KS Napoleon Mod II 1.02

Version 1.02 of the Nappy mod has been uploaded.  I've added a few more formations.  I also temporarily increased the musket ranges to a minimum of 150 yd to see if the infantry reaction range against cavalry is improved.  The download link is in the first post of this thread: KS Napoleon Mod Thread

We'll use this mod for today's game.

did you put in the A-10 Thunderbolt and the Mitrailleuse - to balance it out?

Kevin, what needs to be done to fix the huge unwieldy skirmish order I saw in the vanilla OOBs? I guess unlike the earlier mod this time around we need to pay attention that the vanilla OOBs and maps also work with it.

We just need to incorporate the stock unit global entries into our own and make the appropriate formation changes. There are very few entries so it would not take too long to do that. However, that's not my focus right now. Trying to get a usable UI is.

...incorporate the stock unit global entries into our own...

I can do that, will send you the updated file.

...and make the appropriate formation changes...

What would these be and is that in drills.csv?

I want to do something to ease your workload.

Your help would be appreciated. Take a look at the mod's unitglobal. There you will see how I've changed things like the movement sounds, and the formations that the AI uses. You should be able to copy these to these from our classes over to the added stock classes. We have all the same classes, they just use different sprites and names.

I have fixed the problem of not being able to see the full name of the commanders in the staging room and courier screens. I'll pass out the fix on TS when we meet next.

Feedback from last nights test? It was disappointing to say the least. Have we any ideas to go forwards?

For those not present we had a KS Mod game give us numerous "bad frame in packet" errors again always just after a courier was sent from player to player. We then played a completely vanilla game with many p-2-p couriers sent and it was stable. Stable but dull !

We could try using elements of the Mod bit by bit I suppose to try and determine which part is causing these crashes. I wonder if its the courier screen interface? My only other idea is its the number of sprite types we have which NSD are always cautious about in their posts.

did I miss a step in the mod since last weekend?

I was part of that large battle on Thursday I believe which was huge and had hardly any issues? certainly no courier issues?

We could try using elements of the Mod bit by bit I suppose to try and determine which part is causing these crashes. I wonder if its the courier screen interface? My only other idea is its the number of sprite types we have which NSD are always cautious about in their posts.

I could be any or all of those. However, we have had far fewer problems when we've used the mod with sandbox created scenarios rather than one made with the SG. I think it may have something to do with the ID numbers generated by the SG. The sandbox scenarios use the IDs in the OOB. The SG makes its own for wagons and couriers. It also created a large number of couriers.

This was never an issue with the old game, because the IDs were just used by the game internally to keep track of the units. In the new game these IDs are also linked to the names of the units and commanders that in turn are linked to the UI. Also, the old game did not care if corps 1, 2 & 5 are in one army. Skipping numbers was not a problem. However in the new game, it generates an error. The couriers and wagons all skip numbers.

The linking of the UI to an xml file that contains all the unit names, in effect duplicating data needed to create an OOB, is another example of just how poor a decision using this new UI system was. It makes the game much more modding unfriendly. My current best guess is this is where the problem originates. It is in some way tied to the UI interface.

We can test this. I can modify the scenario we tried to play yesterday by fixing the IDs so that everything looks like a sandbox generated scenario. If it plays without problems, then we've found the likely culprit. If not, we'll have to go through the mod piece by piece to see what part of the game was changed.

Same time today?

Kevin, If this isn't fixed soon. . . I'm going to recommend a reduction in pay.

Thanks Kevin, all interesting stuff. Lets do that and replay yesterday's game. It had the makings of being a great battle as well.

At least I know how to fix one problem. The blinking sprites are caused by a sprite numbering change in the new game. The bad news is that renumbering them will take quite a bit of time. I've finished the ice cream men. I'll do the snail eaters next.

good to see that the right priorities have been set!

Seeing as our problems appear to be linked to the courier system, would it be practical to 'back out' every change you've introduced that affects couriers in any way (other than the sprites we use). So we'd have KS Mod II v102 but with 100% vanilla courier play. That setup might be worth a test.

Good news, Kevin

Thanks for the game last night.

