Starfire Historical Mod Available (Major Mod)

[unmerged(3215)]

the doubled defense values seems to make it so that strength loss is practically nonexistant.

Yeah -- Been fighting in Poland for 5 days in 1939 and have lost 1800 men. This is in the heaviest combat too -- defense values, or the def eff is now making combat last longer (good), but strength losses must return, otherwise totally broken.

Is this addressed in the new version? (V.5)? I am using 4

[edit -- that sounds like a yes -- saw three posts up suddenly]

Thanks.

 

[unmerged(39625)]

The only way to efefct combat losses is to make more shots go through. This mean that either org must be raised to 200 or to accept battles that last 1-2 hours. Increasing defence has no other effect than removing dogpile syndrome.

 

[Mithel]

Yes, version A5 is a complete rework of the combat system. It should maintain longer combats yet include larger losses.

 

[KungMarkatta]

I dig your work Mithel.

Heres another site that can shed som light upon US resources:

Minerals Yearbook

 

[Mithel]

Thank you very much! Looks like some good data! (now if only we could get this info on every country in the world and yes I already have the League of Nations data).

 

[KungMarkatta]

Thank you very much! Looks like some good data! (now if only we could get this info on every country in the world and yes I already have the League of Nations data).

Yeah, that Minerals Yearbook even tells how much of each resource came from which "province" in the USA... It will be useful.

 

[CharonJr]

Hello, this mod sounds very promising, but I simply can not get it to run.

I downloaded version A5 and tried different things, but none worked (after launching HOIStarfire I can not select any scenario (none is there):

- Copied all files into the "Hearts of Iron 2" directory
- Copied HOIStarfire.exe into the HOI2 directory and made a "Starfire" folder for all the unpacked files under the HoI2 main directory
- HOIStarfire.exe to the HoI2 main directory and the other files in a /Starfire/HoI2 subfolder of the HoI2 main directory

Now I have run out of ideas, any idea what else I might try ?

Using version 1.1 here.

BTW, might this have anything to do with HoI2 begin installed under

C:\Programme\Paradox Interactive\Hearts of Iron 2

might "Programme" instead of "Program Files" be any problem ?

CharonJr

 

[Mithel]

CharonJr, I'm not sure what your problem could be.

If "C:\Programme\Paradox Interactive\Hearts of Iron 2" is where you have your HoI 2 install, then you should copy the HoIStarfire.exe to that same location and you should have a subdirectory:
C:\Programme\Paradox Interactive\Hearts of Iron 2\Starfire
that contains all the Starfire files. Then when you launch HoIStarfire.exe it should effectly run "HoI2.exe Starfire" (i.e. it runs the main HoI2.exe with the directory parameter for the Starfire directory so it can find it's files).

There will only be ONE 1936 campaign to run.

Since you describe no campaigns as available to run, it would seem you have a pathing problem. You probably have the "Starfire" directory but perhaps have everything inside it in another sub-directory?

 

[CharonJr]

Mithel,

hmm,thx for the reply, but from what I can see it looks like the 2nd option I have tried should have been the correct one.

"- Copied HOIStarfire.exe into the HOI2 directory and made a "Starfire" folder for all the unpacked files under the HoI2 main directory"

Might there be a problem when the mod files are in the main directory AND the /Starfire folder ?

CharonJr

PS: unmoded HoI2 still runs perfectly

 

[CharonJr]

Just tried a fresh install (version 1.0.1) and after the the patch to 1.1, both under a "Program Files" instead of "Programme" subfolder, but got the same results. No scenario available at all.

HoIStarfire.exe - C:\Program Files\Paradox Interactive\Hearts of Iron 2
Other files - C:\Program Files\Paradox Interactive\Hearts of Iron 2\Starfire

The only thing I might still try is copying the moded files to their respective folders in a second installation of HoI2. Would I be able to start a GC 36 from the regular HoI2 launcher this way (likely with the other scenarios not being able to work despite being displayed) ?

