WGP and Windows 7
Some WarGame Processor users are making the upgrade to Windows 7. The new security restrictions in Windows 7 and some of the less well documented "features" have caused some problems if you don't do things correctly.
When installing WGP on your windows 7 computer, don't install it in any of the "programs" or "programs(x86)" folders. These folders were set aside by Microsoft, and then made so secure that the common user can't write into these folders or sub-directories - something WGP wants to do to save your preferences and registration keys (Yes, I would love to save those to the registry like Microsoft wanted me to, except they made doing that nearly impossible for the same security reasons -Microsoft is too invested in a centrally controlled operating system).
If you do feel the need to install it in "programs" or "programs(x86)", you can still have the program work by right clicking on the WGP icon, select "properties", press the "advanced" button and select the item "run as administrator".
Windows 7 has a little documented Display option that most people are unaware of that causes problems with more programs than just WGP. In Windows 7, you can adjust the default font size up to 150% in all windows. Part of the reason for this is that screen resolutions keep getting better and better, and the fonts consequently get harder and harder to see. Unfortunately, a quirk of Windows is that dialog box and dialog control sizes are referenced from the font used in the dialog, and if you change the font size, you change the size of the dialog - which can be a disaster if you're mixing blitted graphics with your controls (like WGP does).
Windows 7 installations seem to default to setting the font size to 125% (even though they say 100% is the default - thanks Microsoft), and there's no obvious documentation on how to fix it. To reset your font size to 100% (which, I think is where we would all like to be), select "Control Panel" from your start button. Click the green "Appearance and Personalization" item. Click the green "Display" item. Be sure "smaller (100%)" is selected. You'll probablyhave to re-logon after doing this for it to take effect.
In the future I'll figure out where that value is stored in the registry, and adjust the unit positions accordingly, but this is the workaround.
Fortress Europa Version 2
While getting ready for a game of Fortress Europa, I noticed some problems with the module. One of the German units was incorrect, and there was no way to tell the frozen units from the Free to move units at the beginning of the game. I corrected the order of Battle, and added District designators to the images of the german units so you can tell at a glance which ones are frozen. I've uploaded the revised game tot he website. I don't know if anyone is playing this or not, but if you are, finish your current game before upgrading the module, as the two versions are not compatible.
Squad Leader Game Set 1 Released!
Tonight I put the finishing touches on Gameset 1, zipped it up and released it to the website.
Squad leader presents some special challenges for the WGP system, because of the always changing mapboards. Every scenario literally requires a separate module. Enclosed in this download are the modules for the first 6 scenarios of Squad Leader. When I have finished the second six scenarios, completing the original Squad Leader game system, I’ll release a module developers toolkit, which will allow users to generate their own mapboards for modules quickly with any graphics software. The development toolkit will have a standard order of battle which will have every counter included in the original Squad Leader Game. The development system will grow as the Gamettes are included. I don’t know if this system will work well by the time we get to GI- Anvil of Victory, because of the density of information on the counters for GI.
I’ve deviated from the WGP module design philosophy for these modules, by using scans of the original mapboards with no clean-up, or at least very little. I wanted to keep the beautiful artwork on the maps, and keep them true to the LOS calculations. Later enhancements might be snow maps, and maps with the wheat fields removed for winter scenarios. We’ll see. The hexes are twice the size of the WGP hex grid. Part of the reason for this was to lower the apparent unit density, but also to allow for bypass movement in more advanced play.
The way I've done this, each Scenario becomes easier to develop, as the counter mix becomes more and more complete. The Russian and German countermixes are almost complete. Now I have to do the American counter mix for Game Set . Two fo the GS2 scenarios were challenges to play for reasons of space, because the boards were laid end to end. WGP makes that possible, and should be a fun exercize.
Squad Leader
Work is progressing on Squad Leader modules. I've been sort of ready to release scenarios 1-4 for awhile, but the further I progress, the more I learn, and I want to backfill capabilities into these scenarios instead of releasing them prematurely. The way It's looking, I'll be releasing Gameset I (the first 6 scenarios) as a complete download.
One of the breakthroughs to date has been the standardization of the map boards. They just weren't going together very well. The original mapboards had a slight edge on all sides of the mounting board. To get the hexes the right size, the designers basically cut off some of the hexes on the edge. This was okay for cardboard, but leaves a tremendous gap in the map when you try to mate it digitally.
