Scourge of War Patch 1.4

[norb]

Patch 1.4 can be found here:
http://www.norbsoftware.com/Downloads/S ... Ver1_4.exe

Changes:
Version 1.4

New Features

* We now use a texture packing technology to help increase performance.
* A new graphics option can be invoked from the sowgb.ini file. Under the [Initialization] section you may add a line mipmaps=# where # can equal -1, 0, or any positive number from 1 to 5 inclusive. A setting of -1 may improve performance on some systems where settings of 1 or higher may increase the sharpness of the unit sprites and terrain graphics.
* A new button has been added on the toolbar that brings up the Courier menu.
* An additional new button has been added that shows the courier messages sent.
* There is now a Sprite Ratio Game Option. This setting adjusts the number of troop sprites displayed per man for all game modes. The default is 0 which uses the default setting of four troop sprites representing one man.
* A new Additional Battles screen has been added.
* Sandbox play has been improved by adding a much larger score limit. It is now possible to set the number of Objectives, time limit, and points awarded.
* The dumpoobscen command now adds the Unit ID's to the scenario.csv that is outputed.
* The default Score Limit in Sandbox games has been increased from 8000 to 20000 so games won't end so early.
* Couriers now spawn down the OOB chain of command. If you order a corps general to move, he will then order the divisional generals, and they will in turn order brigadier generals.
* New 'brigade' level couriers have been added which result in couriers being sent to each regiment or battery.
* A distance check for issuing courier orders by toolbar in SP has been added. If the recipient is within a short distance, no message will be sent.
* At high realism courier settings, all toolbar division & brigade formations now work within the courier system.
* Added a limit to the number of couriers spawned after courier death. It is now only one per human player, and editable in the Options section of the sowbg.ini file for AI player. Command is: NumAICouriers=2
* We have added new command for the debug section of the sowgb.ini file that automatically writes the game DB files at the end of a battle. Command is: AutoGameDB=1

Bug Fixes

* Ammo wagons now use the artillery sprite ratio so ammo wagon troop strength is not affected by sprite ratio changes.
* The command line entry prompt no longer appears while writing a courier message or using chat in the multiplayer lobby.
* A bug has been fixed where receiving a courier message in multiplayer causes any message you are working on to close and all typed text is lost.
* New courier commands have been added for detach/attach subordinates so that it is now working properly in courier messages.
* The Square formation has been edited so the third quadrant releative to the commander is aligned correctly.
* A bug has been corrected where brigades would start moving before their commanders received their courier messages.
* Form up orders are now based on destination rather than unit location when the order is received.
* Killed couriers no longer spawn repeatedly.
* Troops now repond to courier orders to march at double time.
* The game no longer crashes when hitting enter during lobby chat
* A bug has been eliminated where if you tried to issue a 'move to this map point' order by courier, but then changed your mind and clicked 'remove last' from courier order, the map stayed up on screen with no close box. If you clicked on the map, the game crashed.

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Version 1.3

* More improvements to multiplayer to help prevent hangs and crashes.
* A bug that would cause units to intermittently disappear when panning the camera has been fixed.
* A MP lobby bug that caused the game to crash when hitting the enter key in room chat while not in a room has been fixed.
* Scores for GB19 will now register.
* A bug in Historical Difficulty that caused TC'd brigades to ignore movement orders sent by courier has been fixed.
* A bug that caused the command line entry prompt to appear in the chat window at the top left of the screen during chat has been fixed.
* A bug that allowed units out of Line of Sight to be seen has been repaired.
* Now when you create a user account in Multiplayer, you go straight to the lobby.
* Changing illumination from day to night is now available in scenario scripting. See the SDK for more information.
* It is now possible to load saved games in Demo mode.

