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WitpDecoder; Now providing some overview - 11/15/2006 12:56:25 AM   
Woos

 

Posts: 683
Joined: 6/5/2005
From: Germany
Status: offline 		As discussed elsewhere I was a bit displeased with the GUI of WitP which doesn't deliver lots of necessary information at all or only after several clicks (and thus hints at Mr. Grisby being a quite bad UI designer).
Solution at first: Maintain several spread sheets by hand. Bad! Why am I doing work a computer is much better at?
Solution now: WitpDecoder!

WitpDecoder will read your savegame file, extract information into an SQL-Database, collect it over several turns and display it in a (hopefully) easily accessible way to you. Currently it provides:

  • Overview of stocks, production, usage, ... of all 'strategic resources' like engines.
  • List of units moving and/or preparing for a certain base (basically impossible to get that in-game since all units on ships vanish from the in-game lists)
  • List of leaders with all attributes shown and custom rating formulas definable
  • List of ships to be updated at a date (and their current location)
  • List of ship classes to select the best ones for a TF.
  • List of leaders assigned to more than one unit/TFs and other inconsistencies (Yeah, you finally can see the leaderbug ;-)


And all that for not 10, not 7, not 5, no only 2.6 MB download from http://extweb.retsiemuab.de/witp/witpDecoder0.4.zip (most of it used up by the SWT and HSQLDB jar files and libraries). More instructions in the witpDecoder-docs.pdf file (also in the .zip file). Read that documentation!

Now updated to V0.4c. Main new feature is the Map Overview Tab which gives info on search coverage, ship repair utilization and support levels. Download the updated .jar file, rename it to witpDecoder2.jar and overwrite your current .jar file with it.

Note that when you want to report errors you do not have to screengrab the popup windows. Most error reports can be found as text in the witpdecoder.log file.

Collection of basecluster files provided by users (also included in the zip file):


Below some screenshots to wet your appetite.




Oh, before I forget. Some restrictions.

  • You need Java 1.5.
  • New functionality gets added from time to time. Expect bugs. And expect database changes in future versions to come without an automatic upgrade mechanism (so keep your safe files).
  • Do use the "Quit" menu to leave (and not the "Close Window" X-button). Otherwise the database will never clean up and things will quickly become awfully slow.
  • Reading in a save file is slow with only minimal feedback. Don't despair. It does not hang. Really. Remember, you need a fast computer for WitP turn execution anyway ;-)


Known bugs:

  • Coral Sea Scenario does not work with witpDecoder (and probably never will). It uses the Truk base as Headquarter for the Truk Base Force, which can not easily be modeled within witpDecoder.


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< Message edited by Woos -- 8/10/2007 8:26:18 PM >
Post #: 1
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 12:57:21 AM   
Woos

 

Posts: 683
Joined: 6/5/2005
From: Germany
Status: offline 		Finding a useful leader.




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(in reply to Woos)
Post #: 2
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 12:58:32 AM   
Woos

 

Posts: 683
Joined: 6/5/2005
From: Germany
Status: offline 		Where are all these d***** DDs which will update in a few weeks?




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(in reply to Woos)
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RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 12:59:41 AM   
Woos

 

Posts: 683
Joined: 6/5/2005
From: Germany
Status: offline 		How many LCUs did I sent to Rabaul?




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(in reply to Woos)
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RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 1:05:08 AM   
Charbroiled


Posts: 1181
Joined: 10/15/2004
From: Oregon
Status: offline 		Ok tell me the truth......did I just die and go to heaven?


Is this for stock only, or will it also work for CHS?

< Message edited by Charbroiled -- 11/15/2006 1:10:22 AM >

(in reply to Woos)
Post #: 5
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 1:14:12 AM   
Terminus


Posts: 41459
Joined: 4/23/2005
From: Denmark
Status: offline 		Good Thread...

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(in reply to Woos)
Post #: 6
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 1:22:24 AM   
treespider


Posts: 9796
Joined: 1/30/2005
From: Edgewater, MD
Status: offline 		Very Nice...

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(in reply to Woos)
Post #: 7
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 1:24:48 AM   
Woos

 

Posts: 683
Joined: 6/5/2005
From: Germany
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Charbroiled
Is this for stock only, or will it also work for CHS?

It should work with all mods. In principle. But I read that e.g. RHS is using 'wrong' nationalityID for LCUs to make them fight badly (e.g. IJA Manchurian cavalary marked as chinese). This will not work with this tool since it does evaluate the ID and not the slot something is in.
So if mods do strange things, it will probably not work with them (unless someone tells me how to reliably work around it without getting problems with stock).

