Hot Patch version 05.00.00.10

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Below is a DropBox link to Hot Patch version 05.00.00.10.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zlag95wze5s0d ... 0.zip?dl=0

Note that to use this Hot Patch you have to have installed the Public Beta 04.02.00.00.


DropBox is easy to use. You just go to the link (it is an https:/www.dropbox.com link).

Within the zipped file are:
(1) the new version of MWIF.exe,
(2) the Release Notes for that version,
(3) a dozen files or so in 3 different folders - some are replacement files and some are new files.

I need to tell you how you can run the AIO mode of play with this version.

1 - You need to load the files in the folders in the zipped file.
a - the replacement LR.CSV file in the Data/Map Data folder. This corrects a typo in the data.
b - AIO Barbarossa Set.OPR file in the Optional Rules folder. The AIO uses this to set the optional rule for its games.
c - AIO_Setup_USSR.SET file in the Scenarios/Barbarossa folder. This contains the default setup locations for the AIO naval units.
d - AIO_Scrap_USSR.SCP file in the Scenarios/Barbarossa/Scrap Lists folder. This contains the AIO scrap list.
e - the 9 *.txt files in the Scenarios/Barbarossa/AIO Scripts folder. These are the scripts that the AIO uses to place units on the map.

2 - To start an AIO game, choose the AIO mode of play. The program will then prompt you for a user name for the human player (playing Germany). Once you enter a player name, the program will take it from there and advance to Germany scrapping units and setting up the German forces on the map. You then play the game as the Germans. Once Germany and Italy declare war on the USSR, the AIO will set up the USSR reserve units. Germany can then decide about aligning a minor country and perform all the normal activities for phasing side in the first impulse.

3 - When the AIO is placing units on the map, the program will draw random numbers. Those are reported to the player (you) and you can change them to see what effect they have on where the AIO places its units. You can always just take the random number that the program selects. Or you can enter a different number (between 1 and 100). The script files are in simple txt format. Please feel free to examine them and critique them - I would like to learn you opinions about them. Making changes to the script txt files is possible but you have to be very careful: adding or removing blanks can be fatal.

Note that to use this Hot Patch you have to have installed the Public Beta 04.02.00.00.

-------------------------------------

Release Notes for Public Beta Version 05.00.00.10
(changes since 04.04.10.00)

All Modes of Play

Initiative
1. Fixed a newly created bug (December 2021) with setting the initiative at the start of a new game.

Air Operations
2. Cleared the Kamikaze flag for all units not on the map when a saved game is restored. Previously, the flag would remain set, even if the kamikaze air unit was rebuilt.

3. Fixed a small problem with undoing an air rebase of an air unit that is not a carrier air unit.

Supply
4. Fixed a supply issue with finding a path for a tertiary supply source to a secondary supply source where the secondary supply source was tracing an overland path to a primary supply source.

5. Fixed an old supply problem with finding supply for tertiary supply sources (usually the capitals of aligned minor countries) which occurred after the program found a path to a valid secondary supply source and it keep searching for a ’better’ supply source, thereby causing an infinite loop. The program is now happy with finding one valid supply source and stops looking for another one.

6. Added code to initialize the status of whether a secondary supply source had found a tertiary supply path. Without this initialization at the beginning of the search for supply, a flag was being set randomly so that sometimes the program worked correctly and other times it would not even attempt to find a path from a secondary supply source (which could not reach a primary supply source) to another secondary supply source which was in supply. One aspect of this oddness was a saved game would restore with all supply paths found and correct, while recalculating supply during play would cause the tertiary path to not be found, leaving some HQs and minor city capitals incorrectly out of supply.

Peace
7. Fixed a problem with liberating a Commonwealth country where the question about returning control of the liberated country’s hexes to the original owner was not being asked.

Production Planning
8. Made a game specific repair for a damaged red factory in Lyons. This usually becomes relevant after Vichy France has been collapsed.

9. Added code to restoring saved games to fix a potential problem where Spain does not send a non-oil resource to the Axis major power controlling Paris - while Spain is neutral.

10. Added code make sure that the Iraqi trade agreement to send an oil point to the major power that controls Syria exists. When Vichy France was declared, this trade agreement was sometimes being deleted.

