Sub Control in Pac3.2

[Rainer]

Handing over sub control (key "E") does not work with 3.2. This happens after a few moves into the game. If and when "E" is pressed the game constantly replies "Player Sub Control". And that's it. I've checked and indeed the subs are not moved by the computer anymore. A new bug?

[pasternakski]

Never tried the "e" key myself. I always change sub control on the "util" popup menu. I'm playing a couple of games right now, and that works fine.

[Rainer]

Hi Pasternaksi,
the menu doesn't work either. Again, in the first couple of moves (2 or three) it does work. But then one can't toggle sub control anymore. Not that much of a problem, I simply distribute the subs manually. However, another tedious task to be handled by the human player
Cheers Rainer

[pasternakski]

Hmm. I'll look into this and see if it's that way on my box, too. I guess I set it one way or the other on the first turn and don't pay any attention to it anymore.

If this is a new bug, good catch, Rainer!

[Capt. Harlock]

I'm encountering the same problem on Version 3.2, playing the Allies. (A group of subs stayed in port without orders, and a Japanese CV airstrike did some rather inconvenient damage.) No matter what I do, I always get the message "PLAYER SUB CONTROL".

[Mika Väliviita]

It seems for some unknown reason the byte in the save file that stores the sub control value for allies gets corrupted at the change of the year. Can't help with secure PBEM, but if you have an unencrypted savefile, open it with my editor and go to the section on sub control and change the allied subcontrol value to 0. Save and start playing, it should work again (until/unless it happens again at some point, in which case repeat the fix).

Mika

[Rainer]

Hi Mika,
sounds great but where can I find your editor?
Cheers
Rainer

[Mika Väliviita]

http://www.helsinki.fi/~valiviit/gedit.html

[Rainer]

Mika, thanks a lot. The toggle is working correctly for the moment. The game is at August 43, and I'll check if and when the toggle starts to fail again.
Cheers
Rainer

[Rainer]

Mika, just to be clear: the toggle works because I used your tool as adviced.

[Rainer]

Hi all,
this definitely is a bug which apparently only comes alive in 1942. I ended the game in Jan 45 (!) with an allied victory. Beginning 1943 during the game I repeatedly hit 'E', and always the game responded as expected, that is, the sub control was toggled.

I started a new game and the bug hit. In 1942 the toggle simply doesn't work and the hex utility has to be applied.

I recommend to look into this because the E key easily can be hit by accident, and many users probably don't want or don't know how to use a hex editor to fix this.

Thanks to all who listened.
Rainer

[sw30]

For those with MS Excel, the excellent pacwar editor would change it just fine. Look in the first sheet, and change sub control to 0 or 1 (false or true, respectively) No hex editing needed.

[MXB2001]

Edit savea (or as apropriate) byte offset FC88 back to 00 to restore comp. sub control to allies. Must be redone on first turn of every new month. Do it right after Jap. turn so as to not lose any turns for allied subs.

[Capt. Harlock]

Wow -- I didn't know a thread could be resurrected after almost nine years!

[MXB2001]

Only 9 years? Hah. I think in terms of billions of years. That's chicken feed.