Position of Samoa

LargeSlowTarget · Post by **LargeSlowTarget** » Thu Mar 15, 2001 10:45 am

While making changes to the OBC to adapt it to my taste of 'historical accuracy' I had a look at an atlas to check terrain values. It appeares to me that the Samoa base on the PW map is misplaced. It should be on a line between Tonga and Canton, and the map indeed shows three (one 'atoll'-size, two larger) islands halfway between those two bases, matching Savaii, Upolu and Tutuila of the Samoa group. But on the PW map there is no base on them, while the Samoa base is located farther to the east, in an area which actually seems to be more in the vicinity of Danger, Suvorov or Manihiki Is.
Of course, this might only be a distortion in the projection of the map, but if Samoa base is correctly located in PW, then I wonder what are those three islands to the west?

Rich Dionne · Post by **Rich Dionne** » Thu Mar 22, 2001 12:07 am

You are correct about the location of Samoa. In the original version of the game, the base currently called American Samoa was actually called Nassau, which is further to the east of Samoa, and is in a location consistent with the base icon in the game.

If you look closely, we will also note that in the original game, the base currently calle Kendari on Celebes was called Parepare, and so Kendari is also slightly out of place.

The names were changed in the patch because we felt that the new names were actually more significant bases in the Pacific War. Unfortunately, when putting the patch together, we ran out of time to actually move any base locations on the map.

Regards,

Rich Dionne

Don Bowen · Post by **Don Bowen** » Thu Mar 22, 2001 2:47 am

The locations of these (and all) bases are in the OBC41 but are not exposed by any of the editors. To change them requires use of a hex editor. If anyone would like to change them, please be sure to back up the OBC41 before you make any changes.

Base locations are coded in two hexadecimal values that equate to the X-Y coordinates. To move these two bases to their correct locations:

Kendari - Change location E9CD from 16 to 18
Change location EAF9 from 1D to 1F

Samoa - Change location EA18 from 44 to 3E
Change location EB44 from 35 to 36

All numbers in Hex!

You should also break the march path from Menado to Kendari, which may be done with Rich Dionne's excellent editor.

Need a free hex editor, go to PC Magazine then search for "hex editor"

Don

Major Tom · Post by **Major Tom** » Thu Mar 22, 2001 8:43 am

Where are these values found? (ie. What row?). Are they by the names in the OBC filexs? Above? Below?

Used a Hex Editor, but, could not find the numbers you have posted.

Could you post an exact string of characters (ie. .. d1 00 ee 9e f4 ..) so I can find them.

Thanks,

Don Bowen · Post by **Don Bowen** » Thu Mar 22, 2001 9:05 am

My Hex editor lists 16 values per row. The first row is labeled 00000000 and lists 00-0F. The second row is labeled 00000010 and lists 10 - 1F. These row numbers are in Hexidecimal themselves, so row 00000090 is followed by row 000000A0 (which is 10).

Using this sequence (16 bytes per row) the affected rows are:

E9C (row 3740 in decimal)
EA1 (row 3745 in decimal)
EAF (row 3759 in decimal)
EB4 (row 3764 in decimal)

There are 4095 (decimal) rows in OBC41.

My hex editor (and I assume most others) list the row number (in hex) and also displays the hex value of the cursor position - making it easy to find a given position. Without this it may be a little difficult.

Not a commercial, but my hex editor is Hex Workshop by Breakpoint software. It is not free, but you can buy a copy at BreakPoint Software. I do recommend it.

Almost forgot:

Row E9C: 1F1C1C1D1E1C1D1A191718161A16151D
Row EAF:17151A161716181B1D1D1F1E16191B1C
Row EA1:
2127282936223B3E444347484746453C
Row EB4:
3924392F35282A1F1E1E1D19090A0B0B

Don

Rich Dionne · Post by **Rich Dionne** » Thu Mar 22, 2001 11:52 am

You Da Man Dan!

I've searched the data file for the base locations but was never able to spot them. I had convinced myself that they were resident in the EXE. But sure enough, there they are, right where you said they would be!

You've given me a little project for the weekend. I can easily add the base locations to my editor, and then we can fix those little location nuisances that have been bothering us for some time. I know that Major Tom has got some minor tweaks he'd like to incorporate also.

Anyway, thanks for showing the way, and I'll try to update my editor this weekend!

Regards,

Rich

Don Bowen · Post by **Don Bowen** » Thu Mar 22, 2001 8:50 pm

My Pleasure

Here's the full set of locations:

X Coordinate: E9AD (Tokyo) thru EA73
Y Coordinate: EAD9 (Tokyo) thru EB9F

Don

LargeSlowTarget · Post by **LargeSlowTarget** » Thu Mar 22, 2001 11:20 pm

Originally posted by Don Bowen:

You should also break the march path from Menado to Kendari, which may be done with Rich Dionne's excellent editor.

Don

That's right, thanks to Rich's wonderful editor, it's easy to refine a great game even further. I have removed all march path on Borneo, Celebes and New Guinea, exept the Kokoda trail from Port Moresby to Buna. The abstract PW land combat allows to march limitless numbers of (properly supplied) LCUs from one base to another within one week, even when the bases are separated by miles and miles of heavy jungle w/o roads or even trails. I think that is a bit unrealistic, especially in New Guinea. The AI almost always fails to garrison the bases there adequatly and sometimes a single battalion of Aussies can recapture everything from Buna to Sorong in 9 weeks. W/o march paths, the Allies must conduct amphib assaults to recapture Lae, Hollandia etc., which makes it a bit harder and might slow down a cautious Allied commander to a more historical timetable.

Major Tom · Post by **Major Tom** » Sun Mar 25, 2001 10:51 pm

Wow, thanks a lot. I have done a fair amount of stuff to the OBC's, notably the OBC41 (I am waiting for Rich's upgraded editor before I transfer the new locations to the other bases). The AI seems to handle the tweaking fairly well, although drastic changes do cause some problems.

I have decided to try and move the HOBART base over to Burma, as Moulimein (in between Rangoon and Bangkok). This not only adds more bases in the Burma campaign (making it a lot more challenging) but it also aids the 'Rangoon' bug, as, Moulimein does not go 'isolated' like Rangoon, meaning routine convoy's send more supplies to Burma (for the IJA).

I have tweaked around the location for many other bases as well, just to better represent these bases position in reality. They have been moved manybe 1-2 spaces north, south, east and/or west. This might add some interesting things to air combat, since now certain bases will or will not be in range of other bases. Kendari should be a lot more important to dominating North Western Australia and that region of the East Indies by its new position.

The Port Blair problem might be aided, as, I changed it to terrain 9 (max 6 airfield) and moved it South West (down the chain of islands to better represent the actual position of Port Blair in the Andaman Chain).

underdog · Post by **underdog** » Mon Mar 26, 2001 1:06 am

Originally posted by Major Tom:
The Port Blair problem might be aided, as, I changed it to terrain 9 (max 6 airfield) and moved it South West (down the chain of islands to better represent the actual position of Port Blair in the Andaman Chain).

Wouldn't a 9 terrain limit Port Blair to a max 4 airfield, not max 6?