Slitherine

V2.02 – Aug 13, 2014 

Improvements 
•	Added new user modification content (Forgotten Battles 2.0).

Bug Fixes 
•	Fixed the night visibility bugs, and also the resultant day visibility bug.
•	Fixed the Soviet campaign Order of Battle files

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You might know that, soon, we will be releasing a JTCS 2.02 bug-fix update. For various reasons, we are being conservative with the JTCS changes, fixing what really needs fixing, but holding back on the non-essentials and/or the stuff with the potential to break things, hence requiring lots of testing. Which we don't have time for right now. No, we need to focus on new game development now...

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John Tiller’s Campaign Series™

Welcome

Thank you for playing John Tiller’s Campaign Series™! We are always looking for ways to improve your gaming experience. For the latest information on the game, please go to the Matrix Games web site at www.matrixgames.com.

Below you will find the latest and greatest information on John Tiller’s Campaign Series™. Information in this document supersedes that in the official game manual.

Troubleshooting

Ensure that your system meets the minimum system requirements. These are found on page 8 of the manual. Also, ensure that you have the latest video and sound drivers available for your system and that you have upgraded to the latest version of DirectX from Microsoft. The vast majority of reported problems are resolved by upgrading all drivers and DirectX to the latest versions.

If you are still experiencing problems with the game, please contact support@matrixgames.com or post in the John Tiller’s Campaign Series Support Forum at www.matrixgames.com.

Please provide as much detail on your issue as soon as possible.

To obtain optimum game performance, close all other applications before beginning a game.

V2.02 – Aug 13, 2014

Improvements
• Added new user modification content (Forgotten Battles 2.0).

Bug Fixes
• Fixed the night visibility bugs.
• Fixed the Soviet campaign Order of Battle files

V2.01 – May 10, 2014

Improvements

• Implemented Options > Toolbar > None/Classic/Standard/Large.
• Implemented Options > System Colors.
• Implemented Help > Unit Viewer (F3).
• Implemented the -X NoEncryption option implemented in all of: engine, edit, edorg, edmap.
• Added, in ai.ini and elsewhere, three new moddable A/I parameters: AI_smoke_prob, AI_blind_fire_prob, AI_dig_prob.
• Tweaked the highlight/selected colors for greater color contrast.
• The game engine now defaults to window maximized mode on startup.
• Adapted paradrop and airplane animations to the new Variable Animation Speed system. (Also, flight animations are now capped at 80% of the max ground unit animation speed.)
• Applied a minor code tweak for ground unit animations.
• Added more logreturn() calls and better exception handling for missing files.
• Added a new Campaign.pdt and .pdx data file for all engines
• Added a new Main.pdt and .pdx data file for all engines (supply covers now all countries for 1930-1952
• Implemented a moddable timelines.dat, for customizing nation timelines.
• Corrected several nation timelines.
• Improved frontend exception handling and crash prevention.
• Improved and extended frontend error reporting/logging.
• Eliminated many code & data redundancies between the (TS) frontend and the other four (JT) EXEs.
• West Front 2D graphics:
• Most units now will have an unique 2d picture on the game counter when using graphical icons.
• Units were all given a military icon to add more variety to the very limited original mix. The original game had less than 90, now there are 303!
• Enhanced many of the 3D graphics as well.
• Updated all countrys to include common files such as trains, supply depots, etc.
• Updated a lot of the Minor countrys kit, especially Belgium, France, Italy, Albania, Yugoslavia, Norway, and Ethiopia.
• East Front and Rising Sun to follow in Patch 2.1

Bug Fixes

• Fixed the A/I "dithering unit" bug, and implemented A/I > Prohibit A/I Backtracking.
• Fixed the campaign game PlayVictory() crash bug, and various other DCG-related crash bugs.
• Fixed various issues with Campaign.pdt, and recoded the frontend
• Fixed several other frontend bugs.
• Fixed the F2 Unit Handbook unit text bug.
• Fixed the broken frontend scenario list sort-by-date.
• Fixed several broken options settings saves/restores.
• Fixed the broken Options > Opaque Infobox check (selected) display.
• Applied various other minor bug fixes and code improvements.
• Added a correct Icons[3/4/5]d.bmp with Russian bases properly aligned colorwise.
• Added new versions of Icons[1/2]d.bmp files.
• West Front: All stock scenarios and Linked Campaign Games (LCG) that were affected by the Unit ID change in patch 1.03 were modified to use correct units.
• Added missing unit Bitmap and Bit files


