v1.24.01 Beta - Hotfix #3 - 3/21/2022

[pzgndr]

Attached is v1.24.01 Beta for playtesting. Release notes since the last official update v1.23.08:

Empires in Arms the Napoleonic Wars - 1.24.01
=============================================
- 0000112: [UI Enhancement] No method of tracking or changing what has been purchased in the economic phase – closed (warning prompt added that builds cannot be changed once made).
- 0000167: [AI Enhancement] Foolish Spanish AI – closed.
- 0000578: [Game Enhancement] Pay for Supply button - closed.
- 0000649: [AI Enhancement] AI leader choice is sometimes quite suboptimal – resolved (best leader now assessed with all four ratings).
- 0000650: [AI Enhancement] Turkish AI arguably places/keeps feudals too much – resolved.
- 0000656: [AI Bug] AI has strange priorities for stacks – closed.
- 0000659: [AI Enhancement] GB AI: 'Dead Frenchmen' bounty? - closed.
- 0000815: [Game Enhancement] Unable to create new cavalry corps or heavy fleet in game editor – resolved.
- 0000822: [AI Enhancement] AI Operations with Allies – resolved.
- 0000822: [AI Enhancement] AI Cossacks and Guerrillas – resolved (exempted from regular AI battle assignments).
- PBEM human player sometimes switches to AI following combat - resolved (additional function added to verify player types at end of PBEM land move and land combat phases).
- AI sometimes DOWs minors with insufficient factors in range (e.g., Turkey DOWing Egypt) - resolved.
- Program sometimes retreats units to capital under siege - resolved.
- Miscellaneous land and naval AI adjustments - resolved.
- AI naval reinforcement bug for ships not ready and ships not owned being added to fleets - resolved.
- Show highlighted areas for possible naval unloads - resolved.
- Game incorrectly allows friendly controlled non-national ships to be added to friendly fleet - resolved.
- Auto-Forage incorrectly foraging besieging units - resolved.
- Unit-to-Unit transfer graphics for ships not working - resolved.

Empires in Arms the Napoleonic Wars - 1.24.00
=============================================
- 0000530: [Game Enhancement] Computer not choosing the optimal path when moving multiple areas – closed. [NOTE: Manual path selection by player is still most efficient for considering movement costs and forage values, rather than shortest path.]
- 0000531: [Game Enhancement] Cannot remove a depot with a depot garrison on it - resolved, player may now opt to disband garrison.
- 0000855: [Game Bug] Scenario Editor Later Campaign Issues – resolved (unit availability dates do not change when start date is changed).
- 0000862: [Game Bug] Admin cannot move ships into harbor of conquered minors or Free States – closed.
- mcextentions.cpp file removed from build to remove legacy alternate modern conquest functions (wgsbombing, wgsintel, wgsresearch, terrorism) - resolved.
- Standard (non-EIA) battle types removed from build (BTsea, BTrural, and BTsiege) to remove legacy alternate combat model - resolved.
- AAR move arrows incorrectly displayed as hashed lines instead of solid lines in winter zones - resolved.
- UI scaled up about 40-50% as it is tiny on a modern screen size - resolved (top menu bar scaled up 50%).
- Some game buttons not updated to standard font - resolved (17 new BMP files for \Graphics\ui\buttons).
- Fonts on Unit Report screen not clear on high-resolution screens - resolved (changed Quixley LET to Verdana Italic).
- Create new scenario limited to 1805 classic EIA by default - resolved (player is now prompted to select 1805 classic EIA or 1805 alternate EIH scenario database).
- Spurious French corps units displayed in unit box towards right and bottom - resolved.
- Access Violation errors related to setup of minor (Naples) upon declaration of war - resolved.
- AI building too many militia - resolved.
- MAXDEPOTS previously changed from 8 to 10 in nwvars.cpp was not also changed in nwvars.h and caused a supply chain break with the Austrian IXd Depot - resolved.
- Some surrenders incorrectly evacuating cities despite temporary access - resolved (replaced nation_correct_force_locations function with the more standard nation_evacuate_all_units function when executing surrenders).
- Some DOWs still resulting in some minors not being at war with other minors of the major powers - resolved.

You should be able to extract the new EXE and \Graphics files from the zip file directly into your v1.23.08 or v1.24.00 install. Alternatively, you may want to install a separate copy of the official v1.23.08 and update that to the v1.24.01 Beta and beyond.

I will continue to fine-tune the AI some and work to resolve any issues that come up with this latest Beta. I am hoping the AI switch problem in PBEM is resolved, but that has been a challenging issue to track down over the past year or so. Assuming this Beta (with any hotfixes) plays OK without any surprises, I should be able to release another (final?) official update in the spring.

Please check out this latest version, see how it plays, and provide any comments or suggestions you have. If you find a bug, a game save is most helpful for me to recreate the issue and resolve it.

UPDATE 2/22/2022. Hotfix #1 resizes the top menu bar, from 150% larger to 130% larger. This should now fit standard displays while also being larger for high-resolution wide-screen displays.

UPDATE 3/5/2022. Hotfix #2 makes additional AI improvements.

UPDATE 3/21/2022. Hotfix #3 received some additional playtesting and resolved several issues regarding ship transfers, auto-foraging in siege situations, and AI behaviors.

UPDATE 3/26/2022. Quick bug fix for Hotfix #3 to resolve adding Kingdom ships to Kingdom fleets.

[pzgndr]

I want to share a couple comments.

1. I looked hard at doing something with unit builds to provide the player more information or the chance to undo builds. The problem is that when you click "OK" the program immediately sets the builds for later arrival and decrements your men and money. Trying to save that information separately and creating a new function to undo any or all builds was problematic. Rather than risk creating new problems, I've added a warning message that builds cannot be changed. Players can keep track of what they're building the old way; it's not that hard.

