West Front British Skirmish Mod 1.4

[Paul59]

Just down loaded your maps and looking forward to them will you be making a multiplayer version ?

To be honest I never thought of that.

If there is a demand I suppose I could do it, but I am very busy with other projects at the moment and won't be doing much on Battle Academy for several weeks at least.

[Eagletanker]

Paul, on the IPad if you use the France terrain type, all open ground will be replaced by tracks.

[Paul59]

Paul, on the IPad if you use the France terrain type, all open ground will be replaced by tracks.

I am sorry, but I don't know what is wrong there.

The terrain works for the PC. I was not aware that the iPad requires anything different or extra. I don't have an iPad, so cannot test the mod on one.

The only thing I can suggest is that maybe the download for your iPad was corrupted somehow. Do the new terrain packs in my other mods work on your iPad?

There is the France pack in the US West Front mod, a Germany pack in the Cold War Mod, and a Spain pack in the SCW mod.


Paul

[Eagletanker]

I tested them, and no tracks show up. It only happen with the western front British. On the other hand, the Soviet flag texture for the briefing screen disappears while playing as them for the Cold War. Also a missing terrain type appears in the skirmish mod and persist on all skirmishes.

[Paul59]

I tested them, and no tracks show up. It only happen with the western front British. On the other hand, the Soviet flag texture for the briefing screen disappears while playing as them for the Cold War. Also a missing terrain type appears in the skirmish mod and persist on all skirmishes.

That's interesting, the France terrain in the British West Front mod is exactly the same as the France terrain in the US West Front mod. If there was something wrong with it, it would be the same in both mods. This leads me to believe that your British West Front download got corrupted somehow, so I recommend that you delete it and download again.

As for the Soviet flag in the briefing screen, are you referring to the star and arrow:



Or the small flags:



Or something else entirely?

All these flags work fine on my pc, and I assume on PoorOldSpike's, who tested these mods for me. I am sure he would have mentioned it if they were not working. Maybe it's another corrupt download? I wonder if anyone else has experienced the same thing?

EDIT: Another possibility is that the iPad might not be able to read my modified texture files, I had the same issue with my Pike and Shot mods and scenarios. My graphics editor saves the files in a format that iPad could not deal with. But if that was the case you would have more than just one dodgy flag, most of the graphics in the mods would be messed up!

EDIT AGAIN!: Actually that would not explain the Soviet flag problem at all, because those are just the standard BA2 Soviet flag textures renamed to work for the Axis side. I did not touch them with my Graphics ptogram.

Does the missing terrain type look like this:



If so, I have exactly the same issue, and I had it long before I ever started making mods for BA2. The missing terrain is in the Skirmish Generator all the time, whether you have activated a mod or not.

It is caused by the Castle object folder in the main build, because it does not have an associated text string to say what it is. I don't know if it is a part of the main game installation, or whether it is something we have downloaded later. As I said, it is nothing to do with my mods!

The best way to fix it is to create a folder called OBJECTS in your SLITH_CASTELLOCASTLE folder (in your CAMPAIGNS folder), then cut and paste the Castle folder from your main game installation objects folder into the new OBJECTS folder that you have just created. But I guess that sort of folder manipulation is not possible on the iPad? At least for PC users that would be a good solution, I have just tried it myself and it works. The Castle objects are only used by a bonus scenario produced by Slitherine, called Operation Castle, so by putting the Castle objects in that scenario folder the scenario will still work.

[Eagletanker]

The missing ID style has only recently appeared, which I find strange. But the thing that’s missing texture is the Soviets flag.

[PoorOldSpike]

I haven't got an Ipad, I play on my PC and sometimes get the message below when cycling through the terrains, but I simply ignore it and cycle to the terrain I want (Russia/Russia Snow/France etc which works fine).
As an experiment I chose the "Missing ID's" terrain and this was the result, so the moral is- don't choose the 'Missing IDS' terrain..
PS- this screenshot is from Paul59's forthcoming Polish mod which I'm playtesting, but the 'Missing ID' appears in all his mods AND in the games stock mods, so its probably nothing to do with him and might be a minor glitch in the games programming and affects Ipads more than PC's-

[Paul59]

The missing ID style has only recently appeared, which I find strange. But the thing that’s missing texture is the Soviets flag.

