AK & version 1.10 - bugs + first solutions & work arounds

[fsx]

Hallo!

EDIT: Slitherine works on a patch for the city-string-issue.

deleted:

Perhaps, Slitherine could give us some information about their work on the AK-problems.
EDIT: in the next few days.

1. problems list with priority
2. status quo of bug-hunting
3. Existing work-arounds?

VPaulus made made a very useful post in DMP. For players, they have (perhaps) an bug.
Please, read the message history first, before you make a post!

About DLC and vanilla with AK or version 1.10: viewtopic.php?f=121&t=36462#p343060

I didn't find any issues with city strings in any of the DLC or the Vanilla game, so I would say our players are free to enjoy this content to their heart's content as they always have. We are aware of the issue with a few strings in DLC1942, but none of these issues should impede actual game play.

Checking a non-English localization of the Vanilla game (DLC seem to be fine though, with the exception of 42 again) , I see there are a few strings out of order, but again as hex strings don't actually have any effect on game play, the Vanilla game and DLC content is still very much functional and available for our players to enjoy.

issues

1. string problem with a first work around: viewtopic.php?f=125&t=36329 and viewtopic.php?f=125&t=36320
2. equipment (8.8 without transport in 1939) - solved, new equipment file in viewtopic.php?f=121&t=36349
3. scenario battleaxe: viewtopic.php?f=125&t=36403 - work around: use cheat "endscn 0" (look at Rudankort's post below)
4. scenario Dash To Wire. Read the messages!
Gerhard found the necessary action in triggers:
Supply Dumps only visible, if Etikett „Dump“ set. This Etikett only will be active, if the player between turn 2 and 5 have four or more ground-units in zone 11. That ist the Assembly Area marked with „A“. This information is not in scenario desription available but it exists a message at turn 2:
"Assemble at least four units for the task at the marked assembly area. There is no time to waste!"
see also: viewtopic.php?f=121&t=36481

other issues?
5. bug or request? (desert)-Tiles for muddy/frozen missed: viewtopic.php?f=121&t=36448.

[lordzimoa]

Guys,

The game is out a bit more than a day!

Of course we collect and look out on these forums to everything that is reported and we will bring out a patch, as we always do, that will solve all little bugs that may escaped Beta.

They are just small things, that are already being looked at.


On a side note: I have been reading some comments on DMP:

Let me state this on a personnel and private level, some of the comments there are utterly without any respect or knowledge what it takes to produce a game, some very arrogant assumptions.

Your mod`s are great, but can only exist because we created Panzer Corps and pumped in years and years, thousands of hours of work and we are willing to listen, improve and upgrade our games and modding tools.

We come from a modding background ourselves and produced far greater and complicated mods on the Total War series, but never, I can tell you at our time we lost sight of our limitations and abilities, as we knew how hard it is to create an engine and code from nothing.

The amount of time and support Alex and the whole team have given to the mod community, adding wanted features, providing and updating tools, explaining and passing on knowledge about Panzer Corps, I feel very, very disappointed and offended.

All the new stuff we put into the 1.10 build gives the modding community much more abilities to create even better and more diverse scenarios... but if this is the way DMP is behaving... if this is the way you guys think we are motivated to help you out, I can tell you it is not working, on the contrary I feel disgusted at some of the plain lies I have been reading at DMP.

This is the last word I spent on this matter here in public, but I tell you I will not forget.

[fsx]

Hallo lodzimoa!

First: the new version 1.10 is a huge step for PanzerCorps. It gives the modding community so many new features. After the release of the 1.10 patch I am sure, PC will have a great future.
DMP use "only" the possibilities of the program. Slitherine made two steps at the same time: creating new features for modders AND making a new AddOn with the new features. It is clear, that the "chance" of bugs is much higher than for a "normal" Mod.

But, please understand, the customer payed for the program. And they expect a bug-free program.
I know, software without bugs doesn't exist.
But in this case (I work in a software company) we show the custumer what we make to fix the bugs and give them information about the status quo. This is the topic I am missing from slitherine.
And.. are you not angry, when the new car you bought is often in a garage for repair?

The kind, how some users talk about the issues - that should be more polite.

Look at my posts. I try to give you informations about the string bug and wrote down a work around for that issue. I wanna help you searching the bug. Is it arrogant?

The amount of time and support Alex and the whole team have given to the mod community, adding wanted features, providing and updating tools, explaining and passing on knowledge about Panzer Corps, I feel very, very disappointed and offended.

