod map making blues... and OBA for TALAVERA Tags : None Has anyone experienced this problem or is it only me? I've been trying to do modified maps for my planned Peninsular War mod over the long weekend and while the basic 'Waterloo' map dimensions work fine (145x100) any deviation from it is met by a program shut down. Even a reversal (100x145) causes the program to shut down. Its really disconcerting. Has anyone tried modding WNLB yet? Most Peninsular war battles took place on North to South ridgelines as opposed to the East to West Waterloo configuration. If worse comes to worse I may just change the labelling (East=North/West=South, etc) if I get really frustrated. Other minor quibbles are La Haye Sainte and Frishermont are permanent fixtures on the landscape as well as the suddenly invisible Hougoumont complex - the flags are stuck there but the buildings have vanished but you can still enter and exit them with all the attendant benefits of 'moving inside'. SOMEONE HELP!!! I've already finished Baylen, Fuentes d'Onoro (though I'm hoping for more info to modify it), Albuhera (more on that in the ff. paragraph) and I'm trying to work on Talavera now - with a bonus for all Sharpe fans out there, I've included among the Battalions of Detachment present at Talavera (each Bn of Det is handled as a separate Brigade with low quality brigade leaders to reflect their hodgepodge nature and to represent visualy the diversity of the troops of the battalion w/c included Rifles and Highlanders as well as regular line infantry!) the ahistorical 3rd Bn of Detachment formerly His Majesty's South Essex Regiment of Foot under the Brigade Command of Lt Col Sir Henry Simmerson (needless to say he's of mediocre quality!) - included are a platoon of Highlanders (attached for diversity purposes, hope no one minds!), Capt Leroy's Grenadier Company and of course the elite Light Company under the newly breveted Captain Richard Sharpe. I played it last night and its working nicely. Its also a nice change since the British army here hadn't yet proved itself and most British units will be of Inexperienced Quality though I made the veterans of Vimero Experienced while other units that performed well during the battle itself such as the 29th and the detachments of Rifles Veteran and Elite quality. Question: - Should I group the Brigade Rifle detachments (usually around 50-60 men) into a single composite battalion for the division. Each Division, you see, has usually two brigades and each brigade has a detachment of the 5/60th Rifles attached. Would it be better to brigade the two detachments together to form a single unit of about a hundred men for the division or should I let it stand on its historical grouping? By the way, can ANYONE help with the map making? I guess its really not my thing. Anyone whos done work with SMG or SMA with experience in map making? Otherwise will the general public be amenable to my shifting the directions from East-West to North-South? When will someone come out with a simple map making program? You know just something simple - define map size, determine elevations, terrain, roads, buildings, name hexes etc then write them to the text file? It would certainly help things along! Someone with programming skill at Visual Basic or something. Well until that happens guess we'll just have to slog along here. Best Regards, HG Duke of Richmond TC27 Well Avoid small units if possible, the way this game works makes them almost useless. cuirassier Mapmaking Duke, hei! I have completed the map for the Quatre Bras scenario. The WNLB code is extremely sensitive to map dimensions. I might have a tip or two to pass along to you. I will post something in a day or two. Best Cuirassier Duke of Richmond Hi Cuirassier!!!! Hey! Nice to hear from you. Guess what? I've figured out what I was trying to ask you, how to configure a new map/scenario set. So you got the map, I've got the configuration set-up. I think we really might finish Quatres Bras after all. So how did the map making go? I guess I just got really frustrated with Fontenoy/Quatres Bras and whatever else we were working on back then - like I keep harping on here, Hougoumont complex, La Haye Sainte and Frischermont just don't disappear. I'm thinking, given the map scale and distances, Hougoumont could be Frasnes, LHSainte could be Pierrepont and Frischermont could be Gemoncourt (I hope I got the QB buildings right...) About small units - Yeah I guess I'll just merge the brigade rifle detachments into a hundred plus man divisional rifle company with the first brigade of the division. Its really useless having the individual companies at this scale because you can't keep track of them anyways and the poor riflemen get swallowed up or shot to pieces because you can't bother with ordering each fifty man detachment to form skirmish formation or get out of the way of a French assault. Okay then, combined divisional rifle detachments... best regards, Duke of Richmond Davros Re: BAG help! Mod map making blues... and OBA for TALAVERA Y'r Grace, I don't know if this helps, but I encountered similar problems with my Busaco mod. (WNLB) You can eliminate La Haye Sainte by going into the exe.file searching for the occurence of the string "LaHayeSainte" and changing it slightly. I renamed it "LaSayeSainte" and that worked fine. treat Frischermont similarly. I have not been able to remove those blank flags on the former site of Hougoumont though. What a nuisance! Perhaps someone else might be able to help. My map dimensions are 120x120. This seems to work alright and displays the long north-south ridge of Busaco well. I'm using Sokolnitz Castle from ANGV as Busaco Monastery. There is a strange problem however. I can neither pre-deploy (In the scn) units south of the 100 point and if I attempt to move them south of that line during the game they flatly disobey. How strange. Mutinous dogs! Davros Duke of Richmond mutinous dogs Hi there Davros, Wow nice to meet you! I was actually planning to do Bussaco as well as it runs I think on a west-east ridge ala Waterloo but I think you got that covered. And it looks like I was wrong about the west-east ridge too!! What I was thinking of doing was since apparently every major ridge battle in the Peninsular war took place on North-South ridges (Talavera, Bussaco, FdO, Albuhera) I thought it might be a good idea (if we can't figure out the bleeding config thingee!!) to just rename the labels to make WNLB east into 'Peninsular' North - get what I mean? We flip the map essentially. In any case I'm hoping to just do a 'Peninsular' Total conversion mod for WNLB anyways with new uniforms for the Spanish, Franco-German, Portuguese (particularly the Brown Cazadores) and new headwear (the pre-Belgic shako for the Brits, covered French headgear, etc) and all new labels for things : PR-Spanish and NA-Portugal. I think that's a pretty accurate assesment of the armies (Portugal would get the Nassau fire bonus from British officers and training) and I hope you'll agree with me :-) Do you need a hex editor to go into the exe file to rename La 'Saye' Sainte? I ended up handling the problem in my Fontenoy mod by designing around the existing terrain, making Hougoumont Fontenoy, La Belle Alliance/Plancenoit church Antoing, La Haye Sainte the Redoubt d'Eu and Frischermont one of the outlying villages. There's something rotten in the configuring of user created maps I think. I don't mind the non-vanishing buildings so much - I can get around them for the most part - a hint about the flags of Hougoumont - put some terrain there, preferrably farm or town terrain that normally would not give as large a defensive benefit - it looks nice and logical rather than having units vanish into nothingness when they 'move inside' the flags. Perhaps you can make Sokolnitz castle a new terrain feature? Some of the special buildings supposedly available according to the mapcreation document (but then again that document seems highly suspect to me!) are actually blank I think! Maybe you could add that in :-) Well what do you think? After hearing from you I'm more than willing to do a TC for WNLB and flipping the map on its side. As we'll be changing uniforms and labels left and right I don't think that should be a problem! All in favor say aye! By the way, I don't know if you've been able to find the CO's for all the units involved. While such an effort is doubtless admirable I think it often results in lots of blank CO names in the orders of battle. Instead I propose we put the units nickname or motto there and I've changed the labels of my mod to reflect this. What do you think? Listen, if I can give you all new labels files for WNLB do you think you could redo Bussaco for the WNLB dimensions? I'd sure like to see your work. If you've been following the threads here you'll see I've been slogging away at Albuhera and Fuentes d'Onoro with side efforts at Talavera and Baylen (maybe even Haslach so we could call it Dupont's greatest battles hehehehe!) but the map configs and the program's reluctance to 'cooperate' with anything other than 145x100 have stopped me colder than a French column before unshaken British lines! If ever you need to contact me I can be reached at: dclare4@yahoo.com Best Regards, Duke of Richmond Duke of Richmond label file Dear Davros, Heres the modified label file. Please copy this and paste it to the WNLB labels (make a backup first!!) Best Regards, Duke of Richmond @LABELS WAITING for PAUSED battery brigade AM PM January February March April May June July August September October November December st nd rd th An aide reports OK Find vs CLEAR Seminary Ridge Cemetary Hill Twilight Attack Counterattack more Begins Ends Casualties Infantry Cavalry Artillery Enemy casualties colors French Anglo-Allied Score Decisive Tactical Marginal Victory Held Lost Captured Attacked Variant RESULT Division Corps en route TOTAL Courier Messages %STR0's battery %STR0's btty %STR0's brigade %STR0 Regt. Assault Probe Wait Rally Defend Hold Line Skirmish D.Quick Wheel Halt Advance FallBack Retreat Battle Double Road Maneuver Column Adv LOS Attach Unlimber Limber Targ. Inf. Atty Auto Targ. Charge NoStop Brig. Support Skirm Deploy Flank Rest Move captured Emperor Targeting wounded rallied routed surrenders Mediocre Competent Experienced Superb Legendary Cav. Brigade Cmdr. Napoleons Rifles Poor Inexperienced Experienced Veteran troops ROUTED Rallying slowly steadily quickly Dbl.Line Reserve Btl.Line Corn Wheat Marsh Woods Orchard Rocky Chrg! Rtr. Qck. FBk. Hld! Whl. Oblq. Blkd: Dpl. Ord. Ref. Trgt. Genl. Regular Élite Blk. Det. Firing at %STR0 %STR0's Battery %STR0's Brigade %STR0's Batty BATTLE SUMMARY FRENCH DECISIVE VICTORY TACTICAL MARGINAL ANGLO-ALLIED driven back repulsed %STR0's men Regt Btty Div. Column Routed Obq. Chg! More Yes No Player added dropped Opponent MultiPlayer Setup Scenario Players READY Not Ready Colonel General Marshal Game Canceled SynchErr: %NUM0/%NUM1 was %STR0 rcvd %STR1 from %STR2. %STR0's %STR1 transfered to %STR2. Synch Done Skirmish near %STR0! Altercation at %STR0! Engagement at %STR0! Battle of %STR0! Tactical Tip From %STR0: Battery French Anglo-Allied ANGLO-ALLIED CASUALTIES FRENCH CASUALTIES Anglo-Allied Casualty Score French Casualty Score Enemy Colors ANGLO-ALLIED SCORE FRENCH SCORE Decisive Anglo-Allied Victory! Anglo-Allied Tactical Victory Marginal Anglo-Allied Victory Decisive French Victory! French Tactical Victory Marginal French Victory of French Order Of Battle Anglo-Allied Order Of Battle Up Down Exit ARTILLERY Artillery en route Troops en route SENIOR OFFICERS Overall Command Army of Northern Virginia Army of the Potomac In Reserve Play Options Speculative Multiplayer Victory Points Victory Points (VP) VP regiments more en route batteries cannon Battle Line formation Double Line formation Skirmish Line formation Maneuver Column formation Road Column formation Held in Reserve Smoothbore Napoleons Three-Inch Rifles Game View Map Reports Info Leaders Bugle Calls Load a Saved Game Randomized Scenario Creating a Scenario Sound Effects Off Faint Moderate Loud Very Loud Change current preferences? No unit reselect on drag Right click moves unit Flags show relative strength Exaggerate elevations Sparse trees and small houses Show terrain grid Map rotate