User's Guide for AE Launcher and Map Switcher
Contents
1. 14 File Reports If you are using Launcher in manual mode this button will allow you to file the text reports without having to be in synchronization Section 4 Customization It is quite possible that you may like the idea of the dynamic map but don t agree with all of the choices for the effects as listed in Appendix A That s understandable and it is very easy to turn each of the effects on or off or even change the dates when they occur It is even possible to add your own custom effects The pwhexe_switch ini file This file located in the main Launcher directory is the file that must be changed to customize how and when the map changes The file in normal Ini fashion consists of a series of sections I have used the first section as a revision block The second and subsequent sections each contain the information used to control the map changes which I term as an effect The first line of each of these sections is the title or name of the effect Note that some effects are broken up into multiple sections for several reasons not least of which is it is easier to manage and test with smaller sections Simple customization The simplest thing you can do is turn an effect completely off The second line of each section will be normally ATTRIBUTE On If you edit this line to be ATTRIBUTE Off Then the effect will not be used The second simple thing you can do is to change the start stop dates And example SEASONALSTARTDATE2. NA SEASONALENDDATE NA CALENDARSTART 430216 CALENDARSTOP 461231 These dates control when the effect is applied to the map The dates are in the format YYMMDD for Calendar type effects and in the format xxMMDD for Seasonal effects When you change the start stop dates of any effect you should be careful not to create a conflict with other effects that may be set to change the same hexagons An example is the Burma RR where there are really two effects The first degrades the stock map road connection to a trail in the period from game start to mid February 1943 When the RR is completed in mid February 1943 the second effect comes into play and you will see the map art work change along with the addition of the railroad So the start date of the second effect should be one day after the stop date of the first effect More complex customization It is possible to do much more with this file such as modifying the details of existing effects or generating new effects To do these things requires an understanding of the file format used The first section is as noted previously reserved as a revision block but 1t also contains some of the format details of the following sections so this is a good reference for most changes This revision block is repeated below The ini file structure consists of the revision block and one or more effect sections Each effect section consists of a header that consists of the first 12 lines of the section The
3. Turn Length 1 2 or 3 representing the no of days per turn Continuous turn length is not directly supported by the Launcher but may be possible using manual Map Update Mode f Music Shuffle If this setting is checked in the pull down menu it will show as On in this display If set to On then when AE is launched the music selections in the game will be randomly shuffled with any MP3 files you have placed into the Launcher Music MP3 folder Launcher Switcher Settings Player Side Japan Game Type Human vs Al Map Update Mode Semi Auto Reports Mode Append urn Length 1 Music Shuffle On 2 Map Event Status list When Synchronization is complete this list will show the current status of Map Events ON or OFF and how many days to go before the status will change Map Event Status Burma and Siam RR Initially is ON for 435 days A Burma and Siam RR Done is OFF Starts in 436 days Tiddurn Road is ON for 510 days Kyushu Tunnel is OFF Starts in 343 days Ledo Road Ledo is OFF Starts in 415 days Ledo Road 65 59 is OFF Starts in 664 days Ledo Road 65 40 is OFF Starts in 750 days Ledo Road 64 41 is OFF Starts in 860 days be 3 Game Status Display First line shows the WITP AE most recent game date If background color is yellow date is not valid If background color is green synchronization is complete and date is valid Second line shows Synchronization status If background color is yell
4. If Synchronization is currently in a complete state that is good to go for map updating in synch with your current AE game both of these lines will have a green background If the synchronization is not complete none then these lines will have a yellow background Below these two lines is a Map Event Status window If the current Synchronization status is Complete then the window will show when map events are scheduled to take effect or cease effect Pull Down Menus There are pull down menus that allow you to change Launcher Game parameters PBEM parameters and CMD line switches Semi Auto Mode Controls There is only one control in this group When you are using Launcher in semi automated mode this button will start the process of updating the map and launching AE When you return from AE the process resumes including filing the text reports and composing your email PBEM and Mozilla Thunderbird users only Manual Mode Controls This group of buttons is for those who want more precision in controlling their AE environment The buttons allow you to a Launch AE no map update When you press this button AE will be started using the command line SETTINGS This is similar to the standard Windows shortcut except that when you exit AE you return to the Launcher instead of the Desktop b Build Map This allows you to build a map to a specific date configuration c Compose Email If you are playing a PBEM game and you have Moz
5. Magadan Okha Nikolaevsk and Petrolavosk are icebound for much of the winter Since all but Nome are Soviet ports this will only have a large effect if the Japanese player attacks the Soviet union Nome appears to be a minor port but could come into play if the Japanese player has an Aleutian strategy The frozen periods vary somewhat from port to port but generally start by early December and thaw by early May Appendix B Design Notes At some point I am going to release the source code for the Launcher so this appendix provides a reference for further work with the code either by me or whoever may be interested in using this work It also may provide some insight into just why the heck the utility was designed the way it is for whatever that may be worth History The Launcher grew out of some work I did to support the RHS mods to WITP El Cid the guru of RHS had come up with a scheme to change the pwhex dat file the map data file to incorporate various map changes The changes encompassed such things as a damaged Panama Canal river opening and closings and some road and railroad upgrades The scheme that El Cid was using was to edit by hand with a binary editor the pwhexe dat file to include a particular combination of effects He had approximately eight different pwhex dat files and the idea was to overwrite the operative pwhex dat file with the one you wanted at any particular time Since I had recently written a utility to install
