Global Campaign

[panchovilla]

PM : )

[danzig70]

Does anybody have this game?

talvisota.net/



I would love to mod it and include it in BK.

[LouisXIV]

@danz, I'm looking forward to seeing this concept totally realized and in operation!

[danzig70]

As am I, Louis. Thank you for your support. I keep saying I will post files and I havent. I will work on it tonite after work and post them tomorrow.

UPDATE:

The files are available for download here
www.sendspace.com/file/2wm63b

There is a readme file in the globalcampaign.zip file.
This is very much a work in progress. Please keep this in mind.

The directory structure is important and is explained in the readme file. However, since all the files are contained within the danzig folder, the root folder, some links may correct themselves.

Try it.

Let me know what you think.

[danzig70]

I may modify the html user interface pages to serve as a portal for Multi-player games. Players will be able to choose which country and which units to control. Campaign progress will likely be tracked by individual games but mission and background information, maps, photos, etc will be on the pages.

Download links for the maps and mission/campaign files will be also be on the pages. Then the results (kill board) could be posted afterwards.

If I had a server and broadband (and money) I would host the games on the server.

[Jagged Steel]

Blitzkrieg multiplayer games are pier to pier (IP to IP or directly connected) and do not use a server of any sort. Even Gamespy is just a matchmaking service that sets up IP games for the players automatically. So that aspect of your idea could possibly be constructed out of html.

[danzig70]

I will look into it. That would make things much easier.

Thanks

[danzig70]

China

I would like to download maps and units made by the BK China site here bk.cnplayer.com/index.php but I dont have the necessary fonts to read the site.

Has anyone joined this site? Can anyone download a mod for me?

Thanks

[Folgore]

Well, if you use Google translator you will get rid of font issues...

[Jagged Steel]

The only Chinese BKers that I know of that come around here are Generalhw and tgd, tgd has been gone for a long time (not even sure if he has been to this new site) and GHW pops in once in a while, These guys might be able to help you with that, or it might actually even be one or the others site.

I got your message btw Danzig, I am up in the Cave Creek area, what part of town are you in?

[danzig70]

May 13, 2010 9:11:13 GMT 1 Folgore said:

Well, if you use Google translator you will get rid of font issues...

Hey, that is pretty cool. I havent tried google translator before.


Jagged Steel: I am down in the Valley of the Damned - I mean valley of the sun. Friday beer:thirty? Just PM me.

[danzig70]

I have updated the home page for Global Campaign and have saved it as a pdf to serve as a brochure. This represents my vision of what I am trying to accomplish. (looks better as htm)

www.sendspace.com/file/c6wpvc


I would use BK to track the career of a motorized infantry or panzer platoon commander. At the rank of colonel, he woud command an Abteilung for larger, battalion sized engagements.

I would use SH3 to track the career of a sub commander.

I would use H3ANW to simulate the CIC that ties everything together.

Now I am in the process of going through SH3's and H3's mission editors.

What I think would be really nice is if we could design missions for the two officers' careers using BKR. Not historical because so many mistakes were made. But think about missions or chapters you come up with and design.

For example, defending an air defense site or capturing bridges, oil fields. Chapters could be broader such as invading countries, etc.

People can create these for any country to add diversity to the grand campaign and increase the number of playable areas.

Well that's it for now. It may be reinventing the wheel, but a sphere is better anyway.

[danzig70]

I think this project may be better suited for a multi-player campaign.

I found the Battleground Europe website www.battlegroundeurope.com/ which is pretty much what I had in mind. Although, instead of playing online it will be direct IP matches using maps and files people can download onto their computer. One or more players can play as a country and update the interface according to their progress. This will allow players to have PBM, PBEM correspondence and then IP combat. And it will be free, not $15/month like Eve Online or Battleground Europe.

Player will be able to download pdf files with mission information and files from a file share site. There will be a Silent Hunter 3 MP campaign, a Harpoon 3 MP campaign and a BK MP campaign if there is interest.


UPDATE:

I will continue to post SP campaign developments here for future reference.

