FREE CEAW Grand Strategy Expansion!

[IainMcNeil]

Slitherine are pleased to announce the release of the eagerly anticipated and free downloadable expansion pack for Commander Europe at War. This expansion was created by a dedicated team of fans who took the original game and transformed it in to something even better! The project was started by Borger Borgersen, Ronnie Runyan, Jim Potts, Paul Kirby and Tim Lynch nearly 2 years ago and has eaten up countless hours of their spare time. Since they started a team of over 15 people have become involved ranging from artists and manual writers to programmers and even guys working on a MAC conversion! The full credits list can be seen at http://www.slitherine.com/ceaw_grand_strategy . We at Slitherine are amazed at what a group of fans can do when they put their minds to it and would like to thank them for their dedication to building the Commander Europe at War community. All Slitherine have done is help them build it in to an installer and make it compatible with as many versions of the game as possible. The real work was all done by the fans. The expansion offers a whole new set of features, some of which are described below. Anyone with Commander Europe at War should grab this FREE expansion immediately and get playing. It add new ways to play and offers hours of replay value in single player and some great new features for multiplayer.

EDIT : THis has now been updated to v1.02 with lots of new bug fixes!


Feature List
· Country specific unit graphics and NATO counters, so all major and minor nations have a full set of unit images!
· Transport and sea invasion models, which are a function of technology. Allies limited by technology as to how many units they can have on transport ship at a time.
· New submarine warfare model that much more realistically models the Battle of the Atlantic
· New weather feature. Weather is random yet realistic and effects combat and movement encouraging warfare in good weather. Also effects storms at sea so naval invasions & combat in winter are much harder.
· New partisan model. Partisans now spawn in all conquered countries and force the axis player to garrison cities and resources as they did historically, which radically changes the strategies that work,
· Added a Blitzkrieg effect where invaded countries suffer a temporary efficiency loss, due to surprise.
· Added Russian Siberian reserves which are released when the USA enters the war
· More cities, ports, revised political boarders, updated/new terrain features (e.g., Persian Gulf), more forts (e.g., Gustav, Ostwell & Siegfried) and five naval transport loops (e.g., Kiel)
· Added an air base feature. They allow aircraft to refuel mid Atlantic in Greenland etc.
· Vichy France and Free France are both added as separate countries
· New victory conditions based on historical surrender date of May 8th 1945
· Historical Italian surrender, where Italy can surrender without Rome falling
· Updated rail model including the ability to degrade rail capacity through bombing.
· New African supply model that limits the number of units the Axis can maintain in North Africa
· Added traded oil (Germany & Russia) and iron ore (Germany & Sweden)
· Added Lend Lease to Russia through Persia
· Carrier air wings and fighters can be grounded to avoid unnecessary combat
· Limited the air attacks you can use per turn on a single target which means air power can weaken but not destroy ground units, making it far more realistic.
· Specially created 173-page highly polished Grand Strategy Expansion players manual

Grand Strategy requires v 1.12 of Commander Europe at War, but it supports the original game and the MILITARY HISTORY version. The Grand Strategy expansion sits alongside your existing install so after installing you either have the choice to run the original game or the Grand Strategy expansion. You can uninstall the Grand Strategy expansion at any time and will still have a fully working version of the original game.

Get the original Commander Europe at War here – http://www.slitherine.com/games/mh_ceaw_gold_pc
Get the Grand Strategy expansion here - http://www.slitherine.com/files/ceaw/Gr ... _v1.02.exe

For more details on the Grand Strategy expansion and design notes go here http://www.slitherine.com/ceaw_grand_strategy

[firepowerjohan]

Good work guys!
I hope this expansion will give some more value for everyone who have bought and played Commander Europe at War

[richardsd]

mutter, of course it doesn't work for me! anyone else had a problem with the slitherine version, it says its looking for the exe file

off to do some looking

[Wyona]

How about a non- .exe file version for Mac users?

[IainMcNeil]

What version are you trying to apply the mod to? Did you install it to the correct place - you need to locate the folder you installed the original game to.

