UV Campaign Editor Notes

Matrix Games Forums

Forums Register Login Photo Gallery Member List Search Calendars FAQ

My Profile Inbox Address Book My Subscription My Forums Log Out

UV Campaign Editor Notes

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> Uncommon Valor - Campaign for the South Pacific >> UV Campaign Editor Notes

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

UV Campaign Editor Notes - 6/9/2002 11:36:17 AM

Rich Dionne

Posts: 436
Joined: 7/11/2000
Status: offline

I'm putting together some usage notes to help you guys trying to create alternative UV scenario files. I'm not finished yet, but I did want to get some of the more important issues out to you now. I will try to have the complete document out soon. The main issue I wanted to cover here was saving files, and the limitations you will encounter. Here are the main points:

The first 20 scenario files are reserved. You cannot save over these files. In order to create a new scenario file, you must first save one of the first 20 scenario files as a new scenario file with a number greater than 20.

To create a new scenario from one of the reserved scenario files, click on the File menu item and select �Save As�. Select a scenario file number greater than 20, add a comment / name in the box provided, and click �Save Data Base in the Slot�. You can now edit your new scenario.

All reserved scenario files are not created equally, and their usefulness as new scenario starters will vary. First of all, many of the reserved scenarios have AI coding built into the UV EXE file to make them behave. This is particularly true of the short scenarios, where some extra AI prodding was required to make them go after desired objectives early. This is not as prevalent in the longer scenarios, where the main AI has some time to kick in. When you create a new scenario file from one of the existing reserved scenarios, any specialized AI coding will not carry over to the new scenario. The bottom line for this note is that the long campaign starting in May 42 and ending Dec 43 will make the best new scenario starter. Of course you can still try to create alternative scenarios starting with some of the shorter reserved scenarios, but AI performance and behavior will be more unpredictable.

Another important note: delay settings for ships, airgroups, and land units in reserved scenario files starting 1 Aug 42 or 15 June 43 are not used in the same way as other reserved scenario files. In most scenario files, the unit delay settings refer back to the starting date of that particular scenario, but for scenarios starting 1 Aug 42 or 15 June 43, the delay values refer back to a 1 May 42 date. For example, a delay setting of 100 in a scenario starting 1 Aug 42 means the unit in question will become available on 9 Aug 42, and not 9 Nov 42. The problem with creating files from reserved scenarios starting 1 Aug 42 or 15 June 43 is that the new scenario delay dates will now refer to the scenario starting date, and not back to 1 May 42, meaning that all delay values in the scenario will be incorrect and must all be adjusted manually. Confusing? Unfortunately, this is a remnant of the way the scenarios were originally created. The bottom line here is that you probably do not want to create new scenarios from reserved scenarios starting 1 Aug 42 or 15 June 43. Again, the reserved 1 May 42 campaign (17) is probably your best bet for alternative scenarios.

Hope this helps; I'll have more later...

Rich Dionne

Post #: 1

:) - 6/9/2002 1:51:37 PM

Rob Roberson

Posts: 387
Joined: 5/1/2002
Status: offline

thanks I have been toying with it..

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 2

- 6/9/2002 4:00:40 PM

Hartmann

Posts: 888
Joined: 11/28/2000
Status: offline

Thanks, Rich! This is really appreciated. :)

Now on with the lesson, professor! :cool:

Hartmann

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 3

- 6/9/2002 7:39:13 PM

AlvinS

Posts: 665
Joined: 12/2/2000
From: O'Fallon, Missouri
Status: offline

Thanks Rich. These tips will no doubt save us from banging our heads against the wall trying to figure it out.

Will you be adding a UV section to your web site? Its been a great resource for me with Pac War.

_____________________________

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it." ---Mark Twain

Naval Warfare Simulations

AlvinS

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 4

- 6/9/2002 9:54:33 PM

Capt Cliff

Posts: 1791
Joined: 5/22/2002
From: Northwest, USA
Status: offline

Rich,

Much thanks!!! You guy's at Matrix provide GREAT support for your customers!

