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I like that the Discord link is more visible but to your point, Downloads are less visible. I see them in a Browse menu.

Yeah, in general I think that as long as the annex ceilings exist, more focus is better. For example, e.g. a battleset that focuses on the Persian Gulf from 1990 to 2002. And its usually easier to be backward looking in historical context when developing a DB (and a battleset that employs it) than trying to predict the future.

Demo version 2025.025 has been uploaded.

@TonyE and @donaldseadog thank you very much for your guidance. I had no idea how to work TonyEs game launcher, but do now. Databases are now placed in separate folders and Harpoon works as before.

Note the MapWindow window will not not be embedded within the game window as an MDI document, it is floating outside of the game window. MapWindow 20260403 2025.025+ Incremented DLL Version to 15 Sensor range rings — surface radar (green) and air radar (magenta) range rings now draw on the globe alongside the existing ASuW (orange) and AAW (cyan) weapon range rings. Data comes from BestSensorRange on the group record. Airborne endurance range rings — air range (white) and bingo range (gray) rings now draw for aircraft groups. Data is computed during snapshot capture using the new shared uHCEndurance unit, a Pascal port of the GE's GetAirborneEndurance and FindClosestBase algorithms. Annex B1 speed data and base runway compatibility are used for accurate range and bingo fuel calculations. The DLL now captures annex_id_to_disk_id from funcRefs in DLLInit and creates THCAnnexHelper from AnnexDataIn in ScenLoad. Range ring settings dialog — the per-side checkbox group has been replaced with a "Range Rings..." button that opens a settings dialog. The dialog provides a 6×4 grid of checkboxes (ring type × side), matching HC's RangeCircles[ringType][side] toggle system. Ring types: ASuW Weapon, AAW Weapon, Surf Radar, Air Radar, Air Range, Bingo Range.

With a lot of new drone and autonomous weapons it seems to me (once we get back to modernising DBs in some way) that the line between platform and weapon is becoming difficult to decide. Also there is the decision on whether to create single generic items or create a pletherer of individual. Here's what hot my thinking about it (I know infact it's not a new delema) seen in current events https://defence-blog.com/xdown-develops-stud-drone-for-squad-level-strikes/

The aerial drones in particular, or more to the point their loadouts, would be a demand on our database if treated individually, so that was mostly where I was thinking, and some well thought out generic platforms would be beneficial. For the type treated as weapons I'm thinking there is much more space availability in our DB annexes, maybe a few new specialised platforms and mounts and modified existing platforms but for the most part it would just be additional weapons?

Yes, I have the same questions about generic items (Most small drones are in fact reducible to some few generic types), and most if not all kamikaze (loitering or not) drones are reducible to weapons.

Some back ground: I guess its an historic thing, pre 2003 all battlesets had there own in built database so it was effectively selected from within the game when you selected which battleset you were going to play, and then from there you could select scenarios. Since 2003 the option (normal arrangement for 'new' battlesets) is that the database is external and as it can't be selected once the game starts you need to know before starting the GE which database you are going to want. The databases tend to relate to time periods so that's not so bad. So most of the xxx2003 battlesets and Westpac are like that, Malacca being an exception as it has the HCDB2 database embedded in it. A scenario's required database will be listed in it's HarpGamer download page plus if you open the scenario file with a text editor and look at the first few lines of gobblygook you'll see some plain text including the database name, eg HCDB170909, that will be the database the scenario needs. (You don't need to do that if the scenario is from one of the pre 2003 legacy battlesets) Loading a scenario that requires a different database to the one loaded into the GE gives an error message similar to your "GetMemAnnexA Error" but that doesn't mean for certain that's what's happened to you, but it's what brought this to my mind. By default the GE loads the database from the commondb.res file in the main hc folder but a different database can be loaded by using a modified command line (eg by using HClauncher or SELauncher respectively for GE and SE, but also by other means more fiddly). Before HCLauncher the two common methods were to rename the database file needed as commondb.res and to swap it for the one in the root folder or to execute the GE (or SE) via a shortcut and manually write into the execute line the flag <-d ?> followed by the full pathname to the database file, Tony's GELauncher was an obvious godsend. If all was working fine for you using the last beta and you were starting GE and SE straight from the respective executable in the hc folder (or from the default game menu) then I think you must have only been playing custom scenarios for the default (HCDB) database or legacy battlesets? Don

Over a year since the original post and this remains true, the big question is when will version 5 arrive? Actually, Version 5 has been released just for some reason nothing has been badgering me to upgrade so hold on to your covers, soon you actually will have to use your e-mail to log in rather than your display name.

Would a feasible approach be to focus on a time and region, prune plus grow the hcdb2 db, and embed into a dedicated battleset? Don

The ceiling limitations to the current DB structure are, in large part, what put an end to ongoing work on HCDB2 (and any of my other DB work). One potentially quick solution would be to break it down by having a DB focus on a smaller period of time, but even there you face potential obstacles. Consider, for example, that in 2026 we still have aircraft built in the 1950s and 1960s still playing important roles in modern conflicts.