ORIGINAL: nanorider426
Hi Steve.
Thanks a lot for the update. It's always interesting to follow the progress of your work; I'd wish that every developer would do this.[:)]
I'm really, really looking forward to the Appendix containing the file structure and other internal stuff from the game. It sounds like a real treat for a former programmer and techie like me. It's just so cool that you have included it. Thanks! [8D]
Like Ignacio I would like to volunteer my services for translating the manual, but I don't know of how much use it will be since I don't speak Spanish. [;)] However, as a native Danish speaker I could do a Danish version if Matrix Games think that a Danish translation would be of use. I realize though that Danish is a small language and that many (if not most) Danish players understand English, so I don't know if it's needed at all. But if you need someone to do it then I'm ready to give a go.
Best regards
HP
Here is the table of contents for the Appendices:
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11.0 Appendices
11.1 Sequence of Play Reference
11.2 Standing Orders List
11.3 Data Files
11.3.1 Map Data Files
11.3.2 Country Data Files
11.3.3 Unit Data Files
11.4 Bitmap Files
11.5 Player Created Files
11.5.1 Screen Layouts (SLY)
11.5.2 Map Views (MVW)
11.5.3 Optional Rule Sets (CSV)
11.5.4 Scrap Lists (SCP)
11.5.5 Saved Setups (SET)
11.5.6 Saved Games (GAM)
11.5.7 Game Record Logs
11.6 MWIF.INI
11.7 Other Files Included with MWIF
11.8 Keyboard and Mouse Commands
11.9 WiF FE Land Combat Tables
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And here are a few other snippets. Each of the following have several subsections that contain the nitty-gritty stuff.
==============
11.3.1 Terrain Data Files
There are eight data files that contain all the information for generating the map. Located in the subdirectory Data\Map Data, they are:
• Standard Map ADJ.CSV - Adjacent sea areas.
• Standard Map ALT.CSV - Alternate controls records.
• Standard Map COA.CSV - Coastal data.
• Standard Map HST.CSV - Hexsides data.
• Standard Map NAM.CSV - Labels data.
• Standard Map RLS.CSV - River/lake special graphics hexes.
• Standard Map SEA.CSV - Sea area data.
• Standard Map TER.CSV - Hex terrain data.
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11.3.2 Country Data Files
Countries are broken into 4 mutually exclusive groups: governed areas, sub-countries, minor countries, and major powers. These roughly match territories, subareas of countries, minor countries, and the major powers in WIF terms. Sub-countries are used for odds and ends: SS units, Nationalist China, Communist China, Eastern Poland, Bessarabia, and so on.
The associated data files for these 4 groups, which can be found in the subdirectory Data\Map Data are:
• Standard Map CGA.CSV - Governed areas data (e.g., WiF FE territories).
• Standard Map CSu.CSV - Sub-countries data.
• Standard Map CMi.CSV - Minor countries data.
• Standard Map CMa.CSV - Major powers data.
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11.3.3 Unit Data Files
There are four data files in the subdirectory Data\Unit Data that contain all the information on the units. They are:
• Standard Units AIR.CSV - air units
• Standard Units LND.CSV - land units
• Standard Units NAV.CSV - naval units
• Standard Units SPC.CSV - special units
• Standard Units LDR.CSV - leader units (not used in MWIF product 1)
Also in this subdirectory are the unit write-ups: MWIF Air.txt, MWIF Land.txt, and MWIF Naval.txt. The unit ID numbers cross reference the unit data file entries with the unit write-ups and the unit bitmaps.
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11.4 Bitmap Files
MWIF stores most of the bitmaps it uses in the directory Bitmaps. There you will find all the BMP files for the splash screens that are shown while the program loads, and a few odd bitmaps used by the Main form. As you would expect the subdirectories contain the following:
• Alpine Bitmaps - the alpine hexsides;
• Backgrounds - the background textures for each major power;
• Coastal Bitmaps - 6 packed pages of coastal hex bitmaps, with accompanying TXT files that identify the row and column number for each of the coastal hexes therein;
• Flag Bitmaps - the bitmaps for the flags;
• Icon Bitmaps - the mishmash of bitmaps used for the icons within the hexes and various button glyphs;
• Skins - the Theme Engine MSKN files for each major power;
• Terrain Bitmaps - the terrain and fort bitmaps;
• Units Bitmaps - the medium resolution bitmaps for the air and naval units (separate sets for each country), the NATO symbols for the land units, the unit symbols shown when immobile hex icons are in production (e.g., factories, forts, and pilots); this is also where the 22 packed pages of bitmaps for individual units are located, with their accompanying TXT files that provide the unit number for bitmap image; lastly, this subdirectory has the bitmaps for saved build and oil points and the circles for range and extended range.
The AggregateRiverLake.RVR file is not a bitmap file per se, but a densely packed file structure that identifies where on the map the rivers and lakes are to be drawn. Each river and lake bitmap was encoded into the RVR format (unique to MWIF) and is decoded by MWIF when the program is loaded. Et voila! the river and lake bitmaps appear.
Other bitmaps are stored in the Tutorials subdirectory. Those are each for a specific tutorial page, as is obvious from the filenames. Also in that subdirectory is the bitmap that explains the status indicators.