A Mac version is in the works with the team.

[Wolfe1759]

Can't get it working either

Base game is the 1.0 Matrix release patched to 1.12

Installed GS to the matrix file location that CEaW is installed to, seemed to install fine and thought I'd have a look at the 1941 scenario (set with all options) from the Axis side. Started the scenario and only had 2 armoured, 1 mechanised and 1 infantry corps on the front line with Russia !

Quited to desktop then tried to restart, got to the GS loading screen but it wouldn't go any further.

After a couple of reinstalls found the same problem with the '41 scenario and could only load GS if I deleted any existing GS files from My Documents.

I was really looking forward to this so any help would be appreciated.

[richardsd]

it has been istalled over 1.12 in C:\Program Files\Slitherine\Commander - Europe At War

the old short cur loads the old game

the new game asks for language then proceeds to the large maps choice 9where there is no language just x's and y's which is waht you get all the way through until you try and load a game where it then hangs forever

I seem to recall achieving this point manually as well (now worried I have removed a file from the original)

[richardsd]

I did once get all the way to the GS game (can't seem to repeat it) , but without a language file. There is no language file associated when I run the vanilla game from the updated folder, but there is when I run the vanilla game from the old shortcut.

[ncali]

Can't get it working either

Base game is the 1.0 Matrix release patched to 1.12

Installed GS to the matrix file location that CEaW is installed to, seemed to install fine and thought I'd have a look at the 1941 scenario (set with all options) from the Axis side. Started the scenario and only had 2 armoured, 1 mechanised and 1 infantry corps on the front line with Russia !

Quited to desktop then tried to restart, got to the GS loading screen but it wouldn't go any further.

After a couple of reinstalls found the same problem with the '41 scenario and could only load GS if I deleted any existing GS files from My Documents.

I was really looking forward to this so any help would be appreciated.

I'm guessing the slitherine installer won't work with the matrix version? I downloaded the candidate files for the mod before the new slitherine installer version came out, and ended up (1) making a copy of the matrix 1.12 version and then (2) manually copying/replacing with the files for the mod. The mod seems to work fine this way.

[IainMcNeil]

We've not tested this with the Matrix version. I'm not sure if it would work or not, we'll have to investigate.

We have tested it with Slitherine v1.00 upgraded to v1.12 and with a clean Slitherine v1.12 and these both work. I'm not sure what the issues might be at this stage.

We've only really tested the English version - are you trying to run in another language?

For anyone who has problems please post the version you have, the folder it is installed to and the langauge you are playing in so we can try and narrow it down.

[Wolfe1759]

Tried to install over a compleat reinstall of CEaW w/1.12 but same problem - it runs the first time but then hangs at the GS loading screen subsequently.

I'm using the Matrix version installed to C:\Matrix Games\Commander Europe at War with GS installing to C: \Matrix Games\Commander Europe at War\CEaW-Grand Strategy. The problem may be with the shortcut which semms to be installed to C: \Matrix Games\Commander Europe at War\Grand Strategy Mod.

[rkr1958]

Tried to install over a compleat reinstall of CEaW w/1.12 but same problem - it runs the first time but then hangs at the GS loading screen subsequently.

I'm using the Matrix version installed to C:\Matrix Games\Commander Europe at War with GS installing to C: \Matrix Games\Commander Europe at War\CEaW-Grand Strategy. The problem may be with the shortcut which semms to be installed to C: \Matrix Games\Commander Europe at War\Grand Strategy Mod.

What happens if you change the incorrect path in the shortcut to the correct path?

[Wolfe1759]

Tried to install over a compleat reinstall of CEaW w/1.12 but same problem - it runs the first time but then hangs at the GS loading screen subsequently.

I'm using the Matrix version installed to C:\Matrix Games\Commander Europe at War with GS installing to C: \Matrix Games\Commander Europe at War\CEaW-Grand Strategy. The problem may be with the shortcut which semms to be installed to C: \Matrix Games\Commander Europe at War\Grand Strategy Mod.

What happens if you change the incorrect path in the shortcut to the correct path?

