The Complete Carriers At War Guide

[Propitious Crane]

The Final Countdown was in the Pearl Harbor scenario, not Midway.

It's not in the latest version and neither can you really add it because cruising speed has been limited to 280 knots, even for 'Modern' aircraft. So while you could add the ships and planes, they would be operating at WW2 speeds.

[Propitious Crane]

I can do that, but none is playable / complete - almost none of the ships comes with the game, so I have had to create literally all the graphics, and I haven't finished. After that will come the AI.

With the Falklands one, I am so irritated by the 280 knots' speed limit and the 'Axis - Japan' nonsense they hardcoded I probably will not finish.

I do have a complete Trincomalee scenario with an accurate orbat and map if you're interested. Still very hard to win as the Commonwealth, but no longer impossible. The AI makes the IJN bomb Ceylon at the drop of a hat, meaning for the five or six hours that strike is going on, they have no offensive air group capacity left aboard. Or, if you concentrate against Ryujo in the north, you outnumber her in the air

[Kiwi Red One]

I've had to reinstall my game as I too stuffered from the Win 10 "freeze" but it is working OK now.

I had not come across the 280Kt limitation since I've not tried anything more modern than ww2 scenarios myself, but thats a real limitation for anything post 1945.

It would be very interesting to see your Trincomalee scenario if you don't mind sharing it. I have Unhappy's take on the Indian Ocean Raid from the Megamod download which I have modified a bit to use some alternative aircraft and ship files for a start.

Designing scenarioes is reasonably straightforward in CAW, but what I find almost utterly frustrating is the complexity of adding new plane/ship graphics and maps.

[Propitious Crane]

I'll upload the whole shebang to Dropbox and post a link.

It took me a while to remind myself what to copy to where to make it all work, but I fathomed it in the end. There is a folder called 'CAW backup stuff', and basically, whatever is in the subfolders goes to the same subfolder within C:/Matrix Games/Carriers At War EXCEPT that you copy the scenario.caw files to C:/Matrix Games/Carriers At War/Scenario, and the scenario.srf files to C:\Matrix Games\Carriers At War\Resources\Scenario (along with the planes, ships etc).

This is because the /Scenario file contains the Warplan etc, and the \Resources\Scenario folder the pretty map.

In copying stuff in, when you get the message 'a file called xyz already exists', you can usually just click on 'skip this file'. I mostly didn't change any of the pre-loaded game files, I just created my own, so those are existing images that your off-the-shelf game already has.

It's taking a while to upload so I'll update this post with the link when it's finished.

EDIT: I think this will work https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mdikxy15b0xg ... h787a?dl=0

Adding plane graphics is not too hard; the challenge is finding a good plan view as a lot of sites such as Wings Palette contain mostly profile views. You then have to trim the (usually) white border off the picture, which is what takes the time, and paste it into the template.

Ships are another matter. As well as profile and plan views you also have to set bow waves, explosions, fire, and damage, which is a huge pain. I have been working my way through the ships I need to add, and having got through most of the carriers and battleships, the next stage is the cruisers and destroyers. After that I have to add the animations. Only then can I start on the AI. One of the reasons it was easier to add whole new scenarios in the DOS version is that you had pretty well every ship and plane you needed; now you don't. Well, I've provided a lot of extra planes at least

[Kiwi Red One]

Wow....Thanks for sharing your scenarioes etc......

plenty to go on there for a while.....

THANK YOU [:)]

[Propitious Crane]

The game now won't launch for me again. Very irritating and a big disincentive to create any content for it....

[Aksully]

Hello Ryan! You seem to be the expert on all things Carriers at War! Is there a download version of the Complete Carriers at War game that will work on Windows 10? Thx in advance!

[Propitious Crane]

And now the game will work for me again.

[wiekniera]

ORIGINAL: Propitious Crane

I'll upload the whole shebang to Dropbox and post a link.

It took me a while to remind myself what to copy to where to make it all work, but I fathomed it in the end. There is a folder called 'CAW backup stuff', and basically, whatever is in the subfolders goes to the same subfolder within C:/Matrix Games/Carriers At War EXCEPT that you copy the scenario.caw files to C:/Matrix Games/Carriers At War/Scenario, and the scenario.srf files to C:\Matrix Games\Carriers At War\Resources\Scenario (along with the planes, ships etc).

This is because the /Scenario file contains the Warplan etc, and the \Resources\Scenario folder the pretty map.

In copying stuff in, when you get the message 'a file called xyz already exists', you can usually just click on 'skip this file'. I mostly didn't change any of the pre-loaded game files, I just created my own, so those are existing images that your off-the-shelf game already has.

It's taking a while to upload so I'll update this post with the link when it's finished.
Adding plane graphics is not too hard; the challenge is finding a good plan view as a lot of sites such as Wings Palette contain mostly profile views. You then have to trim the (usually) white border off the picture, which is what takes the time, and paste it into the template.

Ships are another matter. As well as profile and plan views you also have to set bow waves, explosions, fire, and damage, which is a huge pain. I have been working my way through the ships I need to add, and having got through most of the carriers and battleships, the next stage is the cruisers and destroyers. After that I have to add the animations. Only then can I start on the AI. One of the reasons it was easier to add whole new scenarios in the DOS version is that you had pretty well every ship and plane you needed; now you don't. Well, I've provided a lot of extra planes at least

Hello friend, i found sinking the bismarck not working (it's crash to desktop everytime i click it) and battle java sea only blank when i choose, it's just blue color (no map, no ship etc).

[Propitious Crane]

yeah, those are bugged / incomplete but the maps / ships / planes may be usefu;