[TEC] SH5.exe patches to fix bugs and add functionality

[Sartoris]

Originally Posted by gap

Hi Volodya,

I think Trevally was referring to enemy planes in friendly ports, or friendly planes in in enemy ports. As far as planes and ports are on the same side (an there are not too many alien units around), there shouldn't be problems of any sort

Yeah, that's how I remember it, too.

[volodya61]

Originally Posted by gap

Hi Volodya,

I think Trevally was referring to enemy planes in friendly ports, or friendly planes in in enemy ports. As far as planes and ports are on the same side (an there are not too many alien units around), there shouldn't be problems of any sort

Hi Gabriele
Perhaps.. but I'm not sure .. as I remember, there was a question - why British planes not coming to the port although their base is near the port.. something like that.. but I'm not sure again ..

Originally Posted by Alky

Where can I find the patch to update SH5 to 1.20 ?? The GU updater doesn't work. Thanx.

Here - http://www.mediafire.com/download/gc..._5_1.02_eu.exe

[Alky]

Originally Posted by volodya61

Here - http://www.mediafire.com/download/gc..._5_1.02_eu.exe

Ahh.. thank you sir!

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by sober

Planes leaving from an airfield when spotted in an enemy port next
Does a docked carrier have planes taking off ?

Good idea. Should be easy to code in. Yes docked carriers will have planes taking off. I know where the bit is though that says dockedship I'm just not using it currently. Reason being is I don't fully understand what this does/doesn't do yet.

Originally Posted by Sartoris

Yes, there definitely need to be more repercussions for entering an enemy port and blowing stuff up. Could you code it so that planes come and patrol above the port you were detected in? Or even make it so that there's a chance of some sort of enemy patrol vessel arriving (maybe a torpedo boat)?

I need to make the airfields do what the carriers now do

[gap]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

I need to make the airfields do what the carriers now do

Can you introduce a random delay, for simulating aircrews not being ready? Possibly veterancy related: the lesser trained airgroups, the higher the chance of them not being immediately ready, and the longer the random delay range.

P.S. could be:

delay chance = C * (1 - AM)
maximum delay = D * (1 - AM)

where AM is the veterancy related Airbase Modifier (AirStrikes.cfg), and C and D are conveniently set absolute maximums (50% and 15 min, for instance).

Using my numbers with IRAI airbase modifiers, we would have (delay chance / maximum allowed delay):

Poor Airbase: 37.5% / 11.25 min
Novice Airbase: 30% / 9 min
Competent Airbase: 15% / 4.5
Veteran Airbase: 10% / 3 min
Elite Airbase: 0% / 0 min

Indeed, if you like my idea but you think that it would introduce too much delay, we could further reduce the above numbers, and/or we could use a power of Airbase Modifiers in order to increase the difference between different training levels.

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by gap

Can you introduce a random delay, for simulating aircrews not being ready? Possibly veterancy related: the lesser trained airgroups, the higher the chance of them not being immediately ready, and the longer the random delay range.

That one is easy to do. For the carriers I set the logic steps value to 0 to force the game to check for airstrikes and then spawn the new air units (via my new code) immediately. Instead of setting the logic steps to 0 I'll just leave the value as is for airbases. Thus it will take 91.0 X logic steps remaining before the airfield reacts. So minimum time could be 91.0 seconds, maximum could be logic steps defined in airstrike.cfg X 91.0 seconds

[gap]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

That one is easy to do. For the carriers I set the logic steps value to 0 to force the game to check for airstrikes and then spawn the new air units (via my new code) immediately. Instead of setting the logic steps to 0 I'll just leave the value as is for airbases. Thus it will take 91.0 X logic steps remaining before the airfield reacts. So minimum time could be 91.0 seconds, maximum could be logic steps defined in airstrike.cfg X 91.0 seconds

I am not sure that I fully understand the logic of logic steps. How are "remaining logic steps" calculated?

Anyway, multiplying 91 second times 15 (IRAI airstrike.cfg settings), gives a maximum interval of 22.75 minutes. Isn't this delay too long? Would it be affected by Airbase Modifier (see the PS in previous post)?

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by gap

I am not sure that I fully understand the logic of logic steps. How are "remaining logic steps" calculated?

Anyway, multiplying 91 second times 15 (IRAI airstrike.cfg settings), gives a maximum interval of 22.75 minutes. Isn't this delay too long? Would it be affected by Airbase Modifier (see the PS in previous post)?

In the main game loop a function is called that updates all the game's timers. One of those timers is this 91.0 second one. Every 91.0 seconds the logic steps value is decremented. Once it's value is 0:
- a function is called that checks for airstrikes
- the logic steps value is reloaded with the logic steps value defined in AirStrike.cfg file

Is the Delay too long? Could be. Chances of the logic steps value being at the value defined in the AirStrikes.cfg file is very slim. Thus it's a 'random' value and is perfect for simulating delay in the airbases launching aircraft.

