Jel

The default EAW theatre is a 640x320 grid of terrain tiles. When you fly EAW and chose a target and a home base you see a map with the targets and bases on it. They were put in their positions on the grid using an editor which can add new targets, and delete or move existing ones. When you take off from your home base you will see hangars, AAA guns, barracks, fuel dumps and the like. These are the "TMods", and they were added to the your home base and placed in position and orientation using the same editor. When you fly you may see ships, trains, trucks and armoured vehicles. These are also "TMods". You may also be attacking a radar tower or a warehouse. Again these are "TMods" which need to be added and positioned by the target editor. There are other TMods such as trees, forests, houses, farms, cathedrals, windmills. These can be added and positioned using the target editor, but many are positioned on terrain tiles using a different editor. So if you note the numbers of targets and TMods in EAW1.2, and compare that with the numbers in EAWPro or ETO2018 you can see how many new targets and TMods have been added and positioned by VBH and Ray. This was time consuming work. The figures were quoted to recognise that. I would add that Ray has used my target editor to make SPAW, ModSqadBoB, in addition to his ETO2015. Moggy has used it for IRAQ , Dunkirk, and Switzerland. Pobs used it to make Spanish Air War and a Burma theatre. I used it to upgrade a number of older theatres such as DAW, Malta, Carrier Air War, and Pearl Harbour. I also made experimental limited tileset versions of the 1914-18 Western front, and the BoB theatre. The files we created have worked flawlessly, and I am justifiably proud of the reliability of my work. Jel

Consider the case of a player who would like to learn how to modify a 1.28 - 160 ETO theatre. It could not be done by hex editing, so what are your suggestions?

Here are some statistical facts regarding the development of the ETO theatre. I have checked the sizes of the "targets.dat" and "tardata.dat" files to calculate the number of targets, and the number of TMods. In EAW1.2 there are 302 targets and 3826 Tmods In the EAWPro public release there are 309 targets and 17894 Tmods In ETO 2018 there are 316 targets and 31751 TMods This theatre is Ray's ETO 2015 plus a few convoy targets added by me. It gives the reader some idea of the amount of work that has been done by VBH and Ray in order to produce much more interesting ETO theatres in terms of targets and ground objects. Jel

The fuselage hit bubble is a single value in the 160 "plane.dat" file for an individual aircraft, or in the 30 plane "planes.dat" file used by 1.2 and EAWPro. It does not get changed in the game.

Over 10 years ago Will Gee introduced the TM2 system with 4 bytes per tile. It cannot be applied to the 1.2, FXExe and EAWPro exes. However, as a result the target editor was modified, and it has continually evolved due to input from users and further development of the 1.28 series up to 160. In the development of the 1.28 series we took out a TMod table which was hard coded in the eaw.exe, put the data in an editable file, and later split this file into individual TMod data files which the exe reads. These files are easily edited with an appropriate editor with which the user knows exactly which values are being edited. Individual edited files can be copied into the root folder for testing. Similarly, when we split "planes.dat" into 30 individual files each single file is easily edited, allowing the hit bubbles to be set (and lots of other things too). Again the users know exactly what they are editing. Formation tables were put into editable external files, and the exe was edited to allow additional types. Similarly the exe was edited to accommodate additional runway types in an editable file, and as a result the carriers from 1.28c onwards have runways on raided decks. The hard coded data in the1.2 exe was a PITA. VBH made a good file map of the eaw.exe which made his hex-editing achievements possible, but no other modder has found the need to hex-edit since working editors became available. What he has achieved is remarkable, but the possibilities are restricted because of the hard coded data in the exe, its inability to read use the data from any new external files, and limited available space for any new code to be added. VBH claims that he cannot run the 1.28 series, which I do not dispute, but if he cannot, then despite his years of working with EAW he has limited experience from which to comment on the editing software that we use when he has nothing to test the results with.

As you have quoted VBH"s comment I must re-iterate how ill-informed and misguiding they are in terms of the current software that we use. You should ask the modders who use it, but I would add that it needs a good understanding of what the files involved actually do in EAW. With the hit-bubble system locked into EAWPro I would doubt that the eaw.exe could be hex-edited to achieve the result that you would like. In terms of the damage model the bomb-bay is effectively just a part of the fuselage, and there is no code relating to whether or not it contains bombs.