_____________________________

Capt. Cliff

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 5

Pilot Leaders - 6/16/2002 6:26:09 PM

tanjman

Posts: 717
Joined: 1/26/2002
From: Griffin, GA
Status: offline

Rich,

:confused: How do you make a pilot into a leader or vice versa? There are squadron commanders who are not pilots or who are pilots but not leaders (i.e. F. Hardison-93rd BS-not a pilot or M. Moore-40th FS-pilot but not a leader). And I have installed the patch.

:D BTW I've enjoyed using you're editors for PacWar and WiR. Wish the UV editor allowed me to do some of the data sorting those do.

:) Thanks for any info you can give.

_____________________________

Gunner's Mate: A Boatswain's Mate with a hunting license.

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 6

Re: Pilot Leaders - 6/18/2002 12:26:42 PM

Rich Dionne

Posts: 436
Joined: 7/11/2000
Status: offline

[QUOTE]Originally posted by tanjman
[B]Rich,

:confused: How do you make a pilot into a leader or vice versa? There are squadron commanders who are not pilots or who are pilots but not leaders (i.e. F. Hardison-93rd BS-not a pilot or M. Moore-40th FS-pilot but not a leader). And I have installed the patch.
[/B][/QUOTE]

Hmmm...

It looks like there's a field missing in the Campaign Editor that links a pilot entry to a leader entry. I'll need to look into it.

Thanks,

Rich

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 7

- 6/18/2002 5:58:58 PM

Sabre21

Posts: 8231
Joined: 4/27/2001
From: on a mountain in Idaho
Status: offline

One easy question...How do you remove unwanted scenarios that i previously created?

Andy

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 8

- 6/18/2002 6:13:40 PM

Marc von Martial

Posts: 10875
Joined: 1/4/2001
From: Bonn, Germany
Status: offline

@Sabre21

Check your Private Message concerning your email adress please.

_____________________________

Marc von Martial
instagram stream

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 9

- 6/18/2002 9:03:52 PM

Rich Dionne

Posts: 436
Joined: 7/11/2000
Status: offline

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sabre21
[B]One easy question...How do you remove unwanted scenarios that i previously created?[/B][/QUOTE]

Andy,

In order to delete scenario files you create, you need to go into the "scen" directory and delete all files that include the associated scenario number in the filename. For example, if you want to delete scenario 25, you must delete the following files:

cam025.txt
spg025.dat
sph025.dat
spl025.dat
spp025.dat
sps025.dat

Don't delete any filenames including a number less than 021 in the filename, as these are required files for the scenarios provided with the game.

Hope this helps,

Rich

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 10

- 6/18/2002 9:17:31 PM

Sabre21

Posts: 8231
Joined: 4/27/2001
From: on a mountain in Idaho
Status: offline

Thanks Rich

I kinda thought as much, but I wanted to be sure before I started removing the files.

Andy

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 11

Problems with leaders - 6/21/2002 12:11:46 PM

tanjman

Posts: 717
Joined: 1/26/2002
From: Griffin, GA
Status: offline

Rich,

:confused: I've run across a couple of problems assigning leaders I created to various units.
1) Relieved of Command: The leader (I have only noticed this with LCU so far) gets replaced after the unit arrives as a reinforcement or if it starts the game on the map. The weird thing is that if you look at the unit in the reinforcement screen it shows the correct leader. Are there certain slots that need to be used for certain types of units?
2) Promotions: Some of the ship leaders and most of the junior pilots I've created get promoted. IE from PO2 to LT or LT to CDR. Any ideas why?

:) I know you're working on a help doc and if the questions will be answered in it I can wait. Thanks for all the work your've put into UV (PacWar and WiR also).

_____________________________

Gunner's Mate: A Boatswain's Mate with a hunting license.

