On February 24th I received a PM from a representative of GoG. He was apologising for their using the 1.28 version, and asked our permission to continue using it.
It has been discussed and we decided that it was better that they did not continue using it, and that they should roll-back to the 1.2 version (which they had offered to do).
This would have an advantage for them.
Because they were no longer making money from our unpaid work we could feel better about supporting them.

Their 1.2 release would still be a single ETO plane-set and a single ETO theatre. Users could then be directed to downloads available via SimHQ for other theatres and plane-sets, available at no cost (as they always have been).

It could be something like this, with full-sets available for instant loading:











The sole reason that I have made this post here is because my reply to the originator of the GoG PM thread indicating that I had replied by an email to him has not been read, and I have had no response to my email with the members' decision.

Thanks for the update, Mr. Jelly. I suspect they are pondering their next move, just as we took a bit of time responding. Screen shots look great !

The mills pf God grind slowly. I hope they take up the offer.

I will have some "complete set" things to add to that OAW setup.

I doubt it will matter to them since they already sent out the product, and I doubt they had any real permissions anyway since the game is all but abandoneware. Its not even absolutely known if Retro games / Tommo etc actually owns anything since ATARI / Chesnais at this point is sort of a no-show no where-about known persona anyway.

Anyway the 1.2 was actually a patch to 1.1 and they lost all the game code years ago, so the most product they could legally offer would be 1.1 with a 1.2 patch anyway and that is not a no-cd version.

There is maybe one other way though if you read closely





Start a non-profit.

I do not see the relevance of Roy's post, but these are the actual facts:

Thommo.inc had obtained the rights for a heap of Atari games including EAW, and asked NightDive Studios to produce a version of EAW1.2 which would run on modern computers. It was to be for a "Steam" release, but they did not have the source code, so a representative of NightDive Studios approached me.
We were not prepared to let them use our code to make $$$, but I sent them a 7217 fixed 1.2X to try out.
It needed the d3d windower to run properly in Win 7 without the map screen corruption, and they saw this as a big problem. The upshot was that they decided to discontinue.
I still have the emails re- all of this but I am not going to release them publicly.

What has now happened is the release of a hacked version of the original 1.28 release by GoG. I assume that this is on behalf of Thommo.inc.
A representative of GoG contacted me, and told me that they were prepared to go back and release a version of 1.2.
I have let them know that a release of 1.2 would be preferable, but we have heard nothing since.

The GoG hacked 1.28 was just what the community needed, and introduced a lot of new code group junkies that lack interest in the pre game manager that come with game versions like 140-160.
Did you consider getting the fixes that Retroism / GoG applied to the exe?
I think their improvements would be compensation enough, since they are all the improvements that been lacking by the codegroup, and has been needed for years, some for a decade and a half long.


I'm an official v1.2 (and un-official EAWPRO) junkie, however with the GoG hacked version I became a un-official v1.28 junkie. I even spent much more time researching it and applying written text about it, expanding its coverage on my help site.
I like the fact there is no pre game manager/launcher. However I may like OAW if you released a new one , IDK, its more graphical( I think it is, based on screenshots) and it may be closer to what I envision built into the game itself.

Mark I think that fair comparisons must be made.



1.2, the FXExe, EAWPro, the GoG version 1.28, 1.28c 1.28E, 1.28F and 1.29 are all the same in that they can come with a built in ETO theatre and plane-set. Hence, they are simple to use and there is no need for a pre game manager/launcher, but that is all that you get
The releases from 1.28E to the current 160 are pre-packaged with additional theatres, planesets and file management software, but they do not need to be.

With 1.2 if you wanted a different theatre you had to copy and paste files into the root folder, and if that was all that you could do then it became tricky to switch theatres. So, for people wanting to switch theatres and planes easily various file-managers were produced, including ECA and OAW.
1.28e was able to use a "dir.set" file for the theatre, a "PDir.set" file for the aircraft skins, and "FMDir.set" file for the flight models. With a simple file manager it was easy to switch theatres and planesets, and for that matter the version of the eaw.exe.