So what is your missing terrain called? Is it "MISSING_IDS_TERRAIN_STYLE_CAS", or something else?

I need to know so that I can figure out what is going on here.

[Fluffi]

I know this is an unrelated question to what is going on but I was just curious if the 18 Pdr and 75mm gun models that were used for the Italians, Brits, and Spanish mods happen to be the same guns used in Tim1966's WWI scenarios. The only reason I ask is because the models look quite familiar to the ones in the WWI Cambrai campaign from the first game.

[Paul59]

I know this is an unrelated question to what is going on but I was just curious if the 18 Pdr and 75mm gun models that were used for the Italians, Brits, and Spanish mods happen to be the same guns used in Tim1966's WWI scenarios. The only reason I ask is because the models look quite familiar to the ones in the WWI Cambrai campaign from the first game.

Thanks Datmoff, yes they are Tim1966's models, I had totally forgotten to give him credit for those. I will amend the posts accordingly.

[Eagletanker]

The missing ID style has only recently appeared, which I find strange. But the thing that’s missing texture is the Soviets flag.

So what is your missing terrain called? Is it "MISSING_IDS_TERRAIN_STYLE_CAS", or something else?

I need to know so that I can figure out what is going on here.

It’s Missing_ID_Terrain_St, whereupon it cuts off. In other words, I have no clue what the ending is.

[Paul59]

The missing ID style has only recently appeared, which I find strange. But the thing that’s missing texture is the Soviets flag.

So what is your missing terrain called? Is it "MISSING_IDS_TERRAIN_STYLE_CAS", or something else?

I need to know so that I can figure out what is going on here.

It’s Missing_ID_Terrain_St, whereupon it cuts off. In other words, I have no clue what the ending is.

Don't worry about that TankerOne, I think I have figured out what is going on here. It is not an error with the mods, it is a quirk of the Skirmish Generator!

If you load a mod that includes a new terrain set, the Skirmish Generator "remembers" the new terrain. If you then load a different mod it tries to load the previous mod's terrain set, but of course it does not work properly unless the new mod has the same terrain set as the previous one. It carries on "remembering" the old terrain sets until you close the game.

That explains why you have not seen this before, because there were no Skirmish Mods with new terrain before. So your Skirmish Generator was only loading the vanilla terrain sets. It also explains why the missing terrain sets were appearing for the other Skirmish Mods you loaded later.

Try this for me, close down Battle Academy 2, and then reopen it. Go to the Skirmish Generator, and load one of the Skirmish Mods that had the MISSING_IDS_TERRAIN set, and see if it is still there.

[Eagletanker]

Thanks Paul, the missing terrain is now gone. I will have to remember to switch back to Russia when I am do with the skirmish.

[Paul59]

Thanks Paul, the missing terrain is now gone. I will have to remember to switch back to Russia when I am do with the skirmish.

The only thing that will reset the Skirmish Generators terrain selections is to close the game down and restart. But it is no problem really, just as long as you don't start a Skirmish with any terrain style that has the MISSING_IDS.... title. You will then get the railtracks all across the battlefield. Maybe that is what you did before, when you said the French terrain had railtracks?

[Eagletanker]

Maybe, but everything was replaced by the Tracks, not Railway.

[Fluffi]

I haven't got an Ipad, I play on my PC and sometimes get the message below when cycling through the terrains, but I simply ignore it and cycle to the terrain I want (Russia/Russia Snow/France etc which works fine).
As an experiment I chose the "Missing ID's" terrain and this was the result, so the moral is- don't choose the 'Missing IDS' terrain..
PS- this screenshot is from Paul59's forthcoming Polish mod which I'm playtesting, but the 'Missing ID' appears in all his mods AND in the games stock mods, so its probably nothing to do with him and might be a minor glitch in the games programming and affects Ipads more than PC's-

I can't help but get a chuckle when I see the FTs being twice the size of the 7TPs. From what I recall the Jagdtiger model (by Amaris?) is comically tiny compared to the other units in the game and I don't know why exactly it is such. Could it be that the model itself was scaled improperly?

