Combat replays out of sync? Or Fog of War?

[Grotius]

In my PBEM game against Maikarant, our current combat replay and combatreport.txt files are not identical. At first I thought it might be because we had different Realism settings enabled, so we adjusted those to make sure they're identical. But when we re-ran the turn, we still get discrepancies. He seeks two ships sunk; I see one. He sees a bomb hit an AK; I don't. Is this Fog of War, or a sync bug? Is the replay (and combatreport.txt) supposed to be identical?

I have the replay file if anyone would like to see it. I also have saved turn files if need be.

[Mr.Frag]

What stuff do you & he have installed apart from the base code?

[Grotius]

We're both running 1.4, and we're playing the stock "Guadalcanal" scenario on the stock map. I haven't installed any map mods or art mods or any other mods, and I don't think Maikarant has either. I'll double-check with him, but as far as I know, we're both just running the base code.

[maikarant]

I have to confess that I installed a map mod, a sound mod and a couple of other (graphics) changes right before we left for holiday... I'll try to find out what exactly was changed but so far, just a few files in /ART and /SOUND...

Of course, by now I am not sure if that was all... [8|]

[Grotius]

Ah, that may explain it. Maikarant, one workaround is to have two installations of the game -- one with the stock game, the other with mods. I may do that if I start installing map mods etc.

Mr. Frag, any advice on what we should do?

[Mr.Frag]

Do a new install (keep your old stuff) to a separate directory and patch it up exactly the same. Pick up where you left off.

[Tankerace]

Umm.... why would new sounds and graphics, that have nothing to do with the code, be at fault? Im not saying it isn't, but to my way of thinking, so long as it doesn't do anything ot the code, it shouldn't matter what the other guy has.

[Mr.Frag]

Things like AB's move mod change stuff, as long as both sides use the same, the results should match.

[Tankerace]

I knew about ABs mod, but since Maikarant said "A map mod", I figured it was Kids, Subchasers, or Olegs. Stuff like that wouldn't cause it to be out of sync (if I understand you correctly), and if not, the problem lies elsewhere.

[maikarant]

It's Subchaser's map mod, and I also exchanged A_Mission.bmp and A_PlaneSide.bmp. As well as swapping out a few sound files. No other mods that I know of.

But I will reinstall, repatch on my machine at home to be sure. It's not a great loss, but the map mod was much nicer to look at.

Like Tankerace, I also would like to know what these changes had to do with something as substantial as different results of combat resolution?

[Yamato hugger]

It HAS to be more than that. I played an E mail game against myself and they were out of sync. Same computer (didnt actually e mail anything). No other games being played in between turns, ect.

[maikarant]

Well,

For what its worth, reinstalling and repatching helped! I reinstalled the game and got the same results - on the second try. For the first try, I forgot to set the realism options.

But now, we can proceed as planned. Sorry for the hiccups, I wouldn't have thought that replacing images and sound files might have an impact. Thanks for the tip, Mr. Frag!

Semper Servus,
Maikarant

[Tankerace]

Still, this issue needs attention. After all, bmp and .sfx files have nothing to do with the code. I just don't see how that could cause it. Like YH says, it has to be something else.