> Previous Page End CD - Extended Features These additional Game Features are only available on the extended CD version available from Shrapnel Games To Order the Extended version of the game either via Electronic Download or as a Safe Box Version , click HERE Display settings The regular game allows you to play in 640x480 or 800x600 screen resolution in both full screen and windowed mode. The additional extended features on the CD allow you to set the screen resolution to 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x1024 and 1600x1280. The maximum game resolution is determined by your systems display resolution. If you have your monitor set to 1152x864 then that is the maximum size for the game as well. When v5.5 was released widescreen support was added to the game for CD owners. This allows players to run the game at the same resolution as your normal desktop. If a player wanted to use a resolution OTHER than the current windows desktop mode (e.g. to run the game in 1024x768 full screen, with the desktop set to say 1280x10240 ) then he would need to set the windows desktop to the desired size before starting the game. (Click on desktop, settings, choose required windows mode). . PBEM Tournaments The PBEM tournament feature supplied with the extended CD version game is intended to allow a tournament organiser to set up a scenario for competitive play amongst a group of players. The scenario is encrypted, and a password is set for the second player. Therefore, neither player can open the tournament scenario in the scenario editor to see the setup, and the password provided for player 2 prevents player 1 from continuing the scenario as player 2 and thus seeing his deployment. Tournament scenario games are also useful for any situation where 2 players want to play a PBEM game which a third party has set up, and which they have no editor access to - a "blind" game. The tournament organiser creates a tournament scenario by following the following procedure Open the scenario editor and Load the scenario you have created for your tournament just as if you were going to edit it Once the scenario is loaded into the editor you will see the "Map Size" SWAP button has changed to TOURNEY. Click on the TOURNEY button and you will be brought to the "Tournament Scenario Save List". Enter the scenario into any empty slot and press ENTER on your keyboard. This initiates the encryption process. You will then be brought to a screen titled " Setting P2 Initial Password" and asked for an initial password (IP) for player 2. The save game process will abort if this is not supplied (Hit the Escape key to abort the initial Password screen). It is the TOURNAMENT ORGANIZERS RESPONSIBILITY TO ENTER THIS PASSWORD AND PASS IT ON TO PLAYER 2!!! Once the password has been entered press CONTINUE . Once the game is saved to a slot, the tournament organiser should exit the scenario editor, as this process may affect some scenario global variables. If he wishes to edit scenarios, once he has used the tournament game set up process, he should quit the game and restart for safety. Tournament game scenarios are saved in the \tournaments folder under the game main folder. The organiser can use the TOURNAMENT GAMES button on the UTILITIES tab of GameOptions to zip up the DAT and CMT files for the tournament game and send it to all player ones in the tournament. To all his player twos, he will send an email which details the initial password they will be using when they receive their first turn from their opposing player one. Player twos should not get the tournament scenario, or they will be able to see player one's set-up as the player one set up is not password protected as for player 2. This completes the Tournament Organizers section. The game is now in the hands of Player 1 On receiving the fileset for the tournament game, the player ones should unzip to their own \tournaments folder. They should then contact their respective player 2 opponents and negotiate which PBEM game save game slot to use in the forthcoming competition battle, if not already done so. Once he has this information, each player one can start the tournament scenario. Each player one should ensure that his preferences are set to those detailed by the competition organiser (if he has done so) or to that agreed with his player 2 opponent. To find the game, press the saved games button to cycle to the tournament scenarios folder, then locate the appropriate scenario. Select it and press start. Player one will enter the password of his choice (tournament scenarios must be password protected secure PBEM games), and when the opportunity to save comes, he saves it in the agreed secure PBEM game slot. (He has no further use for the tournament scenario at this point, unless he is playing against multiple opponents etc.). Player one now sends the secure PBEM game DAT and CMT file set to his opposing player two for him to continue. As the game is now a normal secure PBEM, he will find the files in the \PBEM Games folder under the main game folder. Player 2 now gets the files from his opposing player 1. He unzips the files to the \PBEM Games folder and loads the game from the EMAIL GAMES page (press save games button to cycle to this page as usual). he should have the initial password supplied by the tournament organiser to hand, as it is required to pass the forthcoming stage!. Player 2 now loads the game. He will be prompted for the IP which the tournament organiser entered when he set up the secured tournament scenario. Once he has successfully entered this, he is then prompted for his OWN new password of his OWN choice. What follows is very important to remember >>> Player 2's ONLY use the password supplied by the Tournament organizer to open this ONE screen so they can set THEIR OWN PASSWORD. Player 2's DO NOT use the initial password for anything else. On pressing continue, the game will be automatically saved to the proper PBEM game save slot. Player 2 now passes the files back to Player 1 for the next stage of the process . From here the game proceeds exactly as for a normal game scenario being played PBEM. Note to tournament organisers: As there are plenty of save slots for tournament scenarios, each organisation should probably mark off a block as theirs. (Say 50-75 is bigwargamers.com's traditional set of slots). It'll make it easier for players to find the scenarios, for one thing!. Remember that secured tournament scenarios cannot be reloaded back into the scenario editor (they are encrypted), so don't lose the original scenario!. Remember to ensure that all prospective players have the full CD extended version of the game, as those with only the free download will not be able to participate in the competition. Note to players: The only fixed slot is the one that the original "template" tournament scenario as dispatched to you by the tournament organiser. Player one can save the game to any secure PBEM slot of the 250 on hand on setting up the game. The scenario is encrypted, so will not load into your scenario editor - there is no point in taking a peek! Tournament Save games Screen Tournament saved games are used when setting up tournament scenarios. You can read about tournament games by clicking HERE PBEM save slots available in the CD There are 250 Secure PBEM saves slots ( numbered starting with 000 ) in the extended version of the game. This is up from 5 in the regular version of the game The Camo Workshops Map Editor This new map editing tool allows map editing in ways only dreamed of in the past! At start up you will see.... Two Nations flag buttons - Selects two opposing nations . This works with the RND MAP button and the MAP LOC button. You don't NEED to set this up when building a map unless you plan to do some random map generating at some point Preferences - gives access to the same game preferences screens we use in the game and allows you to set the map dimensions Summer/winter/desert button - same as the editor in the game now. It allows you to pre-select the terrain type Date Dial - Self explanatory. It is needed to set up some of the fall and spring terrain so it's always best to set it for the month you want before starting a map Load Map button - Allows access to the custom map files Edit map button - Gets you into the editor Exit button - Exits the editor Select a custom map if you like or just press Edit Map You are now in a screen that looks pretty much what you are used to in the game scenario map editor. ( The screen shot below is just a section of the actual screen) None of the actual map editing buttons is different than in the game. If you need info on these click HERE. There new buttons and what they do is as follows: Help- Will bring up a new Map editor help text screen Snapshot- Shortcut Key ":" (colon)- Now we get into the new stuff. This allows you to save an image of the map IN MEMORY for use later. Further down I'll detail how that can be used. A snapshot is essentially a copy of the entire map saved off into your own private clipboard. Use when loading another map to grab a part of the new map, take a snapshot, load the new map and copy a chunk of that, then hit Restore, you are back at your original map, with a section of the second map ready to paste in the normal clipboard. Restore- This button will only appear AFTER you take a snap shot. This allows you to restore your map to the time you took the Snapshot. Undo- Shortcut Key "(" (left round bracket) - There are 12 undos. You no longer have to rebuild a map section if you make a mistake. If you place a terrain and then decide you don't like it..... no problem...press undo and it goes away. This is not just used for single terrain . If you place a stream from one corner of the map to the other corner then don't like it ..... no problem...press undo and it will go away. The same applies to Roads or Railways, hedges or trenches. This is set up so once you get to 12 terrain placements the 13th will overwrite the first ( and the 14th will overwrite ..and become--- the second undo ) so it's a constant loop. It does take a bit of getting used to but this is mainly there to give map makers a little wiggle room to make mistakes and correct them Redo- Shortcut Key ")" (right round bracket) - Try placing 6 bits of terrain on a map then press Undo 6 times and they will go away. Press REDO 6 times right after that and they will re-appear. This is a undo for the undo<g> Load Map- Shortcut Key "L" - This allows you to load pre-existing custom map while editing another map. That is also explained below Select- Shortcut Key "Z" - Now the fun begins. This is the start of the cut and paste routine. It may be easier at the start to load one of the maps you are familiar with and play with that or just build something quick on a blank map if you like. Once you have a map with something to cut and paste press SELECT and a new screen will appear. ( The screen shot below is just a section of the actual screen) Mark- Shortcut Key "A" - This sets the first x/y co-ordinate for the cut-and-paste routine. Go to the map and for this test select a smallish 10x10 hex area. Click the cursor on the map in the upper left part of the area you want to cut out then AFTER you have clicked on that point of the map Press MARK. You will see that hex go dark. Now pick the LOWER RIGHT point of the cut out area you want and click on the map at that point then press... SET - Shortcut Key "S" - You will see the entire zone you selected turn dark as in the example above. Now press...... Copy -Shortcut Key "C" - You have now copied that section of the map. When you press copy you will see a message appear ( depending on how long you have your message delay set for), then you will be returned to the main editing page. That message tells you if the X or Y co-ordinate was even or odd. Roads, streams, trenches etc etc etc. NEED their X and Y co-ordinates to be the same even/even, odd/even/ even/odd, odd/odd paste point as their cut point otherwise the road/trench/stream etc looks like exploded spaghetti. It is a factor of the hex mapping system used by maps, especially for vertical roads which can be offset from the hex the graphic appears in. There are safeties built in that prevent you from pasting the copied section in the wrong place but you need to be aware of the issue. If you try to paste it into the wrong place the editor will shift it to the nearest point that DOES match the paste X/Y even/odd scheme. I digress..... You now have a section copied and you want to paste it someplace. If you read the message it may have told you the X co-ordinate was odd and the Y was even. Again.. this is NOT critical. The editor will fix it if you do paste it wrong so for now find another spot you want to paste this section. Click on the desired target location with the cursor and the hex will highlight in red. IF this IS the hex you want to paste to now press PASTE. A message will appear on the lower left of the screen. Paste Here? Y/N. If this is where you want it press Y. IF the spot you pressed was out of sync with the X/Y Odd/Even offsets it will tell you which was out and it will select the next closest point that DOES match the clipboard section's X/Y Odd/Even offset. After a few tries, you will get the hang of how the offsets work, and where to select the original cut or copied section from and where it is valid to paste these sections to. That completes your cut and paste. If you don't like where it went....press UNDO and it will go away. There were other buttons on that Mark and Set Select screen.. CUT- Shortcut Key "V" - Use this to REMOVE a section of map to the clipboard and replace it's selected area with base terrain STOP- Shortcut Key "Q" - Stops the process of cut and paste and takes you back to the main screen ZAP- Shortcut Key "Z" - Clears ALL terrain from the selected section and replaces it with the base terrain for whatever season you selected on the first page. It is a CUT without the copy of the selected terrain to the clipboard, if say you want to clear a zone, but not lose what is currently in the clipboard. -DAMAGE - Shortcut Key "P" - On this page this button removes all damage from the selected area (including any stray infantry fire trenches or vehicle revetments that may be left over if this was a scenario map) ALL- lets you select the entire map. This can be handy when selecting a small map to paste into a new larger map. Now back to the main screen where there are a few buttons left to explain ( The screen shot below is just a section of the actual screen) PASTE. Shortcut Key "~" (tilde) - A message will appear on the lower left of the screen. Paste Here? Y/N. If this is where you want it press Y. IF the spot you pressed was out of sync with the X/Y Odd/Even offsets it will tell you which was out and it will select the next closest point that DOES match the cut's X/Y Odd/Even offset. After a few tries, you will get the hang of how the offsets work, and where to select the original cut or copied section from and where it is valid to paste these sections to. Clr Cursor (Clear Cursor ) Shortcut Key " " (space bar) - Allows you to "wash your brush" of whatever terrain you had been using so you can click on the map without placing whatever terrain you had been working with. In other words it returns your cursor to a selection item and not a terrain placement tool. -DAMAGE. Shortcut Key "!" (exclamation mark) -Removes ALL damage from everywhere on the map. This can take some time - there is a progress meter to let you know the progress. RND MAP- generates a random map for the two nations you have selected based on climate and month MAP LOC- Allows you to call up a Battle location OR the Random map generator QUICKSAVE- Allows you to save your map quickly in slot 999. If you have been working with the editor as you read through this email you will have noticed that the maps are already being Autosaved in slot 999 every five minutes. This gives you a quick way to save the map without needing to go through the full save screen process. There are ways to use this that may not be obvious until you play with it a bit. For example. If you are building a map but want to use features from three other maps. NO problem. 1] from your new base map press Load map 2]Copy the section from the new map you want to paste into the new map 3]Press UNDO three times..this brings you back to your new base map 4]Pick a point on the base map then press PASTE and the section of the old map in now pasted to your base map. If you are happy with that press SNAPSHOT to save the new map in memory and press Quicksave to save it in Slot 999 ( or use the red save button and save it wherever you like) This way you can cut and paste from as many maps as you like You can also trim maps to fit. Where there is a big empty area on one side of the map the "active" area of that map can be cut out and pasted to an empty map in about 15 seconds. You CAN use the grey border hexes as Mark and Set points if you like. Note on Damage removal. Destroyed bridges will not be restored, you will have to rebuild them manually. Buildings can be a problem as when these are destroyed, the associated building markers are removed. The repair damage code looks for particular building icons and tries to rebuild from that information. It may well have problems on multiple hex buildings. You should mouse over your biding after a damage repair, to ensure that they report as stone or wooden buildings as expected, and are not reporting as rough as well. Any such problem cases would need to be bulldozed manually and rebuilt.
> NOTE! The map editor takes it's cue to load either full screen or windowed from the setting on the front page of Gameoptions but it runs at a MINIMUM of 1024x768 in either mode
Encyclopaedia Sort Screen The Encyclopaedia Sort screen is only available on the CD as an extra bonus. This screen allows you to sort the Encyclopaedia data in several view modes. When you click on the "SORT" button this screen will appear SORT TYPES There are four ways to sort DEFAULT sorts in the order the units are entered into the OOB database from first to last. This is the normal view of units in the game. UNIT CLASS sorts all units from the lowest to the highest unit class number, with each unit of that class then sorted by OOB slot nimbi, lowest first. This means any "Fortifications" ( Unit Class 0 ) will appear grouped first on the list with any "Mortar(Sub Type D) ( Unit Class 255 ) you may have in that nations OOB , last . You can see the list of Unit Classes by clicking HERE UNIT TYPE sorts the units by Type. This is a bit different that sorting by CLASS and it can be a bit confusing until you are used to it. It's based on internal game code and nothing you can see with Mobhack for example. Each Unit Class is assigned a corresponding Unit Type in the code. The unit types, in order of appearance are: AFVS APCS GUNS INFANTRY TEAMS TRUCKS BATTERIES AFV classes are the "tanks" - MBT, light tanks, armoured cars etc. APC classes are the wheeled, tracked and half-track APC, Mine Proof AVF and so forth. Infantry are most riflemen, snipers, commandos and so on. Teams are MGs and so forth. Trucks are soft skinned transport. Guns are on-map artillery assets. Batteries are off map artillery classes, and also the game classes ship and barge types as such. Fortifications are considered an AFV type, as are aircraft and helicopters. Each class is then sub-sorted on Unit class, with each unit class then sorted on OOB slot number, lowest first. This view is probably the most useful, as it groups like categories of units together. DATE AVAILABLE- This sorts your units from the earliest to latest with the first ones being units that are in continuous service from 1946 and the last ones, in many cases, units that have not entered service as yet DATE FILTER There are two ways to filter information ALL DATES allows you to see everything in the OOB from the first in service year to the last. This is the default game view. CURRENT DATE allows you to see units that are available for the current scenario date. When playing a game this is the current battle date, and when in the scenario editor it is the date you have entered for the scenario's date. NB - When on the main game screen, it is usually the default battle date you set in the Game Options programme, sometimes the date of the last battle played. In this case, should you want to examine "what is available for OOB X at date D" then it is best to go into the scenario editor and set the desired date D and OOB X, then press the BUY button and then select the Encyclopaedia button that appears on that page and set the sort. You now have the set of troops available to X at battle date D. Exit to the scenario editor front screen to change the date then re-enter buy mode to view the set available at that new date. SORT TYPES and DATE FILTER are used together so If you want to sort all the OOB entries by unit class and only view the ones available for the date you have set in your battle you can. This is handy to use if you want to see quickly see what your opponent could possibly have bought for the battle you are fighting. What tanks does he have to choose from in June 1978? No problem sort by Type and current date and only those models available for that month and year will show up SET DEFAULTS resets the standard encyclopedia view (Default sort and all availability dates) EXIT - accept changes and exits SCENHACK A utility for WinSPMBT scenario maintenance. Renumber Tab Provides functions to delete, move scenarios to another scenario slot (i.e. renumber), or to copy an existing scenario to another slot. Source Scenario is selected on the left panel. This is all that is required for a delete operation. For copy or move operations, you must now select a Target slot in the right hand side panel. Now select the operations button in the centre (move or copy). NB - Using an existing scenario slot will result in the overwriting of the existing scenario!. Scenario Fixer Tab Provides repair and editing functions for existing scenarios. First you need to load a scenario, by highlighting its name in the list and then double-clicking it or pressing the Load button. Main scenario data is now loaded in the grid. Columns with a "*" are available to edit in the grid. (The grid will allow others to be edited, but these columns without a * will NOT be saved). NB - descriptions of these fields values and use can be found in the Mobhack help file, and some in the main Game Guide. UNIT - The Unit slot ID within the game. Name* - The name of the unit. Editable. Usual SP string rules apply (Strictly USA ASCII, no umlauts or cidillas or other local language features, or the game may crash). -INACTIVE- for slots not used in the scenario. Player - 0 (player 1) or 1 (player 2). OOB* - Which OOB the unit came from (may differ from the player oob e.g for captured units). Editable. Nation - Informative text of player 0 or 1's nationality. Changed? - If edited in the scenario editor (anything, whether weapons or even the name - it is no longer a stock OOB database item) this flag is set. Auxiliary? - Is this unit set as an AUX unit in this scenario. Id Tag* - nationality of the unit's ID tag. Editable. Icon, Desert Icon and Winter Icon. - The 3 icon types, usually you are only interested in changing the one for the scenario weather. Formation - Information. Gives formation number for that side, and the ID letter(s). Form Leader - Information. If a formation leader - gives the sides formation number and letter, otherwise says no. Experience* - Unit Experience. Editable. Morale* - Unit Morale. Editable. Men* - Number of men in unit (crew). Editable. OOB Index.