NCP {Public beta} 1.07 Release Candidate 3 November 30, 2010

[lodilefty]

Once more into the breach!

Latest game engine, plus

Since rc2:

• End-of-Game Victory and Defeat messages corrected
• Text strings for evt_nam_SWE_Supply1808 and evt_nam_RUS_Supply1808 corrected
• there is a more detailed tooltip on the entrench level icon
• abilities tooltip have their appliance level added by code.

[Omnius]

I really like seeing the incorrect end of game victory/defeat messages being corrected, better late than never! I'm also intrigued about the improved entrenchment level icon since I seem to not be able to find it like in BoA. I'm really glad that there are some last minute improvements to tweak NCP into being a much better finished product.

Oh one other little booboo I've noticed is that with the original disk installation when the program was loading I saw my IP address listed. With the 1.06 and these 1.07 beta patches that has stopped, now my IP address shows up blank. It would be nice if it worked throughout all the patches.

[lodilefty]

I really like seeing the incorrect end of game victory/defeat messages being corrected, better late than never! I'm also intrigued about the improved entrenchment level icon since I seem to not be able to find it like in BoA. I'm really glad that there are some last minute improvements to tweak NCP into being a much better finished product.

Oh one other little booboo I've noticed is that with the original disk installation when the program was loading I saw my IP address listed. With the 1.06 and these 1.07 beta patches that has stopped, now my IP address shows up blank. It would be nice if it worked throughout all the patches.

It's the entrenchment tooltip that's changed.

All patches have supressed the IP display for quite some time, but NCP hadn't been patched for a long time.

...I'm pretty sure we're not going to back and change any old patches

[Omnius]

Lodilefty,
I checked the new victory screen fix with my old game that I had just finished and it indeed shows up correct now as a victory by points or a loss by points. I just loaded up the game at the end turn and it worked perfectly, I didn't even have to go back to the previous turn and rerun it.

I'll have to check the "tooltip" for entrenchment, been used to seeing it on the side alongside the unit picture. Thanks for clueing me in to the "tooltip".

As for the missing IP address since I'm not likely to play PBEM it really won't matter to me but it's something that doesn't work in NCP so just want to make sure you're aware of that for other games where it might be broken too.

[lodilefty]

Lodilefty,
I checked the new victory screen fix with my old game that I had just finished and it indeed shows up correct now as a victory by points or a loss by points. I just loaded up the game at the end turn and it worked perfectly, I didn't even have to go back to the previous turn and rerun it.

I'll have to check the "tooltip" for entrenchment, been used to seeing it on the side alongside the unit picture. Thanks for clueing me in to the "tooltip".

As for the missing IP address since I'm not likely to play PBEM it really won't matter to me but it's something that doesn't work in NCP so just want to make sure you're aware of that for other games where it might be broken too.

Good news!

As for the IP, you should NOT see it displayed anywhere. For several patches now, all the games "mask it" for your personal security. AFAIK, it has no effect whatsoever on gameplay, PBEM, etc....

[Omnius]

I started a new test game of the 1805 short scenario and discovered a new graphics glitch in the rc3 patch I did not see in the rc2 patch. It now appears that in the Unit Details screen there is sometimes a doubling of tooltip messages when one passes the cursor over leader special abilities. Sometimes I see two special ability messages separately side by side and sometimes I see them jumbled together making it impossible to read. I looked at the Austrian Bayerische Armee and Mack's special ability is shown along with Ferdinand's special ability when the cursor is moved over Ferdinand's special ability symbol. Never saw two together ever before in BoA or NCP up to the rc2 patch. I sure hope this problem gets fixed before the beta patch becomes official.

Just looked at the WIA beta patch thread for grins and see the special ability overlap is there too. Hopefully one fix will solve the overlap problem for both games.

Lodilefty,
I'm still trying to figure out the new way entrenchment levels are shown for units. I use the tooltip and when I move it over a formation I sometimes see asterisks next to the leader name and sometimes I see an "X" with a fort symbol inside. I assume the number of symbols is the level of entrenchment but am somewhat confused as to the difference between seeing asterisks and those X fort symbols. Is one entrenchment (asterisk) and the other fortification (X fort symbol)?
Thanks

[Templer]

Once more into the breach!

http://ageoddl.telechargement.fr/temp/patch_NCP_v1.07rc3.zip

Latest game engine, plus

Since rc2:

• End-of-Game Victory and Defeat messages corrected
• Text strings for evt_nam_SWE_Supply1808 and evt_nam_RUS_Supply1808 corrected
• there is a more detailed tooltip on the entrench level icon
• abilities tooltip have their appliance level added by code.