V2.00 – Feb 12, 2014

Improvements

• The game engine now runs as a full-fledged, resizable, movable windowed application. Before now, the game engine was a fixed, immobile, full-screen application. (In future, the player will have the option to switch between the two game windowed/non-windowed (full-screen) modes.)
• Hot keys documented in-game in the Menu Bar options, also in the toolbar tooltips.
• Relocated and resequenced several of the Menu Bar options (in engine mainly, but also in edit, edmap & edorg).
• Variable Animation Speeds.
• Changed "slots" and/or "slot" designations for several nations: Australia, New Zealand, Communist Vietnam, Communist China, South Africa, Philippines.
• Merged the Campaign Series & Modern Wars codebases.
• Implemented File>New & File>Open in the game engine .exe.
• Added TEM & Morale modifiers to the unit Info Box display.
• Added new LayManyMines & Commando unit capabilities. (For now, ME & VN only.)
• Moved unit capability (graphical) display from the unit Info Box to (as text) the Unit Handbook.
• Variable highlight colors, available via the Options menu. Includes five new graphics .bmp files: StackHighlights1D.bmp, StackHighlights2D.bmp, BaseHighlights3D.bmp, BaseHighlights4D.bmp, BaseHighlights5D.bmp. Install them in the top-level game folder (alongside the game .exe's).
• New Continuous AI Play mode.
• New game engine toolbar.
• New Units menu options, and toolbar buttons, for: Banzai, Fire Smoke, Fire Starshell.
• New player-selectable A/I options: Aggressiveness, Audacious, Cautious, Shifting.
• New ai.ini AI configuration file.
• New Backup Saves option.
• New Test Trial Play mode.
• New -X NOENCRYPTION command-line option, permitting access to unencrypted data files (e.g., OOB instead of OBX) (for testing and solo play only, not for multiplayer).
• At the frontend Main Menu, selecting Edit Map takes you directly to the edmap EXE, bypassing the frontend Map Editor display (no more direct random map generation).
• The frontend Scenarios selection screen no longer displays Backup Saves versions.
• Reorganized the nation names & sides Msg strings.
• The screen-top main Menu is now fixed, and cannot be toggled off. Removed the Menu icon from the screen-bottom toolbar, and freed up the Ctrl-M hot key for other uses.
• With High Details in effect, the Damage Report dialog box now reports the firing side.
• Removed the Details/Delay toggle from the Damage Report. (One sets this in Options > Highlights.)
• With Extreme FOW in effect, High Details are unavailable.
• Removed several hard-coded numbers in edit, redoing them as macros instead (defined in misc.h).
• Added support for AlliedFinland & AlliedGermany.
• Added game-specific Results & Command dialog boxes.
• New feature: dynamic, designer specified day/night & visibility.
• Restored game-specific Damage Reports & Command Reports.
• For nations ID#s & Msg* strings, fixed many omissions, inconsistencies, and other faults.
• Implemented a flexible, full-featured logging facility, all EXEs (frontend.log, engine.log, edit.log, edmap.log, edorg.log, error.log, ai.log).
• Added a Redraw Display (Alt-D) menu selection (hot key), for fixing any graphics glitches and map display corruption.
• Added Jump Map (J) menu selection (& hot key) to edit & edmap.
• Like engine, edit & edmap now have all available hot keys annotated in the top-level menu, also in the status bar.
• Incorporated Warhorse's new terrain[12]d.bmp files, all regions. These support elevations from 0 to +19.
• Incorporated Warhorse's new Beach[12]d.bmp files. These show beaches in the proper sandy color.
• Coded in support for elevations > 12, also separate beach graphics.
• For all logging, added the option to show in-EXE message pop-ups indicating significant, noteworthy error conditions.
• Implemented a functioning in-game (for engine only) F1 General Help access of the CS Manual PDF file.
• On edorg launch, added a message box warning of data loading/processing delay.
• Redid the implementation of Variable Visibility (optional rule). (Note: Visibility varies only once per turn. The same Visibility applies throughout the turn, both sides, all phases.)
• In the engine, F2 now summons the EBOOK version of the game Manual (with table of contents), no longer the LIGHT version.
• Toned down some needlessly worrisome logging "errors".
• At the Status Bar, clarified use of the Unit Handbook icon.
• Due to a, for now, unfixable bug, retired Hot Seat Replay. Will be fixed and restored in future. (Standard & PBEM Replay remain intact.)
• Changed the WF window border & toolbar color to match the EF color. (Had been matching the tropical RS color.)
• Fine tuned the "duplicate ID" error messages in edorg.log.
• Further refined the error messages in edorg.log, adding file & line number where the error occurs.
• Improved (if not quite fixed) night shading in ZoomIn25 (3-key) map mode. Includes three new files: Gray3d.bmp, Gray4d.bmp, Gray5d.bmp.
• If a unit has no assigned Unit Handbook picture file, attempt to display any graphic defined in its bitmap3d field instead.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a legacy bug involving BunkerMorale (bunkers were mistakenly using TrenchMorale), and revised downward BunkerMorale from +4 to +3.
• Restored High Details to the Options menu.
• Fixed edmap & edit toolbars.
• Fixed an inherited edorg date bug.
• Fixed an inherited Battle Generator bug.
• Fixed inherited, legacy start & stop date bugs.
• Fixed the edmap horizontal banding and saw-tooth screen edge legacy bugs.
• If PBEM Replay is skipped, fixed bug where animation speed was set to slowest setting.
• Fixed an inherited frontend bug where, for the CS, earlier year pre-war GetDateValue() conversions were missing.
• Fixed an inherited bug where, for supply modifiers, dates outside a certain range might corrupt other game data, or worse perhaps even crash the game.
• Fixed the bug where edit failed to save A/I (aggressiveness) values.
• Fixed the Night Visible Hexes bug.
• Fixed the frontend Turns 0 bug.
• Fixed the phantom details button bug in the Damage Results dialog.
• Fixed several problems involving gliders.
• Fixed the edmap Elevation Max Height < 12 to 19 bug. For EF, WF & RS.
• Fixed the eforg Allied Bulgaria 'Unknown' nation bug.
• Fixed the edit window title bug.
• Fixed a bug involving potential crashes when selecting/deselecting Background Music or Background Sound.
• Fixed a bug where, for PBEM (and possibly also Hot Seat) play, Dynamic Day/Night & Visibility were inoperative.

