TonyE

For you Rene /*--- unit types ------------------------------------------------------------*/ #define SUB 'U' #define SHIP 'S' #define CARRIER 'C' #define AC 'A' #define HELO 'H' #define TORP 'T' #define NUKEAREA 'N' #define MISSILE 'M' #define REF 'R' /* ref points */ #define VAR_ST_PT 'V' #define WEATHER 'W' #define PORT 'p' /*--- land targets are lower case ---*/ #define AIRFIELD 'a' #define BASE 'b' /* combination port and airfield */ #define CITY 'c' /* land base with no port or airfield facilities */ #define SAMFIXED 's' /* Fixed SAM site */ #define SAMMOBILE 'm' /* Mobile SAM site */ #define CONVOY 'o' /* Mobile Convoy */ #define ARMORED 'r' /* Armored Convoy, Attack group, etc */

We of HC3 (TonyE, Akula, CV32) would like to welcome all of the beta testers and thank you for your time. I played Harpoon for a decade before I came a beta tester for HC2002, and have since alpha tested and programmed many creations. Each of us has been there and realize most of the frustrations and opportunities the testing brings. We want to keep the beta process valuable and to that end we expect meaningful participation, not every day, not even every week. The rules: The rules are open to argument and are not set in stone. The contributions of beta testers will be reviewed by HC3 roughly every 3 months, the first review will be in March 2008. Each beta tester is expected to contribute meaningfully at least 3 times in each 3 month period (yes, 3 items on your 89th day counts). A confirmable well formed bug report is a meaningful contribution. Test scenario with as few units as possible OR a saved game if a test scenario is not possible. Small test scenarios are best because we periodically break the saved game format making any previous saved games useless. Small test scenarios are best so that my debugging is much shorter, looping thru 3 units as the code runs takes much less time than looping thru 100 units. [*] Build of the game component used to find the bug [*] Detailed instructions to re-create the issue. [*] Any system specific information that may help. [*] A well-thought out and detailed response in the Pipe Dreams sub-forum is a meaningful contribution. [*] Contributions of PE reports and other utilities is a meaningful contribution. [*] Posts that say 'ditto', 'same here', 'I agree' may be helpful but they will not keep you in the beta testing group. [*] If you are asked to leave the beta group you may rejoin. The penalty will be some suitably annoying process that hopefully verifies you really want to contribute the next time around. See the attached PDF or Word Document (the contents are the same) for more guidance on getting started and understanding HC3's expectations of beta testers. HC_Beta_Tester_Manual.pdf HC_Beta_Tester_Manual.doc

As you've probably noticed, Herman has started reporting bugs and strangeness and is reporting them very well with test saves/scenarios, steps to reproduce, etc. Is there someone who would be willing to confirm his reports and enter them into Mantis? The basic procedure as I see it: 1. Verify Herman's issue 2. Create Mantis entry, include link to Herman's initial report at HG (this tells me where to comment back to Herman on the progress as I look at the issue) 3. Post to Herman's thread the link to the Mantis entry (this helps me know it has been entered in Mantis and how to get to the right Mantis entry) There are a couple of extensive older and less well documented lists of issues as well (a couple from Herman, one or more from Mark Labourr) if someone wants to earn their keep that way.

HarpoonPages invites you to participate in the 11th Annual Pooner Vote. Congratulations again to the 2006 Pooner Jan Paul Koester and lifetime Pooner Darrel Dearing. The 2007 Pooner will receive their choice of H3ANW, HCE, or World In Conflict but the real reward is the voters sharing their reasons for choosing who they chose. There will be no Lifetime Pooner awarded this year in order to get back to a roughly two to one ratio of yearly to lifetime Pooners. To vote and view the past winners, visit http://www.harpoonpages.com/poonervote/pooner-Intro.php. !!!Please note that you can vote for anyone who hasn't previously won, even if they aren't listed as having been voted for yet this year!!! If you have any difficulties voting, send an e-mail to pooner@harpoonpages.com with your name, e-mail address, and your vote for Pooner and I will enter them manually. Please post this message on any forum/list/newsgroup where Harpoon players reside so that we can bring in as many votes and kudos as possible to those who sustain Harpoon.

