DBoutwell
Posts: 41
Joined: 3/14/2004
Status: offline
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Sami, it's nice to see that you are still around! One of the major problems that I see with a 19th century mod. (with the game constructed the way it is, now) is the situation with the unit icons, where you've got such a limited number of uniform colors. That works out ok in Steel Panthers, but if you want country's icons to look anything like the actual uniforms (and don't think people wouldn't or else the original grey-blue and pea green SP icons would have suited everyone just fine, and we would have never changed to the more accurate ones. So they were asking you to get a refrigerator in a cereal box from the start. Now, if you have the flexibility with the unit icons the you have with the equipment icons, that is another story. But, in that scenario, I would be happy to focus on one time period, such as the Civil War, where you could have early war uniforms, Zouaves, militia, sharpshooters, etc. Man, it is frustrating that Matrix won't just do this, instead of ressurecting the old Talonsoft stuff, that in my opinion doesn't even look as good. And, other companies are already putting out games like them. But, I am just me. It is only my opinion. But, I'd bet you many a guy would buy the game that I am talking about. Heck, they could do a Napoleanic War version, a British colonial war version, a Rev/French and Indian war version, and Franco-Prussian War version, a Crimean War version, you name it. But, again, just an opinion.....
The year thing is not so important, necessarily. But, the more of the obvious problems such as the year thing that I can fix, or bring to the attention of those who might want to take a look at it, the more credible the game will look, and maybe the more likely Matrix would be to help out (I can dream, can't I) But, if people already know that the problem is there, and that I've done everything that I can to fix it, then they can't complain.
About the screenshot thing, I tried long ago to do the screen shot thing and ran into numerous issues. First, Matrix only allows a certain amount of memory for the posts of each person, and I was tapped out, and had problems removing my old posts to make room for new ones. Second, the maximum size for a shot is way lower than what I needed for a good screen capture, and could never make a shot small enough to stay within the limit, and still see anything more than a few icons. It was very frustrating. Now, others have decided to do their own version, so I am less inclined than ever to do screen shots, as I don't have the energy nor desire to get into a "dance contest". When I am closer to being finished, I will set up a site for screen shots, etc.
One more thing. As I was working through a few sound files this morning... (I had originally removed any sound association with units retreating/popping smoke. Since I can't get rid of the smoke, which, if you don't pay attention to how it got there, actually works well in the game to simulate smoke on the battlefield in areas of intense gunfire, I at least didn't want to have the sound of a smoke grenade going off when a unit retreated. This morning, re-added the 02.wav with the sound of men panicking and retreating. Now when you end your turn, the units that retreat sound like they are retreating as well.) As I was saying, as I was working through a few sound files this morning by creating situations in which those sounds would occur, I began to wonder if the text color in the menu screens could be changed. The reason why I thought that, and am asking here, is that one of the menu screens is a light-colored map of Gettysburg, and the white text is somewhat difficult to see, although not impossible. I'd like to know if it is possible to select the text color for individual words in the mech file, so that words that or on menu screens with light or dark backgrounds can be seen equally well. Hey, that just tells you how far along on this project. When I'm worried about such stuff (the fine tuning) that tells you that I feel pretty confident about the more important stuff.
I could tell you that I'll try to keep you posted, but the s--- might hit the fan in the real world, as it often does (not really that bad, just too much work to do to spend time typing emails such as this), and you might not hear from me again for a while. But until then, if you keep asking questions and commenting, I'll keep replying. And, if anyone thinks that they have fixes, I'd love to hear from you.
Regards,
David Boutwell
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Steel Panthers Civil War Mod technical questions - 
). 
... At least all research, collecting information and so on could lasts years! Later we noticed that Matrix would not allow any coder or another help because this mod was meant to be free, not for making money
. Matrix was more interested in making own games that time. 
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