Blitzkrieg Banzai? (SP1 Conversion)

[DRG]

It is sad to lose all that old work but unless you know one is in the top 10 of all time it's like sinking 60 grand into a 58 Studebaker restoration and Don only hinted at the little nightmares we had with some of them. That added feature to find what unit is supposed to be carrying an orphaned unit that is supposed to be riding in or on came from that

[MarkSheppard]

I've been distracted the last couple of days working on recreating the old Wargamer Scenario Depot (where I could) -- and I've realized something.

The SPCAMO team needs to be commended for their persistent support of the scenario community over the last 20 years.

By that, I mean you guys have taken the quality scenarios posted here (something better than "lol I have 500 king tigers fighting it out with 500 Pershings roflmao") and incorporated them in each patch, and kept them up to date with the slowly evolving OOBs; preventing them from being "lost" over the years as websites die or crash.

I only just found out that http://www.the-scenario-depot.com (The Scenario Depot II) disappeared sometime about two years ago, taking with it an untold amount of CMx1 (CMBO, CMBB, CMAK) scenarios; and that people are actually being directed to my website when they ask "Hey, what happened to all the Combat Mission scenarios" -- it turns out that my website is the last "easily accessible" CMx1 depot left

[MarkSheppard]

Originally Posted by MarkSheppard

I only just found out that http://www.the-scenario-depot.com (The Scenario Depot II) disappeared sometime about two years ago, taking with it an untold amount of CMx1 (CMBO, CMBB, CMAK) scenarios

Funny story about that.

The domain name for TSDII expired, but the hosting didn't; so it was still up, you just had to use a specific IP address to get to it -- I found this out from the owner of TSDII.

I used this to rescue all the scenarios from TSD2 and put them up here:

https://archive.org/details/wargamer...G-TSD2_siterip

THE SCENARIO DEPOT II (TSD2)
http://63.249.17.36/www.the-scenario-depot.com

The original Scenario Depot (I) was at http://www.dragonlair.net/combatmission/ until it's hosting company crashed with no backups.

It's successor, The Scenario Depot II was at http://www.the-scenario-depot.com/ until the domain wasn't renewed.

It was then "lost" for several years until I contacted the site owner; and got this URL:

http://63.249.17.36/www.the-scenario-depot.com

Site Rip as of 8 May 2021 has:

52 x CMBO Scenarios
587 x CMBB Scenarios
527 x CMAK Scenarios

15 x CMBO Maps (some are not downloadable)
26 x CMBB Maps (some are not downloadable)
36 x CMAK Maps (some are not downloadable)

Anyway, there's a reason I necro-posted here.

I've made significant advances in scenario conversion in the last five minutes.

I was able to use Claude AI to convert the source code from SP1TOWW2 and SPWW2 Map (Both by Fred Chlanda) and chain them together into a simple browser based select file / convert / download that generates workable maps.

Just upload your SP1 scenario file; click the button; and bam, the map from that scenario is ready for use in "modern" SPCAMO games (WW2/MBT).

No having to futz around with complex programs or toolchains. BAM SET DONE.







That scenario is an old NOVASTAR Scenario dated June 1996:

MOVIE I: "ONCE BEFORE I DIE", Luzon, Philippine Islands, Dec.,1941:

A group of carefree American and Filipino cavalrymen have their polo game interrupted by strafing Japanese Zeroes. The war has begun! They are given orders by radio to proceed to Manila. On the way, they are strafed and take out a tank. The strange and belicose Lt. John Custer ambushes a Japanese patrol. When the rest of the group encounter Japanese in a nearby village, they attempt to skirt it. Custer will
have none of it and initiates an attack that hopelessly involves the others.

-- Wild Bill Wilder

...yes, I have a complete set of the old NOVASTAR scenarios for SP1; all 50~ or so disks waiting...

...and I just realized looking at the screenshots; the building code(s) don't line up 1=1 between SP1 and SPCAMO maps. Eh. That's for the future to figure out.

EDIT II: I got it to work with SP2 Maps (both versions).

[MarkSheppard]

Here's a preliminary beta version:

https://generalstaff.org/Games/Webho...verter_V1.html
SP1/2 Map Converter
Converts Steel Panthers 1/2 Maps to SPWW2 v3 format.


You can load either individual scenario DAT files, or load a ZIP containing a bunch of files and select the scenario you want to map convert.

This is Stage I, the heaviest lifting (map conversion) is already done; and I'll be able to recycle a lot of earlier research for Stage II...