Stupid question, probably....

[past caring]

Just coming back to CS after upgrading from the old EF/WF games and it's been a while since I played them - so can't remember if this was ever possible.....

But is it possible to save LCG's so that you can re-start a scenario if you make a real balls ? ie when you've already played 4-5 of the scenarios in the campaign, without having to start the whole LCG again?

[Jason Petho]

ORIGINAL: past caring

Just coming back to CS after upgrading from the old EF/WF games and it's been a while since I played them - so can't remember if this was ever possible.....

But is it possible to save LCG's so that you can re-start a scenario if you make a real balls ? ie when you've already played 4-5 of the scenarios in the campaign, without having to start the whole LCG again?

Yes, it is possible, but it requires editing your campaign file.

Jason Petho

[past caring]

Pray continue......

[cpdeyoung]

I will share this for what it is worth, but it is probably too late for you.  Sometimes I try to protect myself from a major mouse move error, like a slip, oops, and that stack of trucks carrying platoons of infantry slides into op fire oblivion! To do this I create a folder before I start the campaign, and after each game I copy all modified files into a subfolder.  Thus Sicily\Turn1, Sicily\Turn2 etc.  This will only allow you to start a whole turn over, but you overwrite the current files, and a new game will be generated.  If you have a fun campaign going and hate messing up from an accident it can keep you going.
 
Chuck

[Jason Petho]

On the other hand, accidents are part of combat?

Jason Petho

[cpdeyoung]

I know, and I agree with the philosophy, but I sometimes use a trackpad, only when I have to, and then it can just ruin your day so badly when you slip and the consequences are such misery.  I used the phrase "share this for what it is worth" just because I realize there are many issues with this.  So ... for what it is worth.
 
Chuck

[Eagle Strike]

Please excuse my ignorance but this does sound a little like the "replay" issue we were trying to get away from... IMHO. Of course I was only referring to human vs human games and not necessarily the battles against the AI.

[past caring]

Sure, if I were playing a human opponent, but I'm not. I've just come back to CS after several years absence and even when I played before I was pretty crap.....[:D]

At the moment, I'm trying to refine my gameplay and tactics - but that's pretty difficult to do when you cannot restart a scenario within a LCG without replaying all the previous scenarios. It's not so much that I hate losing or messing up from an accident, more that I want to be able to ask myself, "What should I have tried there? Maybe this would work..." and then find out the answer. I do eventually intend to give PBEM or H2H a go, but for now the AI is challenging enough and I'd be a pretty poor opponent for any human player.

So if Jason could elaborate, it would be much appreciated - I thank cpdeyoung for his reply, but I could maybe do with a little more detail - ie where do I put the new folder? What do I name it? Is it just a case of then over-writing the existing folder with the save? Is there some way of doing something similar so I could just re-start from the beginning of the scenario, rather than saving each turn?

Many thanks.

Edited to add some subsidiary questions:

1) When you exit a LCG the game automatically saves your progress as "campaign.ccl". If you have an entirely different LCG on the go, this automatic save will overwrite the .ccl file from that game with the .ccl file from the LCG you've just been playing. Does this mean it's possible to have only one LCG on the go at once?

2) I notice that I can "save as" during a LCG, but the file extension is then ".btl" and to resume the game, I then have to load from the scenario screen rather than the campaign screen. Two questions flow from this:

a) If I save a game in this way, what happens after the last turn in the battle/scenario? Does the next scenario in the LCG load up or does the .btl extension prevent this?

b) If the next scenario in the LCG does become available, then surely this would allow me to have two LCGs on the go at once and to overcome the problem of having to re-start an LCG when I balls up....I could save the LCG on the last turn as a .btl file and then at least restart the LCG from the end of the previous scenario?

Sorry if this all seems fairly obvious to you lot......

[simovitch]

These are actually pretty good questions and should be considered by the developers before the next update. I'm not Jason but I'll give it a try.

ORIGINAL: past caring
So if Jason could elaborate, it would be much appreciated - I thank cpdeyoung for his reply, but I could maybe do with a little more detail - ie where do I put the new folder? What do I name it? Is it just a case of then over-writing the existing folder with the save? Is there some way of doing something similar so I could just re-start from the beginning of the scenario, rather than saving each turn?

going on cpdeyoung's advice - put the folder in any convenient location and call it anything you like. It is simply a case of overwriting the campaign files (campaign.cpn & campaign.ccl) in your John Tiller's Campaign Series/West Front (or whatever) folder with the contents of this new folder.

1) When you exit a LCG the game automatically saves your progress as "campaign.ccl". If you have an entirely different LCG on the go, this automatic save will overwrite the .ccl file from that game with the .ccl file from the LCG you've just been playing. Does this mean it's possible to have only one LCG on the go at once?

The old LCG will be overwritten - not good. My guess is that this is probably not what the developers intended with the new LCG auto save fuction.

2) I notice that I can "save as" during a LCG, but the file extension is then ".btl" and to resume the game, I then have to load from the scenario screen rather than the campaign screen. Two questions flow from this:

a) If I save a game in this way, what happens after the last turn in the battle/scenario? Does the next scenario in the LCG load up or does the .btl extension prevent this?

If you load the .btl file that way I would imagine you are out of the Campaign mode and you will not advance to the next scenario. However this is another a way you can save your first turn of any scenario but you would have to rename this .btl file "campaign.cpn" to do this.

b) If the next scenario in the LCG does become available, then surely this would allow me to have two LCGs on the go at once and to overcome the problem of having to re-start an LCG when I balls up....I could save the LCG on the last turn as a .btl file and then at least restart the LCG from the end of the previous scenario?

Hmmm... moot point but no you still would not be able to have more than 1 LCG's going because the .ccl file would be overwritten.

Hope this helps.

[past caring]

Thanks for this. Discovered that the new folder and copying the cpn. and ccl. files method does allow you to have separate LCGs on the go - will now just be a case of remembering to copy these files after I exit a game, saving them each time and overwriting with those from the LCG that I want to continue with. Not tried yet, but can now see how this method will also allow me to overcome the problem that originally prompted this thread.

Ta.