Campaign Editor - Please Help

[georgeles]

I mentioned this in my "newby questions" thread. But it's getting to be frustrating. I cannot even open a campaign to edit.

1. When I open the "Campaign Editor" from the file CampEditor.exe, what does open says "Scenario Editor" at the top left. And it does, in fact, seem to be the very same program that I've successfully used to edit scenarios. Is this right? Or is it the source of the problem.

2. When I do try to use it to open a campaign file (any of the 4 standard ones, I've tried them all)

 a, I usually get a "not responding" with the blue circle. What should I do about this.
 
 b. I HAVE  gotten what seems to be a standard scenario editing screen. Is this what I should see? Again, it is identical to what the scenario editor looks like. Not just similar, identical.

 c. What I wanted to try was just to change the reinforcement schedule (HMS Queen Elizabeth, which seems to suffer a typo in the original, 1916 for 1915.) Just to see how that works. And it seems I cannot do that. At least, it's not apparent. And this seems a simple place to start, and then grow from there. Any suggestions?

I have read the warning about its difficulty. I get that, and don't expect much in the way of results. I just want to try it to see what I can learn. That's the only way I can see to come to understand it.

Thanks

EDIT: I do find a "ShipReinforcement" number in the .cam file. But it doesn't seem to translate into a specific date. I thought it might, as it first appeared it might. So, how to change the date? And I cannot find a "reinforcement file". Only sections in the campaign and save files. 

2nd EDIT: Got it on the date. I see it's based on the Julian Date. Changed QE's #5985 to 5627, and it gives 5/28/15, which is the date given in Jellicoe's Grand Fleet. But you apparently cannot do it with the Campaign Editor. So I wonder, now that I've at least gotten it open, exactly what can I and can I not do? Is there a discussion I've not found that goes further in than the 2 manual versions (online and the one included?)

[cv10]

Hello Georgeles,

I'm not sure why you're having this issue. I've found the campaign editor to be rather fickle in terms of getting it to work. I've had edited files get lost due to an error when saving (moral of story: make backups of everything before you save, and save frequently)

1. The campaign editor does indeed say "scenario editor" at the top when you open it up.

2. When you having the campaign editor running, are you clicking "load scenario" or clicking "File" and selecting "load campaign"? I'm sorry if these seems like a silly question, but I got tripped up by this the first time I tried to use the campaign editor.

A. If you're trying to load a campaign and you get the "not responding" and blue circle, wait an extra minute or two to see if it will finish loading. I've seen this happen with the campaigns: if I click or move the mouse around, it will get marked as "not responding" but if I leave it alone, it usually finishes loading.

B. This is what a campaign loaded into the editor looks like:

C. It is possible for you to edit such things using the campaign editor. You find the ship's location in the OOB and can edit it from there. 

I hope this helps.

[georgeles]

OK, I'm getting a little bit done. Can you get away with extending the end date beyond 11/11/18. I can see where it is in the .cam file, and it says 6890, which is right, by using the last reinforcement for the RN (HMS Wryneck on 11/4). Would this break it?

Frankly, aside from the idea of a 1919 campaign, I've always felt that end dates should be somewhat randomized, to get rid of the "I have just one more month to hold out/smash them" effect.

[cv10]

You can put the end date beyond 11/11/18. IIRC the Arena of Steel mod goes into 1919.

[georgeles]

OK, I've made some progress. A very little. I have two questions now.

1. When I add a ship, it often gets a warning that she has zero endurance. But I see nowhere to edit this. The fuel shows 100%.

2. I can't figure out how to get to show up as reinforcements.

a. The notes refer to a "date picker" but I cannot find that in the editor. What is it? The only thing I can think of is to edit the .cam file.

b. But that doesn't work. When I look at the file I saved, there is no reinforcement date listed. Actually, the last 5 lines are missing, InPlay, Reinforcement, RepairTime, Mine capacity, and PictureName. This applies to ALL ships, not just the ones I tried to change.

c. When I load, and check reinforcements, there are none whatosoever. Just withdrawals and subs. So what happened here?