< Message edited by Woos -- 11/15/2006 1:27:43 AM >

(in reply to Charbroiled)
Post #: 8
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 1:27:23 AM   
Nemo121


Posts: 5821
Joined: 2/6/2004
Status: offline 		Is there any error reporting process?

Whenever I try to load a savegame file it crashes to desktop...

Maybe I don't have the most u to date Java version... Any chance of a link to the latest version which this is known to work with?

This should prove VERY useful indeed.

(in reply to Charbroiled)
Post #: 9
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 1:30:56 AM   
jcjordan

 

Posts: 1900
Joined: 6/27/2001
Status: offline 		Good work & assume it'll soon work for Allies as well?? Another question on ship updates screen, does it show ships that are past due for updates? I think the Storage & industry screens would be invaluable for managing the IJ economy for the quick look.

(in reply to treespider)
Post #: 10
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 1:39:36 AM   
Roger Neilson II


Posts: 1517
Joined: 7/16/2006
From: Newcastle upon Tyne. England
Status: offline 		By this stage of reading the thread I salute you...... this is so so good! I assume the Allies are also going to be able to use this later as its fully completed?

Sorry size of font is deliberate to show how happy I am.

Roger

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RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 1:40:53 AM   
2ndACR


Posts: 5665
Joined: 8/31/2003
From: Irving,Tx
Status: offline 		1st post down at the bottom, says it works for the japanese only at this time.

(in reply to jcjordan)
Post #: 12
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 1:42:01 AM   
Woos

 

Posts: 683
Joined: 6/5/2005
From: Germany
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Nemo121
Whenever I try to load a savegame file it crashes to desktop...

It probably does not "crash to desktop" but just has a little nice Java Exception and then ends itself. All completely controlled. ;-)
The exception should show up in the console (you did use the witpdecoder.bat file to start it, didn't you). If you somehow send it to me, I can have a look.

My first guess would be that you didn't prepare the necessary .csv files (see the README.txt file).
* edit * Actually, thinking about it, the CSV files are used during first startup. So if you were already able to select "Load Savegame" that shouldn't be a problem. Did you have a problem during startup (due to not reading the README.txt file) at first, then did everything necessary and started it up again? In that case you probably have a partially initialized database. Remove everything named "witp.*" and try again.

If you have it running that far that you can select "Load Savegame", it is probably not a problem with your Java version. But you can get a recent one from: http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp (4th download (JRE) )

< Message edited by Woos -- 11/15/2006 1:52:03 AM >

(in reply to Nemo121)
Post #: 13
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 1:49:09 AM   
niceguy2005


Posts: 12523
Joined: 7/4/2005
From: Super secret hidden base
Status: offline 		Looks very interesting Woos. I look forward to an Allied version.

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(in reply to Woos)
Post #: 14
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 2:08:28 AM   
GaryChildress

 

Posts: 6830
Joined: 7/17/2005
From: The Divided Nations of Earth
Status: offline

WOW!!!!! This looks like a must have! How did I ever play without it?!



(in reply to niceguy2005)
Post #: 15
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 2:16:48 AM   
scott64


Posts: 4019
Joined: 9/12/2004
From: Colorado
Status: offline 		Nice 





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Post #: 16
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 2:22:12 AM   
VSWG


Posts: 3432
Joined: 5/31/2006
From: Germany
Status: offline 		Amazing... simply amazing...

This will be a completely new game!!

Does it work with PBEM saves, too?


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Post #: 17
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 2:24:25 AM   
Raverdave


Posts: 6520
Joined: 2/8/2002
From: Melb. Australia
Status: offline 		I await the allied version...............in one word...........brillant !

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Post #: 18
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 2:25:50 AM   
Grotius


Posts: 5798
Joined: 10/18/2002
From: The Imperial Palace.
Status: offline 		Wow! One feature alone is enough to sell me -- the one that tells you which LCUs are prepping a particular base. The ship-finder and other stuff seems great too.

I play WITP windowed these days, so I assume it would be easy for me to run this in the background and switch to it. What about people running WITP in a full window? They have to alt-tab out to access this?

(in reply to VSWG)
Post #: 19
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 2:27:18 AM   
VSWG


Posts: 3432
Joined: 5/31/2006
From: Germany
Status: offline 		BTW, Grüße nach... Deutschland?

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RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 2:31:02 AM   
scout1


Posts: 2899
Joined: 8/24/2004
From: South Bend, In
Status: offline 		Does it work on pbem ? And is it available for beta test to the general public ....