Ray was correct about survival chances. However, it was not a general statement, but one specific to having to fly below 100 feet and below 150 mph in a straight line to release a torpedo in SPAW. The targets were invariably in a convoy of well armed ships and the fire was intense. His adjustments made it much better. There is a lot of small AAA fire, but fewer hits.

So I made a new exe, and a new utility. The new exe also reads the heavy flak data from the "FlakData.mpf" file, which has two additional entries. This makes for easier editing as only one file is involved, and to do this I made the utility which saves the "FlakData.mpf" file. The utility displays the default values to give the user some idea of the sizes involved. There is virtually no documentation re- the appropriate values for the heavy flak accuracy and rate of fire, so I used the utility to change these values and flew an escort mission to Calais Accuracy 0 ROF 40 Accuracy 3 ROF 40 Accuracy 5 ROF 4 Accuracy 10 ROF 1 Rate of fire was self evident. It needs to be at least 1 as 0 will cause a CTD. Accuracy can be 0 and as it increases the flak bursts group together more and more. Having a value of 10 just about puts them all together, creating a straight line effect of flak-burst groups as you can see in the last screenie. The source code is using a "bitwise" shift and there may be another way which would create a wider range of possibilities

In addition to the mission parameters settings there are more settings that can be used in 160, some going back as far as 1.28a. In the "eaw.ini" file there are settings for flak accuracy and rate of fire: KeyboardLanguage=0 FlakAccuracy=2 FlakRof=2 HudFontSize=1 These settings apply to the heavy AAA, but there are settings for the light AA and small arms fire which are read from a "FlakData.mpf" file. They cover gun calibre, duration and rate of fire: if (fd = Copen("FlakData.mpf", O_RDONLY | O_BINARY) != -1) { fp = fopen(RealFilename, "r"); fscanf(fp, "%d\n", &LightAAACaliber); fscanf(fp, "%d\n", &LightAAADuration); fscanf(fp, "%d\n", &LightAAArof); fscanf(fp, "%d\n", &SmalAAACaliber); fscanf(fp, "%d\n", &SmalAAADuration); fscanf(fp, "%d\n", &SmalAAArof); fclose(fp); } else { LightAAACaliber = 12; LightAAADuration = 240; LightAAArof = 13; SmalAAACaliber = 5; SmalAAADuration = 160; SmalAAArof = 15; } If the file is not present then the default values of 12, 240, 13, 5, 160 and 15 are used. "FlakData.mpf" can be read from a theatre folder. It is a text file with the "mpf" extender so it is easily made using notepad as "FlakData.txt" and then the filename can be edited to make it "FlakData.mpf". Ray used one for SPAW which reads as follows: 2 140 10 2 190 20 So by combining the eaw.ini setting with a "FlakData.mpf" file some very serious enemy fire can be generated. This has prompted me to consider making a new exe which reads a "FlakData.mpf" file with two extra values for the heavy AAA settings that are in the "eaw.ini", and ignore the ini settings. That would enable the player to just set up the "FlakData.mpf" file with all the settings in the one file

How to do the bounce Download the latest 160 exes from here as a 7-zip self installer: http://www.mediafire.com/file/gf7u7si5sia6izz/EAWVersions30Jan2019.exe/file Run the 7-zip installer in your 160 folder and it will add the latest exes to your "EAW Versions" folder. Run the "PlaneSetExeTheatreSwitchV3.exe" and select one of the new exes, select the "10-ETO default" planeset and the "00-Default ETO Theatre". Run EAW, select a single mission and set up a Spitfire IXc Merlin66 in a fighter sweep like this: Note that in red at the top the "Bf 110C-4" was set as the encounter plane. This was done by selecting it as the enemy secondary plane, then clicking "HERE" at the top. When that had been done I changed the enemy secondary to "Do not select". Flying the mission I pressed "E" to locate the airfield I flew over it and kept checking in 6 o'clock view. A warning appeared about unidentified aircraft: Turning, and clicking "T" picked up one of the 110s Once you feel OK with this then you can experiment, with AI planes and different targets. To get 262s you will need to fly 1945 missions. You can set the enemy encounter plane as "Random". The key to the whole process it selecting the enemy secondary plane and "CLICK HERE"

By adapting the "enemy encounter" code I made it possible for an allied pilot to catch 262s as they take off. The concept has been extended so that a friendly pilot can set any enemy plane to "bounce", or have a random selection. This adds a new dimension to EAW gameplay, because in normal single missions the enemy aircraft are always in the air when contact is made. Other enemy planes can be set as enemy primary and enemy secondary planes to cover the ones taking off, and they will be in the air when the target is reached. What I cannot do is to set up a situation where the enemy planes are landing, which is what RIBob appears to be asking in his very last question.

