How do I install Nemo's mod?

[goodboyladdie]

I have downloaded the .RAR files from Mifune's great site as I want to have a look at Nemo's Empires Ablaze mod. How do I open up the .RAR files so that I can put all the different bits where I need them?

[DuckofTindalos]

I recommend heading over here:

http://www.rarlabs.com/download.htm

Select the first file to download. The program is free to trial and offers the ability to integrate it into the Windows GUI, so you can just right-click on the RAR-file and select "unpack".

[goodboyladdie]

Thanks very much, O unmoronic one. Once again you leap to the rescue as I become lost in the sea of technology. What was wrong with zip files?

[DuckofTindalos]

RAR compresses a bit better, but not enough (in my opinion) to warrant the difference in file formats.

[goodboyladdie]

Next question - which PWhex file am I supposed to use for the map? I could not see one in the files I just had a quick look at.

[ny59giants]

Isn't Nemo's mod on RHS level 6 maps??

[goodboyladdie]

Thanks Michael. I'll pop along to Mifune's site and pick the right one up.

[el cid again]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Isn't Nemo's mod on RHS level 6 maps??

If so you may use any Level 6 RHS pwhex file. These are available at the RHS site. There is probably a standard one and a Panama one - in case the Canal is broken - and also a river one - if you need to move ships in or out of an interior river system.

Also - unless Mifune has his own site - I presume you are using the RHS site - which is indeed entirely maintained by Mifune - but to insure credit is properly given - it is located on AKDreemer's site - and he donates it to RHS.

[Mifune]

In case if anybody needs the direct link to Nemo's Empires Ablazed mod go here http://rhs.akdreemer.com/RHS%20Scenario ... 20Ablazed/

[Nemo121]

Much to everyone's chagrin I have JUST ( yesterday ) finished a major review of all nations aerial forces which will add the following items:
 
1. Ability to upgrade USAAF fighter squadrons to P-38s, F4U Corsairs ( non-CV variant ( 120 replacements per month) .... USN units will be limited to drawing down the F4U CV variant with a replacement rate of 50 per month) and F6F Hellcats in addition to the P-51B XPs etc which are available at the beginning of January 1943.
 
2. I've also rationalised upgrade paths so that more Oz and NZ squadrons can upgrade to planes better than the Kittyhawk once those planes become available.
 
3. I've also completely redone the MVR ratings for twin-engined and four-engined planes to give P-38s, Ki-93s, J9Ms, Ki-45s etc a bit more of a chance when it comes to aerial combat. Late-war Ki-93s, P-38Js and especially Bearcats are just absolutely lethal in the air.
 
4. Japan has also been weakened significantly in early 1942 by the delaying of the Ki-109 into March 42, the Ki-264 Angel ( 48 x 100Kg dumb bombs ) until June 42, the G9M ( with air-dropped Long Lance variant ) until September 42 and the Ki-264 Behemoth  ( with 4 x Hs-293s) until 1st Janaury 1943.
 
5. PP allocations for both sides have been massively reduced with Japan getting 125 per day and the Allied 250. Japan starts with a massive PP allocation for day 1 giving them flexibility in determining their Day 1 thrusts but afterward we won't see the wholesale shifting of armies that we've seen in jagdfluger's game with me. I think this will help the Allies withstand the onslaught better whilst still allowing Japan to be effective.
 
6. I've also increased the cost of the Ki-264/G9M series from 90 HI per plane to 126 HI per plane by requiring 6 Mansyu engines per plane. This is done both to prevent Japan building a massive four-engined fleet and also to represent the increased problems Japan would have had in building such a complex plane without any previous experience with this type of production. Japan's engine cost and HI cost for 2nd generation 4-engined planes ( G8N etc) falls back to 90 HI ( 4 engines + airframe ).
 
