Dosbox

[DRG]

If anyone has a copy of SP1 or SP2 running in DOSBOX let me know. There is a test I would like you to run

Don

[MarkSheppard]

What do you need run? Do you have a specific version of SP1/2 you need it run on? Keep in mind I may not be able to do it right away.

[DRG]

Go to the map editor and create a short section of paved road on a clear map from left to right... it just has to be 4 - 6 hexes, not a long section----- when you are done that use the mouse to check the last section of road .....the right side if you place it left to right..... does it show a road tile but report being clear terrain?

Next using the same paved road double click on the map then move to another section of map and double click... you should not see a road..... do those hexes report a road when you place the mouse cursor over that hex?


Don

[MarkSheppard]

Okay, loaded Steel Panthers Arsenal version of SP2 in dosbox...

A. Left to right placed paved road on clear map; the last section of road (right side) shows a road tile, but instead reports clear terrain.

B. Double clicking on the map, then moving to another section and double clicking...I don't see a road, but when I put the info cursor over it, I get it reported as a paved road.

[lukerduker123]

Not sure if this matters or not, but this happens to me quite a bit in 'normal' SPMBT. Another bug I noticed recently is that deleting a bocage tile then adding it back again makes it far, far shorter.

[DRG]

Originally Posted by lukerduker123

Not sure if this matters or not, but this happens to me quite a bit in 'normal' SPMBT. Another bug I noticed recently is that deleting a bocage tile then adding it back again makes it far, far shorter.

That will be looked into as well but I have not been able to recreate the "far shorter" part. The code for each of the continuous terrain types is very similar but each one has it's subtle differences and it's those subtle differences that can bite you.

The best advice for map makers would be.....even if this does get fixed... is to remember, when filling a gap between two continuous terrain types.... roads, trenches, streams, hedgerows.... then " best practice" would be to click on the hex on EITHER SIDE of that gap and place the terrain so it spans those three hexes not just the one to one side of the gap or the other and the gap ( so three hexes not just two )

When we compile game code a report is generated that gives the details of the event and right now that report shows SPww2 game code compiles 13,335,132 lines of code

Thirteen MILLION, Three Hundred and thirty-five, one hundred and thirty-two lines of code....

Think about that a minute. Sometimes finding things like this once known and proved only narrows the search down to a fraction of that but even a fraction of that is a big number and Andy needs to know what fraction to look in

Don

[scorpio_rocks]

Originally Posted by DRG

... SPww2 game code compiles 13,335,132 lines of code

Thirteen MILLION, Three Hundred and thirty-five, one hundred and thirty-two lines of code....

Yikes!

[DRG]

Originally Posted by MarkSheppard

Okay, loaded Steel Panthers Arsenal version of SP2 in dosbox...

A. Left to right placed paved road on clear map; the last section of road (right side) shows a road tile, but instead reports clear terrain.

B. Double clicking on the map, then moving to another section and double clicking...I don't see a road, but when I put the info cursor over it, I get it reported as a paved road.

As we suspected this goes back to the original game but as of the next patch both games will no longer do A or B.

It's a long story but Andy made a slight change to SPww2 code and gaps were noticed appearing in maps in sections of paved road but using older EXEs the road appeared perfectly normal but passing your mouse cursor down the road would reveal gaps where the road ended and the underlying terrain was reported..... but to anyone looking at the map it looked like continuous road. The problem did not occur with secondary roads.

What was happening was the last hex in a series of paved road that was put down was showing a road tile but road terrain was not actually being recorded so if you travelled a tank down that road you would go from road to clear then back to road again but everything looked OK.

If a mapmaker made a habit of laying a section of road then starting the next section from the next clear hex showing on the map a gap was being created. If however, the map maker made a habit of laying a section of road then starting the next section from the last tile of the road showing then a gap was not be created.

The revised code reads if a road tile is actually on the hex and if yes makes that a road tile hex so all the maps and scenarios that have these little gaps here and there....and there are hundreds of them... will , with the next patch for both games....be automagically fixed... they will not report the underlying terrain so if a road looks like a road it WILL BE a road

...and it will no longer do B either


Don

[MarkSheppard]

Originally Posted by MarkSheppard

Okay, loaded Steel Panthers Arsenal version of SP2 in dosbox...

This is a response to someone who sent me a PM asking what "Arsenal" was; but had "no messages" set; so I couldn't reply back to him via PM:

...

The Arsenal Version was the "bundled CD" re-release of SP1 through SP3 with all the campaign discs included back in 1998.

https://videogamegeek.com/videogame/...nthers-arsenal

The one unique thing on it was a modified version of SP3 with netcode for internet head to head.

[DRG]

Yeah, it surprised me too but it is what it is..... a large and complicated program. A "line" of code might be as simple as a single }.......or not but still, its 13 million plus lines and they all have to "play nice" with one another and sometimes it creates sleepless nights when one misplaced } can stop the code from compiling or make it do things you don't realize are being done for a quarter century.