Calling Norb re SOW:GB

[Martin James]

Hi Norb

Even though the spotlight is now on Waterloo, GB remains a fantastic game, and there are a small number of modders still working on producing new content for it. Greatly expanded versions of Mods on the Little Bighorn Campaign and other Plains Indian Wars will be coming this year, together with a significant expansion of the Additional ACW Flags & Sprites Mod to cover the war in the Indian Territory. All of these will include new maps and sprites.

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We have previously asked for some guidance on a technical issue, and subsequently suggested that it would be good if a NSD contact could be provided for general modding support. See this thread: http://www.norbsoftdev.net/forum/techni ... lace-in-gb

So far there’s been no response on either issue, although we quite appreciate that NSD is a small company, and can well understand that the focus has to be on Waterloo from now on. But it seems to us that there is still lots of life in the GB franchise. We recall that you expressed the intention to make the GB code available at some point, and maybe this is the solution?

Kind regards

Martin (J)

[Crikey]

Good post, Martin and great pic.

SoWGB still has legs and good mods will surely encourage new buyers. The LBH may well be a big draw given the interest in the US and elswhere.

Fingers crossed you get the help you need to deliver a great mod.

[Martin James]

Thanks Crikey. Pic looks much better on screen.

Mark has done a great job on the LBH map. It's 10 ml x 10 ml, so there's room for lots of different scenarios covering the actual battle and various what-ifs.

Martin (J)

[Little Powell]

Can you please just give me a quick rundown of what question(s) you have? It's a little hard to decipher from that other thread on exactly what you are looking for.

Thanks.

[Pom]

Can I add my support to Martin. SOWGB still has plenty of scope left for future mods. I think we all accept that WL should be the main focus for the team, but any support that can be given for GB would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Pom.

[Crikey]

Yep, your and Mark's work does look fine. Fingers crossed this gets the full treatment.

I like the latest screenies more dried out look, which imo looks more realistic than these earlier shots below.







B)

[Martin James]

Hi Matt

Thanks for coming back. There are three questions outstanding:

1. Can we freeze units in place?

The original question related to work on the updated Little Bighorn Mod, and is the one at the head of the thread I quoted. In theory this should be quite straightforward, as the game appears to offer 3 options to achieve it:

* In unitglobal.csv – we can set the speed of a commander or unit in Columns E (walk) and F (run). So tepees can be set to zero.

* In drills.csv – we can specify that a commander or unit cannot move by putting a ‘1’ in Column Q.

* In drills.csv – we can slow the speed of a commander or unit by putting an appropriate figure in Column K. Whilst we cannot reduce tepee speed to zero by this method, we can input a figure which causes it to be so slow that any movement is imperceptible.

Unfortunately, none of the above methods appears to be effective. It appears to us that a minimum speed (perhaps 1 mph?) is hardcoded in the game, and this seems to override any of the settings in the logistics files.

We were asking whether a minimum speed is hardcoded, and if so whether a workaround is available.

2. Can a contact be appointed to liaise with GB modders?

Over the last several weeks we’ve spent a lot of time within the LBH mod team on the above question, trying to test various solutions, all of which proved abortive. An expanded group of community modders also discussed it offline. That prompted us to initially ask if someone at NSD could be appointed as our official contact for future questions. That person would not necessarily have also the answers, but would hopefully know who to ask. You will understand that a month is a long time to wait for a technical answer. The risk is that folks will become demotivated, or get side-tracked onto other projects, and the mods will not be completed.

3. Can the code be shared?

This suggestion arose because we had no response to the second question. We do appreciate that NSD is a small company, and could quite understand if you just do not have the resources to offer full modding support for both games. The idea emerged from further offline discussion, triggered by our memory that Norb has previously expressed his intention to open the code anyway. It appears to us that to do that now would be a ‘win win’. The community modders could begin to support themselves, and thus NSD would be relieved of much of the burden of supporting the game. You guys will also benefit from additional sales of GB, partly driven by the continuing production of mods.

If you decide to go that route, we obviously recognise that NSD would retain the commercial interest in the code, and anyone accessing it would need to be willing to sign a confidentiality agreement, as we have previously done with the NSD map-making tools you shared.

Kind regards

Martin (J)

[Saddletank]

Screenshots look superb. I have no preference over the greener or drier look, I am sure the region had both colour palettes at different periods of the year.

[Martin James]

We've had a number of discussions on how best to deal with the seasonal effects. On the day of the battle the battlefield would have had a fairly parched appearance, and we know from contemporary accounts that the seasonal coulees which drain into the Little Bighorn were dry.

On the other hand, to adhere strictly to that would reduce the general utility of the map, as it would limit the number of potential village sites. In other seasons you might have found a camp on one of those streams.

So we'll probably go for a compromise solution there.

Martin (J)

[JC Edwards]

Crikey me ol' buck'o! - how are ya laddie?!

your humble servant and regards

The Mad One