[Paul59]

I haven't got an Ipad, I play on my PC and sometimes get the message below when cycling through the terrains, but I simply ignore it and cycle to the terrain I want (Russia/Russia Snow/France etc which works fine).
As an experiment I chose the "Missing ID's" terrain and this was the result, so the moral is- don't choose the 'Missing IDS' terrain..
PS- this screenshot is from Paul59's forthcoming Polish mod which I'm playtesting, but the 'Missing ID' appears in all his mods AND in the games stock mods, so its probably nothing to do with him and might be a minor glitch in the games programming and affects Ipads more than PC's-

I can't help but get a chuckle when I see the FTs being twice the size of the 7TPs. From what I recall the Jagdtiger model (by Amaris?) is comically tiny compared to the other units in the game and I don't know why exactly it is such. Could it be that the model itself was scaled improperly?

Well you can't blame the modders as the FT17 is an official Slitherine model. I think there are a number of vanilla models that are out of scale with other vehicles, the one that gets me is the R35 and H35 which should be about the same size, but the H35 model is considerably bigger.

Maybe the modders were not too bothered by scale after seeing the discrepancies in the official models.

It's a shame about the Jagdtiger model though. There was talk on the original thread about making it bigger, but I guess that never happened.

[Paul59]

Maybe, but everything was replaced by the Tracks, not Railway.

Sorry TankerOne I misunderstood you. When you said "tracks" I thought you meant railway tracks. It still might be the explanation though, as you can see from PoorOldSpikes screenshot above, when he chose the MISSING_IDS terrain he got tracks across the map, just like you described.

[Fluffi]

I haven't got an Ipad, I play on my PC and sometimes get the message below when cycling through the terrains, but I simply ignore it and cycle to the terrain I want (Russia/Russia Snow/France etc which works fine).
As an experiment I chose the "Missing ID's" terrain and this was the result, so the moral is- don't choose the 'Missing IDS' terrain..
PS- this screenshot is from Paul59's forthcoming Polish mod which I'm playtesting, but the 'Missing ID' appears in all his mods AND in the games stock mods, so its probably nothing to do with him and might be a minor glitch in the games programming and affects Ipads more than PC's-

I can't help but get a chuckle when I see the FTs being twice the size of the 7TPs. From what I recall the Jagdtiger model (by Amaris?) is comically tiny compared to the other units in the game and I don't know why exactly it is such. Could it be that the model itself was scaled improperly?

Well you can't blame the modders as the FT17 is an official Slitherine model. I think there are a number of vanilla models that are out of scale with other vehicles, the one that gets me is the R35 and H35 which should be about the same size, but the H35 model is considerably bigger.

Maybe the modders were not too bothered by scale after seeing the discrepancies in the official models.

It's a shame about the Jagdtiger model though. There was talk on the original thread about making it bigger, but I guess that never happened.

Could just be that real life got in the way or something else happened that ultimately made it not possible to do. I mean, one of COULD try to contact Amaris about this, but given that its been about 5 or so years since the model was shown off, and at least 3 since we've last heard from Amaris himself, I'd say this as good as we can get with the Jagdtiger. Make no mistake, I think he did a good job with detail and all, it's just the scaling itself seems a bit awkward. At least the Maus is appropriately gigantic though.

[Fluffi]

On a side note, I noticed that the Crusader tank is not present in the British mod, which I would assume was done intentionally since the Crusader tanks saw service primarily in North Africa (and as far as I know only the SPAA variants saw action in Europe). Considering that the Late 1940 to Early 1944 eras are basically hypothetical battles though, it seems strange to not include the Crusader in the roster, especially considering that they were quite common during 1941 and 42. On the other hand, I could see why they weren't included, given that the Sherman shows up in 1942 and the Cromwell somewhere in late 1943/early 1944, and given that the original Crusader tank in the first game only a 2pdr gun that made it rather irrelevant whenever you had Shermans or even Matildas for that matter, it seems only sensible to leave the Crusader out as it doesn't really offer anything over the Sherman/Matilda/A13 besides maybe being cheaper and faster than the first two.

In short; I made an observation about the lack of Crusader tanks, and figured it was because it A) didn't fit in with the roster given how redundant it was and B) this mod is based in France and base-model Crusaders weren't at all present there.