About upcoming Vietnam Theater v0.9

[Snake Man]

About upcoming Vietnam Theater v0.9, what do we plan to do with this theater...

Well I dont dream that someone steps forward and creates new 512 res tile-set for Vietnam, I'm truly happy if someoe does but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm planning on doing the three falcon version UI update for it, all IA/Squadron selection and whatnot images, then theater.irc and strings for campaign to say Vietnam instead of DPRK etc. Campaigns need to get updated for new falcon versions and especially AF version needs consideration as I'm pretty sure it only allows to fly F-16 and we dont have many of those in 1965 at NAM, so who knows if its even playable with AF. Vietnam will rock on RedViper as it has alot of aircrafts flyable for this era.

Install will of course be optimized so no extra junk files are packed in there, altough the AF-only install problem is a nuisance.

I'm estimating the development cycle for NAM to be about days/weeks, not longer. Of course no exact dates will be layed out, but just the idea for you guys of how things start to roll with this theater.

Anyways, just to open the development "diary" for the days leading to Vietnam Theater v0.9 release.

Now, lets get to work!

[Snake Man]

Progress is awesome.

I started reversed, did the installer script + directorys / files first, this included creating the UI for all versions. Dropped in all the v0.8 beta files and ran the installer few times fixing bugs in it, at the moment the installer is pretty much done for UI, "common" campaign files and databases too.

Got the theater ingame in RV, since that was the most scary thing to do with the fucked up seasonswitcher texture.bin/zip checking system which fails without mercy if any of the tiles are missing. Lucky for me I created the v0.8 (and earlier) texture.bin's so there is no gaps in it, what a relief!

So now the theater is ingame, still campaign crashing and I have so far no clue what is causing it. I thought to bring you first screenshots from RV to show the progress, the shots are UI and Instant Action (to see the terrain).

RedViper User Interface


Terrain










Now I just need to fix the campaign so it runs and start to plan how the final v0.9 campaign looks like. Would be nice to get in some skins too... but dunno if thats asking too much at this time.

Stay tuned.

[ccc]

Would be nice to get in some skins too... but dunno if thats asking too much at this time.

Stay tuned.

i think RV database has adequate Vnam skins for US ac. the only skins you need are for NV mig17,19, and 21s.

i'd suggest leave skin thing alone ATM.. get campaigns working first.

[Snake Man]

Got the campaign working, something bugging in the ground units so I have to scrap the old ground unit placement scripts and start from beginning. So how about couple of ingame campaign screenshots of Vietnam...

RedViper User Interface






It still baffles me why the China population data cuts by half like that, oh and wonder if we could now find the Hainan DCW data finally?

[ccc]

sweet!

BTW your carrier is getting into china water/hianan island!

viewtopic.php?t=19429

pic in this thread shows yankee station.. it seems US always place 2-3 carrier groups there..and few more off south Vnam coast.

viewtopic.php?t=19438

another old thread, OOB.

BTW- i think Vnam truely need a tweaked database files-i mean, some NV ac should be edited as PURE fighter/interceptor, or they may try to load small bombs to attack airbase in Lao or Tailand! A-G capability of mig17/J5, mig19, and Mig21 should all be deleted.

[Snake Man]

Okay I'll move the carriers appropriately in the north, man they are going to be close to the enemy troops. Wonder how that plays out in F4, altough as ccc just said that if we remove the bombs from the aircrafts, then the north vietnamese dont have much to throw at the carriers

So isn't any of the F4 versions having historical database for Vietnam, so I have to remove those A2G capabilities from the mentioned planes?

Oh and now the ground campaign is fixed, it was the AAA in Hanoi that caused the CTD on RV (dunno how it would play out in AF/OF), its strange as it supposedly worked still back on SP3. Oh well, need to find another way to beef up Hanoi air defences.

[ccc]

So isn't any of the F4 versions having historical database for Vietnam, so I have to remove those A2G capabilities from the mentioned planes?

for blue side ac in RV, yes. for red side ac, like mig17/19/21, they are also used by other air forces in both AA and AG roles. so, Vnam db should delete their AG role score.

Oh and now the ground campaign is fixed, it was the AAA in Hanoi that caused the CTD on RV (dunno how it would play out in AF/OF), its strange as it supposedly worked still back on SP3. Oh well, need to find another way to beef up Hanoi air defences.

you mean .. the quantity of AAA unit around Honai overload the camapign engine?

[Snake Man]

Nah, it was just like few batallions.

[Snake Man]

As the one historical campaign runs, I wanted to get the fictional present day equipment campaigns to run too... then I ran into the exact same problem I had with Europe theater campaign crashing at campaign start.

It definitely now seems that there is something wrong with this thing as it acts this way. Well of course it dont matter really if we just manage to run it, but it doesn't feel good to do it like this, fishy way.