[gap]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

Is the Delay too long? Could be. Chances of the logic steps value being at the value defined in the AirStrikes.cfg file is very slim.

To be exact, 6.66% (1/15) with IRAI settings, assuming that I got your explainations right

[ygirouard]

I'm trying to use the Generic Patcher for the first time, and I can't find a decent set of instructions anywhere.

- The original thread (this thread) doesn't contain any instructions.
- The zip itself (TDW_GenericPatcher_v_1_0_122_0.zip) doesn't contain any instructions either.



- The how-to threads linked at the bottom of the original thread are either outdated or have broken images. The one by mia389 is no longer valid and has broken images which makes the instructions useless. It should be removed from the thread because it's just confusing. The one by Trevally was written for v1.0.67 and the latest version (v1.0.122) is a lot different and the zip doesn't match the screenshots and instructions. It also doesn't cover the new dependency stuff (such as the torpedo and crew damage control stuff). It should either be updated to match the latest release or removed.

Bottom line, the newcomers that haven't installed this a very long time ago need better instructions in order to do it properly. Would it be possible to release a new version and include a .txt file with instructions inside the zip package so we don't have to search all over the place for them?

Thank you.

PS. Before anyone points me to a thread with instructions, make sure they are accurate, up-to-date and in line with v1.0.122. So far I haven't found a single one that is.

[TheDarkWraith]

None are really needed. Run the app.
There are entries for each Patch called Files=, Notes=, and Pictures=. If any of these doesn't say None then double click it (if you hover the mouse over those entries a tooltip will display). This is my way of conveying the needed information for each patch.
The app is a modern windows app with context menus (right click on items and if they have options a context menu will pop up) and tooltips (hover mouse over items and if they have a tooltip it will display).

Many people have used the app and have had no problems with it. I don't understand why you are having the issues you are having

The extra folders are for the app. All you need to do is run the app.

[ygirouard]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

None are really needed. Run the app.
There are entries for each Patch called Files=, Notes=, and Pictures=. If any of these doesn't say None then double click it (if you hover the mouse over those entries a tooltip will display). This is my way of conveying the needed information for each patch.
The app is a modern windows app with context menus (right click on items and if they have options a context menu will pop up) and tooltips (hover mouse over items and if they have a tooltip it will display).

Many people have used the app and have had no problems with it. I don't understand why you are having the issues you are having

The extra folders are for the app. All you need to do is run the app.

I strongly disagree. Instructions are always needed, even if they are simple. It's best practice for any mod, patch or software release. I did find several posts from other users who also had trouble installing this, so don't tell me I'm the only one. Check the last posts in Trevally's instruction thread you'll see what I mean.

Like I said, I'm quite savvy for things like this normally, and I can read very well. The problem is that a lot of things with this app are not 100% intuitive and user friendly. For example, for someone to know where to look for those File= and Note= helpers, he has to know he has to expand the nodes for each patch (which are all collapsed to begin with). This is not intuitive. Then again, once you double-click on a dependency, it may open the related archive, but then there are no further instructions, so it's not any better. There's also no clear list of what files you should backup, so the only way to know is to check the messages that prompts everytime you wish to install a patch and backup the file listed. This is not intuitive !

Don't get me wrong, your app is great and your fixes too. Your documentation however, is non-existant and the app is not very intuitive without them.

[TheDarkWraith]

As a window's user it's common knowledge that certain things you have to click/right click to expand/use. I don't write instructions for common knowledge items.

If the app is too complicated then don't use it.

[volodya61]

Quite an interesting discussion in the last few threads/posts..
A small remark and my two cents

@ygirouard

If you need veeery detailed instructions, open the folder \LanguagePacks\Russian\Help.. but only a caveat, it is in Russian.. because I wrote it for people who do not understand a single word in English..

[ygirouard]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

As a window's user it's common knowledge that certain things you have to click/right click to expand/use. I don't write instructions for common knowledge items.

If the app is too complicated then don't use it.

That's what I ended up doing after I read more and more threads about it. I expanded it on my first trial, but didn't notice the File= parts or didn't know what they were for... there's no tooltip or any helper explaining what they are for.

I'm very disappointed with your somewhat elitist mentality here. I'm very technical myself, and although SOME things don't need to be explained in details, whenever there's something that could be ambiguous or not obvious to everyone, it should be documented or at least mentioned somewhere.

And for the record, I'm a Linux admin, even though I work on Windows a lot too. Unix comes with man pages, readmes and syntax helpers for pretty much every command or product it supports. I'm used to look for those. Any program who doesn't have it is not following best practices. Period. Instructions are not only meant for newbies and idiots, and it's only professional to write them.

Like I posted in another thread, I'll write the damn instructions myself the way it should have been done a long time ago once I'm done with a successful installation of Generic Patcher + NewUI and some other basic mods...