moves camera Map scrolling disabled Skip scenario introductions No Tactical Tips Maximize Game Speed More units in scenarios Reselect unit on drag Right click centers map Flags show unit morale Normal elevations Normal trees and houses Normal terrain Map rotate moves map Map scrolling enabled Show scenario introductions Show Tactical Tips Maximize Graphic Detail True units in scenarios Sessions No Available Sessions Join Create Cancel Chat Waiting For Host... Evening Loading Icons... Loading Art... Loading Fonts... Loading Sounds... Morning, July 1st. --- HALL of VALOR --- Full Draw on Scroll Minimal Draw on Scroll Normal Artillery Graphic Large Artillery Graphic Extended Scenario Time Normal Scenario Time Show Firing Damage Hide Firing Damage Napoleons 6lb. Smoothbores 32lb. Howitzers 10lb. Parrotts 3in. Ordnance 20lb. Parrotts 12lb. Howitzers 10lb. James Guns Mixed Guns %STR0's Division %STR0's Corps %STR0's Army No Trouble Explanation Explain Trouble Display Blocks Display Figures Pref I Off Pref I On Anglo-Allied Spanish French Double Line Road Column 2 Rank Battle Line 3 Rank Battle Line Attack Column Mixed Order Mass Column 4 Rank Battle Line Square MELEEING Filters Routed Troops Troops with High Morale Troops Near Breaking Find Mass Column (hotkey 0) Skirmish (hotkey 2) Double-Line (hotkey 4) Line (hotkey 6) Maneuver Column (hotkey 7) Road Column (hotkey 9) Mixed-Order (hotkey 5) Attack Column (hotkey 8) 4-Rank Line (hotkey 3) Square (hotkey 1) Wheel Left (hotkey HOME) Wheel Right (hotkey PgUp) About Face (hotkey Shift-6) Double-Quick (hotkey Q) Halt (hotkey SPACEBAR) Attach to Brigade (hotkey Shift-X) Detach from Brigade (hotkey Shift-X) Advance (hotkey A) Charge (hotkey C) Fall Back (hotkey F) Retreat (hotkey R) Rally Routed Troops (hotkey Shift-R) Command - Multiplayer Only Hold Position (hotkey H) Volley (hotkey V) Activate (hotkey Shift-A) Deactivate (hotkey Shift-D) Gather Artillery to Commander (hotkey Shift-G) Auto Target (hotkey ALT-A) Target Artillery (hotkey ALT-G) Target Troops (hotkey ALT-T) Hold Long Range Fire (hotkey ALT-H) Line of Sight (hotkeys Shift-? or ALT-L) Occupy Building (hotkey Shift-O) Vacate Building (hotkey Shift-V) Manual Target (hotkey T) Pick Charge Target (hotkey T) Toggle LOS Grid (hotkeys SHIFT-? or ALT-L) Pause Game (hotkey P) Toggle Scenario Status Screen (hotkey F5) Toggle Find Leaders/VP Sites Panel (hotkey ALT-F) Toggle Elevation Grid (hotkey ALT-G) Toggle Jump Map (hotkey ALT-J) Toggle Command Buttons (hotkey ALT-B) Escape Menu (hotkey ESC) Compass Compass - West (hotkeys COMMA or PERIOD) Compass - Northwest (hotkeys COMMA or PERIOD) Compass - North (hotkeys COMMA or PERIOD) Compass - Northeast (hotkeys COMMA or PERIOD) Compass - East (hotkeys COMMA or PERIOD) Compass - Southeast (hotkeys COMMA or PERIOD) Compass - South (hotkeys COMMA or PERIOD) Compass - Southwest (hotkeys COMMA or PERIOD) Zoom Map in/out - 100% (hotkeys Z or X) Zoom Map in/out - 80% (hotkeys Z or X) Zoom Map in/out - 60% (hotkeys Z or X) Zoom Map in/out - 40% (hotkeys Z or X) Zoom Map in/out - 20% (hotkeys Z or X) Zoom Map in/out - 0% (hotkeys Z or X) Excellent (%d / %d) Good (%d / %d) Fair (%d / %d) Poor (%d / %d) Critical (%d / %d) Demoralized (%d / %d) Long Range Ammo Short Range Ammo Unit Cohesion - Superb Unit Cohesion - Excellent Unit Cohesion - Good Unit Cohesion - Fair Unit Cohesion - Disrupted Unit Cohesion - Disorganized Unit Cohesion - Broken Unit Cohesion - Scattered Save Game - select or type in a name << >> Save Napolean 6lb Smoothbore 32lb Howitzer 10lb Parrott 3in Ordnance 20lb Parrott 12lb Howitzer 10lb James Mixed Guns Six 12lb Guns Two 10lb Howitzers Six 6lb Guns Two 7lb Howitzers Eight 7lb Howitzers Five 9lb Guns One 55in Howitzer Six 6lb Guns Two 55in Howitzers Two 6lb Guns Five 6lb Guns One 55in Howitzer Eight 6lb Guns Six 55in Howitzers Three 6lb Guns One 55in Howitzer Six 12lb Guns One 55in Howitzer Four 6lb Guns Two 55in Howitzers Five 6lb Guns Rockets Musket Rifle Mixed Firearms Sabre Lance UNIT: %s STRENGTH: %d NICKNAME/MOTTO: %s CASUALTIES: %d INFLICTED CASUALTIES: %d HISTORICAL NOTES: Commander WEAPON: %s Low Cohesion Low Artillery Ammo Left Support Right Support Rear Support Defensive Forest Defensive Orchard Defensive Broken Defensive Sunken Defensive Hedge Defensive Wall Defensive Fort Fortified Rocky Fortified Sunken Fortified Hedge Fortified Wall Fortified Fort Extra Fortified Rocky Extra Fortified Hedge Extra Fortified Wall Extra Fortified Fort Entrenched Brigade Commander Senior Commander Army Commander Brigade Commander Senior Commander Army Commander Brigade Commander Senior Commander Army Commander Poor Troops Inexperienced Troops Experienced Troops Veteran Troops Élite Troops Load Load Game - select or type in a name 12 lb. Guns and 10 lb. Howitzers 6 lb. Guns and 7 lb. Howitzers 7 lb. Howitzers 9 lb. Guns and 5.5 inch Howitzers 6 lb. Guns and 5.5 inch Howitzers 6 lb. Guns 5.5 inch Howitzers 12 lb. Guns and 5.5 inch Howitzers 8 lb. Guns 6 lb. Guns 12 lb. Guns Howitzers Historical Variant Limited Ammo Unlimited Ammo Demorilization Game Ending Demorilization Effects Severe Rally Limited Rally SEND Defensive Sandpit Fortified Sandpit 's Battery Six 12 lb. Guns, Two Howitzers Six 6 lb. Guns, Two Howitzers Eight Howitzers Five 9 lb. Guns, One Howitzer Six 6 lb. Guns, Two Howitzers Two 6 lb. Guns Five 6 lb. Guns, One Howitzer Eight 6 lb. Guns Six Howitzers Three 6 lb. Guns, One Howitzer Six 12 lb. Guns, Two Howitzers Four 6 lb. Guns, Two Howitzers Five 6 lb. Guns Congreve Rockets Heavy Artillerymen Horse Artillerymen Artillerymen Light Infantrymen Infantrymen Light Cavalrymen Heavy Cavalrymen army morale falls below zero Brown Bess Musket Musket Model 1776 Hontoria Musket Baker Rifle Jaeger Rifle Straight Sword Curved Sabre Fast Rewind Rewind Stop Pause Play Fast Forward View Event - you may also double-click event in list Exit to End Game screen A fortified building has caught on fire ^Points For Enemy Casualties ^Enemy Demoralization Bonus ^Points For Enemy Morale Loss ^Points Spent On Reinforcements ^Objective Sites Controlled Best Infantry Battalion Best Cavalry Regiment Best Artillery Battery Best Brigade Unit that Sustained the Most Casualties Highest Ranked Casualty Best Infantry Battalion Best Cavalry Regiment Best Artillery Battery Best Brigade Unit that Sustained the Most Casualties Highest Ranked Casualty Defensive Abatis Fortified Abatis Starting Strength %d / Ending Strength %d - Suffered %d%% Casualties Enemy Casualties: N/A %s's %s, %s - Small - Medium - Large - Massive ROUTED Effective Light Infantrymen Infantrymen Light Cavalrymen Heavy Cavalrymen Heavy Artillery Horse Artillery Artillery English Scottish Welsh Dutch Baden Brunswick Hanoverian Portuguese K.G.L. W. Indian Spanish W. Phalian Italian Prussian Saxon Hessian French Polish Swiss Irish Brigade Strength - %s men Division Strength - %s men Corps Strength - %s men Army Strength - %s men All Friendly Fictional Surrendered Draw The battle ended in a draw (%d VP difference required for Marginal Victory) Excellent Good Fair Poor Critical Demoralized Pause Game Show Game Status Change to Slow Speed Change to Normal Speed Change to Fast Speed Change to Fastest Speed ^Total Points For Controlled Sites Leader Artillery Infantry Lancers Heavy Cavalry Light Cavalry Time Left %02dh %02dm $Current Time %02d:%02d Wounded Killed Defensive Town Infantry Casualties Cavalry Casualties Artillery Casualties Troops Surrendered Guns Captured by Enemy General %s's Brigade arrives at approximately %02d:%02d near %s General %s arrives at approximately %02d:%02d near %s Covers reinforcements up to %02d:%02d (%d VPs required for Tactical Victory) (%d VPs required for Decisive Victory) French Casualties Anglo-Allied Casualties French Troops Surrendered Anglo-Allied Troops Surrendered French Artillery Captured Anglo-Allied Artillery Captured Leader Casualties (none) %s Army Morale drops from %s to %s Long Points Remaining/Total: %d/%d Division Commanders Used/Max: %d/%d Points for Used/Allowed For Reinforcements: %d/%d %d pts I am returning to the game. @ ; This line must remain at end of file Davros y'r Grace, Thank you for the label file which I shall try out with interest. I have been trying to see if I can get my Peninsula mod to work with the ANGV demo, using some graphics and other stuff from WNLB. It loads alright up to the point when it should go to the game. Then it crashes out. If I use the austerlitz oob's however it works fine. I guess that if I want to make it work I will have to renumber all the uniform files in WaterArmy.bag and also in the new oob's. I'm not sure if it's worth the effort, though it would give me the precious, extra space on the southern part of the map as well as all those extra uniform files to play with. I might just wait for BAG to bring out a patch.... I use a small hex editor called Ultra Edit and it is a very useful utility not prone to doing anything wrong with your files "accidentally" and tolerant of even my most stupid mistakes.(Which are many indeed) It's not bad but there should still be plenty of useful FREE editors around the web. I agree with your comments about mapmaking. That is if we are to believe all that is written in the mapmaking file. Where, for example are all the fortified buildings that are mentioned? Ah well, Our's not to reason why! I found a way to get rid of the Hougoumont flags today. Trouble is it also gets rid of the occupiable building flags you want to keep. You can still ocupy the building but there's no flag. It has an added weird effect in that it steals the flag from any unit you click on! You can still move the unit and everything but it won't get it's flag back until you click on the next unit. I have set up a small web page containg a number of zip files that you may find useful. They are mainly soldier files with a few map and map data files, including the MapData and config for my Busaco map. The soldiers include the 60th Rifles and some British Inf with yellow facings who might be alright as the unfortunate South Essex Regiment. I particularly like the 60th rifles. I know that it's historically inaccurate but I have two battalions of them, the 1st and the 5th, perched just about where Reynier's lead division struck (and still strikes) the ridge it's a good position for the rifles and they usually do well. Good show chaps, take yesterday off!! The address is: chariot.net.au/~mab/zips/units.html I hope you may find something of use Davros Duke of Richmond Wow!! You sure have been keeping yourself busy! :-) Pretty cool work on the uniforms. The best part is they're all Peninsular War types :-) The bad part is theres a limited number of uniform codes available and I do want to keep most of the original stuff for variety. Hey maybe you could do the Portuguese Cazadores? Maybe if this mod does well we can ask BAG to do a special patch for this mod that allows more uniforms (I asked them for one such patch the other year and they did add a truckload of space for user created leaders!) Man I guess we can dream... can't wait for the day that we actually have the Hanoverian Legion, the Baden Contingent, the Irish Legion and Prussian Legion facing off with the 60th and South Essex/Worcestershires/etc... I'll have a go at Bussaco unless you'd like to do that yourself. Personally I'm more inclined to working on Talavera and Albuhera now that I've tweaked the labels file. Lets just keep the old uniforms for a bit then decide on coding it later on. The important thing now is to make it work! Best Regards and have a great weekend, Duke of Richmond Davros Re: Wow!! #9 [-] Y'r Grace, I have some good news and some bad news. On the bad news side of the ledger , for myself anyway, my attempted Frankensteinian cross between ANGV and WNLB isn't worth the trouble and breathed it's last yesterday when I deleted the folder named "Austerloo". Never mind even negative knowledge can be useful. The programme ran with a strangely altered view of Austerlitz but totally refused to have anything to do with my Busaco mod. How wise of it. Slightly more upbeat, I've installed your new labels and they worked fine first time with only some minimal changes required to my OOB's, No Problems there. I am a bit worried however about swapping the Portugese for the Nassau-ans(?) In Busaco I had