Strategic Command v1.16 Beta Update Available

[Hubert Cater]

Now that the Strategic Command WWII - Word at War game has been successfully released, we've been quietly working to bring Strategic Command WWII - War in Europe up to speed.

While not an official release just yet, the following is early access to a Beta version that will update the game to v1.16 and include all the latest changes incorporated with World at War.

It is a zip package only, not an installer, and once downloaded and decompressed, the contents of the package simply need to be copied and then pasted overtop of your existing Matrix v1.15 War in Europe game.

NOTE: Do not apply this Beta package if you are currently playing PBEM++ games as it will not be compatible. This is for single player or hotseat players only.
WARNING: Previously saved games under v1.15 will also not be compatible. The application of this package creates a fresh start.


To download the package please use this link here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/irab3s8xdeepn ... A.zip?dl=0


Full list of changes:

v1.16

GAME ENGINE CHANGES/FIXES
- fixed a bug that allowed naval units to enter sea ice hexes.
- fixed a unit movement error that allowed units to move a second time under a rare combination of circumstances.
- fixed an error where an artillery unit with no shells could attack under fog of war during a surprise encounter.
- fixed AI Strategic Bomber and Rocket attacks to have a higher priority on available resource targets.
- fixed a convoy protection message error that output the same name for the recepient and sender countries.
- fixed a unit display error that would show enemy unit experience under FoW when mouse hovering over an enemy unit.
- fixed an upgrade error that allowed some instances of upgrades in non cooperative hexes.
- fixed a reinforcement error that allowed some instances of reinforcement in non cooperative hexes.
- fixed a mouse hover delay error after conducting combat in game.
- fixed a Major_01 custom bitmaps retrieval error for mods or other custom campaigns.
- fixed a Diplomacy screen text display error when the number of friendly majors investing exceeds 6 majors.
- fixed a rare CTD bug in the Convoy Map screen that would happen if there should be a convoy listed for a country completely knocked out of and removed from the war.
- fixed some AI transport handling that incorrectly added units to transport plans beyond the scripted size.
- fixed a LOOP event issue that caused the scripted loop positions to change locations.
- fixed a PBEM++ Lobby error where if there were no entries in the Join list and you pressed the Enter key, it would cause a CTD.
- fixed a TERRITORY event error that could lead to the creation of more than one Capital for a new country.
- fixed a mouse hover resource MPP display error that did not show MPP values for Fortresses if they were assigned a value.
- fixed a Reports screen error that did not count Major Cities and Major Capitals when mouse hovering over the bar chart for Cities.
- fixed an error that did not take into account an enemy crossing action point penalty value for Major Rivers.
- fixed an error that did not take into account general action point penalties for River terrains.
- fixed a Diplomacy screen error where friendly majors not yet at 100% were not showing in the list.
- fixed a Diplomacy screen error that did not list fully mobilized Minor countries that are not yet at war with the currently selected Major.
- fixed a National Morale error that saw large decreases of National Morale during Strategic Bombing attacks.
- fixed an HQ attachment error that allowed you to attach/detach units that had attacked but not yet moved.
- fixed a hidden unit error that had Subs attacking other Subs when an AI Sub was surprised by an enemy Sub.
- fixed an issue where some DECISION TYPE=3 events were not firing on AI turns.
- fixed an issue where Amphibious Transports could remain at sea and attack adjacent land units over subsequent turns, now they can only attack once without the ability to attack again on a new turn.
- fixed an issue where Special Forces could not load into an Amphibious Transport in an available coastal hex if it was located next to an adjacent Port that was full of naval units.
- fixed an error that allowed Paratroops units to air drop into bad weather hexes.
- fixed an error that allowed UNIT event Garrison units to arrive with strengths > 5.
- fixed a position check error that led to some unwanted POPUP events triggering when they shouldn't have.
- fixed a bug where an enemy naval unit trapped in a friendly port, after hex ownership change, could not be attacked.
- fixed a bug where Coastal Guns could not fully spot adjacent enemy naval units under FoW.
- fixed an error relating to declaring war on all available nations and then attempting to launch the Diplomacy screen which led to a CTD.
- fixed a 3D model unit sprite error for some AI units coming off of the production queue.
- fixed an issue where a Sub would dive and disappear from view under FoW despite ending its dive next to another eligible attacking unit.
- fixed an issue where naval units that took refuge along neutral major country coastlines could not be attacked.
- fixed an AI reorganizational issue that led to it placing air units adjacent enemy borders when it was at 100% but not mobilized.
