Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

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

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attac...1&d=1526389134

This is the Z5 level we introduced in 2005

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attac...1&d=1526389237

This is the new Z6 it is 200% of Z4

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attac...1&d=1526389297

and this is Z7 that is 300% of Z4


http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attac...1&d=1526389349

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

https://i.imgur.com/EZjf59u.png


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

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Pretty cool! I like it. No issues so far.

27” wide screen monitor
Intel Core i7 processor 4.20Ghz
16 GB ram
64 bit system
Windows 10 build 1803
Tested at 1920 x 1080 res. With 150% scaling
Direct X 12
Nvidia graphics card GTX 1070

On a side note; “not only does this make the process of building and adding new terrain to the game much, much easier”
I started a stone wall mod that replaced the tram track graphics years ago, that I used a mod swapper to exchange the files. You are welcomed to the graphics (not complete) if it would inspire any further endeavors

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

I know that " that other mod" had stonewalls and some people like them but I have never been keen on the idea at all and why they have never been added to the game

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

It's not that other mod, but my own for Camo SPWW2, but we have already spoke about terrain years ago.
Just offering it if you wanted it.
No problem.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

First of all Wow! This is pretty awesome!

Testing...

Windows 10 Pro (a virtual machine running on Windows 7 host)

12 GB RAM (Host has 32 GB RAM)
3 CPU's (Host has 8)
250 GB HDD (Host has 4 TB)
64 bit (both)

Display 1920 by 1080


In game settings to desktop and using boarderless gaming exe.

Thoughts:

Not sure how you all name the zooms but I do zoom 8 as all the way out and 1 as all the way in, if that makes sense. So here is my hex map views.

Zoom 8: whole map (doing a LC USMC CG with map preferences set to 80x80)
Zoom 7: 77 by 52 hexes
Zoom 6: 50 by 34 hexes
Zoom 5: 37 by 25 hexes
Zoom 4: 33 by 21* hexes
Zoom 3: 22 by 14** hexes
Zoom 2: 16 by 10 hexes
Zoom 1: 10 by 6 hexes

For all Zoom levels: plus the extra 2 gray hexes in upper left corner of the map.

* I normally play at this zoom level.
** This reminds me of the old SP1 zoom level.

Remarks, this is totally awesome, seems a little sluggish on zooms 1 and 2, but that is a setting that can be tweaked, default out of the box I have not touched any of the game settings with regards to speed and mouse scroll stuff. I really do like that SP 1 like zoom level (my zoom 3 above) and am getting used to it.

Zoom levels 1 and 2 are great not only for close in city fighting but in the jungle as well.

Great, great stuff, SP Camo you guys are totally awesome!

Now if we can only get a campaign game tracking like I posted in that other thread...

You guys have made this the ultimate and best SP came to date!

Many thanks for all your hard work.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

The correct sequence for describing zoom levels as we do in code

Z0.. that is the furthest out that shows the most map area
Z1
Z2
Z3
Z4 _ that is the 1:1 default
Z5 _ the extra level in we added in 2005
Z6 _ 200% of Z4 NEW
Z7 _ 300% of Z4 NEW

Remind us again in the fall about the campaign tracker....we don't code in summer. All of this was a spin off of a " I wonder if......." afternoon of coding Andy did that we wanted in as many hands as possible to playtest as it will be the standard for both game next patch if all testing is successful

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Gave it a quick try, no problems encountered (tried both with and without Borderless Gaming in ZOOM levels Z3 to Z7.

Windows 7 Pro 64bit
Intel Core i5 3470
RAM 16 GB
Monitor (iiyama GB2783QSU-B1) 27”with resolution 2560 x 1440 with 100% scaling
2nd screen (Philips 273PLPH with 1920 x 1080) was not used
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 Driver Version 397.31
DirectX 11

I will update in case I find any issues or when I checked it on my other PC.

Thanks for your continued support to this game.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Yep - I had noticed that the 3rd party graphics library we use for SHP graphics had another rendering function that allows you to resize a sprite when you splat it.

The routine the original code uses does not have the ability to scale a sprite so it meant we had to have pre-sized sprites, which then means that you needed a duplicate set of the entire graphics SHPs re-sized for each terrain level. And since the game reads in each graphics sprite set to an array in RAM as it is required, that uses your RAM up as well as the hard disk storage.

Now only the default 100% size sprite sets are read into RAM, reducing memory usage.

