Athanasios

Okey guys, first of all, a big THANK YOU for you great (indeed) feedback and support for EaW:Total Realism mod. The numbers speak themselves; over 1250 downloads in 6 days and only from our main site, since (this sounds and is more like a compaint more than something to boast of) we got absolutely 0 help from Lucasfiles, FileFront and other download sites where we did apply for the file. Only DMUK from Empire at War.net gave us credits at his news page (which we thanked for doing so), while he's still pressing LucasFiles to take more quick actions regarding the uploading of a single file. Anyway, this extensive thread will now be locked down by the moderators, since we want a clean thread for the coming v2.1. Apart from a clean thread, we need a new area for feedback concerning v2.1 and not earlier versions. Minor feedback can still be sent to us, either with private messages or emails. The thread concerning v2.1 will open 2 days before its release, like we did with v2.0. The release date is not specified currently, but it will be 100% one day from the coming week. We know, 4-7 days of waiting might seem extremely long time to you, but we're really working for your (and ours ofcourse!) enjoyment of this great game. Before closing this final post, we'd like to state this; due to some messages we've got, people are wondering if playing a mod online is doable. Well, simply put, yes it is, providing that both sides have the exact same mod installed. Now, the problem is that most people online are deleting their mods before playing, because many (new players) don't even know what a "mod" is [...]. Anyway, to get straight into the point, because EaW:TR has already proved to be a widely accepted mod, we're planning, after v2.1 is out ,to organise small tourneys/games between the players that have EaW:TR mod (according to the numbers we get for v2.1)......the whole idea is still in progress, but taking in account that we're preparing a brand new site where EaW:TR will be hosted (sponsored by a serious & respectable company -not from PC games business-) rather than a plain html page, we're really looking towards this feature..............more to be revealed in the coming days. Well, to sum up, thank you all again for your great support and (as always) stay tuned in our frequency ! ***The Empire at War: Total Realism mod team***

LoL mate, i told you you didnt have to mess up with hardpoints and i don't want to be mean now, but we've already taken in account your suggestion - and what's more, it's already materiliased ;D . While the "add same amount to all hardpoints" is the first step, a further one is to give different amounts to hardpoints for each class of ships; ie. give 1200 (for example) to SD, a bit less to MC, 300 to Acclamator and so on. As for space stations, Tech 4 & 5 were greatly reinforced (along with the shield generator)........so, no need to back up anything @GenocidalDuck: The high-end and low-end system installation refer to different xmls installed according to a system power. If you dont have a good graphic card, a good CPU/motherboard and plenty memory, you should go for low-end, yet, you could give a try to high-end too (nothing will harm a simple try) . Ofcourse, this "discrimination" is way more reinforced in v2.1. About Interdictor you mention, it is buildable in skirmish & GC......ill check it and reply back. PS: For Bismark discussion, just to mention that it was a well-working diversion of Germans. The whole British navy (+allies) were gathered to sink her down, in order to protect Meditarranean sea, while those Tigers opened some nice way with Afrikan Korps . Just a note, since it wasn't that great victory, if you consider all the other factors...

@Zenoth: I think we communicate in the same frequency concerning "epic" term, if you get what i mean ....stay tuned for v2.1 and don't hassle in the labyrinth of xmls. As Orao said, we've already headed for this feature of "epic-battles" and we'll increase it even more. Yet, we don't intend to make them last 1-2 hours, since this will kill part of gameplay, if you understand us. Yet, they will last longer than they do now . @GenocidalDuck: LOL, thanks mate. The best we could get from the community (apart from the 1150 downloads in 5 days ;D) is the feedback we need to move on. And what really impressed us is that many people subscribed to forums (PFF, LF etc) only to say us "thanks", "great mod" etc.....we hope coming versions will face the same applause too. Now, for the space battles, we tried to scale down all relative scales (put it simple, make all simple by decreasing them the same relative amount), but it isn't actually what we expected as Orao already mentioned......however, now that the edittor is coming, our first and foremost priority will be to make all maps bigger (so that you have more parking place ;D) and more complex, with choke points, hills and valleys, swamps and forest and more! As for the turn speeds of cap ships you mention, it's already a known issue (and an already fixed one ). @Dude70: I think The_talented doesn't intend to modify himself, he just had problem with the installation/rar file (i hope he overpassed them). And to cheer you up (although i am not allowed to tell anything about 2.1 yet, only 2 days before its release ), because we do realise that TR gets a bit complicated (and we're only in the beginning) with the many installation options, version 2.1 will come bundled with a shiny and 1-2-3 installer! .....everything to make your life "hassle-free"

The_talented: Do you have latest WinRar? It is version 3.51 and can be found from here . The .rar file was compressed with "best" compression tech, that might not be supported by earlier versions. Try, and if the problem insists, send me personal message. As for XMLs etc, if you see the package contents i quoted above, there's no need for you to create folders etc; all what you need is in the package and is a simple copy & paste to run the mod.