I am very happy about the support for the new features. Each time I asked about a new feature, the answer came quickly.
But we also do such a job. We do it besides our "normal" job.

Let us work together to improve PanzerCorps! Thats the goal for both sides.
The post should not be an "attack", it should be provide some (my last) information about the status quo of some bugs.
thats the reason, I changed the subject. The former one could be misunderstand.

[Rudankort]

As Tim has said, AK is out only a little bit more than a day, and from your list only issue 3 is an AK issue. So far only one person complained about it, for the rest Battleaxe scenario seems to be working just fine. If other people have seen it, please let me know. BTW, workaround for this issue is just to use "endscn 0" cheat.

[fsx]

I changed the subject and edited my post (after: "lordzimoa wrote...").

[DMPTeam]

Dear lordzimoa, let me answer you as one of the officials from DMP.
My name is Gerhard I am administrator at DMP.
Our forum is free of censorship, anybody can write his opinion about Panzercorps, Africacorps, or our Mods, or anything else.
The only thing which is forbidden at DMP is insulting a person or break German law.
We all love your excellent game and we knew that the “exe” is the most important part of a game.
I am very happy of the improvements in 1.10, some excellent new features. Thanks for that.
I am confident that you will fix the small bugs in a few weeks, so we can use all features as they are wanted.
There are some new users at DMP which bought AK and they are a little bit dissatisfied.
What should I do? Bann them all?
I can´t bann a user when he writes, “it´s wasted money” for example.
That’s his opinion not more, this is not DMP. We have arround 17000 members.
So please, DMP is furthermore interested in a good relationship between LordZ, Slitherine and DMP.

Regards Gerhard

PS: I will keep an eye to some threads at our board!

[VPaulus]

I've been around DMP forum since they announced DMP Afrika Korps.
It's a nice community wit a lot of nice people.
Personally, I don't blame DMP, nor the forum moderators, because there's a post made by a member stating certain things in a exaggerated way, and accusing us, the forum administrators here, of deleting negative threads.
I felt shocked, how easily some people gave automatically credit to the poster.
I don't blame DMP for that, it's a forum, that's how things are.
I hope things will soon cool down.

[fsx]

Me to.

VPaulus, you made made a very useful post in DMP. For players, they have (perhaps) an bug.

Please, read the message history first, before you make a post!

http://www.designmodproject.de/forum/vi ... 9#p1161516

[Chris10]

On a side note: I have been reading some comments on DMP:

Let me state this on a personnel and private level, some of the comments there are utterly without any respect or knowledge what it takes to produce a game, some very arrogant assumptions.

Your mod`s are great, but can only exist because we created Panzer Corps and pumped in years and years, thousands of hours of work and we are willing to listen, improve and upgrade our games and modding tools.

We come from a modding background ourselves and produced far greater and complicated mods on the Total War series, but never, I can tell you at our time we lost sight of our limitations and abilities, as we knew how hard it is to create an engine and code from nothing.

The amount of time and support Alex and the whole team have given to the mod community, adding wanted features, providing and updating tools, explaining and passing on knowledge about Panzer Corps, I feel very, very disappointed and offended.

All the new stuff we put into the 1.10 build gives the modding community much more abilities to create even better and more diverse scenarios... but if this is the way DMP is behaving... if this is the way you guys think we are motivated to help you out, I can tell you it is not working, on the contrary I feel disgusted at some of the plain lies I have been reading at DMP.

This is the last word I spent on this matter here in public, but I tell you I will not forget.

Tim...Gerhard from DMP makes a fair point.
They can not ban poeple just for posting bullshit !
I would not take these comments to serious as in most forums of most game developer/publishers these bugranting "all is crap-unplayable" topics pop up like mushrooms after bigger releases...and there is always poeple who like to jump on the train especially when people cry "censorship"-"topic deleting"-"they mob me cause Iam criticizing" or similar things...And since this guy couldnt cause the huge scandal he was looking for on this board he decided to go somehwere else to express his, yet deeply ignorant, frustration and looking for some support. If you come from TW modding you know what Iam talking about... Did you had a look at TWCenter Forums when Shogun2 was released ?...CA got flamed to death they had to start to really delete topics and posts over there cause things were going out of hands and TWCenter is not even official TW...It was the same with all releases...RTW,M2TW,Empire (this was the worst),Napoleon...well..you name it!

But in this case (I work in a software company) we show the custumer what we make to fix the bugs and give them information about the status quo. This is the topic I am missing from slitherine.