6. Switcher Multi Purpose 5 ESPA a Tool for AE E Semi Auto Mode Controls First Turn Reset Sync Controls Map Event Status Lock Unlock oc Inloc Burma and Siam RR Initially is ON for 426 days A A AS Burma and Siam RR Done is OFF Starts in 427 days Tiddurn Road is ON for 501 days Kyushu Tunnel is OFF Starts in 334 days Ledo Road Ledo is OFF Starts in 406 days Ledo Road 65 39 is OFF Starts in 675 days Manta Made Gantrale Ledo Road 55 40 is OFF Starts in 741 days Ledo Road 64 41 is OFF Starts in 851 days Y Launch AE no Map update Launcher Switcher Settings Player Side Allies Build Map ame Type Human vs Al Map Update Mode Semi Auto Compose Email Reports Mode Append urn Length 1 File Reports There are six groupings of controls and displays on the main screen of the Launcher 1 6 Launcher Switcher Settings display This display has five lines showing your current SETTINGS for Side Game Type Map Update Mode Reports Mode and Turn Length These are values you can change using the pull down menus see 3 below The AE game SETTINGS Side Game Type and Turn Length need to be the same as the settings within your AE game Game Status display This display shows the current level of Synchronization see below for description of Synchronization There are two text lines showing the most recent game turn date and Synchronization status
7. and extract the game date from the combatreport txt file and declare that synchronization is complete The game status window will go green and the map event status list will show you the schedule for map changes From this point on you will be able to press the Update Map Launch AE button to start each turn and the sequence of map build start AE run a turn return to launcher and file reports will be the same for every turn Enjoy Quick Start for PBEM Games first turn not yet run semi auto mode l 11 12 Japanese player If you have not already done so perform the Launcher installation using the self installing package Gentle Nag Do it in a separate installation Japanese player Start Launcher Japanese player Using the pull down SETTINGS menu customize your Launcher Game CMD line and PBEM settings to conform to the game you are going to play and your preferences Japanese player Unlock the buttons on the right side of the Launcher menu and press First Turn Since no turns have yet been run there is not a combatreport txt file available that can be trusted so you will have to enter the date of the first turn This is normally 411207 or 411208 but other mods may come along so any date in the war years is ok 411207 to 461231 Japanese player A map will be built for the first turn and then AE will be started Go ahead and make the selections in AE that will get your game going play up until yo
8. both ways and then generate some sort of new intel report This new intel report should be biased to reflect the clear advantage of the Allies in this arena but with occasional lapses and inaccuracies The Japanese would get some info but of markedly less quality 1 haven t completely thought this through that is why it is in the blue sky section but it sounds doable
9. AVE game folder 13 Allied player Unlock the buttons on the right side of the Launcher menu and press SYNC RESYNC Launcher will use the combatreport txt file to get the latest game date complete synchronization and set up your reports filing folders The status section will go green if not already so and the date display will reflect the date of your most recent turn Note that you will have a choice to save in an Archive folder or delete the txt files in the SAVE folder at this point but they cannot be incorporated into the new filing structure 14 Allied player Press the Update Map Start AE button A map will be built for the next turn and then AE will be started In AE go through your normal cycle of Combat Replay Order Entry and saving of the game and then exit AE 15 Allied player You will be returned to the Launcher which will file your reports and update the game date and map status window 16 Allied player At this point you need to email the first turn to the Japanese player You need to email only the savegame file wpaexxx pws If you have Mozilla Thunderbird as your email program and have your PBEM SETTINGS in order an email composition window will be opened for you 17 Japanese and Allied players At this point you have gotten semi automated mode all set and working and you can continue the game saving the files from your opponent starting a turn cycle with the Update Map Start AE button and emailing the files to yo
10. User s Guide for Launcher A Map Switching and Multi Purpose Tool for AE Rev E 12 09 09 Dave Bradley Section 1 Introduction and Acknowledgements Introduction The AE Launcher Switcher hereafter referred to as the Launcher is a freeware utility designed to work with War in the Pacific Admiral s Edition AE The Launcher provides a means for changing the map structure to correspond with historic real life events such as the building of the Ledo Road It is designed to run semi automatically so that the least amount of extra work by the player is required in order to gain the benefits of a dynamic map In normal use the player will begin a session of AE by first starting the Launcher and then starting AE from within the Launcher Before starting AE the Launcher will automatically update the map to correspond to the current game date In addition to the map switching function the Launcher provides several other services to help the player manage the AE environment Acknowledgements Few if any human accomplishments are the result of a single individual This is very true for the Launcher This work grew out a utility that I produced in early 2008 for the RHS modification to War in the Pacific The concept of changing the map structure came to me from Sid Trevathan El Cid who was the principal driving force behind the RHS modification I have been able to expand the concept but the original idea is not mine War in the Pacific a
11. as it didn t add too many clicks to getting underway would be a reasonable methodology Thus was the genesis of the Launcher As I built up the interface I began to see that there were other tasks that might prove useful that could be added to the Launcher structure So the report filing email composition command line options music switching and text file searching features got added as time went by Autolt3 When I started the original RHS installer utility I reasoned that the task was a relatively undemanding in terms of the software tools required to do the file manipulation and user interface tasks required After a bit of looking I found the Autolt3 scripting language tool http www autoitscript com autoit3 Autolt3 is very full featured and seemed ideal AutoIt3 was indeed more than sufficient for that task When the original map switching utility work came along I was concerned that Autolt3 might not be optimal for this more complicated task I found that I was able to build all of the needed data structures and manipulate binary files as needed and the execution speed was still more than sufficient This has continued to be the case with the development of Launcher The only noticeable lag when running Launcher is during map build and that occurs because of the map panel overlay process using ImageMagick and that I think is not really an indication of any inherent inefficiencies in ImageMagick but rather simply result of moving many lar