And some G-R-E-A-T news (direct copy & paste from LF personal message)...... . YEEEEEeeehaa! You realise what this means?? If the map edittor is released by next week (as we estimate), expect Empire at War: Total Realism v3.0 to blow your EaW experience out of the outer rim, with full remaking of all current maps, plus numerous new planets!! Stay in our frequency to see this game as meant to be ;D !

@The_talented: Right from readme file: Hope this helps

@Hymster: Constructive critisism/feedback is what we're begging for, so, it's never turned down. Referring to scale factor, you mean the space units' one? This is reported by few people too (1-2 out of 1000) and it's directly related to the small maps we have now. Brining 5 SD and 5 MC, and boom, no more parking ;D. The remaking of ground and space maps (plus adding new for new planets) will be our 1st priority when a decent map edittor is released, so, don't worry. As for the strategy guide, it's more likely to disaggree with most mods out there that play with "balance" at units.........and as we said in the very first post, by "balancing" we mean importing imbalances where needed. However, to help people out, we did took some time changing all the "vulnarable/good against" tooltips, so that they can quickly see (generally) how the unit was tweaked . @FormulaRedline: Lol, this remains a mystery that only Sherlock could solve ;D. However, now that both clipping and pathfing/crawling for cap ships has been solved, we'll run extensive tests to see how it goes.....

Personally i use Adobe Photoshop CS2, but starter edition should do the job too. The problems with some textures are that they have alpha channels etc, that might confuse a beginner. I suggest you work on "simple" textures first, then head for the more advanced. I think there's a sticked tutorial for .dds editing. You'll also need Nvidia's plugins for this extension which can be found here.

@FleetAdmiralAK: What are you referring at? @henmeister: Strange, cause the download link (and site) works fine. Anyway, a valid email address is an email address you have in use, so that i can send you a copy of EaW:TR there. Mind also that v2.1 is coming this Friday (hopefully), so, you may want to wait 2-3 days till then. But it's up to you

@henmeister: Click here . If the problem insists, send me a valid mail .

Or mail me to send you the english version of master_text.........in coming version o EaW:TR we'll include the original ones, just in case....

@WookieFunk: We're glad that you like TR (like everyone else ). For the stealth ability you're talking about, it is activated for infiltrators (Royal Guards too), but as malric said, the AI can track you everywhere. One simple solution would be to remove this "cheat" from AI, but it is already a bad AI and this would make things worse. However, in MP, the stealth abiility of these units is obvious; grab some infiltrators and wreack havoc behind enemy lines (this is what i do when i get rebs ;D). Moreover, the "binocular" ability both on infils and scouts aims to make them more "spy" units. Apart from this, these units were enhanced by many aspects; scout speeds greatly increased, sight of range too, one infiltrator shot = one troop down and more. As for space maps stealth/sabotage, this seems to be undoable, due to game engine as Orao said :-\ . One note, due to plenty and great feedback (for which we should thank you all once again) plus to some new ideas/surprises that poped into our minds, v2.1 will not be released this Wednesday, but it will be released this Friday/Saturday. Most likely is Friday, so, stay tuned

The garisson units will be reduced drastically, no need to worry. We're actually satisfied that people have, more or less, the same concept as we do about realism. Yet, when a mod is first-released, you cant do exaggerations but try to appeal the majority of players. If we set garissons to 0, then the downloads would go to 0 too ;D (which are nearly 900 by the way, only in 3 days and only from our main site - expect TR to be uploaded in LucasFiles, FileFront and Gamespot soon). As for falcon, apart for his scaling, didn't touch anything else....ill look into it though. And as for 2 vaders, ill look into it, cause somebody messed up with xmls there (and it wasn't Orao job so, guess who did it : ).........however, who knows, with that many clones they did, a small bug in the master-computer and two vaders have been created........Emperor's special order, just in case the 1st Vader turned to be "despensable" ;D

Heh, καλημέρα (or καλησπέρα, it's 3.40pm here ) mate! Many more balances concerning build times, costs etc will be included in v2.1 . As for X-Wings, A-Wings etc you're mention, we have already implemented them in v2.0, but we didn't note them in the readme (you cant note all 800++ changes in readme, all we would go mad ;D) Thanx for the suggestions btw! @Dark_Dragon: Do you remeber the space map? The weird is that we never fell into that bug, not even now.... ???

