The original 1.28 release

[Jel 37]

It had heaps of new stuff in it

Flyable bombers selectable, with just the two selection screens (Allied and Axis):

Individual engine starts with Ctrl-1, Ctrl-2, Ctrl-3 and Ctrl-4

Much better multiplayer choices than is available in the 1.2 system:

WW1 style take off:

...and we had gun convergence too

Posts at the Gen indicate that it was released in September 2007

 

 

[rwatson 26]

Runs well here no worries

[Jel 37]

You still have the original Russ?

I found the patch and installed in in a 1.26e folder to get those screenies ;)

[rwatson 26]

Pretty sure it's an original I pulled it off an old CD backup has the Microprose world screen and the only two read mes are for 1.28 and 1.1 and has the menu screen fix applied..lower left shows 1.28

[RIBob 39]

Been playing anything and everything I can get installed and running on my Win 10 computer.  Surprisingly, there are patches and such for many older games that enable them to run on Win 10, in some cases better than ever before.   

As far as most variants of EAW in conjunction with Win 10, it's been troublesome, but I have not had the time to deal with such, being focused on real-life things that are far more important.

In the near future, I will revisit the "problematic" games, and make a sincere effort to get them to run on win 10.  Note that such an effort will go far beyond EAW, and its' variants.

In the meantime, I have my old Win 7 computer, which seems to play most games of the EAW era well.  That said, the computer will not last forever, and Win 7 will soon lose MS support.

Edited October 18, 2019 by RIBob

[rwatson 26]

Loosing win 7 support is not really a problem unless you want to surf.Off line with on internet connection it will be fine

[RIBob 39]

38 minutes ago, rwatson said:

 

Loosing win 7 support is not really a problem unless you want to surf.Off line with on internet connection it will be fine

Hi, Russ!  Hope all is well!

Your proposal is well-taken, up to a certain point.  By that I mean that very, very few people are going to buy new Win 7 computers to replace their worn-out computers.  Most buyers of new computers will buy Win 10 machines, and that is where the future of any legacy game lies.  EVERY SINGLE GAME.

Sure, some guy can buy a new computer, and install a Win 7 Drive into it.  Just never go on the internet without some expensive software that protects you.  Even then.....

How many older gamers, after their passing, will have their Win 7 computer tossed in the dumpster, with all their accumulated games (and patches) without a second thought?  "An ancient computer, good for nothing modern---easier to toss it---  Just SMASH the Drive, just in case."  There goes all your hard work...

Point is, how many people can afford to even have a "legacy" computer?  Some older guys will run their Win 7 computers into the ground, but Newcomers won't have that option, having NEVER owned a Win 7 computer, in the first place.  They won't even THINK of buying an obsolete Win 7 computer at all,

Mi Amigo, I'll probably keep my old Win 7 computer for a long time--at least till it croaks.  I have a backup computer into which I can install the Win 7 drive(s), which has a better Gfx card (Nvidia GT 1050 vice Nvidia GT 730) and more RAM; (Why am I not doing this already?  Because the "newer" computer has no ESATA port, as does the old one, and installing the GT 1050 card would require deleting the USB 3 ports installed.  In short, USB 2 connection to any peripherals--not good)  I'm NOT the AVERAGE computer user, nor am I a NEWCOMER to flight sims with only a brand-new Win 10 computer to use.  The TYPICAL Newcomer to flight sims has NO Win 7 computer to rely on.  They have no past experience with older games, and no attachments to them  Hell, they'll have to PAY for a Win 7 OpSys, and go from there.  The TYPICAL newcomer will only download and install sims they can play on their Win 10 computer.  PERIOD. 

That's why I have said, to the point of repeating myself, that if EAW is to have ANY possible future, the variants of the game MUST be easily downloadable, and easily played on Win 10.  There is NO alternative.

Give your dog Iggy a hug for me.  Great to hear from you.  Been a little busy with some real world stuff, and am remiss on my e-mails.  Regret that, very much, and will remedy.

 

Edited October 18, 2019 by RIBob

[Jel 37]

This is the "lite" version that does not make scripts.

I have chosen a folder, and an existing script. It automatically set up the theatre and planeset on my PC.

The items at the top of the script (PlayerNation....EnemySecondaryPL) are copied and pasted into my "eaw.ini". The essential ones will be transmitted to the players.
The theatre and planeset are listed in a textbox so the text can be copied by the host and pasted into the game description when he hosts a game at GameRanger.