originally changed them for the Prussians because I wanted the Cacadores to be armed with the Baker Rifle. The problem now is that (As far as I can see) the Nassau-ans only have one weapon - the musket. That would have a serious effect on the poor old Cacadores who deserve all the help they can get. Just a small point, but what do you think? Much better news is that I've found out how to remove the Hougoumont Occupiable Building flags. You will need a Hex Editor but once you've got that, to quote a well known English chef, it's easy-peasy! In WNLB version 1.001 Search for and find the ascii string "Hougoumont has been initted". this should be at position 001157ecH. Go back from there to position 00115768H. Overwrite everything between those two positions with the hex string "2E" on the hex side or just a row of dots on the ascii side. In WNLB version 1.002 Exactly the same procedure except that the top position is at 001156f0H and the bottom position is at 00115773H. Voila! The flags disapear, it all seems to work quite well though what, if any, long term effects it may have I don't know. Meanwhile it is rather nice not to have units entering non-existent buildings and disappearing into thin air. The great advice is, as ever, I suppose keep a good backup! Seriously though it seems OK Davros ps La Hay Sainte next I hope. Duke of Richmond Im just an old fogey #10 [-] I guess but I think I'll keep the blasted building complexes around... find a way to work around them... like in Talavera I'm making Hougoumont the town of Talavera... just try to place buildings there so it at least looks like the troops are moving inside SOMETHING... ditto with LHS/Frischermont. I think for Talavera these last two buildings will be too far west (mapscreen north) to really affect the placement of the line. In anycase they won't have any value in VP/morale attached to them so abandonning your Talavera-Cerro de Medellin line for them won't do you a bit of good. I think the Prussians get the Jaeger Rifle weapon. The Nassauers are armed with Baker Rifles aren't they? I don't remember but I think they are... in anycase we can simply change the Jaeger Rifle entry to Baker Rifle and no ones any wiser... Austerloo... LOL ... most fun I've had in a few days!!! The bloody shame there is I do wish BAG had heeded my advice last year and added lots of space for new uniforms and hats instead of just new leaders (though of course it was wonderful that they did add that)... the sad thing there is now we have uniforms for Polish Lancers, Hanoverian Legionairres, Swiss French line, British in the Stovepipe Shako and we are FORCED to overwrite original uniforms that can still be of use... Perhaps in the legendary patch 3... please BAG??? Best Regards, Duke of Richmond Author Comment Davros Re: Im just an old fogey #11 [-] Y'r Grace, Just a brief word to say that I'm glad that you found the name "Austerloo" mildly humerous. Unfortunately had you seen the horrendous mish-mash which I created, you may not have done so. Indeed you may have shed a quiet tear at the unfailing stupidity of untutored enthusiasts such as I. Ah well - back to the drawing board! Duke of Richmond You forget #12 [-] that without untutored enthusiasts we would never have mods... or progress for that matter. Best of luck, Regards, Duke of Richmond Davros BAG help! Mod map making blues... and OBA for TALAVERA #13 [-] Y'r Grace, I've been going at it like a bull at a gate. Never a pleasant sight. Having initially determined that I would supplant the Prussians with the Portuguese, I stuck to my plan. I changed all the flags, the selection screen and the endgame screen, as well as the OOB's and numerous other little bits and pieces and then discovered, to my horror, that the programmed Prussian Army morale was so feeble that not only did their flag suffer from a terminal case of brewer's droop but my brave Portuguese no longer stood their ground but exited the field, stage left, at a rate of knots that would be creditable for Olympic 100m contenders. Catastrophe. Great fun though, I'm beginning to think that I thrive on disaster, but don't tell anybody or they'll all be wanting to kick me as they pass. I visited massena's ANGV underground page again and found it, again, to be a good source of useful info and hints which inspired me to look once more at ANGV. I think that it will be a good game when it is released. I've now restored the Bussaco mod to what it was, the Portuguese are brigaded with the Brits in close alliance and the Prussians have become Spanish. I've done some uniforms for them which are at the address underneath should you wish to have a look. I've also done hat and leader files for them. The uniforms are old style but I think not too anachronistic. I have seen illustrations of Spanish troops of 1808, two years before Bussaco, still wearing the bicorn and white uniforms. I took the French Infantry figures originally from ANGV and have altered them, cut some out, got rid of the surrendering men and they seem to work all right. Although there were no Spanish present at Bussaco I've included a brigade of 5 Bn's commanded by Don Julian Sanchez the noted guerrilla leader, they don't look too bad on the board so I might expand the brigade to a division, maybe headed up by Julio Iglesias singing "O Sole Mio". Great. If I can get the .wav file. By the way I like your idea about the Sharpe scenario, but have you ever read "Seven Men Of Gascony" by R.E.Delderfield? It's about seven French voltigeurs of the Napoleonic period. Perhaps in the Sharpe scenario he and his men of the fictional South Essex Regt. could be pitted against old Sgt Jean Ticquet and his men of the equally fictional 87th of the French Line. This could be a battle of the Titans! Davros chariot.net.au/~mab/zips/units.html Cameronian Re: BAG help! Mod map making blues... and OBA for TALAVERA #14 [-] First class work Davros, you have put some good work into this; I read 'Five men of Gascony' when I was a schoolboy; the old sergeant stays with the Guard at the end dosen't he or have i got the wrong book. Duke of Richmond Cool #15 [-] Yeah the Portuguese won't do as the Prussians and they were very closely brigaded with the British anyways unlike the Spanish so they're better I think as a replacement for the Nassau troops (the Nassauers get a 108% fire bonus too so that helps things along particularly in regards to the Cazadores). Spain is a peachy replacement for the Prussian troops since they will most likely (except in some cases) exit stage right if pushed to it! That sounds like an idea. I think I read it before but I'm not all too sure. Is that the one where the girl marries every one of them and has them all die on her one by one? I think there WAS an 87th Ligne... will check up on its history before implimenting it though... I think the 'Sharpe brigade' (actually the Lawford brigade) is a fine addition to 'Talavera' :) Best Regards, Duke of Richmond Cameronian Re: Cool #16 [-] This is sounding good; keep at it men. Davros Re: Cool #17 [-] Cool indeed. Let's hope that we can continue. The book we spoke of concerns a young Frenchman, a painter of some talent, who volunteers for the army and joins his unit, a voltigeur section of the 87th Line on Lobau Island during the battle of Aspern-Essling. From there we follow them round Europe, Germany, Spain (Busaco), Russia, central Europe, France and finally Waterloo. By this time there are only two of the original section left, the hero, Gabriel and old Jean Ticquet his friend and sergeant. At Waterloo Jean is killed in one of the final squares of the Guard. Gabriel escapes but is wounded in the right hand rescuing the cantiniere, Nicole, from the attentions of a pair of rampant Prussian dragoons. The two ride off into an undisclosed sunset, but as Nicole has already been married to three of the original section successively, we can assume that she and Gabriel are destined for wedded bliss. It's a good tale that might well make a good TV show. I believe that at least two other books by Delderfield were made into highly successful series. I'm glad that it's not forgotten. The original 87th were absorbed into the 5th Ligne in 1803, the number becoming vacant I've made some Spanish Artillery to accompany the Infantry I had already converted and also some Spanish Dragoons. These are both in old style uniforms, the arty in white and the dragoons in lemon yellow. Both wearing bicorns. (The Dragoons look rather garish but certainly make a change). I've placed both these in zips at the web address beneath. I've also been busy making a new opening screen. I was becoming rather anxious about Legros, the guy waving that chopper around. Anyway I've replaced it with a Peninsula scene and titled the embrya mod (Tentatively, and subject to agreement) "Peninsula 1809 - 1814". I've also placed this at the same address and I would genuinely welcome your comments on it. It's just over 1Meg in size and takes about 4 minutes to download but I think you will find that, should you do so, it will be well worth the effort. It's listed on the page as "mainmenu.zip" and also contains the neccessary buttons. I'm also working on the scenario selection screen and I've done a new version of that which isn't bad, but not perhaps, as good as it should be. Basically, I've placed the foreground material on a blue field sown with French Eagles. I'm not sure it's the right design tho', perhaps its too cluttered? I'll have to work at it. Finally, here is a strange conundrum. I've constructed my OOB's, as far as I know, to conform to the guidlines and the scn file I'm using for Busaco also seems to be correct. However My British Arty units appear to change sides if they are captured. Not during the game itself, but if I go to "Endgame", captured British arty (And only those) are liable to turn up listed in both armies, in the "Details" screen and in the OOB's. I can't work it out! Davros chariot.net.au/~mab/zips/units.html Cameronian Re: Cool #18 [-] Davros and Duke; I can do little to help other than offer my encouragement and congratulations on the work so far; keep at it; we shall have our penninsula game with or without BAG. d shoeless Re: Cool #19 [-] "we shall have our penninsula game with or without BAG." Alas, instead of an agonizingly tedious equivalent to Death by BAG®Chinese Water Torture, I wish BAG would see a "well of heart and determination" to package an inclusive sm?Battle Editor - Collector's Edition permitting those of us pressed for time to expeditiously create our own battles. Time is money and given that no one - not even designers, programmers, or even 23rd century replicants with incept dates - live forever, some here would surely be willing to sacrifice a little more sometimes hard earned money just to save a bit more of their precious R&R time to artfully create and community share their sm?Battle scenarios. . . thus happily sparing an sm?Membership the slow and agonizing death by BAG®Chinese Water Torture. Is this such a novel idea? :smokin A Barca ... #20 [-] BAG should do a Peninsular after all the foremost battles/ campaigns have been done, like "The Virginia Campaign of 1864" for instance. "Tell mother I died for her and my country" - Dying words of Charles Haskell, a Confederate officer at Gettysburg. Author Comment Duke of Richmond Why certain things will never get done #21 [-] Simple... money... or the lack thereof... And you can't fault BAG for it either or any gaming company. I can fully understand that they got to cover their economic flanks and make profitable games but BAG has to date been one of the most outstanding companies when it comes to 'audience input' and customer service. Kudos BAG! The logical thing to do is to make a mission editor. However this does risk that someone will do a highly profitable mission/campaign and sometimes it just doesn't work out at all (like Cossacks Art of War perhaps, or Empire Earth) - however a mission editor does not guarantee a game's success. The game has to be real good in the first place. A great example of this is the Big Time Software classic COMBAT MISSION w/c is still one of the best WW2 wargames out there!! Thus certain battles will never get done but for modders and dreamers. I just hope that this cooperative effort - PENINSULA 