New Release: SEOW v7.3

[IV/JG7_4Shades]

It has been a long time coming, but we are excited to announce that SEOW v7.3 is finally here! The new release is compatible with the following titles:

1. HSFX v7.0.3 and TD v4.12.2 versions of IL2 Sturmovik (FB+PF+1946)
   ARMA 2 Operation Arrowhead CBA v1.0.1.196 merged with Iron Front v1.13

I will be uploading the release files shortly.

SEOW v7.3 continues with and refines the meta-campaigning concept successfully introduced in v7.2. The data structures used to support meta-campaigning have been overhauled in v7.3 to provide full tracking of all individual ground crew across the IL2 and Iron Front worlds. In practice, this means that the health, ammunition, location and behavioural status of each individual soldier is tracked and reproduced from mission to mission. End one mission as an injured driver in a half-track behind a barn, and you will start the next mission injured driving the same halftrack behind the same barn, facing the same direction. All soldiers, no matter their roles, are tracked explicitly.

There have been many changes, fixes and improvements made to SEOW over the18 months since the previous release. Here is a list of some of the changes:

DMT v2.0 (Meta-Map Builder)
*) Updated factory buildings in .pew files; improved handling of intersections for rail and highway.
*) Enhanced addVenue to include more descriptive building names (Brandle)
*) Topographic roughness support - based on Venusian terrain
*) Building damage level integration
*) Improved elevation mapping in Gray/16 colorspace - greater fidelity with IL2 terrain relief
*) Automatic support for rivers/lakes/coasts - morphological erosion models
*) Automatic support for bridge placements, according to SEDB highways/railways data. Bridges may be static or dynamic (damage according to Bridges table data)
*) Performance improvements to reduce map generation time
*) Automatic generation of airbase runways with correct alignment and smooth airfield terrain/surroundings
*) Revised road networks, now optionally based directly on SEDB highways/railways data rather than texture maps
*) Support for extra road models
*) Revised coordinate transforms
*) Updated GUI tool

Meta Engine v2.0 (Mission Builder and Log Analyzer)
*) Spy support and placement in missions
*) Freight scripting in missions
*) Added SEOW post-processing effects and title text to MM init.sqf file
*) Support for new meta tables in SEDB
*) Added snow module (WeatherParticleManager)
*) SEOW handler script for vehicle destruction in missions
*) Improved init.sqf and briefing.sqf to ensure that briefings are written for every player after a TeamSwitch (Scannon)
*) Improved MM coding to support map titles containing space characters
*) Added auto-coding to convert obsballoons into binocular-enabled scout officers in MM-BuildMissions.php
*) Revised unit stance and behaviour settings to increase combat effectiveness and to reduce headlights at night.
*) Updated sqf files to use getPosATL and someAmmo() calls for greater unit status reporting
*) Corrected handling of damage/health, supply and ammo status for CU units in MM tools
*) Bridge support extended to metal, wooden and stone examples from A2
*) Corrected _role function in save.sqf
*) Auto-generation of aircraft fly-by traverses to add atmosphere to missions (Brandle)
*) Parked airframes at airbases, depending on actual OOB data from SEDB
*) Revised logic for placement of HighCommand colonels
*) Added vehicle mount/dismount tracking to ensure soldier status is logged and reproduced

MP v7.3.0
*) Revised MP-News sector listing (Dore)
*) Made Army reinforcement unit selector sensitive to object class (VARP_Thor)
*) Added secret/concealed airbases and industrials (Kopfdorfer)
*) Extracted DMT default parameters into MP-DMTparams.js file for easier configuration
*) Added tool to adjust balloon heights for observation and barrage balloon units (Kopfdorfer)
*) Added active status to metamap text in MP-Head.js
*) added toggle metamaps to context menu in MP-Head.js (Tanker)
*) Corrected display of (X,Y) location (rounding) in MP-Head.js
*) Corrected railway station targeting bug (Thor)
*) Partial UI improvement of barrager selection (Badger)
*) Allowed freighted HQ units to draw HQ radius circles (Kopfdorfer)
*) Added speed to unit tooltips (Brandle)
*) DMZ width now a campaign setting in SEDB
*) Added Freight tool reset on selectID()
*) corrected DMZ number caste in isRouteNearbyDMZ() in MP-Head.js (Badger, Scannon)
*) Four updated object images from Badger
*) HQ units without supply now do not show HQ range circles (Scannon)
*) Initialized $totalFuel variable in MP-NUCommit.php
*) Fixed up DMZ->MM movement transition
*) Also added new StandardAzimuth() function to MP-Misc.php
*) Added meta-health indicators for unit displays
*) Cleaned up html output for ajax status in MP-UnitWithdraw.php
*) Added detailed partial ship damage event display to Stats mission details page (Thor)
*) Updated MP-News.php to handle secret airbases etc (JP, Tabarnak)
*) Added new unit tooltip display icons for detailed crew/apparatus listings

SEDCS v7.3.0
*) Re-ordered Web Service calls to ensure that IF results are applied before resupplying units, updating morale, control etc
*) Fixed submarine state confusion and target mapping problems that were preventing scramblers being activated by signallers (Thor)
*) Corrected handling of aircraft signallers (Tabarnak) and AI recon photos from cancelled/overrun flights (Dore)
*) Significant revisions to handle new database structures/tables for meta-campaigning
*) Added display of Meta_DMZ_Width parameter to front screen

SEDB73
*) Renamed Meta_IF44_Combined_Units to Meta_IF44_Unit_Definitions - restructured table and revised data sets
*) Deleted Meta_Bridge_Offsets, Meta_UNM, Meta_Unit_Status tables
*) Added Meta_Forces table
*) Added support for NewWeapons and R71 Iron Front mod objects (Badger)
*) Minor corrections in Object_Specifications etc

After all these changes I am confident that we have a meta-campaigning system that is persistent and conforms to the "literal" style of SEOW. I am looking forward to some solid testing and scenario play in the coming months. Many thanks to all who have helped with ideas and testing for this release.