V1.04 - Sept 10, 2008

New Features/Enhancements

• All – Assault Rules have been enhanced and are now Optional.
• All – Visibility Rules have been enhanced and are now Optional.
• All – Graphic glitches were corrected
• All – Reinforcement numbers were increased for Dynamic Campaign Games.
• All – Revisions of Order of Battle where issues were found. Thank you Richard, Gary and Arkady.
• All – Platoon files were updated for consistency.
• All – Weapon files were updated for consistency.
• All – Unittext files were updated.
• All – Green, Regular, Veteran units were updated: fire cost, loading and victory point values were adjusted.
• West Front – Dutch Order of Battle has had a huge update. The Order of Battle additions are primarily relevant for 1939 and 1940.
• West Front – A few of Huib’s scenarios were updated utilizing the new Dutch Order of Battles.
• West Front – A few DCG Order of Battle Edits
• Rising Sun – A series of Curt Cabbage’s scenarios have been added. They can be identified by the scenario BMP with the notation: “Cabbage Collection”.

Fixes
• East Front – Encounters file was corrected and updated. Thank you, Richard.
• Rising Sun – edited Platoon file for 1st Line Infantry and 50 mm Mortars



V1.03 - July 9, 2008

New Features/Enhancements
• IMPORTANT!!! -Assault Rule Change
• The new assault routine runs through the casualty processing, then does an odds ratio melee resolution, then does a combined morale test of the defending stack. If the attacker has at least one non-disrupted unit, wins the melee resolution, and the defender fails his morale check, then the attackers win. For assault purpose only, disrupted units have their morale halved.
• Basically, anything the defender can do to increase his morale makes it harder for him to fail the morale test and thus successfully repel the attack The best thing to do when assaulting is ensure you're assaulting with overwhelming force to provide the victory you seek
• West Front – 16 new scenarios
• East Front – 8 new scenarios – Many new Bootcamp scenarios that provide the opportunity to play with the new features, additions.
• All – Day to Night, Night to Day Capability
• All – Varying Visibility Added
• West Front – US Army OOB revisions and mass expansion – 1930 to 1953
• East Front – Soviet OOB revisions and mass expansion – 1930 to 1953
• East Front – German OOB revisions and mass expansion – 1930 to 1953
• Rising Sun – Two new nationalities added
• East Front – Numerous new units for Germans and Soviets.
• West Front – Numerous new units for US Army
• Panzerfaust/Bazooka: These have Assault Values remaining at 1. These are designed to be used differently than the Soviet ATR platoons, they should be rarity on the battlefield.
• Special Forces: This provides a very few select units to remain hidden when shooting. This is a new code primarily for snipers and/or small commando sized units. This will be a rarity.
• Sniper: These have an Assault Value of 1 to prevent automatic overrun by an assaulting unit. They should be rarity on the battlefield.
• Armour Penalty: Armour suffers a 50% penalty (attack and defence) when assaulting villages, towns, suburbs etc. It is best to assault with infantry when capturing towns/cities – which is proper practice anyway!
• Hidden Anti-Tank: This provides small anti-tank guns (57mm – 6pdr or SMALLER) a 50% chance to remain hidden when it fires. This also applies to Bazooka/Panzerfaust/AT Rifles
• Artillery vs. Armour: Artillery now has a 5% chance of disabling armoured vehicles.
• Trucks: Truck Victory Points are now worth 3 per Strength Point. Use them wisely.
• Truck Carry: Only 3 Trucks are required to carry a 6 Strength Point infantry platoon. MG and crew served weapons still require the same amount of trucks per SP to carry. (A 4 Strength Points MG Platoon requires a 4 Strength Points of Trucks)
• Halftrack ***: Designate halftracks with improved firepower. They are worth 6 Victory Points per Strength Point, but fire similar to a normal MG. These are new units, and will only affect new scenarios where they are included.
