The Blue Max 2D Counter and Map Mod

[Tanaka]

Anyone else having issues with the mod sounds being reverted back to original game sounds when loading a save with the latest patch?

[Hubert Cater]

Thanks for the report and I think I might know what that might be and I'll investigate and correct as needed. There was an issue where campaign specific modded sounds were being kept into the game and not returning to the defaults after you switch back to a regular campaign and I must have overdone it somewhere.

[Hubert Cater]

This should be fixed now for the next update.

[tkershner]

I manually created a Mods folder in the Steam app but it doesn't show up when I run the game. Do you have to take the files out of their folders or what? Thanks

[Hubert Cater]

Steam unfortunately doesn't like changes to the app folders and may amend them automatically by removing files it thinks should not be there. This is just how Steam works.

Your best bet is to create a Mods folder in your USER folder for the game and place the mod there instead.

Typically this is the following:

\Users\<username>\Documents\My Games\Strategic Command WWI

[DH1234]

I am new to the game, I have downloaded the mod, unzipped it to the correct folder. The mod appears in the game settings. I checked the box to select the mods. However, the graphics are the same as before. Any idea what I did wrong?Thanks in advance

[Simulacra53]

Hi - is it correct that the Blue Max mod does not include counters for the Belgian units in the new !arch to Paris campaign?

Will that happen?

[Taxman66]

Yes, it is true. The mod was created well before the campaign was added.

Don't know if the mod creator is still around or if he moved on to a different project.

[Philippeatbay]

Apart from the campaign mini-map, all the graphics already exist.

In theory it should just be a question of dropping the folder for Minor Allied powers into a bitmap folder inside a Campaign folder.

But either I'm missing something or I'm putting the Campaign folder in the wrong place.

As a last resort I suppose you could modify the base game the old fashioned way, but that sort of defeats the point of modifying with the document/"USER"/mygames/Strategic Command WW I/mods folder.

Update: Dropping the Minor Allied powers folder into the base game installation's Campaign folder doesn't work.
One possibility is that I'm chasing the wrong folder, another is that the revised scenario is using an address that is somehow different for the Belgian units. I don't understand why they aren't appearing in the game.

[Simulacra53]

Hi Philippe, thanks for checking out the files - that’s what I expected as well - that all art should be available, yet Belgian forces are shown as default art.

IronX has been supporting the SC3 titles in an almost unprecedented way, in volume and quality, hopefully he is still around to update his mods. If not, well it is up to the community to try and fix this - although judging by his previous work for Squad Battles (and more?) that’s a hard act to follow if more than editing or some cut and paste is required. The man has a certain art style that is pretty hard to emulate.

[Philippeatbay]

IronX is very much around, but I suspect this can't be solved by modding.

[Simulacra53]

Philippe, you made me take a closer look.
I think I understand what happened.

In the original campaigns Belgium uses the Allied_Minor art files, but in the new March to Paris campaign it uses the Major_05 (Russia), which you only see after a mod refresh (switch off / switch on).

So at least a partial fix is to copy the Blue_Max_Units folder (rename)
Replace the Major_05 content with the Allied_Minor content.

Uncheck the original Blue_Max_Units mod in your mod setting, check your new copy.
Presto - Belgian troops.

...this assumes that no other mapping changes were made, only majors vs minor.

[Simulacra53]

Original
ALLIED_MINOR Belgium (...)
MAJOR_01 GB
MAJOR_02 RF
MAJOR_03 USA
MAJOR_04 Ottoman
MAJOR_05 Russia
MAJOR_06 Serbia
MAJOR_07 GB
MAJOR_08 Germany
MAJOR_09 Italy
MAJOR_10 KuK

March on Paris
MAJOR_05 Belgium

[Philippeatbay]

Did you actually try that?

It didn't work on my installation, and I can't see why it would.

If that were correct, a vanilla Blue Max installation would be showing Russian units in the place of Belgian units, and it doesn't (it shows unmodded Nato Belgian units).

I'm pretty sure I tried replacing unmodded Belgians with Blue Max Belgians yesterday in the main installation and it didn't work either.

Are you just speculating or are you actually getting results?

[Simulacra53]

Not only did I try, but I am playing a game with it.
It is important that you do a refresh of the unit mod file after this update.

And yes, vanilla Blue Max does show Russians, but only when you cycle the unit mod file.
There is something that forces defaults on start up, go to mods, remove units, ok, activate units, ok.
On default Blue Ax it will show Russian unit art.

After creating a copy as explained with the Allied Minor as Major_05 going through these steps will show Belgian units.

Again no speculation, but testing.
I am a little hesitant to show screenshots as I do not want to spoil the campaign by showing troop dispositions.

[Simulacra53]

https://rhorta.home.xs4all.nl/TEMP/MATR ... EFAULT.jpg

https://rhorta.home.xs4all.nl/TEMP/MATR ... EFRESH.jpg

https://rhorta.home.xs4all.nl/TEMP/MATR ... LT_FIX.jpg

[Philippeatbay]

I've been playing on a Steam installation. I'll download the Matrix version and see if that makes any difference (it might because Steam is weird sometimes because of saving to the cloud).

[Simulacra53]

Using the Steam version for this test as well.

I’m running the game without Steam on my laptop, but have not tried the “fix” on that install.
In my experience SC3 behaves the same with mods regardless which version.

[Simulacra53]

Just tried with the non-Steam version.
Same issue.
Same steps work.

So we have a fix for the counters, but only a workaround for activating them.
Somehow the game resets to some default.

This is primarily a campaign / game problem, although I do not understand why Belgium was changed from minor to major files. Seems like a unnecessary change to me - but that’s without knowing any details.

[Philippeatbay]

After fighting with a new installation I finally managed to get it to work.

Once I figured out the magic refreshing formula (and it's very fiddly and not obvious), I was able to reproduce it in the Steam version, so it's not a Steam issue.

Re-using a folder in a campaign with inexplicable different content is something that I've seen in these games before.

But what requires Hubert's attention is the fiddly procedure you have to follow to get the revised mod to stick.
I usually open and apply these things from the settings menu when you first fire up the game rather than the settings menu from inside the scenario.
I'm also disturbed that it seems that I have to reactivate the mod and go through this all over again every time I fire up a scenario.

But other than that, thanks for your insight, I wasn't getting anywhere with this and was starting to think I was going crazy.

For the record, what I'm doing is using a vanilla Blue Max mod units file, and a modified Blue Max mod units file called units_OTP.
The Blue Max units_OTP file is the same as the regular Blue Max units file, except that I've copied and pasted the contents of the Allied_Minor folder into the Major_05 folder.

Is there a smoother and cleaner way of doing this that I'm not seeing because I'm a slave to habit when it comes to opening things?