@FormulaRedline : You were talking about speeds? Heh, didn't got it. Thanks for info, ill tune up some speeds in coming version @malric: Oh mate, you're putting some nice ideas in here (didn't even think of them) . Ill see if it's doable, but this might set the coming version 1-2 days further. As for artillery/troops, they are supposed to be the garisson forces of the planet, not you main forces (where you move around in fleets); they must exists (ever seen a building with no crue around it?), but in very lower numbers than main army. As said in FormulaRedline, the garisson forces (space & ground) will be further reduced in v2.1. NOTE: The system crawling when cap ships getting involved is, as said, due to pathfinding. We're really putting efforts on fixing it, but it's kind of game's limitation. A good solution is not to order your cap ships to move in great distances (estimate huge pathfind). We're experimenting with those asteroids fields that seem to make the whole fuss (they put them in every single map, *sigh*).

Thanks for the feedback (once again) . Now: 1. Garisson capacities will be more reduced in v2.1 . We are not intended to set them to 0, since they represent the small reinforcement that can be sent during a battle or the vehicles/units stationed in factories. And if you noticed, Rebels have always lower garisson numbers, to represent their luck of budget 2. EaW:TR uses Open Conflict (made by Adonnay) files for lasers (check credits). However, their original values were regarded faulty. The Ion Cannon shot was bigger than a SD actual lenght, the laser shot graphic started before the actual gun battery and more. The actual size/lenght of TR laser graphics was chosen according to ships' size. In v2.1 more lasers will be added (more for high-end, less for low-end systems) enhancing the experience even more. Ofcourse, anyone can choose from different mods according to its preferance, but the Projectiles.xml has been tweaked a lot for TR, in case you plan to replace it with another mod. @shadow3dje: The system crawling when bringing capital ships in the battle has been spotted by Orao and it's (99%) due to the extreme CPU power required to relocate the pathfinding without falling into asteroid fields (and they are in every single map ;D). We hope that this will be resolved in v2.1. @JoEsMhOe: Just downloaded a copy and everything looks ok. Do you have latest WinRar version? If the problem insists, send me with private message a valid email to mail you a copy. [edit] JoEsMhOe, latest WinRar is 3.51 and it's due to the "best" compression we used to make the pack. You can find it from download.com for free. So, this must be the problem

Heh, thanks for feedback once again. Version 2.1 will be released most probably this Wednesday or Thurdays (2-3 days). Now, to your points The common problem of the tiny maps, which we cant do anything until we get a decent map edittor :. Same applies for ground maps. The infitine squadrons will not be returned in any case since it's out of realism 1000%. Yet, we might make some capital ships spawn less squadrons in coming version so that system crawling can be slowed down a bit. But in case the visual effect and battles end up having only caps ships fighting, we'll draw back to our current plans. No need to worry, Orao will come up with more goodies in GC than you can expect. (check earlier post) Never occured to me and i havent spotted it on other forums too (relating to TR). It might be a game mishandling. Orao took up the AI part and will have it done by coming version (if i put my hands on it you wouldnt play any decent battle once again ;D). Mind that it's not only the modifcation you're talking about, it's more complicated, but in any case it will be better than current AI. @swgbex: We'd really appreciate if you could find the ship with the fault TEXT entry, allthough we'll look them again as we'll pass in more SWD descriptions So people, if you got some more feedback before Wednesday/Thursday, state it NOW, so that we save some versions for more enhancements !