(in reply to Woos)
Post #: 21
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 3:49:29 AM   
Admiral DadMan


Posts: 3627
Joined: 2/22/2002
From: A Lion uses all its might to catch a Rabbit
Status: offline 		OMG... it just might tempt me to be an IJN player...

And suck just as badly...

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RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 4:51:18 AM   
Mifune


Posts: 787
Joined: 4/28/2005
From: Florida
Status: offline 		"Ok tell me the truth......did I just die and go to heaven?" Geez my first sentiments then followed by looking at the calendar and ensuring it was not Aprils Fools day. Wow I need to fire up this puppy and see it in action.

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RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 5:38:26 AM   
Admiral DadMan


Posts: 3627
Joined: 2/22/2002
From: A Lion uses all its might to catch a Rabbit
Status: offline 		Tell me the truth: Mogami isn't joining ONG, he's been captured and stuffed into the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" machine...

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Scenario 127: "Scraps of Paper"
(\../)
(O.o)
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CVB Langley:

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RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 6:14:53 AM   
bbbf

 

Posts: 493
Joined: 7/16/2000
From: Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

Is there any error reporting process?

Whenever I try to load a savegame file it crashes to desktop...

Maybe I don't have the most u to date Java version... Any chance of a link to the latest version which this is known to work with?

This should prove VERY useful indeed.


Same problem as Nemo - except I know this is to do with my password,

Which save file should I be using, and what format should the password be in?

My password is not weird - but it does start with a capital letter - could that be it?



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Robert Lee

(in reply to Nemo121)
Post #: 25
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 7:05:30 AM   
michaelm75au


Posts: 13500
Joined: 5/5/2001
From: Melbourne, Australia
Status: offline 		Does it work for PBEM?
And if so, does it only show the data for the player that has entered the correct password?

[I haven't installed it so I can't read README.]

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Michael

(in reply to bbbf)
Post #: 26
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 7:11:35 AM   
bbbf

 

Posts: 493
Joined: 7/16/2000
From: Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: bbbf


quote:

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

Is there any error reporting process?

Whenever I try to load a savegame file it crashes to desktop...

Maybe I don't have the most u to date Java version... Any chance of a link to the latest version which this is known to work with?

This should prove VERY useful indeed.


Same problem as Nemo - except I know this is to do with my password,

Which save file should I be using, and what format should the password be in?

My password is not weird - but it does start with a capital letter - could that be it?





Ok it is a password issue - I tried again with an against AI save and voila it works - and looks great!

Hopefully we can get by the password problem easily because this will be extremely handy.



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Robert Lee

(in reply to bbbf)
Post #: 27
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 10:01:55 AM   
TimoN


Posts: 162
Joined: 9/1/2006
From: Halikko, Finland
Status: offline 		Nice tool definately. However I'm bit worried about the development. Now we have a tool to decode save game files. When we will have a tool for encode save game files? If decoding was possible it means it should be easy to modify your own save games and thus enable cheating, e.g. putting those tie fighters to IJN CVs to encounter Corsairs.

(in reply to bbbf)
Post #: 28
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 10:08:37 AM   
Woos

 

Posts: 683
Joined: 6/5/2005
From: Germany
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: bbbf
Ok it is a password issue - I tried again with an against AI save and voila it works - and looks great!

In principle it should work with passwords. But I only tested that very cursorly [sp?] with first turn saves since I don't play PBEM. What does the error message on the console say? Anyone willing to send me a few saves from an old PBEM including password?
The tool should work with PBEM save games as well as with the automatic PBEM End-Of-OrderPhase save. But if you want to be sure, you should try with a save game.

BTW, anyone having success using the tool on PBEMs?

To answer other questions:

  • It also works with PBEMs but only if you provide the correct password. But that was the last but one change I did and seemingly it had a similar effect as the last one .... it doesn't work.
  • The password should be in plain ASCII and entered into the witpdecoder.bat file as shown in the "REM" line. No space within it.
  • You will have to Alt-Tab out of WitP if you run that in full-screen mode since the tool will run on the Windows desktop.
  • There is no "beta test phase". Everyone can download the current version (see top post) and suffer from all my mistakes.
  • Yes changing save files would also be possible (wasn't everyone wanting that to avoid restarting after DB updates). But IMHO it's too much work and has a too high chance to corrupt the save game.
  • Hallo zurueck aus Deutschland.


< Message edited by Woos -- 11/15/2006 10:15:34 AM >

(in reply to bbbf)
Post #: 29
RE: New tool: WitpDecoder; No more spreadsheets! - 11/15/2006 10:12:38 AM   
FeurerKrieg


Posts: 3397
Joined: 6/15/2005
From: Denver, CO
Status: offline

I don't know what to say, I'm floored by this tool.

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