2. "Miscellaneous land and naval AI adjustments" covers a lot of ground. Several minor items were annoying to me during playtesting and I took extra time to investigate and resolve them. One issue was related to early war minors where the program would check the controlling major powers and whether they are at war or not. Problem is that acting controlling majors may not be at war and that caused some AI movement and combat issues. Now, there is a redundant override check for any two countries at war or not. AI naval moves, particularly port blockades by Great Britain, were sometimes strange with fleets moving back and forth. I think this is fixed and more stable now. And other adjustments, for the better.

3. Please see my other comments regarding AI Development in the other thread. I am still looking for any feedback players may have to offer. Speak up, please.

[amandkm]

I'm probably being dopey abut this, but when I just started a game and tried to play, I was unable to remove casualties after a battle round. What screen resolution should I be using?

Thanks for your ongoing dedication to this game!

[pzgndr]

I was unable to remove casualties after a battle round. What screen resolution should I be using?

That doesn't sound right at all. Some thoughts. Did you install as admin? Do you have compatibility set to WinXP SP2? Have you tried restarting from previous auto-save? The resolution should not affect the combat, as long as you can see it. If you can recreate the issue on your end and provide me a game save (with .sav and .dat) the I can take a look.

[amandkm]

I did a clean reinstall and it works now...

So far, AI seems better, though I was surprised that Prussia didn't answer a call from Austria against France...

Thanks again for your work on this@

[jbmoore68]

Where to download this beta, I don't see an attachment or a link ??

[pzgndr]

Where to download this beta, I don't see an attachment or a link ??

I updated the post to include the Hotfix #1 attachment. The changeover to the new forum failed to capture that update or retain the original attachment. Now I need to check other posts...

[jbmoore68]

Thanks, I appreciate it and all your work on this old gem !

[pzgndr]

So far, AI seems better, though I was surprised that Prussia didn't answer a call from Austria against France...

There is randomness involved. Also, the difficulty level does matter, in that the AI gets some additional bonuses with the National Modifiers and Natural Alliance Table.

[pzgndr]

Thanks, I appreciate it and all your work on this old gem !

You're welcome! Just posted Hotfix #2 with some additional improvements.

[pzgndr]

I just posted Hotfix #3 above. This one received some additional playtesting and resolved several issues regarding ship transfers, auto-foraging in siege situations, and AI behaviors. This is looking pretty solid now.

My plan at this point, assuming no more surprises with v1.24.01 Beta, is to start on v1.24.02 later this week to continue with some more AI improvements and adjustments for better performance of the computer opponent(s) and to address any lingering issues that get reported. Assuming all goes well, v1.24.02 should be the next official release later next month.

PLEASE give this Hotfix #3 a workout and provide any feedback you may have regarding the AI. I will try to do whatever I can to improve the AI for the next patch.

[Naxias]

I created The Ottoman Empire with Spain and built heavy ships.
I can't transfer those ships to Ottoman Empires heavy fleet because I get the error message:
"You can't Add Ottoman Empire´s ships to Egypt´s Fleet!"

But it's not Egypt´s fleet. Egypt is part of the Ottoman Empire, and the fleet counter is picked from Ottoman Empires counters.

[pzgndr]

"You can't Add Ottoman Empire´s ships to Egypt´s Fleet!"

I see. Thanks for the save. I need to include exceptions for Kingdoms.

UPDATE. I went ahead and made a quick bug fix to Hotfix #3 and updated the file above.

[mapoleon]

I have found a bug that causes the game to crash. I have attached the save game. It's Turkey's Combat phase. Just click on next battle and it will start a Trivial battle. After the battle is done, the game freezes. Not sure what to try next to get the game to continue.

[pzgndr]

It's Turkey's Combat phase. Just click on next battle and it will start a Trivial battle. After the battle is done, the game freezes.

This is an odd one. I have been investigating this all afternoon. I found and resolved one trivial combat issue that I wanted to work on. I have found where the game is freezing up in your save but I have not figured out why. I will keep digging.

UPDATE 3/28. Sorry, I am not sure what is causing this freeze. When you click the 'Done' button, the trivial combat is resolved fine and it's just at the very end when the game returns to the map that it freezes. I tried a slightly different closure to the routine and it still freezes. I am very reluctant to mess with this further, as it normally works fine and there's no telling what may happen with other combat situations. Question: have you tried re-running from the land phase auto save and are you still getting the same trivial combat game freeze? If you still have that auto save, I'd like to take a look.

[mapoleon]

Here are the latest save files. I haven't touched them since the crash. I can go try to go back to the land phase and perform different actions. Thanks for looking into it.

[mapoleon]

I found the same problem again in a different battle. The only pattern I see is that is a trivial battle both times. I have attached both the land phase and the combat phase. Just use the Combat phase save and complete the battle. It freezes after the battle.

[mapoleon]

I did the battle again but only attacking with half the forces and only one leader and it worked fine. Maybe its because of the 2 leaders or numbers of counters?

[mapoleon]

Found another freeze. Here is the Combat phase attached file. Complete first battle then for second battle, when it's Ottoman forces against 1 calvary, after the battle it freezes again. The only pattern I see is that it's always trivial battles. Let me know if you want me to try something else.

[mapoleon]

One more thing. I believe this is a bug. Turkey is attacking Russia in 2 places. One in Crimea using Ottoman forces and in two places in Podolia. It moved forces into Russian occupied territories, however in the combat phase, the game only recognizes one of the battles and doesn't recognize the other two battles. The two opposing armies just stand next to each other and don't fight even though they are in the same area. Am I doing something wrong? They are in normal supply.

MA