Use the 2.28.x ME to convert from "offline" to "Staged" mission

[bbosen]

Gentlemen: Version 2.28.x of Aces High changes offline missions into "Staged" missions. The "bots" once again fly the brilliant, aggressive, high-energy tactics that we have been missing for a couple of years! Also, it is now possible to fly Staged missions online, with a mixture of "bots" and live human participants.

In order to do this, all older missions must be recompiled with the new mission editor from version 2.28.x. It's easy to do. Just open the mission using the old source code and use the prominent "Build Resource Library" option from the "File" drop-down menu. Once that completes, you're good to go.

I've published more detailed instructions on the following page (scroll down to the line that commences with "In July of 2012, HiTech Creations released Version 2.28.x and made some very important changes"):

http://techvideoreview.com/FlightSimMovies/AcesHigh/Ah2Missions/Ah2OfflineMissionsFullPage.htm

Salute and THANK YOU to Sudz, HiTech, and the entire team at HTC for an amazing set of improvements!
 

[Stalwart]

Hooray!~ 

[spitter123]

cool 

[bbosen]

I've been using the new editor a lot during the past 3 days. My simpler missions are easy to convert: Just load the source file, rebuild, and exit.

But more complex missions suffer from minor changes that affect mission timing and must be "tweaked". As always. I've finished 10 of my 12 missions and will soon publish the results for version 2.28.x.

I have seen a few cosmetic problems with the 2.28.x editor: Some of the controls overlap each other on my 1280x1024 display, obscuring other needed controls. As a result, I still need to use an older editor, operating on the new source code, to fix a few items, then returning to the new editor for the final compile step. This, of course, still prevents use of some of the advanced features that aren't compatible with the old editor.

But I'm still progressing. Always getting more than my $$ worth. Thanks HTC!
 

[jimson]

This isn't working too well.

 I tried to convert all versions of the Peabody mission and kept getting missing bwp.01 wav file error. When i tried to build with out it I got a mission that wouldn't build and some how my ME got corrupted and I had to uninstall and reinstall the game.

It happened again after trying Coogans endurance mission, corrupted editor and will now have to uninstall and reinstall the entire game.

Even after removing all files for both missions, my editor is screwed.

[jimson]

This is all very strange but Iv'e tried all the versions of peabody simple and Coogans British vs Germany and Endurance missions and none of them will build in the ME.

They always say that some event file is missing and do you want to build anyway. If I do, it doesn't crash, just seems to do nothing and then when I try to upload says it must be built in the ME so I guess it never gets built in the first place.

Several times I ended up with a mission editor that would no longer start. Wouldn't show an error but wouldn't open either.

The only solution for this was to uninstall and reinstall the game.

I give up for now.

[100Coogn]

This is all very strange but Iv'e tried all the versions of peabody simple and Coogans British vs Germany and Endurance missions and none of them will build in the ME.

They always say that some event file is missing and do you want to build anyway. If I do, it doesn't crash, just seems to do nothing and then when I try to upload says it must be built in the ME so I guess it never gets built in the first place.

Several times I ended up with a mission editor that would no longer start. Wouldn't show an error but wouldn't open either.

The only solution for this was to uninstall and reinstall the game.

I give up for now.

When you rebuild a mission the editor will search for the original event files, such as a sound effect or an image, that the mission creator has added.  In my case the path for one particular sound would be something like C:/Sound Effects/Prepare For Warp.wav which is found in my 'British vs Germany' mission
Since the original file is on my computer, when I rebuild the mission the editor can find that file and no problem.  However, when someone else tries to rebuild the same mission, the editor cannot find any such file, because it doesn't exist on their computer.  So usually the mission will fail.

Hope this helps some.
Coogan

[jimson]

I see.

Thanks Coogan

[-sudz-]

Some of the controls overlap each other on my 1280x1024 display, obscuring other needed controls. As a result, I still need to use an older editor, operating on the new source code, to fix a few items, then returning to the new editor for the final compile step. This, of course, still prevents use of some of the advanced features that aren't compatible with the old editor.

