Post by LouisXIV on Sept 7, 2011 21:14:54 GMT 1
Substituting Units
Okay, let’s start by working on something that really bothers me; units in the wrong time. I ran the Blitzkrieg standard German campaign, skipping the missions until I came to one for France in 1940, knowing what I would find. Here is the beginning layout of the troops:
Note that there are 50mm PaK 38s present. Wrong! The PaK 38 did not start into production until September of 1940, too late to take part in the fighting in France. Not only that, but the PzKw III J that is about a third of the tanks shown did not go into production until Sept 1941! Way out of place!
Besides, I don’t like the selection of tanks. The PzKw III and IV would make up about 50% of the total tanks used by the Germans in France. The rest would be Pz IIs and Is. Conversely, in the 5th, 6th and 7th Panzer Divisions there were only Pz 35(t)s and 38(t)s along with 25% PzKw IVs to back them up. The German light tanks and the Czech tanks were (almost) never found together.
So I want to make some substitutions here, without changing the map – it’s random, anyway. I took a temporary folder I had called zHolder. Inside I put a set of folders: units\technics\german\artillery, \aviation and \tanks. Next I went to the data.pak and got the folders for the pieces I wanted to swap. You can make your own folders as long as you copy the names of the existing folders without mistakes! I put the 5_cm_Pak38 folder in its correct place, the german\artillery folder:
Then I went and got the contents of the 37mm_pak_usa folder (from Rolling Thunder) and dropped it into the empty 5_cm_Pak38 folder I’d just created. I did the same with the others, substituting the stock PzKw IV D for the Sd Kfz 222; the Pz Kw I b for the Pz Kw 38(t); and the Pz Kw II F for the Pz Kw III j.
Also, just for fun, I substituted the Henschel Hs 51 divebomber for the Ju-87.
Then I right-clicked on the units folder and used WinRAR to turn it into a .pak file. I called it Replacements.pak, mostly to show that you can use just about any name. Then I dropped it into the Blitzkrieg\Run\data folder.
And here you have the result:
Note that the 50mms are now 37mms, and the tank selection has been changed. Also note the Henschel He 51s flying past to the attack.
If you are working on a mission or chapter, you can take your units folder containing the substitutions and place it right into the setup, right beside the maps and scenarios folders. As long as that mission or chapter is in your Run\data folder, however, those units will always be swapped, so don’t leave it there too long.
Caution: I have found funny results when you substitute one type of unit for another. For example, I replaced an M-10 SPG with an M4A3 tank one time, and the tanks just didn't work properly.
Please note that since I have made the substitutes above to an already running mission, the new tanks took on the hit points and ammunition supply of the tanks they replaced. That wouldn’t happen if you start the mission from the beginning with the substitutions already in place.
Okay, let’s start by working on something that really bothers me; units in the wrong time. I ran the Blitzkrieg standard German campaign, skipping the missions until I came to one for France in 1940, knowing what I would find. Here is the beginning layout of the troops:
Note that there are 50mm PaK 38s present. Wrong! The PaK 38 did not start into production until September of 1940, too late to take part in the fighting in France. Not only that, but the PzKw III J that is about a third of the tanks shown did not go into production until Sept 1941! Way out of place!
Besides, I don’t like the selection of tanks. The PzKw III and IV would make up about 50% of the total tanks used by the Germans in France. The rest would be Pz IIs and Is. Conversely, in the 5th, 6th and 7th Panzer Divisions there were only Pz 35(t)s and 38(t)s along with 25% PzKw IVs to back them up. The German light tanks and the Czech tanks were (almost) never found together.
So I want to make some substitutions here, without changing the map – it’s random, anyway. I took a temporary folder I had called zHolder. Inside I put a set of folders: units\technics\german\artillery, \aviation and \tanks. Next I went to the data.pak and got the folders for the pieces I wanted to swap. You can make your own folders as long as you copy the names of the existing folders without mistakes! I put the 5_cm_Pak38 folder in its correct place, the german\artillery folder:
Then I went and got the contents of the 37mm_pak_usa folder (from Rolling Thunder) and dropped it into the empty 5_cm_Pak38 folder I’d just created. I did the same with the others, substituting the stock PzKw IV D for the Sd Kfz 222; the Pz Kw I b for the Pz Kw 38(t); and the Pz Kw II F for the Pz Kw III j.
Also, just for fun, I substituted the Henschel Hs 51 divebomber for the Ju-87.
Then I right-clicked on the units folder and used WinRAR to turn it into a .pak file. I called it Replacements.pak, mostly to show that you can use just about any name. Then I dropped it into the Blitzkrieg\Run\data folder.
And here you have the result:
Note that the 50mms are now 37mms, and the tank selection has been changed. Also note the Henschel He 51s flying past to the attack.
If you are working on a mission or chapter, you can take your units folder containing the substitutions and place it right into the setup, right beside the maps and scenarios folders. As long as that mission or chapter is in your Run\data folder, however, those units will always be swapped, so don’t leave it there too long.
Caution: I have found funny results when you substitute one type of unit for another. For example, I replaced an M-10 SPG with an M4A3 tank one time, and the tanks just didn't work properly.
Please note that since I have made the substitutes above to an already running mission, the new tanks took on the hit points and ammunition supply of the tanks they replaced. That wouldn’t happen if you start the mission from the beginning with the substitutions already in place.