The latest public beta for World in Flames (v02.09.04.00) is now available in the Members Area
Please check it out and note any issues within the forum.
Change History:
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New Game/Setup
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- Fixed a newly created problem with starting a new solitaire game of Barbarossa.
- Fixed a problem with setting up units at sea. This problem was due to 3 lines of code for “Vichy French units not being permitted to stay at sea unless Vichy is hostile” being in the wrong place.
- Fixed a problem with setting up the Communist Chinese in the Missed the Bus scenario where the USSR units in the Production Pool were being moved back into the Force Pool.
- Added some checks to prevent the City Based Volunteer units from being placed in the Force Pool unless that optional rule is enabled.
- Added a new table to the Lending/Trade Agreements form to display which resources are fulfilling each trade agreement. However, I removed a new set of buttons for modifying the associated resources and destinations using the Lending form (a.k.a. Trade Agreements form). Those will be restored once the code for them is complete.
- Fixed a problem with determining how many US Entry markers are drawn/removed when more than 1 major power declares war on an enemy major, or when 1 major power declares war on 2 enemy major powers. There are certain combinations of DOW’s by major powers on enemy major powers when fewer US Entry Actions occur (e.g., when the Commonwealth and France both declare war on Germany at the start of Global War).
- Fixed a problem with the non-phasing computer zeroing out the action limits for all major powers for the phasing side at the start of a Global War game.
- Fixed a couple of problems with the USSR occupying the Baltic States.
- Added a check so the Pools form can no longer be used to call out reserves unless the current major power is at war with another major power.
- Fixed a non-fatal error when surrendering a minor country because no major power aligns it.
- Added the information on the die roll number for drawing US Entry markers when the number of markers drawn depends on a die roll. That is almost always true.
- Modified the ground strike and ground support effects of aligning a given minor country A, so it now checks if the aligning major power has surprised any countries (e.g., C) in the current impulse. If so, then A is added to the list of countries that have surprised the attacked minor C. For example, this comes up if Germany DOW’s Yugoslavia in the DOW Minors subphase and then aligns Rumania in the following DOW Align Minors subphase. Rumania now correctly surprises Yugoslavia in the ground strike and ground support phases.
- Fixed a problem with carrier air units capable of being bombers always being assigned as bombers in naval air combat. They can now be assigned as fighters.
- Fixed a problem with carrier air units flying as bombers in a naval air combat not being recognized as part of the air-to-air combat.
- Fixed a problem with carrier air units that can only fly as fighters in a naval air combat being destroyed when they try to return to their carriers. This was caused by the carrier air unit never being unloaded from the carrier at the start of the naval combat - so the program data indicated there was no room on the carrier for the fighter (it was already on the carrier).
- Modified the code for when the calculation of air-to-air combat odds is made so the odds are calculated for both sides’ die rolls during the defender’s fire sub-subphase. The attacker’s odds are set aside and used later when the attacker’s die roll is made. This modification means that changes to attacking fighters or bombers caused by the defender’s die roll no longer affect the odds for the second die roll.
- Made a change so determining which side is attacking/defending in air-to-air and antiaircraft combats is made at the start of the combat instead of dynamically as the combat proceeds. Later in the combat, one side might have had all its air units aborted/destroyed, so determining the major power ‘leader’ for a side isn’t possible. The previous code created a fatal error when one side decided to abort from an air-to-air combat when it had no air units remaining. This change fixes that problem.
- Added a check to avoid a possible non-fatal error in air-to-air combat when one side has no air units.
- Fixed a newly created problem with ending the last air-to-air combat. This problem probably only occurred when no air units remained on either side for the final air-to-air combat, and one of the air units had just been aborted
- Fixed a possible problem with air-to-air combat where the program would halt after one side aborted their units from the combat.
- Several corrections to air-to-air combat for NetPlay (listed below) also fixed the same problems in Solitaire and Head-to-head play.
- Moved the insert panel of the Air-to-air Combat form, which requires the player to acknowledge the message about the results of the latest die roll, 20 pixels to the left. It no longer gets hidden by the primary Air-to-air Combat form.
- Added a restriction for air units aborting from an air mission so they cannot return to base to a hex controlled by a major power with which: (1) they do not cooperate, and (2) they do not satisfy Foreign Troop Commitment restrictions.
- Fixed a problem with undoing return to base moves for air units. Previously they had been stuck in their target hex if their return-to-base move was undone. Now they can be selected a second time and returned to base.
- Fixed a problem with Undoing a carrier air unit flying as a bomber in a port attack so that it remains organized once the Undo is completed.
- Fixed a problem with carrier air units flying as bombers in a naval air combat mission returning to their carriers: they now return to their carrier (instead of being destroyed) and revert to a plane role of ‘undecided’. Note that if a carrier is damaged, its carrier air unit(s) cannot fly during naval air combat.