Sorry for not replying immediately at the AI/Graphic issues feedback, but i didn't even see them with the whole CE-maps problem in the middle . Anyway, here it goes: @malric, havoc: The outstanding AI of EaW is currently tutored in the highest Artificial Intelligence universities of the world, not to mention that LISP and PROLOG languages (for experienced/AI systems) acquired it as the base for their future progress ;D. Seriously speaking, we can't do anything until we have some script modifying tools. What we can try, and which will be done in coming version, is simply making AI cheat more......higher credits multiplier, more aggressivenes etc etc, but we cant promise antyhing : tbohner: Both rebel and capital ships spawn fighters....unistall any previous mods and follow the installation instructions step by step. Reply back if the problem insists. @Havoc04: The engine glow issue, as well as ATAT shadow (if you didn't notice) are two separate issues we are aware of but we can't do anything to fix them. I have contacted Torpid and after he forwared these to artists, the answers were clear: (a) The engine glow is not part of the ships but a separate texture and as such, it will no rescalle along with ships rescaling. Orao tried to rescale the relevant .dds files but with no luck. (b) The ATAT shadow is an unknown game bug ("of those that never happen" as Torpid said) which we are proud to announce that we are the first modders to discover ;D . The ATAT will "cut" its shadow (only legs shown) after a 1.15 scale increment...so, don't pull your hairs if you fall into the same bug as we did. Concernign the VSD "not destroyed" nose, it might occur due to the +2 anti-fighter/bomber laser batteries we've attached to that bones. However, it can be due to a particular game mis-handling (like many others). Tell me if this re-occurs; ill check it myself too. @VileMrrrgh : The program you're looking for is called FRAPS and you can download it from our site (it's free). You can find the link in the very first post of this thread. However, the problem you are describing it's not due to rescaling modifcations. Actually, it's a known problem (along with the forementioned AI); the maps are small, full of asteroids, and the locations where your fleet will jump in are pre-specified. Untill we get bmap editor to make maps bigger and change these values, you may run in the same problem in other planets too. Below is a screenshot from Rebel Campaign "The Final Battle", when the victory was in my hands (i might make another thread to post your images/videos from EaW:TR v2.0 .... hmmm......). Believe it or not, i didnt spare any time completeing the campaigns (not to mention GC modes...) till now that EaW:TR reached a steady version, since we were modding all the time. I hope to finish them now before the map edittor is released...... anyway, enjoy and expect v2.1 within next week (we hope) or later. The more feedback in the meanwhile, the better ! "Wreacking havoc from safe distance..." - The Final Battle http://users.auth.gr/~atsiolas/_Resize%20of%20The%20Final%20Battle.jpg

Well, for evey non-moderator/admninistrator, just calm down and don't send me emails "why?!?!!?!?!", "let's make a strike against LEC offices" and other stuff expressing your disappointment. Due to the great mutual understanding with the moderators (they handled lightsaber better than i could*), the issue of CE maps will be pulled aside until LEC decides to write down the 2-3 letters needed to say "Yes, No". It's a matter of bureaucracy and you may know how this stuff works.......they may answer tomorow, they may answer after the expansion pack is out, or they might not even answer and just send a couple of FBI agents in my house and put me in Al Katraz for the rest of my life making patches for their games ;D Seriously speaking, the mod is now re-packed without the CE maps and any referance to them. You may keep downloading the file from the main site. As soon as we get the "ok" from LEC or Petroglyph, we'll just upload the first package. Now, to cheer things up, here's a short list of "numbers" we scored due to your support: So, spread the word out, so that we end up playing MultiPlayer games as meant to be ! PS1: One small note, everyone who's keeping an eye on LF forums too, i try to update both threads so that people dont have to move from one forum to the other and mess up with 10 explorer windows. Yet, some info (like the first quoted message) can be found only here in PFF forums, since the appearce of it is more easier to be organised. * PS2: The truth (the above is just for people's eyes) is that my lightsaber battery turned off in the middle i had both Pop and Cain.......@!#%$!@#$ batteries and they were just recharged!! ;D

Check the very first post of this thread. All the info can be found there

@faded13: I think you really messed up with the XMLs somewhere ;D. Run a fresh re-installation and DELETE any previous mods installed. Below i give you an image that everything works ok... Space skirmish - Buildable fighters, Darth Vader squadron http://users.auth.gr/~atsiolas/_Resize%20of%20Space%20Skirmish%20-%20fighters.jpg @shadow3dje: About the Piett crawling, it may happen with other capital ships too and it's due to the fighters they carry as i said. One solution is to (temprorarily) set all video options to low, until the memory overcomes the bottleneck. @swgbex: Just checked the turn speeds of capital ships and you are 200% right....till the v2.1, you can justify this by saying that the captain takes the turns with the handbreak on ;D @someone...: Im not sure if this is posted here or in LF forums, but someone said that Interdictor has a laser-battery hardpoint on its engines. just checked it, and no such issue spotted. Interdictor laser-battery hardpoints on engines?? http://users.auth.gr/~atsiolas/_Resize%20of%20Interdictor%20-%20engines.jpg Apart from this, i was wondering the other day in an EaW site (won't say its name) and i fell on an image of an EaW mod (won't say its name either)....i just post it below to remeber what you (and me) were playing all this time........how didn't we fix the scalings right from the first installation, remains a mystery, heh "Towering ATAT"....you kidding us? http://users.auth.gr/~atsiolas/_Resize%20of%20comparion1%20-%20other%20mod.jpg EaW: Total Realism v2.0 http://users.auth.gr/~atsiolas/_Resize%20of%20comparison1%20-%20EaWTR.jpg

