[Tool] Command Scenario Browser - CMANO Scen View

[Lunex]

Hi Command Fans

Some time ago I made myself a tool to help me find the right scenario I want to play under the many many scenarios available.
I found the scenario select screen a bit lacking since I can only sort but not filter or combine some criteria.
Say I want to play a less complex scenario in a definded timeframe - thats difficult to find.

So I made this tool:



The tool parses the available scenario files on your computer and gives you access to them via powerful filter window.
As of now you can enter notes to scenarios, mark them as played and save your finishing scores.

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Please note the following:

As command offers no starting parameters (that i know of) it's sadly not possible to start the scenario directly from the tool.
You can find a nice scenario via the tool but in the end you have to start CMANO and choose the desired scenario there.

Depending on Browser and operating system there may be multiple warnings when downloading and starting CMANO Scen View as
this an uncommon download (microsoft smartscreen) & I cant afford a developer certificate to sign the executable :/

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You can download CMANO Scen View here:

https://command.lunex.net/


I'm really looking foreward to feedback, both positive and negative

Best regards
Lunex

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Code: Select all

 Version 1.0.6.0 (01.03.21) Changelog:
 +Fixed support for Workshop Scenarios in new Command: Modern Operations
 
 
 Version 1.0.5.0 (04.09.20) Changelog:
 +Support for Steam Workshop Scenarios
 
 
 Version 1.0.4.0 (22.04.20) Changelog:
 
 +Complexity examples on slider, source Mark Gelis
 +You can now filter scenarios that you have already played (and added a score)
 *You can now enter negative outcome scores
 *Made scenariofolder list a little bit higher 
 *Fixed minor bug with reset filter button
 
 
 Version 1.0.3.0 (21.06.18) Changelog:
 
 +You can now enter notes & scores for each scenario which will be saved along the scenario file
 *Folder filter now shows scenario count for each folder
 *Performance improvements
 *Improved scenario detail screen
 *overall usability improvements
 
 
 Version 1.0.2.0 (22.03.17) Changelog:
 
 *Further improved choosing of scenario folder
 *Scenario name column is now filename instead of scenario title to help sorting campaigns, thx Magi, Gunner98
 *Reworked sorting, especially concerning fields with text & numbers mixed, thx Gunner98
 *Reworked folder filter: you now have checkboxes too choose which folders to filter, thx Gunner98
 +Added grouping by scenario folder in main view (instead of folder column)
 +Added new icons
 +ESC Key now closes detail window
 -Removed start Command.exe menu as it was unreliable for different installations
 
 
 Version 1.0.1.0 (14.03.17) Changelog:
 
 +Load extra HTML description from Northern Inferno scenarios (Side effect HTML Images should be displayed in all descriptions now, too) thx AlGrant
 +Added fulltext filter on description (e.g. try searching description for 'france') thx bitter_cynical_angry from reddit
 +Links in HTML description now open in external webbrowser, not description window
 +Added option to start command.exe direct from tool (Options Button)
 +Added option to show scenario file size (Options menu) thx kevinkin
 +Added hint if community scenario pack is not installed
 +Added hint if database images are not installed
 *Fixed error displaying autosaves as Scenarios
 *Fixed bug with filter on scenario name
 *Improved scenario choosing, especially on slow disks
 *Fixed bug with Autoupdate which could display an error on first start

[Bert Blitzkrieg]

The tool "looks" into the folders with the descriptions of the various scenario's?

[Lunex]

yes, it reads all of your installed scenarios and displays them with the option to filter.
(technically, there’s a .scen file for every scenario which holds title, description, complexity, difficulty, setting, date)

[blackcloud6]

This is nice. Thank you very much.

[stilesw]

Excellent tool! Thank you very much for providing it.

-Wayne Stiles

[kevinkins]

Agree. Thank you. I often sort scenarios by the file size to get a sense of the number of units I will need to handle. Not sure if there is a direct relationship but it helps me to filter scenarios in those terms. So perhaps consider adding a file size column or filter. Not sure if others do the same.

Nice work.

Kevin

[AlGrant]

Nice - thanks for sharing.

Useful to be able to have a quick look through the scenario descriptions without actually having to start CMANO.
Noticed that scenarios that draw their descriptions from external files (like those in Northern Inferno) only show
'[LOADDOC]files\11\Description.html[/LOADDOC]' but as there is no info in the .scen file I fully understand why.

A Thought!
Is there any way there could be an option to create a .txt log file with the name of the scenario, perhaps stored in the /Lunex install Dir rather than in the CMANO dir structure.

That way players could manually enter notes to help keep a track on when the last time they tried that scenario, or they could manually copy & paste the scenario scores/loss/expenditures from a scenario into this log file.

Something similar to this:

Where clicking the icon would open up the log file and allow the player to edit/save any info.


Just an idea, not sure if it's even doable but I think it might be quite useful if it was.

Thanks again ....
Al

[Lunex]

Thanks for the feedback already!
I'm taking notes of the ideas & suggestions for upcoming updates

[PaulWRoberts]

What a useful tool! Thank you for the work and for making it available.

[Kaldadarnes]

Looks excellent! thanks for your work on this.

