EAW 1.28C release

[Jel 37]

The EAW Code Development Team are pleased to announce the availability of the 1.28C upgrade

 

Many new features are included.

 

here is the Readme: http://www.users.on.net/pam_biddell/EAW1.28C_Readme.htm

 

and you can download the 54 MB upgrade here: http://www.users.on.net/pam_biddell/128CInstall.exe

 

 

Cheers

 

Jel

[+Baltika 85]

Great news,

 

Thanks very much to everyone whose hard work has gone into this release.

 

I'm really enjoying the EAW revival

 

Of course, you will tell me it never went away

 

Cheers to all the EAW propheads

[Col. Gibbon 10]

Hi Everyone.

 

It's here! The latest patch 1.28C for EAW.

 

Here is a list of the changes which have been made to the 1.28B, to improve the game even further.

 

Many thanks to the EAW Code Group, but especially to Kengel, Mr Jelly, Brit44, Crashing Jack, and Sydbod, who programmed most of the changes.

 

EAW1.28CReadme

 

(Note: this is a reformat of the original document that was Produced by the Code Committee of the Society of European Air War Contributors (SEAWC), October 2009. ) SEAWC information at Sandbagger’s Tally-Ho website on SimHQ Forums. Welcome!

 

Installation

A one-step installer will upgrade EAW to Version 1.28c. It is a 7-zip self installing file named "128CInstall.exe". It needs to be run in an existing EAW directory as it does not install a number of the standard EAW "CDF" files which we have never modified.

 

1 Old EAW versions:

Version 1.28c will successfully install over and update all EAW versions.

 

2 "Eaw.ini file":

If you already have older EAW versions, we recommend making a copy of your EAW.ini control file before running the install. A new "EAW.ini will be created by the install, and some favorite settings may be lost. You can copy and paste them back in later.

 

3 A new EAW install:

Make a new EAW folder and copy the "DLL" files (except "_SETUP.DLL), the "CDF" files, and the "CHATLINE.TXT" file from the MicroProse or Infogames CD into it. Also copy the "MUSIC" folder.

 

4 Use the installer:

Copy the installer ("128CInstall.exe") to your newly copied EAW directory, and run it from there. It will automatically adjust files and create needed directories.

Some EAW 1.28C Features

 

Flying Online:

New hosting options and additional aircraft for up to 16 players. A ‘quick flight’ routine speeds game play.

New throttle controls:

Engine starts now require throttle management for more realistic flying. No gas, no start. Too much throttle and an explosive “wet start” of flame appears. Engine may be damaged by repeated wet starts or jamming the throttle forward too fast on a cold engine.

Built-in graphics speed checker:

Use CTRL-G. An information screen appears upper right with Frames-Per-Second displayed, along with other aircraft info.

 

Special names for exes:

You may copy the EAW.exe and rename the file to your unique preference or use one with a different name, such as EAW 1_28c.exe., Eaw-SPAW.exe, Iraq.exe, etc. It works in most Windows operating systems, but for online flying it must be named "EAW.exe".

 

Aircraft Carriers:

Flying, landing, and fighting at sea is much more extensive now. Options for sea attacks and operations are available in the Mission Screens in hangars. Practice is recommended for carrier landings—don’t get too low on final approach. Torpedo runs and dive bombing of warship convoys included. South Pacific Air War (SPAW) is designed for 1.28c.

 

Flying by the Years and Seasons:

EAW will soon offer a World War I flying scenario for the 1914 to 1918 years. Other scenarios have dates before and after EAW’s ‘stock’ World War II years. 1.28c allows proper dating and seasonal changes of terrains.

 

Extra Aircraft in Your Flight:

Individual aircraft “skins” (paint and markings) can be shown and fly together in the 1.28 series. In 1.28c up to 64 aircraft from your squadron can be part of a flight. This “multi-skins” number depends on aircraft modders to supply them. It could be more or less than 64 in the game.