12. button will initiate a sequence if Synchronization is complete and Map Update Mode is Semi Auto a The AE game map will be updated to match the current game date b AE will be launched using the CMD line switches current set in the pulldown menu SETTINGS CMD Line c Upon return from AE the launcher will check to see if new reports files have been generated and will file them per the Reports Mode setting d Ifthe game is PBEM then it will compose the email to send the turn to your opponent Lock Unlock This toggles the row of buttons on the right side of the main window from active to inactive and vice versa Reset Map Pressing this button will allow you to reset the map back to its stock condition This includes both the data file pwhexe dat and the map art panels SYNC RESYNC button When this button is pressed the program will attempt to bring the Launcher to a synchronized condition It will do this by reading the combatreport txt file and other text files in the C Matrix Games War in the Pacific Admiral s Edition SAVE directory The program will extract the game date from the combatreport txt and make that the most recent turn date shown in the Game Status section of the main window The SYNC function will also set up the folders for saving all of the reports for the turns to come The new directory structure in the SAVE game folder is shown below Note that all of the files with game dates in the tittles have been moved to the ne
13. crements between the major steps I would allow the damage to be self annealing that is over time it would be automatically repaired simulating some distributed capability that is below the observable level for the user This idea could be quite complex to implement and certainly would require a much higher level of coordination communication for PBEM 3 Enhanced Intel The sigint reports are well done but have a certainty about them that is a little bit unrealistic I think What do I mean by this Well as far as I know the Allied sigint reports are not affected by FOW So if you see therein a message stating that a certain unit is planning to attack a certain base it is true And if you see that a certain unit has boarded ship enroute to invade such and such it also is true Also the Japanese player does not seem to benefit from sigint ever Now it is quite true that Allied code breaking and signals intelligence was of far far greater capability and significance than what the Japanese were able to accomplish The Japanese did not completely ignore this area they just didn t have very much success which is not the same as zero success The enhancement I am thinking of adding would only work for PBEM and in a situation where one or more of the above enhancements is employed so that there is already an established back channel communication link the jampsync dat and amapsync dat file exchanges It should be possible to pass some information
14. cture 5 Japanese Player If you haven t already done so save the most recent turn from your Allied opponent in the SAVE folder 6 Japanese player Press the Update Map Start AE button A map will be built for the next turn and then AE will be started In AE go through your normal cycle of Combat Resolution Order Entry and saving of the game and then exit AE 7 Japanese player You will be returned to the Launcher which will file your reports and update the game date and map status window 8 Japanese player At this point you need to email the turn to the Allied player You should email not only the savegame file wpaexxx pws and the Combat Replay wpae001 pws but also the map synchronization file jmapsync dat which can be found in the SAVE game folder along with the other two files If you have Mozilla Thunderbird as your email program and have your PBEM SETTINGS in order an email composition window will be opened for you 9 Allied player If you have not already done so perform the installation using the self installing package Gentle Nag Do it in a separate installation 10 Allied player Start Launcher 11 Allied player Using the pull down SETTINGS menu customize your Launcher Game CMD line and PBEM settings to conform to the game you are going to play and your preferences 12 Allied player When you get the turn files from the Japanese player save all three of them wpae001 pws wpaexxx pws and jmapsync dat in the S
15. cular date and end on a particular date Seasonal driven changes start on the same date each year and end on the same date each year 2 Art work changes It had seemed a shame that I could change the underlying data with the switcher but not the artwork Fortunately I stumbled across a marvelous freeware graphics program named ImageMagick ImageMagick has an extensive command line interface so I was able to figure out how to apply overlays to bmp panels that make up the AE map The advent of the Launcher With the release of AE in late July 2009 I began to work on a map switching utility for AE It was relatively easy to use the previously developed pwhex dat now pwhexe dat synthesis ini data driven game date sensing and art work modification ideas described above since the basic structure of the game was so little changed The key point that I tried to focus on was how to make the utility relatively easy to use with minimal day to day overhead The most important aspect as I saw it was to maintain synchronization that is the map changes would occur faithfully in step with the advance of the game date within the game And the way I saw to do that was to have the user start and end each AE turn with an interface that would make sure that synchronization was maintained I knew that many most users tend to start AE from a desktop shortcut perhaps with command line options built in I reasoned that a shortcut like starting point as long
16. e the launcher in semi automated mode with multiple games Itis theoretically possible to play multiple games from the same folder using manual mode but it would seem obvious that it would be easy for errors to creep in The easiest way to use Launcher for multiple games is to create a new WITP AE installation for each game along with its own copy of the Launcher Note that if you ever want to get the map back to straight stock there is a button for that Reset Map SPECIAL NOTE AE checks the pwhexe dat file to see if it has changed from the previous turn If it detects a change it will pop up a little window and ask you if you wish to proceed When the pwhexe dat file is changed by the Launcher you will see this message Since the intent is to change the file in this case there is no need to worry Hit the y key for yes and proceed To ensure that both players of a PBEM game are in synchronization the Launcher generates a file jmapsync dat that is placed in the SAVE game folder of the Japanese player When the Japanese player sends the wpaexxx pws and wpae001 pws files to the Allied player he should also send the jmapsync dat file The Allied player s copy of the Launcher will use the jmapsync dat file to verify that both players are playing to the same map Ifthe Japanese player uses Mozilla Thunderbird then the jmapsync dat file is automatically attached to the email along with the other two files The Allied player simply needs to save all t
