Knokke

The option "hide bodies" was ticked. I'm not sure it is related to the number of units displayed on the map. The only difference I can see from the two campaign missions in the demo is perhaps the smoke effects of the burned crops and destroyed houses in the villages that I didn't notice earlier.

I've seen the same thing in a mission generator created mission in the the demo, except it was a BefhelsPz -III

Well... this is only temporary. The more time elapses, the more the framerate drops, until it's only one frame every few seconds. The game become unplayable.

Reducing the game speed to 1/2 seems to cure the problem. everything his running smoothly again

Hmmm... I have the same problem in the first german mission. at the start of the mission, performance his great, but a little bit after I'm through with the first objective (occupying the first line of trenches with infantry, the game slows down to a crawl. Saving, exiting the game and restarting changes nothing. I don't know what could be the cause of this slow down, as nothing much is happening at the moment - no bombardment, no graphical effects whatsoever that could be an explanation. I have a SdKfz-250/1 that seems to be burning forever, but I don't believe it could have such an impact on performance.

I have a german scout squad with around 90 scouting skill for each member, so scouting abilities have been upped for recon soldiers too, not only the recon vehicles.

I still have a few complaints about the infantry. But I'll wait till the patch is released to make my opinion. First complaint as to do with soldiers being over eager to capture and man ennemy guns and mortars in missions created with the mission generator. Not having played the campaign yet, I don't know if this behavior is there too. It should be fixed in the patch, but right now, the soldiers are attracted like flies by the crewable units (so much so, that it will override any other current order); they'll move to man the guns regardless of the threat, even if there are tanks or ennemy infantry in the vicinity. They love their gun so much that they don't want to leave it more than an instant when you're trying to tow the gun with a vehicle, meaning that most of the time, attaching fails because the guys man the gun again before the attaching procedure is finished. I have a complain also about the infantry ability to spot. they seems to have a very poor vision, specially when entrenched, as they can't see tanks only one or two meters from them, very often can't see ennemy infantry sitting right beside them in the trench, even when engaged in hand to hand combat. Sometime, they're not even able to spot an unmanned MG right next to them (seen that in the demo, not confirmed in release yet). Impossibility to spot anything outside the trenches might be linked to the fact that the soldiers very often keep kneeling, without standing up to have a look outside (difficult to determine). I would expect them to stand up if their stance is set to standing, unless ordered to ambush (in which case they should be kneeling to remain hidden until an ennemy is heard close from their position, and then stand up to engage with rifle fire), or unless too many shots are landing close to them and they're pinned down. Infantry kneeling in trenches should stand up from time to time to have a look outside, and should stand up and engage with rifle fire in spite of the kneeling stance if an ennemy is in sight (same thing with peoples in building - there is no reason for them to kneel (unless ordered to ambush and no ennemy is close) if it means they can't see trough the windows openings. There is also still this problem with inability to use grenades properly: throwing AT grenade at fast moving tanks, or normal grenades at running infantry without allowing for deflection is a waste of ammo. The AI should throw their grenades only at stationary targets, or targets moving slowly. Very often, after having launched a grenade, a soldier runs toward the spot he targeted as if assaulting for hand to hand combat (without waiting for the grenade to have exploded). This very often result in the death of the thrower instead of the death of the intented victim (as the victims are very good at running away from grenades) Not only the infantry, but also crews of tanks and guns seems to have difficulty to choose the right ammo for the right job. No need to use the best armor piercing ammo to destroy a car. This could be related to the ammo having been previously selected by the player. The AI will fire that ammo at any target, not only the one first intended, and often, when this ammo has been shot, will keep using the same type of ammo regardless of the target (I've seen 88mm guns shooting at infantry repeatedly with AT shells) An infantryman having been ordered to prepare to use a PWM grenade at an approaching tank, will fire the PWM at infantry, if someone becomes a target before the tank is in sight, instead of choosing a more appropriate grenade and keep the AT for the tank that is coming. Also, the infantry has some difference of opinion with me, as to which weapon is the best to pick (german infantry will prefer mosin to their K-98 grenade launching rifle). Also, when discarding a weapon for a better one, why do they keep the ammo clips they can no longer use? As to the K-98 grenade launching rifle: it seems that it can't be used to deliver indirect fire (the guy with the grenade selected will fire the rifle; a grenade firing sound will be heard, but no grenade will be launched unless direct line of sight with the target is achieved) Now, on the positive side: I really love the new way the "scout" or "sneak" button is working now: in africa, it meant that the soldiers would crawl toward their destination. Now, the soldier will enter a "cautious" mode of deplacement only , meaning that their body stance will depend of the stance selected (standing, kneeling, prone) rather than crawling as a default. So they now can move forward cautiously, faster, ready to start crawling if an ennemy is spotted. I like also the possibility to make them move clicking on a spot with the attack button selected: they'll move with more caution, and stop to engage with rifle fire, resuming their progression only when they dont have a target in sight. Much better for survivability than the default assault order. There seems to be one drawback, though: infantry in trenches given this attack order will very often climb out of the trenches to take to shortest route to their destination, even if this destination is a spot in the same trench system (and leaving cover, they start to die pretty fast)