 

Auto Combat:

Default is ON. Change to “0” ( zero) to turn OFF. This allows you to fly on Autopilot and target enemy aircraft or other objects. The AI (Artificial Intelligence) will then fly your aircraft and pursue and shoot. Useful for both new and experienced pilots to watch an “expert” fight and observe and learn dogfight tactics. Autopilot and AutoClimb are already part of the 1.28 series.

Parachutes forbidden (WW1):

Before 1918 dates, ‘chutes will not be available to pilots and crew. It was considered cowardly to use them.

 

War ships, and sea convoy interdiction targets:

A new type of convoy has been added for interdiction missions. Convoys composed mainly of warships can be selected for attack. If you choose either of the two "ship convoys" as target for an interdict mission, only targets that have a "ship convoy" are displayed on the preflight map.

 

2nd supercharger stage:

A 2nd supercharger stage added for piston engines with high altitude capabilities.

 

More action codes:

A number of new ones have been added. Most are codes for additional damage types.

 

Aircraft Formations:

Every nation can have its own formation type. These are inside a “formations.dat” file in the main EAW directory.

 

Bomber Missions:

The campaign routines have been adjusted to make "bomber campaigns" better, with more dependable escorts.

 

The V1 slot:

This can now be used as an extra plane slot of another type.

 

Burn Damage:

Multi- engined planes may lose a wing when a damaged engine burns too long. Tail gunners and AAA (ground fire) will not stop shooting when a plane engine just smokes.

 

Front Lines:

Front Lines will be displayed on the single mission map by a red line.

Artificial Intelligence:

AI´s will avoid hills rather well now. They cannot be led to crash into a mountainside so easily anymore.

New "EAW.ini" settings (and some reminders)

 

Eaw.ini file:

This extended control file opens like a text file and may be edited and saved to your personal preferences. Many new features will be added to the ini file during install for 1.28c, so checking this file pays off. Much more extensive than Configure Game, the player’s ini file may adjust such things as:

 

Extra Squads:

Default is OFF (zero). Any number up to 17 extra squads may be entered. This will produce a sky filled with aircraft, always an EAW specialty, with massive dogfights called “furballs”. Up to 256 aircraft seen at once. Play Speed (Frames-Per-Second) may be affected, however, when large numbers of aircraft are in view. Changing your view or using a lower number of extra squads will speed up the FPS.

 

Possible settings are:

"0 & > 17" No extra squad. "1-3" normal extra squad. "4" all Bombers get two escorting fighter squads "5" all US Bombers get two escorting fighter squads "6" only 1940/43 US Bombers get two escorting fighter squads "7" only 1944/45 US Bombers get two escorting fighter squads "8" all US+Brit Bombers get two escorting fighter squads "9" only 1940/43 US+Brit Bombers get two escorting fighter squads "10" only 1944/45 US+Brit Bombers get two escorting fighter squads "11" all Brit Bombers get two escorting fighter squads "12" only 1940/43 Brit Bombers get two escorting fighter squads "13" only 1944/45 Brit Bombers get two escorting fighter squads "14" all Ger Bombers get two escorting fighter squads "15" only 1940/43 Ger Bombers get two escorting fighter squads "16" only 1944/45 GerBombers get two escorting fighter squads "17" Fighter squads can have up to 64 planes, always two Bomber squads will appear, instead of one.

 

Engine start:

Ctrl-1 starts engine 1, Ctrl-2 starts engine 2, Ctrl-3 starts engine 3, Ctrl-4 starts engine 4

 

PlaneSet Number:

Possible values: 0-4 This only influences the game if there are additional plane set folders in the currently used "Scenario folder". Number "0" is default and as long no other plane set is loaded, the plane set from the CDFs is used. "=1" can get selected from inside the game (configure game > graphics). =2, =3 or =4 can be enabled by editing the EAW.ini (OAW1.28 V13 include a feature to do it easily).

