Battle Reporter

[Caccio]

Greetings Grognards: I am new to this forum, but not to the game; I've been playing it for a year, and civil war games for 50 years. (That's not a typo; does anyone else remember Avalon Hill's Gettysburg?) AACW is by far the best of the strategic games. It reminds me of the classic boardgame, The Civil War, from Victory Games, but with far more detail than could be included in a workable paper game. I am particularly impressed by the continuing support from the developers, which means that this game just keeps getting better.

I have written a program that has added considerably to my understanding of the battle system. There is a lot of useful detail in the BattleLog.txt files that are generated if you play the game with the debug option turned on, but those files frequently run to 10 meg or more, which I at least cannot wade through unaided. My utility excerpts the shot-by-shot information for each unit (element) involved in a fight, organizes it by higher HQ's (side, corps and divisions as appropriate), and presents it as a text file that automatically opens in Notepad. If you want to know why you won or lost a battle, this will definitely show you!

I would like to share the utility with anyone who's interested; the newest version (1.1) is posted below in rar and zip formats. If there's enough interest I'd add some options that let a player suit the report to his liking, but if not I'll just leave it as-is and move on to another project.

[soundoff]

Most certainly interested.

[Pocus]

Hello Caccio!

We are really interested in checking and testing your puppy! I would really like to see what you did
As for hosting it on the website, no problem. You can attach it to your post (in RAR archive, if not above 1 Mb I think) otherwise we can find solutions...

[Caccio]

Pocus:

Wow, you folks are really fast! My .exe runs about 130 KB and I'll add a couple of pages of instructions, so there shouldn't be any problem with the 1- Meg limit. However, I'd rather not post it for everyone until you've had a chance to look at it. That will limit my public embarrassment in case it doesn't work for you as advertised. (For one thing, I've only got AACW v. 1.12 - I won't bore you with the reason - so the program may not work correctly if there's been a recent change in the format of the BattleLog.txt file.) I believe you have my email address. Can you send me a more private, "contact us", address where I can send my zip file? Merci.

[Rafiki]

For one thing, I've only got AACW v. 1.12 - I won't bore you with the reason

Please do (we're difficult to bore )

If there is a problem with some part of our games that stops people from patching their games, we are very interested in hearing about it, so that we can address and resolve any issues

[Franciscus]

Can't wait to see this !!

[Caccio]

Rafiki:

There's nothing wrong with the game or the patches. At $30 US, this has been the best game value I've ever enjoyed! Rather, I'm too cheap to subscribe to a broadband service, and afraid that the Net would take over what remains of my life if I did.

[tc237]

So you probably need the patched versions of the major game files and not all the graphic changes?
Would that help?

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[dooya]

Maybe someone from the USA can send a CD with the latest patches to Caccio?

Three months ago I sent CDs with patches to a guy in Zambia!

[Caccio]

Hey, People:

This really isn't about whether I have the latest version or not. It's about my courage to upload my utility, because (despite my 62 years) I've never done this before online with an international audience. I have a program that helps me play this game with more satisfaction, but it's a great game, and my utility ain't nearly as slick graphically. I'd rather run it by Pocus and the other developers first.

[Spharv2]

Hehe...yes, that is pretty nifty. I think about half the forums would be interested in your utility, myself definitely included. Can't wait to see what it looks like.

[soundoff]

Hehe...yes, that is pretty nifty. I thing about half the forums would be interested in your utility, myself definitely included. Can't wait to see what it looks like.

Personally I could'nt care less what it looks like...it could be a real ugly duckling But if it works as described it would be beautiful

[Spharv2]

Personally I could'nt care less what it looks like...it could be a real ugly duckling But if it works as described it would be beautiful

lol....well yes, I don't actually care what it looks like either. I think, "Can't wait to see it in action" would have better described things.

[Big Muddy]

Caccio, why not post it in the modding section, Pocus said it's ok, .

[richfed]

This would be a stellar addition to this great game!

[Aphrodite Mae]

Please! Nobody tell Dixicrat!
...I'll have to start a new "I want my husband back!" thread!

But in all seriousness: what an excellent idea, Caccio! I've often thought that something like this was needed, although I wasn't smart enough to be able to figure out exactly "what". This seems to be it!

Personally I couldn't care less what it looks like...it could be a real ugly duckling But if it works as described it would be beautiful.

I completely agree with Soundoff! In this case, beauty is in function, not form. Thanks for the iniative, Caccio!

[mikee64]

As one who has spent hours and hours sorting through that dang battle log... (having so much info it had me cussing Pocus at the same time I was praising him ) ... I must say I nominate this as one of the "best first posts" ever! Thank you sir! (We are assuming it works of course )

To echo the thoughts of others, I don't care what it looks like. It's not a game but a utility!

[Primasprit]

Hi Caccio,

I would like to see your tool too. Where can I get it?

Cheers
Norbert

[Mickey3D]

Hi Caccio,

I would like to see your tool too. Where can I get it?

Cheers
Norbert

+1

[Vegetius]

Very impatient to use this tool ! Despite a lot of games, some combat results still disturbed me !

[Caccio]

I apologize to everyone for the delay. I've been working on this steadily since Fri, and the debug version of my code works fine, but when I compile a release version, I get a different beast altogether. I'm probaby just doing something stupid; surely there wouldn't be a bug in the MS Express Visual C++ compiler . . .

[Pocus]

Take your time, some of us (me at least ) were away for the week-end.

[Caccio]

Here it is, Happy Warriors, fresh from the oven . . .

[Nikel]

Caccio. Here is your readme in pdf format, more user friendly

Regards

[Caccio]

Nikel, you're right, it's much easier on the eyes. Thanks!

[Eugene Carr]

Only had chance for a quick look but it seems to work great! Cant wait to see a big battle go through it lets you see who is fighting and who is drinking coffee

[SIZE="5"]S! EC[/size]

[Redeemer]

That is pretty sweet, I think that deserves a reputation pip and a medal recommendation, which I am now doing.

[mikee64]

Very nice Caccio! This is so much easier to read than the actual log file, and it works fine so far. Many, many thanks.