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Question on Estabs files

Alpha Zwo

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Hello,

when I download user created scenarios there are always Estabs files included. What happens to a scenario when I overwrite an old file, that came with another scenario, with a new Estabs file? How to manage all these files that belong together in a scenario?

Thanks in advance.

Tom
 

Bie

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Hello,

when I download user created scenarios there are always Estabs files included. What happens to a scenario when I overwrite an old file, that came with another scenario, with a new Estabs file? How to manage all these files that belong together in a scenario?

Thanks in advance.

Tom

I think, when in doubt keep the most recent estab file (looking at the file date)
 

Alpha Zwo

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Thanks for your reply. Does this mean I can use an Estab file, that came for example as part of an Eastern Front scenario, with another user created West Front scenario?
 

Bie

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That is a difficult question to answer.

Estab files house the forces, weapons, vehicles and such for the scenarios. So one estab can provide the necessary data for many scenarios.

If however two different scenario creators use the same base estab (and keep the filename) for their scenarios and then start tampering with it, there is no guarantee that you can swap the estabs and assume that the scenarios would work.

If an estab is recurrig in different scenario packs by the same author it would be safe to say that using the most recent estab would not be a problem. Using the older version of the estab might cause problems with some of the (newer) scenarios, because the scenario might be searching for vehicles or weapons that are not present in the outdated estab.
 
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Thanks for your reply. Does this mean I can use an Estab file, that came for example as part of an Eastern Front scenario, with another user created West Front scenario?

Unless you're talking about altering the scenario data with the SceneMaker routine, no, and even then, there's no guarantee it will work.

The Estab file is set up sequentially with each entry delineated by a unique designator. If the designator for say, an British Infantry Company in the original scenario's Estab file, matches the designator for an SS Armored Regiment HQ in the file you use in the altered scenario, all the units which should be infantry will become Armored Regiment HQ units in the altered scenario. This assumes, as Bie mentions, that the equipment designations transition from one Estab to another. Those are set up sequentially as well.

Unless you're designing your own scenario, it's best not to alter the Estabs for the scenarios already available.

Developers don't mind if you build off of the standard Estabs that come with the commercially available scenarios. But common courtesy and sound software development discipline should be one's guide for providing an alternate name of the altered Estab as a courtesy to both the original developers and fellow game owners who may inadvertently overwrite a standard Estab with a speculative one developed by someone using the editor.

There had been some talk about copy protecting maps, scenarios, and Estabs for the commercially released games. I'm not certain if that has been implemented.
 

Alpha Zwo

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Thanks for your help, much appreciated. I picked up Command Ops - BftB and HttR many years ago from Matrixgames but never really played it. Just re-installed the games and am enjoying it very much.
 
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Thanks for your help, much appreciated. I picked up Command Ops - BftB and HttR many years ago from Matrixgames but never really played it. Just re-installed the games and am enjoying it very much.
Keep in mind that the discussion on LnL is focused on CO2.

While the foundation of the CO2 system was built in the Matrix version, the change to CO2 and subsequent updates to scenarios and the CO2 engine will not work with the last available Matrix-released software.

CO2 is available free of charge with three core scenarios that were also released with CO1.

If you're interested in playing the improved game and retaining currency with discussions in this forum, I'd suggest downloading the free version and comparing play using it with that you experienced with the Matrix version. If you notice desired improvements in the performance of the new game engine with those scenarios, it's food for thought to consider purchasing the CO2 revisions of the BftB and HttR content you already own.

While many of the packages scenarios cover the same events in both engines, there were CO2 scenarios added in both BftB and HttR that weren't available in CO1..
 
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