Normandy 44 : European Theater (Sweeten2213 retired - 2.0 Alpha released))

[Gamerisin]

@sweeten: hi,I was thinking that you could also make a Hotchkiss reinforcement for allied troops but with @georider free France skin:

I haven't seen this kind of reinforcement and we could put to good use this great skin.

[sweeten2213]

@ CS - Yes (if I remember )

@ Gamer - we have that skin and they are buildable by the french 2e Blindee, just not via reinforcement

See that - we have so many skins even my own team isn't sure what we've got

[Gamerisin]

ahhh ok,I wasn't sure,as I told you,I don't play much as the Allies so I get confused sometimes

Then I'm going to start playing more with them hehe. . .

[sweeten2213]

Just a little side note here...

As some of you are aware, I am a police officer. I just got back from a medical assist where an 86 year old man was the patient. He also happened to be a fighter pilot from WWII, flying 53 missions in a P-47 before being shot during the Battle of the Bulge. I had the pleasure of speaking to his wife for some time while the EMS squad and paramedics treated him.

I think he'll be OK, but it just reminded me of how few of these brave men we have left - from all sides. One of the reasons I do this mod is to accurately honor them.

So - if any of you know some WWII vets, the next time you speak with them tell them I said thank you.

[vonmonkey]

Yes very true i was just reading how very very few world war 1 vets are left too, just a handful, and i think they never got any credit for their great service. As there are still alot of world war 2 vets then the the great war lets make sure we tell them us young generation has not forgotten them and they are the greatest generation ever.

[Gamerisin]

I agree,when I'm with my friends and start talking about WWII most of the time we end talking about WWI and how did also affected the future times y'know from the end 1918 to the rise of the Third Reich and we continue until the 50's.

Those are real men,may history never forget them,don't matter wich place they came from,all deserve to be respected and honored fo beeing in hell and returned alive.


@sweeten: I finished playing with the 2nd AD, and choosed the 2e Blindee subdoctrine and is awesome,the skins by @geo are amazingly detailed,even on Low settings they look very atractive,I couldn't stop making the Hotchkiss

[Weakerone]

I assume you looked into the rocket platform...namely(which i forgot so its visually) in the screen shot . Is it meant to fire in a 90 degree angle instead of similar to 30 .



Just had a fantastic 2v2 and noticed it hardly lags even with tons of artillery if you................... pan out the mouse wheel backwards try and you'll notice the difference. Sure its only a 2v2 but most of the time hard Ai's crazy spamming units it lags up most maps :P

Weird cant seem to upload the rec files

[Angelic]

What about a custom Taskbar, is it oky if im gona make some custom taskbars and see if you guys like it?

[sweeten2213]

@ Weaker - yes, that is the valentine's day flavored pink destroyed maultier HT There may be a better model coming down the road, but that's all we got for now (I have either Blitz or BotB to thank for the use of theirs BTW - I forget which) - but it does look good and correct before being wrecked. And, it fires basically Nebel rockets, so I would think 30-45 degrees is about right. Also, I always play panned all the way out (I just like seeing more of the map for tactical purposes) so maybe that's why I have fewer problems.

@ Angelic - that would be great. I'm always open to outside artists helping out (actually I count on it), and I don't think Doom had that in his future plans

@ Gamer - yes, all of those French vehicle skins are courtesy of Geo, and they are all very, very good

[sweeten2213]

OK - here is my gameplan for the next 24 hours or so...

I'm getting ready to leave work soon, and will work on some weapons ranges . Then, I have to sleep

Tonight I will start again the weapons ranges and accuracies. I'll also do some brief testing and add in anything else that may come down the pike today. I'll also try and fix a couple of other things mentioned and see how much time I have to do other things with the mod.

After all that, I will try and zip up the whole mod (again) and upload the 3 or 4 parts. As I said before, it will be like a new install - not a copy paste.

So, hopefully within 24 hrs I will have the next update uploaded and ready.

[georider]

@ Gamer - yes, all of those French vehicle skins are courtesy of Geo, and they are all very, very good

the skins by @geo are amazingly detailed,even on Low settings they look very attractive,I couldn't stop making the Hotchkiss

Thank you for your kind words , probably you did not "hearing" me often in this thread ,this is because I'm working Undercover for some great skins for this mod
Atthis momment I 'm processing @Mr Scruff STUG decals allong with his nrm , spec, glos files adding some zimmerit for a better result at this era ('44-'45)
Soon I will post here my opinion about this mod!
Thanks

[Slavik1]

Hello, can you put the stuka in the mod?

[NeoJD]

Hi @all,

I just played a round axis and was pretty pwnd by the m8 greyhound,

is it really realistic that an M8 can penetrate a panther?
And the m8 is somtimes pretty buggy not hitable... my panther and 1 panzerIV shot at him but didnt hit serveral times.

