winSPWW2 version 9.0 - 12.0 Consolidation patch
NOW AVAILABLE !
255 New Scenarios
116 Revised Scenarios
8 New Campaigns
8 Revised Campaigns
20 New or Revised maps
401 New or Revised OOB Photos
36 Updated OOB files
935 Vehicle/aircraft Icons
304 New or Revised Encyclopaedia Text file
1 revised sound file
* Campaign games – If your core force is extremely large, then the only way the AI will be able to have sufficient points is to be the delayer or defender. Therefore the human player will see more assault and advance missions in this case.
* Planes which crash off map should now show the entire points value for the aircraft, not the damage at the point it was shot down.
* Random games will generate fewer low visibility conditions than before.
* A code quirk, some might call it a bug, that allowed players, particularly PBEM players, the ability to Z-Fire or X- Smoke into a hex with on map artillery then go to the bombardment menu and get a 0.1 delay for a full bombardment has been eliminated. It is no longer possible to do that and a side benefit for some players, but perhaps not to the players who loved to do "recon by Z-fire", is that it is no longer possible to Z-fire into a hex then repeat, repeat, repeat using the F key. Every Z fire now needs to be done individually because after a Z-fire the process is now reset to zero after each Z-Fire so that hex cannot be used to circumvent the artillery bombardment routine delay.
* Vehicles will now show drop shadow on paved road. They didn't for years. Now they do.
* 14 scenarios that Don Lazov resurrected from old archives have been added and updated.
* A bug that has existed in the game back to before we started working on the code has been found and eliminated that affected paved road in particular when it was manually placed on a map but not when the map was auto-generated by the game. The bug, in slightly different forms, affected streams as well as hedgerows when placed on the map but then had sections removed and then added back in again, if the mapmaker did not place the terrain on either side of the gap then in some cases it would appear the terrain was there but the game recorded and treated that hex for sighting and movement as being whatever the underlying terrain was. This bug fix not only corrects that problem for any new maps made but also in pre-existing maps and scenarios where the problem was mostly confined to hand made maps that used paved road as before this release if a map maker placed a paved road in a 5 hex line there would be paved road showing in all five hexes but the last hex placed would show a road tile but it was not being recorded as a road and this means if a map maker added small sections of road to a map and each time started the next section after that last hex showing a road was being built with many breaks that could not be seen but anyone driving down that road you would not be getting the full road allowance as you would passing over sections of the underlying terrain even though it appeared to be a road. The bug did not cause a problem with secondary roads as secondary road code was slightly different, and still is, as it only placed a tile up to the last hex but not on it.
In the case of streams, it was placing a "ford" on the map every time you started a stream which isn't such a problem as the roads but it was unintended and in Hedgerows, it was not giving the proper density to the first hex in the line for sighting purposes. However, all these little problems, that were not so "little" to fix, have been eliminated so now WYSIWYG and all old maps and scenarios will be automatically purged of these issues when using this new EXE.
* UnitClass Commandos now have the same parachute ability level as Paratroops so they suffer fewer casualties when landing.
* Aircraft will no longer strafe at extreme angles though they may still fire one or two hexes off the flight path
* Maps will now save crater damage again.
* Ammo containers can be loaded onto trucks.
* Fewer objective flags will be auto placed on mud hexes in generated battles.
* There is now a slightly higher chance of flaming wrecks blocking LOS.
* The Replay key Y / N will no longer play UNLESS Y or N is pressed. Formerly any key other than N set off the replay.
* The AI will now occasionally select the twin-engine ground attack aircraft in the USA and USMC OOB that are set up in unitclass 243 Ground Attack when it picks aircraft for the P2 Computer playing as USA or USMC . Those are the A-26, B-26, P-38 etc aircraft
* Airstrikes set for specific in and out points in scenarios should now "follow orders". The AI was sending them in at random directions as it would in a generated battle but they should now behave as the scenario designer set them.
* The formula for calculating aerial bomb ratings has been adjusted so the "little" ones are more effective and are not so much worthless wet firecrackers any longer.
