Matrix Games Forums

WiRAssistant - version 0.1

What's this?
WiRAssistant is a helper tool for all the players of Gary Grigsby's War in
Russia: The Matrix Project. Mostly this tool is intended for those players
who play PBEM games, but it also works if you want to play against the AI.
WiRAssistant allows you to access the save file even when it's not your
turn, and giving you the same information as the game itself does, but also
tries to offer more different views into the data thus helping you, the
armchair general, in your decision making process.
As you can probably guess by the version number, WiRAssistant is by no means
a finished tool, but rather a work-in-progress. To see what works and what
does not, see the release notes below.
The tool was written in Java and therefore should work on all platforms that
you can run War in Russia itself on. However, during the programming the tool
was only tested on Win 98SE and Win ME. Should you find any bugs or
incompatibilities, please report them to us. Should you encounter an
"unexpected exception"-dialog, you should report this to us and send the save
files and the exception.log-file with your report.

INSTALLATION & EXECUTION
Extract all files in the archive to a directory of your choice and make sure
that your Java 2 Runtime Environment or Java 2 SDK is installed correctly. For
information on how to install Java on your computer, go to http://java.sun.com
After extracting the files, move or copy the file "WiRAssistant.lnk" to your
desktop, and open its properties (right click on the icon and select properties).
There you need to change the directory of java.exe. You can do that by clicking
"find target". After finding java.exe copy the text " -jar WiRAssistant.jar"
into the "Target"-field after the full path of the java.exe file. After
this all you need to do is make sure that the "working directory"-field
matches the directory where you unpacked the WiRAssistant-files.,
Then you are ready to go. Just click "ok" and double click on the icon to
start
using WiRAssistant. If you did everything correctly and your Java is correctly
installed, the main window of WiRAssistant should now appear. first thing you
should do is locate the directory where WiR is located. You can do this by using
the browse-option in the file-tab. The directory you selected is saved to a file
when you exit, so you only need to do this once. A list of available save files
appears on the tab, if the directory was correct (and you have at least one
saved game). If you're playing a PBEM game, you will need to give your password
to load the save file. If you are playing against the computer, simply leave the
password-field blank.

SO WHAT CAN I DO WITH THIS?
Features in version 0.1 are;
-Unit-tab, where you can view all existing units in your army according to
chain-of-command or a simple flat list. We strived to include all essential
information about a unit here, but should you find something that you would like
to see added, please tell us.
-Production-tab, where you can view the production of your cities. You can view
the overall production according to cities or according to types of equipment.
Key figures of production for your state (Heavy industry, Resources, Oil and
Manpower) are also listed. You can also locate the cities on the game map, if
you are unsure of their location.
-Pools-tab, where you can view all of the equipment pools in the game (for your
side only, of course). You can also view the characteristics of a specific type
of equipment available to you. Note that in this version you can only view the
types of equipment in production, not future designs. Leader- and uncreated
unit-pools are also included. You should note that the uncreates unit-pool may
show incorrect data, see release notes below.
-Map-tab, where you can view the in-game map of War in Russia. The map is clickable,
so you may view units and cities on the map-tab without needing to switch back and
forth from the unit- or production-tabs (although these are linked; whenever you
click on a unit or a city in the map-tab, it becomes selected in unit/production-tab
for more detailed information). Other available information in this tab are fighter,
bomber and ground attack aircraft ranges for a selected HQ, supply and control
information for the entire map.

RELEASE NOTES
Version 0.1
Combat values shown for korpses and HQs don't match those shown by the game. At the
moment they are just a sum of the subUnits' combat values, which corrspond to the
combat values shown on the unit list window
The map icons are loaded from a separate image-file. This means that if you have
changed the icons of the game, they don't show up on the maps in WiRAssistant.
The unit pool is incorrect. Apparently the korps availability information is not
stored in the save files, but is hardcoded.
The only enemy units shown on the map are Hqs and those armies/korps that are adjacent
to one (or more) of your own units. This is because apparently the game doesn't store
the visibility information.

And lastly, a reminder: WiRAssistant is a viewing tool only. You cannot modify any of
the game data using this tool, the only purpose of this program is to make the
information in the game available to you in a more user-friendly format.

HOW TO CONTACT US
Should you have any comments or suggestions, or possibly if you wish to contribute
to this project, please contact us. Even if you've got nothing important to say,
we'd still like to know if anyone found this tool to be useful. Our contact information
is:

Heikki Sikanen
heiks@st.jyu.fi
ICQ: 921 353 09

Aku Riihelä
ariihela@cc.hut.fi
ICQ: 129 845 731


...We take no responsibility for what ever happens when you try WiRAssistant. It didn't break our systems, so we don't expect it do break any other system, but use it at your own risk.
You have been warned <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

... for you programmer types the source code will be released as soon as we get it cleaned up a bit.

