Mike Wood
Posts: 2095
Joined: 3/29/2000 From: Oakland, California Status: offline
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Hello... [am holding off release for a day or two while making a few more changes] Decided to let you gentle folk know where things are at. Have been very busy with War Plan Orange, the War in the Pacific patch and War in the East. Did get a little time and worked on the SPWaW editor. Am going to give it and the bit I worked on the executable to the production folks to release for public beta? Here is what I did: SPWaW 8.41 Patch Notes 1) Made it a bit harder to spot enemy units, especially at range one or zero. 2) Allowed the German artificial intelligence purchase routine a little more armor. 3) Sniper units may no longer close assault vehicles. 4) Sometimes the player setup side was incorrect, when assaulting beaches. Fixed. 5) The in game save menu button now automatically saves the Mega-Campaign. This might be useful, if the player has been experiencing CTD and wishes to save without having to exit the scenario. SPWaW Editor vs. 5.0 Menu Batch Option Features 1) Fix Known File Data Entry Errors: Changes the HEAT rounds in infantry anti-tank units from HEAT ammunition to the AP ammunition the program expects, deletes any APCR rounds in units if the weapon APCR maximum range is zero (a crash to desk top bug) or the weapon APCR penetration value is zero, deletes any HEAT rounds in units if the HEAT penetration value is zero, makes all bicycle and motorcycle units size one, cavalry units size two, changes non-vehicular size zero units of 5 or more men to size one, changes any size zero anti-tank guns or mortars to size one and changes some size one infantry and machine gun units of four or fewer men to size zero. 2) Set Control factors to Programmer Convention: Changes fire control, range finder, gun stabilizer and infra-red vision values to consistent values. Please note that the “88mm FlaK18” gun had an analog computer range finder. This explains the 8 range finder. (The program looks for a size 3, German anti-aircraft or heavy anti-aircraft gun, and if it finds one changes the value. If not, then you may have to enter the value manually). The “PzKpfw-Vg Uhu” Panther tank changes the IR Vision value to 5, due to an infra-red lamp and detector. If you have changed the name of this vehicle (originally in slot #35, you will need to enter the value manually). The gun stabilizer values granted American light tanks, tanks and tank destroyers starts at four, for units entering service after 1941 and increases to eight for those units entering service after 1943. Vehicular unit size modifications could not be made, as the program cannot determine the vehicle size from other data in data base. 3) Standardize Small Arms & Artillery Ammunition: Changes infantry type small arms, machine guns, mortars, on map and off map artillery out loads to standardized values. Please note that infantry type units entering service in the early war for the Soviet Union and the late war for Germany receive less ammunition, American army infantry type units receive more ammunition and all other countries receive the standard. For machine guns, on map and off map artillery, American army unit receives more, Soviet army units receive less and all others receive the standard. Scouts, headquarters units, gun crews, second line units, special forces, guerillas and the like always receive less. 4) Recalculate Costs for Units in this File: Changes unit costs for all units based on unit class, smoke discharger presence, crew size, unit size, carry capacity, land or air speed, amphibious speed, survival value, rate of fire, infra-red vision ability, gun stabilizer value, range finder, fire control, firepower and armor. The armor recalculation considers amount, type, slope and location of the armor. The firepower factor considers the maximum range and accuracy and other capabilities of each weapon, as well as the number of rounds the unit carries for each weapon, up to sixty rounds for some weapon type and ammunition and a lesser number for others. Please note that ammunition is a factor in calculating costs, so an German 88mm anti-air craft with zero rounds of ammunition (code does not care about the unit name) is evaluated as a size three (vehicular size, very easy to hit, soft target) group of eleven men armed with fists and unable to move and with a rate of fire of only five, not able to swing very quickly and a kill factor of zero, giving a net unit cost of one (for effort). So, when trying to figure out how values were derived, please look at ammunition, rate of fire and other factors not normally obvious. Hope this information is of use to you... Michael Wood Lead Programmer, Matrix Games
< Message edited by Mike Wood -- 12/4/2005 3:51:48 PM >
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