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Version 1.2

New Features:

* The 1st Corps limit has been removed from "Army"-sized Sandbox battles. Players will now get the full Army OOB when they choose it.
* The "star with the green outline" icon, which indicated a unit's ordered destination on the Map, has been replaced with a "red crosshairs" icon.
* The "dumplocs" command now creates new time-stamped startloc.csv files each time it is executed.
* A "Kick" button has been added to the Multiplayer Select Screen. The host can now kick the selected player from the Connect Screen.
* Mods are now allowed in Multiplayer, with certain restrictions.
* New map: East Cavalry Field.
* New map: A huge map of Gettysburg combining all four current Gettysburg maps in the game.
* 10 new Historic Scenarios representing the battles of East and South Cavalry Fields.
* 3 new Multiplayer scenarios for East and South Cavalry Fields.
* Units can now be ordered to locations on the map by clicking on the new Command Map. The Command Map is displayed by pressing the "N" key or by issuing the "Move to Map Point" order by courier.
* The splash screen that contains the new keyboard assignments is now in the game.
* Units and commanders can now be assigned to hot keys by selecting the unit or commander and pressing "Ctrl" plus the desired number, 1-9.
* Players may now write "free text" courier messages in Multiplayer.
* A "Balance" button has been added to the Sandbox setup screen. If unchecked, the enemy forces will no longer be balanced to match the player's numbers.
* Units will no longer retreat when running out of ammo, they will "Getaway."
* The Formation of a unit will now affect the damage caused by artillery hits on that unit. For example, if hit by artillery, a regiment in Column Formation will suffer more casualties than a regiment in Line Formation.
* Artillery hits can now destroy cannon, and dead cannon sprites will be displayed.
* Artillery will no longer hit the soldiers closest to the guns. They will hit soldiers randomly.
* Artillery is now more likely to Getaway from approaching infantry, making it harder to capture.
* The toolbar now shows the Experience, Casualties, Terrain, Morale, and Fatigue of a selected unit.
* New "Rebel Yell" charge sound has been added to the Confederate toolbar.
* Two new cavalry types have been added: "T1" and "T2." (There is more information in the Manual).
* A new Cavalry Tutorial has been added.
* When cavalry units dismount, their troop numbers are now reduced by 25% to account for horse holders.
* The spacing of brigade deployments has been improved, preventing brigade pile-ups.
* "T1" cavalry will pursue retreating enemies.
* A "tcofficers" command has been added. If a player is using the default keyboard.csv, the "0" key on the numpad will TC all subordinate commanders of the selected commander.
* A "Quit the Field" button has been added to the in-game Multiplayer screen. The top commander on either side may now end a game in progress.
* A button has been added to the in-game Multiplayer screen that takes the player to the OOB for their side.
* A Team Only chat option has been added. The command in the keyboard.csv is is "teamchat".
* A button has been added to the End Game Screen to dump the game database. * The defaultkeys.csv has been updated with many changes.
* In Multiplayer, if a player enters through the lobby he is now taken back to the lobby at the end of his game.
* For courier orders, default value for the execution time is now the same as the orders time so the player does not have to click on the Time & Date tab each time he writes an order.// For courier orders, the default execution time is now "immediately," so the player does not have to click on the "Time & Date" tab each time he writes an order.
* Courier orders screens have been better organized, and "Probe" & "Defend" orders, "Limber/Unlimber," and "Mount/Dismount" orders have been added.
* Requests for help on the courier screen now almost always get a response.
* Replacement leaders now display portraits of common unit types instead of continuing to display the portraits of deceased leaders.
* The rate of fire of a selected unit is now displayed when mousing over the Ammunition window.
* New formations have been added to the drills.csv to allow units to hold their formation while moving.
* Subordinate commanders will now report to the player when the enemy has been sighted while playing in HITS mode.
* A dismounted single line cavalry formation has been added to the drills.csv.
* AI divisions now request help much sooner.
* When units ordered to the player's position by courier arrive, they will now line up closer to the player.
* Courier pathing has been improved.
* Draw tiles have been disabled in Multiplayer.
* Commander portraits have been added for the new cavalry scenario commanders.
* The "Aattach" command will now attach all detached regiments of a selected commander.
* Units now take much longer to recover from high levels of fatigue.
* In HITS mode, the camera is now fixed to the player's head. No more moving up and down when the terrain changes height.
* It is now possible to bind multiple commands to the same key in the keyboard.csv. Each command is separated by a ":".
* The "dumpgamedb," "dumplocs" and "dumpdead" functions now work in battlescript.
* Additional trails have been added to the Alpine map.