[IV/JG7_4Shades]

A compendium of upgrades/patches released, as listed below:

MP v7.3.203
*) DMT: Reduced clutter distances in template config.cpp to avoid game crash with "rendering buffer too small" error on SEOW maps with many trees etc.
*) MM: Updated actions web pages; added seow_map_click.sqf to support greater functions for colonels in the map view in-game.
*) MM: Improved handling of barrages from off-map weapons - needed changes in sqf/save.sqf to write barrage supply records to log file.
*) MM: Added random non-detection feature in mine clearance script seow_tool_defuse_APATmines.sqf (Brandle)
*) MM: Added support to optionally disable Teamswitch menu in meta-missions (Brandle)
*) MM: Enhanced SEOW sounds for meta-missions, including different mortar flight sounds and the KIA sound (SEOW_sounds_v0.5 addon)). Randomized selection of flight sounds for barrage projectiles in MM-BuildMissions.php and corrected KIA handling in event.sqf
*) MM: Added optional logic to event.sqf to play a KIA sound file whenever a soldier dies in the mission.
*) MM: Remove civilians from seow_tool_known.sqf
*) MM: Extended seowkeyhandler.sqf to optionally disable IFA2 Teamswitch menu via T key. Y and U keys still operate.
*) MM: Corrected release seowkeyhandler.sqf to remove "branch A" debug message and added informational hint for "T" key
*) MM: Radio broadcast feature for Colonels, including set up of radio broadcast receiver, control menu, destruction etc
*) MM: Improved seow_tool_health.sqf, now uses formatted list for all team members
*) MM: Implementation of target list "2" disabler in seowkeyhandler.sqf (Brandle)
*) MM: Added logic to MM-ForcesCheck.php to support capturable objects (Scannon)
*) MM: Corrected isObserverNear() function and barrage azimuth calculation in MM-BuildMissions.php
*) MM: Enhanced fleeing model in MM-BuildMissions.php to handle per-soldier calculation (Brandle)
*) MM: Altered logic of FAW scripts to allow units with an FO soldier within them (not just in the lead position) to trigger FAW operations.
*) MM: MM-MissionBuilder.php: Removed event handlers from camp objects to prevent warning messages occurring in IF logs.
*) MM: Improved handling of unit coordinates and unit placements in meta maps especially where units are swapping between meta maps.
*) MM: MM-BuildMissions.php: Improved placement of IF units using IL2 world coordinates when required, now centred on OMD coordinates, which seem to be offset from MF member coordinates sometimes. Cosmetic debug changes in MM-AnalyzeLog.php
*) MM: Added randomizer code to barrage triggers to ensure that flight sounds are randomly selected per shell in meta-missions, in MM-BuildMissions.php
*) MM: Corrected indexing bug in MM-BuildMissions.php that reported errors when re-centering crew of partially destroyed unit in new meta-maps.
*) MP: Added extra metadata info to MP-DBUpdater.php patch function exemplar.
*) MP: Added Ajax interface for commanders to toggle activation of meta-maps
*) MP: Added admin-only tool for minefield construction.
*) MP: Corrected broken SQL for flight GroupMissionData query in MP-NUCommit.php; amended MM and DMZ logic for assessing route validity in inactive metamaps and associated DMZ in MP-Head.js. Now, properly, inactive metamaps provide no barrier for unit movement or relocation.
*) MP: Corrected valid flight paths through inactive DMZ (Scannon)
*) MP: Added a new MP tool MP-MissionTimer.php for generating a random mission duration and counting it down to completion (Brandle).
*) Stats: Corrected usage of PHP "each" function in MP-MissionDetails.php, via stats_functions.php, overall effect is to correct problems in Material Losses, Aircrew Assignments and IPKC tables; improved counting of soldier casualties in Points Gained table via meta action SQL queries; rebalanced soldier points values via MP-StatisticsMetadata.php parameter values.
*) Stats: Removed errant key-value-next calls in MP-CumulativeLosses.php arising from deprecation of each function in PHP.


DCS v7.3.23
*) Improved the Barrage Resistance code in modSupply.vb to ensure that armour gets an increased resistance for all cases.
*) Corrected modUtilities.subStoreMF() to correctly handle current group data.
*) Finalized barrage scheduling feature (Brandle)
*) Adjusted MM-BuildMissions.php to handle TF waypoints appropriately in meta missions (Brandle); also required a demotion of the meta web service call (to MM-AnalyzeLog.php) in DCS basMissionBuilder.subResolveLastMission() until after TF positions were updated during the Analyze phase.
*) Added extra status calls for airbases, railway stations and industrial installations when initializing campaigns in modMissionAnalyzer.vb (Scannon)
*) Improved handling of unit coordinates and unit placements in meta maps especially where units are swapping between meta maps. Improved transfer of meta forces into the next campaign mission and then storage into Meta_Forces table.

SEDB v75d
*) Structure update 75a: Added GAttack_Schedule column to ObjMissionData table and Barrage_Time_Delay column to Campaign_Settings table to support new barrage timing feature.
*) Structure update 75b: Added MM_Disable_Teamswitch_Menu column to Meta_Battlefield_Settings table to support new teamswitch visible/hidden feature
*) Structure update 75c: Added MM_Play_KIA_Sound column to Meta_Battlefield_Settings table to support new "Hunger Games" feature
*) Structure update 75d: Added MM_Disable_Target_List column to Meta_Battlefield_Settings table to support new night-time difficulty feature