 

Month:

If the value is between 1 and 12 (January to December), EAW 1.28C will provide a steadily increasing mission date in single, multi player and quick-mission mode, with every played mission. This does not influence the career date! The Month setting triggers the season in EAW if a seasonal setup is present in the currently used "Scenario folder". In this way the currently used month can determine the terrain and/or weather setups to be used. "= 21" triggers static "Spring"(also in career mode), while the single mission date is randomized (as in the default game). "= 22" triggers static "Summer". "= 23" triggers static "Fall (Autumn)". "= 24" triggers static "Winter". "= 25" triggers static "Light Winter" All other values ( 0, > 12 & < 21 , > 25) disable the seasonal setup and the new mission data system. If the seasonal setup is activated, it automatically becomes a "host setting" in multi player mode, so everybody in game will get the same setting

 

Day:

Here you can select the wanted game date day (1 to 31). If the value is bigger than then maximum possible number for the current month, the game will switch to the next month. If the "Date system" is disabled, also the day value is randomized. It does not apply to career mode

 

FadeTimer:

This influences the fade time, when you leave one pre-game screen and enter another. The used value depends to the user’s preference, a maximum value is not known.

 

Static Cockpit:

This disables the 2D cockpits at all. It is useful, if someone plays in 640x480 and does not want to see the 2d cockpits (in add on campaigns they normally would not fit). With the coming 7217 fix the 2D cockpits will be present in 1024x768 resolution, then this will be more important.

 

Auto combat:

When the player selects “Autopilot” in the game a value "= 1" makes the player’s own plane attack the enemy automatically. This will happen when the player has selected an enemy plane as the target.

Computer Gunsight:

"= 0" disables the computed Gun-sight. Otherwise the value is the distance at which the gun sight works best in "metres".

 

Friendly Encounter:

"= 0" disables all friendly encounter groups. Try values up to 255. The higher the value the higher the probability to meet a encounter group.

 

Enemy Encounter:

"= 0" disables all enemy encounter groups. Again try values up to 255, as higher the value the higher the probability to meet a encounter group.

 

GunSightSize:

This changes the reticle diameter. The default is "=1024" and possible values are from 800 to 2100.

 

Old Style:

This enables the EAW.2 plane selection screens. The default is "=0" (off). "=1" enables the old style

screens.

 

HudFontSize:

This changes the size of the in game HUD display fonts. The default is "=0" (off) but “=1” gives large fonts

 

Keyboard Language:

This changes the keyboard to different national settings. Default is "=0" (English/US) "=1" (German) "=2" (French) "=3" (Spanish/Italian)

 

Flak Accuracy and FlakRof (rate of fire):

Both values affect only the heavy flak. The default is "=2" Appropriate values range from 1 to 5. The effectiveness of the flak depends to both values. Experiment with them.

 

Ground Battle:

This affects the artillery ground battle near the front lines. The default is "=3" "=0" disables the ground battle action. The higher the value the more impacts happen. Depending to the PC´s performance at some stage the FPS might suffer.

 

Old Damage:

The default is "=0" "=1" enables a hard coded gun power and engine management, which suits many of the older flight models better.

 

Realistic Gunnery:

The default is "=1" "=0" makes the gun power a little more destructive.

The new “dir.set”, “cdf.set”, and folder system

 

As this readme is meant for people upgrading to 1.28C no explanation of these advanced features needs to be given in this document. The only people who need it are the modders creating or updating work for 1.28C. A number of ready made scenarios such as SPAW will shortly be released in installations which make good use of these features. If you need more information then please contact the members of the code development team via the EAW forum at SimHQ or Combat Ace.

 

The OAW128 file manager

The latest version of the OAW128 file manager has been specially tailored for 1.28C users. It is almost essential for players using the increasing number of multi skins. Again check posts in the EAW forums at SimHQ or Combat Ace for further information.

 

This document:

is a copy with format modified , The original was produced by: The EAW Code Development Team October 29th 2009

 

Many thanks to RAF Roy, for the above text.