- fixed a Carrier move and strike range error that did not allow Carriers to recon once they moved their maximum AP and had no visible targets in range.
- fixed an escort error that allowed fighters from bad weather tiles to escort.
- fixed a unit desertions/surrender error for units with supply < 5 that had them incorrectly re-appear on the purchase list at a discounted price.
- fixed a combat error that did not list destroyed units that were in good supply for possible repurchase at a discounted price.
- fixed several AI Carrier combat issues as Light Carriers were never attacking and Carriers were avoiding enemy naval units in port.
- fixed reinforce tool error that did not allow you to elite reinforce the aircraft portion of a Carrier.
- fixed a hide/show unit error that kept units hidden when you elected to end a turn.
- fixed a bomber flying over neutral territory error.
- fixed a bug that did not turn fog of war off for when a game over state was achieved in PBEM++.
- zero supply units, HQs excluded, automatically lose 1 strength point per turn if and only if they are at least one hex beyond traceable supply.
- automatic interception will now select fighters with an optimal combination of high readiness and advanced aircraft research level.
- information tips added to Diplomacy screen to help further indicate the diplomatic status of the majors listed at the top of the country list.
- upper left country flag selection in the game screen will now default to the first non AI controlled friendly major country ID on your side when playing an AI game.
- selecting a major in the upper left country flag selection area of the game screen will now determine the first major country ID selected when navigating the various interface screens.
- AI will no longer disproportionately focus on Coastal Guns with its navy, and will try and avoid Kamikaze attacks on enemy subs since they are likely to dive.
- POPUPs specific to AI controlled Majors on your side will no longer appear during your turn.
- FoW will no longer be recalculated before a friendly Major is controlled by the AI on your turn.
- hidden resources on the map will no longer appear in any reports screens and/or totals.
- reclaiming a diplomatic chit will now warn you before finalizing the action.
- NATO sprites will now also mirror their facings as needed, similar to 3D units, which will be useful in some mods.
- PBEM++ in game messages to opponents now increased to 130 characters from 65.
- PBEM++ games will seamlessly work if you switch from one computer to another between turns.
- majors that reach 100% will now still appear in the Diplomacy screen list enabling declarations of war against them, but diplomacy will still be inapplicable as they've reached 100%.
- abandoned Ports adjacent an enemy City/Town will now switch to enemy control.
- clicking on a location in the Convoy Map will now have the game jump to this location.
- implemented support for UNICODE (UTF-8 BOM).
- re-typed internal data types to use less memory bits wherever applicable.
- increased the number of MAJORS from 8 to 10.
- supply rule changes:
- subs can no longer dive at 0 supply.
- all raiders can no longer raid at 0 supply.
- defending units at 0 supply will receive 50% more damage from a successful attack against them.
- fighters and carriers cannot intercept/escort when at 0 supply.
- maximum reinforcement points is now 5 strength points per turn for all naval units except Motor Torpedo Boats.
- naval units positioned top of a small island sea enemy hex will no longer be fully revealed under FoW.
- minor nation Capitals, Fortresses with 3 or more adjacent enemy units will now have their supply reduced by one strength point per turn.
- neutral majors can no longer load units onto Amphibious Transports.
- research and intelligence breakthroughs have been amended to simply increase the development advance percentage by a random 10-20% rather than a full development breakthrough as was implemented in previous games.
- defending subs at zero supply, or defending land units defending from ground attack at zero supply, will now have their morale fully recalculated after any defending strength losses are applied.
- research progression report popup alerts now display the percentage advance in the popup.
- research breakthrough advancements doubled from 5-10% to 10-20%.
- operational movement cost for air units is now double that of land units.
- zoomed map that shows the entire map will now recognize if the 'hide' unit option is enabled and only show unit activation symbols if units are not selected to be hidden.
- scrolling of map when mouse cursor is along map edges will no longer occur if a player has left clicked the map to drag the map instead.
- computer income bonus (MPP %) has been changed to 5% increments from 10%.
- Special Forces units, after amphibiously unloading, now maintain supply for up to 5 turns with a drop of 2 supply points per turn.
- Free French units can now be attached to British HQs.
- Subs will now have a 25% chance of receiving at least a single strength point loss when diving from attack.
- Ports no longer provide supply to land units if there is an enemy land unit adjacent to the port.
- improved AI HQ landings which now better attempt to consider adjacent enemy units before landing.
- improved AI Amphibious landings in general.