I select Commander Europe at War from the drop down list on the shortcut intallation screen but when I get to the next screen of the installer it shows the shortcut will be installed to Slitherine\Military History Commander - Europe at War GOLD\ CEaW - Grand Strategy which results in the above.

P.S. English language version

[richardsd]

well I am on the slitherine version and have it running in the correct folder (as vanilla default with Slitherine GS loaded into it - over 1.12)

depending on how and where I load from I get the hanging as well

I suspect I need to start from scratch again, mutter

[richardsd]

what would be increidibly helpful would be for some kind sole to post a screen shoot of the files in the folder (for a working GS version)!

pretty please

[IainMcNeil]

I'm going to ask the fans who created this to step in and suggest how to get you up and running as I don't know what the issue might be.

[rkr1958]

I'm going to ask the fans who created this to step in and suggest how to get you up and running as I don't know what the issue might be.

To assist us in isolating and solving these types of issues please post answers to the following questions?

1. What is the issue?
(a) Installer won't run.
(b) Installer doesn't finish (i.e., freezes).
(c) Installer completes but the GS expansion won't run.
(d) GS will start but freezes before start/load game menu. (if so, describe where it freezes).
(e) GS freezes during start of a new game. (if so, which scenario? Have you tried starting with other scenarios?)
(f) GS freezes during load of an existing game. (if so, where was this game initially created?)
(g) GS freezes during play.
(h) Other issue or relevant details (please describe).

2. What version are you trying to install the expansion over?
(a) Slitherine, Matrix or other (please list).
(b) Original version that you purchased? (e.g., v1.00, v1.06, MH gold v1.12).
(c) Version that you're trying to install over? (e.g. v1.12)
(d) Was this version patched from your original version? (yes or no)

3. GS expansion size after install. (NOT applicable if your issue is 1 (a) or 1 (b))
(a) How many MB and files is the GS expansion after install?
(b) To locate the expansion go to where you installed the standard (i.e., vanilla) game.
(c) The expansion should be located in the "Grand Strategy Mod" subfolder to that location.
(d) For me the expansion is located in, "C:\Program Files\Slitherine\Commander - Europe at War\Grand Strategy Mod".
(e) IMPORTANT: Make sure you get size details for the "Grand Strategy Mod" subfolder and NOT the "CEaW - Grand Strategy" subfolder.
(f) Both subfolders are created and used by the installer but "CEaW - Grand Strategy", which is almost empty, is only used for install and uninstall purposes.

4. Did the GS user data folder get created? (NOT applicable if your issue is 1 (a) or 1 (b))
(a) This path to this folder is: "*\My Documents\CEAW Grand Strategy"
(b) If yes to (a), does the file, "settings.txt" in that folder exist?
(c) If yes to (a), does "*\My Documents\CEAW Grand Strategy\data\scenario" folder exist?
(d) If yes to (c), does "*\My Documents\CEAW Grand Strategy\data\scenario" contain any files?
(e) If yes to (d), what files?

5. What are your computer details?
(a) Desktop or laptop?
(b) Operating Systems? (e.g., XP, Vista or Windows 7).
(c) RAM? (e.g., 512-MB, 1-GB, 2-GB)
(d) Available harddrive space? (i.e., how much is left on the drive to which you're trying to install or run the expansion).

[jjdenver]

Before I contribute to the problem thread, can you let me know which directory I should try installing the GS app to? My matrix version is installed at:
"C:\Matrix Games\Commander Europe At War"

What directory should I specify when I run the GS installer?

Thx

[rkr1958]

Before I contribute to the problem thread, can you let me know which directory I should try installing the GS app to? My matrix version is installed at:
"C:\Matrix Games\Commander Europe At War"

What directory should I specify when I run the GS installer?

Thx

You should point it to the one you identified above provided it's been patched to 1.12.

[KingHunter]

This is a great piece of work! Many Thanks to the original BJR team and others who helped in this venture! I am playing the expansion now and do find it an excellent add-on to the game! Again thanks for all the hard work!

Jay