2 M8`s where destroying 1 panther, 2 halftrack and 1 panzerIV in about 15 sec.

Bug or not?
In the Blitzkrieg Mod a Greyhound cant even do much dmg to a Panther like i was remember.

And my Tiger got destroyed by rifle grenades and 1 bazooka frontal.

Dont get me wrong, i really like this mod, but i think that this stats are not really realistic, right?

Sorry for my bad english!

[LloydyBoy]

Hello, can you put the stuka in the mod?

... it is, if you play PE Lufftwaffle doctrine its the last 1 in the centre left column

also yes it is possible for a M8 greyhound to penetrate a panther frontal... i think

and the tiger and the bazooka round and the rifle grenades, that is possible too

heres a quote from a reliable source

During the Allied invasion of Sicily, small numbers of the M1A1 bazooka (using an improved rocket, the M6A1) were used in combat by U.S. forces. The M1A1 accounted for four medium German tanks and a heavy Tiger I, the latter knocked out by a fortunate hit through the driver's vision slot.

but the rifle grenades were proboly a glitch and did minor damage

[citizensoldier]

@NeoJD and Llyodyboy: No those are not realistic stats/penetration values, the issues with the update were to get the mod as stable as possible, right now before release, the weapon ranges and stats are being touched up, after release, its our job as beta testers to bring these to attention..I noticed the Ostwind as being a culprit of over balance as well, I didn't notice the Greyhound (which unit's greyhound was it?) This mod has grown up so fast, its hard to find and see some these balance imperfections, but Its certainly not intentional to have a M8 penetrate a panther..Not even a sherman at 200 yards frontal could do that!(in RL)We'll continue to balance the mod with everyone's suggestions and testing in mind..Thanks!

[NeoJD]

Roger that, than i will continue to report those balance stuff.
I cant really say wich doktrin or group the M8 came from, but i will pay attation for that next time. thx

[pojarsma]

For balancing just note that the panther armor were tougher than the tiger

[LloydyBoy]

actually the Tiger and Panther had the same armor

the only difference was the Panther had Sloped armor making it harder for shells to penetrate

[Jazzhead]

Tech question:

I'm trying to play online with a friend and we keep getting an error message saying "incompatible version etc.." We both have downloaded the online files and the update. We have the correct scar files and everything too.

Can anyone help me figure out what we're doing wrong? Thanks so much

[Gamerisin]

@Guys: sweeten is doing what he can to fix all this problems,bugs and weird stuff in the mod,give him a little break.

@LloydyBoy: "a fortunate hit through the driver's vision slot"

well those soldiers were lucky 'cause the Tiger would support the fire of the allied Bazooka and even more a Greyhound shot,I think it would't even scratch the Tiger or Panther in frontal attack,but in the N44 mod the Tiger and Panther are very resistant,just like the real one.

@NeoJD:the Greyhound is very weird,wich doctrine and subdoctrine were you playing???



@Jazzhead: sweeten is also working on the MP version.

[Lt.Moore]

Another balance issue I've found is that the Flakverling 38 (AKA: Static Flak Gun) penetrates tank armor. I was rather incredulous when I discovered the power of the twenty millimeter round.

[vonmonkey]

Will there be new skins for the free french and polish forces to differentiate them from the brits. Aswell for the scotish and canadian troops in the next update.

Anyways great job love the mod

[Gamerisin]

@Lt.Moore: well,the 20mm,I know 20mm sounds little but is powerful enough to blow in to pieces a man,it's size is like a mmm...well here are 2 pics so...it is also possible to damage tank armor,just imagine this 20mm fires aprox. 280–450 rounds/min repeatedly to the same spot and you'll see the damage it do.

[Zardoz4]

@Jazzhead

I play online a lot with N44 and don't have a problem. It is possible you have lost a file or accidentally replaced the wrong files. It may also be that the error message may refer to an issue with the version of COH. Are you both playing the updated versions? If you are, then verify that you have copied the luaconsts.scar file from the online download and placed it inside your scar folder of the N44 ET folder inside your COH main folder. Hope this helps!
Cheers

Zardoz

[Jazzhead]

@Zardoz4

We are both using the updated version and have the correct scar file. A few times i got a download with a corrupted file, but each time i just re-downloaded and the problem went away.

[NeoJD]

Yeah i had one of those 20mm rounds (empty) from my grandfather, they are pretty big! But i think they would not make high damage frontal, but a good rear dmg and may destroying the tanks engine after a while.

Damn, if my grandfather would be still in this world, i could ask him so much. But he died when I was pretty young, and never talked about the war. I only knew he was a good Falschirmjaeger, and fought in monte casino and middle france.
I remember I was wearing his medals and marching in his house with a K98 when i was little lol.

