Hi Chriscookipswich,
Modders often put a readme file in their mod (such as I do) giving (some) instructions, but assume the downloader has some knowledge. However, for a newbie it might seem daunting. This question was asked (by deanrees01) and answered (by mfred) on this forum before (in 2009). The answer was that you'll find deeper discussion on other forums such as here:
http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=88554
But, seeing as it is relevant to this forum, I'll also offer a simple answer below:
Most mods here are bitmap files (numbered files ending in .bmp) and change the way things look in the game. For CMBO and CMBB (Combat Mission 2) the BMP folder usually sits in the game's main folder in your computer's C drive folder called "progam files" (note this is what windows XP calls it - windows vista and windows 7 might just call it "programs", or of course you might have installed the game on another drive etc). In the CMAK (Combat Mission 3 Afrika Korps) game's folder you have to look for the BMP folder inside another folder called RUN. In order to use a mod you can use one of two methods. The simple and most common way is to do it yourself manually by moving or copying the files in the mod's folder directly into the game's BMP folder, thereby replacing the specific .bmp files therein. Don't move the whole folder or zip file into the BMP folder, but just the numbered .bmp files that you find in the mod, or else the mod won't appear in the game. Always make a copy of your existing BMP folder (or just the file numbers concerned) first, in case you don't like the mod.
Rather than do the above, some people instead use CMMOS (which can be found in the mod database by the author name of "CMMOS"), which is a program for switching various mods in and out of your game. Mods used with CMMOS usually appear under the author name of CMMOS or have CMMOS in their title. Mod files used with CMMOS also look different in that usually they aren't a simple numbered file (like "12345.bmp") but often look something like "plaincamo-12345.bmp".
My own mods are designed for manual modding rather than CMMOS, but mine also often have various options for a particular .bmp file that might look like "12345-withbottle.bmp" and "12345-plain.bmp" and where you see this you need to decide which one you prefer and then rename the file to remove the additional wording (so the above example would look like "12345.bmp") and then put that in the BMP folder. I name my options this way so that you could (if you wanted) simply install all the options into the BMP folder and leave them there. Note that by having the wording follow the number, such as "12345-plain.bmp" (rather than the more common way around of "plain-12345.bmp" used by many modders), they can be easily found next to the bitmap number they relate to when sorting your bitmap files in order, and they won't do any harm (even in the BMP folder) because only the option you rename to be without the added wording will be used in-game. Indeed, I often just keep the original bitmap in the same folder, renamed (such as "12345-original.bmp"). However, it may be better for when managing mods yourself if you create a separate folder called "mod options" and put copies of the mods there as well as back-up copies of your original and current BMP folders prior to adding the mod.
Some mods are sound files (numbered files ending in .wav) and found in the game's WAV folder - which you'll find in the same parent folder where you found the BMP folder. And you can change these wav files in the same way as mentioned above for bmp files.
Hope that helps - don't know about CMBN. Streety
Posted on 2012-02-02 02:28:22 UTC by streety