- Fixed another problem with carrier air units having fought a naval air combat not being able to return to their carriers. This also fixes a problem with carrier air units appearing to be in two places at once.
- Corrected a problem with returning carrier air units to carriers when there is only one carrier air unit returning to base and there is only one carrier on which it can land.
- Fixed a general problem with returning carrier air units to their carriers.
- Fixed a recently created problem with returning carrier air units to carriers after a naval air combat.
- Removed a diagnostic message about carrier air units landing on their carriers.
- Eliminated the spurious display of the Antiaircraft Fire Results form when surprise points are used to avoid combat.
- Fixed a problem with defensive anti-aircraft fire during port attacks sometimes halting the program.
- Fixed a problem with anti-aircraft fire by both sides against Ground Support air units causing the program to halt after the attacking side fired their AA unit.
- Modified the message about which units receive anti-aircraft fire so it displays the side (Axis or Allied) instead of a specific major power (since there can be air units from different major powers receiving the AA fire).
- Modified the target of lost bombers/bombing factors due to antiaircraft fire so the first bomber is automatically chosen as receiving the damage. Of course the player can choose a different bomber if he so desires. This change simply selects the first bomber when the form first appears.
- Fixed a problem with Vichy French air units not being able to fly air support for a naval combat unless a German air unit could also fly air support. Now the German player (or the Italian player if Italy controls Vichy France) gets to fly the Vichy France air units in support.
- Fixed a problem with returning Vichy France air units to base sometimes halting the game.
- Fixed a newly created problem with control of a hex not changing when a country retakes a hex in its home country.
- Fixed a newly created typo in Allowing Moves through Sweden that was causing a fatal error when Norway was NOT neutral.
- Fixed a problem with using a rail move to occupy Eastern Poland, when doing so forced a unit to relocate. This correction also allows for using a rail move to ‘occupy’ other areas of the map.
- Fixed a problem where Allied units moving into Eastern Poland after it was occupied by the USSR not having to meet Foreign Troop Commitment requirements for moving into the USSR.
- Added a text message for all players identifying each unit by name when Vichy French land units defect.
- Fixed a problem with resolving land combat using the 2D10 CRT where if both sides were able to use snow units and the defender declined, the attacker was not given the opportunity to use its snow units.
- Fixed a problem with land combat where if a defending unit were changed from Destroyed to No Effect, the number of units that needed to be destroyed was not being increased.
- Fixed a minor problem with having to select a defensive unit twice during Land Combat Resolution in order to get the Shattered and Destroy buttons to appear.
- Modified the code so only convoys belonging to the same source country (i.e., the original owning country) can be merged. For example, merging Commonwealth convoys with Danish convoys is no longer possible, even though the Commonwealth ‘owns’ the convoys that were originally Danish. This change is primarily for NetPlay where weird things happened sometimes when merging convoys from different source countries.
- Fixed a problem with merging all convoys.
- Fixed a hole in the code which was permitting naval units starting at sea to move and end their movement at sea. This had been possible by passing through a port and picking up cargo in the port.
- Added a check to prevent partisan units from being loaded onto air or naval transports (since they can never leave their home country).
- Fixed a newly created bug where the program didn’t advance from the Naval Movement phase to the Naval Combat phase. This problem was easy to work around by simply restoring the automatically saved start of the naval combat phase.
- Fixed a newly created problem with the transition from the Naval Movement phase to the Naval Combat phase where the program was immediately starting the first naval combat as if the player had selected it.
- Added some “just in case” code to the Naval Interception form, so it is removed from view once the decision to intercept (or not) is made.
- Fixed a problem with calculating the search number for intercepted naval units returning to base. If there were no other friendly units in the sea area, it had been set to -1 instead of zero, which caused the surprise points to be off by 1 for the intercepting side.
- Added a check so units that are aborting from a sea area are not included in calculating the search number for whether a section box is included in a combat. Previously an aborting carrier, carrying carrier air units, could improve the search capability of the units in a section box. Note that when playing with the optional rule for variable carrier air unit searches, a carrier air unit with a range of 7 would improve the search by +2 (instead of the normal +1).
- Added the die roll values to the informative message when a sea area search is unsuccessful.
- Added code so when a player is deciding to send naval air support, the program centers on the sea area where the combat is about to take place..
- Fixed a problem with Bottomed ships not always being bottomed.
- Made a small change in assigning the order in which the units in the naval abort queue are processed. This doesn’t change which units are aborted, only which ones are grouped together.
- Added some code for restoring saved games so if the save occurred in the middle of a naval combat (say after a round or two) and units have already entered the Naval Abort Queue, then the NextQueueNumber is set to be higher than the highest queue number of all the units in abort queue. Previously, whenever a saved game was restored, the NextQueueNumber was reinitialized to 1, which meant that units from both sides could end up having the same abort queue number. That would cause a fatal error later when trying to return the aborted units to base.