17. ented to you followed by your order entry for the next turn When order entry is complete save the turn and exit from AE Japanese player When you come back to the Launcher your reports will be filed the game date displays updated and then you can email the three files to the Allied player wpae001 pws wpaexxx pws and jmapsynce dat The First Turn button In Progress indication will go away Allied Player Copy the three files from the Japanese player into the SAVE folder Start Launcher Allied Player Unlock the buttons on the right side of the Launcher menu and press First Turn Launcher will know that this is the second half of a PBEM first turn and will simply start AE Allied Player In AE run the Combat Replay wpae001 pws and the load the savegame file and proceed for your order entry for the second turn When order entry is complete save the game and exit AE Allied Player When you come back to the Launcher your reports will be filed the game date displays updated and then you can email the save game file to the Allied player wpaexxx pws The First Turn button In Progress indication will go away Japanese player For the next turn and subsequent turns you will put the savegame file from the Allied player in the SAVE folder start Launcher press the Update Map Launch AE button and then go through the cycle of Combat Resolution Order Entry exit AE report filing game status update in Launcher and email of the three fil
18. erially through the various sections first building the pwhexe dat and the modifying the art Overlays which modify the same panel will be composited pasted on top of each other so this much be considered when designing the overlays and ordering the sections in the ini file Special Little Tricks I guess it was inevitable that the pwhexe_switch ini file format would not do everything I needed When the inevitable occurred I was faced with the choice to redesign the file format or add in some special rules I took the easy way out and added the following 1 Split Effects Many of the effects are divided into parts This makes them easier to deal with for testing and helps to stay away from the 32k character limit for each section in the ini file But we don t want them to be all listed in the status display window So everything after a dash in the header doesn t get copied to the status window and if the NUMBEROFHEXES line has a comment like this SPLIT then the software does not include these sections in the status report 2 Art only effects Each is the effects is evaluated and applied to the map in a serial fashion starting from the top of the ini file Sometimes what you want is to have the pwhexe effect come first and the art later in this serial chain or vice versa You can do this by creating a splitting a section into two sections one where the art commands are all NA and one where the pwhexe commands are NA Then it s a ma
19. es to your Allied opponent Allied player For the next turn and subsequent turns you will put the three files from the Allied player in the SAVE folder start Launcher press the Update Map Launch AE button and then go through the cycle of Combat Replay Order 26 Entry exit AE report filing game status update in Launcher and email of the three files to your Allied opponent Have a good game Quick Start for non PBEM Games one or more turns complete semi auto mode 1 10 11 12 13 If you have not already done so perform the installation using the self installing package Gentle Nag Do it in a separate installation Start Launcher Using the pull down SETTINGS menu customize your Launcher Game and CMD line settings to conform to the game you are playing and your preferences Unlock the buttons on the right side of the Launcher menu and press SYNC RESYNC Launcher will use the combatreport txt file to get the latest game date complete synchronization and set up your reports filing folders The status section will go green if not already so and the date display will reflect the date of your most recent turn Note that you will have a choice to save in an Archive folder or delete the txt files in the SAVE folder at this point but they cannot be incorporated into the new filing structure Press the Update Map Start AE button A map will be built for the next turn and then AE will be started In AE go t
20. ever AE is launched 2 CMD Line Settings WINDOWED MODE Y ALTFONT lt DEEPCOLOR WINDOWED MODE DAILY SAVE WINDOWED MODE WEEKLY SAVE FULL SCREEN DAILYSAWE FULLSCREEN WEEKLYSAWE SHOWROADS N AUTOSAVE COLORBLIND SINGLECPUSTART SINGLECPUORDERS CPUT cPu2 Save and EXIT Restore Defaults CPU3 CPU4 MULTIAUDIO DIRECTDRAWVIASOFTWARE 5 HELP pull down menu With this menu you can select About Instructions a Instructions This brings up a text only short summary of the controls and displays b About General version information 6 SEARCH pull down menu There are two choices Text Search and Search Results da 10 11 a Text Search Selecting this option will bring up a window that will allow you to enter a search string for searching one or more of the concatenated reports files The search results are saved in a text file Reports_Scan txt that is placed in the AE SAVE folder Each subsequent search will overwrite the existing file During the search each hit is tagged with the game date and hex location sigint only so that the file can be copied and pasted into Word or Excel for further processing if desired b Search Results Choosing this option will bring up a notepad window with the latest Reports _Scan txt file for reviewing Update Map Launch AE button Pressing this
21. ge map panels around There may be a way to speed up the overlay process but I am loathe to rebuild this as long as the map build process doesn t get too much longer than it is at present 5 20 seconds Blue sky stuff There are several ideas that I considered but rejected as being just too complex for a first go with this utility I may revisit them in the future if the utility proves to be popular and thus it would maybe be worthwhile to invest the effort 1 Probabilistic dates In 1ts current form the Launcher builds of map files are deterministic This is simple to implement but it is obvious that real life is not so One cannot count on the Burmese monsoon to start on the same day every year and although construction of the Ledo Road was completed on a specific date in a war game simulation it is not unreasonable for events to occur based upon some reasonable probability distribution It would not be too difficult to treat the dates in the ini file as means around which some distribution is assumed The biggest problem occurs when this is considered in light of PBEM In order to keep both players in sync much more coordination between the two players would be required This would require quite a bit more information in the jmapsync dat file and probably the creation of a amapsync dat file going the other way 2 Interdiction This is quite a far out idea but it has a certain attraction The idea is that air attacks against units may under ce