We are getting there. Small steps. But I'm grateful.

Don´t give up Napoleon!

I can´t understand why NCP was adopted so bad.
It´s not a bad game!

[Omnius]

I can´t understand why NCP was adopted so bad.
It´s not a bad game!

Templer,
Because US conservatives don't like French things? Silly conservatives. Bet they bought up the "American" wars.

I'm glad to see you've given the NCP game more of a look after your first negative posts after playing the game 30 minutes. It is a good game and one needs to spend some time getting the game system figured out to really enjoy it. Good to see you found this new beta patch, while there are a few graphic glitches in them the team is fixing them when reported.

[Templer]

Templer,
Because US conservatives don't like French things? Silly conservatives. Bet they bought up the "American" wars.

I'm glad to see you've given the NCP game more of a look after your first negative posts after playing the game 30 minutes. It is a good game and one needs to spend some time getting the game system figured out to really enjoy it. Good to see you found this new beta patch, while there are a few graphic glitches in them the team is fixing them when reported.

@ Omnius,

somehow I feel like a misunderstood creature.

I like the NCP. In principle I like it better than RoP which I have also purchased now.

Negative posts? What I couldn´t understand was why .... no, do not worry, not again (I will still tarred and feathered here).

I see that there are a few sorcerer (such as Bohemond, lodilefty and others) actively working for bugkilling and improvements in NCP.

It's Pleasant and reassuring to see that.
Ultimately, it´s usually just little things, and I hope most of them will eventually be corrected.

Anyway, I am grateful for the personal, loving use of the sorcerer.

[Omnius]

@ Omnius,

somehow I feel like a misunderstood creature.

I like the NCP. In principle I like it better than RoP which I have also purchased now.

Negative posts? What I couldn´t understand was why .... no, do not worry, not again (I will still tarred and feathered here).

I see that there are a few sorcerer (such as Bohemond, lodilefty and others) actively working for bugkilling and improvements in NCP.

It's Pleasant and reassuring to see that.
Ultimately, it´s usually just little things, and I hope most of them will eventually be corrected.

Anyway, I am grateful for the personal, loving use of the sorcerer.

Templer,
Yes it is nice to see crew still working to improve NCP and rid the game of wrong links and game system errors. Bohemond seems to be doing a great job of fixing the NCP database problems. Sorry if I made you feel like I was tarring and feathering you, I was merely asking you to be more specific about the bugs you saw so they might be fixed since they are working on another patch after the supposed legacy patch.

I guess Napoleonics isn't as popular in the USA as wars America was more involved in. To me Napoleonics is like the classic style of warfare, kind of like the rock-paper-scissors equivalent of wargames.

Personally I like to wait until a game is truly finished with a legacy patch before buying and playing as that cuts down the frustration of having to overcome bugs in gameplay while trying to understand the game system. Kind of like going from being the first kid on the block to have a game to the last kid on the block to have it.

[BigDuke66]

Could this be useful for the Patch too?
http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?p=197023#post197023

[BigDuke66]

Well fooling around with the latest RC, I can only say that stability sucks.
2 crashes just looking thru my army in the Austerlitz scenario.

[Pocus]

The second crash is when checking the details on an element right?

[Omnius]

Pocus,
I've played around quite a bit with the 1805 Sun to Austerlitz scenario and I don't recall having any crashes while looking around at my units and elements with 1.07rc2 & rc3.

Looking forward to the 1.07rc4 release to see the many improvements made the past month. I don't mind waiting since there are plenty of improvements Bohemond is making. I sure hope that the entrenchment level problem gets fixed so that there is some entrenchment in NCP where there is none now.

[BigDuke66]

The second crash is when checking the details on an element right?

Yes I think so.

[BigDuke66]

Can I do anything to avoid it or do I have to wait for the next RC candidate to get a stable version?

[Pocus]

This should not happen often, as I tested all the cases before sending the executable for the new patch (infantry, cavalry, artillery, leader and ships). Do you know how to reproduce the problem? (name of scenario and unit you click on?)

[Omnius]

Pocus,
Is that problem BigDuke66 is experiencing with clicking twice on an element an operating system problem that shows up on some operating systems yet not on others? I've tried to replicate BigDuke66's crash problem with no success. I even doubleclick on an element and all it does is open then close the Unit Details screen but I stay in the game nicely. I'm running Windows XP. I'm looking forward to 1.07rc4!

