VonBeerhofen

No files were uploaded to SimHQ, however links were shown to a person's Mediafire account where the bad version was offered first, incorporated in a file manager. After what I would call a battle for ownership, the file was seemingly removed but had just been renamed and uploaded here. I have no problem if the file remains, after all it's those who install it who also run the risk and the person who hosts it is responsible for any resulting issues. If you think that restoring a few stock 3D models and repackaging with another person's name, hard coded into my work is a mod, then yes it is a mod, but I must stress that due to the many hard coded changes in the program there is very little room for modding by people who were not involved in it's development and makes it much more likely to increase the danger. However that doesn't take away the fact that this version is bad, where as a good version is freely available from Mark EAW's website. You're welcome to your opinion but I do not intend to proof the danger this version contains, it's my creation and my documentation says it is, but you don't have to take my word for it. Any decent assembly programmer can verify that it's true. Mistakes just happen and aren't always immediately caught in the testing process, which is why feedback is so important. Besides, wouldn't it be more prudent to replace that version with the latest, nothing wrong with that me thinks. I can't undo the 500+ downloads though. I'm very happy with the locations to show my work, thx, but I don't see what that has to do with reiterating a warning about a dangerous file to keep people safe. What seems more significant is that a person went ahead with uploading that file in spite of such warnings. I'll replace the word disputed with another, maybe the word discussed is more suitable but I don't think it's the right word either, sorry for being Dutch. I see that Mark EAW managed to delete the offending ZIP and I'm pleased it's no longer an issue, for me that is. My excuse to anyone who were involuntarily dragged into this but I didn't know how else to describe this threat as my English vocabulary isn't great, especially not without translation programs or regular Google searches. VonBeerhofen

Now what in heaven's name drives a person to upload someone else's creation after hacking his signature into it's EAW.EXE and removing all install help and identification files, and what can possibly be gained by such action? Now don't tell me that it is to improve the 3D plane shadows or to remove the rotating 3D waves simply because you or others don't like them, or to fix a Spitfire hangar animation. Such an 'upgrade' can simply be stored in a small .ZIP of just a few Mb's to be dropped into the game folder where the EAW.EXE resides. In other words, that person has a choice to offer such package himself and take credit for it! If you don't like the reticule, you throw in another or if you don't like the sky, you replace it with another one from Sandbagger's, I mean that's how it has always been done isn't it? EAWPRO is build the same way and as long as you provide the files in the right EAWPRO format things will work the same way too. Having a central download location for my creation helps users to remain aware of pending releases, fixes and/or upgrades while other downloads elsewhere will only further muddy the waters at the cost of the EAW community. Without the apropiate instructions and identification vital feedback is withheld from the person who created it and forces that person to further restrict the package to what is essentially nothing more then a Demo and spend precious time on implementing extra routines or removing existing ones which have no other use then to stop this foolish behavior. I'd rather spend my time on making this game much more interesting but actions like these are severely hampering further development and in case of serious programming errors I have no control over fixing said uploads as they are not under my control and therefore unsupported. Besides that I'm getting pretty tired of it and when I get tired there's more chances for errors. The person who undertakes such foolish action can not help you, as he never took part in the 20+ years of development of EAWPRO and it remains to be seen what other side effects this may have on EAWPRO players who encounter such bugs. I've seen many people throw in the towel when there were issues and I never saw them again. Things get worse when a version is flagged as dangerous and don't think that such versions do not occasionally slip through the mazes of my security net. It's not done on purpose but sometimes bugs can not immediately be linked to a change and tracking them isn't made any easier with multiple versions of which I'm not aware, you can see that in other versions too. Simply because of the complexity of the program it may take months to fully test it and in the vastness of the EAW world things may not be happening within your range of view, hence you may not even be aware of a developing issue in spite of knowing there is one. Now this ISN"T just playing games with anyone or anything, these are real and serious issues which have to be prevented, i.e. such files need to be reported and removed for the safety of the EAW community, so please report them to the moderators or me so appropriate action can be taken and we can maintain a safe gaming environment. I'm sorry to say that further releases of my work have been postponed for now until I find a way to prevent more of such foolish actions by these irresponsible persons. I understand people may have questions about EAWPRO's changes but just as with any program I can not always supply an answer as such knowledge is often reserved for the development team only. However I feel that sufficient knowledge has been given to allow players the best experience, especially since EAWPRO is a FREE upgrade. So if you think you have an answer to the initial question send me a P.M., maybe something can be done about it. VonBeerhofen EAW Launchpad janitor

I investigated it a bit further and found that all it's doing is to indicate where the reticule is when you rotate the view in the cockpit. It's only active when the game isn't using 2D cockpits, i.e. in resolutions above 800 x 600 in the stock game. Maybe it's useful for Track IR or similar controllers. It's of no personal use to me as it's much easier to reset the cockpit snap view and faster too. VonBeerhofen

OK, show me the picture, maybe we're not talking about the same thing. As far as I can determine it's controlled by the HUD value in the INI, together with all the other targeting info. I did change something there, maybe what you see is the result of it. VonBeerhofen

It's called the front_director and it's only visible when the reticule is not or only partial visible. No buttons are asigned to it and in WinME there's no action visible when I press mouse or stick buttons. It's noted that it's not very useful at present and that it can easily be given a function, perhaps lead position of the bullets when fired under heavy g-force or as ILS. Not really thought about it but it can even function as a new bomb sight, like the Norden and help aiming in bombing missions, I like that idea as I do have a bomber pilot in the group who loves doing bomb runs but can't hit the broad side of a mountain as it stands now, unless it's a carpet bombing mission. I've added it already to my list of ideas.

