Eastern Front: Soviet Storm v1.96b (Link Fixed)

[Magic1111]

Hi Akkula,
Thanks for the update.

Yes, thx from me too!

[Akkula]

[BiteNibbleChomp]

Interesting... is this inspired by Chris10's work a few years back?

- BNC

[Cataphract88]

Chris 10; does anybody know what happened to that guy

[Akkula]

Interesting... is this inspired by Chris10's work a few years back?

- BNC

Actually I was inspired by your WWI big scenario and Mcguba´s Battlefield: Europe.
I like the idea of a gigantic scenario to cover the whole war, but is very ambitious so I expect a LOT of work ahead. For now I am working in the terrain and names, I still have to decide the mechanics of the scenario: I want to try to be original and not just "clone" another mod into an Eastern Front one. I have plenty of ideas but I have to figure it out if they can be applicable in the game engine.
Also, I am worried a about how the game will run with this big map and the hundreds of new units my mod already have, a lot of stuff to test in the months ahead!.

[Akkula]

Hi community!.
The LAST Beta Version (0.5) of the Soviet Storm Mod is up. Next month I will upload the full version of the mod, which will include new features.

What´s New
* New Style Briefings available with animated maps (first 13 scenarios)
* Polish Infantry attack value and cost increased
* Minor grammatical corrections
* Some minor scenario overlay graphics corrections
* More Library modifications

Please take a look at the Readme.txt for installations instructions.

Download Soviet Storm 0.5:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/dpkzv ... (Beta).rar

https://www.sendspace.com/file/bmhkg4 (Mirror)

This mod REQUIERES the fantastic Massi tiles mod, otherwise it will not work properly. You can find it here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g7in6yxqxi86l ... 0massi.zip

In this version you will be able to see the new additions to the briefings (courtesy of Fsx). Tell me what you think!

[BiteNibbleChomp]

Chris 10; does anybody know what happened to that guy

He disappeared a few yers ago, never to return .

Actually I was inspired by your WWI big scenario and Mcguba´s Battlefield: Europe.
I like the idea of a gigantic scenario to cover the whole war, but is very ambitious so I expect a LOT of work ahead. For now I am working in the terrain and names, I still have to decide the mechanics of the scenario: I want to try to be original and not just "clone" another mod into an Eastern Front one. I have plenty of ideas but I have to figure it out if they can be applicable in the game engine.
Also, I am worried a about how the game will run with this big map and the hundreds of new units my mod already have, a lot of stuff to test in the months ahead!.

Someone else is stealing my ideas now? (Why does everyone do it?)

Anyway, am I able to steal your idea for the 'battlemap' tab on the briefing so that I can use it in the Mongols (and could you tell me how you added it?)

- BNC

[McGuba]

Hmm... looks very promising will you be so nice and tell us the size of that map? just interested...

I like the idea of a gigantic scenario to cover the whole war, but is very ambitious so I expect a LOT of work ahead.

Yes, you can expect. More than you might think, I tell ya...

For now I am working in the terrain and names,

only for your information, a lot of city names have changed (mainly in former USSR), since then so you might want to double check all those if you want to make it historically correct. I had to fix quite a few in my mod, but there can still be some more.

I have plenty of ideas but I have to figure it out if they can be applicable in the game engine.

If you have any questions feel free to ask, I (or someone else) might be able to provide an answere. Unfortunately there are many limitations (number of AI zones to start with), but also some work-around solutions.

Also, I am worried a about how the game will run with this big map and the hundreds of new units my mod already have, a lot of stuff to test in the months ahead!.

I can only share my experience: the Battlefield Europe mod has a 110x170 hex map if I am right, and it has some two thousand allied and a bit more than four hundred Axis units placed on the map. However, those obviously do not appear at the same time and the mod runs fine by hundreds of players from turn 1 to 99. (Or at least I hope so, otherwise they would have complained for sure. )

Also, nice work with the UI, I really like what I see.

[Cataphract88]

Unable to download this from Mediafire.

[Akkula]

Actually I was inspired by your WWI big scenario and Mcguba´s Battlefield: Europe.
I like the idea of a gigantic scenario to cover the whole war, but is very ambitious so I expect a LOT of work ahead. For now I am working in the terrain and names, I still have to decide the mechanics of the scenario: I want to try to be original and not just "clone" another mod into an Eastern Front one. I have plenty of ideas but I have to figure it out if they can be applicable in the game engine.
Also, I am worried a about how the game will run with this big map and the hundreds of new units my mod already have, a lot of stuff to test in the months ahead!.

Someone else is stealing my ideas now? (Why does everyone do it?)

Anyway, am I able to steal your idea for the 'battlemap' tab on the briefing so that I can use it in the Mongols (and could you tell me how you added it?)

- BNC

That is because you have good ideas
Regarding the briefing tab the credit belongs to Fsx. I will send you the html code by PM.

