Graviteam

I knew as soon as I'd seen 30 seconds of a Let's Play Achtung Panzer video that I was going to buy this game and I knew that I was going to love it.

I only found out about it by accident, I was posting on a forum complaining I think about the poor state of some RTS games and a general lack of realism, I asked why nobody made a realistic campaign based RTS game similar to the early Total War series and based on WWII when someone replied 'That game already exists, it's called 'Achtung Panzer', within 3 minutes I had clicked the purchase button on steam.

I know I am late to the party and there is another title in the series on the way, I just wanted to congratulate everyone involved in creating this wonderful game, I know its a small independent developer who self publishes and that only adds to the scale of your achievement in my opinion.

What stands out for me is it's crystal clear that this game is a labour of love, I feel it when I'm playing it. Everything has that quality about it, the music, the visuals, the concept, little touches I keep discovering here and there, it's the first game in a long time that I have felt the need to tell other people about. You have created a game that truly has a heart and a soul, something which cannot be faked or manufactured, it is a rare and beautiful thing.

This game isn't perfect but the creative vision behind it is.

So after 45 hours I am still getting my ass kicked, although less often, I am still learning and enjoying every minute, thank you for restoring my faith in the games industry at a time when so many games are being made by people who work for other people who are only involved in this industry to make money. Having said that I hope this game breaks out and you make millions, just don't sell out.

Welcome! Some people are put off by the UI..however I've never had an issue with it and don't really get why others do. SO it's great to see your doing well and enjoying the game\sim. There is nothing really like it out there..not as visually detailed anyway. It's easy my No1 realtime wargame of all time taking the top spot from Close Combat 2. I do have another love and thats Combat Mission x 2 series due to it's WEGO option. If I was a realtime player only then Graviteam wins hands down. Eons ahead of main stream wargames like Company of Heroes and Wargame land air battle.

I might check Combat Mission out, it looks great and I agree with everything else you say. This game has a sort of grittiness about it. When I was a kid me and my brother used to buy those sets of WWII soldiers in 1/72 scale, we'd paint them and build scale model kit tanks and vehicles, we had this actual sandbox with real sand in it and we'd re-enact battles from our favourite war films.

This is around the time of the early home computers so we didn't really imagine that a game like this could exist but we did often fantasize about these little plastic soldiers having a life of their own and we'd be generals giving orders while they fight it out to the death for our pleasure.

This game makes me feel like I have exactly that. : )

Wildman, do you have the uniform mod?

If not, I think it's a must have for this game.
It's also a labor of love and really enhances the immersion 10 fold.
I think you'll be pleased with the attention to detail.

It comes in 2 parts, but in the future only the configs will be updated.
It usually gets updated shortly after any new patches are introduced to the game.

1. Achtung_Panzer_Ostfront_Kharkov_DataBase
download: http://yadi.sk/d/6saHHHEYFoFBU

2. Achtung_Panzer_Ostfront_Kharkov_Configs_5.81(2170)_dec.13a
download: http://yadi.sk/d/tH3xFyHRGUtuo

I didn't have it but I'm downloading now, cheers Dane.

looking forward to trying out various mods, games like this always have a really talented and enthusiastic modding community that add even more longevity and value to what are already great games.

If you have any problems installing let me know, I can help you with it.
Also if you have any comments post them here, I think Night Postman would appreciate the feedback.

OK, I have the files what do I do to get them installed?  :-[

This is what I did.

Unpack them into new folders in your C game folder.
Once you've done this open your game menu and select update.
Press install and direct it to each folder you unpacked the uniform mods in and then press select.
1st the data base, then the configs.
Once you see the clock has run down then press save and play.

You may have to isolate the desc. in each folder by using all files before selecting.

ok thanks, i'll give that a go. Are they WinRAR files? I don't recognise the icon, it's a yellow box with 3 books inside

I opened them as WinRAR but they may be g2 extension files and you may not have to unpack them.
I still update the old way and unpack everything and isolate the desc. for selection.

Andrey said this will not be allowed or necessary with the new game Mius Front.

ok, I unpacked them to my E drive (games folder)

start the game, click 'UPDATE'

in the updater I click install and windows explorer opens. 

in the 'file Name' box at the base of the windows explorer it says '*.gt2extension' this text is blued out.

I navigate to the location of the files, select the database folder and I click the 'open' tab on windows explorer and it takes me to a file named 'CORE'

I click 'open' again and nothing happens except the blued out '*.gt2extension' text flashes

I have re-downloaded and repeated the unpacking process etc 3 times, and always the same result.

When you open the core file where you see gt2 extension there should be a down arrow to the right for you to select all files, select this and the desc. should appear then select the desc. once the clock runs out press save and play and repeat with config. download.

yep, that worked. Thanks very much for your help.

I am going to check this out and will post my impressions on here later.  :)

 8)

I have only seen a few units so far but I noticed immediately how much more detail is there and things like the fur lined hoods really make a difference, It must have taken Night Postman a lot of time and effort. Also the Main menu backgrounds look sweet and add more atmosphere and give the game a really professional feel.

