Impromptu Games

Sorry for being again a little off topic, first of all.

But I debugged the issue a bit... and... ehm... it looks like a more or less expected behaviour!  
Certainly it's explicitly coded to block any further right mouse button processing, the unit destination marker stuff too.

If player unit is currently selected, MyGuys()'s true, flag sprite picked and context menu is ENABLED, it fires an eComLoadMenu command.
The assigned parameter to this command is:
** if unit is not marching (march/run state and destination check)...
**** if it has target => 3 (Menu Targets) else 1 (Menu Stand)
** else 2 (Menu March)
)
Don't know what it expects to open, as I can't see anythink showing up. Maybe a legacy of the SOWGB codebase?

If I skip all this, the unit destination marker works nicely and is set even behind fully or partially occluding flags/sprites.

If anyone has an exact idea of what the hell is going on there, please report it!

EDIT: could it be an own unit popup to handle target selection / oob detached list (like the campaign one, in facts there're references to SBCOob in the same function body) and that didn't make it for the final release?
EDIT2: sorry, my fault. It should be the stand context menu... Forgot the option is #hidemenu and not show...
EDIT3: still, it blocks the forwarding of further right mouses clicks if context menu is disabled. This is the real bug. But it can be easily fixed.

Spoke too soon. I at least downloaded the new mods (thank you Kevin) but rest of day looking doubtful:-(

I can play today at the usual time, 14:00 EST, 19:00 BST.
Friday's battle was a Russian loss in the snows of Poland. However, it wasn't a complete loss. Some players learned a valuable lesson; don't try to fight in a pine forest. You can't see a thing.
Should Pat show up, we'll fight one of the scenarios from his, "We've Got To Have Pat Command This One" folder. Otherwise, it looks like we are chasing after the French in Portugal.

EDIT: could it be an own unit popup to handle target selection / oob detached list (like the campaign one, in facts there're references to SBCOob in the same function body) and that didn't make it for the final release?

This is very likely the case. It is well known that the game was rushed to release before it was ready. The campaign part was only an alpha version. No testing was done at all for HITs style of play, unlike SOWGB. This is why the older game had a much smoother response.

Uncle Billy wrote:This is very likely the case. It is well known that the game was rushed to release before it was ready. The campaign part was only an alpha version. No testing was done at all for HITs style of play, unlike SOWGB. This is why the older game had a much smoother response.

The only good side of this is you need to change 2 bytes to get rid of it.
And make the right mouse click events properly notified when context menu is disabled.

[Instructions DELETED - I hope just provisionally]

Probably you could patch it at runtime from the AI dll too...

Any news from the poor dogs that yesterday lost their way somewhere in that godforsaken land called "Peninsula"?
Did they ended up to strengthen the ranks of any partida of local bandits?

The British manage to win the battle. The French launched an attack against our rear just as we began assaulting their main line at the objective. It was a tense situation for a time. Our CinC was on the point of despair and ready to surrender. However, a tenacious defense by yours truly stabilized the line and introduced some backbone into our commander. Once the French attack fizzled, we were able to resume our assault on the objective while the CinC retired to his tent to change his linen. We captured the objective in fine style with our commander cheering us on from the rear.

"Our CinC was on the point of despair and ready to surrender. However, a tenacious defense by yours truly stabilized the line and introduced some backbone into our commander."

Dear, oh dear. You see this is why you'd never reach the nobility of decent gentlemen, such lies are the mark of a total cad and bounder. In fact it was Kevin who bleated about being surrounded and when I as C-in-C gave him clear and concise instructions on how to extricate himself he made no move to do so but continued to bleat. Eventually my reserve division turned to face the flank and absorbed and forced back the enemy flanking move allowing our left wing to attain victory.

I never once contemplated retreat or defeat.

Meanwhile I believe it was the cavalry and Phil's division that actually took the objective with exemplary use of co-operative tactics and dashing charisma while leading the men.

