Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Command Ops: Battles From The Bulge takes the highly acclaimed Airborne Assault engine back to the West Front for the crucial engagements during the Ardennes Offensive. Test your command skills in the fiery crucible of Airborne Assault’s “pausable continuous time” uber-realistic game engine. It's up to you to develop the strategy, issue the orders, set the pace, and try to win the laurels of victory in the cold, shadowy Ardennes.
Command Ops: Highway to the Reich brings us to the setting of one of the most epic and controversial battles of World War II: Operation Market-Garden, covering every major engagement along Hell’s Highway, from the surprise capture of Joe’s Bridge by the Irish Guards a week before the offensive to the final battles on “The Island” south of Arnhem.

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Arjuna
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Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by Arjuna »

So how have you found the new patch? Is this good enough for a final patch?
Dave "Arjuna" O'Connor
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skarp
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by skarp »

I've been missing in action for a while. I'm gonna have a look now :)
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by skarp »

I'm sorry to report I still have my problem with units defaulting to face north on orders and the problem getting units to cross ferries. It's late here but I'll try and video the problems tomorrow if that might help.

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Deathtreader
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by Deathtreader »

ORIGINAL: Arjuna

So how have you found the new patch? Is this good enough for a final patch?

Hi,

Seems pretty good so far!
Haven't had any technical issues or noticed "aberrant" behaviour as of yet.

Is there a change log?

Rob.[:)]
So we're at war with the Russkies eh?? I suppose we really ought to invade or something. (Lonnnng pause while studying the map)
Hmmmm... big place ain't it??
- Sir Harry Flashman (1854)
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Magpius
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by Magpius »

I'm a little confused and wary, with recent hot fixes and undeleted dll's.
Does this patch install cleanly?
Is it comprehensive across BFTB, HTTR and COTA packs?
What is the ETA of the non-beta update, assuming this one gets the tick?
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Arjuna
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by Arjuna »

We worked out the cause of the dll issue. What is happening is that the MS installer is overwriting our version of the vcredist package with the older version. Why it chooses the older version I do not know. We have a number of options to address this and we are exploring which one we will opt for. At the moment it's really only a problem if you are on XP. and if you are the fix is to remove the dlls we mentioned in the other thread. Otherwise it should all be good.
 
As to the comprehensive patch with all the converted scenarios, well I am converting all the scenarios today and once I get the go ahead on this 276 build I will put out the final patch with all the converted data. But I am not doing so until I get enough feedback that this current build is OK.
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by Arjuna »

Rob,
 
As to a change log. The main fix was that we:
  • Fixed bug in GameTask which was setting bombard and fire tasks durations to 12 hours - oops!
  • Overhauled the installer - version number and dll issue
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by Arjuna »

ORIGINAL: skarp

I'm sorry to report I still have my problem with units defaulting to face north on orders
Is this in the Game or SM?
What type(s) of orders?
Are the units in question already at the objective or do they have to move there first?
When does the change in facing occur exactly?

and the problem getting units to cross ferries.
Please elaborate.

It's late here but I'll try and video the problems tomorrow if that might help.

That would really help.

Dave "Arjuna" O'Connor
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dazkaz15
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by dazkaz15 »

The facing north problem has been around ages now.
One of the more recent reports of it is here

tm.asp?m=3543526

I can go back months, and find more if I could be bothered.

I know Lieste has tried to sort it out before as well, so it must be one of those, that's hard to pinpoint what is causing it.

I know that my artillery end up facing north a lot.
I think this might be something to do with the open ended bombard box, that you see sometimes when placing a manual bombard order.
Also if you tick no rest, which you have to do after dark if setting a bombard order over one hour, when the bombard is over they lose their previous order, and revert to no order.
This has also been around for a while, and is not specific to the latest patch.

As for the latest patch, I get the impression that most people just want to move on now to the better interface that CO2 will provide.
There are still a few minor issues with this version.

I'm still not happy with the resilience of Platoon sized units.
I don't think the scaling is right compared to larger size units, probably because the retreats etc are based on a lesser % casualty rate, meaning that they can absorb proportionately more losses without, affecting the moral very much, which seems to make the last few men in a Platoon hang around for ages.

However I think it plays better than it ever has to date, so that's probably good enough for most [;)]
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by Phoenix100 »

I'm playing through Manhay. So far no probs noticed. Or nothing big. I'll get it done tomorrow and let you know, Dave. But looks good, so far. And I agree with Daz that it would be great to final it, get the Med pack out, move on to CO2 and the EF.
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by Phoenix100 »

Ok. Got a formation lock-up, I think. I've sent you the save, Dave.
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by Arjuna »

Good catch Peter. Thanks. [&o]

Earlier I had made some mods to handle cases where an advance guard is a long distance ahead of the hub because of an intervening Main Guard. This was the case in point here where the 1.2SS Pz Regt was the advance guard for the 2nd SS Pz HQ and had a very large 3.2SS Pz Regt as the main guard. In this case the offset between the advance guard and the hub was 22 move indexes. But the overall route was only 30 something indexes. Once the HQ passed its first phase line at index 2 it had another one at index 22. When you add the offset for the advance guard you get at index beyond the end of the route. In such cases it should default to using the end of the route when determining how many indexes it can still move. Alas there was another offset for the depth of the advanceGuard that was being applied first and causing the test to use the end of the route to be obviated. I have moved the adjustment for the depth below and it now works just fine.