- Handy when you need to find the unit with MOBHack Problem? -Highlights that a *POTENTIAL* problem has been found Buttons Nation. Re nationalisation button. Brings up a dialogue box which allows you to re nationalise units of nation X to new nation Y, and check boxes to apply this to the unit ID tags and any Victory hexes which were assigned the nation X flag. Rename. Dialogue to change unit names from any target string to a new string. Scenario. Dialogue that allows you to: - Change location name string - Edit scenario length - Change player map sides - Change scenario date - Change Scenario visibility - Provides a memo component which allows you to edit the scenario text. (usual formatting rules apply - see game manual for details). The Save Scen Text does precisely that - i.e this save is independent of the main SAVE button, since the scenario text is a separate file. Press OK to accept changes, cancel to drop them (any saved scenario text is unaffected) Formations. Brings up a dialogue dealing with leaders and formations. Formations Tab -Shows both sides formation numbers and names, and their level. Level can be set individually (select from the drop down combo, the press the green tick mark to save), or as a batch operation via the "update checked to level" button. To use this button first check off the check boxe(s) you want to apply the operation to in the list, then select the desired level, and finally press the "Update checked to level" button. The update level is mainly of use in old scenarios where company's, batallion HQ etc may all be marked as level 0 platoons. Leaders Tab Shows unit leaders. Unit leaders can be formation leaders as well. Columns with a * are editable (saved by save routine) Active? - is this leader slot active. *Name - Leader name. Nat ID - nationality number of the leader . Nat Name - Name of that nation *Rank - Editable. Rank level. *Rally - Rally level. Editable. *Inf CMD - Infantry command rating. Editable. *Arm Cmd -Armour command rating. Editable. *Art Cmd - Artillery command rating. Editable. *Kills - Kill count. Decorative item in scenarios. Editable. Unit ID - Which unit this leader commands. Associated Unit - the name of that unit. Unit Morale - the unit's morale. Unit Exp. - The unit's experience. Re nationalise button - change all leaders of nation X to nation Y. Icon Search button. Brings up a dialogue to search for icon numbers used by units - lists these in the message pane. Replace tab - allows bulk replacement of all icons with a new icon number, with filtering on icon, winter icon, and desert icon slots. Unckeck desert icons, and any that column is not searched/replaced against. Ratings button brings up a ratings dialogue. This allows you to assign a spread of values for each of the key ratings or just a sub set. select the nationality of the leaders to modify. tick or untick the various ratings you are interested in. Only ticked items will be processed now for each of the items, Select low and high value ratings if you want a random number in that range to be applied OR untick the "use XX range" tick mark to use the low value as a FIXED value to apply. OK - apply these values CANCEL - quit Save - save modified scenario data (confirmation yes/no). Application (window) icons: Minimise button - minimise application Maximise button - expand to screen size Exit Button - close application. Change Button Brings up this screen which will list every unit on both sides of a scenario. This screen is useful if a problem unit has been found or if you with to change a unit. There are check boxes at the bottom Show only Problem units - Blanks out all the rest of the units to make finding the ones with the problem easier Show only problem unit classes - Lists all units from the same unit class as the problem unit Keep existing unit names- Handy if the name has been edited to a historical unit name and you with to keep that name CAMPAIGNHACK Provides User Campaign management functions for WinSPMBT. Red X - exits programme. This programme is implemented as a Tool Window - so cannot be resized or minimised. Convert DOS Campaigns Tab Navigate to the directory containing the DOS SPMBT campaign(s) to convert. if any found, these will be listed in the CheckListbox control. Tick off those you want to convert, then press the CONVERT button.
NOTE! This utility does NOT have any way of telling if campaigns are in DOS or Windows format, so always ensure that ONLY DOS SPMBT campaigns are in the target folder.
This is the ONLY tab which works on DOS SPMBT Campaigns, Do not use the other tabs on un-converted scenarios!. Renumber Campaigns Tab. Navigate to the directory containing the campaign to renumber. Any found are listed on the LHS column. Select a target slot number in the RHS column, and press RENUMBER. Campaign is now renumbered (i.e. moved) to the new campaign slot. Extract Scenarios Tab Utility to extract the constituent scenarios from a campaign. Select the target campaign on the LHS column. Now, select the start scenario number to extract to, or leave at the default scenario slot of 800. Extracted scenarios will be written to this lot in ascending order. Press EXTRACT to start the process. OP-FIRE FILTERING Allows players to preset the type of targets they wish their units to engage You get to this with the Y key or by pressing the "Set Firing range" button. or by pressing the 0 (zero) key. Once that screen appears press FILTR button ... .....and the opfire filtering screen will appear. If you are in the deploy screen and normal map screen the "0" ( ZERO) key will get you directly to the filtering screen without need to go through Y key screen. When you exit the opfire screen you will be brought back to the main menu NOT back to the Y screen A unit has TWO op-fire hexes! 1) the normal circle based on unit's position 2) an OVERWATCH hex which is displaced elsewhere and can have separated filtering . If these overlap the regular (#1) opfire will have priority. An example of an OPfire hex The cursor will be shown as a cross hair if the hex is in LOS, or blank if not . An additional new feature can be found by pressing the "Unit View" button. This allows you to see every hex visible to that unit on the entire map without having to search 360 degrees with the unit. Click on the "Find Opfire overwatch hex "button ( the binoculars ) and the overwatch hex is displayed as an arty bombard symbol with the radius of interest as a red circle around that. Button row 1: zoom in map, zoom out map, find unit, next unit, prev unit, next formation and find unit's overwatch hex on map Overwatch hex block The button is used to change the radius (-1 to clear overwatch hex) buttons for interest - if these are ON, targets in the circle will be engaged AFV ? (which will use the front armour limits ) Soft skin ? Infantry ? ATGM ? Information for each button is displayed at the top of the screen in the red bar when active. Range from current unit Hex Steel armour front max - press to set the upper limit of steel front to engage (NOTE The maximum must be set before the minimum if both are zero) Steel armour front min - press to input number of the minimum armour to engage Armour engagement range ( in Hexes ) -This is like the Y key but just for armour meeting the above filter category. Infantry Engagement range - separate range for infantry. ( in Hexes ) Soft vehicle engagement range - separate range for trucks etc. ( in Hexes ) ATG and ATGM - separate range for ATG and ATGM. ATGM-carrying units are also included here even if a soft vehicle or infantry, plus the ATGun unit class ( in Hexes ) AAA Weapons Hold -Allow a unit to engage an Air unit or not. This is a simple Yes or no button 3 ( red ) load buttons - These are used to load one of three different filtering set ups and are read from an INI file 3 ( blue ) save buttons - These allow players to save a filtering protocol in the INI file, overriding one of the 3 default settings. "Clear Dark" and "Unit View" buttons Clear Dark - Clears any darkend hexes on the map. Useful after using the new Unit View button Unit View - Shows every hex the unit you have selected can see on the map. Very handy for checking all around LOS. Bottom button row: "action" buttons Clear filter - clears filter status of unit but NOT any ranges etc that have been set that a player may want to keep those for the next unit Apply to this unit (saluting man) - use these values for this unit and set op-fire filter flag ON Clipboard button - use these op-fire filter settings for the entire platoon. Red up arrow button - exits the screen
PLEASE NOTE If you are using the DL version of the game the only "action" buttons that are active are the "Clear Filter" and the "Exit" button. The "Clear Filter" button is active to allow DL version players the ability to clear any opfire filtering (if they so desire )that may be added to a scenario by scenario desginers in the future. When using the DL version the opfire settings can be set but they cannot be saved so they will not be applied to your units.
PBEM CAMPAIGN WinSPMBTv4 Plays like a normal campaign but for two players. Press the Campaigns button in the main menu and if you have the CD version you will see a "PBEM Campaign" button active. This allows from 3 to 21 battles with start and end dates just like a regular campaign. Player 1 begins by choosing his core force in the same manner as a regular campaign but when you are done choosing your core the game will ask for a password. Once that is entered you will see that "Basic Security" is choosen and is in fact the only security mode available for PBEM campaigns. Pressing "Continue" will bring player 1 to a new screen that prompts you to choose a PBEM save slot. These are the same save slots you would use for regular PBEM games. When the files are sent to Player 2 and he opens them he will be prompted to choose a password. Once that is done and he presses "Continue" he will be able to choose his core force. Once that is done and he presses "Done" the game will be autosaved in the same save slot player 1 originally choose for this game and player 2 will be prompted to send player 1 the files. Once the files are returned to Player 1 and he opens them he will be asked for his password. Once that is entered he will be able to choose his support forces. Once that is done and Player 1 presses Done he will be prompted for a password and once that is done he will be able to deploy his forces. Pressing "Quit Deploy" will autosave the game. Once the files have been sent to Player 2 he will be prompted to enter his password and then player 2 can select his support troops.Once that is done he will be asked again for his password. Once that is done he can deploy his troops and once he has deployed his troops pressing "Quit Deploy" will autosave the game When the files have been sent back to Player 1 he can begin playing in the same manner as any regular PBEM game When the game ends a PBEM Campaign Summary screen will appear that looks like this Unlike in a regular campaign against the AI, in the PBEM campaign each player has an individual score and points are scored even for a loss. Here is the point structure Decisive Victory - 5 points Marginal Victory - 4 points Draw - 3 points Marginal Defeat - 2 points Decisive Defeat - 1 point In addition, unlike in the regular campaign the loss of your headquarters does not lead to the termination of your campaign, nor are there any special battles, and also you will not be able to view the end game map and inspect your opponent's forces as that would give you too much intel on your opponents core force. After viewing this screen and pressing "Continue" you will be able to rebuild your damaged forces . Once done press continue and the game will be autosaved. Send those files to your opponent and he will see the battle report screen and then the PBEM Campaign Summary screen and once he presses Continue he will be prompted for a password and then he will be able to rebuild his core . Once that is done he can begine picking is support force for the next battle.
