Beta Patch 1.06B

[calvinus]

Hi all, finally the so struggled beta-patch 1.06B! For the volunteers: please enjoy and report

Link to Patch 1.06B
http://ageoddl.telechargement.fr/3rdParty/WW1/Patches/WW1_Patch_v1.0.6b.exe

No demo beta-patch this time...

Here the news...

[Version 1.0.6b]
************

New features:
- Political action "Appoint New Leader" can be now adopted only if at least one new historical leader is available
- Enemy rail tracks are now converted by corps located in conquered areas, at the end of each Military Phase
- Enemy rail tracks are now automatically converted in conquered areas (no need of corps garrisoning) at the end of each Interphase
- Armies of surrendered nations are now fully disbanded (customizable via PeaceRules.csv DB)

Improvements:
- Sound effects can now be played only one per time, in order to prevent the erratic crashes reported on some PC configs / sound cards / codec drivers
- Fog of War engine has been refactored in order to improve the game performances during the map refresh procedure
- The Map Engine has been refactored in order to improve the game performances during the map refresh procedure
- Added several checks in political actions to avoid the adoption of "Call to D'Annunzio" and the other territorial promises if Italy is already at war (similar checks added also for Rumania and Bulgaria)
- Popup menu for Change Command action now shows the exact number of corps in armies (before only first line corps were counted)
- Messages concerning the economic and NW effects of Submarine Warfare and Blockade are now notified to all players
- Selected units are now highlighted by a coloured square
(*) The selected war plan is now displayed in the tooltip of Grand Offensive buttons
- Removed cheat that allowed to order the retreat with one combat round advance
- "Send Expeditionary force" political actions have been revised and corrected
- Diplomatic AI improved in order to avoid diplomatic moves & missions in nations where no diplomacy can be done (i.e.: Albania) or whose diplomatic level has already reached the maximum allowed threshold
- Death checks for admirals are now performed at the end of naval combat, and no more overy combat round resolution
- Removed cheat that allowed to activate twice an army (in army-by-army mode) by using a coordination attempt
- Human players cannot send anymore diplomats in surrendered nations
- Political and Diplomatic AI now ignores surrendered nations
- Air/Naval missions now cannot be planned more than once on the same air-squadrons/fleets per turn when the army-by-army activation mode is on
- Committing units from reserves now changes the commanding general only if the unit belongs to an army fighting the battle
- The max sustainable attacks rule for Central Powers is now in effect
- Austria can now build naval steps (shipyards) even at the lowest war economy level
- Corrected the corps construction DB for Turkey that was not allowed to build some corps types
- Events Draw window is now displayed back after the autosave procedure
- War declarations on surrendered nations is no more allowed
- The max number of political actions "New Government" per nation has been halved down (from 10 to 5)
- The political actions "New Government" can now be planned only if the nation capital is not enemy controlled
- The chances for unconditional surrendering of most major nations have been increased
- Conversion of enemy rails can now be performed only if infantry or cavalry corps are stacked inside the detachment
- Conversion of enemy rails no more takes place in case of battle

(*) Scenario corrections:
- 1914 scenario: Moltke plan, Germany had no main army on Western and Western Fronts
- 1914 scenario: Czar plan, Russia had no main army
- 1914 scenario: Corrected NW / Events effects for "Ultimatum Accepted" war-plan option of Austria
- All scenarios: Right of passage scripted rules have been modified in order to be applied during all game phases, except for those RoP coming from diplomatic events
- 1914 scenario: Enver Pacha is no more Commander-in-Chief of Turkish GHQ and he's now in command of III army
- 1914, 1916 and 1918 scenarios: starting level of National Will value of several nations moved from zero to 40 (this caused an almost immediate unconditional surrender in case of war entrance)