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 12

Editor Problem - 6/22/2002 6:55:44 AM

Capt Cliff

Posts: 1791
Joined: 5/22/2002
From: Northwest, USA
Status: offline

Rich,

I've run into a problem with the scenario editor. If I load scenario 14 and save it as #25, without changing it, and when I run it I get a different scenario all together than if I just selected #14 from the scenario list! I get an aircombat TF at Rabaul with 2 CV's the Zui and Shok, plus the CVL. Also Lunga and Tulagi are vacant! Is the editor stripping something from the scenario? I want to with hold off the two CV's for ten days and not allow the Yamato and Musashi, but the editor screws up the orginal scenario settings. Also the camapign data sends the computer after Dobadura, both the Combine fleet and 8th army. Is the editor screwing that up too? I am confused!

Are there plans to fix this? The current scenario #14 is not historical. After invading Lunga and Tulagi I get the Tokyo express but no invasion fleet. The Jap carriers showup but no Ichi Battalion. No land units at all! I've played until October and bagged it when I started to plan to invade New Georgia with the 2nd Marines in December.

Sure would be nice to fix this.

_____________________________

Capt. Cliff

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 13

Re: Problems with leaders - 6/25/2002 4:19:57 AM

Rich Dionne

Posts: 436
Joined: 7/11/2000
Status: offline

[QUOTE]Originally posted by tanjman
[B]Rich,

:confused: I've run across a couple of problems assigning leaders I created to various units.
1) Relieved of Command: The leader (I have only noticed this with LCU so far) gets replaced after the unit arrives as a reinforcement or if it starts the game on the map. The weird thing is that if you look at the unit in the reinforcement screen it shows the correct leader. Are there certain slots that need to be used for certain types of units?
2) Promotions: Some of the ship leaders and most of the junior pilots I've created get promoted. IE from PO2 to LT or LT to CDR. Any ideas why?

:) I know you're working on a help doc and if the questions will be answered in it I can wait. Thanks for all the work your've put into UV (PacWar and WiR also). [/B][/QUOTE]

Tanjman,

Did you notice the �relieved of command� problem with version 1.11? There were some leader bugs in the initial release, but these should have been corrected in 1.11. There are no specific leader slots assigned to particular types of units.

Promotions are handled in the program code, and unfortunately, I don�t know the details. Perhaps the quality levels of your new leaders were high enough to promote them?

Regards,

Rich

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 14

Re: Editor Problem - 6/25/2002 4:21:27 AM

Rich Dionne

Posts: 436
Joined: 7/11/2000
Status: offline

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Capt Cliff
[B]Rich,

I've run into a problem with the scenario editor. If I load scenario 14 and save it as #25, without changing it, and when I run it I get a different scenario all together than if I just selected #14 from the scenario list! I get an aircombat TF at Rabaul with 2 CV's the Zui and Shok, plus the CVL. Also Lunga and Tulagi are vacant! Is the editor stripping something from the scenario? I want to with hold off the two CV's for ten days and not allow the Yamato and Musashi, but the editor screws up the orginal scenario settings. Also the camapign data sends the computer after Dobadura, both the Combine fleet and 8th army. Is the editor screwing that up too? I am confused!

Are there plans to fix this? The current scenario #14 is not historical. After invading Lunga and Tulagi I get the Tokyo express but no invasion fleet. The Jap carriers showup but no Ichi Battalion. No land units at all! I've played until October and bagged it when I started to plan to invade New Georgia with the 2nd Marines in December.

Sure would be nice to fix this. [/B][/QUOTE]

Capt. Cliff,

As I discuss in the UV Campaign Editor Notes post on this forum, there are definitely some hard coding issues with creating new scenarios. When you copied scenario 14 to scenario 25, you lost any special hard coding that Gary put in to make sure scenario started off with �appropriate� targets (Guadalcanal in this case). There are also some hard coded unit placements in scenarios starting 1 Aug 42 and 15 June 43 that are lost when you copy the scenario to a new number. As I indicate in the previously mentioned thread, your best bet for new scenarios is to use scenario 17 as your starting point. This should minimize effects from lost hard coding in your new scenario. At this point, I don�t know if Matrix is planning any changes to this limitation.