PLEASE NOTE The first 3 battles in a PBEM Campaign will always be meeting engagements. This allows for the standard 3 battle limit to be used for a fair and open competition (all 3 battles will be on an even playing field). Battles subsequent to the 3rd will be the normal random selection of battle type.
Show/Hide Formation ID's WinSPMBTv4.5 Allows players to view all the units under a formations command ( B0, C0, D0 etc ) either by pressing the "Show/Hide Formation IDs" button in the HQ menu or by pressing the ' 5 ' key on your keyboard. Press once for on and again to turn this off. It allows players to see at a glance where all the troops under the direct command of a x0 are located In the example above the B0 unit is a company commander ( B0 - CO ) and it's direct subordinate unit is B1. The actual selected platoon of this company is shown in Yellow. The platoon commander ( E0 - PL ) will slowly flash gold/yellow to indicate it's status as leader and the other units under it's command will be shown in regular solid Yellow ( E1, E2, E3, E4 ), The unit at the top without ID at this time is the Battalion commander ( A0 ). Had that been selected it would show as ( A0 - BN ) and any units directly under its command would show up as well. In some cases quite a number of units come under the A0's direct command and these are shown for 2013 -- The game now defaults to showing the formation IDs. This saves pressing the 5 key to turn the feature on each time you start the game. The 5 key can still be used to toggle the feature off and on if so desired.
New CD Game only Features 2013 We have expanded the information displayed when you pass the mouse cursor over a hex for the CD version of the game. Previously, the only information about a hex was Height and the terrain types in it. The new display includes ground height, obstacle height , total height and Terrain Density displayed like this : Ground Height / Obstacle Height / (Combined Height) Density XX So the above example tells you the ground level is 1 unit high and the trees are 14 units high so the combined height of the ground and obstacles in that hex above base ground level ( zero ) is 15 units high and the trees have a density of 27 which means you can see through them into the hex behind. Ground Height and Obstacle Height are self explanatory but Terrain Density , while being an old concept for the game, it will be a new one to most players. Terrain Density or just “Density” for short is a value the game uses to determine how solid or transparent a bit of terrain is. For example, trees block Line of Sight (LOS) to the next hex when they are greater than >30 density. If they are under 31 LOS is deemed not fully blocked and you can see into the hexes beyond that hex. Density is cumulative for purposes of LOS. A hex with trees that have a density rating of 20 will not block LOS to the hex beyond it but if that hex has trees that are also have a density rating of 20, LOS will be blocked beyond that hex. Theoretically you could have a number of sparsely treed hexes in a row before LOS would be blocked but typically in the game the maximum would be two but please note those two hexes do NOT have to be adjacent. The game has worked this way since SP1 was first released, we are just displaying to players for the first time. While Ground Height and Obstacle Height might be self explanatory, how the game utilizes them together with Density requires some explanation. Ground terrain ALWAYS blocks LOS 100% and it blocks LOS when it is more than 3 “units” of height above the level your unit is on. For example, if your unit is standing on a hex that is base ground level ( i.e. zero elevation ) that units LOS will be blocked by ground that is 4 units or greater high. Obstacle Height combined with density also blocks LOS and once again it is cumulative. For this I will use tall grass as a general example. Tall grass is 2 units high and has an average density in the game of 10. If the ground the grass is on plus the grass itself is greater than a total of 4 units high LOS will be blocked when enough density is accumulated to do so. In some cases this might take quite a number of hexes to achieve if the terrain between each >3 units of total height hexes are <4 units of height high Each "unit" of height in the game is now considered to be roughly 24 inches ( 61 cm ) so each 10 unit level of elevation in the game represents roughly 20 feet ( 6 meters ) Game Options for 2013 The Game Options launcher programme now allows you to easily edit the INI value for the AIAdjustpercent variable on the Misc Tab. Set at 100% for the default points, 120 to give the AI a 20% points advantage and so on. (Free game users can see this value but not edit it unless they manually do so in the INI file as described in the Game Guide section on AIAdjustpercent). Take Cover ! for 2013 Non-vehicle units with 2 or more MP remaining can now voluntarily take cover to break enemy line of sight at a cost of 2MP by pressing the ‘ C ‘ key. Taking cover especially if close to the enemy is not a guarantee that they will break LOS. Delete button for 2013 A delete button has been added to the main screen options to allow the deletion of no longer needed save games. Change all units for 2013 A facility to change all units of a type in the campaign rebuild screen has been added. Set the button to change all and the change from one type to another will be for all such units in the core. For example, select one of your T34/76 and change it to a IS-2 after toggling the change all mode. All your T34/76 will now be changed to IS-2 provided you have sufficient repair points. NB - if some tanks are same name, but different Unit Classes (e.g. centurion (CS MBT unit class) and centurion (MBT unit class), only the ones of the selected unit class will change. Formation Menu for 2013 In the deployment only, a new button is added to the Formation Menu to allow the fixing of the formation leader. If the platoon leader has been moved to a unit other than the 0 index, he will be exchanged back into place with that other leader. This is chiefly useful for repairing platoons in long campaigns. It is a manual and not an automatic function since some people will probably like the current leader assignment. General Support and Direct Support off-map artillery for 2013 General Support and Direct Support off-map artillery types have been added for off-map artillery purchase. Direct Support is less responsive than normal arty, General Support even less so. The delay is longer for calls for fire, other than onto gold spots or as a pre game bombardment (their main use). Shifting fires costs a little more for these type of batteries and they are less likely to be in radio contact as they are theoretically shared with other formations than yours. As well, they are less likely to fire counter battery fires if left idle. Strike air types may be bought in general or direct support mode if desired. Direct Support costs 75% of a full Under Command battery and General Support costs 50% of a full Under Command battery. A button on the purchase menu cycles between artillery types. If General Support or Direct Support purchase is active, then only the appropriate formations are filtered to show on the arty page and the miscellaneous page (for strike air). Cycle this back to Under Command artillery to see the filtered-out formations again. General Support and Direct Support off-map artillery cannot be purchased for your core in a campaign Timed objectives for 2013 Timed objectives have been introduced. A button has been added to cycle through the possible values and then back to no timed objectives. The values start at 3 and increment to 30 then reset to 0. The button is available at game set-up in the battle and campaign generators and in the scenario editor. In a meeting engagement the victory hexes start accumulating a timed score from turn 3 onwards. In an advance mission, the defender gets timed scores from ¼ of the game length onwards. In an advance the attacker wants to clear the enemy as fast as he can. In an assault, the defender gets the standard victory hex score credited from the halfway point onwards, and double from the thee-quarter point on. Scoring this way allows the attacker some time to clear defensive obstacles etc. The attacker does not get any timed hex score credit. He removes any potential future score from the defender by taking the victory hex as early as he can. Scenarios can be built with timed objectives, this includes those built into user campaigns but these will only be of use for full CD game owners. The last turn and accumulated scores for timed victory hexes are reported at the end turn phase once they have started to be credited for the battle type. The total is also now reported on the end game score sheet. Victory Hexes for 2013 The standard 7 hex cluster of "non-shotguned" victory hexes will now be spread about in a wider “splatter” pattern approximately 1/3 of the time rather than being in the traditional tight cluster. This produces a more open objective cluster that may need more than a scout car to take and also defend than the “normal” close clusters do but less than the “shotgun” type clusters. Roster button for 2013 The standard roster button has been added to the deployment menu. Wreak display- ON/OFF for 2013 The display of wrecks In the game map can now be toggled on and off as with Victory Hexes in order to allow a less cluttered view of the map if needed. The “|” key (above the “\” key ( That is the Victory Hex toggle on/off shortcut on a US/UK keyboard) is assigned to the function. Obstacle height and density editing for 2013 Obstacle height and density can now be adjusted in the map editor and extended map using the ‘ < ‘ key to adjust Obstacle height and the ‘ > ‘ key to adjust Obstacle density. This will be of use to map and scenario designers who wish to create sparsely treed hexes or areas of really tall grass or underbrush. We had planned to allow adjustment to building height ( to block LOS ) but the house code is more deeply entwined with other aspects of the code than trees or grass and we ran out of time this year to make and test the changes properly. We hope to have it implemented next year along with the ability to adjust the building code to allow the ground under buildings to be raised up so troops in them have the ability to overlook the surrounding terrain.
