EF OOB and WF OOB with 2.00 update

[USScoralsea]

With the update, is it now possible to move a platoon from WF OOB to the EF OOB ?

[Crossroads]

Yes, local mods are fully supported vs AI (only!) with the -X option. Please see Berto's Coder Diary #9 for further information.

[cw58]

Thank you gentlemen for all your hard work. Your dedication to this game is remarkable, to say the least. And now I'm hoping you'll be able to solve my problem with the no-encryption extension.

I just updated to 2.0 over a fresh 1.0 installation. From the East Front folder in the main directory, I sent shortcuts to the desktop of all the .exe files. Then opened the properties tab on each and added the -X. These are the paths for each exe. shortcut:
"C:\Matrix Games\John Tiller's Campaign Series\East Front\East Front.exe" -X
"C:\Matrix Games\John Tiller's Campaign Series\East Front\ef.exe" -X
"C:\Matrix Games\John Tiller's Campaign Series\East Front\efedit.exe" -X
"C:\Matrix Games\John Tiller's Campaign Series\East Front\efmap.exe" -X
"C:\Matrix Games\John Tiller's Campaign Series\East Front\eforg.exe" -X

Testing by altering the SP value of a unit in an .oob file, I've been unable to effect a change in the eforg.exe or the efedit.exe. I CAN change the value in the encrypted .obx file and get the expected result. I think I must be doing something wrong with the extensions. If it helps, I was trying to change the SP value of the first unit in platoon26.oob. Any ideas what I've done wrong? [&:]

Thanks for your time [&o]

[berto]

ORIGINAL: cw58

Thank you gentlemen for all your hard work. Your dedication to this game is remarkable, to say the least. And now I'm hoping you'll be able to solve my problem with the no-encryption extension.

I just updated to 2.0 over a fresh 1.0 installation. From the East Front folder in the main directory, I sent shortcuts to the desktop of all the .exe files. Then opened the properties tab on each and added the -X. These are the paths for each exe. shortcut:
"C:\Matrix Games\John Tiller's Campaign Series\East Front\East Front.exe" -X
"C:\Matrix Games\John Tiller's Campaign Series\East Front\ef.exe" -X
"C:\Matrix Games\John Tiller's Campaign Series\East Front\efedit.exe" -X
"C:\Matrix Games\John Tiller's Campaign Series\East Front\efmap.exe" -X
"C:\Matrix Games\John Tiller's Campaign Series\East Front\eforg.exe" -X

Testing by altering the SP value of a unit in an .oob file, I've been unable to effect a change in the eforg.exe or the efedit.exe. I CAN change the value in the encrypted .obx file and get the expected result. I think I must be doing something wrong with the extensions. If it helps, I was trying to change the SP value of the first unit in platoon26.oob. Any ideas what I've done wrong? [&:]

Thanks for your time [&o]

No, the -X NoEncryption option only applies to the second of your shortcuts, for ef.exe. The others are totally unnecessary.

(BTW, you might want to add -W, to run the game engine windowed.)

You then start ef.exe directly (but with the -X option) by, in Windows Explorer, double clicking on that shortcut.

Yes, you bypass the frontend etc., but that's WAD. [;)]

[cw58]

Ok, I think I see my problem. I began with the one thing that probably can't be altered, that being the strength value of the unit. I was able to change the assault, defense and firing cost values in another quick test. And that's probably good advice about the windowed mode, thank you [:)]

[TAIL GUNNER]

ORIGINAL: cw58

Ok, I think I see my problem. I began with the one thing that probably can't be altered, that being the strength value of the unit. I was able to change the assault, defense and firing cost values in another quick test. And that's probably good advice about the windowed mode, thank you [:)]

You can change strength.

[cw58]

@Juggalo:
Really? How so? Using the non-encryption mode, I was unable to change the strength value even though I could change assault, defense and firing cost. How are you doing it?

[TAIL GUNNER]

Unless something has changed, should be the first number in the platoon file like always...[&:]

[cw58]

No, it's still the first number after the unit #. I'm able to change strength in the .obx file, just not able to do it in the .oob file using the new -X extension.

[Jason Petho]

How are you testing to see if it works or not?

[TAIL GUNNER]

Well, it's kind of working...notice the pic the Panzer IV has strength of 4 and that number is yellow. I edited the original platoon file(SP 4) to a strength of 12 and this yellow number means it is under-strength.

However, there is no way to increase this number....the org editor only reads platoon.obx files and the scenario editor reads from the org editor..

So it looks kind of useless for adding new units.....I think the org editor needs an -X option as well. (I tried...didn't work.)

[cw58]

Ah, I see. I had gone the other way, trying to reduce the strength from 4 to 2. It stayed at 4 in my test while the other values that I changed(assault, defense, etc. ) had increased as expected. I agree, it seems new units would be problematic. Thank you for your effort in testing that. [:)]

[berto]

ORIGINAL: berto

ORIGINAL: The Gray Mouser

ORIGINAL: berto

To the extent that edorg looks for .obx files, I will add a -X NoEncryption option to that EXE also, just like now for the game engine.

A fellow dev team member has pointed out the need for that with edit (the scenario editor) too. I'll look into implementing it for both edit & edorg this very day!

Thanks Berto! Would it be safe to assume there would be no point, until that function is added, in modifying a platoon OOB to use in a new scenario?

Not quite. Up until now, you could modify existing platoon stats (to give them new capabilities, for instance), just not add new ones. An oversight.

All done! The -X NoEncryption option implemented in all of

[*]engine
[*]edit
[*]edorg
[*]edmap

But not for the frontend game launcher EXE, and not for PBEM play, strictly for your own private play only.

Available in the next and all future patches/releases.

[TAIL GUNNER]

ORIGINAL: berto

All done! The -X NoEncryption option implemented in all of

[*]engine
[*]edit
[*]edorg
[*]edmap

But not for the frontend game launcher EXE, and not for PBEM play, strictly for your own private play only.

Available in the next and all future patches/releases.

Cool...can't wait to mess with it. [&o]

[cw58]

Wow, thanks Berto.

You've just been promoted to Captain Awesome! [:D]

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

ORIGINAL: Crossroads
I just now found out Finland had a battery of German rocket launchers available to them. I will try out adding these to an existing i) OOB file, ii) scenario and then iii) play the scenario out, all with the -X option now available to all exes.

That will have to wait until Sunday though. Should be fun!

And did just that! In just a few easy steps, I

- Copied the P01129 German '41 150mm rocket artillery data to platoon39.oob, and weapon.pdt
- Created a Battery of them into company39.oob with Org Editor
- Deployed them into my Hango scenario with Scenario Editor,
- Played the Hango scenario with EF.exe.

All that with -X options. No encryption! How nice!

And if that is not enough, Arkady's unit viewer reads OOB files now, instead of OBX files? What ever you choose to add to the unit roster, you can view them with Unit Viewer as well!

As always, when modding something be careful to create backups. My recommendation is to copy all necessary files together into USER_MODS folder, and then deploy them with JSGME. Then, enable / disable at your will [:)]

[Crossroads]

That is EF 2.01 you see there. It will be released in coming weeks, we're just waiting a tad longer to ensure no other gremlins still lurking in the 2.0 release...