Mr. Heath, where are you??!!

[DBoutwell]

Mr. Heath,

I'm posting this thread in an additional attempt to make contact with you in reference to your earlier thread on Modswapper, in which you mentioned some fixes that were done to the SPWAW mech.exe in support of SPCW. I've sent you three or four PM's in an attempt to contact you personally concerning this issue, but have not heard back from you. Not to rush, but the same thing happened last Fall when I originally sent you my "wish list" of SPCW fixes. The length of the delay between my contacting you and you trying to contact me was such that I quit checking for any messages in my forum inbox. Then the forum crash, or whatever happened, occurred, I dropped my dial-up internet and had to get a new computer, for all practical purposes, making me unreachable if an attempt at contact was made from the other end. I understand from your thread that your team was able to change the decades from the 30's and 40's to the 50's and 60's (19th Century). I don't want to miss out on the opportunity to add that extra "piece" to SPCW. It is a small thing, yes, but it would be an important piece in all of the changes that have been made to make SPCW more than just any old mod.

Just a brief update on changes made over the last few days. I have been doing some work on fortified hexes/trenches and obstacles. Here's what I've done. I've changed the anti-tank obstacles to Chevaux De Frise (the big posts with the spikes sticking out in four directions), and have changed barbed wire to abatis (sharpened stakes stuck in the ground at an angle). The menu icons and text have also been changed for these items. The fortified hex icons have been changed to crossed picks and shovels (the round sandbag emplacements are just not "period"). These icons go nicely with trenches. And, by the way, there are now three types of trenches, the second and third are accessable by WAWMap. They are: the original trenches, trenches with logs and branches piled in front (ie the Wilderness) and there are improved trenches, with log supports and posts (Spotsylvania and Petersburg). I also changed what I had already changed once before. I changed ARMOR in the purchase screen to NAVAL, originally, but decided that naval/riverine units could go in the MISC menu, and I'd change NAVAL to HORSE. Now all cavalry units are in that menu group, seperate from all of the infantry. And, of course you have ARTILLERY by itself.

I've been playing the hell out of this game, and have a blast every time. It adds a whole new dimension to battlefield tours in the area. Just the other day, after reading a nice article in one of the Civil War magazines on the prelude to second Manassas, I was walking Brawner's Farm, site of an evening brawl between the Iron Brigade and the Stonewall Brigade (and other units), and as I walked the site of the battle, I was already going over in my mind the contour of the land for map purposes, oob's and reinforcement arrival times.

This game has been exactly the motivator that I needed to get back to a time period that I had sadly neglected, considering my proximity to the source of the history, since Steel Panthers came out, and I devoted myself 100% to the study of WWII.

Now, if only could make contact with the guys from Matrix....I know, I'm keeping a realistic expectation of what could be done, but wishes that are not made are never answered. Here are some examples of things that would be nice (but these are just for discussion sake):

1) although the smoke produced by units that are bugging out really should not be the source of smoke in a Civil War game, you never really tie the smoke to that source because most smoke produced in this manner is associated with close in combat with lots of volley fire in this game, where it should be produced. Smoke is "popped" so fast that you don't really notice who are what caused it, and in a heated fight, lots of it gets made! And let me tell you, nothing puts a stop to a fight like the smoke! For one, you can't see your targets on the other side, and two advancing through it tends to put you at point-blank range with a company of the enemy waiting to throw some minies your way! A sure way to lose about ten men in one volley if the enemy unit is not disrupted and depleted! But, it would be nice if all units produced some smoke, even if only the less dense stuff in the case of infantry. But hey, I've been in plenty of reenactments where a decent breeze cleared all of your smoke from your line of site, so this is not vital.

