HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Now as I start the generate random campaign, pick the time and countries and go to purchase screen and start buying units I can´t delete them anymore after they hit the list. So if I buy A T-72 company and decide to take a platoon out of it, there´s a message that says: "can´t delete existing core formation". So if I want to reduce company size or delete unwanted or mis-clicked units, I can´t do it at all before the first battle. However when I finish my first generated campaign battle and go to the repair and expand core-screen, I can again delete these existing core-formations having only the question: "delete existing core formation? Y/N?".

And when I start a custom-made campaign, say the silver lions, I can delete the formations before the first battle simply by clicking and having the question: "delete existing core formation? Y/N?".

Also Battle generator works the way it used to, so only problem is generating a random campaign.

Is this meant to be in the game? I´ve never encountered this kind of problem before. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rant.gif

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

lets see - I tested this by going into the campains screen, generating a Soviet 1976 LC vs UK USA & CDN, and start buying PT-76 platoons and T-62 coys etc. Repeated a few times, with and without exiting the game.

It allows deletion of the platoons in the formation buy list, and in the main page (where the formation type buttons are shown) quite happily. Message "delete existing core formation Y/N" appears, and if you select Y, the platoon vanishes as expected.

This is on a Dell Dimension 5150, running XP Home.

It may be because your disk needs defragging and/or it has lost clusters and so forth that needs cleaning?.

What year, campaign nation and opponents, and what formations have you bought and tried to delete?. What operating system and PC details?. CD or DL version?. What nationality is the PC set for (on the off chance thet non KeybUK drivers cause problems - you never know with M$ http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif !)


Cheers
Andy

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

We need as much detail about this as you can give. We have had two other reports like this but neither Andy or I can reproduce it so the more detail the better so we can connect the dots

Don

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

I also have the exact same problem as pdoktar.

I ran the same test as mobhack in the exact same years, and countries and it would not let me delete core formations saysing "cannont delete existing core formation!".

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

OK. Give us some details on the computer you are using. Are you running an intel or AMD chip? As I said, neither Andy nor I can reproduce this but obviously some people can so we need more info to try and figure out what the common thread is

Don

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

I just tested it again using Soviet Sept 1988 LC vs UK USA & CDN. I bought some T-62 companies and a bunch of infantry companies. I deleted every other formation. I did this several times. No error messages or other issues.

This is for my Laptop.

HP Pavilion zv5200
XP Home Edition SP2
AMD athlon XP 3200 CPU
NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go 64M
512.00 MB RAM

Since I have and AMD that probably rules that out.

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

this is my laptop:

Dell Inspiron 1150
XP Home Edition SP2
Intel Celeron 2.60 GHz
1.25 GB of RAM
intergrated graphics

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

I tried a as a slovakian player against various opponent several times (one was always the UK) and year was set to 2007. However it happened with all formation and company structures I tried to purcase, with even using different countries as player and opponent altogether.

Game is a download version, patched directly on WinSPMBT v2.51

My computer is

AMD Duron 700Mhz
256mb RAM
32MB Prophet II MX graphics
Sound Blaster 16
Windows 98SE
Keyb SU
Nationality maybe: Finland???
No internet connection
(Yes I know it´s old http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif)

I may have only 100MB of free hard disk space left though, so maybe I´ll try to free up some space to see if it works at first.

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Don't know if this makes a difference but I copied my 2.51 to another location then did a clean install from my CD and then patched to 3.0.

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

EDIT OK forget this question. I re-read all the posts and noted that it's been reported on the DL version as well


OK this one is really turning into a mystery but there's one bit of information I don't know for certain. Is this happening to anyone with the DL version ? So far, all I know for <certain> is this is an hit or miss issue with the CD version.

Don

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

OK, next question for those of you who have had this happen

Have you tried deleting the formations in a campaign after a reboot when the game is the first thing you have started up and the campaign is the first thing you have done?

This is a long shot but more than anything I'm trying to elliminate variables. Becasue neither Andy nor I ( and Mike ) have been able to duplicate it I suspect it may be related to a series of events that we are not doing in the same way as the people who have had this happen have been doing

Don

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

I did the test (Soviet 1976 vs UK USA & CDN) on two computers and had NO problems deleting units (both purchase and repair screens)

Game is CD ver 3.0 (played with sound options off)

XP pro SP2
Intel E6300, 2GB RAM
Nvidia 7900GTO, onboard sound on

Win2000 (latest SP)
Cel 400, 256 MB RAM
2,5MB onboard gfx and sound (sound off in bios)

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Tried with WinSPMBTv2.51-DL, WinSPMBTv3.0-DL and WinSPMBTv3.0-CD. Had no problem deleting formations in any of them.

Narwan

system:
Pentium II, 410MHz
192MB RAM
Windows 2000 (5.00.2195)
ATI Technologies Inc 3D RAGE PRO AGP 2X; 5.00.2180.001
Creative SoundBlaster PCI; 5.00.2180.001
3Com Etherlink XL 10/100 PCI TX NIC
DirectX 9.0c

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

I tried to play as the first operation I did with my computer and again the same result occurred (not being able to delete formations). However I have not yet defragged my hard disk, and maybe I´ll try downloading all the game files again and installing from the bottom up.