I can play today at the usual time, 14:00 EST, 19:00 BST. We will be fighting on the Kelheim map today if I can finish the scenario in time.

I can play today at the usual time, 14:00 EST, 19:00 BST.
Weds. battle was a scripted one that resulted in a French victory. Perhaps it was because we didn't have a CinC to screw things up. Or maybe the AI Austrians were forced to rely on an inferior battleplan and were doomed from the start. We'll need to test this further.
Today we will be facing the Russians who are despoiling the French countryside.

I could be late joining today. If you can hang on 15 mins that would be appreciated but if you need a prompt start or I am not there by quarter past the hour, carry on. Depending on how late I am, I could perhaps join later if that doesn't mess you guys about too much.

It shouldn't be a problem.

I can play today at the usual time, 14:00 EST, 19:00 BST.
Friday's battle was a glorious victory for snail lovers everywhere. Once our beloved CinC was told the location of the enemy, where his weak point was and how to exploit that weakness, he adroitly followed the prescription and gained honors for all involved. Such tactical brilliance is rarely seen.
Today we'll fight the battle originally planned for Friday.

The action opened with quite a lot of marching around near the map edge which bothered me - especially on a 10 mile map.

I can play today at the usual time, 14:00 EST, 19:00 BST.
Sunday's battle can be described with one word, defeat. The Russians mounted a forward defense and easily kept us from the objective.
Today we will be Austrians aiding the British in Spain.

I can play tonight.
Great game on Sunday. Thanks Kevin, Guys.
Lots of Dead Russians.
Hard to see how we could have done much better, especially, considering we were fighting 3 French Divs against 5 Russian Divs (some with 2x12 gun batteries), which were Deployed in depth and on Hills, protected by wooded ravines and Fortified towns. 20 more mins would have had us on the objective. IMO 3.5hr game.

That is a valid point. Because of SOWs game design if a scenario has forward forces well in advance of an objective, you are just not going to get to that objective in a couple of hours. I'm coming to the opinion that the SOW system is simply not suitable for Napoleonic warfare which was very fast and fluid. Its based on ACW warfare which was slow and dogged, and it shows.

I think we need to design scenarios that will function as Nappy battles within the limitation of the game. So if there's a forward defence of an objective that is 2 or 3 miles back, then the player team is going to need 3.5 or 4 hours to have a fair crack at beating the scenario.

What days are you guys playing on now?

We are trying out playing on Tues. instead of Weds. to accommodate a new player. We are still also playing on Fri and Sun.

OK thanks Kevin I will keep that in mind about the Tuesday game.

I can play today at the usual time, 14:00 EST, 19:00 BST.
Tues. battle was a case of, another battle, another defeat. Perhaps with another hour of daylight we would have prevailed. Today we will see if we can do better as the Russians with open ground and lots of cavalry.

I can play today at the usual time, 14:00 EST, 19:00 BST.
Friday's scripted scenario saw a human victory. There may be something to this no human CinC idea. We did try to give the French a chance though by bunching up into an incredible tangle. Still, we were able to prevail.
Today we could be Austrian, French, really almost anyone...

I can play today at the usual time, 14:00 EST, 19:00 BST.
Sunday battle was a glorious victory for us French. The hapless Austrians made a good fight of it but they threw in their last reserves too late to stop the relentless grinding by Phil and Digby. But the coup de grace was delivered by a timely charge of a cuirassier regiment. A 2nd regiment was posted at Digby's HQ to ensure he maintained his backbone.
Todays battle will have us as either the French or Austrians depending on the number of players.

I may or may not be able to play today, it depends on when a visitor leaves, so if I am not there at the appointed hour, start without me. If I can I will drop by later and take a brigade if there's a convenient break point.

I can play today at the usual time, 14:00 EST, 19:00 BST.
In Tues. battle, we were fighting for Kaiser Franz, which resulted in the an Austrian victory. The Holy Roman Empire will rise again.
Today we will be French fighting the hated Russians.