Usually, you can guess from the choice of troops selection you're allowed to make: if you have a lot of points and are able to select several tanks, you'll most probably be the attacker. If you can select only a few infantry squads and lots of guns, chances are high that you'll have to defend. It would have been nice to have some feedback of what the mission type will be , though

I was expecting that, as it has been the case too with ToW2 Africa. For example, the demo statics objects where not optimized yet (some textures for low resolution lods where not implemented yet) Anyway, its good to see that the release is even faster that the demo

really? I might have been unlucky , but all the scout squads I tried had a leader with less than 10 in scouting skill, while the other squad members had 0. It would seems logical that even novice scouts should have at least a few ranks in scouting ability

There is at least an hint in the config files of ToW2 africa that the devellopment team had been toying with the idea of adding some strategic layer to the game: motorized vehicles have a fuel consumtion parameter (not working in the game yet, of course). But there has been so many ideas that seems to have been dropped (like nurses, trains...)

you're welcome. This UAC is really a pain...

I agree with everything said above about close combat. CC2 was the greatest as far as the strategic layer was concerned. But even something "a la " CC4 or 5 would be awesome if it was implemented in ToW. Right now, it is more like CC3, with a succession of linear battles that gets boring very quickly. Even branching missions is far from being perfect to bring variety. At least, a strategic layer with battle groups, force pools, tracked casualties, persistent damage on maps and supply would be a welcome departure from the usual "resist against impossible odds" type of games we are used to in ToW. For now, like in CC3, the battles are linked only by the "scenario" in the briefing and the only result of a battle lost, is that you've to fight the same battle again on the same map (not even being forced to retreat to a previous map). There should be a way of implementing something like this without falling in the trap of something caricatural like Total War. Close Combat has shown the way more than a decade ago, and its still our reference today. The best system in my opinion would be something like Close Combat 2. Nothing utterly unrealistic in it.

I seems that the infantry is useless once placed in trenches: If a squad in the standing up stance is set to "ambush mode", the soldiers are kneeling and hiding at the bottom of the trenches (everything logical there). But once the ambush order is cancelled (when ennemy is coming into range), the soldiers keep kneeling down in the trench, and refuse to look over the parapet. which means they can hear the ennemy soldiers, but they can't see them, and so, don't shoot at them. When the first ennemy soldiers enter the trench system, my men start rapidly to panic, and are easily killed. If I try the same situation without giving the ambush order first, they'll keep standing until they see the first ennemies. They'll have time to fire a few shots at ennemy soldiers, but they'll be shot at by advancing ennemy tanks, and very soon they'll become shy and hide again in the trenches, refusing to see the sad realities of the world around them , with the same end result as in the first case. How is it possible to order the units to really quit the ambush mode, to leave the kneeling stance and have a look at what is happening over the parapet? Is this behavior induced by ennemy fire? like if the soldiers where pinned down, and unwilling to risk even a quick glance above cover? if that is so, it seems to be a bit too much (like the whole squad being pinned down at once, even soldiers who are not shot at). And if it's the case, it would be nice to have at least some feedback, because seing that they're not even trying to change position in the trench to get to a less exposed area, it doesn't appear like they're bothered by the ennemy firing at them. Has this something to do with the soldiers experience? If the guys are given an attack order by clicking on an ennemy soldier, they'll not stand up and try a shot, they'll simply go over the parapet in full view. it almost looks like this annoying behaviour soldiers have in buildings: kneeling when they see an ennemy, and being unable to shoot because once kneeling, they can't see from the window and refuse to stand up again. I would expect soldiers to be kneeling in face of danger, but to have them stand up, fire, kneel again to reload, and stand up again to fire, unless they're under heavy fire and pinned down.

I also have UAC deactivated in Vista, but the game won't work if I dont start it with full administrator rights anyway... the magic of Vista...

Dont forget to launch the game with full administrator rights, or the mission generator is probably not going to work. It is working for me, so it should for other peoples as well