I took a look Larry, it appears the saved game is corrupt (i.e. in the crash I'm seeing a bad scenario file instead of the events leading to the crash you experienced). The ExportDLLs folder isn't a contributing factor but is a good thing to note as it indicates a bug (it should make a ExportDLLs folder as a subfolder of your main HC directory, not of the 'current working directory'). So people, can we find Larry's crash bug (which happened about 2411 game seconds into the scenario)?

I probably won't release it tonight, but possibly Thursday evening/night. HCE - 2007.029 ============== - Chg:0000 SE When lots of ship/sub/aircraft classes are in the DB, it could overflow the maximum contents of the 16-bit listbox. Fix is to dynamically narrow the width of the shown fields so that all entries are shown. This will mean some country names, class names, and side names may be cut short to make each entry small enough for them all to show. (thanks Rene)

The second change you are seeing work correctly, you'll just have to believe me on that since it doesn't make any sense given the test that you used. That particular change would make itself clear if you were attacking a frigate with a battleship. I'm still debating how to get your 8 shots or something close to it, fired every minute if needed.

Test file(s) please

I believe you are wrong, OOm doesn't even have a SA-5 battery (and I double checked too, all of the radars are still damaged or destroyed in your save).

Guns guns guns. HCE - 2007.028 ============== - Chg:0000 GE Anti-Surface gun ammo allocation improvements * Rather than assuming each mount can only fire one shell, use # of tubes instead. * Don't assume player should only fire 1 shell (pre-allocation in attack dialog), do the full calculation to estimate how many to fire. - Chg:0000 GE Mount weapons fired in current 60 seconds was being reset incorrectly, fixed it by making ROF_Divisor = 0 in all cases. - Chg:0000 GE In CheckMissileHits, show ECM reduction and such for misses as well. (attempt 2, thanks Rene) - Nfo:0000 GE Gun mounts should check arc, isn't happening yet. - Nfo:0000 GE Verified that ROF is reset every 60 game seconds, not 30!

ZZa is a yucky one, confirmed not that you didn't know that already... The code faces a bit of chicken and egg problem. Solution 1: Assume no enemy units are radiating. Choose to attack and all you have are ARMs. Weapon allocation dialog pops up, no weapons can be allocated, Target not radiating shows for all. Solution 2: Leave it broke. For the moment those are the only two options. I think a 'real' fix is possible, just escapes me at the moment how to do it with a reasonable amount of code. Note to Tony... Combat5.c:2358

I don't know how to say this but you knocked out all of the radars in group OOm, they are all damaged or destroyed so the message about no valid weapons is well, valid. Will look at ZZb next.

Mantis http://www.advancedgaming.biz/mantis/view.php?id=2353

Brad, what's the status on this?

All of my screenshots on the Matrix threads, and most here were made with Vista, can't say I've noticed anything washed out. Any chance of a screenshot showing the troublesome textboxes?

That is correct, as least as far as what was intended in this build.

Guns - the ROF is not yet taking number of barrels/tubes into account, of course I'm not sure that it should, will investigate when able (should be tonight). My gut instinct is that ROF is going to have to mean total bursts per minute from the mount, no matter how many tubes (since the data structure has no way of storing say 1 tube of 3 fired) without making it this way.

2007.027 GE http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.php?showtopic=2337 Directly addresses your #1 Might address #2 (not specifically tested by me) Does not address #3 but does explain it. Yes, I realize the attack dialog is still messed up, guns impact/airburst radio buttons greyed out when the shouldn't be, etc.