If this might work, is there any list where which files should be copied ? If there isn't I can still look up where those files are located anyway, but a list would be much faster if one is available

CharonJr

 

[jdrou]

the other files in a /Starfire/HoI2 subfolder of the HoI2 main directory

Assuming this is not a typo then it would be a problem. If HoI2 is installed in "Hearts of Iron 2" then the Starfire files (other than starfire.exe) must be in "Hearts of Iron 2\Starfire" NOT in an HoI2 folder under that. The archive has the files in "HoI2\Starfire" so that may be causing the confusion.

 

[unmerged(38702)]

Now that I found your actual site Mithel I have played over part of the weekend with v.A5 and thought you may be interested in a brief run-down.
Played as Germany, AI Aggressive, normal diff.
The new combat works great. Still hate that my allies (ai) must have great odds to attack, but now at least am certain they can defend so was able to not back them up so much with German troops. Germany IS quite strong in this, but I see that as realistic as they indeed came close to winning the real war early on as well. Czechs denied my demand for Sudetenland(BIG surprise, I never even imagined the possibility, then went in and read the events folder, I like surprises) I decided to take it anyway, then Poland declared war(another surprise) at this time in 1938, it was taking most of my army to defeat a quite strong Czeckoslovakia, but the Polish army after taking 2 border provinces, halted their advance while they started pulling up what looked like a sizeable force.I was already deep into Czech territory, and they offered peace giving me more than I would have gotten had they just agreed to Sudetenland, so I accepted,wheeled my 5 arm. and 8 inf div around, and slammed them into southern Poland.I effectively cut off approx 20 Polish divisions on the German Polish border by coming in behind them.At the last moment it almost seemed the AI figured out my plan,as I saw indications they were pulling back, but I trapped and eliminated 14 inf and 1 armd div.
Long story short, Poland sued for peace soon after as my army was starting to come online.
Now a few notes...my original army has good experience, not too much...loss rates were higher than before, but not terrible high..
Naval combat...I saw your new values, and should help...all I sunk was a Polish transport though, they had no real navy.
Air values...my 6 TAC sqdrns and 3 CAS sqdrns did what I expected of them, they weakened the czech org, then slowed the Poles down long enough for me to swing up and face them.
Land combat is slightly shorter, still plenty of time to move in reserves, etc, and quite realistic.
my german army now,late summer '39 has 11 panzer divisions, 42 inf div,3 mtn div, 2 cav div. and 25 more various divisions in cue that will be complete by summer '40. oil is not a problem, as long as you are careful in movements.

a final note...to the person who posted about mud movement...armor bogs down BADLY in mud, it is not the track vs. tire comparison, it is the weight comparison.

great work mithel, thanks.

 

[Pihlen]

Then explain why HQs move so superfast in mud, faster than any other unit
Is it because they don't weigh as much as an infantry soldier?

 

[Mithel]

As Paradox has them modeled, HQs are both foot and truck units (depending on which model you have) but they only have one "mud" modifier for the HQs... thus do you penalize them as if they were motorized or as if they were leg units?

I'm tempted to make all HQs "motorized" and adjust the speed and penalties to match. Is there any reason an early war HQ wouldn't be motorized? My guess is that of all military units the HQ is going to end up actually getting priority for having trucks.

 

[unmerged(38702)]

As Paradox has them modeled, HQs are both foot and truck units (depending on which model you have) but they only have one "mud" modifier for the HQs... thus do you penalize them as if they were motorized or as if they were leg units?

I'm tempted to make all HQs "motorized" and adjust the speed and penalties to match. Is there any reason an early war HQ wouldn't be motorized? My guess is that of all military units the HQ is going to end up actually getting priority for having trucks.