7. Allied fighter and some bomber replacement rates are increased.
 
8. I've greatly reduced the amount of oil in the DEI since under RHS Level 6 Oil production levels jagdfluger could ignore my capture of Palembang as the other DEI bases produced more than enough for him to fuel his war economy of some 18,000 HI. This is, plainly, ridiculous and under this revision, while OIL is more plentiful than in stock the Japanese player won't be able to run a full war economy unless he controls the DEI in their entirety. If he does though the opportunity for massive expansion of OIL production exists should he wish to invest in that.
 
 
I'll download the rar files tomorrow and test them for anything missing and then i'll upload anything which is missing. This game uses the Level 6 map files ( although I would recommend people D/l the ones I've uploaded just to be sure they have the right ones as Level 6 files underwent a bit of revision from time to time ) and a unique pwhex file with secure shipping channels from CONUSA to Aden.
 
 
So, basically, the next version will be V1.2 and will be emailed by Thursday evening at the latest. It will include install instructions and an errata file which should help people make sense of everything over the weekend.

Thanks for your patience and sorry about the lack of documentation regarding the install. That was my oversight.

[goodboyladdie]

I'll look forward to Thursday. Will the PWhex hile be included in one of the map RARs this time?

[Nemo121]

I had intended to include it with the scen.rar file but this seems not to have happened. I'll be including it with the scen.rar file as that way once someone has downloaded the maps and art files all they will ever have to do to have the latest version is download the, approximately, 1 Mb scen.rar file which will contain latest pwhex, scenario information, errata etc.
 
If I included it in the map file people would have to download much, much more every time they wanted the damned pwhex file which is unfair on bandwidth-challenged areas ( common in Europe ).

[goodboyladdie]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

I had intended to include it with the scen.rar file but this seems not to have happened. I'll be including it with the scen.rar file as that way once someone has downloaded the maps and art files all they will ever have to do to have the latest version is download the, approximately, 1 Mb scen.rar file which will contain latest pwhex, scenario information, errata etc.

If I included it in the map file people would have to download much, much more every time they wanted the damned pwhex file which is unfair on bandwidth-challenged areas ( common in Europe ).

Brilliant news. Thank you Dr Nemo. [:)]

[goodboyladdie]

Any news on the new version?

[Nemo121]

Yes, just finishing typing the updated errata ( plus one of my friends had an emergency so I had to do an extra on-call. By Sunday 9am I'll have put in 96 hours in the hospital this week ).... Its fairly long as I got "struck" by inspiration when making some changes to torpedo loadout based on a re-reading of Kaigun and due to a weird editor bug I have to go through EVERY single IJN DD to fix their loadouts ship by ship. ARGH!!! 200 down, 300 or so more to go. Its what happens when I start fixing one thing, I usually find two others that could also do with a fix.
 
Here's what I have so far as far as errata goes....
 
Empires Ablaze V 1.2
A. Map.
1. OIL levels in DEI region greatly reduced. On average they are reduced by 2/3rds as it was shown that Japan can fully fuel its entire industry ( even after enlargement ) without capturing DEI in V1.1
2. Palembang is reduced from 3000 OIL to 1000 OIL + 1000 damaged OIL. This is to represent the posibility of increasing production slowly with an appropriate investment of supplies.

B. Aerial Forces
1. Ki-109 entry to service is delayed into March 42 from December 41. Thus the Japanese player will have to rely on Oscars and Zeroes in the early months and that should reduce his ability to run rampant.
2. Ki-264 A, B and G9M entries into service are delayed from 1st January 42 for the A and June 42 for the B and G9M to 1t June 42, 1t September 42 and 1t January 43 respectively.
3. Cost of Ki-264/G9M series is increased from 90 HI ( 1 airframe and 4 engines ) to 126 HI ( 1 airframe and 6 engines ) to represent the difficulties inherent in building such a complicated bomber as one's first-generation foray into four-engined bombers.
4. Twin and four-engined manoeuvrabilities for ALL nations have been thoroughly revised and tested. The P-38 is now competitive in the air.
5. Allied upgrade routes have been tweaked so as to give USAAF, USMC and non-US Allied units access to F6Fs, land-based Corsairs etc in early 1943. This will help make the Allied aerial forces much more competitive in 1943.
6. Allied fighter replacement rates for key fighters such as the P-40E, MiG-3 and Kittyhawk I have been increased by 50% over V 1.1. Will greatly improve Allied survivability in early 1942.