1808-1814 (DAVROS lets make it 1808 so we can include the Spanish rising as well - I've got my eye on a neat little Baylen scenario in the future - not to mention Rolica and Vimero!) will generate even greater support for BAG's highly playable yet infinitely fun system for the mutual benefit of beancounter and grognards alike! Duke of Richmond Captured guns #22 [-] Yes the captured guns are listed in the opposing sides OOBs for their work as guns for BOTH sides. Can't wait to see the opening screen. I've been digging around for some replacement screens for WNLB myself but I've got a question for all concerned. If we take paintings like lets say STEADY THE FIFES AND DRUMS (Albuhera) or DOS DE MAYO (Goya's painting) will that be violating copyright? Dont want to do anything illegal here. Best Regards, Duke of Richmond Davros Re: Why certain things will never get done #23 [-] Y'r Grace, Good idea.I've changed the dates to read 1808-1814. The new page is available at the address underneath. I'm not sure about legalities. Page looks good though. Thanks for the info about the guns. I created a los file last night. When I woke up this morning I found that it weighs in at 42.9 Megs. The Game hates it and goes slow if I try to use it. I have reverted to my previous los file free environment. Davros chariot.net.au/~mab/zips/units.html TC27 .. #24 [-] Wow guys, your really art making a profesional quality add-on, I and I am sure many others appreciate your efforts. Duke of Richmond Holy Mac! #25 [-] 42.somethingorother MEGS!!!??? How large was the original LOS file? Darnit!... this could be difficult. Hmmm... Right now I'm trying to fix up Albuhera and Talavera, shifting between scenarios as the interest waxes and wanes but I don't think Albuhera will be done by my Bday (its anniversary) - BTW... last April was the anniv of the Storming of Badajoz 1812 and last Sunday was the anniv of Fuentes d'Onoro. Hope to see THAT one simulated (preferably by BAG with a campaign tree and a larger map!) Lovely, lovely, lovely, did I mention lovely, artwork there Davros! Looking darn good! I'm wondering though if we should put like a small 'unofficial addon for Waterloo:Napoleon's Last Battles' thingee somewhere. Maybe you could ask XRay about such things. Not really urgent anyways but just keep it in mind. Wish there were more hats there. Lets talk seriously about what units/hats to include and which to drop for the 'official' set. I was pressing for more hats/uniforms last year but BAG would only concede to making more space for leader pictures. Could you come up with a list of unit uniform/hat combinations and lets see what we can do with them. The 60th Rifles/95th as well as the Hussars w/ or w/o busby can be a personal preference. I'm not a hundred percent sure about all uniforms but lets get a representative set with which we can cover all bases. Like for instance British uniform with the Belgic (btw lets change the 'Wellington' false fronted shako with the Belgic 'Peninsular' shako - the false fronted one wasn't issued till 1812 I think and while I wish we could have both its not practical with the dearth of hat space.) shako would do for the Brit infantry while British uniform with lets say a French shako would represent the Swiss or Hanoverian French troops and so on... let me know what combinations you got in mind. Right off the top of my head I think we could replace the Nassau uniforms with the Portuguese and the Prussians with the Spanish (since these ARE the 'official' national replacements anyways...) - Portuguese headgear basically the British shako but with a brass plate low on the hat, just over the brim... I can do this if you'd like. Portuguese dragoons same as British dragoons ditto the brass plate. Lovely work on the Dons. I'm thinking we should probably keep the Brunswickers as the Oels Jagers DID serve in the Peninsula with detachments at Fuentes d'Onoro serving as light riflemen. Other troops that come to mind are the Vistula lancers (we can replace the red lancers with these as our 'Polish lancer' costume), Baden troops... think general uniform color and cut and we can mix and match hats to suit the set up. By the way I'm thinking of removing La Haye Sainte (like what you did, making it SaSayeSainte or something) from center as it shows up and will show up in every battlefield we create and make this defensive positions ahistorically strong. Busaco convent can perhaps be a 'Plancenoit church' - I'll try and make some new Spanish style buildings that can replace the North Euro look of WNLB. A nice Spanish church perhaps? Are you amenable to removing La Haye Sainte? Hougoumont works fine for me as does Papelotte (particularly for Talavera and Hougoumont complex doesn't really interfere with the Albuhera battle but how is it with Bussaco?) - its really too bad these things were hard coded but I think we can find a way around this. Personally I'd like to keep Hougoumont around as a generic 'village' that can stand in for Talavera with some additional town buildings added (what I currently have) or Fuentes d'Onoro village. Can I just send you stuff directly? Is there an email at your site? I'm really forgetful but I'll check before I go. Best Regards, HG Duke of Richmond Duke of Richmond Maybe #26 [-] if we act like a man - grovel, eat humble pie, beg them enough now (that line was from Sharpe's Enemy) then BAG will give us more hat and uniform space :) We can dream can't we? Best Regards, HG Duke of Richmond Kozietulski Re: La Haye Sainte & Frichermont #27 [-] Hi ! Duke of Richmond: if you want the ability to move La Haye Sainte and/or Frichermont to the map edge or just to some more useful place you may find that link worth of check. You would need to scroll to the end of "Seeking cover in Buildings" section and find the "SUPPLEMENT" paragraph. In short it talks about changing hardcoded coords for that buildings by pokeing new values into EXE file. I did check it working for WNLB demo but it should be also relatively easy to apply for any other version of WNLB using provided instructions. I guess you are aware about it but just to be sure: in ANGV repositioning of that buildings is as easy as moving their code in the MAPDATA buildings file. Well, in fact plural is inproper here as there is only one "Fortified House" in ANGV: Sokolnitz Castle (which is just new incarnation of La Haye Sainte). Because of that and because ANGV seems to have no problems having any custom map dimensions (up to about 256x320 :) ), and few other factors ANGV may turn out to be a better "modder vehicle" then WNLB? To be honest the serious ANGV drawback may be however smaller number of infantry uniform slots :( . In any case best wishes to you, Davros, Duke of Raymond and all other current and future Napoleonic modders :) Greetings, hr. Kozietulski "Lets fight for Freedom - Yours and Ours" Davros Re: Holy Mac! #28 [-] Y'r Grace, I must keep this brief. I have done as you sugest regarding the unofficial add-on line. I have placed it just above the version line and also provided that with a black background. It's quite unobtrusive and is ready for anyone who wants it at my site. The question of uniforms is going to be a bit tricky. The problem isn't necessarily that of space though. All the Prussian numbers can be re-allocated for example as can the Dutch and Belgian ones. Both those countries were part of metropolitan France by 1809, or shortly to become so. My own problem however with regard to my own first scenario is that I've over-focussed on the date 1810, re-allocated the numbers of units that weren't present at the battle or which hadn't yet been formed. The French Line Lancers for example weren't formed until mid 1811. I may have to change them back depending on what develops on the mod making front. No forward planning on my part! Just pure winging it. Never mind, I'm sure it will all work out. There are some French, Hanoverian Legion, soldier files at my site. Normal French uniform but red tunic. They look quite fetching on the table and they usually perform well. Unlike reality where the Hanoverians had no love for the French, recruitment was poor,discipline was abysmal and desertion was rife. Most of them were not even Hanovarians but came from all over Germany and elsewhere. They consisted of one, perhaps two, battalions and a cavalry unit. They were disbanded in 1811 and were transferred to the French 127th Line Infantry. I had a break from WNLB yesterday and decided to change the snow ponds in ANGV to limpid ice-free water. All went well and they look quite good in both ANGV and WNLB.(I substituted them for ploughed fields) They look good, but what do they do? (Quoth Little Peterkin). Well, not much, I'm afraid. The troops march all over them in a style that hasn't been seen for 2,000 years. Now if someone could find a way to designate "impassable terrain", or has that been done already? In case anyone has an interest in this miraculous kind of water with it's magical qualities, you can find it at the address below. chariot.net.au/~mab/zips/units.html Davros mab@chariot.net.au Duke of Richmond Winging it... #29 [-] Don't worry about it my good man... just use whatever codes you wish to use now and have fun. We can standardize things at a later time. I would just like to ensure that we cover all bases (if at all possible) in regards to uniforms and hats for the period 1808 to 1814 (we can cut off the period 1812-1814 if it all proves too difficult) with the limited uniform and hat codes we have available. Those are great downloads and yes I like those Hanoverian Legionairres (they're a great recruiting source for the KGL too) but we need to make really serious choices about uniforms before we release this officially. However I think it would be a good idea to keep the 'Bussaco' set - you could make all Portuguese uniforms giving you more detail and make it an optional set. Best Regards, HG Duke of Richmond Kozietulski Impassable Ponds #30 [-] Hi Davros and Everybody! Regarding "Ponds" terrain squares: the engine can be really tricked to treat them as impassable. Seems to work good but... As other guys already suggested before (Hook and others) it may be too much for the unit path-tracing code. My current impression is that path-tracing works OK until the destination is not too far away. That issue however needs further investigation. Hope to be ready to post some more info soon. Greetings, hr. Kozietulski "Lets fight for Freedom - Yours and Ours" Author Comment Davros Re: Impassable Ponds #31 [-] Hello Kozietulski, I spoke to Massena on this subject and he is of similar opinion to you and sent me two screenshots. one showing a unit being debarred from marching out on to the clear blue waters of Kobelnitz Pond and the other illustrating problems that can occur. Still, he has some hopes and maybe between you something may be achieved. Wouldn't it be wonderful to base one's flank on an unfordable river, try to cross the Danube from Lobau Island or defend the crossings of the Berezina? I suppose one can dream. Davros Duke of Richmond Nothings Impassible!! #32 [-] Actually I think there may be terrain for 'impassible rivers' and 'impassible wooded rivers'. Check out the Waterloo map on the SE corner of the screen by the meandering brook. The capitalized river terrain things are impassible. I forget the terrain codes but they're in the mapcreation document. I think they may be capital F and capital A. I'll be using them to simulate the Tagus River for Talavera. Best Regards, HG Duke of Richmond Kozietulski Re: #33 [-] Hi! Yes, that are 'A' and 'B' codes. Actually these are more "impassable streams" then rivers :D . Logically there is of course no gain in tricking the engine to treat 'Ponds' just like that 'A' and 'B'. But visually - thanks to Davros work - it looks beautiful. Using couple of 'A' squares side by side to simulate Big River is also possible but looks a bit funny (or ugly?) :) BTW: AFAIR 'F' code in the Roads file creates the ford for otherwise impassable square. Greetings, hr. Kozietulski "Lets fight for Freedom - Yours and Ours" Davros Re: Nothings Impassible!! #34 [-] Y'r Grace, Kozietulski, Thank you for your comments. A timely reminder to me to read the FM before charging off in all directions at once. I'm going to try and make