CENTAG 78 still ok under latest version

[Juramentado]

I resurrected an old 1.5 campaign CENTAG 78. Still works and has aged nicely under the latest game engine changes. Some minor oddities, ZSU-23/4 shows up as a mobile SAM launcher, but nothing show stopping. I've been looking for more Cold War stuff, esp., Fulda Gap and Cavalry type actions, and it's great this one stills works.

[shahadi]

I resurrected an old 1.5 campaign CENTAG 78. Still works and has aged nicely under the latest game engine changes.


Hmmm...I'm not familiar with this campaign, but please do post it here.

Some minor oddities, ZSU-23/4 shows up as a mobile SAM launcher, but nothing show stopping. I've been looking for more Cold War stuff, esp., Fulda Gap and Cavalry type actions, and it's great this one stills works.

This should not be a problem to work around or apply a fix.

TY Juramentado
-----

[DRG]

Run the scenarios through Scenhack and fix the problems that show up and rebuild it and post it here as campaign 17 and if people like it I'll put it in the next patch.....so sooner is better than later

Don

[Juramentado]

Hi Folks - I pulled it down a long time ago from the Wargamer file depot. As far as I can tell, this is the creation of one Robert F. Mendoza, there's an HTML file with an e-mail address. I'll certainly be happy to put up the file, but I'm not savvy enough with the utilities to be able to fix it. Perhaps someone more skilled would like to take the opportunity? I also imagine we'll need the author's blessing to mod it?

[DRG]

Post it and I'll have a look at it

[Juramentado]

Sure thing. I can't find it anymore on Wargamer, here is the copy that I kept. Thanks!

[DRG]

OK, I'm right in the middle of some code work so I'll look at this later today or tomorrow

Don

[DRG]

Here is a revised for 2015 copy of CENTAG 78 .

I HOPE there are no issues with it due to OOB changes because I rebuilt it using the next release OOB's. There were a number of minor OOB problems that showed up since it was first created. One scenario had over 50 units with issues another had at least 40 but a couple only a few. If anyone wishes to playtest........ please do. I hope these changes that I had to make due to OOB differences don't affect gameplay with last years OOB's........ I don't think they will but, it's possible.

The ONLY thing I did was replace problem units with new ones. I have not altered the troops set up at all

Don

ATTACHMENT REMOVED UNTIL ISSUES ARE SORTED OUT

[Suhiir]

Is this suppose to have Core units?
I was given 49,950 points to buy units with.

[DRG]

I can see the core in the first scenario when it's loaded as a standalone scenario and I can see the units in Scenhack , it's only 24 units

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=13489&stc=1&d=1425963247

but when the campaign is loaded it's not showing up and nothing is showing up if you have points set to XXX ( in the original ) so IDK if I'm going to find the time to sort this one out or not. I'm right in the middle of two more pressing issues. I thought ( HA !! )this could be a quick fix with scenhack but apparently thinking that was my first mistake.

it will be at least a day before I can even think about looking into this further but if someone with more campaign building experience wants to dig into the original and get this sorted out... good luck

[DRG]

I just looked at the dates of the original files and this was created in 2002-2003 but ONE .DAT file was altered and saved in 2010 so this is a DOS campaign that may or may not have been converted to the windows format with Campaign Hack in 2010 so this is a little more serious that it appeared at first and likely why the original core is not showing in the campaign but it will from an extracted scenario...... A LOT has changed in the game in the last 12 years . The fact it even loads is remarkable

[DRG]

I resurrected an old 1.5 campaign CENTAG 78. Still works and has aged nicely under the latest game engine changes. Some minor oddities, ZSU-23/4 shows up as a mobile SAM launcher, but nothing show stopping. I've been looking for more Cold War stuff, esp., Fulda Gap and Cavalry type actions, and it's great this one stills works.


When you first loaded this on your machine did you see the fixed core units ??

[DRG]

Update.

I may have something soon. I've had to rebuild it from the ground up using the extracted scenarios and now the core formations show up ...so that's a step in the right direction.

Don

[DRG]

OK, Lets try this.