22. h 08 Rough Regh 09 SandyDesert SDes 0B iefield SK 0D LightUrban UD Mountain Rough Jungle Art panel modifications Each hexagon section has four lines in the header that determine what if any modification will be done to the art panel that contains to the hexagon to be modified in the data file Panels plural more correctly since both with hex grid and without hex grid must be considered If no change to the artwork is required then all four lines will have NA as their values If the artwork is to be changed then the four lines contain the directions for a compositing operation as follows Overlay The overlay is a bmp file which will be composited with the baseline artwork panel to produce the modified panel Two overlay files are required one for the hex grid art and one for the non hex grid art The file names must be identical except that they end with H bmp and N bmp respectively Only the xxxxxH bmp overlay needs to be identified here Map Panel This identifies the map panel to be modified Only the gridded panel H bmp needs to be identified here Offset This x y value indicates the offset in pixels from the top left corner of the map panel where the overlay is to be applied Overlay Level This value may be 1 or 2 All level 1 operations are done before level 2 If the overlay level is 2 then white RGB ffffff is considered to be a transparent color The synthesis of a modified map proceeds s
23. header is followed by one or more hexagon sub sections with the number of hexagon sub sections being noted in the header Each hexagon sub section has 22 lines The first line of a hexagon section HEXID is the x y location of the haexagon The next 18 lines of these 22 are a 6 x3 list of the six hexagon sides with lines for hexside type hexside road type and hexside RR type The final 3 lines of each hexagon sub section are for the terrain type map sector and country code The codes for the various types are in the tables below Note that NA entered in the value field will result in the baseline value for that field being inserted into the new file Map sector and country code are not currently addressed by the Launcher during the synthesis of a new pwhexe dat file Table 1 Hexside Codes value enter in ini field is pressed in game 00 Ocen sd ure 01 Gromda green 02 River puple 03 _ GroumndB green 04 05 06 07 Blocked red Blocked red coral reef white White shallow draft de d I eE 09 Blocked red shallow draft 01 02 03 04 05 07 Table 2 Road Type Codes Hexadecimal value Road type text to enter in ini field gt None Trail Minor Road Major Road Table 3 RR Type Codes RR type text to enter in ini field OS None Oh Minor RR 01 Major RR Table 4 Terrain Type Hexadecimal value Terrain type Text to enter in ini CEN oO DeepOcean 06 HeavyUrban U
24. hree files in the SAVE game folder Starting with version 1 0 you can install the Launcher on top of an existing Launcher install Only newer files will be overwritten The most recent configuration as saved in your launcher data ini file will be preserved It is however never a bad idea to create a new AE installation from scratch and then install the Launcher Section 3 Detailed Menus Screens Modes etc Main Screen Launcher 1 0 SETTINGS SEARCH HELP i G ATA Launcher Map 6 Game Status Switcher Multi Purpose a A j Tool for AE O Semi Auto M Controls Somr Ato MO CON First Tum Reset Sync Conty Map Event Status Update Map Launch AE 5 2 Manual Mode Controls CA Launch AE no Map update Launcher Switcher Settings Player Side Japan Build Map Game Type Human vs Al Map Update Mode Semi Auto A Reports Mode Append Compose Email Turn Length 1 File Reports Music Shuffle Off e 1 Launcher Switcher Settings display These displays show six SETTINGS that can be changed using the SETTINGS pull down menu The displays show a Player Side Japanese or Allied b Game Type PBEM Single Human vs Computer Head to Head Al vs AI c Map Update Mode Semi Automated or Manual To run in Semi Automated mode Synchronization must be complete d Reports mode Append Loose or Both This controls how the Launcher files the txt reports generated during the combat replay e
25. hrough your normal cycle of Combat Resolution Order Entry and saving of the game and then exit AE You will be returned to the Launcher which will file your reports and update the game date and map status window From this point on you will be able to press the Update Map Launch AE button to start each turn and the sequence of map build start AE run a turn return to the Launcher file reports and update game date will be the same for every turn Enjoy Quick Start for PBEM Games one or more turns complete semi auto mode 1 2 3 4 Japanese player If you have not already done so perform the Launcher installation using the self installing package Gentle Nag Do it in a separate installation Japanese player Start Launcher Japanese player Using the pull down SETTINGS menu customize your Launcher Game CMD line and PBEM settings to conform to the game you are going to play and your preferences Japanese player Unlock the buttons on the right side of the Launcher menu and press SYNC RESYNC Launcher will use the combatreport txt file to get the latest game date complete synchronization and set up your reports filing folders The status section will go green if not already so and the date display will reflect the date of your most recent turn Note that you will have a choice to save in an Archive folder or delete the txt files in the SAVE folder at this point but they cannot be incorporated into the new filing stru
26. ifications such as generating a new map I incorporated this map switcher idea into a new release of the RHS Switcher with a user interface that allowed the user to select which of the available effects were to be switched on and then to generate a new pwhex dat file with those selections At about this time late 2007 early 2008 the on going work on the Admiral s Edition AE had been unveiled and it seemed reasonable that further work on RHS was not going to be very useful to the community so I began to think about how the RHS Switcher could be improved for AE Two areas for improvement seemed possible 1 Date driven changes One of the drawbacks of the RHS switcher was that it required the user to manage the map state If a certain change was supposed to happen on a particular date then the user needed to remember to change the map in accordance with such a requirement If there were a lot of changes possible this could amount to a significant amount of overhead for the user and as such incentive to just not bother with it So I built an experimental version where a game is supplied to the switcher and each effect in the ini file has On Off dates If the date is in the window then the effect is applied to the map build The answer to how to know the date was to use the combat report text file which has the most recent game date in the first line of the file I allowed for two kinds of date driven changes Calendar driven changes start on a parti
27. illa Thunderbird installed pressing this button will bring up an email composition window with the SAVE folder file s attached and the title and address filled in using your PBEM pull down menu SETTINGS d File Reports AE generates six new text reports for every turn These are collected in the SAVE folder Launcher gives you several options for organizing these files using the Launcher Game SETTINGS pull down menu First Turn Reset SYNC controls These buttons are for special situations as follows a Reset Map You may wish to reset the map to its baseline stock condition Pressing this button will accomplish this There are quite a lot of large files to move copy so this will take approx 30 seconds to complete b SYNC RESYNC To begin using Launcher for a game which already has completed one or more turns you will use this button to synchronize Launcher operation to your current game If for some reason you have lost synchronization you may use this button to attempt to get back in sync with the current game date c First Turn AE first turns are special cases particularly for PBEM If you have not yet started your AE game you can begin by pressing this button and will be in synchronization from the very first turn Synchronization The Launcher changes the map based upon its knowledge of the current game date It is able to keep in synchronization with this date as turns are played by reading the date in the combatreport txt fi