EDITOR CHANGES
- forced march and naval cruise range multipliers are now editable.
- max strength for resources amended to 15 from 20.
- dramatically improved script compilation speeds
- new View button to help with editing and viewing POPUPs and DECISIONs to see how they will appear in game
- more powerful display options for POPUP and DECISION events, see header notes at the top of these files for more details.
- POPUP events now have a #MAP_POSITION field that if specified will center the map on this position before the popup image appears.
- added a #NAVAL_CRUISE= flag for AI TRANSPORT and FLEET events.
- fixed a v1.15 -> v1.16 conversion error that did not properly convert the turn/economic data from modded campaigns when using the CampaignConversionTool.exe

CAMPAIGNS
- Successful diplomacy against Majors will now move them only 4-8% towards your side, and the cost of a chit has consequently been reduced from 175 to 150 MPPs.
- Successful diplomacy against Minors can move the targeted country 4-24% towards your side.
- Tanks De-Moralization value increased to 35% and Heavy Tanks' to 50%.
- Tactical Bombers' De-Moralization value increased to 30%, and their attack values reduced from 2.5 to 1.5 against Soft and Hard targets.
- Medium Bombers' De-Moralization value increased to 50%, and their attack values reduced from 1.5 to 0.5 against all land targets.
- Strategic Bombers' De-Moralization value increased to 15% and their Fighter Defense value decreased from 1 to 0.
- Chance of all types of Transport retreating increased to 75%, with the potential retreat range for Transports and Amphibious Transports (Long Range) increased from 2 to 3 hexes.
- Subs’ Hidden Attacker Readiness Bonus reduced from 25% to zero.
- Decreased land units’ Operational Costs from 15 to 10%; air units from 30 to 20%.
- Division; Corps; Paratroops; Cavalry Division; Cavalry Corps moved to be second line units when assessing Zone of Control rules.
- Shock Army’s upgrades for Infantry Weapons will now improve their Light Armor and Tank Defense by 1.5 per level rather than 1 per level.
- Aircraft occupying Marsh or Mountain now benefit less from the terrain’s defensive bonus if they are attacked by infantry or armoured units (room).
- The cost of Mechanized units has been increased from 200 to 250 MPPs (Pocus).
- Cost of Coastal Guns doubled from 100 to 200 MPPs so as to increase their repair costs.
- The cost of Motor Torpedo Boats reduced from 100 to 75 MPPs (Mithrilotter).
- The cost of the UK’s Fighters has been reduced from 250 to 225 MPPs.
- O.S.S. and Norwegian Batteries’ Strength scripts corrected (dhucul2011).
- O.S.S. Strength scripts’ effects increased to bring them in line with WorldAtWar.
- Trigger date for Mobilization_2 scripts Sealion (Turkey?Axis); Axis Advance To Sevastopol (Turkey?Axis) and Axis Conquer Egypt (Turkey?Axis) amended so they can fire from 1st September 1939 (Taxman66).
- Italy’s National Morale will now fall by 5,000 points if Germany surrenders, providing Italy is still on the Axis side.
- If the UK moves its capital to Canada then Halifax Town and Port no longer switch ownership to the UK, instead Yarmouth does.
- Removed the mention of Vichy from the Unit script for the deployment of the Lorraine Battleship (Taxman66).
- National Morale script boosting Soviet morale when France is liberated no longer requires Moscow to be in Allied hands when it fires, but it does now require Paris to be in Allied hands (Numdydar).
- The wording of the Soviet National Morale boosts when Allied forces are in France and Italy amended, so they will also feel right when these forces haven’t landed but have instead marched into France or Italy from elsewhere (Xwormwood).
- Strategy Guides updated to reflect DE 603 where Germany can entice Franco to enter the war requires Spain to have a pro-Axis leaning of 60% to fire.
- All air units deployed via DE 301 now arrive with full research and the 1939 and 1940 Strategy Guides have been updated to reflect that (Taxman66).
- Research progression to levels 4 and 5 is now at an average of 4% per turn.

