SPWaW Manual v4.1 released

David Heath · Post by **David Heath** » Mon Sep 25, 2000 10:11 am

We have placed the SPWaW v4.1 online for everyone to start downloading now if you like. You can download these at http//www.matrixgames.com/spwaw/downloads.asp

[This message has been edited by Paul Vebber (edited September 26, 2000).]

BomBeer · Post by **BomBeer** » Mon Sep 25, 2000 10:41 am

Thanks gonna get it now

BomBeer

Fuerte · Post by **Fuerte** » Tue Sep 26, 2000 12:45 am

The 4.1 manual has a lot of new pictures, good. Unfortunately the picture quality is very bad, especially on the old pictures, like they were saved in a very much compressed jpeg format. Some of the pictures are completely useless for this reason.

Kharan · Post by **Kharan** » Tue Sep 26, 2000 2:58 am

Originally posted by Fuerte:
The 4.1 manual has a lot of new pictures, good. Unfortunately the picture quality is very bad, especially on the old pictures, like they were saved in a very much compressed jpeg format. Some of the pictures are completely useless for this reason.

The pictures are probably compressed so the manual (and the patch) would be smaller. But wouldn't the information be packed in the zipped release anyway to the same smaller size, even if the pictures themselves weren't jpeg-compressed?

Incidently, why's there a breakdown roll on paved road, dirt road and trail?

[This message has been edited by Kharan (edited September 25, 2000).]

Bonzo · Post by **Bonzo** » Tue Sep 26, 2000 3:17 am

There is a breakdown roll for all terrain types because vehicles DO break down in all terrains. That's why there are call boxes along the freeway

Bonzo

------------------
Robert (Bonzo) Lindsay, Coordinator
28th (North-west) Battalion Headquarters
http://dreadnaught.home.icq.com
nwbattalion@icqmail.com

Paul Vebber · Post by **Paul Vebber** » Tue Sep 26, 2000 5:28 pm

The breakdown roll is substantially greater in the hex types labled "breakdown roll" but the dice are rolled every time you enter a hex. We have cut the incididence down some with the higher movement factors in the patch.

Kharan · Post by **Kharan** » Tue Sep 26, 2000 6:08 pm

The hexes labeled "breakdown roll" in the manual are mud, swamp, paved road, tiled road, trail, streams, canals, coral reef, shallow water, sandstone and stone walls, wood, stone and multi-hex buildings, trenches, gullies, rice-paddies and polders. I was wondering why the roads were labeled hazardous instead of, say, rocks, boulders and forests.

renwor · Post by **renwor** » Tue Sep 26, 2000 6:25 pm

Originally posted by Kharan:
The pictures are probably compressed so the manual (and the patch) would be smaller. But wouldn't the information be packed in the zipped release anyway to the same smaller size, even if the pictures themselves weren't jpeg-compressed?

Abit off-topic maybe, but I cannot resist

No, zipped and "jpegged" pictures wouldn't be of the same size. Zip uses so called loss-less compression, that is, could be unzipped to basicly the original copy. Jpeg cannot. It uses a kind of approximation of what it compresses. Loss of information (unrecoverable) is proximite to the compress ratio.
Photographs usually doesn't zip very well, the same goes with complex pictures (like Spwaw screenshots) On the other hand abusing JPEG is just another crime agains humanity

Another aspect is text cannot be "jpegged". The result may well have all "j" replaced by "i" and all "k" replaced by "l". They look so similar and "i" and "l" are smaller, so whats the fuss

(ok, I oversimplified a bit, I hope I can be forgiven )

Fuerte · Post by **Fuerte** » Tue Sep 26, 2000 7:11 pm

There is no reason to use jpeg compression in pictures like the preferences screen. A simple run-length encoding used in GIF format will probably compress this picture more than jpeg, and it will not lose any information, so the text is readable. GIF format should be used in the tutorial map pictures as well, because now they are almost totally useless.

Graf Speer · Post by **Graf Speer** » Tue Sep 26, 2000 7:19 pm

Excellent, David! Thanks for the announcement.

Albert
p.s. Hi David,

I downloaded the "SPWAW ver. 4.1 manual" at http://www.matrixgames.com/spwaw/downloads.asp (Downloads)

Thanks

[This message has been edited by Graf Speer (edited September 26, 2000).]

Graf Speer · Post by **Graf Speer** » Wed Sep 27, 2000 12:26 am

Immediate Question: Are the Manual Table of Contents text lines supposed to be individually boxed? (this doesn't look right . . . )

-A

Wild Bill · Post by **Wild Bill** » Wed Sep 27, 2000 1:30 am

All in all, I think Brent Grenadier Richards did a superb job on the manual. Both our resources and our time has been extremely limited, with changes coming by the hour, not the day.

This makes for a most chaotic situation of the manual composer. Brent took it all in stride. Its true that some of the graphics don't show as much detail as we would like.