Since that rendering routine also allows sprite rotation, my next hacking at the game will be for vertically laid out terrain hexes, so you can have the normal "wargames table" game view where you are on the bottom of the map looking across from behind your troops at the enemy player opposite. That may work or turn out to be a can of worms...;)

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Are we being teased of a 3D (or pseudo 3D) Steel Panthers?? ;)

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Nothing about 3D in there whatsoever.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

If your saying what I am thinking your saying that will be totally awesome! I have always had a wish for the map to be oriented (flipped if you will) around so I can always head 'north'. Much like when I used to play SL and ASL, one would sit on his side of the map looking down, it gives a more 'normal' view of the war game map.

That would be freaking awesome.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Yes - that is what I am looking to do, if its possible.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

The big bombers look quite nice at Z7............

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attac...1&d=1526485718

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

This tool is simply incredible. Now the games are much more fluid and also greatly improves the graphics. Many thanks to Don and Andy, you are incredible, really. You make me happy every day of my life, your simulations are the best there is:). I just have this question: Will there be something similar for winSPMBT ?. Take care and a big hug: Your friend Jorge:up:

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Thanks about this Don & Andy:). Btw, do you have similar mod made (or under works) for WinSPMBT too?

Warhero

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Lets see - we have something out for end user testing, using the same engine as the other game we make.....

Well, maybe if it all tests out fine then the changes just possibly might be ported over to the other game that uses the same engine, dontcha think?.

Duh - what a no brainer. Subject to testing not throwing a spanner in the works, of course these changes will be ported over to MBT for the next release.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Here is a couple of screen shots

Z5
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiSjv0_WD-X3zEcSZdLvz4iOZEfx

Z6
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiSjv0_WD-X3zEELQumQTV0NkChq

I think that is right zoom levels.


One more view.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiSjv0_WD-X3zEaQ5GGu0h7NTZ8e


So far no issues, I have several campaign games going on (Long CG USMC, 20 game German 40-45, 10 game German SS West Front, Long CG German East Front 41-45, and UK 20 game 43-45). No issues so far, all is well and good.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Yes, of course, if this test continues to go well the changes will be ported over to MBT for the next patch release for sure.... maybe we might issue an EXE for MBT before then but as I have already said. We don't code in the summer any longer. This was a spin-off from a rainy day experiment and we decided to give it some playtesting over summer rather than wait then find out there are problems with some systems we didn't anticipate so nothing will be done for MBT until summers well over.

Don

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Would that change the hex spine alignment to this?

If so and add stone walls, and I'll buy both games...again :D

Thanks again for your continuing efforts and wizardry.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Thanks again guys for your continued work on the games!


With the effective removal of a large number of terrain .shp files, will we see the addition of some more tile sets (thinking Afghan-style compounds, Hesco barriers, red tiled roofed European houses, additional bridge types, etc)?

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

It doesn't work that way.....we only eliminated the NEED for the extra zoom levels NOT the main Z4 files themselves

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Tried it on my old Sony desktop. No problems so far. It works fine on my Dell laptop with Windows 10.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Just some more screen shots:

Z7:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiSjv0_WD-X3zEg6S4tTfbC_OxuA

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiSjv0_WD-X3zEuYFCQoiP-u9c9K

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiSjv0_WD-X3zE35iK56Pm5ufrbt

Z6:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiSjv0_WD-X3zE5X7DYuR_Xz66S6

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiSjv0_WD-X3zE-OT2_nh9bUQuGG

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiSjv0_WD-X3zFDqq5xlLhciOoKZ

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiSjv0_WD-X3zFHIJ9EZct7pCdgu

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

IDK why but this is all I see with your screen shots

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

How old is the " old Sony desktop " ? What OS is it using ?

Using my old Dell Pentium III with XP it ran but unit movement was slow even with graphics delay at zero but I suspect there aren't many Pentium III's still in use and I am not tossing out an improvement like this so it can run on 18 year old computers... :D

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

I'm also interested to hear from anyone using Linux or Mac

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

That is weird, not sure why, let me check the original post.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

First of all, thank you for keeping this game alive with great updates since this is my first post after lurking around your forums since I bought CD version years ago.

I've tested new EXE with my ongoing long campaign close to 6 hours now on a 110 H x 155 W map (I randomize map size every battle)in some case with 20+ units on screen at highest zoom level. I have seen no issues with it. I love the extra zoom when things get chaotic within a small area with all the smoke and fire raging on. I have a relatively high end system so it may not be a good benchmark but wanted to post anyway in case anyone wonders about the performance on an ultra-wide screen resolution.

