Knokke

The only way to stop the "riots" happening in the trenches is to send a tank rolling on them. The ennemy will try to escape and the loop will end.

when you launch the game, right click on the icon and choose "run as an administrator" the in-game mission generator is different from the simple editor and mission editor. It's three different things: The simple editor allows you to quickly create a basic battle on a map of your choice without scripting. But for more advanced editing, you'll need to use the full mission editor

Seen in german mission one also. I was attributing this behavior to soldiers being still considering empty ennemy units located in their rear as a threat, but this is not the case, as they also do that when nothing threatening is there.

Thanks a lot for the reminder, Tartari. I had forgotten that.

@ Schrullenhaft: I'm speaking about the full version release, not the demo version. The video card is a NVidia GeForce 8600M GS. It is DirectX/10 and shader model 4.0 compliant.

I also have a Microsoft Visual C++ runtime error in ToW2_Kursk release. The game freeze, and a "Microsoft Visual C++ runtime error" windows popup saying the error is with program:\Battlefront\1C Company\Theatre of War 2 Kursk 1943\Kursk1943.bin

As to the question marks: some units are probably missing from the data/local/en/units.utf8, hence the question marks. Some units might be missing from the filesid.txt too Check this link for more info: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=87834&page=8

I think it is possible, but it's not only a matter of importing the needed files into Africa43: You might need to edit some of them, because they are referenced to different unit classes (for example, a german vehicle in Kursk is crewed by a crewset that is unique to Kursk43 - you'll need to have the files of the vehicle pointing the the german crewset in Africa43 instead. Same goes for the weapons, guns, ammo and magazine might need editing to point toward ToW2 Africa ressources. And you'll need to add all theses ressources to ToW2 africa filesid.txt. On the other hand, it would be easier to import units from Africa to Kursk, as some of the ressources for africa are already in Kursk.

yes, sorry I didn't mention this last detail, because I didn't try to install it again in Kursk; I simply made the version I installed with ToW2 Africa pointing toward kursk editor directory. @prlugo: have you tried installing sfsextractor in Kursk MissionEditor folder? it doesn't work from there?

start the game in "run as administrator" mode

It seems there is a bug with the selection of targets for support aircrafts, respective to the weapon they use: an aircraft with mixed armament of cannon/machine gun will attack only with the weapon with the highest aimMaxDist score, irrespective of the weapon caliber and target it is engaging, meaning for example that a/c with 7.92mm machine guns and 37mm cannons will fire only machineguns at target if the MG have a higher aimMaxDist, and will not even fire cannon shells as the distance to target decreases. furthermore, it will fire its MG at targets he has no chances to damage whatsoever (a heavy tank) On the other way, if both guns have the same aimMaxDist score, the plane will engage with the most appropriate weapon. In my example, a/c will fire 37mm cannon at armored targets rather than the 7.92 MG. But once the ammo store for the 37mm cannon is depleted, the a/c will keep attacking a tank with MG fire instead of switching his priority to a soft target that it can damage. I thought that the AI was able to choose the best suited target for its weapons and ammo load (at least, tank gunners are supposed to be able to prioritize the ammo they'll use against targets). It does'nt seem to be the case in this example (unable to switch to an other target when most suited ammo load is expended). Is it a bug, or is the AI for airplanes unable to choose targets according to ammo type?

A forum search will turn up all the info you need. Search for the name SFSExtractor in this forum and you'll find several threads explaining how it works. SFSExtractor is found in the battlefront repository. And yes, it works, unless you didn't install it properly, and/or don't have the proper fileslist.txt for Kursk.

Check these links: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=79593 they are video tutorials in english, very nicely made. A must have. By the way, the link to Tutorail 04 "reinforcements" in the serie doesn't seems to work. Does anyone who have this video be willing to upload it again?

You have to delete it from Start/parameters/configuration panel/add or delete programs