* Bicycle infantry units (
winSPWW2 only--- this function was not added to winSPMBT ) are now handled differently. Bicycles and riders are now two units instead of one blended one. When riders dismount they change to normal infantry Icons and their bicycles are shown laying on the ground immobilized so bicycle riding units can get the same road speed bonus they used to get but without the unit size penalty they used to have. When they dismount, they can then fight as normal infantry with the same Movement as non-bicycle infantry and when combat is done they can remount their bicycles once again and continue on until the next combat, Abandoned Bicycles can be used by any infantry Unit class in the same way as dedicated Bicycle troops do
*
CD owners Only. (
winSPWW2 only--- this function was not added to winSPMBT ) There is a new feature that allows CD owners / scenario designers primarily, the ability to change the ID tags and Victory Hex Flags to either an existing OOB or from a set of tags and flags that have been added to the SHP files for nations not covered by a full OOB which allows scenario designers the ability to customize scenarios and simulate nations not covered by the normal game OOB's. That procedure is detailed in the CD section of the game guide.
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CD owners Only- As the result of code changes to the way the game displays terrain graphics, there are now
8 game display levels. Three more than previous, each of those allow you to zoom in closer to units on the map. The base zoom level, the one you see when you first start up the game is Z4 and previous versions of the game also allowed you to zoom in 1.5X closer than Z4 using Z5 but the new zoom-ins allow 2X closer than Z4 using Z6 and 3X closer than Z4 using Z7 and 4x closer than Z4 using Z8. How this will look to each gamer depends on what size your monitor screen is and what resolution it uses so in some cases with older, smaller monitors the greater zoom-ins may not be as useful to you as they would someone with a large monitor that displays at very High resolutions.
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CD owners Only- There is now a Delete button for the scenarios page like the one for saved games.
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CD owners Only- There is now a GoTo button in the Campaign Editor scenario links page.
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CD owners Only-Pressing
( the # Hotkey ) during your turn will turn your bombardment markers on and off so you can see where they are if you are advancing into your own barrage. It will also show which guns are targeting the hex
* CD owners Only-Pressing [ on your keyboard will show the victory hex values under the V hexes.
This example shows both the Victory Hex values ( [ ) on, and the bombardment markers with guns targeted (#)CD features
* CD owners Only-Pressing ] on your keyboard will force V hexes to the top of all building rubble, as well as smoke and units, so they cannot be hidden in any way. Just remember when this is on it may hide units as well so it is intended for temporary use only.
* CD owners Only- Scenhacks "Nation" button will no longer switch the entire OOB from one nation to another only the ID tags now.
* CD owners Only- Scenhack now shows the Scenario number and they are no longer being added to the CMT file.
* CD owners Only- Setting visibility can now be done in 10's or ones. Low visibility games 7 and under show a red number, 8- 20 will show yellow numbers and anything greater than 20 shows in green. You will see two rows of up/down arrows. The inner set changes by one and the outer set changes by 10's
* CD owners Only. You can now flood fill areas of zero elevation with deep water using the " key in both the in-game map editor and the extended map editor. This was primarily added to be a map making support tool for use with the Venhola map contours generator but it can be used for hand made maps as well. For shoreline maps, it saves a great deal of time but be aware that sometimes beach areas are recorded by Venhola as the same level as the water so those areas and any areas of shallow water you may want troops to wade through will need to be added manually
* CD owners Only. There is a new “find text” function in the Scenhack utility that allows players to search through all scenario description text files to find specific text references. Once the search is run this new feature will provide a list of the scenarios in order, that match the search inquiry, For example, perhaps Arnhem or D-Day or Berlin is entered and all the scenarios with that word or phrase used in the scenario description file will be listed. You can then click on the one that interests you and you will be taken to the "Scenario Fixer" tab and read the scenario description by clicking on the Scenario button. It can also be very handy for finding scenarios created by a specific designer. Simply enter the name and it will provide a list of any scenario that has that designers name on it. As well, scenhack now allows SQL's database queries to be saved and loaded from a new folder placed in the game named 'SQL". The usage of these functions is explained on the CD features / Scenhack section at the end of the game guide.
* CD owners Only. There is a new "Units In Hex" feature for the Full CD game that allows you to select the unit you want easily when you have multiple units in a hex.
If for example you have four units in a hex and you own the CD version you will see this to the right of the screen
The top unit shown is the one you clicked on and is the "active" unit that you can move or fire or whatever you want to do but let's assume you want to use the observer team to call artillery, Click on that unit and the list will re-order and change.
Now the Observer team is the unit you have direct control over in that hex and if you wanted to select one of the rifle sections just pick the one you want and it will appear at the top of the list and that is the one you have control of.
PLEASE REMEMBER. SECURE PBEM GAMES WILL FAIL IF THIS UPGRADE IS EXTRACTED WHILE A GAME IS ONGOING.