Save Game Files

[Mr.Frag]

The biggest single reason I can think of is that you could go in and fix stuff when it went wrong.

Lets say Pry makes a typo in the data and you have started a new game and 3 months from now someone notices that the penetration value for the 37mm AA gun on a DD happens to go through 8" of armor. As it sits now, you have to live with it or restart your game to get the effects of a new scenario file update into the game.

Another good example is a base or a unit that for whatever reason decides to flip sides or vanish. You could just jump in and fix it (assuming both sides agreed to the fix and there really is no reason they shouldn't).

The problem is that this ability also exposes stuff to prying eyes that should not be exposed and that is the negative aspect involved that gives one pause for thought with this particular request.

Two sides of the coin ... one is positive, the other is a bit concerning. The problem is that once the coin is flipped, there is no way of flipping it back. It would be like Kid went through all emails and posted all the save game passwords from people who sent saves in for problems. Once done, there is no way of undoing it.

It certainly has a very real value when we are talking games that people will invest years in. It's just the Dark Side of the Force is rather tempting. [:D]

[scout1]

Mr Frag .....

I must be VERY bad at explaining things. The two reasons, one (maybe good) and one bad, have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with my suggestion. I want to extract in game states for game management. I want to port it to something that allows me to sort to my hearts content. Its 2/6/42. How much fuel and supplies to I have in PH ? What is the current demand for these ? Yes I could go base by base just like lifting the cardboard counters from the monster SPI games to find this out, but I prefer a more convinent means of extracting just what the heck is going on. The information is ultimately available during my game turn but is a very cumbersome manner. If either the game provided this information out to a csv file or allowed us to access it, life is good. Frankly, I don't care whether the games file is encrypted or not. In fact, I would agree with you that I don't wnat people "correcting" things midstream.
There IS however information that I'd like to get concerning in game events/stat's for
MY side. How can this be accomplished ?

[Mr.Frag]

So you just want a straight data dump with no ability to feed anything back in?

Purely one sided data for the player's side currently running I take it?

[scout1]

Yes far as your describing it, and my limited experience with the game so far,,,,
YES. I wouldn't want access to go in and change things myself, nor would I want someone else to do so. Yes, I've read te posts where alot of people have an opinion that such-n-such is too powerful and needs to be fixed. Isn't that the concept of what the Lemuers scenario is based on ?

I do want to access information on a given turn, probably all of them, where I take the data dump to Excel and start sorting. I'd personnally start with a review of how my bases are doing, sorted by each of the 5 major zones. What's at each base, what the base demands are (ie, do I need to get more stuff there soon), what a/c are currently based there in what numbers, how are the aircrews stats (fatigue, etc ...), Is this base currently set up for auto-convoy, etc ...... There is alot of house keeping that can be done this way.

Bottomline, this is by design, a massive game on a massive scale. Given that this is the 21st century, reading posts about people keeping game information notes on stickie's
stuck to the wall seems a bit silly. Particularly when the information is already available, just not accessible.

Thanks.

[steveh11Matrix]

Frag, Scout: A single-sided data dump doesn't allow for the fixing of problems in a scenario though, does it?

But, it has to be said, most of the info is already available for 'we solo players', isn't it? I haven't a clue if it's the same for a PBEM game, but all I have to do is load up my last save, change the side I'm playing, and Lo! I have access to almost all the info I would need. A bit pointless cheating myself, but I could use the info to re-create the position in the editor. Around about the time I retire, in (hopefully less than) 17 years I should think! [:D]

Alternatively, how about a "Save As Scenario File" option? Original save game file is left, and can therefore remain encrypted if you want. Doesn't stop the 'peeking' problem, does prevent alteration, but would certainly allow the 'fixing' of busted games. [:)]

Steve.

[GBirkn]

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag

So you just want a straight data dump with no ability to feed anything back in?

Purely one sided data for the player's side currently running I take it?

Yes, please! This would be wonderful!