Always something: <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~heiks/WiRAssistant/

[ October 22, 2001: Message edited by: heiks ]</p>

And hello to everyone here at Matrix forums from the other half of the makers of WiRAssistant. Should you find trouble getting to Heikki's site, a copy of the tool can also be downloaded from my home directory, located at HUT Web server.
And just as a note; this is a 100% freeware-program which we created mostly for our own use, so please don't understand this as commercial advertising, for that it is not. We just thought that others might find this useful as well.
Cheers,
-Aku

I'm trying to install your program but my OS (WIN 98) keeps rejecting the path in the desktop shortcut. If I just try to run java.exe it works, but if I add the "-jar wirassistant.jar" line it says the path is not valid.

Originally posted by Yogi Yohan:
I'm trying to install your program but my OS (WIN 98) keeps rejecting the path in the desktop shortcut. If I just try to run java.exe it works, but if I add the "-jar wirassistant.jar" line it says the path is not valid.

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Did you make sure that the working directory is correctly set in the link, or alternatively specify the full path for the java file (and not to mention put a space between java.exe and "-jar.." bits?)

Try this in the command prompt:
1. go to the directory where wirassistant is unpacked.
2. try to run java.exe without a path, if it works, go to the next step. Otherwise you must either set the jre bin\-directory to your path or specify the full path in the command.
3. Try the commmand java -jar WiRAssistant.jar (add the full path to the java-command if necessary). This should work.

hope this helps I admit its not one of those simple and easy installation procedures <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

I got it to work, but now I get an exception error. I cannot read it because the window closes so fast. I have managed to get the program running through a DOS-prompt though. Looks cool.

Originally posted by Yogi Yohan:
I got it to work, but now I get an exception error. I cannot read it because the window closes so fast. I have managed to get the program running through a DOS-prompt though. Looks cool.

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See, if the program has generated a file called exception.log in the directory (I doubt it, I think the exception occurs in the constructor, which at the moment doesn't have that feature... though is should), but if you do find it there, please send it to me at: heiks@st.jyu.fi, as it would contain the stack trace of the exception and it would help in tracking the problem.

No such file, as you suspected. By making a DOS shortcut I was able to capture the exception message window. It looks like this:

Åtkomst nekad means Access Denied in Swedish.

[ October 24, 2001: Message edited by: Yogi Yohan ]</p>

Originally posted by Yogi Yohan:
No such file, as you suspected. By making a DOS shortcut I was able to capture the exception message window. It looks like this:

Åtkomst nekad means Access Denied in Swedish.

[ October 24, 2001: Message edited by: Yogi Yohan ]

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A quick diagnose would be that you're missing/improperly installed some vital parts of your java environment, since the exception occurs while trying to exctract the WiRAssistant classes from the jar-package (the program itself doesn't use JarFile or ZipFile-classes, so this is the only place where IMO those exceptions can occurr).

... or then again it could be something completely different, such as the phase of the moon. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

BTW. Which version or JRE are you using? Sun or MS?

in an W98 system there really aren't that many access control settings for users, are there? (I don't think it even has a proper user management). So you probably don't have restricted the access to the java class library somehow, but obviously the java byte code interpreter can't access something in the ZipFile constructor.

Originally posted by heiks:


A quick diagnose would be that you're missing/improperly installed some vital parts of your java environment, since the exception occurs while trying to exctract the WiRAssistant classes from the jar-package (the program itself doesn't use JarFile or ZipFile-classes, so this is the only place where IMO those exceptions can occurr).

... or then again it could be something completely different, such as the phase of the moon. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

BTW. Which version or JRE are you using? Sun or MS?

in an W98 system there really aren't that many access control settings for users, are there? (I don't think it even has a proper user management). So you probably don't have restricted the access to the java class library somehow, but obviously the java byte code interpreter can't access something in the ZipFile constructor.

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OK, I moved all your files to the same folder as the Java executable and now it works like a charm. Apparently there was some problem with reading the path to the jar-file (although I checked and doublechecked it for errors). It works just as there.

Great utility, by the way. I love the owerview ability over industrial production and the ability to see the map after my turn in a PBEM game.

A small problem: When a factory has its production delayed, either by type change or damage by bombs, it is not displayed at all.

Originally posted by Yogi Yohan:


OK, I moved all your files to the same folder as the Java executable and now it works like a charm. Apparently there was some problem with reading the path to the jar-file (although I checked and doublechecked it for errors). It works just as there.


could also possibly be a problem with your CLASSPATH-setting?


Great utility, by the way. I love the owerview ability over industrial production and the ability to see the map after my turn in a PBEM game.


Glad you like it. You've actually just hit the two najor points that motivated creating WiRAssistant.



A small problem: When a factory has its production delayed, either by type change or damage by bombs, it is not displayed at all.

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Ok. On my todo list. One question though, do the delayed factories contribute anything to the total production? I would guess not.

We'll (or at least I will) be working on this one again on the weekend. One other new feature we are thinking of adding is color coding the unit names to show the combat capability of the units, for example green for 75% or more of the maximum cv, yellow for 50-75% and so on. This is intended to help locating weak spots in your defence line and so on...