A test with a sweep to Chaumont: Just approaching the French coast: Flew over a coastal airfield and the enemy scrambled:

In 160 we have these ini settings EnemyEncounter=1 FriendlyEncounter=0 If EnemyEncounter is set to a high value then flying close to an enemy base can spawn a scramble take-off of enemy fighters. I think that the type relates to squadron files which reference the base, but maybe the code could be adapted. I need to look at it to check the values which are used.

I have just been re-visiting the railway code in 1.29 and 160. These pics are from a 160 test, all with the same planeset and "ETO with barges...." theatre, running a mixed interdiction in a 190A just for screenies. Mixed interdictions replaced railway interdictions, with convoys running on tracks, some which are visible and some which are not. Target "Chelveston" to check the trains on the four parallel tracks, some which run in opposite directions: Target "Foreness" where there are multiple, and different ship convoys: Target "London" with barges on the Thames: All of the tracks are in the stock "EAW_RRD.DAT" file, but I made use of some previously unused values in it, and I think that was originally done in 1.28F. I am not sure how many people have tried this experimental theatre which was really just created to test that the code worked. A number of the MGOs came from Col Gibbon. Jel

Having originally notified VBH re- this problem at SimHQ I added his new file to my installation and it worked. I saw parachutes for the first time in EAWPro Thanks for the fix VBH

I am running all versions of EAW in Win10 on this laptop using DXWind and nGlide Thanks Russ

I just tried an install on 1.26E and it worked in Win10 DXWin and glide. I used the d/l from Mark's site. What was the fix for the contrail problem that Russ encountered?

Sometimes RIBob gets 1.28E and 1.26E mixed up. I would have thought EAWPro could be installed on a copy of a1.26E folder I do not think that any of the CDF and other files not overwritten in the installation have been modified beyond the 1.2 version.

As it happens with the loading screen you should try without any wrappers. I have been doing my tests in W10 and no wrapper, and I do not get the problem.

As I wrote I need to try to re-create the problem, so I need all of the details Has anyone else here encountered this problem?

One thing I specifically asked is if you get the problem with a single mission when you set the AI planes. I need to try to determine whether or not it is specifically a problem with instant missions, or if it is a more general problem.

I had a look at the source code, and made a change to the "Instant Mission" routines. It had struck me that nobody would want to fly an instant mission at night, so I limited the "time of day". Normally 0 = random 1 = dawn 2 = day 3 = dusk 4 = night So I tried hard coding it to "3" so that you get a dusk mission. The upshot was a long wait with a black screen. If I set it to "1" or "2" it was fine. That was very curious as re-setting to "3" created the same problem. It makes me wonder if the problem Mark refers to is related to the time of day value being used for an instant mission.

I have been checking the effects of Roy's code and the instant mission setting in the eaw.ini 0 = random 1= sweep 2=interept 3=protect flight 4=interdict 5=last type I have not hit any problems having flown a single mission first, and sticking with the same planeset and theatre.

I should add that AFAIK nobody has modified the instant mission code in the 1.28 series since Roy did eons ago.

Does the problem occur when you set up a single mission with selected AI planes? There are many imponderables with a quick mission. It uses some data from your single missions because when you fly a single mission mission data is saved in the "GameData" sub-folder of the theatre folder that you are using. I checked this by setting up a single mission, and then flying it. When I finished I deliberately shut down EAW and re-started. it. This time I selected an instant mission, and I got the same plane. When I quit the instant mission the debriefing screen showed that I flew from the base I had flown from in the previous single mission. I do not know what the exe does if you have a brand new theatre, with nothing saved in "GameData" when you try an instant mission. Then there is the possibility that if you change a planeset after flying an allied plane there could be an axis plane in the same slot which might cause problems for the exe. Finally, we have Roy's ini setting that allows you to fly different types of instant mission, which may add potential problems in terms of the exe generating AI planes from the current planeset. I rarely try instant missions, and when I fly single missions I always set the AI planes and never use "Random". 140 had the planesets in the theatre folders, which was less complex, and in this regard I would anticipate fewer problems.