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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by Arjuna »

daz,
 
I've taken a look at your save that you sent me on the 12 Feb and on the Day 4 save the II.19th starts defending. I gave it an attack order and it does not change the auto facing. Using the save Peter (phoenix) just sent me I gave an attack order with auto facing, saved it and reloaded it and the auto facing was still there. Do you recall exactly what the sequence was - ie when did you save? Was it from a paused game, was it just after issuing the order while paused?
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by Arjuna »

Using your D4 save I have run it a bit and then tried various combinations of issuing attack orders both with the game paused and running. I have made sure I use successive lines and Secure Crossing which appear to be the only options you have checked other than no rest. I have saves from the paused state and while running and restarted each but in all cases do not get the autofacing turned off. I am goin to need to repeat this to fix it. I need a set of saves that prove the autofacing was reset by the code.
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by loyalcitizen »

Posting this here, as the patch thread doesn't seem to be the right place for feedback.

If I manually try to SAVE or LOAD a game, it immediately crashes to desktop. Every time! Literally just hitting the SAVE (in-game) or LOAD GAME (from main menu) button gets the CTD.
Never had that happen with any previous patch.
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by dazkaz15 »

ORIGINAL: Arjuna

daz,

I've taken a look at your save that you sent me on the 12 Feb and on the Day 4 save the II.19th starts defending. I gave it an attack order and it does not change the auto facing. Using the save Peter (phoenix) just sent me I gave an attack order with auto facing, saved it and reloaded it and the auto facing was still there. Do you recall exactly what the sequence was - ie when did you save? Was it from a paused game, was it just after issuing the order while paused?
I don't have time to look into that example at the moment Dave but here is an example of a unit given a bombard order being set to face north after its order to bombard has expired.

The unit in question Lt IG Pl 8 Coy 295 Gren Regt, was attached to its organic HQ that had at D1 06:28, orders set to auto facing.
After the bombard both the now detached IG Pl, and its organic HQ were both set to face north.

Up until this incident I hadn't realised that the bombard order affects the HQ's facing as well.
So it may be that what I previously thought about it being a new save that was affecting the facing of the HQ's,it might have just been the Artillery setting the HQ's to north, as their bombards expired, but not noticing it until after a reload of a save.
I will look into it more after work.

I will stick the saves in Miguel's Dropbox

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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by Phoenix100 »

That double dutch sounds like music to my ears, Dave. Glad it's fixed.

I just ran a couple of my custom test scenarios. One pitching a variety of HC ACs against Panthers, the other pitching Panthers against halftracks. It all looked good to me. The Panthers made short work of the opposition. I ran them because I had seen, during the Manhay scenario, a company of Panthers confront what they thought was a couple of Stuarts in the dark, in a light urban setting, resulting in one of the Panthers being knocked out and the remaining 11 going into retreat!! This seemed wrong. But then the Stuarts turned out to be an Infantry company, so the loss of the Panther seemed reasonable, and it was dark and the Panthers had no infantry support, so maybe they were right to run.

As for the facing boxes being higgledy-piggledy, this has been the case for a long time in various ways, but it's definitely not a game stopper for me. The bombard box is sometimes a box, sometimes open sided, but you (Dave) have said previously, long ago, I think, that this doesn't affect how the bombard goes in. The facing you set, if you set it manually, is prone to change as you click other (subsequent) options, and you have to remember, thus, to set the facing last when picking options for attacks etc.

I think it's all looking good. There will be bugs in there, I'm sure, and I will let you know if I come across any more (as will others) and I will hope there's nothing that stops things horribly. I'm sure if anything truly awful occurs you can do a hot-fix, no? Otherwise, move on?
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by Arjuna »

ORIGINAL: loyalcitizen

Posting this here, as the patch thread doesn't seem to be the right place for feedback.

If I manually try to SAVE or LOAD a game, it immediately crashes to desktop. Every time! Literally just hitting the SAVE (in-game) or LOAD GAME (from main menu) button gets the CTD.
Never had that happen with any previous patch.
What OS are you running?
What version number appears in the bottom right of the screen?
Can you run any scenario?
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by dazkaz15 »

ORIGINAL: skarp

I'm sorry to report I still have my problem with getting units to cross ferries. It's late here but I'll try and video the problems tomorrow if that might help.


Have you tried setting the route to shortest to cross at a ferry skarp?

It takes an incredibly long time to ferry across a Coy on the boats, and the AI will almost always try to route the unit via a quicker way, unless you tell it to go via the shortest route, with a waypoint close to the crossing on both sides of the river.
Might also be a good idea to ensure bypass is not enabled to stop it trying to go via a different route, although Im not sure if this would have an effect in this circumstance.

If you have an engineer unit with a bridge, you can upgrade a ferry quite quickly to a minor road bridge, which helps a lot to move a Division over it.
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RE: Build 4.6.276 Feedback

Post by loyalcitizen »

ORIGINAL: Arjuna

ORIGINAL: loyalcitizen

Posting this here, as the patch thread doesn't seem to be the right place for feedback.

If I manually try to SAVE or LOAD a game, it immediately crashes to desktop. Every time! Literally just hitting the SAVE (in-game) or LOAD GAME (from main menu) button gets the CTD.
Never had that happen with any previous patch.
What OS are you running?
What version number appears in the bottom right of the screen?
Can you run any scenario?

Running Windows XP.
Version .276 That's what appears in the ABOUT section.
Yes, I can start and play any scenario. But if I try to SAVE or LOAD from within a game or the main screen, instant CTD. Like faster than I have ever seen a CTD. No Microsoft "send us info on this crash" pop-up or anything.
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