C. Naval Forces.
1. Entry into service of CVAs delayed by 3 to 6 months in order to lessen Japanese naval superiority in early to mid-42.
2. IJN tactical thinking is assumed to have concluded that the range of the Long Lance was purchased at excessive cost and that a variant of the 21 Inch torpedoes fielded in IJN submarines would serve just as well. As such IJN vessels can carry almost twice as many torpedoes as previously albeit that each does less damage and has less than half the range. In effect massed short-range torpedo attacks have become doctrinally preferred over less massive long-range attacks. This represents a reversion to the initial beliefs of the IJN's early torpedo experts and is a reasonable historical alternative.
3. All IJN mid-war upgrades remove torpedo reload capability in favour of firing more torpedoes in the first salvo. Postulated result of realisation that often 1 strike is all they'll get before being annihilated by Allied firepower. If a ship mounted 4 Long Lance tubes with reloads for each tube ( 8 Long Lances ) I am assuming that it will be able to carry 12 x 21 inch torpedoes with no reloads. Counting the weight of reloading equipment etc this gives the ships a similar weight in torpedoes but distributed differently and of different types and i thus something which would have been possible in real life. In some cases it results in truly surprising results with the Takao progressing from being able to throw two broadsides of 16 Long Lances each to being able to fire 48 x 21 inch torpedoes. It is only a 50% increase in total number of torpedoes but the hope is that triple the number fired PER attack the odds of a decisive result from a massed torpedo attack wll be greatly increased.
4. From 1942 AAA duties are considered to be more vital than surface action for IJN DEs and so dual 3.9 inch mounts are substituted in for their 5 inch etc guns. Thus they sacrifice surface action potential in return for increased survivability versus aerial attack.
5. As the war progresses 25mm AAA tends to be replaced by 40mm AAA and 40MM+ AAA tends towards the 3.9inch DP mount. Ammunition loads for anti-aircraft action also tend to increase.
6. USN ship upgrades re-checked and re-fixed.
 
Updates with Version 1.1 and previous versions
A. Map.
1. Pwhex file updated to give Rangoon and Melbourne Urban status.
2. Pwhex file updated to fix error relating to shipping channels south of Aden.