It has been said..the game is out for only 2 days so whats the point here ?
Software is no car and a thousand times more error prone than a car which has been developed by a huge cooporation which pumped hundreds of millions into developement and testing of any single little component..yet..time and again huge callback programs do pop up in serial car production..sometimes after years or after a series of heavy accidents
...I would prefer a developer looking into stuff rather then wasting time in posting and explaining in a forum...knowing he is at the things should suffice for a while and this was the case with that particular individual yet he started a smear campaign at DMP boards...thats pretty disrespectful!
Coming around after 2 days and moan lacking support or dedication is absurd..with all due respect
Da wollen wir doch mal die Kirche ein bissl im Dorf lassen, oder ?

[fsx]

Hallo Chris10!

I also spend much time in testing and searching a work around for the city-bug. But I dont know, is this work useful for Slitherine or should I stop this.
Feedback did not recived me. I hope, you understand my request for information now.

Yes, its only a game. But all the player, discusses about PanzerKorps & AK loves this game. (also player gave negative feedback). And it is hard to wait for playing this game or seeing some unexpected behavior.
The new features are great, but sometimes not so easy to learn. We have to "learn" to read the mission-messages. Some players (me to) did not expect an enemy unit that appears "from somewhere" (perhaps it would be better to make a messagebox says "new enemy units arriving the battlefield" and they wait a turn before attacking?).

[VPaulus]

Some players (me to) did not expect an enemy unit that appears "from somewhere" (perhaps it would be better to make a messagebox says "new enemy units arriving the battlefield" and they wait a turn before attacking?).

You mean in Battleaxe? Or you're speaking in general terms?

In Battleaxe you do have a message that new enemy units are approaching from the left flank. The message appear at turn 5 and the unit at turn 6.



I'm sure that the devs appreciate your reports.

[fsx]

The fighters in Brevity.

[Chris10]

Hallo Chris10!
I also spend much time in testing and searching a work around for the city-bug. But I dont know, is this work useful for Slitherine or should I stop this.
Feedback did not recived me. I hope, you understand my request for information now.

I tell you what...
To my surprise I found more than one of my suggestions/wishes (editor,modding abilities) been taken on by Alex and implemented in AK and some others seems to be taken into account but couldnt make it into release due to short time but are scheduled to be added in a Patch maybe...even if he nor anybody else said something on the matter when I posted them...so I was unsure if somebody cares about it anyway...now Iam positive that folks here read the stuff even if they do not always comment...
The heroes.pzdat is a fine example. I mentioned this during Beta to get this out of the hardcode and let poeple fiddle around with this, what bonuses, probability parameters to get assigned etc...nobody commented about it by the time I posted it but Alex just mentioned he plans to add a heroes.pzdat for a Patch....great,isnt it?
Developers and Publishers can only spent time X in a Forum as they have a lot of other work and other Projects/Customers/Forum Sections to attend too.
As good as a suggestion may be Its simply impossible to give every person a personal feedback...its just not feasible.
And adding more stuff/mechanics for a Developer/Publisher is only viable if the ressources are available. If a game sells badly then why da hell somebody would spend more work and money on it if he could work on another title to generate some income ?
And at this point the player feedback comes into play..If people run rampant on other boards about "unplayability" and "incompetent developers" and crap like this they do everything possible to make the game fail on the market...which means no more features, no more patches..clever approach,isnt it ?
So lay back and relax..AK has some minor little bugs but nothing gamebreaking...they get ironed out and with some good sales a lot of more features could be added to have a lot of fun with the engine for years...so people can choose...take the opportunity or screw it..by making pressure and ranting developers get discouraged and not encouraged as we already have observed.
Especially small and indy developers deserve a lot more trust and support or they wont survive and all the mega cooporations take the market delivering mass produced crap which always gets released in beta status

If you wanna contribute do it...dont ask for a reward or feedback...just contribute and usually real contributions gets rewarded sooner or later.

[ThvN]

Hi fsx, I'm not sure if it's mentioned clearly, but there is a workaround for the missing FlaK transport in 1939, you can use the 'all eqp' cheat, which will enable it in the purchase screen. This last one might be useful for people who can't or don't want to mess with files.

For your information, there are now three solutions, and one of them requires NO file-fiddling, just a couple of keystrokes:

1. Use Rudankort's file.
2. Mod the eqp file yourself.
3. Use the cheat 'all eqp', see viewtopic.php?f=121&t=36349#p342161

Since this thread has taken on quite a serious tone, I will share how I perceived the response to this bug I encountered, since I might have been the first person to post about the 88mm FlaK without transport in 1939, but I'm not sure. viewtopic.php?f=121&t=36277&start=40#p341878 I thought it was no big deal but posted it anyway, fixed my eqp file, and just continued playing.