[&o]

[Lunex]

Thank you all for your feedback, it’s very welcome and motivating

I've just uploaded a new version, the app should auto update the next start.
I've implemented some suggestions, see the changelog in the first post.

AlGrant suggested some kind of journal function, an option to store notes for a scenario. What do you think, are any others interested in this feature?

best regards

Lunex

[Galahad78]

Very nice tool! I will definitely use it

[magi]

this is darn good... for a considerable time i have felt the scenario listing was getting chaotic....

a couple things i would comment on..... the campaign scenarios seem to loose their order... and i would like to see a field with the authors name.... that is a big filter i would use for sure.....

but you have done good.... thank you....

[Lunex]

Hi Magi,

Thanks you. Regarding your questions:

the campaign scenarios seem to lose their order...

First ordering is just as the files are read when parsing. you can always sort by clicking on a list header afterwards.
Scenario sorting seems to depend on filenames: "1. Opening Moves 07 Aug 1975.scen 2. Goblin on the Doorstep 14 Aug 1975 .scen".
CMANO Scen View just shows the Scenario name which doesn't contain the leading digit, so sorting in "scenario order" is not possible at the moment.
As this just affects the 15 NI scenarios I'm not sure if I should change (file)name ordering for all scenarios...

and I would like to see a field with the authors name.... that is a big filter i would use for sure.....

As the authors name is just free text in the scenario description you're best off with the description filter.
For example take Mark Gellis, who made a ton of community scenarios: if you enter "Gellis" in the description filter you get just his scenarios... 97(!)

Best regards,

Lunex

[magi]

ORIGINAL: Lunex

Hi Magi,

Thanks you. Regarding your questions:

the campaign scenarios seem to lose their order...

First ordering is just as the files are read when parsing. you can always sort by clicking on a list header afterwards.
Scenario sorting seems to depend on filenames: "1. Opening Moves 07 Aug 1975.scen 2. Goblin on the Doorstep 14 Aug 1975 .scen".
CMANO Scen View just shows the Scenario name which doesn't contain the leading digit, so sorting in "scenario order" is not possible at the moment.
As this just affects the 15 NI scenarios I'm not sure if I should change (file)name ordering for all scenarios...

and I would like to see a field with the authors name.... that is a big filter i would use for sure.....

As the authors name is just free text in the scenario description you're best off with the description filter.
For example take Mark Gellis, who made a ton of community scenarios: if you enter "Gellis" in the description filter you get just his scenarios... 97(!)

Best regards,

Lunex

thank you for responding..... thats a great tip.... as the benefit of filtering the authors name is.... i can filter out scenario designers that i find under whelming and and select designers that i have a great appreciation for....

i have fiddled with your app an find it very useful.... especially for new folks its a real service... everybody should use this... thanks again...

whata guy.....

[Gunner98]

Lunex

An excellent tool - thank you very much.

I have a couple queries from a scenario designer point of view you may be able to help with:

- How should I adjust my naming conventions to ensure scenarios appear in order both within the ScenView tool and in the normal Load screen view? I need to go through and update many of them at some point so I don't mind configuring the naming differently. For instance in the clip below is the Scenario load screen:

[Gunner98]

While in this screen is the default view from the ScenView tool.


Also one other question. I have literally hundreds of version saves and false start scenarios - is there a way of blocking certain sub folders? In this way I could keep these files accessible in game but they would not clutter up the ScenView listing. - very much a 'Nice to have' and not a big issue.

Thanks again - this is a great help to sort out the hundreds of scenarios available.

B

[Lunex]

Hi Gunner98,

How should I adjust my naming conventions to ensure scenarios appear in order both within the ScenView tool and in the normal Load screen view?(...)

I think there are three different underlying problems here:

1. in the Start screen Scen View displays no sorting, just the order the files were found on the hard disk. While you could change this by clicking on the header I think the best solution here is just to open the app with Scenario title sorting by default. I will change that with the next update.

2. As I understand Command sorts using the FILEname but displays the SCENARIOname, see magis post above. I will try to recreate this in Scen View, so Scenario Designers can ensure display of many scenarios next to each other even with different SCENARIOnames.

3. It seems there is some very old computer oddity in my sorting mechanism, which leads to a sorting in which 10 is seen smaller then 7 because 1 has a smaller character code then 7. I will look into this and fix it.


Regarding the display of save files I still have to think about a solution. As far as I know you can choose to save as *.save or *.scen file. I'm looking into a way maybe to distinguish the files regardless their extension.


Thanks for your post; such bugs are incredibly difficult to track if no one hints the developer to them

Best regards,

Lunex

[kevinkins]

Lunex, you probably know this, but just in case ... I think most players reserve *.save for in progress games and *.scen for the scenario file where the clock has not started. We have to be careful not to save and replace an in progress game on top of the base *.scen. I have done that by mistake a few times. "Save as" helps me stop and think.

Kevin

[Lunex]

Hi,

I've just uploaded a new version Changelog is on the bottom of the first post.

I have addressed a few issues and suggestions you guys brought up, so thanks for that.

@Kevinkin, I didn't now, thanks. I've looked into the files, sadly in content they are identical.
So besides the extension, there is no way for me to distinguish if the file is a save or a scenario :/
I hope the new folder filter helps - as long as you keep your saves in a exta folder.


best regards,

Lunex