> Previous Page WinSPWW2 CD - Extended Features These additional Game Features are only available on the CD Available from Shrapnel Games To Order a CD, click HERE Contents Display settings PBEM Tournaments Secure PBEM saves slots Advanced Map Editor The Encyclopaedia Sort Screen SCENHACK for scenario maintenance CampaignHack for Campaign management Opfire Filtering PBEM Campaigns Show/Hide Formation IDs Why buy a CD when you can get the game for free? When you buy a CD you help cover the cost of the bandwidth used by all the people downloading the free game from Shrapnel. Every CD sold helps to cover the cost of providing this "free" service. When you buy a CD you also help provide seed money for further projects. Developing WinSPMBT and WinSPWW2 was nearly a full time job for us and a bit of extra cash to cover those times when the programmer stretched his time off between contracts to work on the game We cannot sell the game per se. Part of our agreement when we were given access to the code prevents that. That is why the game on the CD is the SAME game that you can download for free so, in reality, the game itself is an "added bonus" on the CD. The CD contains added peripheral programs that work with the game to run these added features. If you could extract the added features to a "free" game you would have an enhanced game and if you could removed the enhancement files from a "CD version" you would have a "free" version. Also consider MOBHack an added bonus in the free game that really belongs in the CD as an extra . A huge amount of work has gone into it to help make OOB creation more efficient Display settings The regular game allows you to play in 640x480 or 800x600 screen resolution in both full screen and windowed mode. The additional extended features on the CD allow you to set the screen resolution to 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x1024 and 1600x1280. The maximum game resolution is determined by your systems display resolution. If you have your monitor set to 1152x864 then that is the maximum size for the game as well. When v4.5 was released widescreen support was added to the game for CD owners. This allows players to run the game at the same resolution as your normal desktop. If a player wanted to use a resolution OTHER than the current windows desktop mode (e.g. to run the game in 1024x768 full screen, with the desktop set to say 1280x10240 ) then he would need to set the windows desktop to the desired size before starting the game. (Click on desktop, settings, choose required windows mode). PBEM Tournaments NB: This feature is only available in the CD extended edition of the game. The PBEM tournament feature supplied with the extended CD version game is intended to allow a tournament organiser to set up a scenario for competitive play amongst a group of players. The scenario is encrypted, and a password is set for the second player. Therefore, neither player can open the tournament scenario in the scenario editor to see the setup, and the password provided for player 2 prevents player 1 from continuing the scenario as player 2 and thus seeing his deployment. Tournament scenario games are also useful for any situation where 2 players want to play a PBEM game which a third party has set up, and which they have no editor access to - a "blind" game. The tournament organiser creates a tournament scenario by following the following procedure Open the scenario editor and Load the scenario you have created for your tournament just as if you were going to edit it Once the scenario is loaded into the editor you will see the "Map Size" SWAP button has changed to TOURNEY. Click on the TOURNEY button and you will be brought to the "Tournament Scenario Save List". Enter the scenario into any empty slot and press ENTER on your keyboard. This initiates the encryption process. You will then be brought to a screen titled " Setting P2 Initial Password" and asked for an initial password (IP) for player 2. The save game process will abort if this is not supplied (Hit the Escape key to abort the initial Password screen). It is the TOURNAMENT ORGANIZERS RESPONSIBILITY TO ENTER THIS PASSWORD AND PASS IT ON TO PLAYER 2!!! Once the password has been entered press CONTINUE . Once the game is saved to a slot, the tournament organiser should exit the scenario editor, as this process may affect some scenario global variables. If he wishes to edit scenarios, once he has used the tournament game set up process, he should quit the game and restart for safety. Tournament game scenarios are saved in the \tournaments folder under the game main folder. The organiser can use the TOURNAMENT GAMES button on the UTILITIES tab of GameOptions to zip up the DAT and CMT files for the tournament game and send it to all player ones in the tournament. To all his player twos, he will send an email which details the initial password they will be using when they receive their first turn from their opposing player one. Player twos should not get the tournament scenario, or they will be able to see player one's set-up as the player one set up is not password protected as for player 2. This completes the Tournament Organizers section. The game is now in the hands of Player 1 On receiving the fileset for the tournament game, the player ones should unzip to their own \tournaments folder. They should then contact their respective player 2 opponents and negotiate which PBEM game save game slot to use in the forthcoming competition battle, if not already done so. Once he has this information, each player one can start the tournament scenario. Each player one should ensure that his preferences are set to those detailed by the competition organiser (if he has done so) or to that agreed with his player 2 opponent. To find the game, press the saved games button to cycle to the tournament scenarios folder, then locate the appropriate scenario. Select it and press start. Player one will enter the password of his choice (tournament scenarios must be password protected secure PBEM games), and when the opportunity to save comes, he saves it in the agreed secure PBEM game slot. (He has no further use for the tournament scenario at this point, unless he is playing against multiple opponents etc.). Player one now sends the secure PBEM game DAT and CMT file set to his opposing player two for him to continue. As the game is now a normal secure PBEM, he will find the files in the \PBEM Games folder under the main game folder. Player 2 now gets the files from his opposing player 1. He unzips the files to the \PBEM Games folder and loads the game from the EMAIL GAMES page (press save games button to cycle to this page as usual). he should have the initial password supplied by the tournament organiser to hand, as it is required to pass the forthcoming stage!. Player 2 now loads the game. He will be prompted for the IP which the tournament organiser entered when he set up the secured tournament scenario. Once he has successfully entered this, he is then prompted for his OWN new password of his OWN choice. What follows is very important to remember >>> Player 2's ONLY use the password supplied by the Tournament organizer to open this ONE screen so they can set THEIR OWN PASSWORD. Player 2's DO NOT use the initial password for anything else. On pressing continue, the game will be automatically saved to the proper PBEM game save slot. Player 2 now passes the files back to Player 1 for the next stage of the process . From here the game proceeds exactly as for a normal game scenario being played PBEM. Note to tournament organisers: As there are plenty of save slots for tournament scenarios, each organisation should probably mark off a block as theirs. (Say 50-75 is bigwargamers.com's traditional set of slots). It'll make it easier for players to find the scenarios, for one thing!. Remember that secured tournament scenarios cannot be reloaded back into the scenario editor (they are encrypted), so don't lose the original scenario!. Remember to ensure that all prospective players have the full CD extended version of the game, as those with only the free download will not be able to participate in the competition. Note to players: The only fixed slot is the one that the original "template" tournament scenario as dispatched to you by the tournament organiser. Player one can save the game to any secure PBEM slot of the 250 on hand on setting up the game. The scenario is encrypted, so will not load into your scenario editor - there is no point in taking a peek! Tournament Save games Screen Tournament saved games are used when setting up tournament scenarios. You can read about tournament games by clicking HERE PBEM save slots available in the CD There are 250 Secure PBEM saves slots ( numbered starting with 000 ) in the extended version of the game. This is up from 5 in the regular version of the game The Camo Workshops Map Editor This new map editing tool allows map editing in ways only dreamed of in the past! At start up you will see.... Two Nations flag buttons - Selects two opposing nations . This works with the RND MAP button and the MAP LOC button. You don't NEED to set this up when building a map unless you plan to do some random map generating at some point Preferences - gives access to the same game preferences screens we use in the game and allows you to set the map dimensions Summer/winter/desert button - same as the editor in the game now. It allows you to pre-select the terrain type Date Dial - Self explanatory. It is needed to set up some of the fall and spring terrain so it's always best to set it for the month you want before starting a map Load Map button - Allows access to the custom map files Edit map button - Gets you into the editor Exit button - Exits the editor Select a custom map if you like or just press Edit Map You are now in a screen that looks pretty much what you are used to in the game scenario map editor. ( The screen shot below is just a section of the actual screen) None of the actual map editing buttons is different than in the game. If you need info on these click HERE. There new buttons and what they do is as follows: Help- Will bring up a new Map editor help text screen Snapshot- Shortcut Key ":" (colon)- Now we get into the new stuff. This allows you to save an image of the map IN MEMORY for use later. Further down I'll detail how that can be used. A snapshot is essentially a copy of the entire map saved off into your own private clipboard. Use when loading another map to grab a part of the new map, take a snapshot, load the new map and copy a chunk of that, then hit Restore, you are back at your original map, with a section of the second map ready to paste in the normal clipboard. Restore- This button will only appear AFTER you take a snap shot. This allows you to restore your map to the time you took the Snapshot. Undo- Shortcut Key "(" (left round bracket) - There are 12 undos. You no longer have to rebuild a map section if you make a mistake. If you place a terrain and then decide you don't like it..... no problem...press undo and it goes away. This is not just used for single terrain . If you place a stream from one corner of the map to the other corner then don't like it ..... no problem...press undo and it will go away. The same applies to Roads or Railways, hedges or trenches. This is set up so once you get to 12 terrain placements the 13th will overwrite the first ( and the 14th will overwrite ..and become--- the second undo ) so it's a constant loop. It does take a bit of getting used to but this is mainly there to give map makers a little wiggle room to make mistakes and correct them Redo- Shortcut Key ")" (right round bracket) - Try placing 6 bits of terrain on a map then press Undo 6 times and they will go away. Press REDO 6 times right after that and they will re-appear. This is a undo for the undo<g> Load Map- Shortcut Key "L" - This allows you to load pre-existing custom map while editing another map. That is also explained below Select- Shortcut Key "Z" - Now the fun begins. This is the start of the cut and paste routine. It may be easier at the start to load one of the maps you are familiar with and play with that or just build something quick on a blank map if you like. Once you have a map with something to cut and paste press SELECT and a new screen will appear. ( The screen shot below is just a section of the actual screen) Mark- Shortcut Key "A" - This