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A long term player of RHS asked that we look at doing many changes to pwhex files - originally one per month.

I combined that idea with two others: change the files four times a year (for seasons) and change them for
changes in infrastructure (we have one such change for Panama Canal damage, another for four rail line upgrades in 1943, already)

I sent the proposal up - and we got a reaction no such thing will be contemplated for AE (or by implication for WITP I).

But the player is a computer engineer as old as I am - and when he said he didn't want to wait for years for a maybe in WITP II -

I said we need two things: a script writer (so players have a way to manage many files - pwhex and art - without getting confused - and also to facilitate switching between stock, mods, etc) -

and an artist.

He has decided to investigate the scripting.

Our skill sets are such that it is 100:1 we can do the pwhex files and the scripting, even for AE. Pending that, so there is no great need to wait, we will proceed to demonstrate the possibilities in WITP I. I am sure that unpacking the AE pwhex file will permit it to be edited - even without a dedicated editor. The only question left at this point is - will Cobra get his tools/art back on line and want to to the art support? - or will someone else? If we get map art support, we will do demonstrations of seasonal maps and infrastructure changed in WITP I RHS Level 7 - until we get a map to work with for AE - and if we succeed changing it - we will call that RHS Level 9. [8 being reserved for the RHS scenarios on an unmodified map as issued by Andrew/Matrix]

Good idea. Hypothetically ...

There are endless things that could be done via various forms of wrapper programs. The problem though is the inability to call the EXE file with a save game file or scenario file as an argument, which prevents integration with external programs. Without that you are relying on substantial manual intervention by the player, which is always prone to error and adds to the hassle factor. The latter being very important for a "consumer" product such as wargames purport to be.

I don't know why game developers don't do the integration thing. Intellectual property paranoia perhaps? Or just the old "lack of time" chestnut? As I say I have no idea, really ...

P.S. Cid I really don't understand why you don't just write your own simulation. No offence, but the amount of effort you have put into trying to bash this imperfect beast into shape might have better been employed crunching code. You don't seem to have a commercial angle so why not?

We can read save game files and use what is there to drive external programs - in this case we just need to read the turn date.
That was proposed by our new computer engineer - and I told him I can probably read the file that well. As stated in one of these AE threads, the file is not encrypted - so it is not hard for any technical person to read.

The Miracle of Matrix is funding. I DO do my own games - have forever - but I don't have the capital or organizatoin to market them. Players = mostly professionals - say no training is as good. Typically 60 players - horrible work for the judge in the middle (me).

Redundant reply and deleted.

El Cid;

Putting in new rail lines or the Stilwell Road or some kind of graphic for port buildup seem not unmanageable from an art standpoint but do you also mean showing dry and wet seasons on jungle areas, retreating/advancing sea ice and snow in high altitudes? That would be a lot of work.

Cool idea, though. It would require two players with similar inclinations to modify their maps in unison when playing pbem.