SimPlot by kmart494 download

[kmart494]

Steve,

 

I could not see the image, but I copied and pasted your scenario text and ran SimPlot. It appears that the units have gone so far away that they cant be found. I also see some weird data in the movement track part of the file. I will examine it closer later tonight.

[Steve Caruthers]

Thank you kmart.

Meanwhile to say that I started again the scenario from the beginning, I played several turns and I saved the situation.

When I tried to reload the file, again the screen was completely black, with no units ...

But this time I have written the position and heading of each unit, so I'll be able quickly to recreate a new scenario with the units at the right place and start from the last position, as if it had been properly saved.

With regard to the problem, I think you're right when you say that the units seem to have travel a great distance, instead the game had lasted perhaps 32 or 33 minutes and the unit, from the initial 80 MN were shrinking the distances between themselves.

The problem should be that the program does not correctly save the movement of units, in fact, when I begin from scratch a new scenario with some red and blue unit and save it, all is OK, because the ships have not yet made any movement.

When I finally do move the ships and save the file again, then the units does not appear, their tracks appearing but depart too greatly from the starting point.

So, in my opinion, until the units are static, all OK, but when he has to record the movement, it goes crazy ...

Another question.

I tried to run Plotsim even on my second PC, but does not work as it appears an error message that says that the file can not run on a 32-bit system?!

PlotSim only works with a 64-bit PC?

Thank Steve.

[kmart494]

SiimPlot was created on a 64-bit PC (Win 7) using Visual Studio. I was not aware that simple programs like this may not run on 32-bit systems. I have a 32-bit PC that I can try this on. If I have to, I can recompile on the 32-bit PC so everyone can use it.

 

I replayed the Dinner scenario and made frequent saves. Everything seems to be working fine. At present I cannot explain why your scenario files are not saving correctly. It looks like you used 3 minute turns, so you did not mistakenly use 30 minute turns (which would make your units go too far).

 

Which version of Windows are you using?

 

Is anyone else experiencing similar problems?

 

Kevin

[TonyE]

Thank you kmart.

Meanwhile to say that I started again the scenario from the beginning, I played several turns and I saved the situation.

When I tried to reload the file, again the screen was completely black, with no units ...

But this time I have written the position and heading of each unit, so I'll be able quickly to recreate a new scenario with the units at the right place and start from the last position, as if it had been properly saved.

By chance are you using a non-US English language in Windows? In that case there is a small possibility the program is trying to use a comma as the decimal separator instead of a period. Just a random thought from bitter experience.

[kmart494]

That is so funny because I was going to make a joke about Steve's language settings without realizing it could be the problem. I needed something to blame, after all.

 

Edit: By the way, I got SimPlot to work on my 32-bit Vista computer after upgrading to the latest .Net framework.

[Piotr]

 

Thank you kmart.

Meanwhile to say that I started again the scenario from the beginning, I played several turns and I saved the situation.

When I tried to reload the file, again the screen was completely black, with no units ...

But this time I have written the position and heading of each unit, so I'll be able quickly to recreate a new scenario with the units at the right place and start from the last position, as if it had been properly saved.

By chance are you using a non-US English language in Windows? In that case there is a small possibility the program is trying to use a comma as the decimal separator instead of a period. Just a random thought from bitter experience.

 

 

I found similar problems when trying SimPlot. In Spanish language configuration, Windows use comma instead of a period, and so when you save a scenario, format is not the same as default scenarios. When reading the scenario again, positions are greatly misplaced.

I tried changing my decimal separator to a period, and everything works OK.

[Steve Caruthers]

Probably this is the reason.

The European system provides that the period (.) is used for the thousands separator and the comma (,) is the decimal separator.

Being a user Italian, definitely my PC is based on this settings.

So, have I to correct something or you Kmart are able to make relevant adjustments in the program?

Thanks, Steve.

[Piotr]

Steve,

 

As a workaround, I manually changed my settings in Regional configuration... from comma to period. SimPlot saved and read scenario files correctly then.

[kmart494]

Instead of having everyone in the world change their settings, I will use a different character as a separator. Maybe the "|" would work better (I think it's called a pipe).

[Steve Caruthers]

Piotr

How do you make the temporary change of the separators settings ?

My system is Windows 7 Pro.

thanks

[Piotr]

Steve,

 

In Windows 7 Home Ed. you can change it at Control Panel - Regional and language settings.

In Format (the first) tab, there is a button for Additional Configuration . There you can set specific configuration for numbers, i.e. the symbol for decimal separator.

Hope it helps.

[Steve Caruthers]

Thank you Piotr.

It works !

 

Steve.

[kmart494]

Version 1.1 fixes (hopefully) the regional language problem of saving/loading the scenario files. Also, there is rudimentary support for multiplayer games.

 

The readme file has not been updated since I am still working on getting the multiplayer function to work the way I envision.

 

So, here are a few tidbits to get you started. Use the F2 key (modify unit) to set the "visibility" of a unit. That is, whether or not the enemy can see you. Use the new "Show Sides" menu to view just Blue, Red or All sides. The File menu has a save function for a multiplayer game that will create three files: the master scenario file for the ref, Blue file, and Red file. Do not add a file extension in the save file dialog as the program will do it for you. The Blue and Red player files will only include that side's units plus any other "visible" units. Also, loading the Blue/Red files will disable certain functions such as movement, turns, creating and modifying units. In this way, the Blue/Red files are "read only" since changes to units will go through the ref anyway.

 

I am exploring how to limit the information a player has about visible enemy units. Sometimes you know a unit is there but not necessarily things such as speed, heading, altitude, or depth. Multiple detection will yield that information and I wanted to model that. As it is now, visible enemy units will display all information about them, including their movement tracks.

 

Kevin

 

Edit: I forgot to mention the visibility flag for enemy units is currently not saved with the scenario file. Also, you will not be able to use v1.0 scenario files with v1.1 without an easy modification. I will post more detail about that if anyone needs to use an older file with the new program.

[Piotr]

I played a bit with the new features, they look great.

When I tested saving/loading scenarios, it didn't work for me. Using Spanish config (comma as decimal separator) I saves the demo scenario IntroASuW without changing anything.

I see that numbers in scientific notation are saved with comma, but numbers with integer and decimal parts are saved without decimal separators (not comma nor period), giving positions in the hundreds of thousand miles range!!

Fyi, this is the text in saved file:

 

PLAYER

All

TITLE

Captain's Edition Intro ASuW Scenario

DATE

30 May 1991

TIME

9:0

UNITS_MOVED

false

UNITS

4

S001|Blue|Arleigh Burke|0|0|15|0|None

1|0900|0|0

S002|Blue|Container|3,061516E-10|5|15|0|None

1|0900|3,061516E-10|5

S003|Red|Sovremenny|60|-103923|15|240|None

1|0900|60|-103923

S004|Red|Ivan Rogov|6433012|-106423|15|240|None

1|0900|6433012|-106423

 

Anyway, earlier proposed workaround works OK

[kmart494]

I am glad at least something worked good for you. I think it's strange that the scenario file would save as scientific notation. I wonder if the language setting does that, too.