Combat Mission Jukebox

Change History
Overview
Installation and Setup
Notes
Songs and Music File Information
Troubleshooting
Customization

CHANGE HISTORY:

2018-09-22

fixed issue with folder selection failing to work when the saved folder location no longer exists in the file system.

added CMJukebox.ico icon to the zip file. This allows you to create a shortcut to load CMJukebox.jar, and assign the icon to the shortcut file, so you don't have to see the default Java coffee cup on the launcher; instead you get this icon (which I like a lot better).
new icon

OVERVIEW:

CMJukebox is a music management tool for Combat Mission games. It allows you to load songs into your games before play, and now allows drag-and-drop conversion of .mp3, .mp4, or .wav files, so you can easily convert files in other formats into Combat Mission theme music.

For each Combat Mission game you own, simply set up pointers to your executable game file, your Mods folder, and your collection of songs.

At this point, if you have .mp3, .mp4, or .wav files that you'd like to use in Combat Mission, simply go to those files on your computer, and drag and drop the files (one at a time, or multiple files at once) onto CMJukebox to automatically convert the files to the Combat Mission music format. This will also add them to your current game's music carousel.

Then use the carousel to load specific songs for your Intro, Splash, and/or End music. Or if you cannot decide, just click 'Random Song' to allow the capricious Gods of War to choose for you.

INSTALLATION AND SETUP:

Ensure you have the latest Java download. If you have not had it installed previously, you will probably need to reboot your computer.

Download the CMJukebox.zip file.

Unzip the contents to your computer.

Double-click the CMJukebox.jar file to run CMJukebox -or- create a shortcut to the jar file, assign the CMJukebox.ico file to that shortcut, and double-click your shortcut to launch CMJukebox

Click the Combat Mission game you want to play (the list of buttons on the top of the tool), and follow the three steps in 'Jukebox Setup' to set up CMJukebox for that game.

Select any songs you want to load by clicking 'intro song', 'splash song' (when available: Final Blitzkrieg uses the same song for both 'intro song' and 'splash song') or 'end song', then selecting a song from the carousel or clicking 'Random Song'.

Click 'Launch Game' to start your game with the songs you have selected. Note: you can also start Combat Mission normally. CMJukebox simply copies the songs you have selected into your Mods folder and renames them to filenames that Combat Mission looks for when it starts up.

NOTES:

Info on the default CMBN background image.

To contact me, please post in the Combat Mission Community Forums; my handle is 'johnnymo'. I've been a lurker there since CMBO, and check for updates daily.

SONGS AND MUSIC FILE INFORMATION:

Drag and Drop .mp3, .mp4, or .wav files to the CMJukebox and they will be converted for you automatically! Files converted in this way will be placed in the currently-selected game's Music folder.

Any .wav files you create/download on your own need to be saved with Sample Rate 44100, Bit Depth: 16, and Channels: Stereo. Combat Mission will not correctly play music files that are saved in other formats.

For optimum display in the CMJukebox 'currently playing' area, save your music files with Artist and Song Name in the filename, and ensure the files have Artist and Song Name separated with " - " (space, short dash, space).

WAIT! THERE'S MORE!
Here's a link to 38 public domain songs from the WW2 era, so you can start with some songs if you don't already have custom music available for use. Note that these are mostly (if not all) American songs, so they will work best with Beyond Normandy, Fortress Italy, and Final Blitzkrieg. Simply download and unzip the songs locally. Then for each game in CMJukebox that you want to use this music, ensure that a music folder is selected, and drag and drop the music files to convert and load them into the carousel for that game.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

If you have any trouble with CMJukebox and want to reset it, end the program. In the folder that holds 'CMJukebox.jar' you should see a file named 'CMJukebox.json'. Simply copy the same file from the 'CMJukebox.zip' over the top of that file. That will reset the program, and you’ll need to re-configure it before using it again.

If you are familiar with json formatting, you can alternately open the 'CMJukebox.json' file using any text editor, and hand-edit the values; if you have a troublesome value, replacing the string with a null will reset only that value.

Note that you can also add or remove Combat Mission games in CMJukebox by adding or removing json nodes; removing the highlighted node below for 'CMA' will remove the Combat Mission Afghanistan game from CMJukebox, for example.

CUSTOMIZATION:

For each Combat Mission game, you can load your own background image and change the display and color scheme if you prefer, using a little bit of css/stylesheet magic.

Each game has its own 'cmxx.css' file that overrides the default styles, and each stylesheet defaults to using an image named 'cmxx.jpg'. To change a background image simply copy a new image with the same 'cmxx.jpg' name, overwriting the existing image; or you can save the file with a unique name, and change the 'cmxx.css' file to point to that unique image name.

CMFB default background

CMFB with custom background

You can also change color schemes by modifying the css files as you desire. Note that once a css file is loaded, updates may not pick up until CMJukebox has been restarted.