Bug Fixes:

* There have been many changes to the OOBs to correct spelling, unit strengths, unit attributes, and chain-of-command problems.
* A bug that caused unit's sound to fail to play when the unit returned to the player's line of sight has been fixed. Now, when the unit returns to the player's line of sight, the unit's sound will still be playing.
* A crash in Multiplayer that was caused by pressing the "Hold Fire" button on a gun and then clicking on a specific target has been fixed.
* The courier command "Move your unit forward x yds" has been removed to correct a bug which caused the unit to move forward indefinitely.
* A bug that prevented the "Getting Flanked" indicator from displaying has been fixed.
* Before, when a regiment ran to get out of the path of another unit, it continued running until it reached its final destination. This has been corrected.
* AI infantry will now travel ahead of artillery to prevent artillery from moving first into enemy lines.
* The special orders buttons for cavalry now stay lit when they are activated.
* A bug that caused carryover scenarios to crash if a unit had lost all of its men has been fixed.
* A bug that caused brigades to automatically switch to Line Formation when they reached their destinations has been fixed.
* In the courier orders, the "Move your unit to ..." and "Move yourself to ..." have been changed to "Move to ..." to prevent all units from arriving at the destination on top of each other.
* TC'd regiments will now automatically melee when close to enemy regiments. Until now, TC'd regiments had the ability to run through enemy units.
* The map locations for the Gettysburg map have been updated to match the other maps.
* A miniature giraffe barn has been removed from the street on the Gettysburg map.
* An additional option--"None"--for "Orders by courier at this command level and above" has been added to the Options screen. This allows a player who uses the Custom Difficulty setting and selects a Side Commander to play without couriers.
* A bug that caused the player to lose control of his troops and be transferred to a different command has been fixed.
* Bugs in the Kansas, Alpine, and East Cavalry Field maps that prevented troops from following roads properly have been fixed.
* A bug that prevented Whitworth cannon from firing if the player selected an ammo type other than solid shot has been fixed.
* A bug that caused Sandbox games to end early has been fixed.
* Before, if a scenario was started, another scenario save was loaded from within it, and that (second) game was won, the score for the win was credited to the original scenario. That has been repaired: the score for the win is now credited to the correct scenario.
* Improvements to road marching have shortened the time waiting for the enemy to attack in Defend Sandbox Mode.
* A bug on the McPherson's Ridge map where a road was running through a building has been fixed.
* A bug that caused charging cavalry to get stuck has been fixed.
* The "Retreat by Recoil" button will no longer cause an artillery piece to constantly fallback when pressed.
* A bug that caused the rate of fire for cavalry rifles to be too rapid if they had a high Experience level has been corrected.
* Before, if the player used an OOB with CMDLVL0 officers and chose a unit of Side 2, he would end up with both chains of command on the same side. This has been repaired.
* A bug that caused the AI to override a "Limber" command has been fixed.
* A bug that prevented the "Acharge" command from working properly has been fixed.
* The number variant "#unittype" now works for strings.
* A bug that caused destination flags to disappear as a result of improvements in FPS (Frames Per Second) has been fixed.
* "Path failed" messages on the East Cavalry Field map have been fixed.
* A bug where locked units responded to courier messages has been fixed.
* A bug that prevented TC'd units from responding to courier messages has been fixed.
* Regiments are now more likely to avoid advancing into flank fire.
* A bug that caused carryover dead bodies not to display has been fixed.