Originally posted by heiks:
Ok. On my todo list. One question though, do the delayed factories contribute anything to the total production? I would guess not.

---

No. But it would be good to see what factories are devoted to producing something, even though they are currently not producing.

Originally posted by heiks:
could also possibly be a problem with your CLASSPATH-setting?

---

If I had even the faintest idea of what a CLASSPATH-setting is, I might have been able to answer that... <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0"> Good idea about the colour coding...

[ October 24, 2001: Message edited by: Yogi Yohan ]</p>

Originally posted by Yogi Yohan:


If I had even the faintest idea of what a CLASSPATH-setting is, I might have been able to answer that... <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0"> Good idea about the colour coding...

[ October 24, 2001: Message edited by: Yogi Yohan ]

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CLASSPATH is an environment variable (should be in autoexec.bat or config.sys), that tells the java bytecode interpreter where to look for the java api class files.

the line should be something like:
SET CLASSPATH=<your_jre_class_library_directory>

WiRAssistant has been updated. The new version (0.1a) is now available at:

http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~heiks/WiRAssistant/

or directly

http://www.hut.fi/~ariihela/WiRAssistant01a.zip

RELEASE NOTES
Version 0.1a
A bug caused WiRA to crash if HQs were removed from the map but their subunits still
retained their old HQ. This has now been fixed.
Computer-controlled HQs caused problems with WiRA. In this version all
computer-controlled HQs should appear with correct data.
The CV calculated for korps and HQs now takes into account both the readiness and
the experience of the unit. they still don't match those given by the game, though.

Once again <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0"> we have updated WiRAssistant. The new version, 0.2 features the following changes:

- The map in the production tab wasn't being updated properly. This has been fixed.
- Combat values for korpses and HQs are now calculated differently from divisions
and battalions. The new values are quite close to the values shown by
the game on the lower right corner of the screen, but due to some (apparently
rounding) reasons the values seem to be always off by one or two.
- The unit names in the different unit information panels are color coded. The color
indicates the relation between the unit's actual combat value and it's maximum
combat value. Green indicates that the unit's actual combat value is over 75% of
the unit's maximum combat value. Yellow indicates 50% - 75%, red 25% - 50% and black
less than 25%. For HQs the color displays the average fighting condition of the
subordinate units in the HQ's command, that is, the total cv of the subunits
divided by the maximum total cv of the subunits. Divisions and battalions attached
directly to the HQ are not taken into account. Also note that the color represents
the average fighting condition of the entire army, but subunits may have very
different fighting conditions.
- The combat value field for korpses and HQs is also color coded. The color indicates
the unit's actual combat capability. Green indicates that the unit's cv is over 60,
yellow indicates a cv between 40 and 60, red indicates a cv between 20 and 40 and
black a cv less than 20. For hqs only the divisions and battalions directly attached
to the hq are taken into account.

Thanks to those few brave souls who have tried WiRAssistant and given some much appreciated feedback.

The program can be downloaded here
http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~heiks/WiRAssistant/

or directly here:
http://www.cc.hut.fi/~ariihela/WiRAssistant02.zip

I have a problem with WirAssistant. When I'm in program I can't locate my save game files. That is that WirAssistant doesn't recognize my save files in a directory which is set as working directory (as if there were no files at all). What shoud I do?

Originally posted by boba:
I have a problem with WirAssistant. When I'm in program I can't locate my save game files. That is that WirAssistant doesn't recognize my save files in a directory which is set as working directory (as if there were no files at all). What shoud I do?

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So you've written the absolute directory path to the WiR directory field and nothing happens?
It might be a good idea to check that the save-files have the correct file type. By right-clicking on a save file and selecting 'properties' you can view the file type. The save file with out suffixes(SAVEA, SAVEB, etc.) should be of the type 'file', the cd-files (SAVEA.CD, etc.) should be of the type 'CD-file' and the md-file (SAVEA.MD, etc.) should be of the type 'MD-file'. It would seem that some windows applications change these file types (specially SAVEA,SAVEB,etc. to .dat-files), thus making the save files unreadable by WiRAssistant.

And two points more; If the file types are incorrect, the best way to fix the problem is to go to DOS-prompt and rename the files there with correct suffixes.
Additionally, it seems that Heikki made a slight typo when writing the web-addresses earlier. The second direct download path is actually
www.hut.fi/~ariihela/WiRAssistant02.zip

Cheers,
-Aku

Originally posted by Aku Riihelä:
So you've written the absolute directory path to the WiR directory field and nothing happens?
It might be a good idea to check that the save-files have the correct file type.

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Yes, I've written absolute directory path and just checked save-files, they are in order (recognized as correct files), but still nothing happens... Any hints what can be a problem?

Originally posted by boba:


Yes, I've written absolute directory path and just checked save-files, they are in order (recognized as correct files), but still nothing happens... Any hints what can be a problem?

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Well, quick remedies are used up. If you can, please e-mail the save-files to either me or Heikki, so that we can look them over and try to find out what is causing the problems.

Cheers,
-Aku