Centag 78 has been rebuilt from scratch using the original as a guide . If anyone would like to playtest this I would be very interested in feedback. If it plays well it can go into the next update. I have no experience with the original so I don't know what was intended or expected and despite developing the game for a decade and a half I've NOT had the urge ( or time ) to build a campaign let alone attempted to rebuild a 12 year old one I'm unfamiliar with so the learning curve was steep and it was not like maintaining an existing campaign ( as I hoped at the outset of this little adventure )

The first scenario is interesting in that you REALLY need to not get yourself backed into a corner..... shoot and scoot Brave, Brave Sir Robin.......:)

EDIT...... played the first scenario of the campaign..... no issues at all. I got a draw which is about as much as you can expect to get without divine intervention. Lost 10 men, one tank, one APC . Both were the result of waiting a bit too long before bugging out. I believe it's possible to play that scenario out, and inflict serious casualties and take none of your own with some skill at a lot of luck but even If I'd managed to do that I don't think it would have bumped me up to Marginal victory but it would have been very close ( and it would be nice to not lose a unit and that Patton handed away over half my total lost)

Don

[Juramentado]

Hi Don,

I swear I didn't change the DAT file. You're talking to someone who can barely navigate the OOB Editor, so it must have been that way when I pulled it off WarGamer. I did see the core units at one point. I can try to playtest it since I'm almost half-way through the older version of the Campaign Now, so I sort of know what the behavior is like at least up to that point.

Regards,

-Armando

[DRG]

Probably what happened was someone used CampaignHack to convert it to windows before they posted it as only that DAT file is changed when that event occurs but I never saw the core until I rebuilt it

[whdonnelly]

Juramentado and Don,
Couldn't wait to play this! Reminds of the days when I actually bought computer games and rushed home to play them. This was fun, and it runs great on a surface 3 with Windows 8.1. Just a few turns in with no issues.
Thanks guys!
Will

[DRG]

BTW, if you lose the first scenario this message will appear so.... FYI...otherwise you'll have no way of knowing you can't just take a couple of potshots and bug out

QUOTE

You have been utterly unsuccessful in accomplishing your mission objectives.*
Your failure has jeopardized the tactical situation in your sector

Note - Soviet unit costs have been drastically reduced to tailor the victory conditions for this scenario.* To achieve a draw or a victory, your force must cause some causalities on the enemy and have a majority of your units survive either by moving off the playing area, hiding, or total destruction of enemy units.*

[Suhiir]

I recall playing the original campaign once, but having issues with some of the edited units (1st Sgt etc.) regaining their default crew size during subsequent scenarios in the campaign thus not fitting into the vehicles provided for them.

[Steves308]

I remember playing this campaign years ago. It was fun, and in most of the scenarios, your core force is more like an auxiliary force, as the aux forces are much larger than the Cav platoon you start with.

Don, I downloaded the file you uploaded yesterday and started the campaign. The first scenario would start with no core force. Looking at campaign in the campaign editor, I saw the core force was set to "Open", but no build points had been specified. I changed the core force to "Fixed", started the campaign and the Cav platoon core force magically appeared. I didn't get the chance to actually try and play more than the first turn of the first scenario, but the scenario did cycle through to turn 2.

Steve

[DRG]

It's set to "Fixed" in the copy I uploaded on the 10th......

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=13491&stc=1&d=1426075730




I've deleted the first version I posted on the 9th so I can't check. Who knows, that may have been the only problem with it. As I said. I've never actually built a campaign before just maintained the scenarios so I didn't double check the set up of the original ASSUMING it was as the original developer intended

[Juramentado]

So far so good. 1st scenario working with no surprises. We won't know about incorrect vehicle sprites until about 2nd or 3rd battle, which is where I started to see ZSU-23/4s looking like mobile SAMs.