28. is to allow the Allies a movement and supply path in order to conduct an offensive in northern Burma just like Stilwell did I think the AE map designers made the right call in leaving this out of the stock map as it would make an excellent invasion route for the Japanese into India in the early game Tiddum Road Roads were built upgraded by the British from Kohina through Imphal and southward to Tiddum not a location in stock game This happened in 42 43 so movement and supply along this corridor would have been more difficult in the early war This effect degrades the road structure along this route until 430501 Burmese Monsoon During the monsoon large military operations became difficult if not impossible To try to simulate this this effect degrades road structures across an extensive area of Burma In some cases the roads are cut Some of the low lying terrain along the Irrawaddy River changes from clear to swamp This effect happens from June until September 16 of each year Burma Dry Season This effect compensates somewhat for the effect of the Monsoon on offensive capability and to reflect the idea that there was also a dry season when military operations were somewhat less difficult than allowed by the stock map So from March 1 of each year until May 31 some of the more impassable terrain will have trails poor passage though they may be that could allow Imphal like offensives Icebound Ports The arctic ports of Nome Anadyr
29. le A new combatreport txt file is generated with each turn so the report filing function not only tidies up the files it also serves to advance the game date It is entirely up to you the player to play the game in the configuration that you have put into your SETTINGS Launcher has no capability to read save game files so if you switch to 2 day turns when your SETTINGS say 1 day turns the Launcher will do its best to keep in sync but will not be able to cope with every situation that a player can generate If you tend to change things around a lot during a game it may be best to play in manual mode and take care of map updates and report filing as you see fit It is worthy of note that most AE turns really span two days That is because the first part of the turn is Combat Resolution or Replay which occurs on day n and Order Entry occurs for day n 1 Clearly the map can only reflect one day s configuration The Launcher is designed to make the map correct for the Combat Resolution phase If you are playing multiple day turns then the map can be as much as four days behind the date you see in order entry This isn t as bad as it seems as map changes tend to occur relatively infrequently and also tend to have subtle effects that take many days or even weeks or months to have much effect on the game However if this is of concern to you then you can stay day correct but using manual mode single day turns and coming back to the Launcher i
30. n between Combat Resolution and Order Entry and building the map for the next day Installation The Launcher is provided in a self installing package that can be unzipped in any convenient location and then run to perform the install The installer will ask you to confirm the location of AE where you want to install the Launcher Since the Launcher modifies the map and organizes the reports files in the SAVE game folder it is highly recommended that you duplicate your AE installation So if your original AE installation is located in C Matrix Games War in the Pacific Admiral s Edition you could make a copy in C Matrix Games2 War in the Pacific Admiral s Edition The Launcher installer will make a new sub directory C Matrix Games2 Launcher where the Launcher files will reside It is recommended that you create a desktop shortcut for the Launcher You can do this by dragging the executable Launcher_xxxx exe onto the desktop Note Parts of the freely redistributable image program ImageMagick are supplied and installed in a sub folder within the Launcher folder In order for the ImageMagick software to be enabled to execute properly you need to install one or two if 64 bit OS redistributable packages from Microsoft before the program will run properly You can get these packages at Visual C 2008 Redistributable Package x86 and Visual C 2008 Redistributable Package x64 Also note the first time you run the Launche
31. nd War in the Pacific Admiral s Edition are copyrights of Matrix Games Inc The author is not affiliated in any way with Matrix Games and every effort has been made to avoid conflicting with the rights of Matrix Games in the generation and distribution of this utility Section 2 How to Guide What does it do The Launcher is a utility that provides a base for starting War in the Pacific Admirals s Edition AE and that allows you to control several elements of the external AE environment The most important part of the AE environment that you can control is that you can have a changeable map with AE It does this by changing the two components of the map the pwhexe dat data file and the map panel art files The changes are synchronized to the game date and reflect a pre planned set of map changes The Launcher uses game date extracted from the combatreport txt file that is generated at the end of every turn So as your game proceeds the map will change in accordance with the pre planned map changes that are contained in external customizable files Figures 1 through 4 below show a map portion with views before and after the completion of the ALCAN Highway In addition the Launcher will help you organize all of those reports that are clogging up the SAVE folder provides an easy way to turn on off the cmd line switches and if you are a PBEM player and use Mozilla Thunderbird it will set up the email you need to send to your opponent It also p
32. ow synchronization is not complete If background color is green then Synchronization is complete and you are good to go for semi automated Launch of AE 4 SETTINGS pull down menu There are four items on this menu a Game Launcher Selecting this item will bring up a window that will allow you to change certain game and Launcher parameters Note that changing the values here has no effect within the AE game What you are doing her is telling the Launcher what your settings are within AE 2 Set Preferences Game Type Turn length Switcher Mode Reports Mode Players Side Save and EXIT Human vs 1 Semi Auto Append Japan Restore Defaults b PBEM Selecting this item brings up a window that allows you to enter your PBEM parameters If you have Mozilla Thunderbird the Launcher can bring up an email composition window and fill in certain things If you do not have Thunderbird select Other There is currently no provision to handle Other email programs 2 PBEM Settings Email Program Mozilla Thunderbird O Dther OPPONENT EMAIL bradley dave ca tr com SAVE GAME SLOT 944 PATH TO E MAI PROS C Program Files Mozilla Thunderbird CMD LINE SWITCHES TBD Save and EXIT Restore Defaults c CMD Line Selecting this item will bring up a window that will allow you to make selections for which combination if any of the command line switches you wish to be invoked when