Hmm... looks very promising will you be so nice and tell us the size of that map? just interested...

144x144

I like the idea of a gigantic scenario to cover the whole war, but is very ambitious so I expect a LOT of work ahead.

Yes, you can expect. More than you might think, I tell ya...

Wish me luck

For now I am working in the terrain and names,

only for your information, a lot of city names have changed (mainly in former USSR), since then so you might want to double check all those if you want to make it historically correct. I had to fix quite a few in my mod, but there can still be some more.

Yes, I am aware of that. I am working with a lot of maps of that period, so I expect to minimize the damage

I have plenty of ideas but I have to figure it out if they can be applicable in the game engine.

If you have any questions feel free to ask, I (or someone else) might be able to provide an answere. Unfortunately there are many limitations (number of AI zones to start with), but also some work-around solutions.

Thanks for your help, for sure I will ask some info in the future, many ideas in my head.

Also, I am worried a about how the game will run with this big map and the hundreds of new units my mod already have, a lot of stuff to test in the months ahead!.

I can only share my experience: the Battlefield Europe mod has a 110x170 hex map if I am right, and it has some two thousand allied and a bit more than four hundred Axis units placed on the map. However, those obviously do not appear at the same time and the mod runs fine by hundreds of players from turn 1 to 99. (Or at least I hope so, otherwise they would have complained for sure. )

Also, nice work with the UI, I really like what I see.

Luckly the game can handle those huge numbers of units, but in my case I added over 800 new units to the game, that is a lot of new png files that have to be allocated in the RAM. Time will tell......

Glad you like my attempts to modify the UI . I have some surprises for the next update.

[Akkula]

Unable to download this from Mediafire.

Strange, I have no issues with mediafire, in fact over 380 downloads so far
Maybe I can upload it in another server also, do you have any suggestion?.

Best regards.

[McGuba]

144x144

So it is roughly the same size as the map in my mod (about 20,000 hexes) which means the engine should be able to handle it with no problem.

Luckly the game can handle those huge numbers of units, but in my case I added over 800 new units to the game, that is a lot of new png files that have to be allocated in the RAM. Time will tell......

I think it can (my mod currently has 551 new or modified unit icon pngs), but my experience shows that the more units the AI has to move, the slower the AI turn will be. In my last playtest, when I let the AI follow the historical path and win, it had become very slow in the final turns when there were many Allied units on the map in 1945. At some point I was wandering if the game was frozen as nothing seemed to happen for a few minutes. So just do not go mad with the unit placements. However, if you are planning to make it a Soviet scenario the opposite should apply as the Axis AI should have less and less units as the war goes on. By the way will it be a Soviet scenario/campaign at all?

Also you can try using Process Explorer, small monitoring program which lets you know how much resources (memory, CPU usage, etc.) a program uses while running. It proved to be quite useful for me when I was testing my mod. It clearly shows when PzC reaches the "danger zone" i.e. 1GB memory usage, when a crash to desktop becomes a serious risk.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sys ... 96653.aspx

When monitoring the game running it appeared that it is not really the graphics filling the memory, but rather the animations which are all stored in the RAM once loaded. And if you have lots of different units on the map it means virtually all the attack animations are loaded one by one as you play. Anyway, it is almost certain that you will also need to use the /nocache switch in the end which eliminates this problem.

Strange, I have no issues with mediafire, in fact over 380 downloads so far
Maybe I can upload it in another server also, do you have any suggestion?.

I also just downloaded it from mediafire and I had no problem doing so. And I happen to be in the same country as Richard1 so it might be a problem with the internet provider. Still, you can try to upload it to sendspace.com or dropbox.com as well.

And again, nice job with those animated gifs, and the other UI pics and stuff, it surely adds to the immersion!

[Akkula]

144x144

So it is roughly the same size as the map in my mod (about 20,000 hexes) which means the engine should be able to handle it with no problem.

Great

Luckly the game can handle those huge numbers of units, but in my case I added over 800 new units to the game, that is a lot of new png files that have to be allocated in the RAM. Time will tell......

I think it can (my mod currently has 551 new or modified unit icon pngs), but my experience shows that the more units the AI has to move, the slower the AI turn will be. In my last playtest, when I let the AI follow the historical path and win, it had become very slow in the final turns when there were many Allied units on the map in 1945. At some point I was wandering if the game was frozen as nothing seemed to happen for a few minutes. So just do not go mad with the unit placements. However, if you are planning to make it a Soviet scenario the opposite should apply as the Axis AI should have less and less units as the war goes on. By the way will it be a Soviet scenario/campaign at all?