1939 Campaign
- France’s Tourville Heavy Cruiser now deploys from the Production Queue on the 1st March 1940.
- The time delay between the UK ordering Operation Fork and it being carried out has been removed.
- improved AI handling of a post Sealion situation.

1939-41 Campaigns
- #BELLIGERENCE_CONDITION= corrected in the Belligerence script AXIS AI: Germany Declares War On The USA (sPzAbt653).
- The cost of DE 627 for Germany to deploy Coastal Guns corrected so that it matches the Decision text (sschnar1).
- Strategy Guides updated to reflect that DE 113 fires 1st September 1941 rather than on the 1st December 1940.

1941-1944 Campaigns
- When France is liberated it will now have Mobility and Anti-Aircraft Defense level 1 (Mithrilotter).

[Hubert Cater]

The Beta package also includes a Campaign Conversion Tool found in the Extras subfolder. There is a PDF included in the folder that will guide you through the process of bringing any War in Europe custom mods up to the new v1.16 codebase standard.

Enjoy!
Hubert

[Hubert Cater]

I've also converted the Community Pack files to the latest v1.16 codebase standard and these also include updated Fall Weiss and Advanced Third Reich mods from the original mod authors. Several errors were also fixed in the Calm Before the Storm mod as well.

Note, these campaigns will only work after applying the v1.16 Beta patch above

These campaigns must be extracted, then copied and pasted to your Strategic Command WWII - War in Europe USER folder, typically found here:

C:\Users\<username>\Documents\My Games\Strategic Command WWII - War In Europe\Campaigns

Download link to the community pack updated mods:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tayp7regd99pp ... k.zip?dl=0

[OxfordGuy3]

Is it possible to use the beta with the Steam version of the game?

[gamer78]

I copy&paste files to my steam install. Although shows as 1.16 in game seems like different exe. Logging to PBEM++ says invalid serial.

[Hubert Cater]

ORIGINAL: OxfordGuy3

Is it possible to use the beta with the Steam version of the game?

It might be but we cannot guarantee it as Steam does its own file verifications and while it might temporarily work, it might get 'corrected' by Steam and put back to v1.15 at some point.

[Hubert Cater]

ORIGINAL: gamer78

I copy&paste files to my steam install. Although shows as 1.16 in game seems like different exe. Logging to PBEM++ says invalid serial.

As mentioned above at the top, this is unfortunately not for those that play PBEM++ games, but only for single player or Hotseat games.

[pkpowers]

I'm having trouble starting after copy and paste of new 1.16 beta ; I get the error "cant find interface/refresh buttons png."


any help would be great ; thanks

[Hubert Cater]

Sounds like not all files were copied over. When you decompress the package, there will be EXEs as well as other files and folders such as Interface and so on. Please ensure all of these files are copied over and overwrite the existing files.