sets the first x/y co-ordinate for the cut-and-paste routine. Go to the map and for this test select a smallish 10x10 hex area. Click the cursor on the map in the upper left part of the area you want to cut out then AFTER you have clicked on that point of the map Press MARK. You will see that hex go dark. Now pick the LOWER RIGHT point of the cut out area you want and click on the map at that point then press... SET - Shortcut Key "S" - You will see the entire zone you selected turn dark as in the example above. Now press...... Copy -Shortcut Key "C" - You have now copied that section of the map. When you press copy you will see a message appear ( depending on how long you have your message delay set for), then you will be returned to the main editing page. That message tells you if the X or Y co-ordinate was even or odd. Roads, streams, trenches etc etc etc. NEED their X and Y co-ordinates to be the same even/even, odd/even/ even/odd, odd/odd paste point as their cut point otherwise the road/trench/stream etc looks like exploded spaghetti. It is a factor of the hex mapping system used by maps, especially for vertical roads which can be offset from the hex the graphic appears in. There are safeties built in that prevent you from pasting the copied section in the wrong place but you need to be aware of the issue. If you try to paste it into the wrong place the editor will shift it to the nearest point that DOES match the paste X/Y even/odd scheme. I digress..... You now have a section copied and you want to paste it someplace. If you read the message it may have told you the X co-ordinate was odd and the Y was even. Again.. this is NOT critical. The editor will fix it if you do paste it wrong so for now find another spot you want to paste this section. Click on the desired target location with the cursor and the hex will highlight in red. IF this IS the hex you want to paste to now press PASTE. A message will appear on the lower left of the screen. Paste Here? Y/N. If this is where you want it press Y. IF the spot you pressed was out of sync with the X/Y Odd/Even offsets it will tell you which was out and it will select the next closest point that DOES match the clipboard section's X/Y Odd/Even offset. After a few tries, you will get the hang of how the offsets work, and where to select the original cut or copied section from and where it is valid to paste these sections to. That completes your cut and paste. If you don't like where it went....press UNDO and it will go away. There were other buttons on that Mark and Set Select screen.. CUT- Shortcut Key "V" - Use this to REMOVE a section of map to the clipboard and replace it's selected area with base terrain STOP- Shortcut Key "Q" - Stops the process of cut and paste and takes you back to the main screen ZAP- Shortcut Key "Z" - Clears ALL terrain from the selected section and replaces it with the base terrain for whatever season you selected on the first page. It is a CUT without the copy of the selected terrain to the clipboard, if say you want to clear a zone, but not lose what is currently in the clipboard. -DAMAGE - Shortcut Key "P" - On this page this button removes all damage from the selected area (including any stray infantry fire trenches or vehicle revetments that may be left over if this was a scenario map) ALL- lets you select the entire map. This can be handy when selecting a small map to paste into a new larger map. Now back to the main screen where there are a few buttons left to explain ( The screen shot below is just a section of the actual screen) PASTE. Shortcut Key "~" (tilde) - A message will appear on the lower left of the screen. Paste Here? Y/N. If this is where you want it press Y. IF the spot you pressed was out of sync with the X/Y Odd/Even offsets it will tell you which was out and it will select the next closest point that DOES match the cut's X/Y Odd/Even offset. After a few tries, you will get the hang of how the offsets work, and where to select the original cut or copied section from and where it is valid to paste these sections to. Clr Cursor (Clear Cursor ) Shortcut Key " " (space bar) - Allows you to "wash your brush" of whatever terrain you had been using so you can click on the map without placing whatever terrain you had been working with. In other words it returns your cursor to a selection item and not a terrain placement tool. -DAMAGE. Shortcut Key "!" (exclamation mark) -Removes ALL damage from everywhere on the map. This can take some time - there is a progress meter to let you know the progress. RND MAP- generates a random map for the two nations you have selected based on climate and month MAP LOC- Allows you to call up a Battle location OR the Random map generator QUICKSAVE- Allows you to save your map quickly in slot 999. If you have been working with the editor as you read through this email you will have noticed that the maps are already being Autosaved in slot 999 every five minutes. This gives you a quick way to save the map without needing to go through the full save screen process. There are ways to use this that may not be obvious until you play with it a bit. For example. If you are building a map but want to use features from three other maps. NO problem. 1] from your new base map press Load map 2]Copy the section from the new map you want to paste into the new map 3]Press UNDO three times..this brings you back to your new base map 4]Pick a point on the base map then press PASTE and the section of the old map in now pasted to your base map. If you are happy with that press SNAPSHOT to save the new map in memory and press Quicksave to save it in Slot 999 ( or use the red save button and save it wherever you like) This way you can cut and paste from as many maps as you like You can also trim maps to fit. Where there is a big empty area on one side of the map the "active" area of that map can be cut out and pasted to an empty map in about 15 seconds. You CAN use the grey border hexes as Mark and Set points if you like. Note on Damage removal. Destroyed bridges will not be restored, you will have to rebuild them manually. Buildings can be a problem as when these are destroyed, the associated building markers are removed. The repair damage code looks for particular building icons and tries to rebuild from that information. It may well have problems on multiple hex buildings. You should mouse over your biding after a damage repair, to ensure that they report as stone or wooden buildings as expected, and are not reporting as rough as well. Any such problem cases would need to be bulldozed manually and rebuilt.
> NOTE! The map editor takes it's cue to load either full screen or windowed from the setting on the front page of Gameoptions but it runs at a MINIMUM of 1024x768 in either mode
Encyclopaedia Sort Screen The Encyclopaedia Sort screen is only available on the CD as an extra bonus. This screen allows you to sort the Encyclopaedia data in several view modes. When you click on the "SORT" button this screen will appear SORT TYPES There are four ways to sort DEFAULT sorts in the order the units are entered into the OOB database from first to last. This is the normal view of units in the game. UNIT CLASS sorts all units from the lowest to the highest unit class number, with each unit of that class then sorted by OOB slot nimbi, lowest first. This means any "Fortifications" ( Unit Class 0 ) will appear grouped first on the list with any "Mortar(Sub Type D) ( Unit Class 255 ) you may have in that nations OOB , last . You can see the list of Unit Classes by clicking HERE UNIT TYPE sorts the units by Type. This is a bit different that sorting by CLASS and it can be a bit confusing until you are used to it. It's based on internal game code and nothing you can see with Mobhack for example. Each Unit Class is assigned a corresponding Unit Type in the code. The unit types, in order of appearance are: AFVS APCS GUNS INFANTRY TEAMS TRUCKS BATTERIES AFV classes are the "tanks" - MBT, light tanks, armoured cars etc. APC classes are the wheeled, tracked and half-track APC, Mine Proof AVF and so forth. Infantry are most riflemen, snipers, commandos and so on. Teams are MGs and so forth. Trucks are soft skinned transport. Guns are on-map artillery assets. Batteries are off map artillery classes, and also the game classes ship and barge types as such. Fortifications are considered an AFV type, as are aircraft and helicopters. Each class is then sub-sorted on Unit class, with each unit class then sorted on OOB slot number, lowest first. This view is probably the most useful, as it groups like categories of units together. DATE AVAILABLE- This sorts your units from the earliest to latest with the first ones being units that are in continuous service from 1930 and the last ones still in service in Dec 1946 DATE FILTER There are two ways to filter information ALL DATES allows you to see everything in the OOB from the first in service year to the last. This is the default game view. CURRENT DATE allows you to see units that are available for the current scenario date. When playing a game this is the current battle date, and when in the scenario editor it is the date you have entered for the scenario's date. NB - When on the main game screen, it is usually the default battle date you set in the Game Options programme, sometimes the date of the last battle played. In this case, should you want to examine "what is available for OOB X at date D" then it is best to go into the scenario editor and set the desired date D and OOB X, then press the BUY button and then select the Encyclopaedia button that appears on that page and set the sort. You now have the set of troops available to X at battle date D. Exit to the scenario editor front screen to change the date then re-enter buy mode to view the set available at that new date. SORT TYPES and DATE FILTER are used together so If you want to sort all the OOB entries by unit class and only view the ones available for the date you have set in your battle you can. This is handy to use if you want to see quickly see what your opponent could possibly have bought for the battle you are fighting. What tanks does he have to choose as the Russians from in July 1943? No problem, sort by Type and current date and only those models available for that month and year will show up SET DEFAULTS resets the standard encyclopedia view (Default sort and all availability dates) EXIT - accept changes and exits SCENHACK A utility for scenario maintenance. Renumber Tab Provides functions to delete, move scenarios to another scenario slot (i.e. renumber), or to copy an existing scenario to another slot. Source Scenario is selected on the left panel. This is all that is required for a delete operation. For copy or move operations, you must now select a Target slot in the right hand side panel. Now select the operations button in the centre (move or copy). NB - Using an existing scenario slot will result in the overwriting of the existing scenario!. Scenario Fixer Tab Provides repair and editing functions for existing scenarios. First you need to load a scenario, by highlighting its name in the list and then double-clicking it or pressing the Load button. Main scenario data is now loaded in the grid. Columns with a "*" are available to edit in the grid. (The grid will allow others to be edited, but these columns without a * will NOT be saved). NB - descriptions of these fields values and use can be found in the Mobhack help file, and some in the main Game Guide. UNIT - The Unit slot ID within the game. Name* - The name of the unit. Editable. Usual SP string rules apply (Strictly USA ASCII, no umlauts or cidillas or other local language features, or the game may crash). -INACTIVE- for slots not used in the scenario. Player - 0 (player 1) or 1 (player 2). OOB* - Which OOB the unit came from (may differ from the player oob e.g for captured units). Editable. Nation - Informative text of player 0 or 1's nationality. Changed? - If edited in the scenario editor (anything, whether weapons or even the name - it is no longer a stock OOB database item) this flag is set. Auxiliary? - Is this unit set as an AUX unit in this scenario. Id Tag* - nationality of the unit's ID tag. Editable. Icon, Desert Icon and Winter Icon. - The 3 icon types, usually you are only interested in changing the one for the scenario weather. Formation - Information. Gives formation number for that side, and the ID letter(s). Form Leader - Information. If a formation leader - gives the sides formation number and letter, otherwise says no. Experience* - Unit Experience. Editable. Morale* - Unit Morale. Editable. Men* - Number of men in unit (crew). Editable. OOB Index.