Fixed bugs:
- Fixed crash in Statistics window (i.e.: Palestine scenario, page #17) caused by a malformed parametrical text for Tanks description (French language only)
- Fixed crash in Air Squadron detail window (when a flying ace is present)
- Fixed a bug that made the dead admirals relive upon successful political action "New Leader" after the loading of a previous savegame
- Removed the AI deadlocks during the placement of an overflow number of camouflaged stacks (this caused infinite AI job)
- Fixed crash in Statistics window occurring only when a weird monitor resolution is active (16:9 monitors)
- Fixed a bug in RP flow calculation and spending (the flow was wrongly resetted at the beginning of each Military/Reinforcements phase so making the spending double-checks partially wrong)
- Fixed a bug in determination of turn number for construction of aircrafts
- Fixed a bug in that made the change fleet command not working
- Fixed a bug that made sometimes impossible the siege bombardments even if artilleries and ammunitions were available
- Informations of just planned justGrand Offensives are no more lost upon load of saved game
- Fixed a bug that made AI swapping the turn order even when not allowed
- Fixed a bug that made sometimes the breakthrough detachments out of command
- Fixed a rare crash in "peaceful frontiers garrisoning" rule check

(*) : old savegame are not affected, sorry.

[color="Red"]Beware that this beta patch is not all inclusive. It requires the 1.06A installed!
[/color]
[color="Red"]IMPORTANT[/color]: savegames done with 1.06A or previous versions are no more compatible with version 1.06B and following ones.

To make the savegames compatible, do as follows:

1) Open the .SAV files with a text editor;

2) Identify and correct all the following blocks:

BeginBudget
[INDENT]...[/INDENT]
BeginBudget

must become:

BeginBudget
[INDENT]...[/INDENT]
EndBudget

and:

BeginMainOffensive
[INDENT]...[/INDENT]
BeginMainOffensive

must become:

BeginMainOffensive
[INDENT]...[/INDENT]
EndMainOffensive

and:

BeginCombatDoctrine
[INDENT]...[/INDENT]
BeginCombatDoctrine

must become:

BeginCombatDoctrine
[INDENT]...[/INDENT]
EndCombatDoctrine

and finally:

BeginStatistics
[INDENT]...[/INDENT]
BeginStatistics

must become:

BeginStatistics
[INDENT]...[/INDENT]
EndStatistics

Elements marked in bold are the affected ones.

These blocks are inside the BeginNation...EndNation sections. So you will have to correct all nations.

[Bern]

I'm trying to test this beta, but having a problem in editing the save game file. My particular interest is to see the effect of the surrender changes. I decided to start with a save game for Jan 1919. I've made the budget and main offensive changes but do not have the CombatDoctrine section and no endStats at all.

Bern

[calvinus]

I'm trying to test this beta, but having a problem in editing the save game file. My particular interest is to see the effect of the surrender changes. I decided to start with a save game for Jan 1919. I've made the budget and main offensive changes but do not have the CombatDoctrine section and no endStats at all.

Bern

If you have particular difficulties, send me the .SAV file by email (you know it ) and I'll do for you.

It's normal you have no EndStatistics, you have only BeginStatistics...BeginStatistics, that must become of course BeginStatistics...EndStatistics.

[Bern]

If you have particular difficulties, send me the .SAV file by email (you know it ) and I'll do for you.

It's normal you have no EndStatistics, you have only BeginStatistics...BeginStatistics, that must become of course BeginStatistics...EndStatistics.

Hi - I've now located the statistics entry and made the change. However, I still cannot locate the CombatDoctrine. Email on its way

Bern

[calvinus]

... However, I still cannot locate the CombatDoctrine...

No problem, it means you have no newly acquired combat doctrine.

[AndrewKurtz]

My main menu screen il shows 1.06a, but the WWI.EXE is dated yesterday. Is the main menu screen wrong?

[calvinus]

My main menu screen il shows 1.06a, but the WWI.EXE is dated yesterday. Is the main menu screen wrong?

Ops... probably I forgot to update the WW1.ini file. It's only a display problem... The version of the exe is 1.0.6.2 in the end. So if you want to see the right version on the screen, simply update the WW1.ini file as follows:

[MISC]
...
GameVersion="1.0.6b"

[TheDeadeye]

Calvinus,

You just are the man!

I'm eager to try this patch out.