Was definitely worth the effort to get it installed, reminded me of many painstaking hours spent painting miniature soldiers as a kid, I imagine for N.P. it was equally fiddly and time consuming and probably even more rewarding to finish the last one  :)

very nice work

Great.

I'll give you awhile to check out all the new enhancements to the uniforms and if you like I can help you install the AT Inf. squad mod. later.
Though, if you understand how to install the uniform mod. the AT Inf. squad mod. uses the same principal.
It works with and uses the same files as the uniform mod also.

AT Inf. squad mod.
Download: http://yadi.sk/d/aMCnCCatMA8S3
This mod always needs to be above the uniform mod in the updater order.

Hey Dane what exactly does the AT inf. mod do?

Wildman: very nice to read your posts man, made me smile. I had the same feeling, I used to play a lot with miniatures as a kid, and this game I feel is the almost perfect recreation of what we were dreaming of back then, hoping a game like this would one day exist :)

A buddy and me would think a perfect game would let you see the name and details for every soldier, like where he was born, did he have family and so on. Kind of morbid I know, but we were kids  ;D

Not sure exactly!
But what I can see and translate from the Russian forum for this game, it looks like it is a QB mod that adds special WW2 tank hunter squads to certain units(Mainly Pioneer) and allows for 2 man ATR teams as opposed to selecting a whole ATR squad.

Haven't been able to really test it much lately since most of my QBs as of late have been with the modern forces, but I have noticed some extra things added to the reserve units for the WW2 QB order of battle. I suppose the Pioneer guys got some extra AT grenades and mines too.

Here's the Sukhoi forum thread about this mod. You will need Google or Bing translator though since it is in Russian.
http://www.sukhoi.ru/forum/showthread.php?t=80405&page=4

About ATinf briefly:

1) It works only in QB
2) It must be above the latest version of Skin Mod
3) It works only at the top devision (#1) of both sides (both German and USSR)
4) It shows the real organization of infantry regiment's infantry coy and regimental engineer platoon in the middle of 1942 as it could be shown with the sources of the game
5) New ammo and weapons are added BUT no new 3D models, so for example it could be writen that soldier has MG-30(t), in this case all performance attributes are for MG-30(t), nevertheless the soldier would carry the 3D model of MG-34 and etc.
6) If it is used uncorrect 3D model in the discription the first sign is " * "
7) The variety of weapons and ammo is exactly as it was in the middle of 1942 according mainly to german and russian military archives

I haven't added the new may14 beta  patch yet, will the uniform mod and AT inf mod work with it or should I wait for the next mod updates before installing the new patch?

I haven't checked yet. I hope ATinf version for may14 will be before weekends anyway.

I really want to get this AT mod but your link doesn't work for me  :(

edit - ok I found a link that works on another thread  :)

I got 3 files...

ATsounds.flatdata - 320kb
ATinf.gt2extension - 714kb
ATinf.flatdata - 9.6mb

I moved them to my documents, started the game and clicked update - install

A window opens but only the 'ATinf.gt2extension' file was found, I clicked open and 'save and play' and 'ATinf' now shows up in my addons list.

is that it? have I done it correctly? and how will I know if the new units are in? Do I need to put the 'ATinf.flatdata' and 'ATsounds.flatdata' files into the GT:OS game files or something?

If it shows in your updater then it should be in your game.

Open up a quick battle, look at your top most German infantry division(02/41-mid 42).
For the inf. and Eng. platoons you will notice a lot of new team sized units have been added under support units.
(mainly for the German side).

I put all mods in their own folder and label and date it then put the folder in the game folder.
You can make a new folder in your game folder called mods and put it there.
I have a mod and patch folder in my game folder.

Remember- this is a mod to the uniform mod and must go over the uniform mod in the updater, if you don't have the uniform mod then this will not work.
This is an addition to the uniform mod.

Also, the uniform mod usually has to be updated with each new patch-I don't believe the uniform mod has been updated yet for the May14 patch.
This is usually a reason I do not add new patches to my game until the uniform mod has been updated for latest patch.

they're in  :)

(http://i.imgur.com/Y1s6Son.png)

cheers Dane

edit - what a game this is  ;D

One of the best of its type and gets better every year.

The latest patch has no changes in files which are used in the uniform mod. So, no new version of the mod.

Uniform mod works with latest May14 patch?

Yes. Files of the latest game patch which are used in the Skin Mod has the last update date of december 13 or about. I have MAY14 game sources files for the Skin mod (they are the same for my mod), I've checked.

OK,
Thanks. Downloading May14 patch now and adding it to my game.  :)

Couldn't agree more.

I strongly disagree with the above statement! It is not one of the best, it is the best.  ;D

I concur,

I've yet to find a tactical PC game that comes even close to the enjoyment I derive from this game.
I would be hard pressed to find a replacement should Graviteam ever stop making these types of games.  :D

ToW, MoW, CM, and the likes just doesn't grab me the way this series does.