I have a question that Sneaksie might be able to answer: I have created a new unit for ToW2 based on an MG42. In fact it is not a machinegun, but I needed a crewable unit representing a detonator (a soldier can crew the detonator, fire a demolition charge ammo from it, and I can easily check in a mission trigger if the detonator is crewed or not, and if it is destroyed or not - that is, if the player is still able to operate the device or if it has been destroyed or captured by the ennemy) The unit appears in the encyclopedia with all its icons (magazine and ammo), I can add it in the mission editor, and it shows in game - so it seems it is working correctly. But I still have a problem with this parameter in the data/units/hmg/ger/detonator/part.ini : [WeaponStatic_detonator] Type WeaponStatic WeaponType Machine_Gun Variety Primary RatingType Machine_Gun Name 7_92mm_MG_42 //Name detonator IconName WeaponStatic\detonator.mat Gun Ger\demolition_charge SignNode Hook_detonator SignType Generic Hooks Hook_detonator What does the 7_92mm_MG_42 line refers to? My assumption was that it was the name of the unit folder in 3dobj, but when I replace this line with the following one (marked as a comment) Name detonator (the name of my unit 3dobj folder), the unit is no longer working in game, nor in the encyclopedia (when I try to look at it, the game crashes and quit to desktop) my understanding so far is that the line "Name 7_92mm_MG_42" seems to use the data in the MG42 hier.him while my line "MeshName 3dobj\hmg\ger\detonator\hier.him" in the data/units/hmg/ger/detonator/unit.ini loads the detonator model instead of the machinegun. Which leads to an other question: How is the position of an unit defined in the viewer of the encyclopedia? I was expecting my unit to be centered, but it is offset toward the bottom of the image. Could this be that the icon_info hook is used as a reference and that it is set a bit too high for my unit to display correctly? Or is the unit offset because it is using the machinegun MG42 hier.him instead of its own? What could be the reason of this error with the "Name detonator" line? Does this means that one of the new ressources needed is not found? I've added the following lines in the filesid.ini, but maybe I've something missing?: 2834 presets/sounds/weapons.detonator.prs 2835 data/units/hmg/ger/detonator 2836 3dobj/hmg/ger/detonator/detonator.mat 2837 data/ammo/ger/demolition_charge 2838 data/items/magazines/ger/demolition_charge 2839 data/gui/ingame/icons/weaponstatic/detonator.mat 2840 data/gui/ingame/icons/magazines/demolition_charge.mat Thanks for any hint you can provide. -Knokke

The file data/local/en/names.utf8 is stored into the data.sfs file. You first have to decompress this file with SFSExtractor to access it. Do a search on this forum with the keyword SFSextractor: you should be able to find all you need to know about where to find the utility and how to use it.

It's true that I miss the clues that the soldiers where giving in CC. There is a few audio messages delivered by the soldiers in ToW that are usefull too, but the feedback they're giving is either too vague (like "there is too many", or the shrieks of the soldiers panicking) or inaudible when being too far away from the action. It would be nice if the soldiers would give us more feedback on some other occasions, like when they can't shoot at an ennemy they see (in a tank, commander optics being positionned higher will allow ennemy line of sight, but not line of fire for the gun, or gun can't be elevated or depressed enough to allow shooting at a visible target)

I suppose that any names you would like to see in the game could be added by editing the data/local/en/names.utf8 in wordpad. I didn't test that yet, so its just a supposition. If the name you need is added to this file, you will probably be able to choose it in the mission editor. Please, test this, and let us know the result; I'll will have to add names not in the list too for my mission.

OOpsss.... I've been stupid enough to ask the question without having searched the forum... I found the answer (Thanks Sneaksie and Arzok) ActionMode ( GROUP , "knokke" , STEALTH ) I'm leaving with the uttermost discretion

I've a problem in ToW2 with the BodyMode command: It seems that ToW2 does not accept this command (I got a compilation error message when I try to compile the trigger stating that there is a syntax error with the word BodyMode): BodyMode ( GROUP , "Group3" , KNEE ) BodyMode is mentionned in the Mission_Triggers.mht documentation, but with nothing explaining how it works, and no list of the different modes (LAY, KNEE, STAY, FREE) Is this command no longer valid in ToW2 ? How is it possible to script the stance of the AI soldiers?

I too would like to know what is historically inaccurate in the way Alan123 describe how to use infantry in the game. Sure, this is far from the tactics (or lack of tactics) that some commanders used during WWII (more like WWI tactics of human wave charging against machinegun nest), but the result of such orders is the same in real life as it is in ToW: an awfully high amount of casualties. But as a whole, I don't think that what Alan123 has been advocating is fundamentaly against the way it was done during WWII

@ prlugo: Don't forget to set VScale to -1 instead of 1 in MshConverter "save options" tab. Setting VScale to -1 will export the model with the textures coordinates corresponding to the texture file (an other solution - less elegant) would be to flip the texture in Photoshop. If you don't flip either the coordinates or the textures, they'll appear like a big mess with the details on the texture having no correspondance with the model.

I had a better look at the soldier models in ToW2, and I believe it is possible with the tools we have to create new soldiers. Here is the process i'm thinking of: Exporting the model as if it was a building, and then massively editing the resulting mesh.tse file in notepad to change the names of the hooks (using the soldier hooks in place of the window?? hooks. Then, with the hier.mcn file, it would be possible to change the names of the collision shapes to whatever is needed for a soldier. In 3DSmax, the collisions would simply be named normally (collision?_x0y0_dam0). Of course, without the proper plug-in, this is not an easy task, and it would require massive editing of the mcn file and tse file to remove any unwanted objects like shadows, damage lods etc... The most complicated and boring part would be to reposition the hooks properly on the Body mesh, since MshConverter import the hooks without their offset (all centered in 0,0,0). Not an impossible task, as we can see in MshConverter viewer where they should properly located. Once all this have been done, the resulting x0y0_dam0.mesh file can be renamed to Body.msh and should be compatible with the game (<--- fingers crossing here!)