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Version 1.103

* A crash in Multiplayer caused by the opening and closing of certain screens while in game has been fixed.
* A bug that prevented the OOB "Click on Leader" function from working in Multiplayer has been fixed.
* The Courier.csv file has been updated.

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Version 1.102

* A new feature that allows activation of the game by email has been added.
* A bug in Multiplayer that caused freezes about five minutes into the game has been fixed.

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Version 1.10

* A bug that caused dead bodies to be incorrectly calculated and caused them to float in the air has been fixed.
* Before, in Multiplayer, if there was a space in the IP address, it would cause all players to hang on "Connect." This has been repaired.
* Before, there were instances when AI commanders ordered players to "Go to the indicated position" and there were none indicated on the Map. This has been corrected.
* A bug that prevented the enemy from showing up in "Hunt Them Down" Sandbox games has been repaired.
* A bug that caused GB05 to crash has been squashed.
* A bug that caused sound issues for some machines, requiring them to update their Direct X, has been fixed.
* Command console has been implemented - OEM_3.
* A bug that caused an incorrect unit or commander to be selected after pressing the "Go To Me" button has been stomped.
* A new sowgb.ini command to reverse the response to spinning the mouse wheel -- "MouseWheelRev=1" -- has been added.
* A bug in Historical Difficulty that prevented orders destinations from displaying has been repaired.
* A bug that caused AI commanders to always send units to the same area of the map has been terminated with extreme prejudice.
* Locations for sound objects on the map's terrain sound table have been corrected.
* A bug which caused artillery to get stuck on one ammo type regardless of the distance to the target has been fixed.
* Artillery will now use shrapnel against infantry and solid shot against artillery as a default.
* Units in skirmish formation can no longer charge.
* The Crawford house north of Gettysburg has been added to the appropriate maps.
* All Multiplayer scenarios had unnecessary carryover in the "init" section. These have been removed.
* The new command "dumpoobscen" dumps a scenario.csv to your Work folder.
* Battlescript errors in GB16 and GB18 that caused certain movement coordinates not to execute have been fixed.
* A bug that caused the player to receive blank courier messages has been squashed.
* "Commander bonus" radii have been corrected.
* The Alpine map is now available in the game. A bug that caused the game to crash whenever a unit moved to the edge of the map has been fixed.
* The "Map Port" option has been added to the Multiplayer connect screen.
* Officers can now be killed in Multiplayer. The game will drop the dead body, then move the player instantly to the spot where, in Single Player, the game would respawn the new officer. All the normal points will be awarded.
* The new command "immortal" will make officers immortal. This is to be used with scenario scripting.
* The "iarrived" command will now work with TC'd units.
* The command radius has been increased for untrained officers.
* A bug which caused courier creation to reveal enemy positions has been fixed.
* A bug which caused troops to run without orders during road march has been fixed.
* Fraction covered for artillery accuracy calculations has been improved.
* Additional information has been added to the file written by the "dumpgamedb" command.
* A bug where couriered units in corps level battles would go to wrong spot has been fixed. [What are "couriered units"?]
* Sounds have been improved.
* The mini-map is now available on the courier screen.
* A "Refresh" button has been added to the Multiplayer lobby screen.
* A bug in Multiplayer which prevented some players from making it to the "Connect" screen has been fixed.
* Unused forces in GB09 have been removed to increase performance.
* Artillery can now be captured while limbering or retreating.
* Courier orders now work for TC'd units.
* Major General N.O. Body now has the correct portrait in the June 30, Day 2 and Day 3 OOBs.
* There is no longer a limit on the points for Objectives.
* Supply wagons will no longer try to move to their commander after resupplying a unit.
* Weapons now have corrected IDs.
* A bug where the button assignment of the wing commanders toolbars (LVL2) was wrong has been repaired.