I'm trying to start small. I tried to break off the RN's W class from the Vs, as the former had 6 TT instead of 4. I also was trying to add a Revenge17 type, to which Ramillies is completed, with bulges. Also including upgrades (as done to Resolution and Revenge during the war). But it doesn't work. I also tried adding the Scott/Shakespeare class.

BTW, why do 21" torpedoes get rated as 18"? Also, does it make a difference in-game whether a ship is given oil instead of coal? The former types still get "clean grates" messages.

Thanks.

[vonfriedman]

I answer based on what I remember of my similar difficulties with the campaign editor in creating my Mediterranean campaingns.
Regarding point 1, I noticed that it is necessary to indicate "set fuel to full" through the OOB at the level of Rear Admiral and perhaps also of the individual divisions.
With regard to reinforcements, I have limited myself to indicating the dates of appearance of the ships sent as reinforcement or recently built. I noticed that during the campaign game these ships were correctly listed as reinforcements, along with the ships that were provisionally retired and then put back into play according to the .crf file.

[georgeles]

May 24, 2021 8:27:08 GMT -6 vonfriedman said:

I answer based on what I remember of my similar difficulties with the campaign editor in creating my Mediterranean campaingns.
Regarding point 1, I noticed that it is necessary to indicate "set fuel to full" through the OOB at the level of Rear Admiral and perhaps also of the individual divisions.
With regard to reinforcements, I have limited myself to indicating the dates of appearance of the ships sent as reinforcement or recently built. I noticed that during the campaign game these ships were correctly listed as reinforcements, along with the ships that were provisionally retired and then put back into play according to the .crf file.

Thanks, but one thing I don't see is HOW you set the dates of appearances. The only thing I can do is change, manually, the campaign files in Notepad. But that doesn't seem to be what is indicated. I can find nothing in the Editor to pick the date. What am I missing?

[vonfriedman]

To set the date of appareance of reinforcements you must:
Run Campaign Editor
I assume that you have already compiled the Order of Battle, if not you must do so, assigning your ships to a Rear Admiral and a Squadron commander.
Thereafter each ship will appear in the OOB under the flag of RA and/or of Squadron.
Edit the ship that must appear as reinforcement at a certain date.
The screen should look as in the enclosed image.
Enter the date of appearance as reinforcement (do'nt mind the date in my screen example: it is purely fictitious). The box "In play" must be kept blank.

[georgeles]

Thanks. I was feeling dumb for missing that until I tried. That field does not show when I click Add (or Edit). There's nothing in the SE corner of the popup. Everything else is there.

I'm not sure what you mean by compiling the OB. Or what it means to "[assign] your ships to a Rear Admiral and a Squadron commander." Again, I cannot find anything that says that, or anything that seems to look like it.

Note, I am trying to add to existing scenarios. Mostly Germany Stronger, but I've tried with AoS. Nothing works. (There are other things I can't find, BTW, such as "Fix campaign 0,0". I've checked every dropdown. Isn't there, that I can find.)

[vonfriedman]

Maybe you have to go back to the basics. The campaign editor is not too different from the scenario editor, which is illustrated by its manual.

[georgeles]

There are no illustrations in the copy of the Campaign Editor that I have up online. It's what I get when I click on the file under "Manuals". Where do I find this copy you refer to?

[vonfriedman]

I got my SAI scenario editor manual when I downloaded the game after buying it.

[williammiller]

All the manuals for SAI can be downloaded from this thread if needed: nws-online.proboards.com/thread/3/steam-iron-information-updates

[georgeles]

Those links open the pages online. I have it open, and have throughout. (No illustrations.) I checked it, along with the Campaign Editor Manual before asking these questions. I do not see what the screenshot above shows; no date field. And I cannot find in either manual, or the editor, anything about assigning ships, or compiling.

And, BTW, I reinstalled everything before asking these questions.

[williammiller]

I believe there has been some miscommunication: When vonfriedman said "The campaign editor is not too different from the scenario editor, which is illustrated by its manual" I believe that what he meant with his use of 'illustrated' in this context was that the campaign editor and the scenario editor manuals are similar in content, not that they have actual 'illustrations' in them.