The players can then use their filemanager to set the same planeset and theatre.
They have a choice re- the exe as some prefer the new map and others prefer the old map version.
As the scripts have been tested there is no need to check them.

Further adjustments can be made by the host on the parameters screen before launching.
Players can still choose their side, the aircraft they fly, and their loadout, but nothing else

Edited October 19, 2019 by Jel

[Jel 37]

Just as a follow up here is an extract from my "eaw.ini" file after loading that script by pressing the "Load this script" button:

============================
[NETOPTION]
Year=1
SkillLevel=0
MissionType=0
BattleSize=0
Day=29
Weather=3
NoAI=0
StartOnGround=0
AllowRespawn=1
AI_PlaneUpdateRate=350
PlayerPlaneUpdateRate=35
ClockSyncRate=140
Sleep=400
Target=102
FriendlyPrimaryHB=97
FriendlySecondaryHB=97
EnemyPrimaryHB=82
EnemySecondaryHB=82
FriendlySecondaryPL=28
EnemyPrimaryPL=4
EnemySecondaryPL=12
============================

I hope that you can now see how this all works

Edited October 19, 2019 by Jel

[VonBeerhofen 63]

If I understand correctly, UAW is just a newer version of OAW which instead of copying addons into the game now just sets a directory pointer to the selected game version by means of that script and when players copy the name of that script the filemanager will grab all the stuff and paste it into the game, which is essentially still like it was done before?

You can't use the script to modify the choosen EXE to redirect it to load all the various bits and pieces directly from each folder, each EXE is too different in build and adress locations for such a script would need to go to different memory locations. So UAW takes a bit of time to do that, right?

VonBeerhofen

Edited October 20, 2019 by VonBeerhofen

[Jel 37]

The key to most of this is the file-manager.

In the root folder there is a folder named "EAW Versions" which contains the various exes.
When one is selected it is copied and pasted into the root folder as "eaw.exe"

There is another folder named "LongDirSets" and when one is selected it is copied and pasted into the root folder as "Dir.set".
This file has the paths where the exe needs to look for theatre related files, terrain, TMods, tile and height map files etc.
It does not have any paths to aircraft skin or FM files.

Finally there is a folder named "Planesets" with a number of sub-folders which are listed for selection.
Each sub-folder contains a file named "PDir.set" which has the path-names to the folders containing the skin files for each of the 30 aircraft.
It also contains a file named "FMDir.set" which has the path-names to the folders containing the FM data files for each of the 30 aircraft.
When a sub-folder is selected the "PDir.set" and "FMDir.set" files are copied and pasted into the "GameData" folder.
All the 160 exes are programmed to look for these two files in the "GameData" folder.
So in all a maximum of five small files are copied and pasted, and it is fast.

This is not related to the multiplayer scripts that we have been discussing, other than that when a script is loaded by the host the appropriate  "Dir.set", "PDir.set"  and "FMDir.set" files are automatically loaded on the host's PC, and he is able to post a description telling players which theatre and planeset they need to load using their file-managers.

BTW
UAW is short for "Universal Air Wars" because it is not just European

 

[RIBob 39]

 

I am distressed to see such rancor amongst very valuable contributors to the EAW sim.  I find value in all versions of the game, and I wish all Modders well in their separate undertakings.

That said, I think it only proper that one Modder not "borrow" the work of another Modder without the explicit agreement of the "borrowed-from" Modder, and full and very prominent attribution being given in such every such instance. 

Absent such explicit agreement, then no "borrowing" ought to take place.

I'm sure all fair-minded people would agree with this proposition.  If there are those that disagree--in that "Borrowing" from another Modder without his/her explicit consent is proper behavior-- then let them explain their rationale for doing such unauthorized "borrowing".

Edited October 20, 2019 by RIBob

[RIBob 39]

My comment above was intended to propose a fair and just method of asking for "use" permission and for describing how attribution to other Modders, for use of their product, ought to be done in a fair and reasonable way.

I look forward to seeing ALL the Modders re-vamping their sites/files/comments in order to give prominent credit to those former Modders on whose shoulders current Modders stand.

 Again, this is a fair and just proposition, I think.  Simply give credit where credit is due.

[rotton50 19]

1 hour ago, RIBob said:

Simply give credit where credit is due.

Mr. Jelly has never taken credit for EAWPRO. Adding it as an option under the 1.6 umbrella is a perfectly reasonable thing to do and he's always made it clear that it is VBH's work. Credit HAS been given and that's as much as any of us modders can ask.