Beta 3

* A bug preventing players from joining password protected rooms has been fixed. This improves the MP connection process overall.
* Regiments wheeling back and forth when multiple enemy units are in range has been reduced.
* There is now an in-game Option to turn off the automatic display of courier messages (e.g., intercepted messages and strategic messages).
* The commander of Batteries F & K, 3rd US Artillery has been corrected.
* AI calculations for optimum artillery ammo selection have been improved.
* A bug which prevented respawned officers from switching to "TC off" when scripted as "evtfighting, TC off" has been fixed.
* Officers on road march now avoid enemy troops.
* A bug which caused regiments to melee too readily has been fixed.
* When mods are enabled, stock scenarios no longer try to load them; this avoids previous crashes.
* A bug which prevented saved mod games from loading from the Main Menu has been fixed.
* A bug which allowed artillery to continue to target farther-off enemy targets when enemy infantry were firing at them at close range has been fixed.
* A bug which prevented regiments from engaging the closest target has been fixed.
* Artillery will no longer retreat to safe place.
* A bug which prevented players from seeing the End Screen battle details has been fixed.
* A bug with a flawed courier message that was causing GB06 to crash has been fixed.
* Artillery now needs a clear line of sight to use canister; they may no longer fire canister over friendly troops.
* All regiments shown available in the scenario description of GB19 are now available in the game.
* A Send Courier Message help screen has been added.
* Regiments no longer try to move around officers or unlimbered artillery.
* The Gettysburg Scenarios High Score screen will now show separate entries for each Difficultly level played.
* A bug which prevented a TC'd regiment from resupplying in some situations has been fixed.
* A bug which prevented the Gettysburg Scenarios High Score screen from updating if mods were enabled has been fixed.
* The "Go To Me" button now works for replacement officers.
* The listing for Col. Fisher in OOB_Gettysburg_Day2.csv has been corrected.
* Carryover scenarios may now be played at any Difficulty level, regardless of the Difficulty level at which the previous scenario was played.
* A bug which incorrectly attributed the sender and receiver of courier messages between Sykes, Barnes, and Vincent has been fixed.
* A bug which created a discrepancy between the Battle Info score and the Victory Screen score in mods has been fixed.
* The limit for the number of MP stars that can be displayed has been increased to 16.

Beta 2

* A "Restart Current Level" capability has been added to the Load Game Screen.
* A bug causing a crash when units were very near a map edge has been corrected.
* A bug causing improper display of the commander bonus icon has been repaired.
* A bug that caused a crash when selecting a cavalry corps in sandbox games has been fixed.
* A bug that caused intercepted courier messages to be illegible has been fixed.
* A bug that caused units lying down under artillery fire to stand up when hit, then lie down again when hit again, has been fixed.
* A non-historical building at the edge of the Wheatfield has been removed.
* A spelling error in General von Steinwehr's name in the OOB was corrected.
* An improper assignment of artillery ammo has been corrected. This will improve artillery effectiveness.
* An initial loading screen has been added.
* An option to invoke or suppress automatic mapping of router ports for Multiplayer has been added on Option Screen I.
* Chat boxes in MP lobby now accommodate long messages.
* Code to reduce regiments wheeling back and forth when multiple enemy units are in range has been upgraded.
* Couriers no longer arrive but fail to deliver messages.
* Extra hidden units from GB07-GB20 have been removed to improve performance.
* Historical stone quarries near Willoughby Run near the edge of the McPherson farm cornfield have been added.
* In game notices such as "Game Saved" will now be displayed along with in-game chat by pressing the F2 key.
* In Tutorial 1, players will now score points for all objectives except the first one and must complete all objectives to win. This tutorial will now end just after the last objective has been completed.
* In Tutorial 2, the text description of the objective circle on the ground has been corrected.
* Keyboard mapping has been upgraded to support non-English fonts and characters.
* Objective point values in GB18 have been changed.
* Objective point values in GB19 have been changed.
* Objective timing and "Forces Available" listing in GB03 have been corrected.
* Orders with delayed execution time sent by courier messages to AI-controlled units now works in single-player but is not yet working in multiplayer games.
* Pressing "Raid Weak Units" no longer crashes the game.
* Promotion list values have been corrected on the Single Player High Scores screen.
* Replacement leaders spawned when the original leader is killed on a road march no longer continue the road march.
* Small changes have been made to the map files to prevent units from getting stuck next to buildings.
* Smoke animations now continue while the game is paused.
* Start time and Objective point values in GB12 have been changed.
* The "Cancel" button has been removed from Main Screen.
* The artillery tutorial has been modified for easier learning.
* The bug that occasionally caused units to have no firing sounds has been fixed.
* The bug that would crash the game if a player hit the "Set Officer" button without selecting either a sandbox or scenario game in multiplayer.
* The bug which prevented the cursor from showing correctly on multi-monitor systems has been fixed.
* The bug which prevented units from accepting destinations on high ground has been fixed.
* The game manual text has been corrected concerning the map objects options
* The game will now write an autosave file in Multiplayer. The file name will be "_automulti.sav."
* The OOB display in Sandbox battle at "Army vs. Army" size has been changed to include the full Army OOB.
* The score needed for a major victory in GB07 has been changed.
* The volume on infantry combat sound files has been increased.
* Tutorial 1 is now available in the demo version.
* Uninstalling the game now automatically tries to send a deactivation message to the DRM server.
* Unit strengths for Cutler's brigade in GB01 have been corrected.
* Widths of the areas along some fences and walls have been adjusted to make it easier to get the Defensive Bonus.