I could release versions of 140, 150 and 160 that allow a player to fly the default ETO theatre and planeset with no file-manager.This is a 160 folder that does exactly that:


I have tested it and it works

Additionally the latest 160 exes have a built in file-manager in the "Set-up" screen, and do not need an external one.
I do not think that it is fair to compare single theatre/single plane-set releases with those that offer multiple theatres and plane-sets. Obviously the single theatre/single plane-set releases are simpler to use.

OAW was a complex file manager which worked very well, especially to make sure that players in an online game has exactly the same set-up. If players had different set-ups then the game could not be launched. The disadvantage that it had was in disk fragmentation due to the constant pasting of files into the root folder, and their removal before pasting different ones. However, a file manager such as OAW is the only option for people wanting to switch theatres and plane-sets in those releases which only offer a default ETO theatre and plane-set.

If I recall, didn't we have an in-game choice of five different planesets, stock, early and late ETO and early and late Eastern Front in some exe's?

Pre-game managers are not uncommon in older games. For example, Richard Burns Rally has a huge body of additional material and a very large community using various programmes of this kind. Likewise, the even more long-surviving Grand Prix Legends. I couldn't run EAW for years until I discovered JIM. Such workarounds kept the game alive and eventually facilitated the usage of enormous amounts of additional content.

However, if those expert in these matters can find something from the GoG version that can improve the other more advanced iterations of the game, that can only be a bonus.

SkyHigh,
EAW had working frontends and managers before, they all did there own thing, some tried to do more, most wont run anymore on modern windows.....

MrJelly,
(You don't have to re explain everything all the time about 160, if you had a detailed readme to link to or a on going thread you just need that and you wouldn't have to re post the same thing over and over again.)

I should be clearer then, I clearly dislike the front end you provide, its a wall of text with no graphics and its still confusing even after all the work you put into it. therefore it needs to be integrated into the games own front end as a whole. With image representation right from the source files of the game data for easiest implementation. I see where it needs to be, it just is not getting there. Menu Screens sorta-like those screens that the original designers provided, and other paths to graphical images and perhaps sound. All the game data is there in 160, its just not being called up for use in the frontend.

I can't get anyone to use your front-end that use to play years ago, they are baffled and I have little patience sending them to your threads for guidance. All I can say now to them is to get the new re-release on GoG, its from the early code group members still, but soon it won't even be worth it if they roll back to 1.2.

OAW accesses folders, and it there is a picture in a selected folder it is shown on the screens.

In all the 160 file-managers, apart from the exe selection, just three string files are loaded for the theatre and the planeset.
They are not folders so they cannot contain pictures, so where do I get the pictures from?
The same applies to the latest exes with the built-in file-manager.


I have no room for pictures anyway

Heres one thing; If you have a list of Planes by type and perhaps year in some sort of way. Let the player pick the plane they want to fly first, then load the PlaneSet and theater.

The pictures/images would need to be from the game capturing the model and skin I would think. But you need many screens to be made., actually maybe 4 perhaps that get filled automatically when you pick the plane.
You have to have the game grab the model and skin to provide a 45 angle view of the plane on ground.

Do you think that anyone is prepared to do any of those things?
Certainly not me
Just checking one of my installations on my current W7 drive there are 445 skin folders and 405 flight model folders with a "plname.str" file in them.
The list would be enormous, and in any case there is no connection with any planesets.

You need to really understand the structure of UAW160 before making these wishlist suggestions

I guess I do. Since I figured a Plane List would have been available. Then the Thetaer and Planeset could be loaded afterward.

Aw well.

To keep it simple there are theatre folders and aircraft inventory folders.
The former contain sub-folders and files. The latter contain skin folders and flight model folders.


The "LongDirSets folder contains files which are copied and pasted into the root folder as "Dir.set".
I have just loaded one named "Finland vs Russia (Summer terrain)"
The Dir.set" file that was created reads as follows:

FAW150
FAWsummer
savedata
NULL

So the main folder is "FAW150"
The "FAWsummer" sub-folder is referenced as is the "savedata" sub-folder.

