BrucErik CSD Studio

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bru888
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by bru888 »

kverdon wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 1:13 am I'm playing the [New Britain 1943-45] and on the Jacquinot Bay scenario. After resuming a game from a save the AI has stopped playing. It does not move it's units or attack. When I click end turn, the game just blips to my next turn. This happend about turn 8. I rolled back a few turns to turn 6 and it still happens. I've included turn 6 here.

thanks I was really enjoying this campaign until this.
Well, it's not a Tech Support issue (i.e., a problem with the game itself), so I moved your other post from there to here.

Hmmm. Hard to say what is the issue. By any chance, did you start this campaign prior to updating to versions 9.0.6 or 9.0.7? For, there were some changes made to Australian units to accommodate the latest official DLC. There could be a conflict between the saved game and the game version now running it.

Nevertheless, I was able to take your saved game and continue it. At first, I saw this error message which has nothing to do with the problem:

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What it did do was to remind me that I needed the New Britain 1943-45 campaign folder installed in order to run the saved game. I did this, using the version of the campaign in my personal files, and returned to your save. It's running fine; you can see that I am now up to Turn 10:

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This brought to mind something else, which I will share with you because I don't want to leave you stuck. After I work on a BrucErik production, it goes back to Erik for further refinements. I am not saying that is the problem, as I have no inkling about this one way or the other. I am only offering you this version of the campaign because it seems to work with your saved game. "Seems to work," mind you.

Here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UHLdQ5 ... sp=sharing

Try copying this version over the one currently in your campaign folder and see if it clears up the problem.

Good luck.
- Bru
bru888
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by bru888 »

Wait a minute. It just dawned on me what you are saying. The scenario is not frozen; you can advance turns just as I did. What you are reporting is that the AI has stopped functioning, which I notice in my setup as well.

Scratch what I said earlier. It's very late here — I will take another look at this tomorrow.
- Bru
bru888
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by bru888 »

Eh, who needs sleep? Borrowing from and bastardizing Kenny Rogers, "There'll be time enough for sleeping, when the dealing's done." :wink:

First of all, I don't think Erik made any changes to this campaign or this scenario. I compared the text files from each and found no changes. I looked at the units provided and saw no differences, either.

Yet, I ran Jacquinot Bay from scratch and received this ominous message at the beginning of Turn 7:

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which is not coincidentally around the time that your issue began. However, I was able to continue after that message and the AI was still engaged. In a few other replays, I got the same error (in different turns) but still the AI kept playing.

So, who knows? It could be the 9.0.6 / 9.0.7 changes to Australian units thing, or it could be the scenario file is corrupted. What I will do is, tomorrow (for sure, because I can't stay awake much longer), I will go through this campaign, particularly the Jacquinot Bay scenario, see if I can see any problems, and save it all in version 9.0.7.

If that clears up the error message, then I will offer this updated version to Erik as the official copy for the BrucErik Studio. What you may be able to do is what I began with: Take the updated version of the campaign, copy it over your current version, and see if it runs your saved game any better; i.e., the AI does not conk out. You may have to go back to your last campaign save and start Jacquinot Bay again, though.

We shall see.
- Bru
bru888
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by bru888 »

By the way, even though it says to, I am not bothering to contact The Artistocrats or Slitherine with this problem. For a couple of reasons: First, it's not a game issue or else we would be seeing more complaints about this. Second, "Tech Support" for this game is rather nebulous at this time. The chronic, crucial, and demonstrable problems are getting taken care of, fortunately, but my impression is that they are referred to an ad-hoc committee of free-lancers. Hence the lack of communication about what is being addressed and what is not, and about the status of fixes; witness the missing or incomplete changelists from the past couple of patches. It would not be worth their time or effort to look into what will appear to them to be merely a corrupted custom scenario file.
- Bru
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by bru888 »

Well, well. What a difference. The previous versions of this campaign and its scenarios had been saved in game version 8.3.0. All I did was save the campaign and scenario files in version 9.0.7.

Now, 24 glorious turns of cutting up the Japanese Cutarp attack, and no error messages or AI work stoppages! (Everything was going fine until I triggered the Kalai and Sampun counterattacks ... it was just a test, and I was understaffed anyway ... I suffered a bloody nose. :cry: )

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So, perhaps this is fixed! My theory: As Erik discovered in his Kododa Trail campaign, what the developers did in editing and rearranging existing Australian units, and introducing new ones, in recent updates may have been corrupting to a scenario file that has Australian units and was last saved before these changes. The game encounters them, senses something out of order, and produces that error message. In my case, it did not stop the scenario or the AI. In your case, and as I saw in your saved game file, I think you were seeing a "soft" crash in which the AI froze.