11. Made yet another change to satisfying the NEI trade agreements. Hopefully this will be the last pass I need to make on getting this code correct.

12. Removed all existing code for fulfilling the NEI trade agreements and wrote new code to explicitly use the 4 oil resources in the NEI to satisfy those agreements.

Cosmetic
13. In the Pools form (CTL-Q), moved the Other Losses panel (displayed when the Destroyed units information is shown) down 20 pixels. Previously it was overlapping the top of the Gearing Limits panel and causing the header row of the Gearing Limits panel to be blank, instead of showing the column headers.

14. Modified the Pools form to list more Countries when choosing which Force Pool to display. It used to be 16 countries, now it is 22. This change makes all of the Axis major powers selectable in the top half of the list.

15. Modified the US Entry Pool form so it displays the average chit draw for the current year and the probability of drawing a chit worth 2 or less. For 1940, it shows the probability of drawing 1 or less instead. For example, 1939: Average = 2.33 and 2 or less = 56.7%; and 1940: Average = 1.79 and 1 or less = 55.1%.

16. Added the word ‘Done’ to the rightmost column of the US Entry Options form when the option has already been chosen.

17. Fixed a cosmetic bug in the US Entry Options form where the Prerequisites column was displaying the word ‘Chosen” instead of ‘Tension’ when the option could not be selected because the tension value in one or both of the tension pools was too low.



NetPlay Mode of Play

18. Added a check to avoid a fatal error when Vichy is Collapsed and a Vichy convoy unit needs to be split into separate units for determining whether it is captured, is destroyed, or escapes.

19. Made a correction in the Search and Seizure routine specifically for NetPlay.



AI Opponent Mode of Play

20. Made numerous changes to references in the AI Opponent logic so it only executes when the mode of play is AI Opponent.

21. Modified the name of saved games using the AIO mode of play to include AI - as a prefix to the name of the saved game. This is similar to NetPlay saved games which have NP - as a prefix (and Head-2-Head/HotSeat saved games havng H2H - as a prefix).

22. The AI Opponent mode of play can now be executed. However, you will need to perform the following 3 steps in order to run it:
1 - You need to load the files in the folders in the zipped file.
a - the replacement LR.CSV file in the Data/Map Data folder. This corrects a typo in the data.
b - AIO Barbarossa Set.OPR file in the Optional Rules folder. The AIO uses this to set the optional rule for its games.
c - AIO_Setup_USSR.SET file in the Scenarios/Barbarossa folder. This contains the default setup locations for the AIO naval units.
d - AIO_Scrap_USSR.SCP file in the Scenarios/Barbarossa/Scrap Lists folder. This contains the AIO scrap list.
e - the 9 *.txt files in the Scenarios/Barbarossa/AIO Scripts folder. These are the scripts that the AIO uses to place units on the map.

2 - To start an AIO game, choose the AIO mode of play. The program will then prompt you for a user name for the human player (playing Germany). Once you enter a player name, the program will take it from there and advance to Germany scrapping units and setting up the German forces on the map. You then play the game as the Germans. Once Germany and Italy declare war on the USSR, the AIO will set up the USSR reserve units. Germany can then decide about aligning a minor country and perform all the normal activities for phasing side in the first impulse.

3 - When the AIO is placing units on the map, the program will draw random numbers. Those are reported to the player (you) and you can change them to see what effect they have on where the AIO places its units. You can always just take the random number that the program selects. Or you can enter a different number (between 1 and 100). The script files are in simple txt format. Please feel free to examine them and critique them - I would like to learn you opinions about them. Making changes to the script txt files is possible but you have to be very careful: adding or removing blanks can be fatal.

23. Finished the AI Opponent code for setting up the USSR units for Barbarossa. The program now correctly executes the Start New Game code and begins with the human player (playing the Germans) deciding which units to scrap, prior to the random unit draw for which German units are to be placed on the map by the human player.

24. Simplified the Start New game sequence when playing against the AI Opponent. Since the AIO will only play the USSR side in the Barbarossa scenario, and uses the Standard Set of Optional rules, the program skips over those decision points and chooses the scenario and optional rules automatically. It also skips over the decision about which side the AIO is playing (it always plays the USSR). A message is displayed once the human player chooses the AIO mode of play, informing him of these decisions. The human player needs only enter a name for himself. The program takes care of the rest and advances the sequence of play to the German Scrap Units subphase of the Setup phase.