You see, our work is non-proprietary, meaning that once it's out there anyone can do whatever they want with it. It doesn't matter if VBH doesn't like what Mr. Jelly is doing. The simple fact it he can't do anything about it.

Of course, in a normal environment a modder would be THRILLED to have his work enjoyed by as many members as possible and so would encourage the actions of someone willing to put in the effort to incorporate their product for greater exposure.

I'll give you an example of how it would work if we had a normal environment in these forums.

Back in 2007 not long after the original SPAW was released by The ModSquad, I downloaded a copy from Talley-ho just see see if there were any installation problems.

Everything looked OK at first and then I noticed that one of the carrier groups had been moved.

When I inquired at our back forum as too the reason, it turned out that none of the groups in the ModSquad's version were close enough for online play. Seems there is no time compression in online play so the opposing forces need to be fairly close so Mr. Jelly moved the group to a better location for online play.

That was fine, however, the carrier group was placed about a mile from an island AND heading right toward it.

Now consider that we had toiled for a year on this project, striving for accuracy and as much realism as we could pack into the game, you can imagine we weren't too happy with this turn of events and we pitched a fit in the forum.

Let me say that technically, Mr. Jelly was within his rights to do what he wanted. However, IN THE SPIRIT OF COOPERATION he offered two different versions, one for offline and one for online play.

Got that?

IN THE SPIRIT OF COOPERATION.

 

 

[+Erik 1,812]

The community doesn't want the bickering and phallus measuring, read their posts!

I happen to agree. Stop bringing this crap to my table, it's insulting and very childish. You wouldn't allow this at your dinner table with your family sitting around so why should I allow it here? I enjoy you both and reading what you have to offer but if I have to make a decision between each of you, EAW with it's variations, or this community as a whole; that won't be a hard decision to make. 

I've hidden all the posts that don't relate to Jel's original post. I'll leave this in Stratus' capable hands and will await his final decision which I'll act on and support without question. Final warning gentlemen. Get it together.

Thank you.

[Moggy 2]

On 20/10/2019 at 11:56 PM, RIBob said:

My comment above was intended to propose a fair and just method of asking for "use" permission and for describing how attribution to other Modders, for use of their product, ought to be done in a fair and reasonable way.

I look forward to seeing ALL the Modders re-vamping their sites/files/comments in order to give prominent credit to those former Modders on whose shoulders current Modders stand.

 Again, this is a fair and just proposition, I think.  Simply give credit where credit is due.

Back in the day, we had SEAWC, and it dealt with this quite simply. See: http://www.thatoneplease.co/Tally-Ho/seawccharter.html

 

Quote

 

THE DECLARATION OF MODIFICATION

The members of SEAWC agree unconditionally to the following:

Please Note: The term 'file', as used below, refers to 'any type' of input to EAW, including aircraft/ground object 3DZ models, aircraft/ground object skins, terrains, special effects, sounds, campaigns and tools/utilities.

1) All those members of SEAWC, singularly or as part of a group effort, agree that any new or old files, created and posted/released by them, can be freely used or modified by anyone, without the necessity for verbal permission or written authorization from the originator.

2) All those members of SEAWC would ask that if any individual changes/amends any of their files and subsequently releases these files as their own work, that the individual gives due credit to the originator(s) in the readme file. If those involved in the history of the model/skin cannot be established, then a statement to that effect should be placed in the readme file. This would allow future updates to the readme file, should the information become available.

3) All those members of SEAWC agree that any work created by them is in the hope of enhancing EAW for the benefit of everyone and that no self importance, self esteem or financial gain is sought or inferred.

4) All those members of SEAWC agree that if only a modification has been carried out to an original file, the readme file should say that it is a modification, and the file should not be released as 'new'.

5) Last, but by no means least, all those members of SEAWC agree that, regardless of the level of your involvement, EAW should be enjoyed for what it is, a flight simulator. We are all here to have fun.

 

Can't do better than that. I've always tried to adhere to it.

[Jel 37]

17 hours ago, Moggy said:

Can't do better than that. 

Absolutely 

[RIBob 39]

On 10/23/2019 at 4:25 PM, Moggy said:

Back in the day, we had SEAWC, and it dealt with this quite simply. See: http://www.thatoneplease.co/Tally-Ho/seawccharter.html

 

Can't do better than that. I've always tried to adhere to it.