- Added a check for whether a unit is at sea before determining whether it is Staying At Sea. Obviously, if a unit is already on land, it is not “Staying At Sea”.
- Modified the code for centering the detailed map on the sea area selected for naval combat between the #2 section boxes, instead of the center of the sea area in general.
- Eliminated the same player being asked twice whether he wants to commit his subs.
- Fixed a non-fatal error in processing naval air combat with closing the air-to-air combat form after the combat is over because one side decided to abort from the sea area.
- Made several changes to the processing of naval interceptions.
- Fixed a newly created problem with intercepting naval units.
- Fixed a problem with the Naval Review Summary form which was limiting the number of Saved Displays to one. Now you can add more displays to the Display List in the lower right side of the form (you should keep the names shorter than the width of the panel since otherwise the full name is not visible).
- Fixed a problem with determining enemy zones of control between a major power and an enemy minor country when the major power is not at war with any major power (just the minor country). Previously, USSR units were able to trace supply through Bulgarian unit zones of control if the USSR was only at war with Bulgaria,
- Added some checks to prevent units that are out of supply from participating in air missions. This came up when a game was saved in the middle of an air mission phase, and recalculating supply when the game was restored correctly changed the supply status of some air units from in-supply to out-of-supply.
- Added a check for whether Norway is neutral to determining if Germany can trace supply through Sweden. This should shorten the time it takes to calculate supply substantially. Previously, the program would search the entire map looking for hexes in Norway that held German units. When Norway is neutral, there are never German units there, so tracing supply through Sweden isn’t possible. Therefore there is no need to search.
- Fixed a newly created bug in calculating supply that in some cases was increasing the time required by approximately times 9.
- Added a check to the initialization routine for production planning so saved oil points are only initialized to Save if they have neither a Default nor an Override setting.
- For Production Planning, cleared the Override settings if a path is found for a resource that does not use the Override settings. That only happens if using the Override settings fails to find a path. Similarly, cleared the Default settings if a path is found for a resource that does not use either of the Default or Override settings.
- Added a button to the Production Planning form for calling up the Trade Agreements form.
- Fixed a problem with USA to Japan resources sometimes not being delivered.
- Fixed a fatal error in the Use Oil form when using oil from cooperating major powers and an HQ had been used as a primary supply source by expending a Supply Unit.
- Moved the OK Done button on the Use Oil form farther away from the Reorganize All button, so the form is less likely to be closed by accident.
- Enabled divisions in the Destroyed Pool to be used to break down corps/army units. Previously units had to be in the Force Pool. But those in the Destroyed Pool are heading there at the beginning of the Production phase, so according to the rules as written (WIF FE), they should be available during the Break Down phase.
- Added code so when divisions from the Destroyed Pool are used to break down a corps/army, they are removed from the Destroyed Pool list.
- Fixed a problem with reforming divisional motorized SS units where the program was incorrectly displaying a non-SS unit as a possible corps to be reorganized, but then correctly forcing the corps unit to be an SS unit. Now the program only displays SS corps as possibilities.
- Fixed a problem with processing the Destroyed Pool when the optional rule Scrap Units is not part of the game.
- Fixed a problem with enforcing peace between Finland and the USSR where German peacekeepers were being forced to relocate to hexes in the Finnish Borderlands. This change also applies to Bessarabia when peace is enforced between Rumania and the USSR.
- Fixed a problem with displaying the Activity Limits for the Allied side after China has been completely conquered.
- Changed the disposition of governed areas (territories not part of a minor country or major power) which have previously been conquered, and whose original controlling major power is completely conquered. Previously, these would be converted to neutral minor countries if no major power had ‘influence’ in the governed area. Now the status of a previously conquered governed area is unchanged when its original controlling major power is completely conquered. The most common case for this is when Sardinia (originally owned by Italy) has previously been completely conquered by the US or Commonwealth and then Italy is completely conquered.
- Fixed a non-fatal error by removing some unnecessary code from processing a conquered territory.
- Fixed a problem with surrendering a major power (e.g., France) where the surrendered major power’s units incorrectly remained on the map in their home country. Note that units belonging to aligned minor countries are not removed from the map.
- Added another check so surrendering a major power only generates half the US Entry markers as conquering it.
- Fixed a problem where liberated minor countries remained at war with major powers on the same side as the liberating major power. For instance, prior to this code change, when the Commonwealth liberated a Vichy France minor country (e.g., Morocco), other Allied major powers would remain at war with the liberated minor country (Morocco). This mainly affected the use of the liberated minor country’s ports.
