Repairing Tank Optics

SeaWolf · Post by **SeaWolf** » Tue Jul 11, 2000 5:41 pm

Just as an intro, I've been reading this board but I don't get the opportunity to read it as much as I'd like. As a result, the questions and comments I'm about to make may have already been covered, but I probably missed them. So please, bear with me.

I'm playing the long campaign and I've noticed tanks that suffer the 'Main Gun Optics Destroyed' damage usually, maybe always, start the next scenario with a vision of zero. This is after I hit the 'Fix All' button on the repair and refit screen. This leads me to wonder if all of the special damage to vehicles are being repaired. I've worked around this problem by making a note of the afflicted units and going back to the saved game of the last scenario ending. From there, I 'replace' the old tank with a new one of the same type that I select from the new units.

Also, when trying to view the upcoming mission, my game freezes. I'm playing the game on Windows NT 4.0 with service pack 6. I've read some of the posts of people trying to get the game to work on NT and it may be that they need to updated the active X drivers on their system. I'm not sure, but I think service pack 6 has the latest for NT 4.0.

In closing, I'd just like to express my appreciation for all the hard work you guys put into this game. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

TTFN.

Arralen · Post by **Arralen** » Tue Jul 11, 2000 6:07 pm

Originally posted by SeaWolf:
... start the next scenario with a vision of zero. This is after I hit the 'Fix All' button on the repair and refit screen. This leads me to wonder if all of the special damage to vehicles are being repaired.
Also, when trying to view the upcoming mission, my game freezes. I'm playing the game on Windows NT 4.0 with service pack 6. I've read some of the posts of people trying to get the game to work on NT and it may be that they need to updated the active X drivers on their system. I'm not sure, but I think service pack 6 has the latest for NT 4.0

1. which version of SPWaW are you using? The repair bug(s) should be fixed in v2.1 or later.

2. SP6 isn't probably the best you can do to your comp - it introduces some annoying bugs - dunno if they are patched away or if they are relevant for SPWaW.
Furthermore NT only supports DirectX 3.0, but SPWaW needs 6.1.
This doesn't matter unless it comes to multiplayer (DirectPlay) and Sound - so see that you can turn off sound.
IRC the "crash on previewing the map" was in the old v1.0 of SPWaW ... so make shure you upgrade to 2.3

Arralen

SeaWolf · Post by **SeaWolf** » Tue Jul 11, 2000 6:30 pm

Actually, I'm playing v2.3.

As an additional comment, I also noticed that the additional updates seemed to have turned off the option of changing the sides to play against in the long campaign. The version that introduced the option allowed me to change my opponents after each scenario, but now in 2.3, that option is skipped after every scenario.

Larry Holt · Post by **Larry Holt** » Tue Jul 11, 2000 6:40 pm

In the tread "two questions advice needed" BA Evans has the same problem with optics not being fixed. Since this seems to be occur with more than one player perhaps its a bug and not an isolated problem on NT. Has anyone else seen this?

Late · Post by **Late** » Tue Jul 11, 2000 7:33 pm

I've had the same problem too.

BA Evans · Post by **BA Evans** » Tue Jul 11, 2000 8:26 pm

I am using a IBM Thinkpad running Win95, if that helps.

Version 2.3 of SPWAW.

Larry Holt · Post by **Larry Holt** » Tue Jul 11, 2000 8:55 pm

Ouch, I've just restarted my campaign under 2.3 but I'd hate to spend so much time on it only to find that my tanks are ineffective due to unrepairable optics.

Whoosh, Whoosh. That's two red start clusters going up to ask Matrix to look at this and give us a patch if needed.

------------------
An old soldier but not yet a faded one.
OK, maybe just a bit faded.

Paul Vebber · Post by **Paul Vebber** » Tue Jul 11, 2000 9:07 pm

This will be fixed in Version 3

Larry Holt · Post by **Larry Holt** » Tue Jul 11, 2000 9:36 pm

Well, I understand the need to go forward with 3.0 and stop fixing 2.3 but this seems like quite a show stopper bug. I mean if my tanks slowly become ineffective I might as well just turn the game off until 3.0 comes out. (OK I guess I could play only scenarios but I love campaigns).