use SFS extractor. Do a forum search

Same thing for me, since the latest patch (game was running smoothly from begining to end of the battle before). I don't think this is related to computer being unable to handle the graphics, nor to a high number of dead bodies displayed at the latter stages in the battle (turning "hide bodies" on or of doesn't change anything). Nothing to do with the display or numerous hits on vehicles with the F4 button too. I'm wondering if this could not be related to the AI infantry behavior since the patch, as I've two squad members exhibiting a strange behavior: I've ordered one of my squads to move to a position with the assault order (they're all on the reverse slope of a hill with no ennemies in sight, all have full health, so nothing seems to be impairing their movement). Most of the squad behave normally, and quickly get to the position assigned, while two other squad members seems to have entered a "loop" where they don't know which stance to use to move. Looking at the animations, it seems they don't know if they should move with short rush or with stealth (they constantly shift from "rush" to stealth" every second, and so are unable to keep up with the remainder of the squad. Is it normal behavior? like if they where too tired to move faster (they've being walking from one end of the map to the other back and again) or could this possibly be a problem with the AI being in a loop? No amount of saving, quiting the game and loading the save again changes anything. Others have mentionned that rebooting the computer, will cure the problem for a while. For me, it didn't do the trick. This problem wasn't in the demo two campaign missions, so i don't think this could be caused by a difference in the number of units between campaign missions and mission generator created missions. It looks like it is tied with the lenght a battle is played, rather than the number of units involved. I believe there is new problem introduced with patch 1.2.4, as before I was not experiencing this and game was running smoothly from the beginining to the end of the battle.

OK, now I understand. Thanks, Sneaksie

Not really sure if the soldiers are really disarming the mines, or just avoiding them, but here is how to proceed: As soon as you get your first casualty from a mine, have your entire squad laying down. If they're crawling, they can start progressing through the minefield with a better chance of survival. It's not working all the time, ability to spot mines successfully depends on a high intelligence score of the soldier. An other way of clearing a path for infantry is by firing heavy artillery shells at the estimated position of the minefield in the hope that the concussion will detonate the mines. An other more risky way is to drive through the minefield with a heavy tank. It will detonate the mines if he rolls over them. Risky, because chances are high that the minefield is a mix of anti-personel and anti-tank mines. As for the hill on the western side of the map, I was able to spot the guns there (and the others in the center) with my scout squad while a Panther acted as a decoy to attract ennemy fire, and to put them out of action with mortar fire, and area fire from tanks positioned hull down in the woods on top of the hill. I had two squads trying to sneak to the left of this western hill to attack the trenches from behind, but though they were able to see the infantry in the trenches, none of them was able to return fire, and they started being decimated, so I decided to retreat to my starting position. I still don't understand why they were able to see the ennemy but not being able to shoot at them, while at the same time the soldiers in the trenches were able to do a massacre.

Thanks for the answer, Sneaksie Too bad it can't be used for deployment areas and minefields too. Is there a chance to see this possibility in a later patch, or is it technically unfeasable? or at least, the possibility to have a RECT be given a rotation angle like the ZONE? I don't really get this one: does it means that for now, using this parameter will substitute only corpses, unless the ressources for african infantry are added to the game? At least, its good to know this possibility exist (it seems the intention is to make it possible to create battles for other theater of war in the game engine, and I really see the interest of adding compatibility). And what about this Novoslobodskaya_2009 setting? why a Moscow metro station? must be unrelated though...

Not a bug, but a suggestion (sorry for the disgression, but I don't know where to put that): For now, the feedback messages given by the soldiers voices is better than I first thought (nice touch, the Lale Andersen "Lilli Marleen" song ), but there is several things that defeats the purpose of having the soldiers giving feedback: -They speak in their native language. Good for realism, but useless untill you speak the language. Not everyone is able to understand german or russian. I'm lucky as I can speak both english and german (so that was perfect for ToW2 africa), but unless I start learning some basis in russian, the feedback of the russian soldiers will be useless to me. I believe that the soldiers speaking in their native tongue should be an option, as it was in Close Combat - sorry to mention this game again, but it still has to be surpassed in many respects. -The feedback messages can be heard only if the camera is located close to the soldiers - hence the impression that we lack feedback of what is happening. Very good for realism too, and I really like that - except that most of the time we have no feedback. What about trying to better simulate radio-communications to reduce this lack of feedback, and at the same time enhancing realism? The radio truck had no use before except a cosmetic one. What about allowing the player to have more feedback from its units if he has a radio equiped unit? individual soldiers have no portable radio set, so that's normal that we can't hear their comments unless the camera is close to them. But some units (platoon commander, company commander, scouts) should have a radio-operator with them that would be able to transmit some mesure of feedbackabout him or units close to him to the commander (that is the player) without the camera been close to them: discovery of new threat not previously reported (for example, an ambushed gun not previously spotted would trigger a message "ennemy artillery spotted" and it's icon will stay visible on the map, although greyed out, even when no longer in line of sight, because the radioman would have reported it's position with precises coordinates). Tanks and vehicles with radio communication devices should be able to do the same thing (adding a new interest to light recon vehicles) It means we could have artillery spotters (targets can be acquired more precisely with indirect fire weapons or can't be targeted at all unless they've been spotted and reported through radio communication. Right now, a mortar will target anything on the map that is seen by at least one soldier, even if this soldier is one kilometer away and has no means of communication. An unit with a radio operator should be able to transmit basic feedback about himself and the units surrounding him (let's say, units in visual contact, or in hearing range). Feedback to attract player attention would be limited to things like: "we're running low on ammo", "new threat spotted", "morale is getting low", "unit X has reached intended position". No need to overdo it by having every soldier reporting every single new threat (a single message "ennemy infantry spotted" at first contact should be enough). Some units - tanks, SPG, snipers, whole squads if most of it's members have LOS but not LOF - should be able to report if target is in range, or can be fired at from the current position (if ordered to hold position)

[WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILER] About the scouts losses being caused by possible mortar fire: I had some losses occuring in the same way, but I believe it is caused by the guys crossing a minefield instead of mortar rounds being targeted at them: explosions where located right under the feet of my soldiers (if it had been mortar fire, the impacts would have been more random, and not right on top of every soldier killed). Most of my men where able to cross the minefield by sneaking through it, but I suffered several losses before I realized what was happening. That's the interest of keeping smart pause on, despite the annoying change of camera angle - by the way, this shoud really be changed in a patch: the game should pause and the camera should switch to the position where the loss occured, but after resuming the game, the camera should go back to its previous position, and not stay where the loss occured, thus releaving us of the tedious task of relocating the camera each time someone dies. Probably the same thing: the Panther started to cross the minefield and probably detonated a few anti-personel mines (hence the impression it is being targeted) untill it hit an anti-tank mine that damaged the tracks. I had one Pz-III and one Panther trying the road crossing with no succes, but crossing without problem at the place you mention (so the density of AT-mines was probably lower than that of AP-mines, or they just where lucky to avoid the minefield). I decided to do the same maneuver with a Tiger, and it followed approximately the same path, but very soon, a succession of small explosions appeared under its tracks (at first, I thought it was targeted by a fast firing AA gun) untill a bigger one occured that untracked it. It has most probably hit an AT-mine.

A few new features in the mission editor seems to be undocumented: _The new "zone" rectangle in point,array,rect,zone tab is mentioned nowhere. It's a nice new feature to be able to rotate it, and move the corner points. But alas, it looks like it is not usable for deployment zones (no error message when compiling the script saying that there is an error, but the deployment area will not work in game. So what is the normal use of this new zone? can it be used for attacking areas? or just for minefields? _In the properties of the mission tree, there is a section "Raid" that can have values "DefaultCrewSet_Africa43", "DefaultCrewSet_Kursk_1943", "DefaultCrewSet_Novoslobodskaya_2009". What is its use?

As for the bug list: #I've believe I've seen a command panzer III firing at Sturmoviks with it main gun too (although it will need to be verified, as I had a Wespe in my battlegroup at that time, and it might have been him firing). #Infantry not looking in the direction prescribed with the "defend" button: I believe it might be caused by the soldiers keeping an eye on unmanned ennemy tanks, vehicles or HMG, as if they might still be a threat) #Infantry has a lot of problems spotting anything when positionned in trenches; they have difficulty spotting something outside of the trenches, but also inside the trenches or gun pits - including an ennemy they're in hand combat with, and very often can't even see a mortar, HMG or gun right in front of them without any visual obstruction. #Infantry hand-to-hand fighting loop (I can't remember having seen that in the demo, so it must be related to the latest patch) #crew will abandon a damaged vehicle when it as very few ammo left, even if there is no immediate threat (I had a Pz-IIIJ with only one AT shell, no MG ammo left and only a damaged track) Very annoying because it means the vehicle can't be reused later in the campaign if it is not crewed when the game ends. It would be logical that the crew "abandon ship" if an ennemy tank is in the vicinity, but at least they should crew their vehicle again when there is no threat. #Bug ? with the framerate going slower and slower as the game progress untill it becomes impossible to play.

Mortars will keep firing at units they can't see as long as someone as line of sight on a suitable target. To avoid wasting ammo, simple put the mortar in "don't fire mode" this way, he won't fire unless you tell him so). Have him "attack ground" whenever you want him to shoot, and he will keep firing until you give him the order to stop. It's much better this way, as you can order him a fire mission of let's say 10 shots, then observe the results, and eventually resume firing some more.

Same thing here: I had three soldiers attacking a russian in hand to hand combat with no result even after more than 5 minutes struggling. In the end, I decided to force them to separate by having a tank driving over them. The russian finally stopped fighting, and moved away, trying not to be crushed, and was shot by smg fire.