33. r it will make copies of the art panels and music files to set up the normal operation of the Launcher Copying these files may take a minute or so but it is only the one time In previous incarnations of the Launcher these files were moved as part of the installation but doing it that way allowed for the potential of file corruption if a Luancher install was done on top of a Launcher previous install Quick Start for non PBEM Games first turn not yet run semi auto mode 1 Ifyou have not already done so perform the installation using the self installing package Gentle Nag Do it in a separate installation 2 Start Launcher 3 Using the pull down SETTINGS menu customize your Launcher Game and CMD line settings to conform to the game you are going to play and your preferences 4 Unlock the buttons on the right side of the Launcher menu and press First Turn Since no turns have yet been run there is not a combatreport txt file available that can be trusted so you will have to enter the date of the first turn This is normally 411207 or 411208 but other mods may come along so any date in the war years will be accepted 411207 to 461231 5 A map will be built for the first turn and then AE will be started Go ahead and make the selections in AE that will get your game going play up until the first Combat Resolution is complete save your game quit the game and exit AE 6 You will be returned to the Launcher which will file your reports
34. rovides a Music switching function so that you can have a wider selection of background music MiS e e A Fort St Figure 2 ana Map Example Part B z y d INEA EA F EPLAN We Fort St Whitehopee a ie Bes gs e a r rr de Aa we Ye 2 dl AY lt 5 f A D A AD My ys p r gt E Er ss ys J Ne White nde Y e ake Before You Begin There are a few things you need to know about the Launcher before using it The Launcher can run in semi automatic mode this is the easiest way to use it or in manual mode It will only work with Grand Campaign games that use the full map The semi automated mode will work with all game types Human vs Al PBEM etc and with turn lengths of 1 2 or 3 days If you wish to use the Launcher for a game with Continuous turns you must use the manual mode The Launcher may be used at any point after the start of an AE game so no restart is necessary This section is primarily intended to explain semi automated mode It is important that you perform the setup and synchronization steps prior to using the Launcher with your AE game Once you are setup the Launcher will add very little overhead to start up and play of WITP AE and the added functionality of the dynamic map and the other utility features should make this worthwhile for most players Main Screen Controls and Displays Overview 2 Launcher 1 0 SETTINGS SEARCH HELP E Sa Launcher Map Game Status JA
35. rtain circumstances damage the underlying transportation structure in the hexagon being attacked AE does not provide an interdiction mission for air units All air to surface attacks have to be against either a unit land or sea or some elements of a base AF Port city industry etc In real life of course attacks were often carried out against bridges rolling stock truck convoys etc The Allies in particular used this technique and much of what we think of as the fighter bomber s role was dedicated to this It can be said that much of this is modeled in the abstract in the other missions but the fact remains that the transport network roads and RR are impervious and unchanging We have the ability to modify the pwhexe dat on each turn since we are synthesizing a new map for each turn and we have the combat reports from the previous turn The way that I would go at this would be to analyze the combat report and for each attack from the air on a LCU I would allow a probabilistic chance that the road and or RR structure in the hex would be damaged The probability could be conditioned on the type of aircraft the altitude of the attack and the success of the attack as recorded in the report The amount of damage would likewise be a variable with resolution perhaps an order of magnitude finer that of the network itself An example would be the road network It has four steps none trail minor and major So damage could have 40 steps or 10 in
36. sted so you will have to enter the date of the first 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 20 24 25 turn This is normally 411207 or 411208 but other mods may come along so any date in the war years is accepted by Launcher 411207 to 461231 Allied player A map will be built for the first turn and then AE will be started Go ahead and make the selections in AE that will get your game going play up until your order entry is complete save your game quit the game and exit AE Allied player You will be returned to the Launcher which will declare that synchronization is complete The game status window will go green and the map event status list will show you the schedule for map changes The First Turn button will have an In Progress indication Allied player At this point you need to email the first turn to the Japanese player You need to email only the savegame file wpaexxx pws If you have Mozilla Thunderbird as your email program and have your PBEM SETTINGS in order an email composition window will be opened for you Japanese player Copy the savegame file from the Allied player into the SAVE folder Start Launcher Japanese player Unlock the buttons on the right side of the Launcher menu and press First Turn Launcher will know that this is the second half of a PBEM first turn and will simply start AE Japanese player In AE load the saved game and the first turn Combat Resolution will be pres
37. the RHS set of files it occurred to me that I could write a simple utility to do this pwhex dat overwriting switching and so the first switcher was created This first switching scheme had some obvious limitations For each different effect you wanted to add to the mix the possible number of combination doubled a 2 problem Trying to maintain very many binary files individually with just a binary editor is daunting to say the least I was interested enough in the idea of a dynamic map that I did some experimenting with the idea of synthesizing the pwhex dat using a template and an ordered list of changes effects The basic scheme is that the template is simply the baseline or stock pwhex dat and the ordered list is contained in a ini file The baseline file is read into an n x array where n equals the product of the X by Y hexagon grid So each element in the array represents the data fields for an individual hexagon Each section in the ini file describes the changes to a set of hexagons Each ini section is processed in turn to change the array until all of the sections have been processed Finally the array is written out to a new pwhex dat file completing the map change process The benefits of this are that the map changes are data driven and the data the ini file may be easily understood and edited with a text editor The scheme seems to work well for small to moderate amounts of map changes but would not be suitable for mass mod