Also you can try using Process Explorer, small monitoring program which lets you know how much resources (memory, CPU usage, etc.) a program uses while running. It proved to be quite useful for me when I was testing my mod. It clearly shows when PzC reaches the "danger zone" i.e. 1GB memory usage, when a crash to desktop becomes a serious risk.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sys ... 96653.aspx

When monitoring the game running it appeared that it is not really the graphics filling the memory, but rather the animations which are all stored in the RAM once loaded. And if you have lots of different units on the map it means virtually all the attack animations are loaded one by one as you play. Anyway, it is almost certain that you will also need to use the /nocache switch in the end which eliminates this problem.

Thanks a million . I will use that program as soon as I start my own tests.
And yes, It is going to be a Soviet scenario so if you survive the war until 1945 there is going to be very few German units maybe . By the way I am thinking to borrow you the amount turns idea from your Battlefield Mod

Strange, I have no issues with mediafire, in fact over 380 downloads so far
Maybe I can upload it in another server also, do you have any suggestion?.

I also just downloaded it from mediafire and I had no problem doing so. And I happen to be in the same country as Richard1 so it might be a problem with the internet provider. Still, you can try to upload it to sendspace.com or dropbox.com as well.

And again, nice job with those animated gifs, and the other UI pics and stuff, it surely adds to the immersion! [/quote]
Ok, I uploaded the mod in sendspace also:

https://www.sendspace.com/file/bmhkg4

Posts updates. I hope this solve the problems to those who have issues with mediafire .

Thanks for your kind words regarding the UI! (and of course all the help you are bringing me!). I have some more stuff to improve the immersion in the next update

[Cataphract88]

Unable to download this from Mediafire.

Strange, I have no issues with mediafire, in fact over 380 downloads so far
Maybe I can upload it in another server also, do you have any suggestion?.

Best regards.

Hi Akkula,

Thanks for the update. When I tried Mediafire the next day it suddenly started working.

[BiteNibbleChomp]

Unable to download this from Mediafire.

Strange, I have no issues with mediafire, in fact over 380 downloads so far
Maybe I can upload it in another server also, do you have any suggestion?.

Best regards.

Darn. That's a lot more than WWI (currently sitting at ~250). Then again I have been contributing

- BNC

[Akkula]

Hi friends, finally I am releasing the first full version of my project. After almost a year of hard work I think I can call this a "final" version, of course I will continue updating it for those who are interested (some things remain to be fixed or improved).
Right now I am fully committed with my big Eastern Front scenario which I will release along the Mod sometime during this year (with luck )

What´s New
* Russian themed music!. For both menu and game itself.
* BM-13 Katyusha available since August 1941
* North Soviet Fort relocated near Hanko to be actually useful (Scenario 02)
* Island cities overlays corrected (Scenario 02)
* Tallinn fort icons corrected (Scenario 03)
* Several corrections in Leningrad scenario (Scenario 04)
* Many overall terrain corrections in many scenarios
* Axis core units amount in some scenarios correctd to avoid AI tanks spamming
* More briefing texts finished
* Briefing animated maps completed
* Some briefings text corrected.
* New big unit image for the T-46 Bunker
* Missing Japanese big unit pictures added
* BM-8 T-60 Katyusha cost increased
* T-70 and T-80 prestige cost and stats have been modified.
* KV-2 ground defence value increased
* BA-6 unit icon reworked
* T-44A unit icon reworked
* Yer-2 unit icon slightly improved.
* German air units snow icon corrected
* Su-2 animation position corrected
* Finnish bunkers animations corrected
* Some naval units have been improved with the amazing Puma´s icons.
* Improved flags for Finland and Japan (Soldberg fantastic mod)
* Some big units pictures haven been corrected
* Unit panel adjusted to show long names properly.

Please take a look at the Readme.txt for installations instructions.

Download Soviet Storm 1.0:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/6ufbb ... ULL%29.rar


This mod REQUIERES the fantastic Massi tiles mod, otherwise it will not work properly. You can find it here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g7in6yxqxi86l ... 0massi.zip

[flakfernrohr]

Thank you for all your hard work and effort Akkula. This kind of mod for the Eastern Front is my PZC passion. I have some understanding of just how much work and sweat even of the smallest type involves. I was in the final stages of over 22 maps of the Eastern Front for a "post Kursk" mod I called "Tankograd" when Chris10 was completing his beautiful mod several years ago. Chris10's mod was first class like your mod. I never finished mine expecting to be able to play Chris10's mod. So I thank you for this mod and the one you are going to finish for the Eastern Front. I truly hope a person can play either side in your mod, Soviet or German/Axis.

[Magic1111]

Wonderful, many thx Akkula!

[Cataphract88]

Thank you very much for seeing this through to completion, Akkula. It looks like a very professionally turned out mod. Well done!

[the_finger]

Thanks for this great mod, Akkula! I start to play today and really enjoy.
But I have a question for the Tallinn scenario...
No ships or transports appear to bring them to area "A". Any suggestions what i made wrong?
Tallin, Saku and Kehra are in my hands and the germans just took Loksa...