Matrix Games Forums

Can't wait, guys! Thanks for all the hard work!

ORIGINAL: MrLink

Hi,

First of all, thanks for all your hard work. Watching how dedicated you are in making this beast bigger and better had been a thing of beauty.

Now, noob and/or stupid question that have been asked bizzilion times before alert, how far back does save game compatibility goes, if at all?

I have not updated since 1.02 (build 480) because I am a micromanaging, AI non-trusting snob, so Operation Bass Drum is literally taking me months to go through.

I'm not 100% positive on the compatibility of every facet, so with the huge number of changes since then, I'd personally restart it anyhow. Refueling logic, strike stuff, patrol zones etc. etc. have come a long way since 1.02.

ORIGINAL: Casinn
I'm not 100% positive on the compatibility of every facet, so with the huge number of changes since then, I'd personally restart it anyhow. Refueling logic, strike stuff, patrol zones etc. etc. have come a long way since 1.02.

Well since the last time I played it with 1.02, the game crashed while dealing with a particularly nasty SA-10 site, I figured I might as well just update and move on to something else anyways.

Thanks for the reply!

ORIGINAL: MrLink
Now, noob and/or stupid question that have been asked bizzilion times before alert, how far back does save game compatibility goes, if at all?

We do everything in our power to ensure that scenarios created in past versions remain faithful to their original design when loaded in the current version.

For example, when we make a certain AI behavior configurable whereas previously it was hardwired, we explicitly set its default setting to the previously hardwired one (even if the default is not the optimal way to function), so that if the scen author never touches the scen again, the AI behaves as before.

Sometimes things may change due to fixes/tweaks/improvements to mechanics, physics models, AI etc. For example from v1.06 onwards aircraft in patrols will, by default, follow the altitudes described on their loadout's mission profile rather than sticking to the optimum altitude (fuel consumption-wise) as they did before. This may have unforeseen gameplay consequences - for example a P-3 on ASW patrol will now have a shorter endurance because its mission profile includes a lot of uneconomical low-altitude cruising. If the scen author was counting on the previous longer endurance for [something], this can create issues. So the author must re-balance this.
(In this case, an easy fix is to use the patrol altitude override value to force the P-3 back up high again. Alternatively, if the author does prefer the new improved behavior but has issues because of its implications, he can e.g. increase the number of P-3s assigned to the patrol in order to maintain coverage).

So, in a nutshell. We do the best we can to retain compatibility, but it's not a 100% guarantee. Changes, sometimes (hopefully rarely) breaking ones, are part of the game's rapid evolution.

Thanks!