a larger river, though I'm not too optimistic. I've started on some Portuguese infantry which may turn out alright if all goes well. Great news for me this morning. Massena has solved the problem I spoke of some time ago, of not being able to deploy units below the 100 south line on my map. It's great, it seems to work perfectly on both the 01 and 02 versions. Good tidings at last. Davros Kozietulski Re:... #35 [-] Hi Davros ! Quote: Massena has solved the problem I spoke of some time ago... Hey! If really solved it is indeed great thing to hear for me :D Greetings, hr. Kozietulski "Lets fight for Freedom - Yours and Ours" Davros Re: Southern boundary problem #36 [-] Hello Kozietulski, Yes, it really is solved. At least as far as my map dimensions are concerned. I've now got Hill down in the proper position at the south end of the ridge, instead of stoodging around at the 100 mark uttering mutinous threats. It is really is a relief. I expect that Massena will speak of his solution on the ANGV Underground site he runs. Davros Cameronian Re: The Famed Penninsula Mod #37 [-] Keep at it men, it sounds excellent. RICHMOND; if this is as good as your maida mod, but on a larger scale then I for one would pay for it; would you care to put a rough date on completion of the first battle ? DAVROS; I checked you mods page and downloaded the 'monastery' fort; forgive the impertinence but I thought that since it was a monastery perhaps a cross on the tower might be a good idea; I'm no artist but if you're interested in seeing the result give me an email address and I'll whiz it over. cam Davros Re: The Famed Penninsula Mod #38 [-] Hello Cameronian, Thank you for your comment. Yes the "Monastery" is a bit unclerical, so to speak. It's actually Sokolnitz castle from ANGV. I thought that it looked a little bit better as a religious house than the buildings in WNLB. I'd like to see your addition and my address is underneath. Peninsula may turn out to be quite a large mod, and all assistance, in the common cause is very welcome. Davros mab@chariot.net.au Cameronian Re: The Famed Penninsula Mod #39 [-] Hello Davros; yes I spotted that it was the castle from ANGV but I have seen a few monasteries in southern germany and in spain which looked just like fortresses from a distance; I think it works well. Davros Re: The Famed Penninsula Mod #40 [-] Hello Cameronian, Thank you for the email and for the updated graphic. I installed it in my game and it's quite interesting what a difference such a small detail makes. The place now looks more like a genuine house of religion. It's good. I have taken the liberty of replacing the old image on my download page with your new one, I hope that's alright. Davros Author Comment Cameronian Re: Terrible News #41 [-] Davros - disaster; the monastery file on your web page is still unedited ie no cross (web page lag ??); I downloaded it and it wrote itself over my own modified monastery files;fortunately I kept the email I sent you with the attatchment so all is not lost. On a more positive note - a further suggestion if I might be so bold; do we have any 'real' computer artists on the boards who can do buildings (as opposed to fumbling amateurs like me) ? Reason I ask is that the church looks very northern european indeed; I have tried to replace the steeple with a baroque dome more in keeping with spain (think of the church in all those 'mexican' westerns and you get the picture). Trouble is I just can't do it - haven't got the 'golden fingers'; do you think it might be a good idea and if so would you object if one of our highly talented contributors attempted it ? Davros Re: Terrible News #42 [-] Hello Cameronian, Mea Culpa. I'm afraid the problem with the church was all my fault. I think that I was hurrying too much. I zipped the file up, gave it a different(Wrong) name to the one it was intended to replace and then uploaded it. The file which you downloaded was the old copy. The new one has just been sitting on my server with no link to it at all. I usually check these things but for once didn't. I hope that I didn't inconvenience you too much. It's all corrected now. I agree with your comments about the church. We need a volunteer who is skilled at that kind of work. Perhaps one will turn up. I think we will. Davros Davros New Scenario select screen #43 [-] Hello everyone, I don't know if anyone is interested, but I've just placed online at the address below a set of files to create a new scenario select screen and all the associated bits and pieces, buttons etc for the Peninsula Mod. They are not important, of course, and offer merely a change in appearance, not performance. However, they do ring yet another change between the original game and the mod and as such, one or two of you might be interested enough to have a look. I, in turn will be very interested to hear your opinions. Have I got all the files there? For example. Is the artwork acceptable? I would really welcome the feedback. Particularly since I have almost finished the game's other screens in similar style to the selection screen and If I'm to change them I need the info now. It won't take long once I know. The zip file weighs in at a mere 268Kb and downloads quite quickly. Davros chariot.net.au/~mab/zips/units.html Avon Ulysses Re: New Scenario select screen #44 [-] Hi Davros & Cameronian, Great work on the mod' I realy hope it works out. I would like to help, with the project. Although I have no computer skills of note, I could possibly assist with some of the graphics. Cam' asked for someone to rework some of the buildings to make them look more Spannish & I've had a go at that. Where do I send the file? Regards Mitch Duke of Richmond Bonjour Mes Amis #45 [-] Davros, would it be okay for your site to host at least temporarily the Peninsular mod pack sets? Like we could send you the stuff and we could get the stuff from your site. As for the Spanish monestaries we have a lot in this country (Philippines) but unfortunately I don't have a decent scanner. Will look some more online. Nice to hear from you Mitch! We can use all the help we can get. Apparently our largest problem now is the LOS files w/c are large and seemingly undistributable. Okay... lets just focus on the map, deployments and aesthetics for now. We can all pitch in with the scenarios later. Great work on the troops Davros. Unfortunately the library was closed last weekend so I wasn't able to rerent Arthur Bryant's Years of Victory (Peninsula 1808-1812 Ciudad Rodrigo) - will try again this weekend. Cam, it WOULD be nice to pack everything up in a nice little CD package though - maybe we can get BAG to release this as an addon later? :) As usual anything - OOBs, uniform pictures, stories of battles or wishes (like the 87th Ligne and Sharpe) would be greatly appreciated! Best Regards, Duke of Richmond Davros Great new building graphics. #46 [-] Hello everyone. Cameronian; I feel certain that as Mitch is the first person who has answered your artistic call to arms, you will not feel offended, if I replace your "Busaco covent" on my download page, with a set of new images which he has created. They are great, a real touch of sunny Spain! I'm sure that they will be very well received. They are at the address below and are listed as forts.zip I wouldn't want to be unduly optimistic, but I do feel that we are gaining some impetus. Davros chariot.net.au/~mab/zips/units.html Davros Re: Bonjour Mes Amis #47 [-] Y'r Grace, Thank you for your kind remarks. As regards your question about using my site to receive and store files, I'll take all I can, obviously however, I will eventually run out of server space. I have two web sites on line, one of which could go to provide more space but this is going to be a big mod and again, eventually, we'll run out of space. I only have ten megs on my server and we may need more. Don't think that this is all negative stuff, I'm merely, as it were, thinking aloud. There is however,some good news. Mitch has said that he may be able to help me with the space problem and if that is so, then the outlook is considerably brighter. A central distribution point like that would be a great assistance to the development of the Peninsula mod. Davros ps I tried to persuade my dear wife to type out the relevant chapter you required from Arthur Bryant's book. I received a rather dusty reply. There are apparently, limits, beyond which a wargamer's wife will not go! Cameronian Re: New Scenario select screen #48 [-] Hi all; Avon Ulysses; your comments are appreciated but it is to HR Richmond and Davros that all credit is due; I am merely the bag carriers bag carrier. Davros; absolutely; you and HR Richmond have complete editorial control over what you select; I for my part will continue to contribute what I can and take no umbrage if it isn't used. Duke of Richmond Got it #49 [-] Borrowed Arthur Bryants book. Im having a problem with scaling... what exactly are the elevation changes in WNLB? Like whats a good benchmark we can use? Thanks, Duke of Richmond Cameronian The Peninsula #50 [-] Exciting stuff this ANGV publishing news but remember men *THE* project is to bring a Peninsula game into being. Author Comment A Barca ... #51 [-] No; another AMERICAN CIVIL WAR game should be next. It's definite. Duke of Richmond Nope #52 [-] THIS is next :) Duke of Richmond Cameronian Re: Excellent News !!! #53 [-] Really .... when ? DanRol Re: Bonjour Mes Amis #54 [-] about web storing space: I can provide some if need arise. and if an installation procedure is needed for mods, I have InstallShield available to do it. Duke of Richmond Soon... #55 [-] You must appreciate that I cannot test the maps I do with much ease due to my monitor's state but rest assured that Talavera is going along gloriously if somewhat laboriously. The biggest problem will probably the lack of the LOS data w/c as my comrade Davros said earlier takes a long time and is way too large for download. Still there must be a way around that. For now I'm content to just have a map and troops to push around. BY THE WAY DAVROS ET AL, Please tell me if you are all amenable to removing La Haye Sainte from our Peninsular Mod map? I think it could be replaced with other buildings if the need arises but if we leave it there... not all battlefields had such a strong defensive position as the Hougoumont, La Haye Sainte, Papelotte position afords. Talavera certainly will be off balanced if it remains. I'm thinking Busaco would be as well. In any case you have the convent for your defensive center, right? Duke of Richmond Cameronian Re: Soon... #56 [-] If it adversely affects the balance of the game remove it. TC27 Well #57 [-] Guys, one thing i woul suggest is that if you are representing the wider battle in smaller scenerios is that you leave other units not involved directly in the fighting in the game, albeit frozen. in the positions that they were historically in. Davros Peninsula Mod progress report. #58 [-] Hello everyone, I've been working away at the graphical eye candy and it's now finished to a level that one or two of you may, perhaps, like. Basically the foreground panels are backgrounded aginst a pattern consisting of soldiers in uniforms of the period. For those of you who prefer a more utilitarian approach I can provide plain backgrounds in either green and gold or black and gold. I've changed the exe file using the great Massena's hack, to increase the map dimensions. I've removed Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte and their associated flags completely. Thanks again for Massena's help and advice. I've re-vamped the training scenarios so that they are now demonstrated on the Busaco map. A little tidying up to be done, but not much. (I hope.) I'm working on the history pages and so far have an overview of the campaign, and pages dealing with Bailen, Vimeiro, Oporto, Talavera, Busaco, The lines of Torres Vedras, Barrosa and Sabugal. There are only four more valid spaces left so I think that I'll have to amalgamate some of the info I already have. I have made numerous other small changes and the whole thing is now starting to hang together. Basically I need two more scenarios and I will be playing and working on the demo version of "Peninsula 1808-1814" Similar to the WNLB demo but based on the 