HCE - 2007.027 ============== - Chg:0000 GE Anti-Surface Guns now adhere to mount rate of fire limitations, only after the initial allocation, player can cheat on initial allocation. AS Guns will fire the correct ammunition now, and will not 'dump ammo overboard'. Previously guns were firing one burst per 15 seconds and throwing any other bursts overboard. AS Guns by the AI will fire 2 x target remaining DP of bursts at the target, this helps reduce overkill/ammo wastage. AS Guns will stop firing when the firing platform is out of range of the target platform, previously any bombardment in progress would keep going even if out of range. - Chg:0000 GE In CheckMissileHits, show ECM reduction and such for misses as well. - Chg:0000 GE Show Range column in launch aircraft dialog for each line of ready AC. (thanks Akula, HermanH) - Nfo:0000 GE The period over which ROF bursts will happen is 60 seconds, this contradicts some of the code comments which suggest 30 seconds. Will be doing further research. - Nfo:0000 GE The decision was made (Akula,CV32,TonyE) not to change the Impact vs Airburst criterion. They are... If the burst will impart more than 1/8 the total DP of the target, the shell is considered impact, if less than 1/8 the shell is considered Airburst. This is why destroying an airbase in the game with guns just doesn't happen. We'll look at this again when we can change data structures to suit a potentially better model. - Nfo:0000 GE Guns impact/airburst radio buttons should not even show since user selection has no effect on how the damage is applied. Hint, test surface to surface guns. In HCDB-070524 the ROF for most guns is too low, Brad has updated them and will have a new version out soon. I realize there isn't much/any logging on the guns, there wasn't time tonight and I had help in the form of CV32 and Akula so I wanted to code the meat of things while they were around to chime in.

Okay, I took the scenario for a spin this evening in 2007.026+. I knew from previous experience in the scenario that time is tight. I brought Tullibee down to creep once first passive detection was made (a tough sub to drive with miserable sonar performance). Chicago and Tennessee proceeded at Cruise towards a gap in the island chain. I put up the EP-3 with tanker support as well and sent it to investigate. The scenario was a challenge all the way. EP-3 was blasted from the sky, but not before detecting the emissions of a ASW surface group passing almost over Chicago (Tennessee was 10nm or so back and relatively out of danger). The key subs made it past the surface grop and across the island gap. But life was not going to be simple, Chicago did a modified sprint and drift, with the spring at cruise speed and drift at creep. A couple of Red SSNs went down. Given the speed I was progressing, a new tactic made itself visible to me, driving off enemy subs with torpedoes rather than risking Chicago or Tennessee. A couple of times, the delay to Red's progress by running away from a torpedo allowed Tennessee to slip thru. At one point Chicago (thankfully) managed to avoid four incoming torpedoes! Things generally played out with Tennessee getting initial detects and Chicago playing gunslinger, which I found interesting, expecting Chicago to hold both duties. In the end, a Tango (by Tullibee), Victor I (by Tullibee but also killed Tullibee), and an Alfa (by Chicago) never surfaced again. I must say this run thru was much better than my first when I was mercilessly slaughtered. It really feels like this run thru could have easily gone the same way but by luck and God's grace, the good guys won with about 13 hours left on the game clock. Red was awarded Minimum victory, Blue was awarded Total victory. Video will be available at http://www.snowraces.com/tony/hc/oubliette/ in an hour or two.

Starting off the thread with SpongeBob is regretable but here goes... The SpongeBob boat was inspired by Kim who used to play on one of the same hockey teams as I did a few years ago and who now and again thrashes me at Blades of Steel. So when I saw the toy on sale at K-Mart I grabbed it and knew what to do, try to make it run. It was a good fight throwing everything together, I used a couple of old servos, unsoldered the motors, stuck them in the drive tubes. When testing flotation and center of mass I had the drive tubes up higher than when I actually glued them on (as tested the props were about half out of water). The unfortunate side effect is that the boat was stable when testing and unstable as built. Hence the detachable sponsons. See pics and a couple of short movies at http://www.snowraces.com/tony/rcboats/spongebob/

not at this time, sorry

Now that's my kind of battle (before Wasp got there anyway)! Nice shooting Kelly, if only you had the production to make good the exchange

First stab at it results in...

HCE - 2007.026 ============== - Chg:0000 GE In CheckMissileHits, show ecm reduction to PH. This doesn't show missiles hitting planes. - Chg:2347 GE Game crashes when starting EC2003 scenarios without starting with full ordnance. (thanks Terminus) - Chg:2112 GE Really make show all and iterative saving work in release builds. - Chg:0000 GE After firing command guided missiles, if the firing unit is destroyed before the missiles impacted, the game would crash due to a null value for sourceUnit. Fixed by adding a null check, say "Firing unit destroyed" as the name of firing unit if the firing unit is already gone. (thanks Krasny) - Chg:2350 SE SE Would crash in HDS III GIUK if you open Iceland Thaw then hit F4 with group ABC selected. The group has a bad formation patrol entry for an aircraft. Fix is to ignore bad formation air patrols. (thanks Herman)