[vonRocko]

Thank you for the new patch Calvinus, looks good.
I just want to make sure I got this railroad repairing correct.
With 106.B,do you still have to press the convert railroad button,or is it enough to just have a corp in the area?
Thanks

[calvinus]

I just want to make sure I got this railroad repairing correct.
With 106.B,do you still have to press the convert railroad button,or is it enough to just have a corp in the area?

If you press the button, the rails are converted during the movement, if any, unless a battle has to take place in the rail area. Otherwise, the rails are converted at the end of the Military phase, if garrisoned by your corps (first line and/or reserves, Inf/Cav). Finally, at the end of each Interphase, the enemy rails in your conquered areas are converted too.

[AndrewKurtz]

If you press the button, the rails are converted during the movement, if any, unless a battle has to take place in the rail area. Otherwise, the rails are converted at the end of the Military phase, if garrisoned by your corps (first line and/or reserves, Inf/Cav). Finally, at the end of each Interphase, the enemy rails in your conquered areas are converted too.

I know it has been discussed elsewhere, but I think this is a really great solution

[vonRocko]

If you press the button, the rails are converted during the movement, if any, unless a battle has to take place in the rail area. Otherwise, the rails are converted at the end of the Military phase, if garrisoned by your corps (first line and/or reserves, Inf/Cav). Finally, at the end of each Interphase, the enemy rails in your conquered areas are converted too.

Ok I understand.
Thanks Calvinus

[Bern]

Spent a little time with 6b. One thing I have noticed is that the AI turns are now completed much quicker. Very welcome indeed.

I'm particularly interested in the end game changes. I'm using a save game at Jan 1919 and playing through to May 1919. I've done this three times so far. The AI CP continues its hopeless fight . However, Germany has not declared a new govt, so that is an improvement. A-H, however, in each game did get itself a new govt - each of its three capitals is Entente-occupied. Not sure why this happened.

I still can't help feeling that more needs to be done to bring an end to this sort of situation. It's possible I could have been more rigorous in the organisation of my forces to destroy the last remaining remnants of the CP, but I actually feel a little dispirited by the way the game is ending.

Bern

[calvinus]

Well Bern, that means I have to go into the game with debug on, in order to verify carefully the behaviour of AI when evaluating the surrender, but also for checking the new govt actions of A-H. I already have your save...

My only worry is to build a solution that will bring nations to surrender when the situation is really hopeless, not simply when they feel things are going bad...

[Bern]

Well Bern, that means I have to go into the game with debug on, in order to verify carefully the behaviour of AI when evaluating the surrender, but also for checking the new govt actions of A-H. I already have your save...

My only worry is to build a solution that will bring nations to surrender when the situation is really hopeless, not simply when they feel things are going bad...

I imagine this is a carry over from the board game and I do appreciate your difficulty here. Obviously it is necessary to avoid an AI surrender when the situation is 'sticky' rather than hopeless.

Would it be possible to introduce a NW penalty when a nation's capital is occupied by the enemy, such penalty set to increase for each turn that the capital is not re-taken.

Bern

[calvinus]

I imagine this is a carry over from the board game and I do appreciate your difficulty here. Obviously it is necessary to avoid an AI surrender when the situation is 'sticky' rather than hopeless.

Would it be possible to introduce a NW penalty when a nation's capital is occupied by the enemy, such penalty set to increase for each turn that the capital is not re-taken.

Bern

Yes indeed we had the same difficulties in the boardgame... for example, Italy totally conquered except for Sicily, was able to produce the same RP flow as if not conquered... totally silly, so we introduced the RP Malus value for the loss of major cities (see Options window).

The surrender problem is related to the obstination of players. So it's possible that obsinate human players in the boardgame can make it boring, exactly like you feel now against a so obsinate AI...
So I agree with you, the best way is to speed up the NW drop down curve.

[Flop]

This looks great Calvinus. Thanks for all your hard work.

Unfortunately, I can't try it out untill I get my desktop back from the repair guy, but at least I'll have something to look forward to.

[pk205]

So far, so very good. Played to October 14 as
CP (no sound, all maps at start, yellow filter on, ai memory on) with no crashes. I have a top end rig, but up to now the game was not what I would call stable. Map is now scrolling properly, and the AI turn indeed takes less time than before.

