Incorrect Air Bombardment screen displayed

[Kull]

I noticed that certain bases display an air bombardment screen that looks quite inappropriate. Specifically, Milne Bay (P0-A1 in my game) was showing Air11Bombardment_512.bmp (a heavily developed port and airfield complex) instead of Air01Bombardment_512.bmp (a small airfield in a jungle). Even worse, several of the inland Chinese bases had the same problem, specifically Paoshan (P0-A2) and Liuchow (P0-A1).

In limited testing, it appears that the problem is restricted to bases which have Port=0 and an Airfield=1 or 2 (as noted at the bottom of the attachment, dot bases (P0-A0) use the "no buildings" file AirBombardment_512.bmp). The file named AE Art modifications.rtf lists the files which should display depending on Port/Airfield size (graphic appended below), and this issue is consistent with a bug in which the game is using the Air11 file in place of Air01.

The solution I implemented was to replace the Air11 graphic with the Air01 picture, and to apply Air11 as a "base unique" graphic in the far fewer instances where you have a base size of A7-10/P3-6. Not in all cases, but just those where bombing is underway.

Oddly enough, I don't remember this as an issue in previous campaigns, so perhaps it's a bug which crept in during one of the later beta patches. For the record, I'm using the 26b beta and Scen 102.

[Korvar]

That is interesting. I never paid enough attention to the bombardment screens to notice any discrepancies; I'll need to begin taking a closer look.

Your solution is a good one. Maybe folks can begin to observe their own campaigns and then report back with what scenario #, scenario version #, and game version they are playing? We might be able to compile a list as well as figure out what the pattern(s) are. If there are enough commonalities, a 'patch' could then be prepared to fix the issue in a majority or all of cases.

As an aside, there is some untapped potential to add additional unique base images to increase immersion for common battle areas or campaigns of note (the strategic bombing campaign against the Japanese home islands, for example).

Currently, the following bases have unique air bombardment images:
Pearl Harbor (#0584)
Manila (#0631)
Singapore (#0722)
Rabaul (#0922)
Soerabaja (#1160)

It's too bad that the unique base images can only be indexed to calendar dates like aircraft are. To me, it would have made more sense to follow the existing matrix for base development. The development of certain bases by a certain date might be guessed, but they could also be very wrong depending upon the campaign. It would've been nice to have them be commensurate with the actual development.

[Kull]

I agree, it would be nice to have more customized base pictures. That said:

- I use the Rabaul graphic (no extended piers) for Port Moresby (and it would probably work at several of the larger Solomons/New Guinea/SRA bases)
- The "basic" Ford Island pic (Air0584Bombardment_512.bmp) could be used at some of the larger atolls (might try to edit out the white buoys, though)
- For Japan/china, I'd recommend mixing in the Soerabaja/Manila/Singapore pics to spice things up at several of the larger ports.

As an fyi for anyone running tests, if you air-attack a ground unit at a base, the game does not use the base graphic but rather the generic "no buildings" picture (A_AirBombardment_512.bmp).

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Korvar

That is interesting. I never paid enough attention to the bombardment screens to notice any discrepancies; I'll need to begin taking a closer look.

Your solution is a good one. Maybe folks can begin to observe their own campaigns and then report back with what scenario #, scenario version #, and game version they are playing? We might be able to compile a list as well as figure out what the pattern(s) are. If there are enough commonalities, a 'patch' could then be prepared to fix the issue in a majority or all of cases.

As an aside, there is some untapped potential to add additional unique base images to increase immersion for common battle areas or campaigns of note (the strategic bombing campaign against the Japanese home islands, for example).

Currently, the following bases have unique air bombardment images:
Pearl Harbor (#0584)
Manila (#0631)
Singapore (#0722)
Rabaul (#0922)
Soerabaja (#1160)

It's too bad that the unique base images can only be indexed to calendar dates like aircraft are. To me, it would have made more sense to follow the existing matrix for base development. The development of certain bases by a certain date might be guessed, but they could also be very wrong depending upon the campaign. It would've been nice to have them be commensurate with the actual development.

Cap Mandrake will want to know if the Singapore graphic has Bugis Street marked on it. Seems Admiral Lord sprior clued him in about some places that had lots of "action" on Bugis Street. I didn't know there were movie studios there!
Pity if bombs dropped in that area ...

[Kull]

Does anybody know the trick to editing Air Bombardment files? If I change even a single pixel, the game refuses to use the new graphic.

I'm editing with GIMP, and normally (i.e. other games) if you edit a file and then "overwrite" the original, it retains all the correct formatting and everything works fine. Except it doesn't work with AE, even though a file comparison indicates the formats are identical.

[Korvar]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Cap Mandrake will want to know if the Singapore graphic has Bugis Street marked on it. Seems Admiral Lord sprior clued him in about some places that had lots of "action" on Bugis Street. I didn't know there were movie studios there!
Pity if bombs dropped in that area ...