That common-sense agreement applies to the signatories thereto.  Many, perhaps all, provisions contained therein ought to pertain to ALL Modders.  I am a simple User.  That said, I am also a human being, with a decent sense of Right and Wrong, and can see the benefits from being aboveboard, and giving credit where credit is due.  

[Jel 37]

The original release was a patch to be run in a 1.2 folder.

However, I have just uploaded a stand-alone complete working folder for anyone who is curious about what our first release was like.

Original 1.28 release

I have also edited the "V1.28 Details" text file, and this is how it reads:

 

1.28 features.
European Air War Readme!
The Code Group is proud to release patch 1.28 and trusts online and offline players will enjoy the new possibilities it offers.

FEATURES OF THE NEW EXE

Some you will only find in gameplay:

Updated Flight / Damage modelling for the 30 default planes utilising the new exe's improved gun damage routines. This corrects the relationship between small mgs and medium mgs/cannons
Gun convergence set at historical ranges
Gunsight reticule size adjustable from ini value
Dust on the runways
F9 view available almost down to ground level
Extended field of view in 1024 x 768 mode
"Players Skill" set in Configure Game/Difficulty/Combat now limits viewing options and icon range (also see Difficulty in multiplayer section below). "Realistic Gunnery" amended, and now the only difference is the bullet damage gets increased by a factor of 1.5 when "off"
New individual sounds for each aircraft, with added Doppler effect and an increase in volume during dives
Separate sound ini's and related "Sounds" folder
Glaring sun including nicer sunsets, great for hiding planes in no icons games!
Improved, more aggressive AI behaviour, and Escorts that really escort!
Damaged flight controls (with explosions) will increase drag, but are still partially effective
Falling debris from cannon hits on aircraft
Destroyable tailgunners in bombers
New engine temperature handling
Combat flaps for most fighters
New take-off and landing routines, be careful with that rudder or the undercarriage will break!
New aircraft parking routines
New explosions, dustclouds and craters
Ground object damagemodel updated and ground vehicles (train, trucks etc) resized
Moving ship convoys
Wrecks for crashed plane
Fixed load-outs
Improved cockpits on some aircraft including nicer rearview graphics
Bullet smoke trails
Gun flashes from muzzles, visible from inside/outside cockpit
Improved contrails with adjusted appearance altitude
Adjusted altitude bands for missions
Frames Per Second now printed on screen with "Ctrl G"
Accelerated time even close to the enemy is possible
Up to 255 TMods (objects types) are available there are allied and axis vehicles and trains
Improved AAA, be careful around enemy airfields!
More people on the ground and birds in the air
Baled pilots become 3D Parachutists with corrected decent rate
Night fighters get a form of radar during night missions on Ace setting
Four engined bombers are flyable from groundstarts, and individual engines can be started or stopped
"Bomber stream" night bomber formations
Correct pre-decimal currency in UK/US leave passes
Alternative Quickstart missions available with ini toggle
Ability to make fighter sweeps over friendly territory
Giant shadows bug that appeared at low levels is fixed
Fully ungarbled cockpit fix
Many bugfixes to the default game
...and probably some more that we have forgotten about.

Others are obvious from the outset:

A two aircraft selection screen option, Axis and Allied, with the colour of the text being changed by left-clicking at the bottom of the screen and selecting from the popup colour palette
Any flyable plane except for the V1 is listed for selection in single missions
Interdiction missions allow you to select the type of convoy and the size

There are a number of improvements to multiplayer:

The host can set the target, friendly and enemy bases, types of AI planes, whether you respawn after dying, whether your squad includes AI plane, and several other things
The "Difficulty" setting limits ingame viewing options and icon range
Interdiction types and sizes can be set, as in single mission mode
Multiplayer settings can be created in a text file and loaded by the host

NEW INI FILE ADJUSTABLE ENTRIES

Under "EAW" section

"HudFontSize=0" Toggles the HUD Font Bold, to improve legibility at high resolutions "0" is off, "1" is on
"GunSightSize=1024" Sets the Gunsight Reticule size. Valid values range from 800 to 2100. Note: "1550" is the maximum that fits nicely on the current Spitfire gunsight. Using this value, the wingtips of a fighter fit into the circle at a range of about 150 yards.
"OldStyle=0" "0" activates the new 2 screen plane selection option, "1" selects the original 3 screen layout
"ColourAxis=10" default colour of text on new Axis plane selection screen
"ColourAllied=3" default colour of text on new Axis plane selection screen
"BirdSeed=5" a value 1 (more) to 5 (less), to change the occurrence of birds ingame
"QuickVersion=0" default Quickstart (random mission type)
"QuickVersion=1" very small battle size + random mission type.
"QuickVersion=2" very small battle size + last selected mission type (single mission setup)
"QuickVersion=3" very small battle size + Figthersweep
"QuickVersion=4" very small battle size + Escort
With QuickVersion > 0 Bombers only will get interdicts