BigDuke66,
What operating system are you using? Might help Pocus narrow down your crash problem so he can fix it.

[BigDuke66]

I'm using Windows 7 32-Bit.
I tried to track it down using the Austerlitz scenario and I get again and again the error:
TGameSim.ExportData Exception caught, ExportStep: Model Detail Indice de liste hors limites (XY)
With different numbers in the brackets, check the log.
It happens when I open the unit detail and go onto a special ability, not in the unit detail screen but down in the bottom unit panel.
You can also see that the tootip is somehow damaged, see first screenshot, or it shows 2 tootips, see second screenshot.

[Omnius]

BigDuke66,
I hope that Pocus is able to hunt down that crash bug of yours when clicking on elements. One good thing is that that doubling of the tooltips is a known problem in all of their beta patches for all games and I'm sure that Pocus has solved that problem for the next patch. Ofcourse the bummer is waiting for that next patch but the longer we wait patiently the better the next patch will be with more wonderful database and event fixes by Bohemond.

[Pocus]

It seems you don't have the latest version. See my image, I have the name of the element in white, not you, and my tooltip is not scrambled (the last line is not translated, but that because I have been too lazy and have not retrieved the latest localized strings)



I don't quite remember, but perhaps the version number has not changed but the actual file has, so download again from the latest link and tell me if you see the element name. If not, then I'll see to make an interim patch. Our dear Lodilefty is not available as of now, but I can surely do that for players.

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[BigDuke66]

The patch in the first post was the same I already had downloaded but to be sure I reinstalled & repatched the game but it still looks like this:

[Bohémond]

I confirm, if needed, BigDuke66 statement.

Zip file to download is the the same since 30/11. I redownload it , make a clean install and patch. Got same issue.

IMHO, at least modeldetail file (fte or dfm) is not the same as in Pocus screenshot. In NCP107rc3, there is no cost per element indication, the Nato symbol has no color Background, the close button is not the same, etc...


Regards

Bohémond

[Pocus]

I'll grab the patches, see what PhilThib got on his side in new data, then redo code fix patch. Even that, I don't know when, there is a sort of scramble in January at Ageod.

[Omnius]

Pocus,
That's an interesting screen shot showing the unit detail screen sans unit name and info. I've been playing with 1.07rc3 since it came out and have no problems seeing unit names and info in the unit details screen. Also didn't see it in 1.07rc2 though I didn't have that long before downloading rc3. Interesting how it shows the sanitation unit's morale and VP cost, is this only when looking at sanitation units?

One thing I've noticed with the sometimes doubling of leader abilities when running the cursor over an ability in the unit detail screen for a leader is that this bug is sometimes on and sometimes off. Even within one leader some of the tooltips show both separately and sometimes they're jumbled together.

[BigDuke66]

@Pocus
Thanks, any chance you could remove the color behind the unit symbol?
As I said already in the ROP thread that would be the third hint to where the unit comes from, if you don't get it when looking at the 3 letters and the flag why should it work when locking at the color?
And what is really worse is that the unit symbol is harder so see when the color is a bit darker.
Wouldn't a simple tooltip with the full written country name be better?
Could popup when hovering over the flag.

[Omnius]

I finally found that same crash bug that BigDuke66 posted earlier. I was in the long 1805 England Invasion scenario. I had started it as the French but before playing I went into the English side to see what was up there. I was looking at Wellesley in one of the India boxes and running my cursor over his leader abilities when I got that infamous crash bug report that when clicked crashed the program to desktop. Is this crash bug related to the new showing of double ability messages in bigger scenarios?

Kind of really surprised that the British India Squadron is active and not locked down, in fact wondering why there's any showing of the British in India at all since that is way out of playing bounds. Allowing a British player to be able to move that India Squadron into the playing area is unrealistic.

[Pocus]

We like colors BigDuke66... And we can't please everyone. Plus the color (and the tag) is not necessarily the one of the faction, but of the sub faction of the element, so this is a different thing.

[Omnius]

Pocus,
Please remember to turn on the entrenchment function so that we get to enjoy the advantages it provides for those patient enough to wait for battle and for those leaders with the defensive engineer ability that provides a benefit to entrenched units. I think PhilThib responded to my pointing out it wasn't working at all and just want to follow up and make sure that you get the message.

I really would like it if you kept the AI vs AI ability when you finalize the patch for public offering. I enjoy being able to check on the error logging and be able to watch the AI's play. Plus it would be a treat for those modders who want to test out how the AI's play their modded scenarios.