Regards,

Rich

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 15

- 6/26/2002 1:50:49 AM

worr

Posts: 901
Joined: 2/7/2001
Status: offline

I've been toying with scenario #16 and noticed some ships start sunk? They have numbers in the sunk column. Is that a typo?

Worr, out

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 16

- 7/24/2002 9:29:37 AM

Caltone

Posts: 651
Joined: 9/5/2001
From: Raleigh, NC USA
Status: offline

Rich I see you recomend editing scen #17 due to AI concerns. Would scen #19 work as well?

I am trying to modify that one by eliminating some of the IJN carrier force but I wish to retain the other changes to the Japanese side.

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 17

- 7/24/2002 8:47:27 PM

Rich Dionne

Posts: 436
Joined: 7/11/2000
Status: offline

Caltone,

Scenario 19 should work about as well as scenario 17.

Regards,

Rich

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 18

Ship class characteristics - 7/25/2002 4:40:27 AM

bhdhtx

Posts: 16
Joined: 7/9/2002
From: DFW
Status: offline

Can anyone tell me how we can change the ship class characteristics? I.E. aircraft capacity for CV's.

Would appreciate any feedback.

:eek:

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 19

Editing ships - 7/25/2002 7:30:02 AM

tanjman

Posts: 717
Joined: 1/26/2002
From: Griffin, GA
Status: offline

bhdhtx

:( Sorry, can't be done. IIRC there was a thread on this during development and it was decided by Matrix/2by3 not to allow this to prevent cheating (uber weapons, ships & aircraft) and other problems that would arise with incompatable OOBs. So the only things you can edit are the exsiting weapon data (also location, moral, experience etc...), you can modify what is (be carefull with this) there but can not add weapons to empty slots (no ammo after you refuel and weapon becomes disabled). Same with aircraft, though I haven't tried modifying aircraft weapon data so I don't know what would happen there. The ground units are a little more flexable.

_____________________________

Gunner's Mate: A Boatswain's Mate with a hunting license.

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 20

Re: UV Campaign Editor Notes - 8/27/2002 10:16:15 PM

EricLarsen

Posts: 458
Joined: 7/9/2002
From: Salinas, CA Raider Nation
Status: offline

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Rich Dionne
[B]I'm putting together some usage notes to help you guys trying to create alternative UV scenario files. I'm not finished yet, but I did want to get some of the more important issues out to you now. I will try to have the complete document out soon. The main issue I wanted to cover here was saving files, and the limitations you will encounter. Rich Dionne [/B]

Rich,
Thanks for taking the time to put together some documentation for the scenario editor. Wish this had been completed before release so that we would know the do's and don'ts of this scenario editor. I sure hope that you get the rest of the docs done soon so we have some chance of making new scenarios without trashing something else unintentionally. I also think that you should give a complete list of scenario files, including the ones that contain the scenario descriptions. I took scenario 19 and edited out the extremely lame premise about the Germans crushing the Russians and Rommel taking Suez so that the Japs could send more troops. If you took that lame premise to it's logical conclusion then the Allies would have been even more adamant about the Europe First policy and would have considered Port Moresby and Guadalcanal expendable as this would have been a mere sideshow compared to Europe. The Allies probably would have also shifted troops and planes and ships to Europe to meet such a different outcome in Europe. I simply leave the premise as the Japs decided to send more troops from China to this theater and I hope the scenario designer for scenario 19 will do the same. I sure hope we'll have explanations about the particular data fields we see in the editor and what they do.
Thanks,

Eric Larsen

(in reply to Rich Dionne)

Post #: 21