Pakfront

A few functional suggestions for the map screen, most a result of using it with a MBPro laptop trackpad which is cranky under bootcamp. I should note that i can't use one of those little mini-mice due to RSI issues, so trackpad or wacom tablet are my traveling options.

+ A tick box next to the scale slider to lock zoom, or a hot key. Trackpad is too sensitive and often zooms whenever I try to double click.

+ Pressing spacebar should allow scrolling of map without also pressing mouse button.

And a few I think i would be handy for everyone:

+ Right-click to New Waypoint should have a submenu with preset tactics, similar to the way New Route works. Much easier than trying to reselect the waypoint and then change tactics, which is surprisingly difficult with a trackpad.

+ Selecting waypoint and right click should include a 'View' option to go to 3D view in that exact place.

thanks.

Anything by dpabrams is good.

Agreed! I was hoping there might be a Cold War collection with your stuff and some of the other good skins in it.

I see a lot of nice skins here available as individual downloads. There is a lot to comb through, however. Are there any collections of skins for a particular era and theater? Like a US European Cold War pack or a Gulf War pack for various coalition members?

I agree. It's subtle and I bet it varies from display to display, but to my eye your blending looks more like distant haze and less like a low lying smog.

Looks good! Is it available to download? Didn't see it in the skies section.

Thanks, I had read that section before posting but had not entirely understood it. I suppose the root of my question was 'when is an observer considered a unit leader, if ever?' but I think I am beginning to grok it now.

I've been trying to get a handle on routes & waypoints by playing a modified Tanks! scenario from map and observer view only. I am a bit confused about the Schrödinger's Cat nature of the position.

If I am in observer view for the command vehicle of a platoon, will the platoon and observed vehicle act as if I wasn't there? That is, will they halt, seek hull down and engage when they have seen enemy? It seems that sometimes they do and sometimes they don't but I'm not sure if that is the case. This with an Engage tactic applied.

If I issue a command via the keyboard (example, halt or top speed, or traverse left), will that disable the AI in some way? If so, how to reengage it? Will 'C' do it?

If I enter the TC position, but do nothing but pop my head up with Q, or view through the gunner's sight, will the TC AI deactivate?

Does a unit being my 'current' unit from the map view make any difference as far as the AI is concerned?

Have you run any other games with this setup that use panning (mouse-look)? An FPS like Battlefield or similar?

It sounds like the mouse position is being reported to SB fine, but the changes in mouse position are incorrect.

If you can't resolve it, using a gamepad or joystick might be a workaround

I have a similar problem if I control the view using my wacom tablet, though not with a mouse. Maybe it has something to do with giving absolute mouse coords rather then relative? Maybe something Parallels does? I run on a MacBook via BootCamp and have no mouse issues, maybe try running on BootCamp? PITA, I know.

Ah, so to confirm, in SP your command's gunnery is determined by your range scores, but in MP it defaults to 90?

I am planning on a LAN game with a friend. Is there an easy way to give him a duplicate of my .ppf record so he can play in the game with better gunnery ratings than Lt deFault? I would like this duplicate to have a name different than my player record if possible.

Can I just copy my player .ppf to his computer or will the fact that we both have the same record name cause problems or confusion in multiplayer?

An obvious workaround is to start another record for him on my computer and go to the gunnery range and get the stats up.

Apologies if this is covered in another thread, I did not see anything in search.

I'll try the macro idea. I use GlovePIE with a Saitek Cyborg, I bet I can rig a macro up from there.

True enough. I've also found I can pause the game and give routes in the map editor, which works fine in SP. What would you do in multiplayer where you cannot pause or edit?

I have been playing Toothpicks_M2A2_v1.0 which is a platoon scenario where you act as a delaying screen against incoming armor.

In the default setup, you have a platoon of M2A2s in emplacements at the edge of a village, with houses on your left and forest on your right. Is there an quick way to tell my attached infantry to move into those areas?

I ask because at scenario start, the IFVs take a moment to get into place, then the infantry dismounts and goes to ground in the open. Before I have time to manually place them via the map or CTRL waypoints, they take fire in open ground. I have tried using DEFEND tactic, but they still choose awful places to lay down.

Is there a better/quicker way to get them into the buildings and trees?

- have a hotkey (shift-f7?) to go from any station to TC unbuttoned, i.e the equivalent of f7,q,q. This would make map reading much easier.

- the Splash messages to include which call for artillery they are associated with. TRP or map coord would be sufficient

- messages from your current vehicle to either be a different color or in a different pane than messages from your current platoon, and again a different color from other platoons and from system messages.

- if an infantry squad is current unit, to have some text on the lower right showing current and nominal strength and squad type and especially if they are equipped with AT weapons.

- mouse over in map to show pop-up hint for unit type, for those of us just learning NATO symbols. optional obviously

- a less hand-contorting default hotkey for 'next unit' than Alt-F10.

- a hotkey to go to and from a vehicle and it's associated infantry squad (for APCs, etc.)

- higher res map tiles on high zoom (eye candy)

My Multipurpose 'ABS pit. It's a bit torn apart in this pic, but it gives a good view of the internals.I find I like the joystick and the trackball for SBPro, with the tablet useful for the map view.

On my left hand I have a Saitek Cyborg button board that I bind to keyboard commands with GlovePIE. I can run a second instance of SBPro on the bottom monitor for the map, or, more usually, print the map to file and just view it there.

Great AAR, thanks for for taking the time to make it.

Besides the 'joystick' mode having the palm switch always pressed by default and the 'control handle' mode having it not depressed, are there any other differences?

Also, is there a way to have the y axis of the joystick flipped by default, rather than having to press ctrl-j all the time? Which way is more 'authentic'?