• Maintenance Units: AKA Recovery Platoon, AKA Werkstat, AKA Dozer. These are units that can REMOVE 2 WRECKS PER TURN. They act similar to Engineers in that respect. You move the unit into a hex with wrecks and leave it there for a turn to start removing wrecks. At this point, these ARE NOT combat units but have some defence, so you will have to secure the area they intend to operate prior to sending them to the frontline. Again, as a new unit, these will only affect new scenarios.
• New Engineer Capabilities
• Bridging Engineers: These are special Engineers that can build medium bridges across hexsides. See Manual Section 5.17.1 for more information.
• Mine Engineers: These are special Engineers that are capable of laying a one strength minefield. See Manual Section 5.17.2 for more information.
• Construction Engineers: These are special Engineers that can build a block and trenches. See Manual Section 5.17.3 & 5.17.4 for more information.
• All – Improved Position to Trench by Construction Engineer Capabilities
• Engineer Trucks: Increased to 6 Victory Points per Strength Point. These are specialty vehicles that can haul pontoon ferries and crewed boats.
• On map Air Attack Capabilities
• Recce: These are ON MAP aircraft that provide some intelligence to the operating commander. They can fly pretty much anywhere, but cannot take points. Again, as a new unit, these will only affect new scenarios.
• Bombers: These are ON MAP flying bombers that have a limited strike function. They can fly to a target on the map, fire at it and since it has run out of ammunition, it will be best to fly off the map. Again, as a new unit, these will only affect new scenarios.
• Anti-Aircraft: Small anti-aircraft guns are now coded to target Recce and Bombers. Obviously, AA has a purpose on the map now as opposed to just being meat grinders.
• Training: There are numerous new infantry types with Green or Veteran designations. This represents the combat effectiveness of the platoon. Green stands for infantry that has been rushed through training and have had no combat experience. All of the Stock Units are classified have no visual designation and are classified as Regular – having infantry training with little or no combat experience. Veteran platoons have had ample combat experience. The differences are in the Assault and Defence numbers as well as the weapon attack numbers. A Veteran unit is more likely to put more shots on target than a Green unit in a combat situation. Again, as a new unit, these will only affect new scenarios – the stock units did not change.
• East Front – Various Graphic BMP improvements
• West Front – Various Graphic BMP improvements
• Rising Sun – Various Graphic BMP improvements
• West Front – Various Unit BMP improvements
• East Front – Various Unit BMP improvements
• East Front – Incorporation of some LADMO graphics
• All – Beginning to implement 24-bit BMP graphics
• East Front – Talonsoft German and Soviet Order of Battles reinstated for DCG’s (Warning: these are stock; user beware)
• East Front – German and Soviet Order of Battles revised for use with DCG’s. This is a work in progress, SS units, etc will be coming with future updates.
• User Mods folder available with various mods that are available to install.
• Save Game Counter (1.03): This counts how many times the game has been saved and reopened, and will display that information in the turn Dialog at the start of a turn for the opponent. This information is installed in the registry of the game so it cannot be tampered with. After TWO saves from player A, the game is supposed to flash a warning to the Player B that the file has had multiple saves. While not perfect, it should help curb some replaying.
• New Encryption (1.03): The other anti-cheating measure is a new encryption system for the platoon files to ensure that everyone is using the same platoon/weapon files. It was a problem in the past, and I recently received an email yet again about it. The new Encryption Tool will not be available to the general public. Instead, there will be a place available on the forums for requesting new unit types or revisions.
• Campaign Save Location: The Campaigns now automatically save, the save game Dialog box no longer appears.