- Handy when you need to find the unit with MOBHack Problem? -Highlights that a *POTENTIAL* problem has been found Buttons Nation. Re nationalisation button. Brings up a dialogue box which allows you to re nationalise units of nation X to new nation Y, and check boxes to apply this to the unit ID tags and any Victory hexes which were assigned the nation X flag. Rename. Dialogue to change unit names from any target string to a new string. Scenario. Dialogue that allows you to: - Change location name string - Edit scenario length - Change player map sides - Change scenario date - Change Scenario visibility - Provides a memo component which allows you to edit the scenario text. (usual formatting rules apply - see game manual for details). The Save Scen Text does precisely that - i.e this save is independent of the main SAVE button, since the scenario text is a separate file. Press OK to accept changes, cancel to drop them (any saved scenario text is unaffected) Formations. Brings up a dialogue dealing with leaders and formations. Formations Tab -Shows both sides formation numbers and names, and their level. Level can be set individually (select from the drop down combo, the press the green tick mark to save), or as a batch operation via the "update checked to level" button. To use this button first check off the check boxe(s) you want to apply the operation to in the list, then select the desired level, and finally press the "Update checked to level" button. The update level is mainly of use in old scenarios where company's, batallion HQ etc may all be marked as level 0 platoons. Leaders Tab Shows unit leaders. Unit leaders can be formation leaders as well. Columns with a * are editable (saved by save routine) Active? - is this leader slot active. *Name - Leader name. Nat ID - nationality number of the leader NOTE to designers.If SS ranks are desired for German scenarios use nation ID 0 for leaders only. Nat Name - Name of that nation *Rank - Editable. Rank level. *Rally - Rally level. Editable. *Inf CMD - Infantry command rating. Editable. *Arm Cmd -Armour command rating. Editable. *Art Cmd - Artillery command rating. Editable. *Kills - Kill count. Decorative item in scenarios. Editable. Unit ID - Which unit this leader commands. Associated Unit - the name of that unit. Unit Morale - the unit's morale. Unit Exp. - The unit's experience. Re nationalise button - change all leaders of nation X to nation Y. Icon Search button. Brings up a dialogue to search for icon numbers used by units - lists these in the message pane. Replace tab - allows bulk replacement of all icons with a new icon number, with filtering on icon, winter icon, and desert icon slots. Unckeck desert icons, and any that column is not searched/replaced against. Ratings button brings up a ratings dialogue. This allows you to assign a spread of values for each of the key ratings or just a sub set. select the nationality of the leaders to modify. tick or untick the various ratings you are interested in. Only ticked items will be processed now for each of the items, Select low and high value ratings if you want a random number in that range to be applied OR untick the "use XX range" tick mark to use the low value as a FIXED value to apply. OK - apply these values CANCEL - quit Save - save modified scenario data (confirmation yes/no). Application (window) icons: Minimise button - minimise application Maximise button - expand to screen size Exit Button - close application. Change Button Brings up this screen which will list every unit on both sides of a scenario. This screen is useful if a problem unit has been found or if you with to change a unit. There are check boxes at the bottom Show only Problem units - Blanks out all the rest of the units to make finding the ones with the problem easier Show only problem unit classes - Lists all units from the same unit class as the problem unit Keep existing unit names- Handy if the name has been edited to a historical unit name and you with to keep that name CAMPAIGNHACK Provides User Campaign management functions. Red X - exits programme. This programme is implemented as a Tool Window - so cannot be resized or minimised. Convert DOS Campaigns Tab Navigate to the directory containing the DOS SPWW2 campaign(s) to convert. if any found, these will be listed in the CheckListbox control. Tick off those you want to convert, then press the CONVERT button. NOTE! - this utility does NOT have any way of telling if campaigns are in DOS or Windows format, so always ensure that ONLY DOS SPWW2 campaigns are in the target folder. This is the ONLY tab which works on DOS SPWW2 Campaigns, Do not use the other tabs on UN converted scenarios!. Renumber Campaigns Tab. Navigate to the directory containing the campaign to renumber. Any found are listed on the LHS column. Select a target slot number in the RHS column, and press RENUMBER. Campaign is now renumbered (i.e. moved) to the new campaign slot. Extract Scenarios Tab Utility to extract the constituent scenarios from a campaign. Select the target campaign on the LHS column. Now, select the start scenario number to extract to, or leave at the default scenario slot of 800. Extracted scenarios will be written to this lot in ascending order. Press EXTRACT to start the process. OP-FIRE FILTERING Allows players to preset the type of targets they wish their units to engage You get to this with the Y key or by pressing the "Set Firing range" button. or by pressing the 0 (zero) key. Once that screen appears press FILTR button ... .....and the opfire filtering screen will appear. If you are in the deploy screen and normal map screen the "0" ( ZERO) key will get you directly to the filtering screen without need to go through Y key screen. When you exit the opfire screen you will be brought back to the main menu NOT back to the Y screen A unit has TWO op-fire hexes! 1) the normal circle based on unit's position 2) an OVERWATCH hex which is displaced elsewhere and can have separated filtering . If these overlap the regular (#1) opfire will have priority. An example of an OPfire hex The cursor will be shown as a cross hair if the hex is in LOS, or blank if not . An additional new feature can be found by pressing the "Unit View" button. This allows you to see every hex visible to that unit on the entire map without having to search 360 degrees with the unit. Click on the "Find Opfire overwatch hex "button ( the binoculars ) and the overwatch hex is displayed as an arty bombard symbol with the radius of interest as a red circle around that. Button row 1: zoom in map, zoom out map, find unit, next unit, prev unit, next formation and find unit's overwatch hex on map Overwatch hex block The button is used to change the radius (-1 to clear overwatch hex) buttons for interest - if these are ON, targets in the circle will be engaged AFV ? (which will use the front armour limits ) Soft skin ? Infantry ? ATGM ? Information for each button is displayed at the top of the screen in the red bar when active. Range from current unit Hex Steel armour front max - press to set the upper limit of steel front to engage (NOTE The maximum must be set before the minimum if both are zero) Steel armour front min - press to input number of the minimum armour to engage Armour engagement range ( in Hexes ) -This is like the Y key but just for armour meeting the above filter category. Infantry Engagement range - separate range for infantry. ( in Hexes ) Soft vehicle engagement range - separate range for trucks etc. ( in Hexes ) ATG and ATGM - separate range for ATG and ATGM. ATGM-carrying units are also included here even if a soft vehicle or infantry, plus the ATGun unit class ( in Hexes ) AAA Weapons Hold -Allow a unit to engage an Air unit or not. This is a simple Yes or no button 3 ( red ) load buttons - These are used to load one of three different filtering set ups and are read from an INI file 3 ( blue ) save buttons - These allow players to save a filtering protocol in the INI file, overriding one of the 3 default settings. "Clear Dark" and "Unit View" buttons Clear Dark - Clears any darkend hexes on the map. Useful after using the new Unit View button Unit View - Shows every hex the unit you have selected can see on the map. Very handy for checking all around LOS. Bottom button row: "action" buttons Clear filter - clears filter status of unit but NOT any ranges etc that have been set that a player may want to keep those for the next unit Apply to this unit (saluting man) - use these values for this unit and set op-fire filter flag ON Clipboard button - use these op-fire filter settings for the entire platoon. Red up arrow button - exits the screen
PLEASE NOTE If you are using the DL version of the game the only "action" buttons that are active are the "Clear Filter" and the "Exit" button. The "Clear Filter" button is active to allow DL version players the ability to clear any opfire filtering (if they so desire )that may be added to a scenario by scenario desginers in the future. When using the DL version the opfire settings can be set but they cannot be saved so they will not be applied to your units.
PBEM CAMPAIGN WinSPWW2v3 Plays like a normal campaign but for two players. Press the Campaigns button in the main menu and if you have the CD version you will see a "PBEM Campaign" button active. This allows from 3 to 21 battles with start and end dates just like a regular campaign. Player 1 begins by choosing his core force in the same manner as a regular campaign but when you are done choosing your core the game will ask for a password. Once that is entered you will see that "Basic Security" is choosen and is in fact the only security mode available for PBEM campaigns. Pressing "Continue" will bring player 1 to a new screen that prompts you to choose a PBEM save slot. These are the same save slots you would use for regular PBEM games. When the files are sent to Player 2 and he opens them he will be prompted to choose a password. Once that is done and he presses "Continue" he will be able to choose his core force. Once that is done and he presses "Done" the game will be autosaved in the same save slot player 1 originally choose for this game and player 2 will be prompted to send player 1 the files. Once the files are returned to Player 1 and he opens them he will be asked for his password. Once that is entered he will be able to choose his support forces. Once that is done and Player 1 presses Done he will be prompted for a password and once that is done he will be able to deploy his forces. Pressing "Quit Deploy" will autosave the game. Once the files have been sent to Player 2 he will be prompted to enter his password and then player 2 can select his support troops.Once that is done he will be asked again for his password. Once that is done he can deploy his troops and once he has deployed his troops pressing "Quit Deploy" will autosave the game When the files have been sent back to Player 1 he can begin playing in the same manner as any regular PBEM game When the game ends a PBEM Campaign Summary screen will appear that looks like this Unlike in a regular campaign against the AI, in the PBEM campaign each player has an individual score and points are scored even for a loss. Here is the point structure Decisive Victory - 5 points Marginal Victory - 4 points Draw - 3 points Marginal Defeat - 2 points Decisive Defeat - 1 point In addition, unlike in the regular campaign the loss of your headquarters does not lead to the termination of your campaign, nor are there any special battles, and also you will not be able to view the end game map and inspect your opponent's forces as that would give you too much intel on your opponents core force. After viewing this screen and pressing "Continue" you will be able to rebuild your damaged forces . Once done press continue and the game will be autosaved. Send those files to your opponent and he will see the battle report screen and then the PBEM Campaign Summary screen and once he presses Continue he will be prompted for a password and then he will be able to rebuild his core . Once that is done he can begine picking is support force for the next battle.
