Mission Files Changes


1.28
Mission files changes were made starting in 1.28

All the changes are not documented here yet (as of 1/2010)


runways.dat
To make the use of 32 airfield runway types
is now possible to use the new airfields you need to use the newer runways.dat

and to have additonal runways displayed in game you would need to add airfld.3dz files for the runways you make

runways.dat changes:

The runwways.dat differences are mainly the addition of a 'shadow record' in the first entry of runways.dat to use for carriers, and then the addition of some 28 records at the end of the noraml default records.

to compare the 1.2 default to the new I make some pics available;

this pic shows the first record and the new header pointer which is 20h instead 0Bh meaing there are now 20h (32 in decimal) records in the file instead of 0Bh (11 decimal)

i this example the 1.28B ruways.dat on left compared to the 1.2 default on the right

runways1.gif

the second shows the end of the file, on the right the old 1.2 default end of record and left with hexeditor highlighting the last byte in the new file where the old data last byte occurs

runways2.gif

to use the new and combine with an old runways.dat you have customed you can see what you would need to add with a hex editor, use the new first record and header and then at the end tack on all the extra bytes of data
or simply paste your current data into the new in the proper area

Take note that this is only the 1.28b release runways.dat shown here, later ones, or those used by customized campaigns like SPAW, etc. may differ in the data


1.28a and on
Again not all changes recorded here yet 1/2010

in additon to the runways.dat described above..

1.28a and (by inheritence later .exes that may use the same data.cdf conating the .dats) have change to the targets.dat, tardata.dat, griddata.dat and airfield.dat files

The main change is due to the editing of Mr Jelly who added an extra base to targets.dat and airfield record to airfiled.dat as well as corresponding griddata changes, and a change of tardata.dat record locations pointed to from targets.dat

I only realized this recently so am only noting it now

The only part I document here is only the changes to targets.dat records pointers -
is found out by using my 2datscheck.exe program, which scans a targets.dat and airfield.dat file and makes a text file record output for the data from the 2 files to compare.
the comparison of the targets.dat and pointers in 1.28a (1.28b shown but the changes started in 1.28a and later) vs those of the 1.28 which had no such changes but adhered to the default 1.2 schema are shown in my pics here.

on the left in the pictures you see the 1.28b data and on right the 1.28 standard data

(My program uses a zero based offset to show here meaning the records start from 0 a 1 based offset shown in parenthesis() )
Except for the pointers to tardata.dat are different all is same until:
The first change you notice is at record #120 (121) things have changed, some records shifted around, so be aware of it
targetdiff1.28vs128c-1.gif

next you see major change at record #127 (128) a base was added with a new Acode
targetdiff1.28vs128c-2.gif

the effects of this are:
- a new base record which means the total number of bases is increased by 1 and so the targets.dat contains an extra record

- all bases afterwards are shifted in the records by increase of 1

- a new airfield.dat record and thus the airfield. dat since 1.28a has an extra record in it



- This makes it a inconvent for modders to try to use old data with the new, If you use my old tools or old documents you have to take the changes and data shift into account

- Also it means if you use a scenario / mission / campaign you cannot mix and match files
you would need targets.dat, tardata.dat, airfield.dat, griddata.dat all matching or you will get errors, ctds

- The possible effects on campaigns is unknown at this time

The main point being:

having a patched 1.2 compatible replacement .exe for 800 x 600 screens to recommend to anyone as standard

This IMHO would mean a new .exe patched that would for instance remove all the noted below changes to the standard data model - the carrier, runways.dat , extra bases , tarnames.str etc changes . so that old campaigns would be compatible.

--
1.28E fully patched , and of course uses 1024 x 768 screens
that can of course have the use for anyone wishing to use the stuff mentioned above (extra bases, runways, airfields, and a host of changes made during the 1.28 series)

..having a patched 1.2 compatible replacement .exe for 800 x 600 screens to recommend to anyone as standard..

Posted notice on the EAW page I will not be updating EAW any longer. Its been on and off over 15 years that I have casually involved in EAW ModiFlying, As I call it. Making Add-ons, posting on my various Websites and forums and even occasionally programming both tools and eaw.exe. Well all good things in time must come to an end here , and so we must part, my EAW friend and friends. You see European Air War like any real good classic game becomes like a friend to the person who relishes its' particular nature and nuances.

For me EAW fulfilled many a purpose. I basically learned much of my computing knowledge alongside supporting this game under Windows OS under old hardware and ModiFlying it. Also I even dwelved into hexediting, programming, learning about VM's and Linux and so many other avenues.

There is a lot to be said about a hobby or interest and especially games that force one to learn new skills. And a lot more to be said about the lessons one learns along the way. Along our way in this case was the development of the internet and technology in general. There is also much to be thankful for friends or really comrades one gathers alongside in such pursuits.

Other than that one might wish sometimes for monetization in some cases for one's hobby. In the case of EAW that was of course much lacking. Frankly I did half of my EAW work when I was at my poorest. Including recently! Although I did once land a rather nice job in a game company partly due to my reference to my EAW work and skills learned.

EAW itself never had a chance of going very far in modern programming situation. Since the first gists of EAW development started in archaic technology times, just after Dos in circa win3.1 ~ Win95 days. It barely made it up to DirectX 6 programming levels by its release. Many years and 2 programming teams after it began. It was released as 1.0 then 1.1 patch and finally 1.2 - then only some several years and companies after it would have been seen as cutting edge.

Even had it been earlier, it was never cutting edge. On the somewhat fringe edge of the cyber universe we of the EAW Code Group looked into the source code of the game and its mysterious insides. Comprised of some @ 254 relevant code pages the code is vast and has thousands upon thousands of lines of code and functions. Once we could understand some of it we could start to see how often it was in places somewhat awkwardly patched together by TK, and a few others in the final programming team.Later of course the Code Group and thanks to some of the old programmers and a few new ones patches were made and then game developed under the non-commercial agreement with Atari - Infogrames.

At any rate, EAW did make an impact and basically helped kick off the entire short days of the WWII flight sim craze mini-revival era which basically ended with IL2 and such later titles..

All for now! - Roy