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Try defragging you HD first. That's always a good thing to do anyway.

This is turning into a freaky little bug and the exact issue that is causing it still eludes us but we will figure it out. That message is only drawn from one place in the code and covers both pre bought formations in constructed campaigns and post purchase formations in generated campaigns. Somehow ,in some players games their intial buy is being treated like one of the first two cases.

Don

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

It's goint to be some peculiuar chain of events required to create it.

Everyone who has tested, seems to have booted up the game and started a campaign, bought some formations and nuked these quite happily.

So - we need to know the chain of events that cause the problem like "I played a saved game of my ongoing LC, then saved and exited that, then I went into the scenario editor and edited a brand new scenario, saved that, then I decided to launch a brand new campaign game and the problem arose then. I never exited the game while doing all these things".

It's going to be some interaction between one game subsystem and another from an unexpected chain of processes.

Cheers
Andy

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Oops, wrong thread http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Same problem here.

Chain of events - installed 3.0, tried to play generated campaign.

Computer:

Athlon 3800+
1 GB RAM
WinXP Home -- SP2
NVidia GeForce 6600 Ultra PCI-E
Creative SB PCI 128 Ensoniq (ES 1371) Sound Card
Asus A8N SLI Deluxe MB
DX 9.0c

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

OK Thanks. The more info we get the better. I've now seen reports from people who did have this problem that have had it suddenly clear up on them and work perfectly so that just added an extra layer of weird to this whole thing. Andy and I still have not had any cases on our machines where we cannot delete formations from the core......ever.

If anyone else suddenly finds they can start deleting core units after not being able to please let me know and try to remember if there was anything at all that you might have changed in your game settings or your computer between now and then.

Don

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Just seen this post and I`d investigate as well (haven`t used the generate campaign option for a while)

Start the game, went straight to generate campaign then...I to have the same problem. I have the CD version
patched to 3.0.

Computer specs

Athlon 2800+
1 GB RAM
WinXP professional-- SP2
NVidia GeForce 6200 AGP
Nvidia on board sound
DX 9.0c
Asus A7N8X-x motherboard

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

DRG - forgot to add: I have the D/L version.



Goblin

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Some more info.

Just rebooted and tried to generate a campaign again, still same error.

However, trying the "thunder in the Sinai" (campaign 2 I think) I was able to add and delete formations no problem. I got the normal "confirmation" message.

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Just tried a two pre-existing campaigns (Silver Lions, Balkans 2008), changing the FIXED cores into OPEN cores. Gave myself some points to purchase with, then purchased. Was able to delete units (Y/N verification popped up) during this. Attempted Generated Campaign again, still unable to delete units.



Goblin

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

For example in the 5th marines 1967 campaign core is set as open and I can purchase units normally and delete them too with the Y/N verification. However if I start a fixed core campaign it gives the: "cannot delete existing core formation." So somehow the game treats generated campaigns as fixed core campaigns, when I´m starting to purchase the core units. Also I now defragged my hard disk and patched the game again from the 2.0 patch onwards. Now in versions 2.0 and 2.5 I can delete units, but when I patch it to 3.0 I can´t anymore.

I did not install the whole game again as I was unable to find it in my home and was unsuccesful trying to download it in my school, since it is over 100mb.

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Yes, that's one possiblility but remember.... not all machines have this problem. Neither Andy or I or one of our playtesters have ever been able to NOT delete core formations and one of our other Playtesters game has suddenly allowed him to do it whereas when the problem was first noted he could not and our other playtester has never been able to delete a core formation since the problem was identified. Another reason this message appears is after the first game is played in a generated campaign and although your theory could indeed be the reason for this so could the game thinking that it's already played a battle.

The thing is, we didn't make any changes to that code for this version so the mystery only deepens

Don

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Just tried again and generated a campaign. Selected a core force (two tank platoons) and was stll unable to delete them at this stage. Set the turns to two and played through scenario.

At the fix/expand core screen after battle one, I was then able to delete some core forces (removed one tank platoon) and added some infantry.

Looks like the core cannot be edited on the initial selection but can be at a later date (the interim "fix/expand" core screen

Not sure if it is helpful but I`ve attached the "in between" save games. One straight after the core selection, one after the mission and then one after changing the core force.

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

second save file-sorry cannot see how to add multiple saves

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

file file, once again sorry for the multiple posts!

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Is there any news on this problem....?

Forgive me if its discussed elsewhere and I`ve missed it.

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

The problem has been resolved and will be released next month with the v3.5 patch. The short version of a long story is some machines, and we don't know why, the game was flagging campaigns as if they were fixed core user campaigns. Other machines did not do this and worked as we expected things to work. There has been extra code added to ensure the user campaign block is cleared to 0 when it's unused and this has cleared up the problem with the playtester who had the same problem occuring.

We forgot about this after it was fixed becasue we were busy with the WW2 upgrade

Don

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Thanks for the reply and fix. Look forward to it.

When I seen the release of WinSPWW2 version 2.0 I thought this may have got "lost" as people were busy with that upgrade.

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Thanks guys. Good work, as usual. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Don,

"The problem has been resolved and will be released next month with the v3.5 patch"


Is the v3.5 Patch still on schedule for mid-April?


John

Re: HUGE issue with the campaign generator
 

Yep

Don