2) It would be nice if units in front of other units consistently blocked line of site (for firing purposes, that is -it is definitely possible to see another battleline through one in front of you). Maybe they do, but it sure seems like they don't (considering those units are often standing in battleline and it is not realistic to try to fire through them). Now, It was probably not uncommon to fire over your own troops if they were prone (but this was likely very difficult to coordinate in most instances (yelling "Lie down, we're going to fire" is very cumbersome in battle), so, although too many enemy troops that shouldn't be able to fire at you do so, this is also not vital, for now.

Just a short list, but I could think of more....


I look forward to hearing from you in the future, Mr. Heath.

Regards,

David Boutwell

[DBoutwell]

OK, guess I'll have to bring out the big guns.... Here's a new screenshot. I think this one is a sample of some of the new buildings. More screenshots on the way.

[DBoutwell]

Here's a shot of a line of infantry fortifications,,,

[DBoutwell]

Lee's HQ

[DBoutwell]

I'll leave these up a few days, then I'll post some map samples, if anyone is interested.

[sami heimola]

[X(]

They looks great. Thanks about screenies, David!

[Belisarius]

The infantry looks great!

[Marc von Martial]

David is currently at WBC Convention with only limited internet acess. I emailed him an reminder.

The shots look great. Can´t wait.

[FNG]

This looks superb - great work.

[Huffy]

very nice...

[m10bob]

When David??..We like the ACW!!!![:D]

[Goblin]

AWESOME!!! HURRYHURRYHURRY!!

Goblin[:D]

[David Heath]

Hi Guys & David

Things are looking great and we be back next Tuesday. I will talk to David then and work out a release date.

David

[wodin]

Those buildings are superb so much better than the ones n SPWAW. I love the flag detail too.

Can those buildings be used in SPWAW insteda of the original ones?

[cadmus]

Outstanding work, David B. There are a lot of us anxiously awaiting the results of your hard work and we'll be greatly indebted to you.

[DBoutwell]

Thanks to everyone for the positive feedback. Belisarius, the infantry icons are modfications of the original infantry icons from Sami's group's work. Whoever did the artwork basically provided me with a template on which to build many of my other icons. Marc, thanks especially to you for passing on information to David. I'm thrilled to hear positive support from a Matrix staff member! M10, giving you a date at which I would be finished with all of the work I'm doing would be difficult, if not unrealistic. I'm doing this puppy all on my lonesome, all the while raising two girls (5 and 2) and supprting my wife as she builds two home businesses. I sneak in a few hours of work every day during human hours, then try to knock out a few more hours when the kids are asleep. Problem is, I've got a two year-old that thinks she is a teen-ager and won't go down until around 11:00, if not later. So, giving you a date would just create unrealistic expectations and put me into a schedule that is not in the best interest of my goal to create a product that is as complete as it can be with what I'm working with. But, I'm busting my butt, I can promise you that. I just visited the Wilderness and Spotsylvania battlefields again yesterday, and picked up some excellent map resources for future plans.

Mr. Heath, I'm looking forward to corresponding with you!

Wodlin, all it would take is to switch TER shp files. These buildings are just modifications of parts of the old buildings. However, I will have to agree with you when it comes to files like the multihex residential buildings! Xeno, I don't know of any other Civil war computer games like it, and I definitely think that the look of the menu screens, etc. look better than the old SP menu screens. When I go back to the old grey/black menu screens of SP versions, I can definitely notice a stark contrast in the "look".

I'll try to post some more screen shots tonight.

Regards,

David Boutwell

[DoubleDeuce]

ORIGINAL: DBoutwell

Problem is, I've got a two year-old that thinks she is a teen-ager and won't go down until around 11:00, if not later.

I can sympathize with that. I have a 5yo daughter with the same attitude [:(]

[Goblin]

I've got a five year old and two year old daughter also, DB, and they like to stay up late too, with or without permission, lol. My sympathies.

[;)]

Goblin

[DBoutwell]

Here is a small screen shot of map features. It is very difficult to get an image that is 200 kb's or less, so sorry about the size.

[DBoutwell]

Icture didnn't make it. clicked the wrong box....