Fixes
• West Front –Minor Nations not firing - Fixed
• All – Horses firing in a continuous loop – Fixed
• Rising Sun – Cave Bug – Fixed
• All – Campaign Save Game location updated – Fixed
• All – Concealment Values revised – Fixed
• East Front – Dynamic Campaigns – Barbarossa DCG – replacements have been improved from mid 1942 to 1945, with the assumption a player will accept higher commands as the campaign progresses - Fixed
• West Front – Dynamic Campaigns – Many Campaigns have been modified and improved
• East Front – Dynamic Campaigns – General campaign file has been tweaked, hopefully resolving the Congressional Medal of Honour bug – Fixed
• East Front – Soviet 82mm Mortar Graphic Bug – Fixed
• West Front – Org Editor Bugs – Fixed
• East Front – Org Editor Bugs – Fixed
• Rising Sun – Org Editor Bugs – Fixed
• All – Assault Value of Naval Vessels reduced to 0
• All – Vehicle Assaulting village, suburb or city; rules modified.
• All – Assault Rules adjusted

Manual Additions
• A Complete revision has been done to the Manual.
• MCS BOOTCAMP document available
• Hints and Tips document available
• Assaulting Basics PDF available
• Creating and Modifying a DCG document available
• Scenario Introduction Template document available