02 update. I have been thinking about distribution. How many of us are there in this rather amorphous group?. Six? Eight?. It seems to me that if the numbers are small then rather than dribble the files out, a little bit at a time, on the web, a truly daunting prospect given the size of the files, It would be better for me to write the whole programme to CD and send it to those who ask. That would give us all an identical framework to play on, write our scenarios on and progress further. It's not ready yet, but I am prepared to wait until it is. I think it will not be too long. For anyone else prepared to wait, it might make a nice little Christmas present. You may have to pay postage but the CD will be gratis. (Except, of course, in the highly unlikely event, that I am overwhelmed by requests. In the which case the deal is off!) Davros. jomini Re: Peninsula Mod progress report. #59 [-] Davros, if your effort is a good one I will gladly recompense you for it. Thanks for your devotion, many of us are looking forward to the finished product. "Sic Semper Tyrannis" Cameronian Re: Peninsula Mod progress report. #60 [-] Ditto here davros; pleased to meet your out-of-pocket expenses. Thisnis sounding very good indeed; will your mod lend itself to the patch 3 update ? Author Comment Davros Re: Peninsula Mod progress report. #61 [-] Hello Jomini and Cameronian, Thank you for your comments. Quite difficult to get here nowadays isn't it? I kept getting ambushed by Casinos and Platinum card popups on the way in. Never mind. That's a good point about the 3rd patch , Cameronian, I hadn't thought about it. I think that if the patch rejects the modified exe file for some reason then I'll simply apply the patch to a new, virgin, exe file and then make the necessary modifications to it. I think that will work. The third patch in fact might be very beneficial, particularly where map sizes are concerned. It would be good if the patch was released before our own distribution date. That would solve any problems. I mentioned pre-Christmas as a date and that seems to me a good time. Basically my part of the mod is finished from the presentational, purely show-biz, side of affairs. The extra few months however will give us all time to look at the game and see if there is anything else we can do. Davros Duke of Richmond Bonjour all #62 [-] Great to hear that all is going well at Bussaco. The Massena fix will sure help us a lot. Still... I'm inclined to stick with the new directions but of course its a consensus opinion. I'm thinking thought that in as much as I've chosen to keep Papelotte, Plancenoit Church and Hougoumont (w/c makes a really pretty town of Talavera!) in the Talavera scenario perhaps we can have everything under the blanket Peninsular War 1808-1814 but have separate exe files for Talavera and Bussaco. I'm definitely taking out LHS as it throws off the play when the French push the English line back in the center (I tried playing stupid and let the French break the center but even if they did it fair and square it throws the play balance since a strongpoint that hard to crack in the center of the Anglo-Spanish line did not exist at Talavera) Could the chap who asked me about the 87th Ligne please give me the info again and some possible scenario ideas? Christmas sounds like a great target date for La Grande Release - btw great news again. I was mucking around with another old fave of mine, Panzer Elite and suddenly the screen righted itself... sort of... at least I can see the bottom of the screen again! So cry havoc and let slip the 23rd Light Dragoons! Duke of Richmond Cameronian Re: Artwork #63 [-] Just checked out AvonUlysses art mods for the peninsula game; really excellent mods; very latin/spanish looking; first class men, keep it up. Davros Re: Bonjour All #64 [-] Y'r Grace, I am glad to hear that all goes well with Talavera. It sounds very good. I am plodding along with Busaco and with the Peninsula framework and gradually tidying up the odds and ends. I found a representative medal for the Spanish, to replace the German medal. Co-incidentaly it was awarded for Talavera. I think that it will do for all, unless anyone has a better idea. I've replaced the German flags with Spanish ones that are basically a white field with a kind of red saltire design on it. I think that it was the flag of the Junta. I need a relevent Spanish march to replace the German one. I've changed the tombstone to a four line inscription, reading:- " To The fallen. Peninsula. 1808-1814" It would be wonderful if we could find an Hispanic gentleman who is prepared to translate into Spanish and record the various battle commands. (Probably just wishful thinking) I think that it would be perfectly feasable to have separate exe files for the two battles if you wished. At the moment I have been exploring the chances of having the exe file accept my mod files as if they were the original Waterloo files. So far, things look promising, which means that we will be able to rename our Scenarios - Water10.scn, Water11.scn etc and have them all displayed on the selection screen at the same time without having to change the ini files. We will also have access to the training scenarios. A few minor problems still, but I'm sure we will be able to overcome them.(I hope) The problem then, is that all the scenarios would run on the same map. A partial solution, however,is offered by something which you sugested a while back, that is, having four battlefields on the same map.One in each corner. That would have been a tight squeeze on the original map but with the larger maps could be possible. For those interested, I'll post the Massena Hack on the Technical forum in answer to a question by Dessaix. As to the 87th Ligne Y'r Grace I havn't any idea how they might fit into a scenario. I am an absolute beginner as far as scenarios are concerned. I 've only written the one(Busaco) and I'm not sure how good (or probably, bad) that is. That being so I'll defer to your expert judgement and leave it up to you! Davros jomini Re: BAG help! Mod map making blues... and OBA for TALAVERA #65 [-] Dear Davros and Richmond, Thanks for all the work fellas but lest we forget...in 10 days time or so you'll have a whole new map to work with that you may find will make a suitable substitute for the "table land" I have seen on my visits in Central Spain pus the Pratzen Heights might make a suitable "mountain". There is also a Castle and some smaller towns plus a large church. It could be good. A walled "avaiary" is also a major map feature and the map itself covers a bout twice the ground in total. Just an idea. Thank-You, Bob "Sic Semper Tyrannis" Cameronian Re: BAG help! Mod map making blues... and OBA for TALAVERA #66 [-] Look closely at the 'Monastery' Bob (look on Davros's page under forts); it is infact the excellently modified castle from Austerlitz. jomini Re: BAG help! Mod map making blues... and OBA for TALAVERA #67 [-] OOoops!! My apology's Fellas, I forgot about that. Thanks Cam. I will now go back to my corner and watch humbly, quietly, and thankfully :) "Sic Semper Tyrannis" Duke of Richmond Spanish Gents #68 [-] Well NP about missions Davros actually thats my forte. Ive not really done much map modding before besides Fontenoy. Talavera is doing fine but it has been going slowly due to my weird monitor but now that the problem has apparently corrected itself I look forward to fixing it up. Mostly been working on scenarios, experimenting with what works and what doesnt. Davros and AvonUlysses wonderful work on the 'eye candy'. I like that idea for the tombstone... about the Talavera medal, I think it would be pretty representative, unless we can find one thats for the entire war. The Brits have it easier with their 'Peninsula' medal :) Now about finding a Spanish gentleman to do all the orders... we may have the best luck yet, though do keep praying for it! I live in the Philippines which was a former colony of Spain and we still have quite a strong Spanish heritage here. I may be able to find someone who is either Spanish or what we call 'mestizo' (with Spanish blood - I have a spot of Portuguese myself but can't speak the language unfortunately) or I could probably, as a stopgap, record someone who can speak the language. Naturally nothing beats the real thing but we shall do what we can. In the meantime I'm not sure what churches they had in Spain but we haev some fine adobe stone churches here. I'm not sure if the architecture is exactly the same though. Best Regards, HG the Duke of Richmond Davros Re: Spanish Gents #69 [-] Y'r Grace, I am happy that you are comfortable with the idea of handling the missions/scenarios side of things, particularly as I am aware that it is an area in which you have great expertise. I think that all will be well. I am glad that Talavera progresses and that your monitor is no longer misbehaving so badly! I found the Talavera medal on a Spanish web site that contained info and images about all the Spanish medals awarded for the Peninsular War. it seems ,that the Spanish Govt. were a lot more generous than the British, who only awarded the Peninsula medal 50 yrs after the war and after a long period of petitioning by the gradually declining number of veterans. I've placed the amended OOBGravestone bmp on my download site at the address below. Also a new set of corrected Spanish Gunners in blue tunics. I had hoped that you might be able to help in the search for a Spanish Gent and I am glad that you may be able to do so. It would be great if that could be done. I am still plodding along with pursuading the game to accept my scenario as the bona fide Waterloo one. It seems to be working reasonable well although there are some problems. It may be a dead end though, in which case nothing is lost. It's worth having a look anyway. I am experimenting with Grand batteries. I have listed in the OBF the fictious, but aptly named Colonel Groskannone(Alsation I think) as the commander of an equally fictious corps that consists of one, single battalion,artillery regt of five batteries separately commanded by majors Une, Deux, Trois, Quatre and Cinque, the battalion being commanded by Major Zero. I can pre-deploy the individual batteries to move to a specific location or I can use Col Groskannone to"Assemblez les kannone" at his location. That way I don't disrupt the activities of the "real" batteries that are already assigned to the support of various brigades or divisions. I expect it's been tried before but it's fun! Davros chariot.net.au/~mab/zips/units.html Cameronian Re: Spanish Gents #70 [-] Good work Davros; keep at it. Author Comment Duke of Richmond Grand Batteries #71 [-] Hmmm... Actually if you check out my work on the WATERLOO EXPANDED VERSION (Fields of Glory) at Matt Morelli's site you'll see the French Army HQ unit under General Haxo. It includes the HQ troops such as the Gendarmerie, Engineers, personal Guard Lancers AND the elite Marines of the Guard which were functioning as artillery that day. The only problem I foresee is the lack of an adequate unit graphic in the OOB page. The game doesnt know what to make of artillery in brigades (recognizing only 'independent' batteries) and uses the horseless leader graphic for it (at least it looks like a horseless leader!) - I was thinking of doing that for WEV but decided against it, preferring to let Div/Corps/Army commanders do the artillery massing. But I know it SHOULD work. ;) Can help out with scenarios after I'm done with Talavera. We might even get to do something like what I did for WEV (timing assaults and battalion release according to historical timetables) but thats a bit far into the future. If worse comes to worse I probably could do the Spanish bit myself. My accent is closer to English than Spanish though and I can do a decent Brit/Scot/Irish but Spanish might take a bit of work. Also I don't know the terms other than Preparen, Apunten, Fuego (Ready,Aim,Fire) so someone will have to right them out for me. If you or anyone here knows (perhaps Barca would!) the proper Spanish commands please email them to me! Regards all, Duke of Richmond Davros Re: Grand Batteries #72 [-] Hello Cameronian and Y'r Grace, Thank you for your comments. I do have a copy of WEV Y'r Grace, and I have used the