B. Aerial Force
1. Interservice upgradeability is ensured for IJN and IJAAF units such that Army units can now use navy fighters, bombers etc ( and vice versa ) should they wish.
2. The auto-upgrade pathways which did so much to ensure that Japan would end up with production of 100s of the most up to date fighters at almost no cost in terms of retooling time or resources have been hugely modified such that auto-upgrades within a general airframe TYPE do occur but no longer occur outside of that airframe type. E.g. The Ki-43 I auto-upgrades to Ki-43 II but the Ki-43 II factories don't auto-upgrade ( except to the Ki-115 but more of that later ). A6M2 factories upgrade to A6M5 and A6M7 but they never auto-upgrade to Ki-44 IIIs or Shidens etc.
The idea behind this is to force Japan to INVEST and PAY A COST for maintaining top of the line forces AND to prevent insta-upgrading so that Japan is always producing hundreds of top-line fighters the instant they become available.
E.g. In early 1943 when the Japanese player wants to switch his Ki-109s, Ki-43 Is and A6M2s to Ki-44 III ( the best carrier-capable and land-based fighter available to him in 1943 ) NONE of tose Ki-109, Ki-43 and A6M2 factories will auto-upgrade. He'll have to invest supplies into his factories to create the Ki-44 III production he requires. Sure, if he plans ahead he can have 300 rd factories available in early 43 but if he is short on supplies then he will have to make do with lesser types while ramping up production.
3. Engines are rated according to power such that as the war progresses and more powerful engines are required the player MUST invest supplies into expanding production of these engines. No longer can the player get by with massive numbers of Mitsubishis and Nakajimas. If the player wants top-quality 1943 planes he'll have to be making Aichi and Nissan engines and if he wants top-quality 1945 planes he'll have to invest in Toyoda engines.
Again this is to force the Japanese player to continually invest in cutting-edge engines/airframes etc if he wants to produce the best stuff. If he runs short of supply then he won't be able to field hundreds of top-line fighters and bombers instantly --- which is as it should be.
4. Hs-293s. This is the primary armament of the Ki-264 Behemoth. These bombing missions can only be flown at 20,000 feet due to issues with the game code's algorithms relating to PGMs ( Guided Munitions). Hs-293s are Carrier and Battleship-Killers. If a japanese player can get enough Ki-264s over an Allied CV TF then he WILL kill carriers and Battleships even in 1943, 44 and 45.
5. G9M. This Ki-264 variant carries a variant of the Long Lance torpedo and is, again, a carrier and BB-killer. When proximity-fused shells come in it loses much of its lethality but in 1943 it is an extremely serious threat.
6. Ki-115. Due to a little code trick this real airplane can be produced at a cost of just 18 HI. It is the terminal upgrade of ALL Japanese aircraft factories so on 1st January 1945 all of Japan's aircraft factories which aren't producing planes which are combat-worthy in 1945 will auto-upgrade to producing Ki-115s. They don't need engines so no matter how bad your engine production is or your homeland situation is you should, through the magic of auto-upgrade, be able to make hundreds and possibly even thousands of these per month.
They have terrible range, no armour, poor speed, poor manoeuvrability, a low ceiling and so little durability that even the lightest FlAK barrage tends to knock them down. On the other hand they are the ultimate in cheap kamikaze planes AND they carry an 800Kg bomb - which will ruin even a BB's day - SO if you send enough of them ( and I've designed production so that if you just turn off factories when planes become obsolescent you should produce many hundreds, possibly thousands of Ki-115 per month ) SOME will get through and do some damage.

[Texas D]

Sounds great, I can't wait to try it out.

[Nemo121]

Well the final version of V1.2 has been sent to Mifune so it should be up within a day or two.

I won't be making any further changes except as a result of feedback from players/ when my own games reach mid-43.

Two fairly major changes I've recently made are to give Aden a lot of repair yards and also to add a few to Karachi. This is to give the Allies a chance to fight back via repairing and refitting ships if they get pushed fully out of India/ get most of India taken from them. Repairing all those shipyard points will tax the Allied supplies in Aden but that's intentional. Even the Allies can't have everything they want all at the same time.


I've also tested A2A combat right up until the arrival of the P-80 ( I didn't test the P-80 itself) and my conclusions are as follows:

1. Ki-109 rules supreme in defensive actions right up until January 1943 for the Japanese while the Spitfire and MiG-3 are hellaciously effective for the Allies.

2. January 1943 until January 1945 the Ki-44 III reigns supreme for the Japanese. Various marks of the Corsair and Hellcat do the trick for the US and Allies although Spitfires really help out also for the British and Commonwealth components.

3. January 1945 onwards the Shiden reigns supreme. Even with poor quality pilots the J7W holds its own against the latest Allied fighters although sheer numbers will count in the end. With 90 Exp Shidens I managed to get 2 x 1 day aces ( pilots who shot down 5 enemy planes in a single engagement ) although, overall half of my Shidens were lost.

4. Twin-engined fighters work relatively well. The ki-45s are easy meat on the table but Ki-219 Uhu variants and the Ki-93 do relatively well against single-engined fighters ( shooting down 1 late-war Allied fighter or every 3 -45s, -219s or -93s shot down ( highly experienced pilots ) ). The late-war J9M does sterling work though getting a 1:1 exchange rate with highly experienced pilots. It is also a relatively useful kamikaze type for high altitude attacks. The Japanese twin-engined fighters are really mostly usefull for dissuading bomber attacks beyond range of Allied fighter cover and FlAK suppression runs to help torpedo-bombers and dive-bombers reach their targets ( the Ki-93s are particularly brilliant at this ).