The "FAW150" folder contains some other folders- one of which is a winter terrain, but they will not be used as they are not referenced in the "Dir.set" file
It also contains a number of individual files which will be used if needed.

The "Planesets" folder contains sub-folders such as "European Late"
This folder contains a "PDir.set" file with 30 slots, each one having the path to a skin folder in an aircraft inventory folder.
It also contains a "FMDir.set" file with the path to the corresponding flight model folder.
When this planeset is loaded the "PDir.set" file and the "FMDir.set" file are copied and pasted in the "GameData" folder.

The 160 exe is programmed to read the "Dir.set" file in the root folder. It is programmed to read the "PDir.set" file and the "FMDir.set" file that are in the "GameData" folder.

This is a text version of the "PDir.set" file from "European Late":

Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\P38\P38H_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\P38\P38J_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\P47\P47C_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\P47\P47D_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\P51\P51B_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\P51\P51D_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\B17\B17_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\B24\B24_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\B26\B26_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\Spitfire\SpitVcLF_01
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\Spitfire\SpitIX_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\Spitfire\SpitIXc_01
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\Spitfire\Spit14_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\Typh_Temp\Typhoon_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\Typh_Temp\Tempest_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Allies\Mosquito\MosqFBVI_01
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Axis\Bf109\Bf109G_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Axis\Bf109\Bf109G6_01
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Axis\Bf109\Bf109K_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Axis\Bf109\Bf109G14_01
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Axis\Bf110\Bf110G_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Axis\Me410\Me410_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Axis\FW190\FW190A_04
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Axis\FW190\FW190D9_01
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Axis\Me262\Me262A_01
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Axis\Ju88\Ju88A_def
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Axis\FW190\Ta152H_01
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Axis\Ju87\Ju87D_02
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Axis\FW190\FW190F8_01
Planes_ETO\PLANE_SKIN\Axis\V1\V1_def

In this case the aircraft inventory used in all 30 slots was the "Planes\ETO" folder.


The "European Late" folder also contains a "Planes.pco" file which is a list of the planes in the plane-set and is read by the file-manager program.

Mark I have made a new file-manager that can use pictures:

I have used the tabbed system that I used in OAW, except there are only two tabs.

The picture is on the "Theatres and exes" page, and there is a default one borrowed from OAW.


When the "dir.set" is selected the file is read to get the main folder.
If that folder contains a "BMP" or a "JPG" then the first one is used as the picture.

There are no pictures on the "Planesets" tab, but there is more space in which to list the plane-sets:

I have now added a graphic to the planesets tab:


If you left click on the page number it increases by one. If you right click it decreases by one.

Here is an installer: Tabbed DirSetPicker 2021 V2

The previous link has been removed. This version has a button that allows you to launch EAW

Just coming back to the post's topic in order to tidy up I can report that GoG have finally replaced the EAW 1.28 download with an EAW 1.2 download

The only thing I would suggest for V1.60 is to prominently NUMBER the various menu sub-screens/selection screens so that a rank Novice has more guidance during the selection process. If there is a choice amongst the selection of some screens, then add clear text saying so.

Making V1.60 easier to use, especially in the case of new users, can only help things along. It's a fine product, but most anything can use some tweaking.

What we have here is a number of folks who are experienced users having few issues, but new users perhaps have issues using it that you all experienced users have overcome long ago.

Simple well-written directions, and a simple numbering of the selection sub-menus ought not be too difficult, and would likely increase usage amongst new users. The easier something is to use, the more it will be used.

160 is effectively the same as 1.2 as far as selection goes.
On the main screen you choose either an instant mission, a single mission, a career, game set-up or multiplayer.
Apart from the instant mission (which launches the game) the screens that you get when you select one also offer logical choices.
In this respect nothing has changed, apart from the fact that viewing movies and viewing the default EAW aircraft is no longer possible in UAW160.

How would you suggest that GoG number their 1.2 screens to make life easier for new users?