I have updated the link above, and here it is again, with the new version of New Britain 1943-45: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UHLdQ5 ... sp=sharing

As I said before, "What you may be able to do is what I began with: Take the updated version of the campaign, copy it over your current version, and see if it runs your saved game any better; i.e., the AI does not conk out. You may have to go back to your last campaign save and start Jacquinot Bay again, though."

Erik, I loaded this new version of New Britain 1943-45 to the Dropbox folder named "_Back to Erik." You may want to update the official BrucErik version of the campaign with this file. I believe the version number would be 3.2. Don't forget that the link is in the OP of this thread as well as your own Erik's campaigns & mods thread.
- Bru
kverdon
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by kverdon »

Thanks Bru!

I'm giving it another go back from the Campaign save and so far I'm up to turn 11 and the AI is playing still. However I am a bit concerned that the Japanese Air attack has not materialized yet. It usually hit about turn 6 or 7. Maybe it will come along a bit later?

Edit: Looks like this version may be broken in a different way. It's up to turn 28 and not Air Attack. Since eliminating 3 Jap Bombers is a Primary Victory Condition, I'm afraid it's unwinnable at this point.
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by bru888 »

kverdon wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 11:27 pm Thanks Bru!

I'm giving it another go back from the Campaign save and so far I'm up to turn 11 and the AI is playing still. However I am a bit concerned that the Japanese Air attack has not materialized yet. It usually hit about turn 6 or 7. Maybe it will come along a bit later?

Edit: Looks like this version may be broken in a different way. It's up to turn 28 and not Air Attack. Since eliminating 3 Jap Bombers is a Primary Victory Condition, I'm afraid it's unwinnable at this point.
Enemy airplanes are functioning normally in my scenario:

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Try doing what I did, which was entering the cheat code #orbitalcommand to lift the fog of war, and observe them taking off from the northern airfield. If that is not happening, you may have to start the campaign from scratch.
- Bru
kverdon
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by kverdon »

Right, will give it a go tomorrow. I will start with the end of the previous scenario. If that doesn’t work, well I guess it’s time to listen to Vizzini and “Go back to the beginning”.
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New Britain 1943-45_3.2

Post by Erik2 »

New Britain 1943-45_3.2
Link updated in first post.
Various Bru fixes.

Thanks, Mr.CSI
kverdon
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by kverdon »

Hi Guys,

I am sorry to report that this issue is not fixed, and may be a worse issue that first reported. The good news is that it does not appear to be related to your campaign (I don't think). The REALLY BAD news is that is appears to be related to saved game corruption.

Here is what I did:

Started Jaquinot Bay Scenaro in the campaign.
Did not purchase any units.
Enabled "orbitalcommand"
Hit "Next Turn" to end Turn 1.

Observation: On the AI Turn, the AI "Thinking" bar shows up and processes. The IJA forces went into motion. Artillery unit in the Mountains NW of the Australian Forces starting position turns and opens fire on the Partisan Unit to the NW or it. IJA Units in the Villiage East of the River from the Australian Position move ant attack Partisan unit to the SE of them. Air Units at the Airbase take off.

Ok, so far so good.

Reload Turn 1 and Repeat.

Observation: NOTHING HAPPENS. No AI "Thinking" bar and AI Forces do not fire or move, Aircraft do not take off.

I repeated this test a couple of time with the same result. Restarting the game and reloading the save does not fix the problem. If I deploy some ground units and attack and the AI will respond with the Turn 4 counter attack but that's it. The other forces just sit there and do not shoot back.

You will note that when I first reported this, The AI "Froze" after I had returned to the game and reloaded a save game.
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by bru888 »

Well, I hate to fall back on a standard developer response, but "I cannot reproduce your error here."

At first, I did get that error message shown above, which you never mentioned, and which I think now was a separate (and lurking) issue concerning the edited and new Australian army units introduced in version 9.X. (Remember that my AI never halted like yours did.) That error message was cleared by saving Jaquinot Bay in version 9.0.7.

Now I think you have something else going on, or perhaps you have not fully cleared out the old version of New Britain 1943-45.

For, I did what you listed above with the new version. Beginning with stepping through the other three scenarios with "igotnukes," I did this:

Started Jaquinot Bay Scenaro in the campaign.
Did not purchase any units.
Enabled "orbitalcommand"
Hit "Next Turn" to end Turn 1 (and proceeded from there).