V1.02 - July 10, 2007

• All – Engineers and other Mine Clearing Units being damaged by minefields - Fixed
• Rising Sun – Bicycles not moving – Fixed
• All – Motorcycles and horses shooting - Fixed
• East Front – 2D unit counters seem to be off center. – Fixed
• East Front - 2D artillery icon off center - Fixed
• All – Tanks not carrying infantry – Fixed
• East Front, West Front – Large number of unit graphic upgrades for East Front (31) and West Front (74)
• All – Assault sounds added and revised
• All – Night graphics was improved.
• West Front – Added US Marines, platoon to corps
• East Front, West Front – all ships no longer have assault value; including landing craft
• East Front – All bunkers are now 10, like the other games.
• East Front, West Front – various unit platoon, weapon and unittext updates
• East Front – Improved concealment
• East Front – Improved OP-Fire routine
• East Front – Dynamic Campaigns – Barbarossa DCG (North, Center and South) order of battles have been recreated from scratch – upgrades come at company level, bypassing original upgrade glitch. Also prevents leader crash in 1943. ALL CAMPAIGNS WILL NEED TO BE RESTARTED FROM 1941 TO WORK!
• East Front – Dynamic Campaigns – Barbarossa DCG – replacements have been improved from mid 1942 to 1945, with the assumption a player will accept higher commands as the campaign progresses.
• East Front – Dynamic Campaigns – General campaign file has been tweaked, hopefully resolving the Congressional Medal of Honour bug.
• West Front – 16 scenarios added – Battle of the Outposts, A Dutch Verdun, Panthers on Hell’s Highway, Cutting the Corridor, Clearing the Corridor, Where There’s Trouble…, The Grim Road to Hoogerheide, Kampfgruppe Chill Strikes Back, The Woods of Overloon, Through Three Miles of Hell, CCR/7 Into the Breach, Give it All Up?, Einsatz der Führer Grenadier Brigade, Battle of Groningen, The Guns of Delfzijl


V1.01 June 13, 2007

• In Vista hard attack values converted to 0 - Fixed
• Dynamic Campaigns/Linked Campaigns failed to load. - Clarification The default save location for linked campaign games is the root of the drive that the game is installed on. Accepting this default location will cause a crash. Please select the appropriate game folder to solve this problem.
• 2D unit counters seem to be off center. - Fixed
• 2D unit counter for SMG in East Front appears to be incorrect. - Corrected
• Green Panther and Green PzIV have art errors? - Fixed
• Missing scenarios for Fall of the Reich added - Corrected
• Desert Terrain bug? Map reading problem by generator? - Fixed
• In West Front when trying to generate a battle you cannot select any period out of 1939-1945, not all countries can be selected - This was determined not to be bug but would be expanded on in a future patch..
• West Front's scenario 'Puerto Escudo' crash when starts - Corrected
• AT units were reducing it shelf to 1 in a DCG - Fixed
• Finnish Infantry only having 1 platoon after 1944 – Corrected
• Unit P22226 - PLA ATR Pltn is incorrected listed in the Platoon22.oob with a 41 12 start date this should be a 33 1 start date. – Fixed
• The German unit P01086 - PzA Lrs(f) 150mm SP How only has a soft attack range of 1 and the max soft attack is 13 in gameplay, the weapon.pdt file is correct but weapon.pdx is not – Corrected


V1.00 Initial Release

• In Vista™ if you experience an issue with the scrolling refresh during the game please go to the Properties of each shortcut and put a check in the box next to “Disable desktop composition” to resolve this issue.

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ORIGINAL: Jason Petho

You can install this over an existing 2.01 UPDATE install, but will require an installation over a fresh 1.00 install for any other version.

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After you have selected a region, the Map Editor screen will appear. At this screen, you can choose to use the various controls and slider bars to create a new, random map, or you can press the “Edit Existing Map” button to bring up a Dialog box listing all .map files contained in the Rising Sun directory.

If you are starting a new map, you have two basic choices:
–
Use the various controls (slider bars, toggle switches and up/down arrows) of the Map screen to set basic parameters for the map. These parameters include the map dimensions, base level of the terrain, and whether or not you want the map to have a coastline, lake , or a major river. Also provided are “slider bars” for each terrain type. The higher the value of the slider Bar , the more prevalent that terrain type will be on the map (or the wider the river). When you have adjusted these levels to your satisfaction, press the “Make Map” button and the program will create a random map based on your settings. You can then edit this map in the map editor program

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ORIGINAL: MartNick

Awesome to see this patch!