25. Made numerous changes to support the AI Opponent making decisions as the non-phasing (USSR) side during the first impulse of the first turn of Barbarossa.

26. Made the Main form taller: from 200 pixels to 240 pixels. This is the size of the Main form that the Debug version of the game has had for many years. The player can resize the form to its smaller size if this change in size is inconvenient. The purpose of this change is so the 3 panels at the bottom of the Main form are now visible. Clicking on the Land Region panel causes the AIO Stats form to appear (described below).

27. Added the new form AIO Stats. It is accessible by clicking on the Land Region panel at the bottom of the Main form. Basically, this is an accumulation of statistics about which units are in the land regions of the Barbarossa map. The important information is in the left panel. The selected geographic area in the screenshot is the land region Rumania - indicated by the label in the top left column. Beneath the header line are statistics on the units in Rumania. Most of these are simple counts or sums. However, the most important numbers are the Total Combat Values for each side. While similar to the Total Combat Factors (of just the land units), the Total Combat Value includes air units and takes into consideration unit types and movement points. A simple example is that the Russian 5-4 infantry is more valuable than the 5-3 infantry, and both are more valuable than the 5-1 garrison. Because the garrison unit is cheaper to build, its unit type decreases its value in addition to its single movement point,

Describing the rest of the form, the Land Regions column lists all the land regions in Barbarossa. Similarly, the Theaters of Operation and Areas of Operation tables list those geographic areas for the scenario, The grouping of the land regions in the second column corresponds to the labels in the Areas of Operations table. For instance, Estonia/Latvia, Lithuania, Western Poland, and Eastern Poland (the third group of Land Regions) are in the Poland/Baltic Area of Operation (the third entry in the Areas of Operation column).

Clicking on a land region label displays the Cumulative Statistics for the land region, and simultaneously displays the counters of the units in the land region in the rightmost panel. Moving the cursor over a land unit counter updates the Unit Data panel in the lower right corner of the form. Clicking on an Area of Operation label does the same for all the units in the selected area of operation. Clicking on a Theater of Operation does likewise.

This is not a ‘polished’ form since I do not intend for players to use it extensively, if at all. Most players gather this information visually, just looking at the map. But ‘looking a’ the map’ is not available to the AIO. Hence, I have written code for the AIO to gather statistics to use in its decision making. The AIO Statistics form serves a couple of purposes: (1) it lets me confirm that the statistics the AIO derives are accurate, and (2) it lets me figure out how I am going to have the AIO use these data to make decisions about moving units.

28. Removed a spurious message about the optional rules for a saved setup and the current game not matching when play against the AI Opponent mode of Play.

29. Corrected some problems with the AI Opponent code processing the transition from several subphases of the Port Attack phase when the Axis/human player flies port attacks and has surprise points to spent.

30. With this version the human player should be able to advance the sequence of play through to the end of the first impulse. At that point the code for the AIO to move its units is missing.

[CanInf]

never mind found it... still not quite used to the new forum...

[smitht2ls]

Hello,

Little late to the update. Is Public Beta 04.02.00.00 still available?

Thanks,
Tim Smith

[BrianJH]

You don't actually need the 04.02.00.00 update to install the 05.00.00.10 hot patch. This is just a minimal requirement.

Instead, you can install the Beta Update v04.04.01.00 (WorldInFlames-UpdateComp-v04.04.01.00-BETA.zip) from the Members Area or Store Page, and then update with the 05.00.00.10 hot patch. It will work just fine.

If on the other hand you are installing MWIF from scratch you can follow the steps in this post https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 5#p5053915

Brian.

Hello,

Little late to the update. Is Public Beta 04.02.00.00 still available?

Thanks,
Tim Smith

[smitht2ls]

Thanks for the reply.

[coachi]

So you can only play as Germany?

[Joseignacio]

NO, you play as a side.

You can be Germany+Italy+Japan or CommonWealth+USA+France+URSS+China

[Orm]

So you can only play as Germany?

Against the AIO in the Barbarossa scenario you can only play as Germany. But the AIO is only in beta testing.

Edit: And what Joseignacio said.