Oh my, sorry i felt into the past.

back to topic!

The armor of the stug with panzerschuerzen seems a little to weak for me, i saw it in a youtube video where a soldier attacked the stug with a bazooka and hit directly into one of the "panzerschuerzen" (i dont know in english) and didnt made any dmg.

[sweeten2213]

Long story short - my modem took a crap last night.

just got it fixed - gonna try uploading now

[Angelic]

@ sweeten
thank you for replying also i can edit the commander button at least i an change the collor so if youd like it orange or another color please reply also i can realy totally edit the taskbar in means of i can give it a tottaly new twist like i can add camo or i can add something on top of the task bar i will post a screenie later on with what i mean

so please tell me what would you like almost anything is possible.

- - - - - - - - - - -

also new main menu? or is that a bit over the top

[Sturmhaubitze]

20mm rounds will only defeat thick armour if the material or construction quality of that armour is sub-standard. If the steel has flaws in it, or the welding was rushed, or the rivets are of poor quality, etc. Then repeated hits over a span of time will eventually cause something to fail. Though before this has a chance of happening, the target will have identified where the 20mm rounds are coming from and sent a much larger shell in return.

As for schürzen, the reason they stop shaped charge warheads (like bazookas) is because they detonate prematurely on the skirt. This wastes much of the "blowtorch" effect the shaped charge creates, and what actually reaches the real armour is too minor to damage it. Though the skirts are only placed around the running gear, as they were originally intended to stop Soviet anti-tank rifle rounds from damaging them, and stopping shaped charges was an unplanned-for bonus.

Panther had thinner frontal armour than the Tiger, but the slope of it made it more effective against nearly all AP shells. The drawback of sloped armour is that you're reducing the usable space inside the vehicle, so the Germans preferred not to do it until their experience with the T-34.

[Lack_26]

Well, after many hours of playing I'd have to say that Ost troops are probably my favourite doctrine. I can throw my brave Georgians into the fires of hell and they'll end up victorious (or, erm[...], and usually the far more likely outcome, dead). But the feeling of holding a line with just infantry against hoards of Shermans, the only cover being that of the shell-holes and the dead, is excellent.

Of course, my favourite trick, the medic-bus, still works excellently and can be a real centre pin of a line. (A medic bus being San-trupp in an Opel, allows for quick healing and reinforcement. A vital tool in infantry operations.)

I actually find infantry a lot more fun to play with, I'm not a big fan of tanks (other than the Tetrarch, which is just cute).


Anyway, enough praise. I don't know if it's just me, but do the polish infantry for the 2nd Canadian appear as vehicles. It's annoying since they can't enter buildings and tend to end up as a rather unfortunate Pâté on the street.

[sweeten2213]

Don't have a lot of time for questions right now, but I'll reply real quick to Angelic.

I have a policy that I never interfere with the artist. Do what YOU think looks good.

As for the main menu, Doom will taking care of that later.

Thanks for the offer though

Edit - Links are up but not tested and I really have to get to bed for work tonight. If one is bad (and I have a feeling one part is) I will reupload tomorrow.

YOU MUST DELETE YOU OLD EURPOEANTHEATER1944 FOLDER FIRST!!! DOWNLOADS NOT TESTED, SO MAY WANT TO KEEP IT AROUND FOR A DAY OR SO SOMEPLACE JUST IN CASE!!!

[revolucion09]

congratulations!! Normandy 44: European Theater got file of the week at coh.filefront.com

this demands a friendly installer to satisfy most people!

[Lt.Moore]

@Gamersin: I was aware of the size of the 20mm round and its ability to tear up a man. However, a man is only flesh and bone, not the 63mm mostly sloping armor of the Sherman tank. I think Sturmubitze explained this better than me.

[[]inveigle[]]

^^^Yes, an installer would be nice. No CRC errors here, everything installed A,OK.

[Gamerisin]

yes,flesh and bone,but still I think that is was able to damage a Sherman in rear and side armor.

Anyway,@Sturm gave us a very historical answer.

[sweeten2213]

Alright - I finally found a few minutes.

This new version adds :

1) More stability/less crashes due to graphics (setting suggestions should still be followed.
2) MANY new skins added
3) Online MP and regular version are one in the same - only one version is for both
4) Some bugs fixed - some mentioned here, some not.
5) Some slight AI improvements
6) ALL weapon ranges and accuracies were thoroughly researched and adjusted

Now, as for the 37mm (greyhound, stuart) penetration. One of my next steps is to research and adjust the default penetration values of all weapons. I will look at the specific target tables later

As for the installer : I spoke to hnunez about it, and he advised me that it couldn't be done in the multi-zip multi-download format. If anyone can think of a way, I'm all ears. Hopefully future updates can have an installer since I hope to have smaller updates in the future.

