pwhexe: methodology and philosophy

[el cid again]

ORIGINAL: dwbradley

ORIGINAL: el cid again


The editor - which is in many respects rather fine - is a beta - and slightly unstable. It appears to have a couple of problems, starting with some saves truncate the file down to a tiny subset of itself which refuses to load. This happens less in Vista than in Windows 7 - fo it is more stable in Vista. When you save - look at the file size - and if it is 2.01 mb rather than something tiny - it was probably a good save. Then try to load it - and if it loads - it is pretty good. But one more step - then put it on your machine running the map - and LOOK at the map hex sides - as you move around. The editor seems to occasionally like to select a random hex and plug in about 4 blocked hexsides. This is enough to mess up communications in many places. But if you spot it- you can fix it.

I recently became aware of this bug. It is indeed a nasty little bug but I have a fix in testing and I hope if all goes well to release it within a week or two. Until then use the editor with caution. Do not save multiple times within the same session. If you execute a save, quit the editor, check to see if your saved file is ok and restart the editor if you have more work to do. I apologize for this flaw and will remedy it ASAP.

Dave Bradley

I find it is not necessary to exit the editor - as I thought as well What seems to work is - after you save a file - RELOAD the very same file This appears to beat the bug entirely - and you can go on without exiting and reloading the editor itself

[el cid again]

ORIGINAL: Andrew Brown

ORIGINAL: el cid again
What is the purpose of a "trail" beneith a rail line? How does a land unit use a rail line except by being on it?
Does not a rail line permit logistic movement better than a trail does? How does the trail actually do anything?
Do land units ignore rail lines for movement - and move instead at the trail rate?

The "trails" you see along railways, where no actual roads are present, are to allow land units that are not entrained (that is, are not using strategic movement) to walk along the railway roadbeds. Such movement was faster than, say, moving through roadless jungle.

For land units to use the railways themselves, use strategic movement. To use a railway in this way you need to own the bases between which the railway runs.

Andrew

thank you very much

Both were as I suspected.

This means that the trails feature of pwhexe works as I thought it does - and that it can be used for other purposes than just under rail lines.
It does appear that these trails work the same way as in WITP - where defined.

[dwbradley]

ORIGINAL: el cid again

ORIGINAL: dwbradley

ORIGINAL: el cid again


The editor - which is in many respects rather fine - is a beta - and slightly unstable. It appears to have a couple of problems, starting with some saves truncate the file down to a tiny subset of itself which refuses to load. This happens less in Vista than in Windows 7 - fo it is more stable in Vista. When you save - look at the file size - and if it is 2.01 mb rather than something tiny - it was probably a good save. Then try to load it - and if it loads - it is pretty good. But one more step - then put it on your machine running the map - and LOOK at the map hex sides - as you move around. The editor seems to occasionally like to select a random hex and plug in about 4 blocked hexsides. This is enough to mess up communications in many places. But if you spot it- you can fix it.

I recently became aware of this bug. It is indeed a nasty little bug but I have a fix in testing and I hope if all goes well to release it within a week or two. Until then use the editor with caution. Do not save multiple times within the same session. If you execute a save, quit the editor, check to see if your saved file is ok and restart the editor if you have more work to do. I apologize for this flaw and will remedy it ASAP.

Dave Bradley

I find it is not necessary to exit the editor - as I thought as well What seems to work is - after you save a file - RELOAD the very same file This appears to beat the bug entirely - and you can go on without exiting and reloading the editor itself

Yup, that should work too and it is simpler.

Dave Bradley

[el cid again]

RHS is going to follow the AE season system - redefining historical changes to the
start of the season nearest to when they occur. I am going to issue a set of pwhexe.dat
files meant to work in each season.

First of all, this means some things absent from AE will be added. Ice cover will retreat
fully in "summer" (called Monsoon) - so you can access Arctic Ocean/Bering Sea river mouths and use
the Asian rivers (4) and North American rivers (2) what may affect game locations in some games. Also
that many trails will disappear in the Monsoon.

Second - it means RHS only trail systems have been added map wide - used to channel movement and supplies along historical routes (to Imphal or Ledo in Burma, to Port Moresby and other points in Borneo, New Guinea, etc) - and to simulate ferries and river traffic (both frozen and unfrozen river traffic). Some rivers may also change status - the Upper Mekong may become un-navigable in some areas in Winter.

Third - it means that trails, roads and rail lines will be added as near as possible to history - or to historical planning. [If you do not want to have the ALCAN upgraded all the way to primary road - then do NOT use later 1944 and 1945 files - which assume construction is not suspended] There is a rail line in New Caledonia - built by the USA - one between Burma and Thailand - one on Sumatra - and several are upgraded - the vital one being in NE India. Less vital is the Whitehorse and Yukon.

Other technical matters can be addressed. And games that involve "construction" can have special pwhexe files made for them. I can change a few hexes in minutes on request.

This is a notice about seasons.

Winter is November to February.

Spring is March and April.

Monsoon is May to August.

Fall is September and October.

Winter 4x means winter for the year indicated - starting in November - but running through February of the next year.

At the moment it looks like there will be continuous changes through 1945 - so we need different files except for every season through Monsoon 1946. I will issue the 1941/2 files in the next 24-48 hours - and the rest within the week. The big delay was getting a base file - which will be issued momentarily - and is closest to Fall 1942 - in terms of ice cover.

RHS can be played without changing the pwhexe files. In that case - probably the Fall 1942 file is best for a single whole game pwhexe file never changing. This is closest to the stock file - and the base file from which all others spawn. The base file represents a 100% rework of the map - every last land hex side evaluated in terms of art, game technical issues, maps and history.

RHS AE is in development - and the first "official" scenario is in test - not yet issued. However, RHS pwhexe files may be used in any game compatable with the stock pwhexe and map art set.

[el cid again]

I made a mistake: water takes a lot of energy to change state - large amounts of water take a lot of time to form and melt ice. So the summer is NOT the
best navigation season - the fall is. In the high arctic - the best month for navigation is September - and the season lasts just over two months. That makes or "fall" season (two months between Monsoon and Winter) nearly ideal. But it also means that the Fall pwhex files are not closest to stock - summer is. In Fall you get the Arctic Ocean above the Bering Strait ice free - and rivers with mouths on the Arctic Ocean are fully navigable to the sea only in Fall. In Summer - it looks like stock - with navigation in all rivers but the ones with mouths in the Arctic Ocean have 'plugged' entrances. In Spring -
the rivers that freeze over are useless - for either water or "ice road" movement (it is called "break up" in the North) - and there is some ice below the Bering Strait. In Winter Ice covers most of the area down to the Alaska Penninsula - and most of the Sea of Othosk. The significance of places like Vladivostok being ice free year around becomes apparent in that case.