Quite correct. The way to do this is ordering them to move AFTER ordering your slower units. Most transport assets generally are attached to division and higher levels as it is, then spread down through the formation, not spread up. And yes a HQ unit SHOULD be more organised, as well as a lighter transport load, equalling more(potentially) speed. As it stands, even now, but more so 50+yrs ago, armor is great on hard, flat surfaces, the less hard, the less flat, you should pay a stiff penalty as far as movement. It brings a tradeoff, because it gives greater firepower. But throughout the history of armored warfare till now, it has been possible to channel the superior mobility of tanks, and for a smart general to know where they may arrive from, and a smarter?or dumber?general depending how the gamble goes, to choose to try his hand by testing a less advantageous terrain.

 

[unmerged(40548)]

Version A5 of the Starfire Historical Mod is available at:
http://www.mnstarfire.com/ww2/hoi/hoimain.html

Feedback would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy.

Hi

I like your mod but I have a question if it is compatibile with DPAIM pack (4 nations included). I tried to use DPAIM mode together with Star Fire and apparently it worked technically (no ctd, no errors). But there were some problems with German and Soviet ai. Germans just declared war on Belgium right after they finished with Poland (end of september) and they didnt' atack untli April 1940 so allies could easily reinforce. Morover the SU dowed Germany in 1939 or early 1940 - I observed it in 3 or 4 handsoff games.


Regards
Aditione

 

[Mithel]

Other people have mentioned this too. I hope to look over DAIM to see if I can spot the most important improvements they have made to include them in Starfire.

Unfortunately because DAIM modifies the game directly rather than being a moddir implementation it can potentially do changes that a moddir implementation can't (hopefully Paradox will fix moddir soon). Just trying to flat out mix Starfire and DAIM may result in some improvements but it might also create some issues.

 

[Spocky]

Hi

I like your mod but I have a question if it is compatibile with DPAIM pack (4 nations included). I tried to use DPAIM mode together with Star Fire and apparently it worked technically (no ctd, no errors). But there were some problems with German and Soviet ai. Germans just declared war on Belgium right after they finished with Poland (end of september) and they didnt' atack untli April 1940 so allies could easily reinforce. Morover the SU dowed Germany in 1939 or early 1940 - I observed it in 3 or 4 handsoff games.


Regards
Aditione

This was a bug in the DAIM package and G'Kar will provide a fix soon.

Spocky

 

[Mikematotski]

Mikematotski, the only place defended hits blocking is "broken" is in misc.txt. We can't mod it there since the game doesn't appear to actually read and use that variable. However I have found another place to mod it (it's just about 100 times more work!). So tomorrow I'll have combat and units completely reworked. (but will probably refine the values at least once more after that) There will be more damage and we will need to test and judge it after these changes to see what further refinements are needed.

There are some other issues I need to put some time into too.

Hi Mithel

I like your work on this, but I have some questions. About the battle system it lookes that the calculation system is not WAD I think. This is of course VERY bad, defended hits blocking is for sure "broken" in the misc.txt, it seemes to have no influence on the battles at all.
I dont know if Paradox is going to fix this ? (Ì really hope so, I dont know if you have heard anything i that direction, Mithel) !!

But what's the different in your way to put Ground defence in the INC files insteed of keeping them in the misc files ? Does it do any difference to calculation in the battles ?

About the brigades, I think they should have higher cost and be much more powerful to make them useable. If you look at the brigades so they are in general made up by very expensive material as heavy guns etc and the firepower is of single brigade id very high compared to manpower.

One remark about the paratroppers, my belive is that this cost for both transport planes and partroopers unit should stay high as paradox vanilla. This becouse we shouldn't have the possible to overuse this type of units. Its to easy to grab provinces in the game with them. If they had made paratroopers so that they couldn't themself conquer provinces it would ok, but not now.

Keep in touch....

Capotain Jack
The force may be with you...

 

[Mithel]

Yes, the difference between putting ground_def_eff in each INC file vs using the variable in misc.txt is that it actually works in the INC files.

In my opinion the way I have paratroopers now works very well. Sure you can "take" a province with them - that represents the paratroopers capturing important bridges, etc. But one or two paratrooper brigades/regiments are not going to be able to hold a province (counter attack by a couple divisions should wipe them out). How else would you do them?