Redbrow
01-23-08, 10:19 PM
"In warfare, a theater or theatre is normally used to define a specific geographic area within which armed conflict occurs.."
Most mods I have seen leave most of the Pacific ocean empty. In my V-mod I had most of the world populated and half the pacific populated. This meant that even with my 2+ gig memory I was running a bit slow and for this reason tried to reduce load by using many brit warships ships generic for many nations. But while making the mode I started at one point with a totally blank Campaign_RND.mis and SCR.mis. What I found was that my game engine zoomed at light speed - all the sloppy buttons responded perfectly and few video troubles appeared.
I have suggested before and do again that those who want to mod more ART and eye candy detail ought to start building theater-mods. I am building one now for the Pacific. but for you history purists the theater mod would be perfect. Let's face it, in the real WWII the french navy still sailed - they attacked and tried to prevent the Americans from landing in Africa. In real WWII french waters the seas were filled with fishing boats and French merchants sailed for the French colonies still held by Vichy France. Vichy France held parts of Palestine as well as Africa. For this reason in my V-mod I had French flags on many of my supply ships - especially in the French Marquesas Islands in the Pacific. In real WWII European seas Spain continued to have busy sea traffic from around the world, and Spanish fishermen would send fleets around the Atlantic. Italy and the Greece also continued to fish - and the oceans in your career game should be stuffed with all kinds of ships and classes of boats. but they ARE NOT. Mainly because they try to include too large an area.
If you built theater specific career mods - some front end exe like a Commander could move your personal data from one mod to another. But because each mod was theater-specific they could stuff in the ship, boats and other harbors and cities not found on your mostly blank maps.
Another example: consider Norway. The German invasion of it is only poorly dealt with by any mod that I know. It should have an entire mod career-set devoted to it and say the invasion of France. The Mediterranean is another perfect example. In almost every mod it lacks depth and detail. It should be brimming with boats and fishermen. It should have a great deal more warship detail added.
In a theater-mod-map most of the world map is EMPTY, just like most mod maps are today as regards the Pacific. But you may ask, what if I sail out of the intended area? Well since your orders from BdU would be to be in the specificly intended area, you would be breaking your oders anyway and should be shot.
So the upshot is - theater-specific mods will allow for truly busy ports, and seas alive with the real traffic they had in WWII. It will also free up more memory for the pixel art that also gobbles up memory at load time.
Most mods I have seen leave most of the Pacific ocean empty. In my V-mod I had most of the world populated and half the pacific populated. This meant that even with my 2+ gig memory I was running a bit slow and for this reason tried to reduce load by using many brit warships ships generic for many nations. But while making the mode I started at one point with a totally blank Campaign_RND.mis and SCR.mis. What I found was that my game engine zoomed at light speed - all the sloppy buttons responded perfectly and few video troubles appeared.
I have suggested before and do again that those who want to mod more ART and eye candy detail ought to start building theater-mods. I am building one now for the Pacific. but for you history purists the theater mod would be perfect. Let's face it, in the real WWII the french navy still sailed - they attacked and tried to prevent the Americans from landing in Africa. In real WWII french waters the seas were filled with fishing boats and French merchants sailed for the French colonies still held by Vichy France. Vichy France held parts of Palestine as well as Africa. For this reason in my V-mod I had French flags on many of my supply ships - especially in the French Marquesas Islands in the Pacific. In real WWII European seas Spain continued to have busy sea traffic from around the world, and Spanish fishermen would send fleets around the Atlantic. Italy and the Greece also continued to fish - and the oceans in your career game should be stuffed with all kinds of ships and classes of boats. but they ARE NOT. Mainly because they try to include too large an area.
If you built theater specific career mods - some front end exe like a Commander could move your personal data from one mod to another. But because each mod was theater-specific they could stuff in the ship, boats and other harbors and cities not found on your mostly blank maps.
Another example: consider Norway. The German invasion of it is only poorly dealt with by any mod that I know. It should have an entire mod career-set devoted to it and say the invasion of France. The Mediterranean is another perfect example. In almost every mod it lacks depth and detail. It should be brimming with boats and fishermen. It should have a great deal more warship detail added.
In a theater-mod-map most of the world map is EMPTY, just like most mod maps are today as regards the Pacific. But you may ask, what if I sail out of the intended area? Well since your orders from BdU would be to be in the specificly intended area, you would be breaking your oders anyway and should be shot.
So the upshot is - theater-specific mods will allow for truly busy ports, and seas alive with the real traffic they had in WWII. It will also free up more memory for the pixel art that also gobbles up memory at load time.