Matrix Games Forums

There is a report that Hurricane IIc shows up with Spitfire Art. This must have been an issue with some version (maybe most versions) or RHS plane art - and it is in the art the RHS installer uses.

But the planes have different pointers so the problem is addressable by putting Hurricane art in the right spot. Alternatively one can change the pointer. The Hurricane IIc uses bitmap 137 and the Spitfire does not use it for any version - so 137 can be changed to be Hurricane art. OR you can edit the pointer to use bitmap 202 - and it will look right (that being a later Hurricane derivitive also with the "universal wing").

If someone can do a filmstrip for the Allies (Cobra no longer does this - but he was the RHS artist until he lost his computer files) - we could fix the installer. One cannot do everything - and I don't attempt to do the art - for which I lack the tools or mastery of them.

I can issue a different aircraft file set with the pointers changed as well.

Alternate aircraft file set generated and sent to primary distribution list. This will make the Hurricane IIc look better unless you can generate your own filmstrip using better art and the old pointer value. Using the new file means there is an unused Allied aircraft bitmap - in case someone had a use for it. Art was always an ongoing thing - little improvements or corrections - and for 3 years involved nearly daily (even hourly) exchanges with Cobra. What I can do fast is change what we point at.

Is this any use for you?

Not to me. Only someone who can edit the filmstrips.

Ships are different: each bit map is separate. Planes must be put into some sort of editing program because all the Allied planes are a single file - with slightly less than 256 bitmaps in the same file. They are in sets of four - and apparently some numbers cannot be used (probably 0, 253, 254 and 255). RHS looks lovely because of about two man years of work by CobraAus - who maintained copies of everything and generated new art at the speed of light. He could fix a problem in a day. But we no longer have an artist on staff - as it were - since he lost all his files and stopped doing this sort of thing. I don't have the editors required - nor a year to master how to use them properly.

My background includes machine language programming and system level integration - so I can quickly understand things and even write things that interact with code at a basic level. But I am not art oriented - and the tools to play with it - high level or at the bitmap level - are not something I have taken the time to master. I bought scanners and software once - but Cobra came along and I never learned to use them.

The original Matrix team was heavy with artists. The WITP Forum is full of great artists. There has not been a need for another johnny come lately and untalented artist in the mix.

Thanks gents,
 
I'll edit the game to point to the right place.
 
Sid,  just a little nit picking.
 
A lot of the british aircraft have the European roundel with the red inner circle.
 
When you do a new upgrade could you motivate your artist to include SEAC roundels where relevant.

ORIGINAL: JeffK

Thanks gents,

I'll edit the game to point to the right place.

Jeff,
I looked at scenario 70 and the pointer for the IIc art is indeed incorrect. I changed it to 75 and that made it a Hurri but whether that is a IIc is someting I would leave for someone who knows more about the details of plane types. I'm maybe not completely clueless in this area but I surely feel that way in this part of the universe.

Good luck with RHS. I have only played one RHS game (PBEM level 5 that went into 1944). I was the Allied side and I can report that the strongest impression I had in differences from stock was the extreme difficulty the Allied player has in getting stuff where it is needed/when it is needed. The lowly APs and AKs are king. Lose too many and you could have some deep problems. In other words, it was fun!

Dave Bradley

ORIGINAL: JeffK

Thanks gents,

I'll edit the game to point to the right place.

Sid,  just a little nit picking.

A lot of the british aircraft have the European roundel with the red inner circle.

When you do a new upgrade could you motivate your artist to include SEAC roundels where relevant.

Not likely - unless we get an artist again. We will probably use stock or other art offered on the Forum.

ORIGINAL: dwbradley

ORIGINAL: JeffK

Thanks gents,

I'll edit the game to point to the right place.

Jeff,
I looked at scenario 70 and the pointer for the IIc art is indeed incorrect. I changed it to 75 and that made it a Hurri but whether that is a IIc is someting I would leave for someone who knows more about the details of plane types. I'm maybe not completely clueless in this area but I surely feel that way in this part of the universe.

Good luck with RHS. I have only played one RHS game (PBEM level 5 that went into 1944). I was the Allied side and I can report that the strongest impression I had in differences from stock was the extreme difficulty the Allied player has in getting stuff where it is needed/when it is needed. The lowly APs and AKs are king. Lose too many and you could have some deep problems. In other words, it was fun!

Dave Bradley

It was the RHS design intent to make logistics the heart of the game. Vast numbers of ships were added.

Jim Dunnigan - designer of the first WITP (mechanical) for Strategy and Tactics - once wrote "nobody would do a logistics game" - but his game was one in which (as Joe Wilkerson describes it) "every once in a while you fight a battle, then you get back to the main business of the game - routing convoys"

I recommend reading the RHS Manual and the RHS Allied Primer (wether you are Allied or not) - and my AARs - which sometimes explain what is happening in technical terms - and how to make it happen. I also answer questions.

Back to topic:

The ADVANTAGE of changing the ART is that you can do it in an EXISTING game.

My file changes will fix the issue but ONLY for new games.

Thank you Dixie, as usual your art is always great.