All in all, however, the work done was one of the best I've seen. It is complete and offers explanations on just about everything in the game.

I wish it had an index and someday maybe it will. But overall, compared to many manuals I have read, I think it is an excellent piece of work.

Now I know the comments here were meant in a very positive vein and no one takes offense. This is where we all learn. So thank you for ideas on making it better.

Again, however, compared to most manuals that come with games that cost you money, this one is superlative. Good job, Grenadier!

Wild Bill

------------------
In Arduis Fidelis
Wild Bill Wilder
Coordinator, Scenario Design
Matrix Games

Iron Cross · Post by **Iron Cross** » Wed Sep 27, 2000 1:54 am

Grenadier,

The V4.1 manual is outstanding!!! One of my complaints in todays gaming market place is that one of the corners cut constantly in the area of computer wargames is poorly written and incomplete manuals. The V4.1 manual is excellent, well laid out and full of excellent notes and hints. Keep up the outstanding work.

Iron Cross
Wenn Alles Bruders Es Schweigen

Graf Speer · Post by **Graf Speer** » Wed Sep 27, 2000 5:28 am

Wild Bill,

I have to agree with you!

(it always amazes me how 'Speer' can spot unimportant, useless things like boxed divider lines all over his TOC pages and, yet, this is simply cosmetic glitch and so he now regrets having mentioned this as is his penchant to and has sought out a ruthless "domimatrix"

for thirty lashes

(Hey, I really appreciated the 3.0 manual from start to finish! . . . and will dig into the new manual - to review changes / clarifications / enhancements - as soon as the 'complimentary' 4.1 patch arrives.

)

Albert

Supervisor · Post by **Supervisor** » Wed Sep 27, 2000 8:47 am

This allows you to click on the box and go directly to that page in the manual. I find it much easier than pagfing down to get to the correct page or or using cntrl-5 to do the same. As for the graphics. If any of you would like to redo them, I will be happy to send you the graphics or you can make new ones and then I will replace the current ones

Originally posted by Graf Speer:
Immediate Question: Are the Manual Table of Contents text lines supposed to be individually boxed? (this doesn't look right . . . )

-A

------------------
Grenadier
Matrix Games Technical Writer

Bonzo · Post by **Bonzo** » Wed Sep 27, 2000 9:22 am

I'm currently printing the v4.1 manual. For the most part the graphics are printing not bad, in fast, quite legible when printed at 1200x1200dpi (even on plain paper). I do not think that the problem people are having are caused by jpeg "lossy" compression. IIRC, this compression scheme loses color depth, not pixels.

There is a secondary image compression that is available in Adobe Acrobat (the "maker" not Reader). This compression sets the pixels per inch, thus actually losing pixels. I think that this is probably the culprit. One must therefore balance overall final file size against print quality. Perhaps two runs of the manual? The current version unchanged for us cable deficient, & a high res minimally compressed for them preppie, upscale folk?

I think the trick for sharper images is to get as high of a pixel count as possible. colour depth is not as important as long as the contrast is adequate.

If you want, you can send the graphics to to me & I'll give it a go to sharpen them up, but, perhaps, explore the acrobat settings used & see if less compression leads to an unacceptable file size first. If you are sending, use the adress bonzo@agt.net,.

Bonzo

------------------
Robert (Bonzo) Lindsay, Coordinator
28th (North-west) Battalion Headquarters
http://dreadnaught.home.icq.com
nwbattalion@icqmail.com

Graf Speer · Post by **Graf Speer** » Wed Sep 27, 2000 11:24 am

This allows you to click on the box and go directly to that page in the manual.

Hi Brent,

Oh! even if the TOC looks somewhat 'cluttered' now, these 'hyper'links (boxes) are definitely the right idea . . . sheesh, before we know it, maybe the Adobe people will be paying the Matrix team to even do the next Acrobat upgrade?

Albert

frank1970 · Post by **frank1970** » Wed Sep 27, 2000 3:19 pm

Is there a gameversion 4.1, too?

Panzer Commander · Post by **Panzer Commander** » Wed Sep 27, 2000 7:13 pm

<The hexes labeled "breakdown roll" in the manual are mud, swamp, paved road, tiled road, trail, streams, canals, coral reef, shallow water, sandstone and stone walls, wood, stone and multi-hex buildings, trenches, gullies, rice-paddies and polders. I was wondering why the roads were labeled hazardous instead of, say, rocks, boulders and forests.>

I was wondering the same thing and I did not see an answer. Why do rough, rocks, boulders and trees NOT have breakdown roll but paved roads and other seemingly made for travel surfaces do?

Wild Bill · Post by **Wild Bill** » Wed Sep 27, 2000 7:46 pm

Breakdown system in the game is being thoroughly revised and brought up to date.
Wild Bill

------------------
In Arduis Fidelis
Wild Bill Wilder
Coordinator, Scenario Design
Matrix Games