 

Download everything you need here:

 

http://www.sandbagger.uk.com/EAWNewFront2.html

[+Erik 1,812]

Your welcome to post that to the download section for the EAW Files if it will be of any help.

[Col. Gibbon 10]

Will do Erik, once the bugs have all been fixed.

 

So far only a problem with cockpits has been noticed, and fixed, but I'll wait a few more days.

[Dave63 13]

Does it do anything to help the XP issues?

[Jel 37]

Does it do anything to help the XP issues?

 

I can only guess which ones.

The 7217 error should not occur, but torn screens may still be a problem.

If garbled maps occur they should be fixable with the regedit fix in XP.

 

A torn screen victim can use the latest JIM with 1.28C. This is an external utility which sets up single mission parameters, and save them in a file.

The 1.28C exe is programmed to look for this file if Ctrl-Q is typed (Instant Mission). This can be typed even with a garbled screen.

If the file exists then the parameters are read, and single mission is launched.

 

Check my posts at SimHQ

 

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2886639/The_new_JIM_with_1_28c.html#Post2886639

 

Jel

Edited November 4, 2009 by Jel

[Jel 37]

Your welcome to post that to the download section for the EAW Files if it will be of any help.

 

Thanks Erik. I have done that.

The installer I have posted should have the correct CDFs to display the artificial horizon and other cockpit instruments properly.

 

We just had a good session online tonight, a B17 intercept in 109Gs and 190As. I had to take a phone call in the middle of the battle, so I set my wing leveller on and when I came back my AIs had just about cleaned up, so all I did was to take out some P51B escorts who were still hanging around.

 

Jel

[+Gepard 11,303]

Yeah, my old love EAW is back on my computer. Its a great thing!

The installation was a little bit tricky, because the first in the README descriped way to installation failed for me. I got the error message, that something was wrong with a file called runway.dat. Thatswhy i used the second dscriped way and it worked fine for me.

The game itself runs stable and fine. I love it!

A problem i have is if i close the game and try to restart it later the game wont start. I must press ctrl+alt-del (STRG+ALT+ENTF in german) and the delete the processe eaw.exe. Then i can restart successfully.

The other problem is the old one with the mission briefing screen.

 

By the way, how can i get back the german labeling in the menu screens?

[Jel 37]

Good to see you again Gepard.

 

We will look into some of the issues you have raised.

 

Jel

[Jel 37]

To exit the game you can use "Esc" a couple of times to get back to the mainscreen. When you are there "Esc" will take you out of the game.

Alternatively "Alt-Q" will give you the option to exit immediately with a "Y" response to the "Yes/No" question.

 

Jel

[Knegel 0]

Moin Gepard,

 

was für nen Betriebssystem hast Du denn?

 

Daß EAW im Hintergrund weiterläuft is neu für mich.

 

Wie beendest Du denn EAW??

 

Grüße aus Wunstorf bei Hannover,

 

Knegel

[+Gepard 11,303]

My system:

 

Windows XP ServicePack3

 

Pentium 4 2.8 GHz Prozessor

 

Radeon X850 Grafikkarte

 

2GB RAM Speicher

 

 

Either if i finish with ALT+Q or finish with EXIT on Menu screen i have this problem.

[Knegel 0]

Are you using a old EAW.ini, or a absolut new one(and then adjusted too your need)??

 

Are you running EAW in a compatibility mode(you dont need to)?

 

Do you have any EAW registry entrys? You shouldnt have, they are not needed and can cause trouble.

This normany happen when you make a real CD installation(run the CD installer program).

 

"Radeon X850 Grafikkarte"

Did you try to use zeckensack´s glide wrapper to run EAW in glide mode??

On newer systems it often run faster with more smooth graphics ( i doubt this is relatted to the actual problem).

 

Are you using any addons??