38. tter of getting the section in the proper order to achieve the ffect you desire Appendix A List of Switches and Effects The below list represents the set of switches and effects currently delivered with the Launcher 1 Burma amp Siam RR This is the infamous Bridge on the River Kwai route built using POW and slave labor It provides a link between Bangkok and Moulmein In stock AE there is a Minor Road along this route To attempt to more nearly simulate early war lack of communications along this route this effect operates in two phases At game start 411207 the route is a trail On 430216 it becomes a Minor RR with underlying trail If this effect works properly 1t should reduce the Japanese player s ability to move into and supply the Burma theatre until the RR is complete Kyushu Tunnel This is the undersea RR tunnel between Kyushu and Honshu It opened on 421116 but the Patch 2 map has it there from the start This effect will remove it until 421116 ALCAN Highway The ALaska CANada highway Built in 1942 to provide a land supply route from the contiguous US to Alaska This route becomes effective on 421028 Ledo Road This road is brought onto the map in one or two hex increments as it is built starting in late 42 all the way up until it connects with the Burma Road in early 45 Although we tend to think of the road as an attempt to get supplies to China its main effect in real life and in the game I hope
39. ur opponent at the end of the turn cycle 18 Have a good game Manual Mode It s entirely possible that semi automated mode may not work in your game situation If so then maybe manual mode will do the trick Running in manual mode is very much a free form proposition How you use Launcher is up to you You control when map updates occur At the most simplified end of the scale you could use the Launcher simply to update the map when you think it is appropriate At the other end of the scale you could mimic the sequence of events that happens in semi auto mode The three manual control buttons run the same code that is run in semi auto mode It is just disconnected from the semi auto sequence and a bit of extra message box hand holding The manual controls are also useful for experimentation and for testing mods to the map switching files Music Shuffle I like the background music that is supplied with the game but at some point too many hours of listening to the same pieces gets a little old One answer of course is to simply turn it off Another answer is to use the Music Shuffle item in the SETTINGS pull down menu If this is checked and you have placed some MP3 files in the Launcher Music MP3 folder then when AE is started the music selection in the game will be shuffled to contain a random set of the stock pieces and whatever you have placed in the folder To return to the stock music only uncheck the menu item and restart Launcher C
40. ur order entry is complete save your game quit the game and exit AE Japanese player You will be returned to the Launcher which will declare that synchronization is complete The game status window will go green and the map event status list will show you the schedule for map changes The First Turn button will have an In Progress indication Japanese player At this point you need to email the first turn to the Allied player You should email not only the savegame file wpaexxx pws but also the map synchronization file mapsync dat which can be found in the SAVE game folder along with the savegame file If you have Mozilla Thunderbird as your email program and have your PBEM SETTINGS in order an email composition window will be opened for you Allied player If you have not already done so perform the installation using the self installing package Gentle Nag Do it in a separate installation Allied player Start Launcher Allied player Using the pull down SETTINGS menu customize your Launcher Game CMD line and PBEM settings to conform to the game you are going to play and your preferences Allied player When you get the first turn files from the Japanese player save both of them wpaexxx pws and jmapsync dat in the SAVE game folder Allied player Unlock the buttons on the right side of the Launcher menu and press First Turn Since no turns have yet been run there is not a combatreport txt file available that can be tru
41. urrently there is a limit of 246 items that you can add to the folder that will be included in the random selection process Text Search If you have selected Append or Both for your Records Mode setting then your reports will be concatenated into six large files one for each of the files produced each turn You can search these files using the pull down menu item SEARCH Text Files item A window will pop up and you can enter a search string e g Imperial Guards or Enterprise You can also select how many of the four file types you want to search The search will be conducted and saved in a text file which you can see by using the pull down menu SEARCH Search Results Every line that produced a match is in the file with the reports date and X Y location sigint only The line matches dates and locations are TAB separated so you can copy and past into Word or Excel for sorting and further processing Uninstallation If you wish to uninstall the Launcher and wind up with a stock AE installation there is a way to do this First use the Reset Map button to bring the map and the music files back to stock condition Then you can delete the entire Launcher folder There will be some remaining some text files in the SAVE folder organized per your preferences You will have to delete these or save them elsewhere Caveats Since the launcher depends upon the game date in the most recent combatreport txt it is NOT recommended that you try to us
42. w folders and only the six txt report files the most recent files are left out If you are re SYNC ing that is the file folders have been previously created the program will ask if you want to clean out the folders or simply continue with the current condition If you are sync ing a new game not first turn then you would want to clean out the folders If you are attempting to re sync after some problem then you would want to simply continue with the current set of reports There is a new folder called Reports Archive which is used to save old reports if you wish First Turn You use this button to get started for a game in which no turns have yet been played With no turns played there is no current combatreport txt file to use to get the most recent turn date So you will be asked to enter the date of the first turn usually 411207 or 411208 and then a map for that date will be built AE started and you can play your first turn returning to Launcher to complete synchronization and get report filing underway 12 Launch AE no Map update button This starts AE with CMD line switches per your settings No map actions are taken before launching AE or reports checking after return This button would be used if Map Update Mode is set to Manual 13 Compose Email If you have Mozilla Thunderbird pressing this button will launch Thunderbird and open a compose email window and fill in values for To Subject and add attachments per your settings
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