Known problems as of 12.11.14

[[NBC]Friant]

3 long term problems.
1. Sound, when in full screen mode quitting to desktop and returning to the game looses the majority of the sounds, ie artillery, bugle sounds etc. Some marching sounds are still there... happens everytime, been there since day one.
2. Using mouse wheel to raise camera will give you the screen shown below... can only resume going to 2d and then back to 3d, happens a lot, been there since changes to zoom camera were made using mouse wheel from f3 through to f2.
3. Graphical glitches, intermittent, sometimes red, sometimes black, been there since HWN first released. 2nd picture. Happens on 2 separate graphics cards, latest nvidia drivers... (gtx680 & gtx980 sc).
4. Strange occurrence with artillery within pbem, files sent to JMM couple of weeks ago.
This will be related to the save problem regarding artillery, is more of an issue in PBEM.
Artillery seems to struggle to find its place in the corps, this problem is random, sometimes they will surge ahead, sometimes they hold back far too long to support corps. Again not much of an issue until playing PBEM.
5. Sometimes a corps will not take an order, can be either side, totally random and not a major problem, but trying to pinpoint the problem is nigh on impossible. Sometimes a 'stuck' corps commander, or an individual unit, or a battery that has become fragmented near a building of some description.
Also had a minor problem with doctrine editor, cannot load from new shell, had use exe. in folder.
This could have been something that went wrong with patch install, anyone else have a problem with this?

For me at the moment the main issue is artillery save problem, this MAY help solve some of the problem in 5 and most definitely in 4.

[sandman]

Concerning the arty-matters I need to remark, that the issue of batteries seperating themselves from corps is also a thing which should be resolved prior.
When redeploying a corps it happens often that one or more batteries just keep their current task in a very stubborn mannor by staying behind and never care about what the main body is doing. Especially when retreating, those batteries are without any coverage and often get overrun by enemy forces pretty soon.
Or they simply move within a certain area until running dry of ammo, but never supporting the efforts of their own corps fighting at a different place.
It is obvious that they start moving frequently. One gets the impression that something in the system tries to bring them back to order. But very soon these batteries halt again to continue whatever they were doing before.

[JMM]

I'll try to fix all these issues...
First priority : artillery...

JMM

[[NBC]Friant]

First priority : artillery...

This will be an excellent first fix...

Some other problems forgotten by me but remembered by Gunner.

* Deploy order changing to defend order by the AI, and the line can go in any direction (45 or even 90 degrees !!) when that happens - this one bug makes the game UNplayable - for me at least.

* Lakes / Marsh graphics still to be fixed - minor issue.

* Some weather effects still not working, no snow on snow battlefields - minor issue.

* Movement over bridges and fords, this is better than in the past, but retreating units and advancing units appear to sometimes stop each other, and things get jammed up around the river crossing places - minor issue as we can use maps with NO rivers, but, if there are rivers, we should be able to use them.

[[NBC]Friant]

This is another one that is not a major issue, but you may want to look into it... Could be fixed when you look at artillery.
Positioning of artillery in redoubts.
The arrow points towards the enemy, guns are facing to the rear but will fire as normal once enemy is sighted, the red circle just identifies the direction of view...

[JMM]

Concerning the arty-matters I need to remark, that the issue of batteries seperating themselves from corps is also a thing which should be resolved prior.
When redeploying a corps it happens often that one or more batteries just keep their current task in a very stubborn mannor by staying behind and never care about what the main body is doing. Especially when retreating, those batteries are without any coverage and often get overrun by enemy forces pretty soon.
Or they simply move within a certain area until running dry of ammo, but never supporting the efforts of their own corps fighting at a different place.
It is obvious that they start moving frequently. One gets the impression that something in the system tries to bring them back to order. But very soon these batteries halt again to continue whatever they were doing before.

Hello,
Could you send me a file with these issues ?
Probably I can reproduce them.. but it's better if I can immediately begin with a real problem.

But very soon these batteries halt again to continue whatever they were doing before.
Maybe the artillery can't disengage because the threat is very important... Just an hypothesis.

JMM

[sandman]

Hello,
Could you send me a file with these issues ?
Probably I can reproduce them.. but it's better if I can immediately begin with a real problem.

Sure, but I have to find an appropriate one. I cant do it immediatly, but I try to asap. If anybody else has the issue too, I think it would be helpful to provide the file as well.

But very soon these batteries halt again to continue whatever they were doing before.
Maybe the artillery can't disengage because the threat is very important... Just an hypothesis.
JMM

Well, its a matter of definition. But dont think so.
Exemple: arty-battery fires from approximate maximum distance on a static enemy reserve corps. When the own corps moved like 120 degrees to flank main enemy forces threatening the LOPs, the certain batteries didnt move with corps.

BTW, when retreating there probably shouldnt be a more important threat to fire on, because staying there on its own, the battery has no support nor protection on the flanks and nearly always is doomed to soon get overrun by enemy forces.

[sandman]

Hello,
Could you send me a file with these issues ?
Probably I can reproduce them.. but it's better if I can immediately begin with a real problem.

But very soon these batteries halt again to continue whatever they were doing before.
Maybe the artillery can't disengage because the threat is very important... Just an hypothesis.

JMM

OK JMM, I sent you files with exemples.

Here is my comment with the message to inform the community:

Hello JMM,
I think here is another appropriate exemple to demonstrate the issue.
We focus on Allied Army "Bernadotte". It was planned to execute a fake attack on its right flank, but at 8.30 a.m. starting to shift towards the left flank. As you can see von Bülows and Tauentziehns Corps got according orders. But while Inf and Cav units redeployed, many of the batteries stayed behind on their own without coverage until they were eliminated. From my point of view there were targets, yes, but often not really threats. Anyway possible threats get even more dangerous, when the batteries dont move with the corps as long as other friendly units are in the area.
Of course Arty is such an important element of an army, that it should take much less risk. Its better to move in safety more often as necessairy, than getting eliminated early in a battle and loosing its potential to set the enemy under pressure for some more hours.
In my opinion Arty should move behind the lines, if too many threats are closing to fight them right in time. Especially if there is not enough friendly Cav to intercept the enemy. I think for every player its a pain to realize, that a battery can see, that it is going to be extinguished if it doesnt move soon, but doing nothing than some more firing, altough it had the opportunity to withdraw in time and later position again to shell the enemy.
After this message I send you a previous Email once more with another exemple.
Greetings

[[NBC]Friant]

Just to add to this...
My interpretation is similar to sandman's, artillery self preservation I feel should be the most important, BUT as it stands at the moment artillery seems to 'cover' any retreat, or they seem very unwilling to disengage when engaged...
The above is all well and good but I think most players would agree the 'threat' is disproportionate to reality, ie in a lot of cases it does look like they could save themselves and withdraw, the longer they stay on their own the worse the danger becomes, effectively becoming a snowball effect.
This may not be an easy fix, but huge efforts were made to save guns in reality, so should be the same in game?

[sandman]

I forgot something important. We often can see arrows respresenting individual orders for a battery to move. Such orders can be given by the AI or the player. So we conclude that there are strong and continueous efforts to bring the batteries to rationality, but something in the system seems to block the demand of rally the batteries to order. In my experience it doesnt help much to execute such individual orders in 3D view. Anyway such a surrogate meassurement cannot be the desired function.

[JMM]

OK.. Received, THX a lot...

I am working on the ART... I can see some problems and I am beginning to fix this "huge" bug :-))
After that, I am building a package before working on the Sandman's files...

JMM

PS : OK for the new posts...