- Fixed a problem with relocating Axis units to Vichy France. This came up with the conquest of Libya forcing the relocation of an Italian Supply unit. Previously they would be required to move to Vichy held territory, but were not permitted to be placed in any of those hexes because Vichy was neutral. Now the unit is correctly forced to rebase to an Italian held hex.
- Fixed a logic error which permitted Vichy units to stay at sea when Vichy wasn’t Hostile. For most major powers, non-convoy units must return to base if the major power is neutral. For Vichy France, the rule is different: non-convoy units must return to base unless Vichy is Hostile to an Allied major power.
- Fixed two problems with Vichy units defecting during land combat. The first was that attacking Vichy units were not checking for defection. The second was that if more than one defending Vichy unit defected, only one was removed from the map and placed in the Free French force pool. Neither of these problems now occurs.
- Corrected several problems with the placement of forms when using multiple monitors. Previously, with the Main form on the left monitor, other forms (e.g., Player Interface) would be off-screen and require killing the program using the Windows Task Manager.
- Modified where on the screen many of the forms appear so that instead of them being precisely under the Main form, they now overlap the bottom of the Main form slightly (i.e., 20 pixels). This change is an attempt to solve problems that occur for some players where a form is completely hidden by the Detailed Map (which typically is aligned precisely with the bottom of the Main form). By having forms overlap the Main form, the top 20 pixels of the form should be visible above the Detailed Map and accessible by using the mouse to bring the full form into view.
- For Unlimited Breakdown, all new units are now set to NOT elite. Similarly, repaired saved games so when they are restored, all those units are non-elite.
- Added some code for restoring very old saved games where divisions were created using Unlimited Breakdown, and those divisions ended up in the Force Pool or Future Force Pool. They are now moved into the Removed Pool where they belong. These type of divisions which are on the map or in the Breakdown Pool are unaffected.
- Fixed a problem with older saved games where French Indo-China partisans were controlled by the USSR, They are now controlled by Nationalist China.
- Added code when restoring saved games to repair damaged games where if a naval unit capable of carrying other units is in a port and marked as carrying cargo, the cargo is unloaded. This does not apply to carriers.
- Modified the code for restoring saved games to fix a problem with units appearing both on land and aboard a transport. They now are unloaded from the transport and appear only in the land hex. The transport was also corrected so it is not displayed as carrying the cargo (which had been disembarked or invaded).
- Changed the code for restoring a saved game so the array Air Attack Hexes always exists, even if it is empty.
- Added some code so when a game is restored, any pilots in the Future Force Pool are moved into the Removed Pool (where they belong). This is merely a tidiness issue and should be inconsequential for game play.
- Changed the NextEntryNumber when a game is restored so the restored game always picks up the numbering consecutively, instead of starting from zero again. Again, this is merely a tidiness issue and should be inconsequential for game play.
- Added a check for if the US Entry Option “Reopen the Burma Road” has already been taken when deciding whether the US Entry Action “Close Burma Road” is available to the Japanese. Once the US has reopened the Burma Road via a US Entry Option, the Japanese cannot close it a second time using a US Entry Action. Instead they have to have a land unit exert a ZOC to prevent resources from traveling along the Burma Road. This change may only affect NetPlay games.
- Added a check to avoid a non-fatal error when trying to identify the capital of a territory that was converted to a minor country when its parent country was conquered.
- Added some checks to avoid a fatal error in the Select Units form for games with a damaged list of units in a hex.
- Added a couple of checks to avoid a non-fatal error when calling up Flyouts during the HQ Reorganization phase and the cursor is not over the Detailed Map.
- Corrected the US Entry Actions form for entry action number 48 to show the correct die rolls needed for moving US Entry markers. The text was slightly off too. Note that this was merely cosmetic. The US Entry die rolls/cost were correct when any of the number 48 entry actions were taken.
- Made a cosmetic change to the Relationships form so clicking on the column for the USSR no longer eliminates China from the display.
- Removed the currently displayed Choose Action form prior to displaying it for the newly chosen major power - when switching major powers during the Choose Action phase via the major power flags on the Main form.
- Modified the message when a country surrenders to include whether the surrendered country is completely conquered or not.
- Added informative text to the popup Unit Menu which shows the unit’s controlling major power. Most of the time this is obvious but in the case of Chinese partisan units in French Indo-China, their controlling major power is Nationalist China, not Communist China. That is, the Nationalist Chinese move those units, not the USSR. Chinese partisan units in China itself are Communist Chinese, hence their controlling major power is the USSR. The popup Unit Menu helps make this clear for each unit.
- Modified the text in the Main form display of the naval combat subphases so they are less likely to be shown using a smaller than usual font size.
- Corrected the placement/alignment of a message panel on the Main form.
- Reset the color settings for the game that had gotten modified in a Hot Patch..
- Reduced the width of the Selectable Units form (it had been increased by accident somewhere along the way).
Happy Gaming!
