Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018

[DRG]

This experimental EXE is now the standard for the 2019 versions of both games so the one that was attached that had 501 downloads has been removed

You will find an experimental winSPWW2.EXE attached . We would ask that anyone who playtests this for us do the following

1/ Either create a duplicate version of winSPww2 on your HD then extract this EXE to the main folder overwriting the original EXE

OR

2/ Rename the exiting winSPWW2.EXE however you like and then extract this to your game


This experimental winSPWW2.EXE draws the terrain graphics used by the game in a much different way than all previous versions of Steel Panthers. Andy and I have both tested this on our main machines and the difference in game speed is only noticeable using a stop watch. You *may* need to lower the graphics delay settings in MISC/ GameOptions a bit but neither of us has had to do this to make the game play normally but with older computers this may be an issue and by older I mean 10 years and up. But we don't know for sure and the reason we are testing in this way

The EXE will run for both the Free and the CD version of the game but for the CD version there are bonuses the free version does not have.

Since I started using a widescreen monitor I have wanted to have a sixth zoom in level that would double the image size of both terrain and vehicles over the standard but that would require rebuilding every terrain set manually including adjusting X/ Y offsets for every single tile. This exe does away with the need for any terrain except the standard 1:1 Z4 as the game is now displaying terrain graphics in the same way it displays vehicle graphics which means not only does this make the process of building and adding new terrain to the game much, much easier it also allows that 2:1 zoom level I have wanted for years but since 2:1 was now possible we added 3:1 as well so this EXE increases the number of zoom in/out views from 5 to 7. The added zoom in levels I find are handy in situations were combat is close in and involved many units.... a city battle for example where you may want to pick one specific unit to target in a hex that has 3 or 4 units.

We both agree not everyone will find this useful but we also agree, some will.

We would ask that anyone who tries this gives feedback on how it runs on their machine and O/S ( and we would like to know if there is a problem what your machine specs are and what O/S you are using ).

We have both tested this using Windows 10 and it runs flawlessly but we don't know how it will work with other O/S and that is why we need the feedback so please if you do DL and try this give us some feedback. We don't want to see 100 downloads and 3 people commenting. We need initial impression then again after a week or two of gameplay.........anything out of the "ordinary"

Here are examples of the new zoom

This is Z4.... that is the standard that all graphic in the game start from



This is the Z5 level we introduced in 2005



This is the new Z6 it is 200% of Z4



and this is Z7 that is 300% of Z4




and this is Z8 that is 400% of Z4 that will be in the next patch for both games




You may also notice that units and terrain seem a *bit* more defined now.... the drop shadow code has been reworked for both units and terrain as well.

EDIT

Further info

on my monitor Z4 displays 34x22 full hexes ( 1,750 m x 1,100 m )

Z5 ( 150 % of Z4 ) displays 23x14 ( 1,150 m x 700 m )

The new Z6 displays 17x11 ( 850 m x 550 m )

and Z7 displays 11x7 ( 550 m x 350 m )

NEW Z8 displays 8.5 x 5.5 ( 425 m x 275 m)

Don