PLEASE NOTE The first 3 battles in a PBEM Campaign will always be meeting engagements. This allows for the standard 3 battle limit to be used for a fair and open competition (all 3 battles will be on an even playing field). Battles subsequent to the 3rd will be the normal random selection of battle type.
Show/Hide Formation ID's WinSPWW2v3.5 Allows players to view all the units under a formations command ( B0, C0, D0 etc ) either by pressing the "Show/Hide Formation IDs" button in the HQ menu or by pressing the ' 5 ' key on your keyboard. Press once for on and again to turn this off. It allows players to see at a glance where all the troops under the direct command of a x0 are located In the example above the B0 unit is a company commander ( B0 - CO ) and it's direct subordinate unit is B1. The actual selected platoon of this company is shown in Yellow. The platoon commander ( E0 - PL ) will slowly flash gold/yellow to indicate it's status as leader and the other units under it's command will be shown in regular solid Yellow ( E1, E2, E3, E4 ), The unit at the top without ID at this time is the Battalion commander ( A0 ). Had that been selected it would show as ( A0 - BN ) and any units directly under its command would show up as well. In some cases quite a number of units come under the A0's direct command and these are shown. for 2013 -- The game now defaults to showing the formation IDs. This saves pressing the 5 key to turn the feature on each time you start the game. The 5 key can still be used to toggle the feature off and on if so desired. New CD Game only Features 2013 We have expanded the information displayed when you pass the mouse cursor over a hex for the CD version of the game. Previously, the only information about a hex was Height and the terrain types in it. The new display includes ground height, obstacle height , total height and Terrain Density displayed like this : Ground Height / Obstacle Height / (Combined Height) Density XX So the above example tells you the ground level is 1 unit high and the trees are 14 units high so the combined height of the ground and obstacles in that hex above base ground level ( zero ) is 15 units high and the trees have a density of 27 which means you can see through them into the hex behind. Ground Height and Obstacle Height are self explanatory but Terrain Density , while being an old concept for the game, it will be a new one to most players. Terrain Density or just “Density” for short is a value the game uses to determine how solid or transparent a bit of terrain is. For example, trees block Line of Sight (LOS) to the next hex when they are greater than >30 density. If they are under 31 LOS is deemed not fully blocked and you can see into the hexes beyond that hex. Density is cumulative for purposes of LOS. A hex with trees that have a density rating of 20 will not block LOS to the hex beyond it but if that hex has trees that are also have a density rating of 20, LOS will be blocked beyond that hex. Theoretically you could have a number of sparsely treed hexes in a row before LOS would be blocked but typically in the game the maximum would be two but please note those two hexes do NOT have to be adjacent. The game has worked this way since SP1 was first released, we are just displaying to players for the first time. While Ground Height and Obstacle Height might be self explanatory, how the game utilizes them together with Density requires some explanation. Ground terrain ALWAYS blocks LOS 100% and it blocks LOS when it is more than 3 “units” of height above the level your unit is on. For example, if your unit is standing on a hex that is base ground level ( i.e. zero elevation ) that units LOS will be blocked by ground that is 4 units or greater high. Obstacle Height combined with density also blocks LOS and once again it is cumulative. For this I will use tall grass as a general example. Tall grass is 2 units high and has an average density in the game of 10. If the ground the grass is on plus the grass itself is greater than a total of 4 units high LOS will be blocked when enough density is accumulated to do so. In some cases this might take quite a number of hexes to achieve if the terrain between each >3 units of total height hexes are <4 units of height high Each "unit" of height in the game is now considered to be roughly 24 inches ( 61 cm ) so each 10 unit level of elevation in the game represents roughly 20 feet ( 6 meters ) Game Options for 2013 The Game Options launcher programme now allows you to easily edit the INI value for the AIAdjustpercent variable on the Misc Tab. Set at 100% for the default points, 120 to give the AI a 20% points advantage and so on. (Free game users can see this value but not edit it unless they manually do so in the INI file as described in the Game Guide section on AIAdjustpercent). Take Cover ! for 2013 Non-vehicle units with 2 or more MP remaining can now voluntarily take cover to break enemy line of sight at a cost of 2MP by pressing the ‘ C ‘ key. Taking cover especially if close to the enemy is not a guarantee that they will break LOS. Delete button for 2013 A delete button has been added to the main screen options to allow the deletion of no longer needed save games. Change all units for 2013 A facility to change all units of a type in the campaign rebuild screen has been added. Set the button to change all and the change from one type to another will be for all such units in the core. For example, select one of your T34/76 and change it to a IS-2 after toggling the change all mode. All your T34/76 will now be changed to IS-2 provided you have sufficient repair points. NB - if some tanks are same name, but different Unit Classes (e.g. centurion (CS MBT unit class) and centurion (MBT unit class) so only the ones of the selected unit class will change. Formation Menu for 2013 In the deployment only, a new button is added to the Formation Menu to allow the fixing of the formation leader. If the platoon leader has been moved to a unit other than the 0 index, he will be exchanged back into place with that other leader. This is chiefly useful for repairing platoons in long campaigns. It is a manual and not an automatic function since some people will probably like the current leader assignment. General Support and Direct Support off-map artillery for 2013 General Support and Direct Support off-map artillery types have been added for off-map artillery purchase. Direct Support is less responsive than normal arty, General Support even less so. The delay is longer for calls for fire, other than onto gold spots or as a pre game bombardment (their main use). Shifting fires costs a little more for these type of batteries and they are less likely to be in radio contact as they are theoretically shared with other formations than yours. As well, they are less likely to fire counter battery fires if left idle. Strike air types may be bought in general or direct support mode if desired. Direct Support costs 75% of a full Under Command battery and General Support costs 50% of a full Under Command battery. A button on the purchase menu cycles between artillery types. If General Support or Direct Support purchase is active, then only the appropriate formations are filtered to show on the arty page and the miscellaneous page (for strike air). Cycle this back to Under Command artillery to see the filtered-out formations again. General Support and Direct Support off-map artillery cannot be purchased for your core in a campaign Timed objectives for 2013 Timed objectives have been introduced. A button has been added to cycle through the possible values and then back to no timed objectives. The values start at 3 and increment to 30 then reset to 0. The button is available at game set-up in the battle and campaign generators and in the scenario editor. In a meeting engagement the victory hexes start accumulating a timed score from turn 3 onwards. In an advance mission, the defender gets timed scores from ¼ of the game length onwards. In an advance the attacker wants to clear the enemy as fast as he can. In an assault, the defender gets the standard victory hex score credited from the halfway point onwards, and double from the thee-quarter point on. Scoring this way allows the attacker some time to clear defensive obstacles etc. The attacker does not get any timed hex score credit. He removes any potential future score from the defender by taking the victory hex as early as he can. Scenarios can be built with timed objectives, this includes those built into user campaigns but these will only be of use for full CD game owners. The last turn and accumulated scores for timed victory hexes are reported at the end turn phase once they have started to be credited for the battle type. The total is also now reported on the end game score sheet. Victory Hexes for 2013 The standard 7 hex cluster of "non-shotguned" victory hexes will now be spread about in a wider “splatter” pattern approximately 1/3 of the time rather than being in the traditional tight cluster. This produces a more open objective cluster that may need more than a scout car to take and also defend than the “normal” close clusters do but less than the “shotgun” type clusters. Roster button for 2013 The standard roster button has been added to the deployment menu. Wreak display- ON/OFF for 2013 The display of wrecks In the game map can now be toggled on and off as with Victory Hexes in order to allow a less cluttered view of the map if needed. The “|” key (above the “\” key ( That is the Victory Hex toggle on/off shortcut on a US/UK keyboard) is assigned to the function. Obstacle height and density editing for 2013 Obstacle height and density can now be adjusted in the map editor and the extended map editor using the ‘ < ‘ key to adjust Obstacle height and the ‘ > ‘ key to adjust Obstacle density. This will be of use to map and scenario designers who wish to create sparsely treed hexes or areas of really tall grass or underbrush. We had planned to allow adjustment to building height ( to block LOS ) but the house code is more deeply entwined with other aspects of the code than trees or grass and we ran out of time this year to make and test the changes properly. We hope to have it implemented next year along with the ability to adjust the building code to allow the ground under buildings to be raised up so troops in them have the ability to overlook the surrounding terrain. Manual Start