Check the times in that thread and note that Rudankort responded to this small issue within eight hours (and he's not in the same timezone I believe, so he could have been sleeping when I first posted), and he gave a statement + new eqp file + other advice to deal with it (use the cheat) less than 24 hours later. While he was busy working on other things as well. And other people jumped in and gave advice, too.

How would you call this kind of support? I would call it excellent, but that is just my opinion.

[fsx]

Thanks!

I also got very fast responses of my questions. TOP!

I missed a post with a (official?) statement. What says Slitherine to the issues. What are the issues?
Perhaps:
You can to play AfrikaCorps now. The issues dont "stop" this game.
And about:
What I have to do, if I would play DLCs (39..) and the original cmpaign? What is recommended from Slitherine? Waiting for the new patch? Or copying the PanzerCorps directory that DLC could be played with 1.05 and AK with 1.10? Or play with 1.10 and live with the city-string-issue until the patch is released?

[Kerensky]

Thanks!

I also got very fast responses of my questions. TOP!

I missed a post with a (official?) statement. What says Slitherine to the issues. What are the issues?
Perhaps:
You can to play AfrikaCorps now. The issues dont "stop" this game.
And about:
What I have to do, if I would play DLCs (39..) and the original cmpaign? What is recommended from Slitherine? Waiting for the new patch? Or copying the PanzerCorps directory that DLC could be played with 1.05 and AK with 1.10? Or play with 1.10 and live with the city-string-issue until the patch is released?

I didn't find any issues with city strings in any of the DLC or the Vanilla game, so I would say our players are free to enjoy this content to their heart's content as they always have. We are aware of the issue with a few strings in DLC1942, but none of these issues should impede actual game play.

Checking a non-English localization of the Vanilla game (DLC seem to be fine though, with the exception of 42 again) , I see there are a few strings out of order, but again as hex strings don't actually have any effect on game play, the Vanilla game and DLC content is still very much functional and available for our players to enjoy.

[ThvN]

I missed a post with a (official?) statement. What says Slitherine to the issues. What are the issues?

Rudankort said something official about the FlaK transport

viewtopic.php?f=121&t=36349#p342196

[orlinos]

I didn't find any issues with city strings in any of the DLC or the Vanilla game, so I would say our players are free to enjoy this content to their heart's content as they always have. We are aware of the issue with a few strings in DLC1942, but none of these issues should impede actual game play.

Checking a non-English localization of the Vanilla game (DLC seem to be fine though, with the exception of 42 again) , I see there are a few strings out of order, but again as hex strings don't actually have any effect on game play, the Vanilla game and DLC content is still very much functional and available for our players to enjoy.

So am I the only one who experiences name string to be mixed up after reloading a saved game in DLC '39 or '40? (and probably in other DLC's too).
viewtopic.php?f=125&t=36329#p342166.

I am curious, since I do not modify the game files heavily as some people do - and any changes were overwritten anyway by the patch 1.10 and again by the same patch in the Afrika Corps installer. So if you are not having any problems, than I should not too.

The city names being mixed up obviously do not stop me from playing DLC's as it is nothing crucial. What does effectively stop me from playing DLC's at the moment is the Afrika campaign.

[Zhivago]

Dear lordzimoa, let me answer you as one of the officials from DMP.
My name is Gerhard I am administrator at DMP.
Our forum is free of censorship, anybody can write his opinion about Panzercorps, Africacorps, or our Mods, or anything else.
The only thing which is forbidden at DMP is insulting a person or break German law.
We all love your excellent game and we knew that the “exe” is the most important part of a game.
I am very happy of the improvements in 1.10, some excellent new features. Thanks for that.
I am confident that you will fix the small bugs in a few weeks, so we can use all features as they are wanted.
There are some new users at DMP which bought AK and they are a little bit dissatisfied.
What should I do? Bann them all?
I can´t bann a user when he writes, “it´s wasted money” for example.
That’s his opinion not more, this is not DMP. We have arround 17000 members.
So please, DMP is furthermore interested in a good relationship between LordZ, Slitherine and DMP.

Regards Gerhard

PS: I will keep an eye to some threads at our board!

I've never heard of these chumps. And if I have not heard of them, they must not be very important.

[VPaulus]

Zhivago no flaming posts, please.
Thanks.