Slitherine

Hi guys,

we've found and fixed the issue with the scenario editor. The issue was a file that did not get checked in properly was not noticed and while the bug was technically fixed, the fix hadn't made it in to the version. Apolgies to everyone for the inconvenience.

You can download the updated scenario editor here:
http://www.slitherine.com/files/panzer_ ... Editor.zip

The bad news is any scenarios that were saved with the bad editor can't be fixed with this new editor - the damage is already done. You need to revert to scenarios that were edited in v1.02. If you do not have backups of your files at v1.02 Alex has offered to help you recover them. Please send these scenarios to info@slitherine.co.uk, with the e-mail title "Pz Corps Scenario Issue" and we'll pass them on to Alex.

Our only excuse is that we are running so fast to keep up with everything that needs to be done that we are occaisonally missing things.

Once again we apologise for the mix up.

Moderators if you can pass this message & new editor on to anyone who was having problems that would be great.

Note - this does not add any additional mod support. That is something we're looking at but is not yet available and we do not have a date for its availability.

wino told me something about scenarios created with the 1.04 editor being encrypted in some way, so that his tools could no longer work on them.
Does this undefined "issue" you mentioned have anything to do with that?
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rezaf

Luckily for me i put my projects except for one on the backburner when i started to read the issues with the latest editor.
Well, the one i was working on, i will digitally recycle it. No harm done. Thank you for the solution you fellows came up with!

rezaf wrote:wino told me something about scenarios created with the 1.04 editor being encrypted in some way, so that his tools could no longer work on them.
Does this undefined "issue" you mentioned have anything to do with that?

No, these two things are unrelated.

Rudankort wrote:No, these two things are unrelated.

What's the reasoning behind encrypting the scenarios? Any chance for getting an option to save scenarios unencrypted?

Sorry to tell, but the official editor is ... shall we say, a little limited in MANY ways - and improving it seem nowhere close the top of your todo list.
Fair enough - but then why not give other enterprising individuals a chance to write tools to perform these tasks?

The only halfway sane reasoning behind this move that comes to mind is to somehow protect the DLC content - which would be fair enough, but one should at least be allowed to save scenarios newly created uncrypted. Or, better yet, the encryption should be opt-in.
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rezaf

Thanks for the fix, guys. I agree with rezaf that a lot can be done to improve the editor but at least now we have one again! Cheers

rezaf wrote:The only halfway sane reasoning behind this move that comes to mind is to somehow protect the DLC content - which would be fair enough, but one should at least be allowed to save scenarios newly created uncrypted. Or, better yet, the encryption should be opt-in.

You are right, encryption is related to DLC protection. That's exactly the reason why it appeared now, not earlier or later. As for an option to turn it off, it did not cross my mind, simply because I was not aware of any tools working with our scenario format. And in any case, scenario format changes all the time (we are at version 19 currently), which means any custom tools will be broken by any new patch that goes out, and this situation is not going to change in any foreseeable future. I always considered scenario format a black box with which I was free to do anything I like. This is different from other files which use open formats, where backwards compatibility is preserved between revisions.

What kind of features to you miss in the editor so much that it might warrant reverse-engineering the format and creating a custom tool? Maybe it would be better for everyone if such features were added into the editor instead?

Thank you for that quick fix.
Now i can go back to work

Rudankort wrote:And in any case, scenario format changes all the time (we are at version 19 currently), which means any custom tools will be broken by any new patch that goes out, and this situation is not going to change in any foreseeable future. I always considered scenario format a black box with which I was free to do anything I like. This is different from other files which use open formats, where backwards compatibility is preserved between revisions.

What kind of features to you miss in the editor so much that it might warrant reverse-engineering the format and creating a custom tool? Maybe it would be better for everyone if such features were added into the editor instead?

Backward compatibility in scenario format shouldn't be any priority - it's totally ok for updates to break compatibility by inserting bytes and stuff. It's the responsibility of the developers of custom tools to cope with that. What's not ok is ENCRYPTING the contents so any custom editor can no longer work - unless someone would manage to break the encryption, which nobody wants to happen and which would waste loads of work.

I totally agree that it would be better for anything to be added to the official editor - but let's face it, the chances of this happening anytime soon are EXTREMELY slim.

wino has developed a very useful command line tool which allows scenario editors like me to do some work with minimal effort. For example, it can replace all Inf39 in a given map with Inf43 with one command, maintaining their defined transports, XP settings, entrenchment etc. It'd take a LONG time to manually replace a dozen or two units by hand in the scenario editor, as you'd have to re-do all the work with entrenchment, XP, overstrength etc. It can really get tedious, even on a moderately sized map.
What's more, wino's tool can also replace terrain tiles. I can define a new set of coastal tiles and replace any given old tile ID with any given new tile ID. That's immensely helpful, as the editor has a lot of hardcoded stuff and limitations in this area.
wino's tool also has a randomization feature - it's really a bit embarrasing for you guys that the official scenario editor doesn't have something like that. What it does is similar to the replacement feature, only I can say: Replace variant #1 of a forest tile with variants #2, #3, #4, #5 and #6, selected randomly. Another feature that can save a lot of manual work.
And wino is really an enterprising fellow, no telling what other stuff he could possibly add to his tools in the future - as long as no stupid file encryption is stopping him from doing so.
I hope I managed to get across how helpful his tools are.
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rezaf

Hi Iain,
Thats what I call fast - Thank you ! and sorry for the last hard words - I hope, you can forget - I will do that never and will be diplomatic and more reservedly.

H.Balck

@rezaf: is wino's command line tool openly available? Sounds very useful.

[Edit]: No worries, found it.
http://www.panzercentral.com/forum/view ... 83&t=47687

Its nice to have this new editor, but I can't start my mods again ! I have the same message - do not run - if I dont have the content.
OK guys - I buy the two DLC contents yet - I will not play it - but I hope the game runs again than.

It runs yet with the DLCs - but the flags in UI/purchase/flags I can't change yet - looks they are hard coded with version 1.04.
Can you help me !!!?? PC Engine shows only the old original flags, not the flags in mods folder or original folder !!!

H.Balck

Does this change mean that EVERYTHING in a scenario, maps, units, parimeters, etc. need to be redone????????? I am mostly concerned about maps.

From what I understand, if the maps were created before and weren't edited or saved with 1.04 editor, no problem. The other way around, please send these scenarios to info@slitherine.co.uk, with the e-mail title "Pz Corps Scenario Issue".

Exactly - there is only an issue if you opened and saved your file with the 1.04 editor.

Thank you guys!

*Makes a complete back up of all work before installing and using the new editor*

It runs yet with the DLCs - but the flags in UI/purchase/flags I can't change yet - looks they are hard coded with version 1.04.
Can you help me !!!?? PC Engine shows only the old original flags, not the flags in mods folder or original folder !!!

H.Balck

You can change them. I have done it and Von Paulus has done it.

The download doesn't have flags in it so I can't test it.