Hope this helps,
Hubert

[LLv34Mika]

- subs can no longer dive at 0 supply.

Hubert, THAT is what I call a wonderful Christmas!

JOY TO THE WORLD!
Thank you and best regards to the whole team... great work. There are many other very nice changes that make sense but the one above is my favourite. I thank you so much!!!

Gonna buy the other version too. I want those great guys to keep their jobs

[Hubert Cater]

Great to hear and thanks for your support!

[MVokt]

I am in the process of updating a mod I've been working on, to 1.16. Two things got me stuck:

1. Now tht tbere are mre slots available, I want to add Vichy France as a Major power but when doing so weird things happen so something is not working well.

2. Belgium and Netherlands forces got supply 0, on the first Germany Dow turn, thus becoming excessive easy preys.

[Hubert Cater]

1. Can you be more specific?

2. If Belgium and the Netherlands only have their units appear on the map after a DoW, then this is the expected behaviour and hasn't changed since before War in Europe was even released. The reason for this is to help simulate some level of unpreparedness for a surprise DoW on these minor countries and to help with the initial attack results. Any survivors after that gain their regular supply and combat essentially normalizes after that.

[Hubert Cater]

There were a few issues found with the initial package, nothing significant but fixed nonetheless. Below are the changes and the original posts and links above have been updated with updated packages.

- fixed a Major_01 custom bitmaps retrieval error for mods or other custom campaigns.
- fixed a v1.15 -> v1.16 conversion error that did not properly convert the turn/economic data from modded campaigns when using the CampaignConversionTool.exe

[Hubert Cater]

Community Pack mods corrected now as well with the proper turn/economic data and download link above has been updated too.

[MVokt]

ORIGINAL: Hubert Cater

1. Can you be more specific?

2. If Belgium and the Netherlands only have their units appear on the map after a DoW, then this is the expected behaviour and hasn't changed since before War in Europe was even released. The reason for this is to help simulate some level of unpreparedness for a surprise DoW on these minor countries and to help with the initial attack results. Any survivors after that gain their regular supply and combat essentially normalizes after that.

I want both Vichy France and Vichy Algeria as major powers. I put them aligned with Axis in the corresponding list (just below Germany and Italy) so when France surrenders, both are major powers, slightly aligned with Axis but not belligerent. But when doing this, and I hotseat test a game, instead, Vichy Algeria becomes Allied and activated.

[Hubert Cater]

If I am understanding correctly it sounds like there is a script somewhere setting Vichy Algeria as Allied once France surrenders, maybe a Mobilization event?

[OxfordGuy3]

The changes to increase the number of majors from 8 to 10 is causing some display issues with Spires Hi-Res counters mod, because this assumes that Germany's bitmaps are in Major_07 and Italy's in Major_08, whereas I think Germany's are now in either Major_08 or Major_10 (they look the same to me) and Italy's are now in Major_09.

Hubert - would you be able to list which Major_XX bitmap folder should be associated with which country in 1.16? Thanks!

[sPzAbt653]

At left is WiE, at right is WaW. In both cases the number to the left of each country is its' Bitmap Folder, EXCEPT as seen in the red box [which is for WiE ONLY]. That is, #6 Germany uses Bitmap Folder 7 and #7 Italy uses Bitmap Folder 8 [for WiE].

[mroyer]

I tried "installing" v1.16beta today and am getting this issue (see figure) when I click on "Single Player" or "Hotseat".

I simply downloaded the 1.16 zip and unpacked it's contents directly into my v1.15 folder.
On the plus side, I had saved a backup copy of the v1.15 and was simply able to rename that folder back to it's original and everything works again (at v1.15 version).

(I did this twice with same effect.)

Thoughts? Something obvious I missed?
Thanks,
-Mark R.