Beta 1

* A bug where it was possible to crash the game with an "Level Not Found" error if you don't select a scenario or sandbox game.
* The missing corps commander in OOB_SB_Gettysburg_Day_2 has been corrected.
* A bug that caused the game to crash after a gun was captured has been fixed.
* A bug that caused the "Commander Bonus" bronze ring to display only when a unit was rallying has been fixed.
** The end times for ÒmaplocationsÓ in GB03 has been corrected.
* An incorrectly placed building on Devil's Den map has been corrected.
* The Fatigue & Morale bar overlay has been corrected.
* The ÒForces AvailableÓ in GB03 have been corrected.
* Sandbox Army vs. Army level games now have full Army OOBs.Game Saved

[Michael Slaunwhite]

Norb, is this a Beta version or is it the Stable Release?

[Little Powell]

It's the official 1.4 version.

[norb]

Not so stable, there are some log errors that we need to fix, but they should not prevent you from playing.

[Chris G.]

Seems to work fine Norb. I even figured out the issue I was having on the sandbox screen. If you deactivate any mods before you exit the game, and activate them for use after start up, it resolves the "not found" issue in sandbox. Just be sure to activate after start-up and deactivate before exiting the game, and, as far as i can tell, all mods run as designed in game.

[Jack ONeill]

Norb/Team,

So far no joy. Getting error message saying "this file contains invalid data." Very odd - the Beta 1.4 patch had no problem.

Jack B)

[Grog]

Norb/Team,

So far no joy. Getting error message saying "this file contains invalid data." Very odd - the Beta 1.4 patch had no problem.

Jack B)

same here

[Henry Hill]

Norb/Team,

So far no joy. Getting error message saying "this file contains invalid data." Very odd - the Beta 1.4 patch had no problem.

Jack B)

same here

Same here as well.

Patch size is unusually small at 768kb considering beta was 250mb then 192mb.

Is it the file or something my pc or anti virus is doing?

Anyway, bought the map pack but will wait until I can download patch official release.

Thanks for the efforts on this outstanding game.

Many cheers

[ADukes]

Alternate temporary download link:
http://www.norbsoftware.com/NSDTeam/SOW ... 1_4NEW.exe

[Martin James]

Alternate temporary download link:
http://www.norbsoftware.com/NSDTeam/SOW ... 1_4NEW.exe

Many thanks for that. Downloaded no problem, and seems to be running fine.

Martin