home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
The Arsenal Files 6
/
The Arsenal Files 6 (Arsenal Computer).ISO
/
games
/
wpnedit.zip
/
WPNEDIT.TXT
< prev
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-12-09
|
7KB
|
147 lines
Steel Panthers Weapon Editor Utility v1.0 by Nicholas Bell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Users of these programs must accept this disclaimer of warranty:
"This software is supplied on an AS IS basis. The author specifically
disclaims ANY warranty, expressed or implied, as to the fitness for any
particular purpose of the software. Under no circumstances will the author
be liable for any direct, consequential, special, indirect, or other damages
including, but not limited to, loss of data, profit, or the use of the
software arising from the distribution, use, misuse, or inability to use
the software. YOU USE THIS SOFTWARE AT YOUR OWN RISK. BY USING THE SOFTWARE,
YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS OF USAGE SET FORTH IN THIS DISCLAIMER."
NOTICE
~~~~~~
These programs are not in any way connected with or endorsed or supported
by Strategic Simulations, Inc.
TRADEMARKS
~~~~~~~~~~
Steel Panthers is a trademark of Strategic Simulations, Inc.
DISTRIBUTION NOTICE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This program is being released by the author as freeware. It is NOT public
domain! You may copy and use the program freely. You may distribute it to
whomever you like but:
1. Do NOT distribute modified versions.
2. Do NOT bundlle with other programs.
3. ALWAYS distribute with the documentation.
4. Do NOT charge a fee for distribution.
No other limitations are placed on the usage of the software. No fee is
charged for the use of the software.
*** WARNING ***
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This program makes permanent modifications to the following files in the
STEEL PANTHERS program: OBBR, OBMA, OBPZ, OBJA, OBUS. If you have any problems
please copy ALL these files back into your STEEL PANTHERS directory from your
STEEL PANTHERS CD.
INSTALLATION
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copy the WPNEDIT.EXE file into your STEEL PANTHERS main directory.
USE
~~~
Weapon characteristics are stored in the OB?? files. Each OB?? file contains
duplicate weapon data (and country specific unit formation data used in
constructing scenarios). The WPNEDIT program will modify all OB?? files
simultaneously without distribing the formation data. The reason all OB files
have to be modified even though they all contain identical weapon data is
because STEEL PANTHERS loads the weapon data based on the opponents. For
example, OBPZ controls the German and Soviet weapon data. OBUS controls the
German and US weapon data. Thus if you were to only modify the 88 L56 in OBPZ,
then if you fought the Americans, the 88 would be unmodified. In any case,
you do not have to worry about it. Note that weapon characteristics are not
scenario dependent like unit characteristics. If you change the penetration
value of a weapon it will have that new value in all scenarios old and new.
Be sure to check the entire list when modifying a specific weapon, since
many countries have specific versions of their weapon. Use the (v) View
function to check the entire weapon list and you will see how the specific
country's weapons are grouped together. Some conutries use the same weapon,
eg Britain and Germany both use RIFLE weapon number #1, while the Japanese
use Rifle weapon number #205. Note that some weapons are duplicated, eg their
are 2 entries of the 88mm L71 Pak (#62 and #150). #150 is titled 88 L71
Pak 43 while #62 is merely a 88 L71 Pak. Same weapon, same values, but
probably some weird situation involving ownership. Perhaps a situation where
Rumanians used it against the Germans?
The weapon values in STEEL PANTHERS are nearly all identical to those in
TYPHOON OF STEEL. There are some which I have been unable to determine.
These are listed as UNKNOWNS. Editing these might cause problems, so unless
you are familiar with hex editing and the technique used to determine unknown
values, do not mess with these.
UNKNOWN AP requires a bit of explaining. Except for the AP Penetration and
HE values, all weapon characteristics are stored in simple arrays with one
byte per weapon characteristic. The AP and HE values, however, are stored
every other byte, but not in an integer format! For the HE values the bytes
in between are all nulls. However, for the AP values there are values which
are listed as UNKNOWN AP. If you read the values SSI gave out in the V1.1
readme.txt you will note that some AA weapons have AP values which are listed
by WPNEDIT as UNKNOWN APs. Either STEEL PANTHERS can play musical chairs with
arrays or somebody made a typo in either the data base or the v1.1 readme.txt.
DEFINITIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~
The following is from the STEEL PANTHERS V1.1 documentation:
"Key:
HE= High Explosive value, used to determine HE attacks against
soft targets like infantry.
AP Pen.= Max unmodified penetration for the AP round.
HVAP Pen.= Max unmodified penetration for the HVAP round.
HEAT= Max unmodified High Explosive Anti-tank penetration.
Range= Max range for the weapon, in hexes.
Accuracy= Number of hexes the weapon will have an unmodified 50% chance to
hit its target. Example= Accuracy is 8, this means the weapon will have
from 1 to 8 hexes, a unmodified base hit chance of 50%. Note this number
can go up or down due to various modifiers in the game."
Not listed is SIZE, which refers to the size of the weapon's projectile.
Size has a major impact on the lethality of HE fire and in determining the
damage resulting from successful armor penetration.
For purposes of modifying range and accuracy, each hex equals 50 meters
When modifying penetration values, each point equals 10 centimeters (as does
each point of armor on the AFV's)
CONCLUSION
~~~~~~~~~~
The purpose of making this editor was to enable me to easily correct the
incorrect weapon data in STEEL PANTHERS in order to improve its realism.
This is a highly subjective matter. Test range data and reality infrequently
coincide. For example, in every tactical level wargame (both board and
computer) the 2 pdr and 57mm ATG are always overrated in terms of range,
accuracy, and most importantly, penetration. The 2 pdr projecticle usually
shattered on German face-hardened armor and US Amry units frequently left
their 57mm's behind because they were considered useless against even
Pzkfw IVs. In any case, if you were interested enough to download this
program you probably have enough interest, sources, and ideas on how the
weapons could be better modeled.
I also wanted to experiment with doubling the range and accuracy of the
weapons to decrease the scale to 25 meters. Since the maps are too large
for the number of units allowed in the game (and we cannot make a 20 hex wide
map which would be about right) I'm thinking one way to solve the unit number
limitation - realistic unit frontage issue is to decrease the size of the
battlefield. Of course, I'd rather have the abilility to control 200 units
per side <g>.
If you have problems, bug reports, suggestions, contact me at:
72162.1667@compuserve.com.
Enjoy!
Nicholas Bell
9 DEC 95