Edited November 4, 2009 by Knegel

[+Gepard 11,303]

To your questions:

 

1.)I use the new EAW.ini

2.)No compatibly mode.

3.) Some Entries in the registry i have found

4.) In the graphics setting i dont use Glide. The setting is Direct3D

5.) No addons.

 

But i think: I can live with this small problem. I know how to overcome. It remembers me a little bit on an 20 years old story. During my military time i had an airlift flight with a soviet IL-76. Under one of the oilpipes hung a tin and during flight the oil dropped in the tin. As we asked the pilots wheter this is dangerous, they answered: "Oh no.We know the problem. After the landing we fill the oil back in the oiltank."

[Knegel 0]

Hi,

 

yes, a known problem is often not a real problem.

But it was very nice to prevent environmental pollution by not leaveing the oil into the nature.

 

Nevertheless it would be interesting to know why this happen. I cant remeber that someone else did suffer by this before.

 

Maybe the registry entrys cause this. Would be nice, if you would try this:

Copy/paste the entire EAW folder to a new directory. The registry entrys shouldnt have any influece to this new directory, as such this one might work like it should.

 

Under WinXP we often saw stange results caused by the registry entrys.

 

Greetings,

 

Knegel

[mdavismd 0]

To Jel and all you other amazing EAW people. i still have my original EAW CD and was playing it until the 7217 error when I just couldn't keep everything properly set up. Haven't reloaded in a few years but this is exciting with a new exe 128c, if i am reading all this right. i have win xp and an nvidia gx260 card. where do i stand with 7217 and similar. can i play it now w/o all the probs? if so, can you point me to the latest install guide?

 

thanks, Mark Davis

[Jel 37]

Mark please try it and see what happens.

What I can tell you is this

1. The 1.28C should not give the 7217 error with XP (it never does with Vista or Win 7).

2. However, you may get torn screens, if you do not then there is no problem.

3. If you do get torn screens then there are two possibilities.

The first is JIM which is a utility which lets you select the mission parameters for a single mission.

They are saved in a file which, if present, the 1.28C exe will read if you press Ctrl-Q for an instant mission, and then launch it with your settings.

The second is the yet to be finished 1024 x 768 version of 1.28C.

Crashin' Jack was experimenting with 2D cockpits and accidentally found that using 1024 x 768 selection screens fixed the garbled map problem.

I took a punt that it might also fix the screen tearing problem. The result is that on some PCs it did, and on others it did not.

 

So try 1.28C and report back re the screen tearing please.

If need be I can give you a link to JIM, and more information.

 

Cheers

 

Jel

[mdavismd 0]

Jel-

this is great. i'm gonna give it another go. where can i go for the current install guide that's most widely used?

 

thanks!

Mark

[Knegel 0]

Jel-

this is great. i'm gonna give it another go. where can i go for the current install guide that's most widely used?

 

thanks!

Mark

 

Hello,

 

on the top of this document: http://www.users.on.net/pam_biddell/EAW1.28C_Readme.htm

 

Just do step 3. and 4.!

 

Greetings,

 

Knegel

Edited November 7, 2009 by Knegel

[HorizonOfHorus 0]

Mr Jel and Colonel Gibbon...
I'm just starting to download and build the various versions of EAW that the community has developed over the years,
However I'm striking a lot of dead links on the various sites you blokes frequent. In particular I'm after SPAW and SPAW45 as I'm Australian and that was our theatre in WW2, even though "Iron Mike" has painted the southern sky with stars and stripes (wink wink)..lol
Hey from what I've seen so far you blokes have done a mighty fine job in keeping the great old game in the scene.

I think I've joined up (it was a late night and many sites), so I'll see yaz around the traps.