OOB's and scenario as guides to correct usage and as sources of information and inspiration. I particularly noticed Haxo and his men, as I intended at one time to create some Marines of the Guard. The old problems of uniform spaces and time have put that idea to the bottom of the list though. One day perhaps. I hope that the news on the Spanish language front continues to be promising. I'm sure that it will all work out brilliantly. As to the artillery, it might be a bit of a blind alley. Probably all right for a variant though. All that lovely firepower! I seem to be hitting a bit of a trough lately. Lots of apparently golden ideas that turn out to be dross. Ah well! Can't win them all I suppose! Press on lads! En Avant mes amis! Davros Duke of Richmond Graveside commentary #73 [-] One comment though about the graphics... its great and I really like the idea of the tombstone inscription. However it looks kinda crowded to me... perhaps you could make the Peninsula 1808-1814 part a font size or two smaller. I suppose its rather difficult since the thing is really small as it is. Just my two cents worth. Like the way they make monuments with the major inscription in larger letters and the battles/dates in a smaller size. Just my two cents. Regards, Duke of Richmond P.S. Perhaps someone will find out a way to give us more uniforms for use? Maybe in patch 3? Perhaps if we lobby for it BAG will give it to us... not just for Peninsula but for Waterloo as well... would be really neat to have all those uniform variations including the Swiss in the French Army, Polish AND Dutch Lancers, all those different Hussar costumes and the German cavalry (Duke of Cumberland, Bremen and Verden)... remember as my source of inspiration the uniform mod that they did for that other Waterloo game the turn based one. I think it would be great for both games.... and while we're at it lobby for better leader loss determination (but thats another topic altogether!) james l henry Re: Graveside commentary #74 [-] Richmond said "and while we're at it lobby for better leader loss determination (but thats another topic altogether!)" i think you will find that loads more leaders get killed/wounded in the angv game if you against the ai (at least thats my experience while testing it). casnt comment on how it is in mp. if you dont want them to be casualties you need to keep them away from enemy troops (even routing ones!!) Davros Re: Graveside commentary #75 [-] Y'r Grace. I take your point about the commentary and will do what I can to change it today. It shouldn't be any trouble. Davros Davros Re: Graveside commentary #76 [-] Y'r Grace, I've amended the OOBGravestone.bmp along the lines which you sugested. I think that it looks better. If anyone is interested it can be downloaded from the address underneath. Davros chariot.net.au/~mab/zips/units.html Duke of Richmond Better... #77 [-] Yup its better now. More 'monument' - like. ;) Cheers to the team, Duke of Richmond Davros Re: Better... #78 [-] Y'r Grace et al, I am glad that you like the re-done tombstone. From my part of the Peninsular Mod things are now back on track and going well. I've had a miserable ten days trying to persuade the game to, not only, accept my custom map as the original Waterloo map, but to also refrain from displaying Hougoumont on it. I had already removed Hougoumont, "The Beast", as Massena calls it, from my custom maps displayed in custom scenarios but when I tried them as pseudo Waterloo scenarios it didn't work. I was staring at the game with the blind eyes of a poet rather than those of a scientist and I was totally stumped! As often happens, Massena came to the rescue. with a brilliant piece of work. Hougoumont is now banished from both the custom maps AND from my Busaco map displayed as a pseudo Waterloo map. This will have several benefits, not least IMHO that we will, so to speak, be at home in our own "Peninsula house" and not simply gatecrashing a party thrown by the rich and powerful Waterloo family! I've updated the tutorial scenarios to be displayed on the Busaco map using units from my own OOB's. They look quite reasonable. We will still have the normal ability to run our own custom scenarios. If anyone has any they would like included please send them to me. The map size that I believe is probably the best to use is x=145, y=150. The game will take larger sizes but it seems to become a bit unwieldy, slow to load and unload. The darkening effect that was previously apparent in the southern third of the map has also been eliminated and is no longer there. I am working on the history pages and would love the chance to do a really good HTML page on the subject. Time alas precludes that, so if someone else would like to volunteer? Much as I like "Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill" for the British tune, I would rather have one of the following tunes in it's place:- "Sweet Polly Oliver" played by a British Corps of Drums "Blue Bonnets over the Border" Played by a Scots pipe band. For France I would like the Marseillaise. Nothing else will do. I've only so far been able to get a midi file of it and it's awful. I also need a representative Spanish march If anyone has a decent .wav file of any of the above tunes please send it to me. My email address is underneath. There are two bitmaps in the main Graphics folder named alliedflag.bmp and frenchflag.bmp whose purpose I cannot determine. Are they to do with on-line playing? I would like to change their backgrounds to conform with everything else. I have never needed one before but I recently purchased a CD writer and I am pleasantly surprised by the speed with which it writes the entire mod to disc. No problems there. It will soon be time to start thinking of legalities and for that we will need someone who has been around this forum far longer than I have, with an established reputation, who can "talk the talk"(I believe that's the expression) and who can re-assure BAG that we intend to do nothing that is either illegal or detrimental to their interests. There's still work to be done but with a Christmas deadline we've left ourselves time to spare. I think all will be well. Davros mab@chariot.net.au chariot.net.au/~mab/zips/units.html ps There were a considerable number of Italians who served in Spain. I have done some infantry and horse artillery conversions for them. If anyone is interested they are at the address above. Cameronian Re: A Latter Day Horatio ... #79 [-] Davros, it's sounding (very) good; sorry I can't help with a spanish march; are you sure about the marseillaise ? the frogs had some cracking period marches at the time - Marche des Bonnets a Poil, Sambre et Meuse and many more; the Garde Republicaine band have recorded most of them; just a thought; I like the idea of 'Blue Bonnets Over The Border'; it was the tune my great uncles piper played when the 2nd Batt Cameronians went into action at Neuve Chapelle 1915; last thing he heard on this earth; not a bad way to go all in all. If possible it would be nice to have a few British marches rather than just the one - even if the one is a stirring pipe tune; what about something irish as well as something english (Polly Oliver is good). Keep up the good work. Regards Cam. Davros Re: A Latter Day Horatio ... #80 [-] Hello Cameronian, Thank you for your comments which are exactly the kind of input we all need if we are to get everything right. I was perhaps being a bit lazy in chosing "The Marsaillaise" as the French tune but I am influenced by the desire to remove the two, rather sombre, pieces, that at present represent both the French and the Prussians. The Prussians will go anyway but we need a better tune to represent France. "Sambre et Meuse" is one of the great marches but was it composed in the right period or later? I thought of using "Ca Ira" but as that's been highjacked by the West Yorkshire Regt(I think) perhaps not. For the British "Polly Oliver" would be good, and played on the fifes and drums would have an authentic period "feel" "Blue bonnets over the border" is one of the great pipe marches (KOSB's?) and would be my personal choice, but what would others think? "Hey Johny Cope" is a wild enough tune but could we have the British army's reveille as their identifying tune? Perhaps not. For an Irish tune, "Saint Patricks Day" would be a good choice, but, again, was it composed at that time? There is one that comes to mind that might fit the bill - "Fare thee well Inniskilling" "Fare thee well Inniskilling. Fare thee well for a while, For we must be leaving for the bloody war in Spain. But when the war is over, back to Ireland we'll come. And ye'll all welcome back yez Inniskilling Dragoons" There are at least some options for the British and French but Spain alas is still rather a hazy area. Doubtless it will be resolved. It's nice to have come so far along the road ,that we are now discussing the music! Davros Author Comment Cameronian Re: A Latter Day Horatio ... #81 [-] Morning to you Davros. You were quite correct with Sambre et Meuse - 1879 - although the period it reflects is revolutionary; pity because it's a bloody good march - but - there are others. 'Blue Bonnets Over The Border' has been shanghaied by the cursed KOSB (raised in 1689 to RESIST the Jacobites - foam, snarl) for their regimental march but I can assure you that it was common currency in most Highland Regiments. It refers to the Jacobite army crossing the Jed at Jedburgh in 1745 (inauspicious event as Lochiel cut his hand on his sword which the highlanders saw as unlucky). The association with 'offence' meant it was often played in the advance. Jonnie Cope is a cracking good march too though as you say is usually confined to reveille. What about 'Hielan' Laddie' ? The 42nd (I believe - not abso sure) played it at New Orleans. Just a thought. Anyway, I will dig and root over at this end and see what i can unearth. Cam. Davros Re: A Latter Day Horatio ... #82 [-] Hello Cameronian, Thank you for your comments and the info about the marches. A pity about "Sambre et Meuse" a good march. But should we necessarily exclude it? It would be slightly unreal and anachronistic of course, but is that really so bad? I ask the question because I've come to the conclusion that whatever we chose will not truly reflect reality as it existed at that time, but rather, reality as we imagine it to have existed.(Please bear with me, I'm not trying to be obscure or metaphysical) I can illustrate this best by an example. Suppose, as is extremely likely, we chose "All the Blue Bonnets" to represent the British. We will probably obtain a version of it by a modern pipe band. That in itself will be an anachronism. As you are no doubt better aware than I am, modern pipes have three drones the ancient ones had two. Modern pipe drums are rod tensioned and have plastic heads that produce a light crisp sound. The old drums were rope tensioned, with skin heads and were slightly larger than modern side drums. I believe that the sound would be more like that of the Lambeg drums the Ulstermen occasionally use, though I may be wrong. They would certainly be deeper and less crisp. The same applies to modern military bands which have a range of instruments the ancients never had. Now, I apologise for all this nit-picking musical BS but I think that I'm trying to say, that whatever we do, we'll upset someone, so in that case we may as well leave all our options open. Including "Sambre et Meuse" I agree with your comments about "All the Blue Bonnets" I'm sure it was a very popular and widely circulated piece of music. I loved the detail about Lochiel and his cut hand. Fascinating. I did think of "Hielan Laddie" the Scots Guards Regimental march but at risk of offending my former friends from the "Kiddies" or indeed of wearing a Lochaber axe as a new adornment to my skull, I discarded the tune as being, dare I say it, a wee bit cheesy. In fairness to myself, I should say that I discarded "British Grenadiers" for the same reason. As ever I remain open to anyone else's opinions on the subject and I look forward to seeing the results of your investigations. Sorry for rambling on. The Mod's going well. Davros Cameronian Re: A Latter Day Horatio ... #83 [-] Morning Davros. 