IF you are having "yugo crash" problems try this:

[Paul Vebber]

Start the MC and play the first scenario. Write down the name you gave the save file

As you are getting near the middle of the scenario exit the game so it creates a save file.

After Exiting the game, go to the Steelpanthers World at War folder, look inside fo the MegaCam folder and the Save folder in it.

Inside there will be files with the name you gave it when started the game (and you wrote down) with the extensions .cam, .rec and .sav.

Copy those files to a new folder named "Backup MegaCam" or the like. Then save a copy to a folder named "Last Turn"

Now restart the game and each turn until the end, at the end of your turn, WITHOUT EXITING hit alt-tab and do the copy routine to the "Last Turn" folder so you have a "pre-crash" game file stashed away. Leave the "MegaCam backup" alone so at least you can go back to that point if the game crashes.

When the scenario ends, (the bug seems only to affect draw outcomes-if anybody has seen otherwise let me know) let it save normally and see if it continues on. If it does with no problem, start the next scenario and immediately save, exit and overwrite the "MegaCam Backup" folder with that new game-state.

Then continue on and as you near the end of the senario, start updating the "Last turn" folder save so you have a pre-crash save that you can send with the post crash save to me. (or to try to see if you can recover from that point).

To resume a saved game-state, just over-write the existing save in the MegaCam - SAVE folder and restart the game. The game should be returned to the saved game-state.

Keep doing that so you have a saved back up of the start of each new scenario, and a backup of the game-state immediately before ending your turn (when you think the game has a chance of ending).

IF the game crashes, try reloading the "last turn" saved game state. IF that allows you to continue - great - keep going. IF you repeatedly get a "yugo player crash" form that saved game state, please send that file and the regular (post crash) save game to me.

You should then be able to go back to the start of the last scenario and replay it without going all the way back to the beginning.

Please bear with us on this, none of us (or the playtesers) can recreate this bug, but we are working hard on it!

Are any of you with this bug doing any file save and copying like this already?

[sg]

Paul,

Since I first had the problem and had to replay the first scenario from the start, I regularly exit the game and copy the save files to another folder. I just sent before and after files to David Heath. Also by reading the various posts I was just able to advance to the next scenario by the following procedure.
After the first battle ended and crashed, I went to windows explorer, copied my good save files from the last turn over the now corrupted ones in the MC save folder, then deleted the steel.prf file, then started SPWAW direct with the mech.exe file, then go directly to the preferences screen and set soundtrack=off, opfire=15, live delay=50 and message delay=180. Soundtrack=off was the only new preference setting for me, the other three I use all the time. Then I started the MC, continued the last turn of battle 1, got a decicive victory, chose no options for battle 2 and went there with no crash. I'm going to save those files and then go back and see if I can reproduce either a crash or a successful advance to battle 2.

Hope this helps, Steve.

[AlvinS]

Paul

I have started saving the game like that since I have restarted the campaign. So far I havn't needed the back-up but its good to know its there. Of course I am only in the 4th scenario and I didn't experience the crash until the 8th scenario the first time around.

I'll keep you posted.

I love this game. Great job!

Alvins

[Tim Shaw]

I have hit the Yug bug that everyone has talked about.
I have simply erased all files and re-installed SPwaw Desert Fox. I then updated to 6.1 and installed the new stereo upgrade.Then I started the game with the mech file and upon entering, turned off the soundtrack. Played the 1st scenerio from Desert fox by just ending turns to test this out. Went to next scenerio perfectly but with Dec Defeat. Repeated and it worked again.Have played to draws in the next 3.This now makes 5 games without a hitch.
The problem is with the soundtrack as upon turning the soundtrack option on and quickly finishing the game by ending turns without moves,the bug re-appears and I am at the Yug Screen or a crash back to windows 98.

I have also a word of advice for matrixgames.
You had better do some fast pr work as I and others have been forced to do use our valuable time in trying to fix a bug that should not have been there in the first place. I mentioned your site to many people and now have to field questions as to why I would recommend such a bug-ridden game. If Henry Ford had operated in the manner that matrixgames has done,no one would be driving.

[Paul Vebber]

Bugs are an unfortunate reality for computer programs. Neither the developers of the Mega Campaign nor any of the testers had or could replicate the bug. It seems only to affect certain combinations of hardware.

We have acknowleded the problem, posted workarounds and have offered a patch (that only a dozen or so folks have requested.

So its not like this "slipped by" because of shoddy QA or we tried to dodge that it existed. If a bug does not surface during testing, there is no way we can know it exists, once we did know we spent a great deal of time working with those who did suffer it to try to find out why it occurs (which we are still not entirely certain of...)

