Next War 1979 - Expanded (Beta 1.0) play testers needed

[Hellen_slith]

Trying again ....

[Hellen_slith]

ok well thats wierd

[larryfulkerson]

I have no idea what causes that. Did your image get uploaded to Matrix
or is it on some other file server somewhere?

[Hellen_slith]

i think it is working again, here is the msg and the game also created two files "mx_debugBEFORE.sal" and "mx_debugAFTER.sal" not sure who Ralph is, but I have the files.

[larryfulkerson]

What you need to do is see if you can find the crash_log file and the toaw_log.txt file and zip them up with the two debug files so that there's four files in all, and attach that file to a post describing the problem you're having in the tech help section of this board. That way the developers ( Ralph and Bob Cross ) can take a look at it. That's what we playtesters do on the development board.

[mussey]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

What you need to do is see if you can find the crash_log file and the toaw_log.txt file and zip them up with the two debug files so that there's four files in all, and attach that file to a post describing the problem you're having in the tech help section of this board. That way the developers ( Ralph and Bob Cross ) can take a look at it. That's what we playtesters do on the development board.

Thanks Larry! I'm going to play-test again to see if I can get it to repeat CTD, then I will do as you suggested.

Thanks again.

[Zovs]

I should have posted here, so please forgive.

Mussey, when will your next beta or version be available? I'd like to give it a go (play-test if needed).

[mussey]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

What you need to do is see if you can find the crash_log file and the toaw_log.txt file and zip them up with the two debug files so that there's four files in all, and attach that file to a post describing the problem you're having in the tech help section of this board. That way the developers ( Ralph and Bob Cross ) can take a look at it. That's what we playtesters do on the development board.

Larry where do I find the two debug files?

[mussey]

ORIGINAL: Zovs

I should have posted here, so please forgive.

Mussey, when will your next beta or version be available? I'd like to give it a go (play-test if needed).

Hopefully soon. Cathar is transforming modern air equipment that I want to include in the official roll-out. This will be a great opportunity for others to play the scenario combined with a 'beta' air set.

The most glaring problem are the CTD's. This needs to be addressed and fixed before release. Larry and Hellen (and maybe others) have started a AAR that I'm following closely to see if any other changes need to be made. My fear is that CTD issues may drive them away. [:(]

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: mussey

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

What you need to do is see if you can find the crash_log file and the toaw_log.txt file and zip them up with the two debug files so that there's four files in all, and attach that file to a post describing the problem you're having in the tech help section of this board. That way the developers ( Ralph and Bob Cross ) can take a look at it. That's what we playtesters do on the development board.

Larry where do I find the two debug files?

If they exist at all they should spawn in the saves directory. There's a "before" one and an "after" one.
The crash log and toaw_log files should be found in the directory where the game engine lives. The root directory for TOAW IV.

[mussey]

If they exist at all they should spawn in the saves directory. There's a "before" one and an "after" one.
The crash log and toaw_log files should be found in the directory where the game engine lives. The root directory for TOAW IV.

< Message edited by larryfulkerson -- 4/20/2019 10:16:05 PM >

Thanks Larry. I was wondering about that. They 'spawned' in a 2/4/19 CTD, but not my recent one last night. I'm going to post last night's episode with the crash log toawlog and see what the guys come up with. Thanks for all your help!

[cathar1244]

Might be useful to have the computer play itself with the -original- Next War scenario to see if CTDs occur. I may be wrong, but the impression is that a lot of CTD activity is happening with the .21 version. If that is the case, these CTDs may not be specific to Next War Expanded.

Cheers

[Hellen_slith]

I have not yet done any "scientific" studies, but for me, TNW (Expanded) seems to crash more often than, say, D21.

Not sure what is going on, but I did have two CTDs during my NATO turn 2 to Larry.

Turning off mini-map and air report seems to help, but that is just me, perhaps. I thought it was my CPU over heating, but it seems to occur more often when scrolling around the "small" map....

Not a game killer, but it is something that I keep aware of, so I just "save" a lot

The naval still seems very herky jerky to me on my end, so I have not been using naval.

Otherwise ... tons of fun!!! Great scene!!!!
D

[Hellen_slith]

Some observations:

Great scene for PBEM!!

Also,

Since the map and the OOB have been expanded, the number of turns should (I think) also be expanded.

As it stands, the game calculates VP and ends the game at the end of 17 turns of hostility (up to a max of 34 turns, iirc, if you play Tension full out Iron Man style).

I think it would be cool to EXPAND that and make an option, some sort of game event, whereby instead of that, NATO (and WP) must CHOOSE a theater option of "continue hostilities?" If both players agree, then they can keep playing the game.