It doesn't look like Bugis Street made the cut...

ORIGINAL: Kull

Does anybody know the trick to editing Air Bombardment files? If I change even a single pixel, the game refuses to use the new graphic.

I'm editing with GIMP, and normally (i.e. other games) if you edit a file and then "overwrite" the original, it retains all the correct formatting and everything works fine. Except it doesn't work with AE, even though a file comparison indicates the formats are identical.

I'm not sure on that - usually when the game refuses to display .bmp files, it is because they are not 24-bit (8-bit channels)... yet it should be doing that for you as it sounds like other graphics files work fine. It can't be that the originals are not saved in the correct format, otherwise they wouldn't work in the game...

Maybe try explicitly saving the specific .bmp format? I haven't used GIMP, but in Photoshop the .bmp save menu looks like this:

[Kull]

Speaking of Singapore, here's a link to a 1942 Japanese map. I'm guessing the air-bombing graphic shows at least one of the docks in the northern part of the island.

[Korvar]

It's the Sembawang naval base and that's EXACTLY where it is - east of the bridge in that industrial grouping immediately north of the large airfield. The attention to detail is remarkable!




Interestingly, a photograph from 1953 seems to suggest that the wharves came way after the war but a floating dock was present.




Info on the floating dock:

On 15 February 1938, the King George VI graving dock (drydock) at the Naval Base opened and, at almost 1,000 feet in length, was the largest dry dock in the world. The Naval Base also had the 50,000 ton concrete Admiralty IX Floating Dry Dock, completed by Swan Hunter in England in 1929, the third-largest in the world at the time. of its construction and enough fuel tanks to support the entire British Navy for six months. It was constructed in seven sections, bolted together and towed to Singapore in two parts because it was not strong enough to be towed in ocean waves in one piece. Each part required four tugs, and the average speed was 3.3 knots. The Naval Base also had a 5,000 ton floating dry dock built in the Netherlands 1924 and purchased by the Admiralty in November 1939 from the Dutch East Indies and moved to Singapore. Both floating dry docks were scuttled at Singapore, but raised and re-used by the Japanese.

Source: http://www.combinedfleet.com/Singapore.htm

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: Korvar

ORIGINAL: Kull

Does anybody know the trick to editing Air Bombardment files? If I change even a single pixel, the game refuses to use the new graphic.

I'm editing with GIMP, and normally (i.e. other games) if you edit a file and then "overwrite" the original, it retains all the correct formatting and everything works fine. Except it doesn't work with AE, even though a file comparison indicates the formats are identical.

I'm not sure on that - usually when the game refuses to display .bmp files, it is because they are not 24-bit (8-bit channels)... yet it should be doing that for you as it sounds like other graphics files work fine. It can't be that the originals are not saved in the correct format, otherwise they wouldn't work in the game...

Maybe try explicitly saving the specific .bmp format? I haven't used GIMP, but in Photoshop the .bmp save menu looks like this:

Thanks for the hint! In GIMP, when you "export as" and choose the .bmp format, it defaults to 24 bit. What it ALSO does is to "write color space information" (whatever that means) and apparently THAT is making the files incompatible with AE. So you have to check the box which tells it NOT to do that (see example below). Anyway, that solves the problem - word to the wise for any GIMP users out there!

[Korvar]

Photoshop doesn't even give the option to embed ICC color profiles in bitmaps; AFAIK, the bitmap image specification doesn't support them. I think the 'do not write color space info' option should at least be the default in GIMP for bitmaps, if it isn't removed entirely. In Photoshop, you can't "Export As" a bitmap image, as that menu has the color profile options available... you must instead "Save As" a bitmap and use the simplified menu I posted.

ICC profiles are primarily used for situations where color calibration is critical. It's what those color calibration sensors that you can put on your monitor generate. They essentially take into account any color space defects in your specific monitor and then use an ICC profile to correct it. Most importantly, ICC profiles ensure consistency between devices - scanners, printers, and other computers to ensure that colors are interpreted consistently. Very important for professional photographers, graphics artists, or pretty much anyone working with images in a collaborative environment.

[Kull]

GIMP really is a nice program (and free!), but it can take some getting used to. Fortunately in cases like this there's usually a solution, although every game seems to have some quirk associated with it's graphics formats. Anyway the whole point of the exercise was to see if I could make some "genericizing" adjustments to one of the air bombardment pics, and without further ado, here is "Upside-down Ford Island" without buoys or the sunken hulk of Arizona:

[Kull]

Here's the zipped bmp. If you unzip and drop it into your War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition\ART folder, it will work as-is for Tinian. Alter the 4-digit location number in the file name, and it can be used as the default location file of your choice.