When scanning a map, it's difficult to get the hex grid exactly straight. I eventually developed a standard template with registration marks showing where all the hex edges should line up when you put a map section down. This involves a bit of size and angle tweaking in paint shop pro. The template also shows where the edges of the map should be, which almost never gets filled if your hex edges meet the registration marks. So for each map I have to go in and fill this gap by hand, using cut and paste and clone brushes from other existing parts of the map. Once done, though, you have a map section that's ready to be stamped down, allowing you to very quickly assemble a set of maps on an existing grid. I plan to be releasing a module developer's toolkit for Squad Leader, which will include map templates to be stamped onto an existing prepared module which will have the full TO&E for all the counters all ready. This of course will be updated as more materials are developed.
I realized there were white areas on the vehicle counters to show open-topped and turreted vehicles. At least I hadn't got too far, and only had to redo my T-34's. I put in all the "personal" leader counters for self-promotion.
Because all the "sides" of each vehicle are taken up with the six possible facings, I ended up having to do a complete second counter to show a wreck. Same thing with broken field guns.
My original intention was to let the scenarios develop the counter mix as I went along, but I found images of unpunched counters on the internet, so I was able to get quick counts of the countermix provided in the game box, and apply that to the module Order of Battle. With support counters and various markers that players might want to use when playing the full rules on the earlier scenarios, I'm up to about 550 counters for the full game set scenarios 1-6. Look for this soon.
Squad Leader
I had done a V3 module for Squad leader, but it never really took flight. The graphic sizes were so small with V3 that the vehicles just weren't playable. Now with V4 I have enough room to actually make working vehicles.
Since my 11 year old son is pushing me to play Squad Leader, we played scenario 4 yesterday. While doing this I was mulling possibilities for WGP and this classic, and took a stab at it last night after dinner.
I scanned and shrunk down board 1. This is a bit of deviation , because I'm making the SL hexes double the size of the WGP hexes. This will be useful later on when bypass movement is introduced. It also keeps me from having to conform the game hexes to the WGP grid, which would lose all that beautiful SL artwork. Another consideration is that LOS determinations just wouldn't work if I in any way touched the board art.
Then I scanned the scenario cards at very high resolution to get the unit images. I selected out the individual unit artwork and then shrunk it down using paint shop pro, which does a fine job of anti-aliasing. For the vehicles, I used lesson learned while working on the Tobruk module, again scanning the vehicle in very high resolution, then rotating it in 60 degree increments, shrinking each rotation separately to fit on the counter. each of the 6 steps is a different facing for the vehicle. The result looks very good. The vehicles are much smaller on the WGP board than they are on the SL board, but they were way oversize on the cardboard version, so I don't think this is a problem. One problem though is separate counters are needed for wrecks.
Theres the issue of concealment counters. I didn't want to make a hidden unit front image for every single unit, so there's going to have to be some allowances made to keep your opponent from peeking under your concealed stacks.
The Russian units have three faces: Normal, broken and berserk, all contained in one counter. Broken units don't have an indicated firepower, range or leadership value.
The downside of WGP is that every SL scenario will require a new module because the board configurations always change.
The idea with this module is to form a foundation upon which future SL modules can be quickly built. As each module is added to the library, the unit counter mix will be added to. By setting up a unit library, new modules can have the image library and order of battle quickly copied from older modules, and added to. I plan to provide separate PNG files for each map-board with hex registration marks so they can be quickly fitted together with any paint program. WGP is especially well suited for this sort of thing as the library of available images grows, because hex overlays can be quickly incorporated as completely separate boards.
Sowing Seeds for the Future
So I'm in a little down time right now from WGP development, but for a good reason. My 11 year old son has expressed an interest in learning how to write software. So as a father and son project, we've embarked on a task to program the combat results table from Tobruk into a C++ application.
This project has a long history. Back when Ma and Pa Emerson got one of the first Commode - door 64's, I tried my hand at writing in basic, and this was the project I chose. I actually had something sort of working, but it was unstable. . . you see, at that tender age no one ever bothered to tell me that you have to eventually RETURN from all those GOSUBS! I would open up with the Bofors at a full rate of fire, and about 20 shots into it, I would run out of memory.