Heh, happened to me all the time ;D The game checks all XMLs at the starting screen (before logos appear). Thus, the game will crush if: 1. A code line in an XML file is not closed correclty (mostly happens due to by fault pressing "enter"). For example: ilities> 2. A code line in an XML file is not tagged correclty. For example: 3. A code in an XML file does not have adequate support from game engine. For example, making a new unit (ie. Royal Guards Extreme Slaughtering) without the correct connections among files. If you use a good XML edittor, like MS Visual Web Developer, the wrong code is underlined with red markings. Hope this helps .

As posted in LF forums: So, don't stop sending feedback and suggestions. We had an amazing applause from the community so far, but ill keep the numbers secret for later on Now, some short answers/replies both for PFF and LF forums: shadow3dje The issue with the highest priority so far is the GC reconfiguration for rebs and imps, which can be easily done. As for the computer "crawling" you mention, it happened to me too (high-end installation), when too many squadrons are in a fight. It's a game-code limitation we can't do much for. Yet, one "solution" is to bring some corvettes to clear up the space or destroy the hangars of capital ships. Apart from these "cheap" solution, i would suggest either lowering down the video settings for that particular fight and not look the horizon with the camera while the crawl happens; finally, i would suggest upgrading to a Crossfire ATI X1900XTX (crossfire meaning that you connect x2 cards), a multiprocessor dual-core system and putting 4GB DDRII (dual channel supported by mothercard) ;D . Apart from this, if you see that you win the battle by far, just click "autoresolve". Just don't click it on the beginning cause it will be a disaster if doing so (autoresolve does not work as supposed too...). @swgbex, darthcarth : The turn speeds of ships can also be take cared easily. As for the small maps (there were some complaints that cap ships were too big in the current maps), heh, we're waiting for a decent map edittor to remake all the 82 maps, like every other modder . @Sith_Interceptor, PipfunatUT: A short note on ATAT and ATST issues. As mentioned in readme file, the headmounted of ATAT weapons are Anti-air weapons. As for the ATST, it will be tweaked properly (already enhanced against infantry but needs more we guess), but with the chance, we'd like to inform you that in the coming version we'll try to import SW Databank descriptions to most units we can find datas for . @PipfunatUT: Could you give us more info? The royal guards did pretty good job slaughtering some infantry and even t2b tanks in our tests, until getting stopped by some infiltrators or rebel heroes... @darthcarth: The ATAT is "balanced" in such a way that can easily smash 3 T4B Tanks attackin front the front. It can even handle 4 T4B tanks if their "power to weapons" ability is not activated. Obviously, if the play or AI attack an ATAT from the back, then it will suffer major hits until he turns to fire. Now, AI normally does not move the tanks around when attacking, but a human player will (obviously) do this, if he's smart enough not to let the ATAT face his tanks. Thus, it is general rule to combine a good force when attacking; sending an ATAT in wolf's mouth without adequate back (let's say from some SPMAT sitting some kilometers behind -also guarded well), is most luckily to fail. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT NOTE: It would be V-E-R-Y helpful if you could send us in the contact email (found in last section of README file) along with the feedback described here, some screenshots or even short videos showing the problem you are talking about. In your email just put a easy-referance subject (ie. bug: Piett rapid turn speed, imbalance: ATST no efficient against infantry). You may also copy & paste the description of the problem as posted in the forums, but do not omit to post the problem in the forums too, so that other people that face the same problem acknowledge that it's already reported. Orao recommends using FRAPS program (uploaded to our site) to record in-game videos. It can capture screenshots too. Mind to turn your screenshots into .JPEG format, so that they are not huge (.tga format: 5 MB/image, .jpeg format: 200 KB/image . Thanks again for the feedback (this note is edited into the first post too) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for the info swgbex. Although the ATAT and Veers' one have not acted the way you mention in our tests (just did it before the upload ), ill look into it. KEEP POSTING FEEDBACK, WE DON'T SHOOT ANYONE!! (...well, at least not many ;D)

EAW:TR IS READY TO DOWNLOAD!!! VISIT: http://pff.swrebellion.com/index.php?topic=3258.25 or head directly to download link: http://users.auth.gr/~atsiolas/EaW%20TR2.0.htm Enjoy!