One bug remains: When the Goeben goes to Pola, it joins the Austrial fleet as described, but its alter ego Yavuz Sultan also exists in the Turkish navy. Which is a bit unfair when Turkey enters the war on my side and I get to have two state-of-the-art battlecruisers in the Med for the price of one

[calvinus]

One bug remains: When the Goeben goes to Pola, it joins the Austrial fleet as described, but its alter ego Yavuz Sultan also exists in the Turkish navy. Which is a bit unfair when Turkey enters the war on my side and I get to have two state-of-the-art battlecruisers in the Med for the price of one

Yes, indeed it's scheduled for fix. With the 1.06B, I did about 60% of the "to do" list...

[Johnny Canuck]

Unfortunately, I don't think the new rail conversion rules are working quite right. Playing as the CP, I noticed that after the Early August turn, every Belgian province I had moved through had their rail converted, not just those which had friendly corps in them (& none of the corps that did the movement had the 'convert rail' button selected).

[calvinus]

Unfortunately, I don't think the new rail conversion rules are working quite right. Playing as the CP, I noticed that after the Early August turn, every Belgian province I had moved through had their rail converted, not just those which had friendly corps in them (& none of the corps that did the movement had the 'convert rail' button selected).

Ugh. That means I have to check it as soon as possible. Thanks Johnny!

[Johnny Canuck]

Ugh. That means I have to check it as soon as possible. Thanks Johnny!

No problem, glad to help!

[calvinus]

Ok, today I check back the rail system in debug mode.

I managed to introduce an automatic correction of old savegames (pre-1.06B) during the load procedure. Very very useful for when the patch will become official!

[calvinus]

Unfortunately, I don't think the new rail conversion rules are working quite right. Playing as the CP, I noticed that after the Early August turn, every Belgian province I had moved through had their rail converted, not just those which had friendly corps in them (& none of the corps that did the movement had the 'convert rail' button selected).

Ok, fixed. Now what you describe takes place at the end of Interphase, not Military phase, Next patch.

Thanks,
Calvinus.

[pk205]

I "finished" my game described above. August 15 France capitulated (!) after Italian troops ran riot in the south and the Austrian fleet semi-battered their Med fleet. Revolution leading to autocracy came in June, then August 15 they threw in their hand. Russia are still going on despite an absolute pasting on the field, and after a nationalist resurgence they are on Sacred Union, but with no allies and with everybody against them (Romania AND Bulgaria are on my side) it should be a matter of time. Good fun overall.

Feedback:

CTD - only one, non-repeated, in the end of the Nov-Dec 14 turn. All my crashes for the last few patches have been similar in nature. At the end of the "normal" battles, but before the siege resolution bit, I get the Windows crash pop-up. It's got rarer and rarer with each patch, but it always is like I described. I'm running XP/SP3, fairly clean install, no sounds/logs and all maps at start. I have a top end machine so the proper yellow filter doesn't slow me down. McAfee is my virus squasher and I keep it ON while I play.

Obvious Bugs - Goeben in Pola plus Yavuz in Turkey we talked about. During the naval battle mentioned above, one lucky shot from the French blew up my Goeben ( - still won though), I got the message tha Souchon was dead, but the next turn he was there still leading the Austrian cruiser fleet (minus the Goeben).

When Romania entered the war on my side, they crossed the frontier and occupied the various Russian towns in Bessarabia. Pretty good you'd think. Well, I got the message that "due to loss of home cities" their NW dropped like crazy and their parliament went straight to defeatist. What gives?

In general, it's a bit hard to understand what's the problem with Parliaments sometimes (statement of the year! ). Germany & Austria are reasonably explicable: losses = bad, no matter if the war seems to be going well. Italy, Turkey and Romania are really weird. Romania we talked about. Turkey were getting NW hits due to "length of war" after being in it for about 2 turns. Italy ran absolutely riot in the south of France, consistently ran a NW of 40, losses were reasonable, but after the winter interphase they went straight to Pacifist in one go. It may be that it's WAD and I'm missing something, but...well, I'm missing something!

