Matrix Games Forums

I am using the Scenario Editor in TOAW III release 3.2.29.27. I have been creating a scenario text dump for several of the scenarios which are distributed with TOAW III. The dump includes two sections entitled Complete Equipment Inventory, one for each Force. The problem I am having is that it appears that *both* sections are actually showing the equipment inventory of Force 1. Each section correctly identifies the particular Force, but they both show the equipment inventory for the first force. For example, in the dump for Burma Campaign 1942-1945 the first inventory is prefixed:
Complete Equipment Inventory::Allied CBI.
and the second is prefixed:
Complete Equipment Inventory::Japanese.
But they both show the equipment inventory for the Allies (M3 Stuart tanks, B-17s, etc). Strangely the preceding Inventory and Replacements sections correctly show the equipment for the two respective Forces, it is only the Complete Equipment Inventory that is incorrect. I don't think this is a problem with corrupted scenario files since I see this consistently in several of the provided scenarios. Is this a known problem? Thanks.

Known problem. Fixed in 3.4.

Is there any workaround until TOAW III 3.4 is available? The only thing that comes to mind is to dump the OOB to XML and write a program to parse it.

The only thing that comes to mind is to dump the OOB to XML and write a program to parse it.

Many moons ago I wrote a program I called "Scenario Viewer" which parsed the scenario text dump and displayed the sections in a navigable tree in one pane and the content of a section in another when selected. On seeing your post I fired it up to find the program misses that section in its entirety (something I'd never noticed until now).

To cut a long story short, it needs rewriting (from scratch since it's in VC++ and I want it in C#) first of all to add the missing section and second of all to use the proposed scenario/OOB XML format. The latter doesn't contain a "Complete Equipment Inventory" section either but obviously it can be determined from adding up the OOB formation equipment nodes. Upshot is I'm planning to write the code anyway so there's no reason why an interim utility couldn't be made available - it depends what format you want the output in.

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay

Known problem. Fixed in 3.4.

Do you also mayby know when?

ORIGINAL: Jo van der Pluym

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay

Known problem. Fixed in 3.4.

Do you also mayby know when?

If you mean when 3.4 will be released, not even Ralph could know that. The code is almost finished, but there are still a few thorny issues left to solve. Once the code is finished, there are some "build" tasks that will take some time, too.

And it all depends upon Ralph's schedule. It tends to be spotty. To illustrate that, since 3.2 was released, he posted changes solid from Nov 07 thru March 08, then a bit in May 08. There was then a gap till Sept 08, when we had him solid again thru April 09. Since then, just a few posts in May, June, and July. Nothing in August yet. There seems to be a pattern there that would indicate that he's due to be back solid again soon, but I don't know if we can count on it.

Part of the reason it's taking so long is my fault. Since it was intended for 3.4 to be the last update of III, I pushed to have as much stuffed into it as I could get away with. It's going to be more substantial than previous updates.

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay
The code is almost finished, but there are still a few thorny issues left to solve. Once the code is finished, there are some "build" tasks that will take some time, too.

Which thorny issues? and what do you mean with "build" tasks?

Part of the reason it's taking so long is my fault. Since it was intended for 3.4 to be the last update of III, I pushed to have as much stuffed into it as I could get away with. It's going to be more substantial than previous updates.

Do you mean that this is the last update? And what then about the wishlist and the bug and etc..?

ORIGINAL: Jo van der Pluym

Which thorny issues? and what do you mean with "build" tasks?

A few of the features still aren't working and are non-trivial. The "build" I was refering to is all the extra stuff that goes into the update beyond just the "Opart 3.exe" file. Documents, graphics, new/updated scenarios, etc.

Do you mean that this is the last update? And what then about the wishlist and the bug and etc..?

I meant that, at the time, it was intended to be so. That may have been revised a bit, since. As for the wishlist, I expect that most of that will have to wait for IV.

ORIGINAL: parmenio

The only thing that comes to mind is to dump the OOB to XML and write a program to parse it.

Many moons ago I wrote a program I called "Scenario Viewer" which parsed the scenario text dump and displayed the sections in a navigable tree in one pane and the content of a section in another when selected. On seeing your post I fired it up to find the program misses that section in its entirety (something I'd never noticed until now).

To cut a long story short, it needs rewriting (from scratch since it's in VC++ and I want it in C#) first of all to add the missing section and second of all to use the proposed scenario/OOB XML format. The latter doesn't contain a "Complete Equipment Inventory" section either but obviously it can be determined from adding up the OOB formation equipment nodes. Upshot is I'm planning to write the code anyway so there's no reason why an interim utility couldn't be made available - it depends what format you want the output in.

My immediate need was just to get an inventory of aircraft for each force in some scenarios. Since air unit formations tend to be grouped together in standard-sized units it was pretty easy to just eyeball the text or XML dump and add up the numbers. From my perspective I would say don't worry about it, but that will be a nice thing to have fixed in 3.4. Thanks.

This may be of some use to you:

TOAW III Scenario Viewer

I downloaded the TOAW II Scenario Viewer and had a quick look. I think that will be very useful, particularly its ability to read the XML OOB export. Thanks.