The French and Polish were given COH vanilla skins for now, so at least their different. I hope to have accurate skins for them in the future.

As for the 709 and Ost icons.... They are in game, but they're not as Doombringer intended. They have black backgrounds, and they weren't supposed to - I thought they were. Doom had advised me but I misunderstood, so it's my fault. When he finishes with the fix I will reupload the new files.

@ Doom - I apologize

I also need some more confirmation that the files are able to be downloaded and unzipped so I can take down the caution signs.

[Tosky]

Thanks for this gift, Sweeten.
I appreciate what you're doing.
The only thing that I feel to add is: the mod is improved lot and this thanks to your efforts (with which sacrifice much of your time). Thank you again.

[Lt.Moore]

I downloaded and installed the three files, no problem. So, the ranges and accuracies are fixed, but not the penetration for some shells(ex. 20mm, 37mm, 75mm, etc.), correct?

[KillerMedic]

First post here so gotta say hey and thanks to everyone involved with this mod....you guys ROCK!

My brothers and some friends have been progressing with the better mods for COH from BOTB to Normandy '44 and then ET '44 and we were heartbroken when we lost stability in anything over 2v2. We mostly do 3 v 3ai or 4 v 4ai with the occasional all human match when enough of us are all on at once.

Well I just installed this newest update to ET '44 and it was stable in a me + 2ai v 4ai in a 2hr slugfest. I never made it past 25 min in 3v3 in the prior version. All my vid settings were low so I may crank them up some and get some co-op help and update with how far we could take it and stay stable. Lock and Load!


Medic...out!

[citizensoldier]

Yes commander, I have to say you have outdone yourself AGAIN..I just played a 2v2 extra large (all mixed factions, one of each), and it was, as Matthew McCaughney would put it, "Beautaay". I haven't seen the Wehr run around that fast since vanilla..Also you delivered on a IMPROVEMENT in quality, not a decline to stabilize the mod..How ever do you do it?.. Now About those Target_tables..I will PM you shortly, Sir..

[sweeten2213]

Thanks for the compliments. Also thanks to my team, as they were all a help.

I also forgot to mention that the occasional AI sitting and doing nothing at the beginning of a game is also fixed.

@ THE TEAM - I will be PM'ing you guys for the next steps

[whitewolfmxc]

Anyone tested the 3 file for any corrupt signs ? lol im resisting to download them right now as my internet quota is near the end

[sweeten2213]

@ White - zip1 has about 100 DL's so far and still no complaints of crashing. Plus, we have some people say they installed (DL, unzip, install) no problem.

So it seems good to go.

[whitewolfmxc]

So this "is" the version we are going to stay for a while yes ? like i can do some serious testing now ? XD if so ill get right into it before my exams come few weeks later

[sweeten2213]

Yes - we should be staying with this for a while. Future updates will be smaller and added content will need less testing.

[KillerMedic]

We just finished some 3v3ai online MP on 6p and 8p maps, both stock and user made maps, with all 4 armies included. Medium graphics settings gave us a few waiting on player messages but no crashes. Low graphics settings ran flawless with no slowdowns at all. Gentlemen, I think we have the stability we wanted here. Great job sweeten and crew!

We will be testing 4v4 online MP tonight.


Medic...out!

[Lt.Moore]

My friend and I are attempting to host MP games, but we can't join each other's games for some reason; any suggestions?

[KillerMedic]

Whenever we had problems like that it was almost always someone using the wrong COH icon/shortcut setup (we have three for diff mods and vanilla COH for ranked play.) Here is my path for successful connections on my ET'44 shortcut:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\THQ\Company of Heroes\RelicCOH.exe" -nomovies -dev -mod EuropeanTheater1944

Once we had someone that did not have the ports open on their router after a firmware update and a software firewall update.

Other than that if you guys can connect in Vanilla COH, you should connect in the ET'44 mod unless someone has a jacked up install. The install is too easy with 5 MODULE files and the ET'44 folder all going into the COH root folder.

Did everyone DELETE the old ET'44 folder and MODULE files before installing the new version?

Hope you can get it running.


Medic...out!

[Gamerisin]

@sweeten: today afternoon I played a quick skirmish with the Wehrmacht using the Falls subdoctrine and...phew you improved a lot the factions,it was very quick without lag and I could run it with Low/Mid graphs. well done,obviously the gameplay changed and a lot.

[sweeten2213]

Couple of things real quick

1) Thanks on behalf of myself and my team for the compliments, and I'm glad there is a noticeable increase in performance. As you can see clearly now, we will always deliver a better and better product given time. We're all proud of our work and the mod, and your positive feedback is always appreciated and helps us "find the time" to do what we do. Always be patient, and we will always deliver

2) I also appreciate that my team and others here help with tech stuff in the thread. That gives me more time to do other things (notice I didn't say more important things).