Appols for my ranting. I'm always at my worst after work and a couple of beers.

BTW. I only offered my formations mod because it was a simple solution to providing a playable game in the circumstances.

I also happen to think there is some merit in trying alternatives from time to time.

Mike

Kevin, Pepe, Roland, Morsey and I played a good game last night, a very good game, very intense and wonderfully epic and cinematic due to some high ground giving us a spectacular view of the battlefield. No crashes (apart from one player disconnect early on and we restarted), none of the "bad frame" errors that have plagued us for a week.

What did we do?

Turn off all AI couriers.

We kept player to player communications using free text couriers. No problems with this.

Our next test will be to introduce some AI couriers by reintroducing them at division level. As Martin J is busy today we could test this tonight, Monday 6th July. It'll be another co-op vs AI game and all are welcome.

If division level couriers works we may consider using this as the KS standard until the game is more stable (we suspect Norb used an old version of Gettysburg as the base on which to build Waterloo and its not as MP-stable as the later patched Gettysburg versions).

We've had lots of new people join the forums in recent weeks, probably to access the KS Mod II downloads. Not one single new WL fan has joined us for MPgames which is disappointing, so if anyone who is new would like a HITS game with couriers (the ultimate SoW experience in our view) please drop by our teamspeak server at 19:30 UK time tonight (20:30 Europe, 14:30 US east coast). TS server details are here:

https://kriegsspiel.forumotion.net/t1451-set-up-for-sowwl-napoleon-games-for-kriegspiel-style#14783

Something you've said a couple of times Martin, got me thinking. You mentioned that the AI side must send out large numbers of couriers occasionally. Indeed they do. They are even recorded in the log file. This logging of messages is a new 'feature', so I have a feeling NSD has had some sort of problem with the game and was logging these messages as an attempt to find out what was going on.

One thing I discovered is that the number of couriers assigned to an army affects MP games. If couriers are given unit strength of 1, troops will sometimes move instantaneously, but not always. If it is upped to 10, troops always move via couriers, but we also get those crashes. Last night we played with strength 10 and very few couriers without any problems. Maybe if we up the strength to 20 or 30, we can get around these crashes. It's something worth trying.

sounds very promising altogether....

my apologies for leaving  a bit early - 0030 AM my time - but I literally woke up at that time and realized I had slept for the 10 minute before that...
the AI did the same job, even with me not present - so I doubt it made a big difference - and since we still had over 1 hour to go at that time - in-game time - I knew I would not be able to stay  up past 2 or even 3 AM....

I will ask Kevin to send me a link for the new replay viewer tonight - really itching to see those battles in full....


btw: since I had a grand total of 2 8lb pound guns I had to rely entirely on infantry... which I had plenty of... but this particular fight was so intense that for the first time ever, I had to resupply some infantry bataillons, which used up their entire complement of ammo....

After I drove them pesky Austrians of the hill and down it and I then brought my troops over the crest I could see your boys taking the bridge Roland.  AWESOME SIGHT!!  I was stretched from your flank to Digby's flank and at this time I could see the whole battle unfolding.  We had them Austrian's in a box, you hitting the bridge along with their flank from my left. Then Digby and Kevin pushing their flank from my right and I was pushing them into the river.

That was by far one of the best games I have been in so far, the battle was intense and then view from my point of view surreal.



How do you take screenshots in game?

I use a program called "fraps" - there is also a free version available on the net - but it limits you to certain types of pictures...
another one would be "bandicam"

at one point I had them both - each of them has its advantages...

It certainly did have an epic feel.

Interesting idea on the courier count Kevin, I hadn't thought of that. If a strength of 1 sometimes give instantaneous order transmission but 10 gives crashes, should we not try 5? What's your reasoning for going higher than 10?

Mike, the F4 key takes screenshots and drops them in your Documents/SOWWL/Screenshots folder. They are .bmp files so are ridiculously big but you can convert to .jpg with MS Paint to save disk space and to upload them.

I really like those screenshots Kevin posted. Particularly the first, which really looks like how I imagine a Napoleonic battlefield. It's not a feeling I experienced with the G/burg engine, even with our mods.

Martin (J)