NOTE: BtS 3.17 Compatibility!

[Dale]

Hi all,

This is the official stance on RtW for BtS Patch 3.17:

Patch 3.17 RtW changes affect the RETAIL version of RtW only. Any Add-on Pack installed will be broken by patch 3.17 and in fact all old and new changes will cause crashes.

To play RtW under patch 3.17 you must have a clean install of BtS (I totally recommend doing a clean BtS install before installing patch 3.17 anyways) and then install patch 3.17.

This will allow you to play RtW under patch 3.17. I am currently working on Add-on Pack 3 which will bring back all the lovely extras incorporated after the Retail version of RtW, as well as some new toys to play with.

Thanks for everyones continued support!
Dale

 

[sangeli]

That sounds great, but I'm wondering what changes you will make for the third add on? Are there going to be major changes or is it going to be much of the same thing but compatible with 3.17?

 

[Dale]

The Add-on for 3.17 will be mostly the same except for the following:

- Stack Attack turned off by default (was causing unexplained crashes).
- Artillery changes (higher cost, no longer immune to other siege).
- Naval cost increases.
- 1936 Global Assault.

So really just fixes to Add-on Pack 2. AOP2 is the game I wanted to design and build, ever since working on Desert War in the vanilla game in 2005.

 

[deanej]

Will the global scenario be included? I remember it being left out of AOP2 because it was too big to convert to 3.13.

 

[Dale]

deanej, see post #3.

- 1936 Global Assault

 

[Fin Imperial]

Any information when are you able to bring AOP3?

 

[Tboy]

Global assault? It's getting better and better...

 

[Laurier]

Any Add-on Pack installed will be broken by patch 3.17

To be certain if you may confirm, this means that applying 3.17 patch before adding Add-On Pack 1 or 2 is good; applying 3.17 patch after adding Add-On Pack 1 or 2 is bad.

I just want to be sure that you didn't mean to say that 3.17 is not going to agree with any Add-On pack in any case. Unless you did.

 

[deanej]

It won't work with the add-ons in any case. RTW has its own DLL, which means that patches break it no matter what.

 

[sangeli]

Dale, have you analyzed why the game crashed so much with the stack attack? I think it is one of the best ideas ever and i'd hate to see it relegated and not improved.

 

[Joe Harker]

Really looking forward to it Dale

 

[Diablo_A1]

Hows come they do not make A.Hitler in the retail version of RTW?

 

[Tboy]

Hows come they do not make A.Hitler in the retail version of RTW?

2 (related) reasons:

1.Could offend some people
2.In Germany (possibly other nations as well) the use of the swastika for non-historical purposes is illegal, and this game's purpose is not primarily historical.

Just DL the Add-on Packs if you want to kill/play as Hitler.

Also, there's a separate thread for questions, thanks.

 

[Chamboozer]

Will the inability to load your save be fixed in Add-On Pack 3? I know you figured out the problem, but did you do it in time for V3?

 

[sangeli]

Hows come they do not make A.Hitler in the retail version of RTW?

Because it could offend people

 

[Diablo_A1]

Because it could offend people

Well considering he really was in power during specific times its hard for me to think how it could offend because it really happened.(if you take that much offense of the game in relation to real history facts then you shouldn't even be playing this game) Anyway I'll stop these questions in this thread..

 

[Dale]

Just to put a "bottom line" to the Hitler / Hirohito questioning, and why they weren't in the official RETAIL versions:

1. Depictions of Hitler and the NSDAP are illegal in Germany and some other European nations.
2. Depictions of Japanese Emporers as cartoons is illegal in Japan (and deemed offensive).

Tojo is apparently also black-banned in Japan. So I took the safe routes of using von Papen (the highest ranking non NSDAP member) and Yamamoto (a Japanese hero of WWII and much respected outside of Japan).

It was that, or not ship. Which would you choose as the designer?

 

[Wolfshanze]

It was that, or not ship. Which would you choose as the designer?

Option-3 (there are ALWAYS other options): Ship it with Hitler and Hirohito in the game and say Germany and Japan are out-of-luck on Civ4 for trying to white-wash history... that's their problem, not the rest of the worlds.

 

[Dale]

Hahaha. I wish that had've been an option.

But, unfortunately I had to bow to the wishes of the Firaxis and 2K management.

This is why I made the add-ons, to address this issue. I feel it's the best compromise.

Game-play wish, there is NO difference in game-play between 3.17 retail and AOP2.

 

[mamba]

1. Depictions of Hitler and the NSDAP are illegal in Germany and some other European nations.
2. Depictions of Japanese Emporers as cartoons is illegal in Japan (and deemed offensive).

Not sure about Japan, but depictions of Hitler definitely are not forbidden in Germany. It is the Nazi symbols (the cross and the SS runes etc.) which may not be used today. But hey, even those appear on TV every once in a while, either in movies or history flicks.

Option-3 (there are ALWAYS other options): Ship it with Hitler and Hirohito in the game and say Germany and Japan are out-of-luck on Civ4 for trying to white-wash history... that's their problem, not the rest of the worlds.

That is not about white-washing history, it is about preventing the propaganda of times past to spread again. Whether this is a sensible decision which helps preventing it is another matter.