'Authentic performances using period instruments' are all the rage at present; Hadyn, Mozart, Beethoven as they would have been heard at the time - you know the sort of thing; now avoiding for just one moment the ticklish question of whether the great composers would actually have *preferred* their compositions played on modern instruments - I am attempting to obtain a recording of 'period' pipe band performances (if such a thing exists); ditto fife and drum; I will keep you informed. Hielan' Laddie CHEESY !! pistols at dawn sir !! LOL Stop press; just found a site www.militaryheritage.com/sound.htm have emailed them re availability of period recordings however there are some good sound files for d/load. Davros Re: A Latter Day Horatio ... #84 [-] Hello Cameronian, Thank you for your comments. Sorry for the foolish remark about "Hielan Laddie" which is a very fine march indeed You once said, in relation to something else, that you were "Just the drummer" But, amongst many things I'm sure, you are obviously clued up on the music front. Could we leave the selection and acquisition of the music we will need, to you. I'm sure we'll all be happy to accept whatever you provide. That would be a great help and one more item to tick off the list. Davros ivanmoe bagpipes wav file #85 [-] Found this "forward march" order w/bagpipes .wav at: www.combatmission.com/mods/music.asp Thanks for all your hard work, gentleman. I look forward to playing the finished product! :D Ivanmoe Cameronian Re: A Latter Day Horatio ... #86 [-] Morning to you Davros. Delighted to be of service but first I will need my orders; how many pieces do you want, what type (big band march, fife 'n drum, pipes etc) what tempo (quick march - light infantry bugle probably, march and slow march) what nationality and finally what length of play. I am I confess a complete illiterate re: 'puters and might well struggle somewhat with the more technical aspects however I *will* find the music. Thanks for that site 'moe. Regards Cam Davros Re: A Latter Day Horatio ... #87 [-] Hello Cameronian, Thank you for your comments. Thank you also, Ivanmoe, for your support. I havn't spent a lot of time investigating the sound files, but after reading your post I did a quick check and it all seems fairly simple. basically there are (At Present)three tunes, labelled as BritishSong.wav, FrenchSong.wav and PrussianSong.wav(Which for our purposes has to become a Spanish tune). I checked and found that the length of the music isn't relevent to the game's performance. ie. It loads just the same, if the piece of music is doubled in length or if it is cut back to under a second. I think that we will be able to manipulate anything which you find. On a personal level I think that I would prefer it if all the pieces were in quicktime, but that's a personal taste and I'm quite happy to leave it all up to you!! I said "At present" in relation to the three tunes because I had a little idea that it would be nice if the game could be persuaded to chose from a larger range of tunes, which would help to reduce the "Ho Hum" level every time we load up. As I said, it's only a little idea, but who knows? That being so, if you could get two or three tunes to replace each of the three originals that would be good. I'm still working away at the training tutorials and they seem to be coming along nicely. As I have a shortage of good large scale maps of the area I have decided to use screenshots of the map battlefield for the zoom in map in the scenario info segment. It works quite well and I have drawn troop positions onto the screenshots using conventional tactical symbols. Not too bad! I think that we could have a few more tutorials if we so wished. A good one on the use and misuse of light infantry might fill a gap. The big map is great, but what a large area to fill in. I think I'm becoming intimidated by it! Davros Cameronian Re: A Latter Day Horatio ... #88 [-] OK that's fine; give me 6 weeks. Davros Re: A Latter Day Horatio ... #89 [-] Hello Cameronian, No Problems over the time, six weeks will be OK. I look forward to eventually listening to your choices! I've finished the Tutorial scenarios and I find that I rather like the screenshots, as 3D maps, idea. They look quite good(I think). A little bit more every day. We progress! Davros Duke of Richmond Viva Espanya #90 [-] Well I guess its just as well Im on this project. I'm not sure about the marches themselves but since the Philippines was a Spanish colony for the longest time I'm sure someone or some book somewhere has the proper marches to use. Then it will just be a matter of finding them. I might be able to check out the Spanish cultural embassy, Instituto Cervantes and they might know. Anything, right? Military marches, national marches, worse comes to worse we can use some Spanish sounding music or Spanish guitar. I mean, hey, they probably played folk tunes more than marches what with their guerrillas and peasant armies? ;) Regards all, HG Duke of Richmond Author Comment Cameronian Re: Ho Hum #91 [-] Disappointment this morning; got a CD mail order from military music shop with a portugese and a spanish march on it; thought they might be suitable for the game but ..... no; pretty awful actually; also a version of the Marche Lorraine by a British band - ghastly; if there is one thing British bandsmen cannot do it's play french military music; anyway I'm not downhearted and will soldier on. Davros Re: Ho Hum #92 [-] Hello Cameronian, I don't know if this is any help, but I had a modest thought about a Spanish tune that might be suitable. I expect that you have heard of it. It's a bugle call signifying no quarter, named the Deguello. I spent some time yesterday at various Texan sites trying to get a copy to download. No luck. It's about the right length I think. Davros Cameronian Re: Ho Hum #93 [-] Got an email thia am from a re-enactor who's putting me in touch with some diegos; will keep you posted. Davros Peninsula Mod, progress report. #94 [-] Hello Cameronian, et al, I thought that one or two of you may be interested in how my end of the mod is progressing. In general things are progressing satisfactorily, though I seem to have hit a a bit of a plateau recently where I'm running out of ideas about what to do next. Doubtless, if I'm patient, I'll think of something. Firstly, the large map is great and is performing well, with no problems since Massena slew the HG dragon. It's rather like the ANGV map but not so sombre and without the fog. I'm running my custom scenario as the bona fide Waterloo scenario with no problems. The training tutorials are all finished and adapted to the new map and OOB's. The game screenshot "zoom maps" I mentioned, for the scenario info screen, are finished and look quite neat. I've just finished the flags for the Spanish Army. I hate doing flags! Anyway they're done - a thing of the past.(I hope) I finally found the "deep background" image I needed to tie together the disparate fore and middleground elements on the various screens. It's a page from an antique atlas showing Spain and the Peninsula campaign. It's my third attempt but, at last, it all falls into place and I think that you will like it. I'm working on the loading screens. There are eight in the original program, comprised of four paintings each of which occurs twice. I've decided to change them to eight separate paintings. I've had to exclude Lt. Legros and his axe as being too Waterloo specific. I have a couple of other paintings to take it's place and have also included the painting of the French Chasseurs a' Cheval from ANGV, which is rather nice. I'm trying to keep the new images in a similar style to the original paintings. I'm getting there but I need at least two more paintings. I've changed the format of the loading pages slightly, to bring them into line with the general motif. I'm looking for some good quotations to include, preferably from those much lower in rank than the Field Marshals and Emperors - I've got four so far: 1. "Oh, you Kings and usurpers should view these scenes and moderate ambition" - Harry Smith, 95th Rifles. 2. "It's a lottery. Even if you get out of this, you'll have to die someday. Do you prefer to live with honor or die dishonored?" - Jean Breaut des Marlots, 9th Cuirassiers. 3. "Rangers of Connaught. It is not my intention to expend any powder this evening. We'll do this business with the cold iron" - Sir Thomas Picton. 4. "It was the war in Spain which brought about Napoleon's fall" - Jean Antoine Marbot.(ADC Marshal Lannes) I need four more. I've got a quite good one that I'd like to include but I can't find any info on the man involved other than his surname and regiment: "When there's no-one left but us, there'll still be plenty"- Delvau, 6th Tirailleurs(Young Guard) Perhaps someone has some information that might help? Work on the history pages has slowed down a bit. I'm stuck at Barossa at the moment so I'll have to press on with those. I have had one modest thought whilst writing this, it might be a good idea to create a folder in the program and fill it with OOB's for the different armies at each of the major battles. We could trawl those up from the web I think. That would be an assistance to people constructing their own OOB's and scenario's later on. A good HTML page describing the war in Spain and as graphics heavy as one could wish for, would also be a nice addition if I have time. I've sent a copy of the work so far, to Massena for his technical advice and criticism. Much of the work now, involves information gathering, rather than graphical or technical work. If anyone would like to help in this, please let me know, I'd be grateful for any assistance. That's about it I think, though I've probably forgotten something! All in all, it's going well. Davros Davros Re: Peninsula Mod, progress report. #95 [-] Correction. I rather stupidly got one of the quotations in the previous post wrong. Quotation number 2 should read: 2. "It's a lottery. Even if you get out of this, you'll have to die someday. Do you prefer to live dishonored or die with honor?" - Jean Breaut des Marlots, 9th Cuirassiers. Sorry Davros Cameronian Re: Peninsula Mod, progress report. #96 [-] Blimey ! A Barca ... #97 [-] Good quotes Davros. I especially liked: "When there's no-one left but us, there'll still be plenty" -Delvau, 6th Tirailleurs ( Young Guard ) A most apt & brilliant quote to describe the greatest group of men who fought in that period of time. Wishing the best on the game. Davros Re: Peninsula Mod, progress report. #98 [-] Hello Cameronian, I hope that your expletive is one of satisfaction, rather than of displeasure. I think that we are trotting along quite nicely. Roll on! Davros Davros Re: ... #99 [-] Hello A. Barca, Thank you for your comments and good wishes. I like the quote from Delvau and I may well include it even if I can't discover his first name and rank. I have an idea that the quote comes from "The memoirs of Sgt Bourgogne" but I am not sure. Davros Duke of Richmond Good quotes #100 [-] I'll see if I can find that list of quotations I would have wanted to put up. Somewhere there. I've got a pretty good listing of OOBs and I'll zip it up and send it over. Where shall I send it Davros? No news unfortunately as to the Spanish voices and music. I may have to do the stuff myself. Been a bit busy finishing some work (real life stuff y'know) here. Regards all, Duke of Richmond Author Comment Cameronian Re: Good quotes #101 [-] Struggling with Spanish military Music men; emailing lots of potential sources but getting nothing back; ho hum. Davros Re: Good quotes #102 [-] Hello Cameronian, Y'r Grace, Cameronian, you are right. I found the Spanish music a struggle too, Which is why I was so anxious to hand the poisoned musical chalice over to a willing volunteer!! (That's a litttle joke BTW - honest). Not to worry, I'm sure something will turn up. Y'r Grace, if you wish, you could email the OOB's to the address below. I think they would be a considerable help for people wishing to construct their own scenarios. I hope that you have better luck with the Spanish voices, than you have to date. I expect it will turn out alright. Reading those two paragraphs I'm not sure if I should sign myself Pollyanna. Perhaps I'll just stick with: Davros mab@chariot.net.au