Under "Netoption" section (also adjustable from Online prebriefing screen)

"StartOnGround=0" Multiplayer mission option, "0" = airstart, "1" = groundstart
"NoAI=0" Multiplayer mission option, "0" = with AI in your squadron, "1" = no AIs
"AllowRespawn=1" Multiplayer mission option, "0" = No automatic respawn, "1" = Allow Respawn

IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS FOR MODDERS

Data Tables:
External TMod tables can be made and saved in a "TMod.dat" file
External ship convoy waypoint tables can be made and saved in a "convoys.dat" file
External formation tables can be made and saved in a "Frmation.dat" file

These files can be made by editors.
If any of them are present in the EAW folder the new exe will use the file in preference to the built-in table.

Some subtle things:

To solve a frontline problem in FAW we discovered that the exe uses a particular "TCode" as a reference to determine the friendly and enemy sides of the frontline.  
Previously we thought it was based on the Capitals set in campaign files.
If the value is contained in a file named "CapSet.dat" in the EAW folder it will be used in preference to the one hard coded in the exe.

Previously unused values in "Planes.dat" can now be utilised, and a plane can be set as a seaplane, do a carrier landing, or have a fixed undercarriage. 
There are some other possibilities where several different nationalities can be displayed when read from an external file, in preference to the standard ones.

CAUTION
While most existing addon mods should be compatible with this patch, some mods e.g. Flight models, will disable some features and produce minor gameplay problems. The normal rules apply about online compatibility.

PLEASE NOTE

This is intended as a brief outline. Contact any of us via SimHQ or CombatAce if you need to know more.

DISCLAIMER A necessary evil these days

We accept no liability for any damage this might do to your system. By installing this patch you accept full liability for installing this to your own computer and do so at your own risk. Having said this, it has been fully play tested with no resulting problems on our computers.

CREDITS

This patch was made by the cooperative efforts of the EAW Code Group, ably assisted by a dedicated bunch of testers. Thanks to everyone involved.
We hope you enjoy it!

Jel  

 

Edited October 27, 2019 by Jel

[Jel 37]

I would add that at the time of the original release most EAW pilots were flying the 1.26e version with OAWUnified installed. Copying this folder and patching it with the 1.28 release files allowed them to use it with a variety of theatres and planesets

[RIBob 39]

Thanks for providing this valuable resource.  I am currently running a V1.28e version of the game, and find it very satisfactory.  I might add that on my win 7 computer, I have many versions of the EAW game, as well as variants.  I collect them as they appear/ as I come across them, although I have not installed most of them; they are stored for possible future use.

I suppose that this version of the EAW game is not easily played on Win 10?      

[Jel 37]

I have just updated an old 1.26e/OAWUnfied folder with the 1.28 patch, and it had Spanish Air War, DAW, Pacific Tide III and several other theatres  in it.
It ran very well in Windows 10 

Edited October 27, 2019 by Jel

[RIBob 39]

6 minutes ago, Jel said:

I have just updated an old 1.26e/OAWUnfied folder with the 1.28 patch, and it had Spanish Air War, DAW, Pacific Tide III and several other theatres  in it.
It ran very well in Windows 10 

Well, all right!  I'll tinker with it, and much obliged.

To what level was the original EAW modded?  I believe V1.28e was not the final iteration.

I would like to have a final version of the original EAW game that is runnable on Win 10.

If you can provide such, I, along with many others, would be in your debt. 

[Jel 37]

My operating system is Win 10 Home and my MB is an ASUS_H97PLUS with 8 GB of RAM
My graphics card is an AMD Radeon R7 200 Series
I can run all versions of EAW on it including the latest UAW160.

If I recall you were having trouble running the UAW160 test install in Windows 10:

UAW160 Test Install

We thought the problem might be solved with re-setting the "eaw.ini"
Have you resolved that problem?

 

[rwatson 26]

Good set for those who weren't around back then,, and I find it always best to delete or rename any ini that comes with a set and let EAW rebuild it

Edited October 27, 2019 by rwatson