Here are my PC specs:

Monitor: 34in 21:9 Screen
Resolution: 3440 x 1440
Windows 10 64bit
i7 CPU at 4 GHz
GTX 1070 GPU
16 GB Ram

Zoomed all the way in I see an area spanning 15.5 hex wide x 6.9 hex high
Zoomed all the way out I can see up to 132 high and max width covers only ~70% of the screen.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

34 in monitor in 3440 x 1440......nice

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

I'm running the game using Windows 7 on a Toshiba Intel i3, 4gb laptop, connected to a 1920x1080 monitor. I don't see any issues at all after playing through an entire scenario of my USMC long campaign, 35 turns. The z7 view is too small in terms of visible hexes and a bit pixelated for my personal tastes. But I do like the z6 level, very useful for up close and personal fighting ;^)

Steve

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Z7 was a " why not" addition after we got Z6 working. The one thing consistent for both Z6 ( 200% ) and Z7 ( 300%) is that they are even enlargements of Z4 so although it does increase the size of each pixel it does without the slight distortion of the terrain or icon as the others do

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

I get funky colors when running this new experimental .exe (bright pink background, etc.). The v11 .exe runs just fine. I can take a screenshot if that would help.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Please...... and your system / OS information and whether you are running windowed or fullscreen

.........and if you can post the screen shot as a zipped PNG so I can see all the detail. The Shrapnel restrictions on attachment size makes posting a good quality full sized screen shot impossible without it being zipped

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Another quick test OK, this time on an older setup, no problems encountered (again both with and without Borderless Gaming in ZOOM levels Z3 to Z7 in WINDOWED mode).

Windows 7 Pro 64bit
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz
RAM 8 GB
Monitor (Samsung SyncMaster 214T) 21”with resolution 1600 x 1200@60Hz with 100% scaling
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 Driver Version 391.35
DirectX 11

Hope that helps.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

I'm still waiting for this "funky colors" screen shot......this change WILL be the standard for both games in the next patch unless it has a "gotcha" for some people like you describe but without supporting screenshots reports like this that nobody else sees don't mean anything. If anyone else sees anything like this I need a screenshot to investigate
...and please.... just zip it up, most screen shots posted are greater than the allowed limit and get so distorted they are useless unless posted as a zip.

To date there have been 89 DL's and we have only had comments back on a fraction of those.....we NEED more feedback on this because as it stands now aside from this one report it's working perfectly for everyone who's tried it and made a report as I requested at the start

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Works fine modern system so did not post

Funky colours by GJK running in fullscreen mode?

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

That was my first thought and why I asked what mode he was running.....knowing the OS would be nice too

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Just loving all the new zoom levels this one was taken in full zoom.


https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiSjv0_WD-X3zSeHEMqCPDZs0Ne6
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiSjv0_WD-X3zSeHEMqCPDZs0Ne6

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

I feel scrolling the map is more laggy, so I'm not sure if that's better in the whole.
Win10Pro64b, Core i3-6320 3.9GHz, 8Go RAM, GeForce GTX 750Ti 2Go

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

I believe you can adjust the lag, you'll need to check your scroll settings.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Did you try making an adjustment to scrolling in GameOptions ?

MISC tab -> scroll speed

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Re - laggy scrolling.

That usually occurs with me if I am trying to run the game in full-screen mode. It works just fine at the same resolution in windowed mode, at desktop resolution.

Basically Full-screen mode is only there because of historical reasons (it used to be the fastest mode, in windows 98 and perhaps early XP). Modern windows video drivers don't really handle that mode well. In addition, you will see more scrambled palette problems in windowed mode because modern windows assume that mode is obsolete, windows 7 had to have a special batch file written since it uses the game's 256 colour palette for "aero" desktop effects.

So if it is set to "Full screen" mode then switch to "Windowed" mode and the lag should disappear.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Linux Mint, using Wine on default settings. Works a treat without graphics corruption of any kind.

Every time I start the game (using either .exe) I get a popup box that says "auto-hide detected" and warns me about graphics corruption. I disregard it and click through; it all works fine.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

I also took it for a spin in Linux mint (with Wine, it's great how easy SPWW2 installed in a non-native env and just runs!) and it works great.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Excellent news Re Linux

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Yes I play fullscreen. I didn't see palette problem.
I understand now why I feel games are badly made: as they don't use fullscreen, when I go in bottom of screen then it makes appear my Windows taskbar, it's boring.
I didn't test with SP at now (writing from work office).

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

The game will run better if you use windowed mode and the borderless gaming app to get the "full screen" effect.

Information on that is in the game guide near the beginning under "Game Requirements" there is a link provided. It's a small program and works well with the game

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

What Don says is true. I use window mode and borderless gaming it goes into full screen and works perfectly with no issues.

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

Thanks! https://sourceforge.net/projects/bor...gaming.mirror/
(I don't know why the manual links to Steam)
I've still to retry SteelP

Re: Experimental winSPWW2 EXE--May 15, 2018
 

No it does not work, winSP is not compatible with BorderlessGaming, as it ask to remove automatic taskbar. Other games are okay with both, BlessGaming and windows taskbar.