Not sure the logic of it, but wouldn't it be something like,
IF both Player 1 and Player 2 choose "continue" theater option, the game will continue, OR game ends.

IOW, both players must vote "YES" to continue, otherwise the game ends like it normally does now.

And maybe make it a "house rule" that it works like Turn 1, an "inter-turn" type event that would allow more gaming action.

Ok, well, that was my thought and there you have it.

Can't wait for the Alpha! I hope it is soon!

[mussey]

the number of turns should (I think) also be expanded.

That thought has crossed my mind as well, especially since adding a few more NATO goodies that arrive later in the game. Since Beta, a few US Natl Guard formations and the 12th USAF joined the orbat. So the US air forces presently in WG and UK (17th USAF, 3rd USAF) will be joined by the 9th and 12th. Both of these have about 500 aircraft each.

[Shadrach]

Just a small thing: It would be nice if you could get the place-names correct for Norway (and Germany as well for that matter), with the use of the proper letters, æøå/öü.

For instance
Bodo = Bodø
Tromso = Tromsø
Vardo = Vardø
Dombas = Dombås
Röros = Røros (we don't use the umlauts in Norway after we threw out the Swedes [:D] )
Kragero = Kragerø
Tonsberg = Tønsberg
Floro = Florø
Maloy = Måløy
Honefoss = Hønefoss
(I think that's all of them)

In Germany there is for instance:
Lubeck = Lübeck
Gottingen = Göttingen
Saarbrucken = Saarbrücken
(and probably a lot more)

You have them correct for Sweden - and I can't just let that pass [:D]

You can get the letters to just copy and paste from here:
https://www.rapidtables.com/code/text/ascii-table.html

Also IMO it looks better on a map to use the local names instead of the "englishified" names, like:
Cologne = Köln
Turin = Torino
Or at least be consistent in the the usage, so if you must use Turin, also use Milan, Venice etc. But the local names are better I think.

[mussey]

ORIGINAL: Shadrach

Just a small thing: It would be nice if you could get the place-names correct for Norway (and Germany as well for that matter), with the use of the proper letters, æøå/öü.

For instance
Bodo = Bodø
Tromso = Tromsø
Vardo = Vardø
Dombas = Dombås
Röros = Røros (we don't use the umlauts in Norway after we threw out the Swedes [:D] )
Kragero = Kragerø
Tonsberg = Tønsberg
Floro = Florø
Maloy = Måløy
Honefoss = Hønefoss
(I think that's all of them)

In Germany there is for instance:
Lubeck = Lübeck
Gottingen = Göttingen
Saarbrucken = Saarbrücken
(and probably a lot more)

You have them correct for Sweden - and I can't just let that pass [:D]

You can get the letters to just copy and paste from here:
https://www.rapidtables.com/code/text/ascii-table.html

Also IMO it looks better on a map to use the local names instead of the "englishified" names, like:
Cologne = Köln
Turin = Torino
Or at least be consistent in the the usage, so if you must use Turin, also use Milan, Venice etc. But the local names are better I think.

I continue to agonize over this. My ancestry is half English, quarter German, quarter Polish, so I am all mixed up on this. As an early design decision I went with mostly anglicized versions to allow me to quickly learn place names in conjunction with most American publications. But as I continue to tweak, I will revisit this my earlier decision.

[cathar1244]

Mussey,

If you decide to do this. German umlauts can also be shown with an "e" following; thus, ae = ä.

One thing to be sure of is how it displays. Older versions of TOAW had issues with accented characters in placenames on the map display. May be fixed by now.

Cheers

[Shadrach]

I continue to agonize over this. My ancestry is half English, quarter German, quarter Polish, so I am all mixed up on this. As an early design decision I went with mostly anglicized versions to allow me to quickly learn place names in conjunction with most American publications. But as I continue to tweak, I will revisit this my earlier decision.

Sure, that's perfectly OK. Besides, if taken too far you'd also need to use the special Polish characters like '&#322;' [:D]

Not sure if using 'e' for replacement is good though, it would turn Köln to Koeln, Bodø to Bodoe, which just looks strange in my opinion, better to stick with just Koln then.

Yeah how the game displays stuff might be an issue, I've seen it doesn't handle all characters too well, but these are mostly extended ASCII.

[larryfulkerson]

I've got bad news. I was almost done with my moves when the game went CTD. I lost all that work, a couple of hours worth. I was so discusted that I reloaded the moves and just ended the turn and sent that to Damon. The wind has gone from my sails. How about we start over or something? Got a new version for us to use?