[danzig70]

Well after a computer motherboard upgrade didnt go so well (tons of info on a HD I cant access now) I had to take a break.

Instead of trying to accumulate satellite images and trying to create a seamless interface, I am going to try using the free NASA World Wind application.

.net version (I am using this version)
worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/download.html

java edition
worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/java/

They have provided the SDK for the java edition to enable integrating program into custom applications. There is a forum here forum.worldwindcentral.com/index.php for assistance, as well as places to get add-on data. www.worldwinddata.com/
worldwind28.arc.nasa.gov/public/

Custom data can be added so I am on the look out for any historical aerial images I can find. Life magazine has some great images of Hungary and Germany that I have already found. Where aerial images are not available, I will use historical maps.



You can search images through google here:

images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=2e63e431a6d6f262&q=hungary%20aerial%20photograph%201938&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhungary%2Baerial%2Bphotograph%2B1938%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GGLR_en%26tbs%3Disch:1

or at Life Magazine here: www.life.com/image/50868395

The purpose is to be able to create accurate BK maps with proper placement of roads, bridges, etc.



EDIT: By using historic city plans that have map scale information, this information can be used to determine ground resolution and pixel size.
msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb259689.aspx


It should not be difficult to add hyperlinks to BK maps when you zoom to a certain level. Of course it shouldnt be difficult to replace a mobo either.

[danzig70]

Here is a good site for historical maps. Some of the images are geocoded which makes it possible to add into the World Wind application as a layer. They also have a historic earth viewer which is an interesting program.

www.historicmapworks.com/

Another interesting viewer that uses Prototype JS framework.
www.npemap.org.uk/

Other aerial images/map sites:
www.landkartenindex.de/
www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical
www.francevuesurmer.com/?langch=en
www.pharus-plan.de/ Great maps in Archive. expensive
www.oldaerialphotos.com/ pay site UK only?

Satellite Imagery/data
glovis.usgs.gov/
edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/EarthExplorer/
eoweb.dlr.de:8080/index.html

GIS data enables you to match aerial, topographical and other data as layers in an application. One goal I have is to populate areas with blank BK maps in xml format. Reinforcements and buildings will be placed and a generic script made. I suppose buildings will have to be placed also.

I hope, by using javascript, to read terrain data from a GIS file for a map sized area and then edit the BK xml file accordingly. Simcity 4 had a terrain downloader. Something like that. This is in back of the back burner for now.

EDIT: SRTM www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/ is digital elevation data and is available from CGIR-CSI. They have tif and ascii files in 1k to 200m resolutions for the globe available for download here: srtm.csi.cgiar.org/. The sizes are a bit prohibitive (300mb- 1.2 gig) and resolutions are available to 90m. The search page is on that site and is here: srtm.csi.cgiar.org/SELECTION/inputCoord.asp. The map interface is excellent; being the right size for a specific battle area. These files are much smaller (15-20mb) and available in http and torrent downloads. (for dialup users like me) This will be a cached layer in WW and will be visible at a certain level of magnification when zooming into the battlefield. The data is also available in ascii form so can be read either by jsprototype or cgi Lua. Just moved up to the back burner.

This is an example of SRTM digital elevation data and Landsat 7 imagery


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Depending on parameters the player chooses such as direction of attack, direction of reinforcements, weather, air support, etc, the script file will be built/edited. For instance, if you choose to enter a map from the west, then the script function for those reinforcements will be left and the other three directions will be commented out.

EDIT: As far as dynamic lua scripts, generic script files will be attached to maps when created. Then the html UI will edit the script files either by js or Lua.

I can also add html buttons so the player can set options such as direction of enemy, direction of enemy reinforcements, weather, etc. This will then either build or edit the mapname.lua file. Eventually, js or cgiLua will know where you are attacking from, where and if you have reinforcements in the area, weather, and status of the enemy. Some of these these values are entered in the different pages of the UI such as production, allocation and command. This might be micromanagement for some people so the stock script files may be fine.

This is why I chose an html UI. Lua and JSPrototype can do alot.