Level TWO installer 2.72 update link
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ap7XOIkiBuUwhYJB08OqEbRSEbmOXw
This update is comprehensive only insofar as it has a new installer
structure in every sense. The only actual file changes per se are
to map art panels. These, however, are now organized in two different
forms. It is possible there are technical changes to the game start
pwhexe.dat file and that there are eratta in data files, but they were copied
from source only for safety - I do not remember any. There IS one new
RHS documentation file - RHS Seasonal Art Panels. This document defines
when seasons change, and what files should be changed when they do?
It also explains the color codes associated with roads and trails if you use
my RHS art - which you do not have to do. However, so much more information
is presented in them (mainly in the non-hex versions at this time) it may be
worth considering. It has a significant impact on play to be able to understand
visually how the 'invisible' map support files (pwhexe.dat, pwzlink.dat and pwzone.dat) are structured. The final major 'change' is also not a change at all - this file set
is tested and appears to work in the context of the latest code update from Matrix.
A tester has done a Tracker for RHS Level Two. He suggested including it - and we may do that eventually. For now I will send it to anyone who wants it. I am having cloud memory issues - causing among other things the ending of cloud support for RHS Level One - and it is not yet clear we can do all the art we need to for Level Two. But we are close and, if things go well, a tracker version may join the other tools in the Installer. I am also working on how to manage the cloud storage generating the links used: I do not use the cloud for any other purpose and generally do not really regard the cloud as the ideal wave of the future for security reasons: it appears you can lose whatever you depend on it for in an instant. [Microsoft just took away 2/3 of its free cloud service, which is a problem for RHS distribution].
The installer core - the software which runs the installer - is a new version. The whole game code core has been updated by Matrix. You may either run RHS on the old (non-beta) code or the new (beta) code. But IF you install the updated code you MUST run the RHS installer AFTERWARD as well as copy over critical files:
1) ALL files in the RHS ART folder must be copied into the game target ART folder.
2) The pwhexe.dat, pwzlink.dat and pwzone.dat files must be copied to the top level target game folder. [These now exist in two places - the RHS PWHEXE & PWLINK FOLDER - and also in the top level installer folder.] Note the installer is designed so that it assumes you use the default folder for the game. You do not have to do that. But IF you do that, these three files should 'plant' themselves in the right place and so should the ART files. The intention is to simplify installation.
3) There is a NEW folder added to the installer. This is IGNORED for new game starts and for any game in the first season of the war (1941 WINTER) - e.g. BEFORE 1 March 1942. This folder is called SEASONAL ART. It has four sub-folders: WINTER, SPRING, MONSOON and FALL. At this time they ONLY contain panels for art in the NORTHERN part of the map which have OCEAN in them. There not all of these panels have been done. These panels involve changes in sea ice because it facilitates play better. See the new documentation for more details: RHS Seasonal Art Panels.
4) There is a new document in RHS Documentation: RHS Seasonal Art Panels. There may be a few other documents with editorial improvements, depending on how long it has been since you ran the installer. Much RHS documentation evolves over time, improving technical details and/or for clarity.
5) There was a new air art panel not long ago - Mifune was able to produce three technical updates to the Japanese planeside panel in October. These are mainly very technical and result in greater clarity, except where non-colorized art has been turned into color art. Sometimes, what was once a photograph is now more like art - although in fact it remains based on the original photograph. Some of the foundation was changed just before Mifune did his work - using new art by Big Bob. And a tiny bit of the art was made by me either by modifying existing art or by combining different art into a composite (for "combination" aircraft - gliders and tugs). These in turn owe their origins to Cobra AUS - but involve other art superimposed on top of it - including one Japanese document which was, originally, merely a charcoal drawing. and, in another case, a Ki-51 dive bomber in its training glider tug form, built on a stock image. This art has now been improved by Mifune in technical ways it might take a professional with a big screen to spot. Mifune works in higher resolutions and higher color densities than the game supports - then converts it back (or has me convert it back) to what the game wants. For reasons not entirely clear to me, that results in 'better looking art.' Now nearing the end of work on this panel, the same sort of treatment will be given to top art and to Allied art in the future. Since I reached the limits of my technical ability to create art, it is nice to have someone 'polish' it into better form.
There may be some additional ship art in the next release because of work posted in the Forums. About half of RHS is from other mods or from even non-Matrix related sources. When new art or concepts become available, we fold them into RHS - or into whichever scenarios can usefully employ it. We operate on the principle that "if it is better, it is in" rather than keeping things we did out of loyalty to our own effort. Which means that anyone with better art or ideas who wants us to use them should submit them for consideration: we usually use them.