P-38s aren't massive fighter-killers against highly experienced, latest-generation Japanese fighters ( which is, I think, as it should be ) but they definitely more than hold their own against A6M2s, Ki-43s and Jacks ( which were what they made their reputation against in the real war )



Last thing:
I've taken the view, after re-reading Kaigun, that the IJN could very easily have decided to go with wakeless 21 inch torpedoes instead of the Long Lance. By avoiding reloads also you can convert an 8 Long Lance DD ( with 1 set of reloads ) into a DD capable of firing 24 x 21 inch torpedoes in a single salvo. The 21 inch torpedo only has 10,000 feet of range so you really do need to make the most of night attacks with your IJN DDs and failure to plan things properly will mean your forces get more easily creamed. IF you plan things properly though your DDs will do much better. Kitakami and Oi now mount 64 torpedoes to a side and by putting one of those CLs into a TF with 7 strong DDs you can have a force of 1 x CL and 7 DDs which can field 296 torpedoes. Since so many are on one side or the other they don't get 296 in a single salvo but, even still, 200 or so torps in a salvo can really screw with the Allies.


Upgrade paths are massively changed. I've decided that the IJN viewed the coming war as a war which would be decided by aircraft and anti-air defences. As such a lot of IJN DDs swap their armaments for DP guns accepting less anti-ship capability in return for greatly increased anti-aircraft fire.

As the war goes on the anti-ship firepower tends to fall more and more ( with BBs sacrificing central main gun batteries in return for massed AAA emplacements stretching a hundred feet or more on multiple banks ) and AAA power is optimised. Some of the changes may seem excessive but I read the changes made to Yamato and Musashi which, eventually, fielded twelve times the number of AAA guns they were initially designed for and I don't think any of my changes come with a dodecatupling of AAA power above and beyond the historical.


You definitely DO have to fight the IJN differently than previously though. It is, IMO, weaker during daytime engagements, slightly stronger at night and by the end of 1942 a VASTLY more capable navy in terms of AAA defence. If an IJN player can keep his CVs and CLAAs together into 1944 then with the mass BB to CVA ( armoured deck carriers ) conversions occuring in early 1944 and the final round of AAA and radar increases I think the IJN will be able to stand and fight toe to toe with the Allies in 1944. It is the Allied player's job to kill these ships before they become this capable.

[Nemo121]

Ok, V1.2 is now uploaded with all of the above changes. The pwhex file is in the scen.zip file. All of the art files ( planes and maps... which go in the ART folder ) are in the map.rar files.
 
Feedback welcome.

[Alfred]

I think I have seen elsewhere that installing RHS can be tricky.  To install this mod, is all I have to do is:
 
1.  Create a new empty directory, say called "Empires Ablaze"
2.  Copy WITP files and folders from my vanilla directory to the new "Empires Ablaze" directory
3.  Download (in my case to a USB flash drive) the .rar folders from the site listed in post #9
4.  Extract the folders/files to their vanilla namesake in "Empires Ablaze" and allow them to overwrite
 
Doing so gives me the correct map, pwhex file etc
 
Alfred

[Nemo121]

Alfred, well this isn't RHS... I used a very different version of RHS as a base about 18 months ago and over time I've diverged so much that this now bears little resemblance to RHS. My ships are different, the upgrade paths are different and the planes are different. Ground units are different also.
 
So, basically, what you need to do is:
 
1. Download the Map.rar files ( 4 )
2. Download the ship and plane art files.
 
Unzip all 6 of this files into the appropriate folders in the ART FOLDER ( overwrite the files which are there )
 
 
3. Download the scen.zip file.
 
Unzip the scen.zip file into the SCENARIO folder.
 
That's it, all done.