Can you explain, or post a screenshot, of the controls being obscured? I tried the editor on your settings and didn't have a problem.  However, your ahedmssw.cfg file in your settings folder may be whacked.  That file contains the position and size of the mission editor window as you last changed it.  If you delete the file the size and position will return to the defaults.

- sudz

BTW - is anyone else having the corruption issues that jimson is getting?

[jimson]

sudz, of late I have been able to convert these missions w/o porking the editor, so I'm not sure what the deal was.

Apparently MrKrabs experienced something similar

I have had a similar problem... Every time I attempted to recompile a mission, the program fails to start up again... And like jimson I had to re-install everything to get a fresh copy...

As for why the ME was giving me missing file error, I thought bosen and coogans downloads contained all the source files.

In any case, I still can't get one built that the resource builder will upload.

[100Coogn]

sudz, of late I have been able to convert these missions w/o porking the editor, so I'm not sure what the deal was.

Apparently MrKrabs experienced something similar
As for why the ME was giving me missing file error, I thought bosen and coogans downloads contained all the source files.

In any case, I still can't get one built that the resource builder will upload.

They do.

Coogan

[jimson]

They do.

Coogan

Only for playing the mission right? to convert it I would need other files that aren't included with the mission, so in effect one can only convert their own missions and not others?

EDIT:
It's a moot point right now as the mission uploader apparently isn't working.
I just wanted a working mission to test out how it works online.

HTC hasn't said whether it's bugged or just not yet enabled.

[bbosen]

News:

As of today I have updated and converted 10 missions for use with version 2.28.x as "Staged" missions, so you won't need to convert them for yourselves.

Some of them needed a lot of re-work due to minor changes in takeoff timing. I still have a few more to convert, but there are now PLENTY of fully-converted missions to work with if you want to try out the new bot logic. In my experience, the bots now fly very good combat tactics.  Here's a link to all of my work:

http://techvideoreview.com/FlightSimMovies/AcesHigh/Ah2Missions/Ah2OfflineMissionsFullPage.htm

I have NOT even tried to upload them for use on the "Custom Arenas" yet, but I would like to know more about how that works. I suggest starting with the "Peabody Simple" mission in that context, since it uses the standard "ndisles" terrain and is very simple.
 

[100Coogn]

Only for playing the mission right? to convert it I would need other files that aren't included with the mission, so in effect one can only convert their own missions and not others?

EDIT:
It's a moot point right now as the mission uploader apparently isn't working.
I just wanted a working mission to test out how it works online.

HTC hasn't said whether it's bugged or just not yet enabled.

Yes, all of the audio and video files are included with missions that supply them.  They're located in the File Folder that you move to the missres folder.  Quick Installation Guide  You can see in the provided link that there is a folder called abzero-fxm and the file type is File Folder.  That is the file that would contain any sounds or images.
Now this is the part that would be a pain.  Make two new folders and put them someplace out of the way.  One for Sound Effects and one for Images.  Copy the sound effects and images that are supplied with the mission and paste them into your new folders.
Then open the mission editor and edit each event.  You won't have to adjust anything, except the file location for each event, which would be the new files that you just made.  Once you rebuild the mission, the editor will
now be able locate the necessary sound/image events.  
Hope I'm making a little sense, lol.  I suck at trying to explain things...

If someone knows an easier way, please share.
Coogan  

[bbosen]

Can you explain, or post a screenshot, of the controls being obscured? I tried the editor on your settings and didn't have a problem.  However, your ahedmssw.cfg file in your settings folder may be whacked.  That file contains the position and size of the mission editor window as you last changed it.  If you delete the file the size and position will return to the defaults.

- sudz

Sudz: Here's a screenshot showing the editor as displayed on my computer and illustrating a situation with obscured controls:

http://techvideoreview.com/FlightSimMovies/AcesHigh/Ah2Missions/MissionEditor/MissionEditor228aa.JPG

I was editing "Mission Properties". I snapped this picture immediately after renaming a mission to "Macdonald1Japan" (as shown near the top of the image) but I found I could not save my work because there was no visible "OK" or "Continue" or "Save" or "Go" button. Deleting the editor's .cfg file did not help. I worked around this problem on each of my missions by using an older version of the Mission Editor for situations like this.