Does Matrix have an estimated publish date or time frame for 3.0?

In any case I still think this is the best game I've ever played and this forum is certainly provides the best feedback that I've ever seen (sometimes quicker and more openly than my developers at work!)

------------------
An old soldier but not yet a faded one.
OK, maybe just a bit faded.

BA Evans · Post by **BA Evans** » Wed Jul 12, 2000 1:33 am

Originally posted by Paul Vebber:
This will be fixed in Version 3

Thanks for the info. Just knowing you are aware of the problem makes me feel better.

BA Evans

Paul Vebber · Post by **Paul Vebber** » Wed Jul 12, 2000 1:53 am

It will be a couple weeks. You can use Fred's scenario editor to fix the pronblem in the meantime.

Sorry for the problem...

Kev · Post by **Kev** » Wed Jul 12, 2000 6:50 am

Originally posted by Larry Holt:
Well, I understand the need to go forward with 3.0 and stop fixing 2.3 but this seems like quite a show stopper bug.

Have you tried fixing it by upgrading the tank to itself (ie you have a Pz IIIe that has stuffed optics, fix all, then upgrade the Pz IIIe to a Pz IIIe) - I haven't tried it (no optics damaged Veh yet) but it seems worth a go.

Kluckenbill · Post by **Kluckenbill** » Sun Jul 16, 2000 5:45 pm

That doesn't work !!!

This is a real problem in a long campaign. Here is the situation I am in and the things I tried:

WW2 Campaign as US, its now 1/44 and I have 1 M4A3 and 3 M10s with no optics.

As stated in this thread, upgrading has no effect.

Upgrading to the same tank has no effect (and no cost, it simply doesn't do anything.)

The only thing that 'works' is to change to a different tank (which costs points, although I have enough that its not a big deal)then change back to your original vehicle. The big problem with this is that you lose experience. My Sherman dropped from 95 to 85 experience when I did this. It didn't seem to matter what kind of interim unit was used (tank, infantry etc.) the drop was about the same.

Late · Post by **Late** » Sun Jul 16, 2000 6:48 pm

Optics can be repaired: You must "upgrade" damaged tanks to some other model and then back.

Late · Post by **Late** » Sun Jul 16, 2000 6:54 pm

Sorry, I didn't read Kluckenbill's message completely...

headhunter · Post by **headhunter** » Sun Jul 16, 2000 8:50 pm

I am way into a campaign as the gerrys and I got the impression that my tanks are scoring less and less hits.
I attributed this to different experience levels. Now I have taken a closer look and well, 8 out of 15 tanks have apparently lost their optics !! Arrrgh.

Kluckenbill · Post by **Kluckenbill** » Mon Jul 17, 2000 8:02 am

By the way, I also tried to go to the last turn of the game (before the end of the battle) and had my crews abandon all of the tanks with damaged optics to see if they could come back in a new repaired tank. It didn't work, they kept their experience but the optics in the new tank still had fore control of zero!

Larry Holt · Post by **Larry Holt** » Mon Jul 17, 2000 5:07 pm

Originally posted by Paul Vebber:
It will be a couple weeks. You can use Fred's scenario editor to fix the pronblem in the meantime.
Sorry for the problem...

Thanks for the solution. I'm not familar with this editor can someone point me there? Also, I assume that I save my game then edit it to fix the optics damage. Is this intuitive to do or do I need some instructions?

------------------
An old soldier but not yet a faded one.
OK, maybe just a bit faded.

Paul Vebber · Post by **Paul Vebber** » Mon Jul 17, 2000 5:47 pm

Freds page has a link on our main page to get the editor. He has a mpa editor and a game file editor. It is very intuitive, just load a save file and chose teh side and slect a unit and "view unit data" you will be able to change any unit data, the only hard part is remebering what the initial numbers should be. I write them down from the OOB editor first, I usually only have 3 or 4 different vehicles, then go and "fix them" takes about 5 minutes...

A pain we realize, but the "real fix" is coming.

For those of you that have not used Fred's products - I can't recommend them highly enough!