Many years and many lines of code have gone by since then, and I'm not letting my son make the same sorts of mistakes I made. I'm sure he'll invent a whole new set of mistakes in the process! But with my mentoring, I think this is an ambitious but do-able task for him. Basically our interface will allow the user to select the type of unit firing, the type of target, the range, and whether it's acquired or not, and will let you shoot to your heart's content, and give you the results instantly without ever having to consult a chart. In the process my son learns how to use multi-arrayed variables, the for-next loop, conditional statements and precompiler definitions. Look for it on Boardgamegeek.com when we're done!
Version 4.15 is OUT!
I spent the whole weekend head-down in the code, ripping and tearing at the stacking logic and rebuilding it from scratch. The logic to maintain stack integrity was sort of an afterthought, and kind of kludged together, and it was convoluted, hard to maintain and spread out everywhere. There's a lot of different program paths that can lead to a player picking up a unit and putting it in a combat box, depending on how you do it. The price of being intuitive. . .
Anyway I rebuilt the logic from the ground up, consolidated the operation in about 3 functions, and tested it every way I knew how. Attackers from within multiple stacks. Single attackers in multiple hexes. Attackers from the same hex entering the combat box separately. I hope I got them all, but somehow I doubt it. There's so many different possible combinations on an open architecture like this. But the new logic seems to be holding up well, actual p[lay will tell. So PLEASE if you see any mysteriously disappearing units, or units that appear in two places at once, tell me! I need to know this is happening so I can fix it.
I also uploaded revised online documentation for WGP4 to the website. I'm still scratching my head how to link this in to the help function on the program, which remains broken. . . .
Upcoming feature
I'm playing with ideas of how to best implement a floating unit feature. Right now unit positions are dictated by the hex grid. Some Area type games, such as Victory in the Pacific, Breakout: Normandy and Tigers in the Mist don't use a hex grid, and it would be easier to develop if the counters could sort of be put wherever you want. My big uncertainty now is how to handle the map locations under the mouse.
This will be a pretty extensive feature to implement, but will not affect the backwards compatibility of the program.
Another feature which WGP already has the hooks for is hex control. This would involve assigning each unit to a "flag" in the editor, and that flag being added to a hex when that unit touches it. Certain classes of units, such as fleets and air units would not have a flag, and certain hexes (off map, sea hexes, etc) would not be able to be controlled. Players could then see who controls what with a mere press of a button. The hooks are there in the data file formats, but the code isn't implemented.
Incorporating both of these features I think would call for WGP to roll to version 5.00
Suggestions are always welcome!
Replay bug
While editing the help files, I wondered what would happen if a unit was picked up, moved by single clicking a couple of hexes, and then placed in a combat box for combat resolution.
The answer? Not good. Don't do this. The unit takes quite a tour of the map in replay, since the replay thinks everything after the pickup is movement. This will be fixed in the next release. When performing combat, move your units directly from their hex to the combat box.
Crap. Just found another bug of the disappearing unit type. Something to do with the "release" button in combat mode. Maybe when carrying units from stacks in different hexes. . . this one is pretty major, will have to fix it soon. Disappearing units = NOT GOOD.
Other nit-noid bugs (just jotting these down more for my own recall more than anything else). The module definition requester in the editor is incorrect. The top value is always the horizontal number of hexes.
The die roll definition dialog refers to a preference that no longer exists.
Some units are not being marked with a "D" when involved with a combat declaration.
Blitzkrieg
When my Dad and I decided that D-Day couldn't be won by the Germans, we went to the store for another game. I really didn't want to buy blitzkrieg, because it had nothing to do with history, but he sort of coerced me into buying it.
Dad thought Blitzkrieg was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and it just bored me to tears, because there were just way too few units for the huge game board, and we generally ended up in a WWI style stalemate at the center of the board. But I did spend hours of play with this.
I since found out that Jim Dunnigan helped author and expansion pack with SPI for this, and thanks to boardgamegeek, I have enough to add that expansion pack to the blitzkrieg module. For you purists, the original components are unchanged.
Last night I laid out the basic mapboard, using some scans from board game geek. The alignment to the WGP hex grid was excellent, but a vagary in the resizing of the scans made all the horizontal lines in the scanned hex grid disappear. I used Paint Shop Pro to paint out the rest of the hex grid, and then used the WGP editor to replace the hex grid with WGP's. I still want to clean up the various names, and maybe a cleaner looking city grid for the city hexes, and then to work on the orders of battle.