So far NO ONE who has stared a camapign with the patch has suffered the bug and several have been able to continue existing campaigns.

We appreciate that its annoying to have products that have products, but EVERY game has some problems on some systems with something. Demos work on computers where teh real game does not, Demos don't work on computers where the real game does. Changing a sound card, or installing other software can suddenly change the configuration and cause bugs.

THere is simply no way to ensure that every piece of software works perfectly on every computer under every version of windows. Heaven only knows why the same exact code that supposedly uses common libary calls in Microsoft products work under WIN 9X, but not WIN2k (like teh unfathomable "Command and control on crash" in the mega campaign...it works fine in non-mega campaing play, but note under teh MC and only fails with Win 2k...supposedly thats impossible, but obviously "standard" windows calls, aren;t entirely standard <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

We sympathize with folks who get frustrated with something not working, but we are doing all we can to fix these problems, inform folks of the fix and supply the patches.

Henry Ford had the luxury of building pretty much a single, simple pruduct that worked the same way for everybody. Lets just use 5's ( there are lots more than that for some options) and say there are 5 versions of windows, 5 types of mother boards, 5 memory subsystems, 5 types of video cards, 5 types of sound cards, 5 types of network cards or modems, and 5 different drive subsystems. That makes fr 5^7 = over 75,000 potential combimnations (and that is just hard ware) that you have to be compatible with. A typical Beta team is typical about 25 people.

So you can see that problem that confronts anyone who develops software. And since bugs found are pretty much proportional to time played, those 25 player each might play the game 200 hours during testing or about 5000 man hours. Selling 1000 copies of the game produces that in the first play day - so by the 3 or 4 th day 1000 people have it, they will have had the opportunity to find 3 or 4 times as many bugs as the Beta team in the 3 or 4 months of beta testing.

Please don't take this as making excuses, but an attempt to explain the process that game companies use, and why it seems every game has bugs. Customers have every right to expect games that work, but they also have to understand the realities of the niche market wargaming represents.

Those who are leaft in the wargame development biz are cerainly not in it for the money, becasue the era when you "make it" as wargame designer and not have other sources fo income, are already here for all but a handufle of "big names". We do because we love the hobby and have but our time and money where our mouth is to try to get games done, imperfect though they will always be.

Even the "major production numbers" like Black and White - well, check out the tech support forums and how many folks have trouble getting something millions were spent on to work. Admittedly for a game like that, less than 1% of the 100,000's of buyers have trouble. We are probably running a couple of % have problems, to my knowledge nobody has been unable to run the game at all, and the list of crash bugs like C&C in MC under WIN 2k is VERY short...

Well, that went a lot longer than I intended, but I think its important that folks understand the constraints that we have to operate within, and to be realistic in their expectaions. Games will occasioanlly not work right, we do the best we possibly can to make sure that that happens as seldom as possible.

If that's good enough, then folks will see a lot of fun games from us. If not, then we and several other game companies will go under. We are obviously optimistic that we can keep quality high with out going broke, but nothing ANY game company sells is, or ever will be perfect...its jsut the nature of software and computers!!!

Btt can be striving to always get better!!!
<img src="cool.gif" border="0">

[Christian Blex]

I was hit by the yugos after a decisive victory!!!
Finally, I was able to continue the game (started another campaign, completed the first two battles, restarted the yugo-campaign, immediatly suffered a decisive defeat <img src="confused.gif" border="0"> an finally was able to continue). I got the v7.06b mech.exe patch and installed it. I also made backups of my saved games. I also made backups between the battles. In the beginning of a new battle I made a clicking mistake (left instead of right mouse buttom) and lost one of my tanks. I exited the game, copied the beetwen-battle-backup in the game folder and restarted it: The yugos hit me again <img src="eek.gif" border="0"> !! Lukily, I had a mid-battle-backup, so I could continue the game. I tried it again and again: every time I've tried to restart a between-battle-backup the yugos appeared.
Yesterday a fought another battle (on the 23rd of November '41. I had to clear the area from the Brits. Altough I captured all objectives, broke the Brits morale and nearly exited all of my vehicles (apart from five, including two trucks) a just got an moderate victory <img src="mad.gif" border="0"> <img src="mad.gif" border="0"> ). Sadly, I did not make a backup of this battle. After going to the next battle I got oob's-not found-error messages and the game crashed. Restarting it the yugos hit again <img src="frown.gif" border="0"> ! Restarted an older backup then tried to restart the yugo-battle, I somehow was able to continue without deciseve defeat and to start the battle again. Sorry, this became very long, I just want to inform you that The yugos hit me after I've installed the beta patch and after a moderate victory (which had to be a decisive victory in my eyes).