You or rather WE, need a contact for dead links .... I looked every where for that... because SPAW on eaw.wikispaces came up with a http404 last night and from my browsing ..it seemed to be the MAIN link ... and frigging star wars keeps butting its "eaw" in ...lol talk about frustratin'
If someone can give me a link for SPAW I'll be sweet.. promise
Regards Geoffrey Marks

oh and
Drop it in my inbox at wikispaces (Geoffrey_Marks) or here (HorizonOfHorus)... I've registered so shouldn't be hard to find, I'll check here in the replies in case that is not so

Edited August 16, 2016 by HorizonOfHorus

[rwatson 26]

If you head over to SimHQ and find any post by Mr.Jelly he has links at the bottom to different versions of EAW that have those two theaters the latest is 1.50 but 1.40 also has them..Better yet read the next 4 posts down Jel has the links and some very informative screens there

Edited August 20, 2016 by rwatson

[Jel 37]

Hi Geoffrey

 

I had a lot of stuff at OneDrive, but Microsoft reduced the "free" limit, and I had to seriously rearrange what was there.

 

The links in my signature work.

Whereabouts in Oz are you? I lived and worked in Adelaide for over 40 years before moving to France

Edited August 21, 2016 by Jel

[HorizonOfHorus 0]

Well thanks rwatson fpr the SimQ  info and also I was born in Loxton and live in Adelaide and yes it is still a good place to live and yes it is a bit dull at times... unlike poor France which seems to be hesitating whether to end multiculturalism and encourage integration  or go right wing or homogenic... it's a reeal problem until you look at the obvious ,, which is how and why those barbarian tribes formed those nation states.... answer = to protect their tribesway of life etc   and I'm Charles Martel and Charlemagne were fighting the same war that the west is today - keeping Islam at arms length -  historically Islam, and Christianity together is a bad idea, one coulsd say it'sall ebout the profits and  prophets than God

 

anyway enough of that

 

and Jell thank you for putting uo the downloads on one drive

The v140 qnd v150 versions have Spaw , I haven't found a Burma campaign yet, but I downloaded every thing you had there.
I might have to pick your brains I;ve noticed you've written a fair few apps etc for the sim, cos I would not mind using the 140 and 150 versions to remake the solo versions of Spaw .SAW etc .. you know,,familarise myself with the engine
It is the way i learn about things
then I might be able to help out on a project

I know CFS inside out by doing mods etc.

 

For your military historical buffs, Loxton (my home town) is a soldier sailor airman .resettlement town.
Most of the veterans have passed away including my Dad, but our neighbour and Dad's closest friend is still looking after himself and maintaining a 30 acre rural orchard.But the most impressive thing about the bloke is that he still flies every week end in his 90's
His name is Howard Hendricks and if you do a RAF search on him you will find an admirable record.

He flew the legendary Lancaster and did two 25 mission tours,

After the war he flew commercial aircraft and not just any old route... Empire Airways from Capetown=Nairobi-Cairo-Malta-London,,,,, mate he is treasure and a treasure trove of knowledge.... lots of those fellows were,,, but man his life just amazes me,,, I keep on urging to tell me more about those days It's like "Biggles" but real .. and he isn't a braggat, he has only started telling me these things since Dad died ... they could make a bloody movie out of his life,, no worries

 

Anyway thanks fellas . better go before i give you an earache
AND Jell do you know where a copy of the 1,26e (Last of the old eaw-exe updates) is cos i need it for the Finnish Air War
Yeah I know..just something to do, but it was a pretty interesting tussle between the Finns and the Ruskies
I'll look at SimQ  first

BTW - Are those "HangerFiles" in the skin folders of the planesets pointers or designators for loading the various planes in each slot and is there a database that is updated as well..cockpit.cdf for instance?

Cheers fellas
Marksy

Edited August 25, 2016 by HorizonOfHorus

[Jel 37]

I do not know why it has taken so long for me to become aware of your post.

Obviously you may have found what you need via SimHQ, so please let me know what you still need.

We are now running V160- check out SimHQ for info and links. It includes a FAW theatre.

 

I lived in Adelaide for 40 years, and played gigs in Loxton with various jazz bands.

 

Cheers ;)