A new field tile(Nr.475 so a bit of a jubilee version): VonBeerhofen

I ran JelFixV2.exe and it is the in SimHQ disputed version of EAWPRO which he also tried to incorporate into an OAW version. VonBeerhofen Launchpad Janitor and Creator of EAWPRO

Not much left of my plane, :) VonBeerhofen

A 6th tile was added to this set, so it can be used to replace ANY nature group in EAWPRO. Here the set is temporarily replacing the entire forest set in the Ardennes to test it out: Of course any shown graphics may be subject to change in future updates, these are merely basic designs. VonBeerhofen

And here she is in full battledress: VonBeerhofen

Interesting read Mark, Thx. VBH

And here's the SPARE tile replacing the center tile in the previous pictures. Obviously it can occupy ANY of the previous tiles or be used with any other set or as standalone and as such will significantly change the layout of the terrain. Talking about SPARES, there are some 600+ in the Harvest Set and new tiles are still being created. VonBeerhofen

Here's 4 tiles in the set in a mountain configuration, which in stock EAW also happens to contain a set of 4. Notice that these tiles have not been randomized yet so this is how it would also look in stock EAW. These tiles can be used in any configuration or order as they're not subject to stock EAW border transitions, which limits a tile's use, but will fit anywhere, even in an EAWPRO City. Another tile is still under development as an extra spare, after all it's never enough! VonBeerhofen

I think to maintain reasonable frame rates. Memory back in the days wasn't particularly large, computers were slow and as a result my WinME machine couldn't have more then 50Mb addons or very weird things started happening. Ofcourse it depended on each individual system. VBH

A new tile type in EAWPRO, the Spacer. No it's not about flying into space as in MAW but it's a set of tiles which will add a bit more rest to the Harvest terrain if desired. Some people who've been following this thread may think that it's the same as a Breaker tile and in a way it is but there's a significant difference. The Breaker tiles don't come as a set and have signs of cultivation or habitation, whereas a Spacer set doesn't and can be used as standalone or replace an entire nature, like for instance a forest or a mountain or grass set. You could fill an entire island with it and give it the impression of being uninhabited. You can see one of these in a group of 4 behind the left wing of this Me110, directly left of it's tail. 4 or 5 more are under development so stock tile arrangements can simply be copied into this terrain when required to quickly adapt visuals in our on line missions in the EAW Launchpad. VonBeerhofen (EAW Launchpad Janitor)

Cool find Mark, I hope there's still a few who can use it, Thx! VonBeerhofen

New pictures with new tiles showing the use of "BREAKER" tiles. These are tiles with not much on them and as such easy and less time consuming to create. They open up the crowded areas, which are obviously not everywhere as populated as some pictures suggest. So by replacing one or two 'crowded' tiles a bit more open space is generated. Of course such tiles can also function as a standalone nature and create a more desolate looking terrain. All tiles initially start out as a 'breaker' in Photoshop and allow them to be easily changed at will by moving, rotating, adding or subtracting layers, the one's shown here are new and will be turned into more populated versions at a later stage, the pictures were made for determining how the transitions to adjacent tiles work and to get an idea on how they can best be used. I also found this picture, on old gem from the past when I created the sky for Moggy's Dunkirk and had just begun investigating how to best create these tiles. Sadly I lost my border set which also provided the ground's irregularities background on top of which everything else was drawn so I reverted to using borders from previously created tiles instead to keep border colors as identical as possible, this to get as little seams as possible. To be honest they're not as precise as when I started as I had to make minimal changes for each new tile and those changes accumulated over time due to the new process I started using. Notice the alternative coastline and glasshouses I tried to mimic in my first attempts. I was very happy with the coastline as it contains the connecting road of the Atlantic Wall which ran from Spain all the way to the North of Holland, part of which is still present in my village, as are some coastal defenses. P.S. of course the lake color was later changed after I saw the result in this picture, in game things can look very different due to the ambient lighting, you learn as you go. VonBeerhofen

Way to go, works for me too. Hope you'll have a pleasant flashback with the old girl! VonBeerhofen

Hi Pips, Installation notes are included with their ZIP's but it's questionable if that stuff can still be made to work. Still works on my old legacy machine though, :) VonBeerhofen

Wow Mark, pretty elaborate review, nice one! Great to see all the information bundled, hope it'll attract a few more players. VonBeerhofen