[DRG]

The all should be corrected. I went through each scenario with Scenhack. The only issue might be for you is if I used an icon that exists in my files but not yours until the update is released but I don't think this will be the case

[DRG]

Well there have been 26 DL's..... don't be shy, a little feedback goes a long way. We know the first scenario works

[DRG]

So far so good. 1st scenario working with no surprises. We won't know about incorrect vehicle sprites until about 2nd or 3rd battle, which is where I started to see ZSU-23/4s looking like mobile SAMs.


I found them. Scenhack doesn't check inappropriate Icons. Unzip this to your Campaigns folder, it fixes Icon issues in the second and fifth scenarios of that campaign

[Juramentado]

Perfect timing, I'm just about to roll over to Scenario # 2.

[Juramentado]

Finished 2nd and 3rd - I think I was on the 5th or 6th using the original campaign files so I'm getting closer to where I was before. So far, so good. No showstoppers that I can find.

[Juramentado]

Hi Don,

So far pretty good. I lost count - this is either 4th or 5th battle in, and I noticed this unit roaming the field. It looks like a weps carrier, but the description reads 83mm mortar (3). I've included the info file. Does this make sense or another sprite problem?

Thanks!

-Armando

[DRG]

I will look into it

[DRG]

It's supposed to be a mortar unit. When the campaign was created it was but that unit was removed and replaced at some point.

Correction attached

[Juramentado]

Thanks!

I did note a slight gameplay issue now. So - I don't wish to spoil it for people, but there's a mission where your ground forces don't matter - it's all Air Cav, all the time. However, no matter how much I manipulate the forces, I automatically garner an 11,000+ penalty for arty overload. I even put in a custom Open Force where it was all ground forces, two helos and no arty and I still get the same. Not sure where that's coming from though.

[DRG]

Don't worry about "spoilers" at this stage... right now this is open playtesting. We are reviving an old campaign nobody expected to find and there will be issues like this in something that was not updated release by release.

For the most part this conversion seems to be going well aside from the occasional glitch and these reports help straighten that out

[DRG]

I know why it's giving all those overload points..... the Russian side has a HUGE number of ammo re-supply units that have had their points jacked 10x normal. I should have an answer if this is "a good thing" or not later today.

Don

[Juramentado]

Thanks Don. While you're in there, same Air Cav scenario, the Human Player has two F-111 airstrikes on call. When I invoked them, the sprite for the plane was some sort of prop fixed wing aircraft.

[DRG]

I'll take a look.......


Now corrected. I'll update this once I sort the ammo supply issue

[DRG]

Thanks Don. While you're in there, same Air Cav scenario, the Human Player has two F-111 airstrikes on call. When I invoked them, the sprite for the plane was some sort of prop fixed wing aircraft.


Question...... are you saving the end of each turn as a separate save so you can go back and replay an update if I issue it ?

Don

[DRG]

This attachment corrects the issues discovered in the sixth scenario of this campaign. The F-111 now all have the correct Icon and there is no longer an enormous arty overload points penalty given to the US side on completion of this scenario. ( which is only 8 turns but the objective is to create as much chaos as possible in a very short time )

Please note to anyone coming into this late.......... the corrections I've been issuing as problems in this old campaign are identified and corrected all need to be installed in the order they were issued because they deal with sequential scenarios within the campaign.

As stated earlier this is "open playtesting" . This campaign is a "bonus" to the next update so we are fixing this as we discover problems as it's probably not been updated since it was released and the OOB's have changed A LOT since then.

Don

[Juramentado]

Hi Don - fair point. I forget to increment saves. I'll have to do that going forward. :( Thanks!

[Juramentado]

I haven't dropped off this thread - I had to restart the campaign after making sure all the updates were installed in order. Back on Battle #2, so I'm making my way to the Air Cav scenario again.

[Suhiir]

I'll take a look at this myself once I finish the scenario I'm currently playtesting.

[Juramentado]

On Air Cab now. Looks like it got more difficult, with less chained explosions. I doubt that was the result of point value changes though.

[Juramentado]

Got thru Air Cav - now on Mission #7.

[Juramentado]

Made it to the last mission. So far, no unexpected behavior, weird sprites, etc. This might be good to go for the next patch!

[DRG]

Thank you for testing this. It is in the next patch