Here is the merry mayhem around Cutarp at Turn 9:

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By the way, I observed the behavior of the Japanese bombers in this time. They did hang back as if reluctant to travel the distance (costs versus benefits) until I nudged my forces a bit inland. That's the AI doing its thing, but they are flying around up there; I assume that as you further inland, and present juicier targets, they will become more aggressive. Look at them here in Turn 5, clustering around the one scout unit that they found:

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Anyway, perhaps you do have a Tech Support issue after all. Have you considered uninstalling and reinstalling the game? You may want to do that before you go back there. Bear in mind, though, that it's unsure as to whether anyone is at home in Tech Support. Moreover, when he or she sees that the complaint involves custom content, they are going to blame us. Sorry, but without the tools to look under your hood, and not being able to replicate the problem on our end, there is nothing more we can do about it.
- Bru
kverdon
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by kverdon »

I will give it the old uninstall/Reinstall. One thing I would ask, did you try the scanario I mentioned AFTER reloading from the turn 1 save?
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by bru888 »

kverdon wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 4:26 pm I will give it the old uninstall/Reinstall. One thing I would ask, did you try the scanario I mentioned AFTER reloading from the turn 1 save?
Hold on, come back in a few minutes ...
- Bru
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by bru888 »

kverdon wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 4:26 pm I will give it the old uninstall/Reinstall. One thing I would ask, did you try the scanario I mentioned AFTER reloading from the turn 1 save?
So, the short answer is "Drat!" Or, "Zut alors!" (a leftover effect from the Free France campaign :wink: )

For, I glossed over that aspect of your procedure. However, I did reload the beginning of Turn 9 save from my previous test (the errors from a few days ago are still saved there, by the way — those are no longer occurring but now I don't think were even related to your problem):

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The mayhem continues in the AI's Turn 9:

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and in its Turn 10:

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But in the interests of due diligence, I will replicate the test from the beginning, including specifically saving and reloading Turn 1. Please tune in again in a few minutes.
- Bru
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by bru888 »

bru888 wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 4:48 pm But in the interests of due diligence, I will replicate the test from the beginning, including specifically saving and reloading Turn 1. Please tune in again in a few minutes.
Good news for me, but not for you, alas. :(

Starting the campaign from scratch again (#igotnukes for the previous three scenarios, etc.), here is the AI beginning its Turn 1 in Jaquinot Bay:

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I saved the scenario when the AI was done:

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I went out of the game and reloaded the Test Save:

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The scenario started normally:

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Here is the AI running its Turn 2:

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and running its Turn 3:

Screenshot 17.jpg
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All normal and as expected.
- Bru
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by kverdon »

Thanks Bru, I appreciate it.

Ok, time to apply the #igotnukes to the game install!
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by bru888 »

No problem. I'm just sorry that I cannot help. For, it's not a matter of CSI concerning AI triggers and tasks, which I know. It's something to do with the technical aspects of the game or programming in general which I do not know.
- Bru
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by kverdon »

Well I uninstalled and deleted everything. Reinstalled and the issue is still there. Running up the white flag. Enjoyed the campaign very much up to this.
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by bru888 »

So, what are we trying to accomplish with 01Tanegashima? What should the primary objectives be, and do you have ideas for secondary objectives? What kind of bonuses in terms of commanders, units, resource and specialisation points do you want to offer for the player to carry forward into the second scenario? Are you comfortable with the number of units included here, particularly the Japanese who have no naval, air, or AA units?

In short, what do you want me to work on?
- Bru
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Re: BrucErik CSD Studio

Post by Erik2 »

Let me add some suggestions for primary and secondary objectives to the scenario. Then you can pick & choose. I'll put a 01Tanegashima-1 copy in your folder when I'm finished.

Rewards should primarily be commanders (at least 1 per scenario) until we run out. Then we could switch to specs and resources, whatever suits the sec obj best.

I'd like to keep the pseudo-historical unit numbers and types.
I'll use Japanese unit exp and strength as balancing tools after the initial initial singe scenario play-tests. Then probably add some AA and maybe Kamikaze units.
This first invasion in a campaign should be relatively easy for the player. It was planned as a kind of side-show anyway.

All scenarios in the campaign will be tested as singel scenarios with pre-deployed US units.
When all are deemed balanced I'll exchange US units with command points and resources. That is what we have spread-sheets for.

Anything else?
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