Shortly after CUP's initial release I went digging in the SFS files and found that there are some resources in the MME archives which would be better placed in WAW. These included planes, cockpits, sounds, ground vehicles, ships, etc. I mentioned this in a
post or two at the time but, understandably, they were not noticed. So I set about hunting and fixing small bugs and released a couple of JSGME addons which were incorporated into subsequent WAW updates. Then I stepped away from the forum for a while due to real life stuff and returned at the end of Jan 2016. I got caught up to WAW20 and found that some of the same issues from a year earlier were still coming up on the forum.
Then I saw
vlara's post and Monty's generally positive response to it. I was in contact with Monty around this time and he invited me to help test some stuff for an upcoming WAW update but I have not heard anything on it since and he hasn't been active on the forum since mid-May. I put it on the back burner for a bit because I was working with sniperton on some DCG-related stuff and in the course of that work I uncovered some more small bugs in WAW and so I came back to the idea of streamlining WAW and getting the issues sorted.
I think there is around 11GB of disk space to be saved if we really get busy with the pruning shears and there are some issues that are simple to fix but cause serious performance problems that can be dealt with. I set to my task and have the stuff ready to test, which I called WAW20 Drained. I have contacted Monty again by pm telling him of my progress.
Here is a list of the issues I found:
Bugs and missing resources:
- Version of VisualMod 8 and 9 in initial CUP release causes CTD when activated and aircrew bail out (fixed if JSGME Restore Point CUP installed).
- Version of Ship Extension Mod in WAW has bug regarding guns still firing while sinking
- Some ships in WAW (circa 30) do not have the sailor_dis, marina_dis, mariM_dis mats and associated texture resulting in severe performance drops when these ships sink
- PWS-26 is missing sounds resulting in hang when trying to use this plane
- Missing British, Russian, Finnish and Dutch weapons affecting planes including Fokker CX/CXP, Vildebeest and Stranraer
- Small errors in cod files or inappropriate version of class files resulting in some loadouts being non-functional or missing from DreamK's Torps and Mines mod.
- Duplicate loadouts for some planes due to weapons being registered in both class and cod file.
- Dead Studebecker truck model is positioned above ground.
- Around 75 ships have classes in WAW but no 3d model or ini entries.
Typos, invalid entries, duplicates in technics.ini file:
- Duplicate entries (some with different properties) for M2A1_105mm, ValentineII, MatildaMkII_UK, MatildaMkII_AU, M4A2, M4A2_US, M4A2_76W, M4A2_76W_US, HoRo_MG, Tatra_OA30, Coelian (3), SU76
- Missing FireFastTargets 1 entry for BA64, FAIM, LVT-2, M8_Greyhound, HoRo_MG, SdKfz251, Nimrod, DemagFlak, SdKfz6Flak37, OpelBlitzMaultierAA, Wirbelwind, ZIS5_AA, MaximeGAZ, M3A1_APC, M16, M16_US,
- Invalid path in MeshDesert for M5A1Stuart, WillisMBt, WillisMBt_US, M1_ATG_57mm
- Invalid path in MeshDesertDamage for M1_ATG_57mm, Chevrolet_flatbed_US
- Invalid path in MeshWinter for GAZ_55
- Invalid path in MeshWinterDamage for BMW_MGr, Chevrolet_flatbed_US
- Invalid path in MeshSummerDamage for Katyusha, Chevrolet_flatbed_US
- Invalid Soldiers value for AustinAmb and Firetruck
- Typo in MeshDesertDamage for OpelBlitz6700A_radio, WillisMBt, WillisMBt_US
Typos, invalid entries, duplicates in chief.ini file:
- Default army value for these vehicles should be 1 - AustinAmb, Firetruck, Matador, Matador_Flatbed, TilleyArmy, TilleyRAF, Dodge34, QuadTractor, TilleyTowingATC, QuadTowingFuelBowser, Bedford_Flatbed
Typos, invalid entries, duplicates in stationary.ini file:
- Default army value for Farm_Sound has a typo
Typos, invalid entries, duplicates in ships.ini file:
- Missing strength_HullEnormNagato and strength_HullBang sections (alternatively change HullBang to HullMedium)
Performance/Gameplay related:
- Unoptimised mat values and heavy textures for vehicles can result in fps drop in target rich environments
- Unoptimised LOD values can result in vehicles disappearing too soon.
I think 20 parts is a nice round number to have a look back at how much good work has been done and maybe focus a little more on optimisiation, maintenance and bug-squashing for the next phase.
Moe