I suspect that some of the triggers for historically Entente allies which ended up fighting for the CP in my game aren't WAD. But that's only a guess.

When the French capitulation message came up, the terms included the phrase "none will be ceded to the victorious powers" about 8 times in a row! An empty string there?

In general, I don't believe it's difficult to dream up some plausible armistice/peace terms for all alliance permutations. The RL stuff we know about of course since we can read the Versailles/Trianon/Sevres text, but how about the hypotheticals? E.g. it's obvious what Italy would want out of A-H if they fought against it, since we know what they got IRL. But if they fought alongside them, then what? Not Trento or Trieste obvously. I would say Nice + Savoy (given up in 1859), perhaps Corsica (but it's not in the game so forget it) + some French colonies. Tunisia sounds pretty reasonable. How about the French Med fleet? I would ask for it if I were the Italians. Similarly, Romania winning as part of CP vs Russia would want Bessarabia instead of Transylvania. Germany forcing France to capitulate with the others fighting on? I know what I would ask for: ships, ships, ships, some colonies (Morrocco is an obvious candidate after Agadir, obviously bits of Africa as well, though not Algeria), ships, ships AND ships. And so on.

I'm saying this because it would be a massively interesting game if Germany managed to knock out France out of the war with Britain fighting on against them. If Germany got some French dnoughts out of an armistice deal, wouldn't it make a massively interesting naval game suddenly? How about the tighness of the British blockade then? Perhaps THE main reason I play WW1 is to contemplate the what ifs.

One final comment: you may have noticed that I fought a v. easy war. France + Russia + Japan were the only enemies. Italy I got through the diplo poker option, then went Moltke plan and left Belgium well alone. After a touch & go diplomatic phase the British DL was at 2-3 and then I methodically pasted them with 3-value AMBs to get them to fully neutral. All this while the AI happily looked on, sending AMBs to such vital destinations as Spain and Norway. They did the obvious thing with Japan at start, then tried once again with Britain (but our missions cancelled out). From Sep onwards they didn't even try the British again. They also didn't bother with Romania (got them on my side early 15), Turkey (a month later) OR Bulgaria (actually they tried once but it backfired to the tune of +5 my side ). They sure tried forSpain & Sweden though. And Afganistan .

I would *strongly* suggest the AI targets first these nations who are allowed to go to war on their side. I would say for the Entente (I always play the CPs - more intriguing): Britain & Japan top priority, then the Balkan lot, then the US, THEN the neutral minors. It also looks really weird when the Russian ambassador has such success in Tokyo. Is there an negative modifier in place there?

Oof, long post.

[pk205]

One more thing. Although the Japanese, as mentioned, promptly declared war on my after being prompted by their Russian friends , their scary-looking navy proudly sailed out in the Pacific... and did bugger all for the rest of the war.

Can we script them or something to invade Tsingtao at least?

[calvinus]

Can we script them or something to invade Tsingtao at least?

Yes... I can script an event indeed!

[calvinus]

Obvious Bugs - Goeben in Pola plus Yavuz in Turkey we talked about.

It's a 1914 scenario design error. Fixed now for 1.06c.

[calvinus]

As reported by Anthropoid and other, I added a major improvement here:

- Calculation of paths for naval movements has been improved in order to avoid the weird behaviours caused by the intermediate stops

Several of you reported weird behaviours in naval movements (i.e.: naval transports lost somewhere on the map).

Fixed. Next patch.

[Evren]

Well, i don't want to sound like i'm complaining about a small thing like this, and maybe it was reported before, and i know you have more serious things to do than that, but i'm going to report it anyway :

Some leader portraits do not show the attack and defense values of the leaders, but i can only see them on the responsive screen when i double click on the leader portrait. I know there aren't many leaders and you get familiar with them easily as you play more, but for a beginner like me it becomes a problem when attaining a new commander to an army in the reinforcement screen when i can't see these values on the leader portrait. For example Petain doesn't have any stars on his portrait, so i sent him to a less important army group, but after that i realized his defense value was 2.