PEOPLE'S GENERAL MODIFICATIONS
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SUMMARY


VERSION 2.7a	(REDBALL) BETA RELEASE  April 15, 2004

This release can be installed within your existing Peoples General folder.  It wont replace any existing files.  The EXE file has been modified to call the 026 versions of each file described in the "Version 2.6" section below. 

The following modified files are required parts of this release and included within the ZIP:
	PEG027x.EXE		(new version of PEOPLES.EXE)
	GUI026.TXT		(new version of GUI97.TXT specifically for PEG26.EXE & higher)
	MISC026.txt		(new version of MISC.TXT specifically for PEG26.EXE & higher)
	INFOICN2.S16		(a substitute for INFOICON.s16 in MODGEN.DAT)
	BUTTON2.S16		(a substitute for BUTTONS.s16 in MODGEN.DAT)
	PeG 2.7 Update.txt	(detailed description of the current & past mods)
	PeG 2.7 Read Me.txt	(this file)


16) Enabled PeG to display any video format playable by Quicktime



VERSION 2.6f	(REDBALL) BETA RELEASE  April 4, 2004

5) Modified movement rates tables
 
6) Added correct captions for all 12 movement types
 
7) Changed the movement type icons to show movement groups (VEHICLE, LEG, AIR, SEA)
 
8) New break points for high score ranks
 
9) Modified prestige percentage range and captions
 
10) Modified the costs of veteran and elite units
 
11) Changed the date range allowed in Scenario Builder to +1 to +127 from base year.
 
12) "Bridging" attachment renamed as "River Assault"
 
13) "Combat Support" Special Equipment  renamed as "Deploy & Supply"
 
14) Attachments modified.

15) Corrected the "Eastern Loss" problem


VERSION 2.55	(MADMAN)
4) *55 Countries


VERSION 2.2	(I DON'T KNOW WHO TO CREDIT ON THIS)
3)  *Base year =1900 instead of 2000   ()


VERSION 2.1	(JEFF VARNES)
2)  No Alliances


VERSION 2.0	(NARAYAN SENGUPTA & MARK KIRBY)
1) *New equipment file
 




*  This modification is not included in version 2.6

 MODIFICATIONS DETAILS


1)  *NEW EQUIPMENT FILE   (Narayan Sengupta and Mark Kirby)

Narayan and Mark made the first new equipment file (actually EQUIP97.EQP which contains the parameters for each unit and EQUIP97.TXT which contains the names for each unit.)

As far as I know, Madman created the first publicly available modification of the PeG e-file. That opened the door for a lot of people to explore the e-file further.  However, his e-file was essentially an add-on patch and somewhat cumbersome to use rather than a direct file replacement.  I think it was less widely used than the e-files which Narayan and Mark have made, so Im calling theirs PeG 2.0.

Narayan and Mark also created the first new GUI97 file.


2)  NO ALLIANCES

The original "No Alliances" version actually has the USA and China as the sole members of the Western and Eastern alliances respectively.  One can also make a true "No Alliances" version with no countries in either of the alliances.  

Jeff Varnes originally cracked the location of the alliances table in the PEOPLES.EXE file.

Any member of the Western Alliance  can purchase elite units:  2 gold bars which start with 200 experience points.  All other countries  members of the Eastern Alliance as well as non-aligned countries  are limited to regular (green bar/0 experience points at start) and veteran (silver bar/100 experience points).


3)  *BASE YEAR =1900   (I don't know who to credit with this modification.)

The base year in PeG was originally 2000.  This modification uses the year 1900 instead.  Years in the equipment file as well as in the SCN files only use a single byte (values of 0-255) which are then added to the base year.  In the original game, equipment and scenarios can span 2000-2255.  

Scenario designers have been interested in using PeG as a platform for WW2 and even WW1 combat.  The 



4)  *55 COUNTRIES

Madman aka D10 made the 55 country modification.


5)  MOVEMENT RATES TABLE

The Movement Rates Table determines how many points are required by each Movement Type to move into a hex of a particular Terrain Type.

Two new movement types have been added replacing unused ones.   Four new terrain types have been created.  Minor changes have been made in the rates for other Movement & Terrain Types.  I have made an Excel 2000 workbook that shows the whole new Movement Rates Table as well as the original one.  It includes tools for quickly comparing the new and old movement rates overall, for specific movement types or for specific terrain types.


Movement Types

The new MRT replaces two unused Movement Types  Towed and Naval  with Light Tracked (for smaller tanks & other light tracked vehicles) and Guerrilla (for irregular troops relying on leg movement or haphazard vehicle use).   

Towed is not particularly useful in PeG since there are no separate transport vehicles as in PG2.  

Naval rates in PeG were exactly the same as Deep Naval and Coastal.  Its possible that SSI originally intended the Naval movement rate to be strictly for submarines.  This would parallel the movement rates used by Pacific General.  However, unlike PacGen, PeG has no submerged status for submarines.

Light Tracked is capable of movement on terrains which are prohibited to Tracked (Main Battle Tanks) or which significantly slow MBTs.  

Guerrilla is slower than Leg in open terrain (Clear,  Airfield, & Roads) and urbanized areas (City, Dense Urban & Port).  It is faster than both Leg and even Ranger in Forest, Jungle & Mountain terrains to reflect the local knowledge and expertise of indigenous troops.  I suggest that it be used in new e-files for cheap versions of Ranger units:  excellent mobility under cover but relatively low fire power.

To the best of my knowledge no units in the original PeG equipment file or Narayans version 2.9 e-file are affected by these changes.  It should be fairly simple to use these new movement types in new e-files.

The complete list of Movement Types (new ones starred):
 0 - Tracked
 1 - Half-Tracked
 2 - Wheeled
 3 - Leg
 4 - *Light Tracked  (formerly Towed)
 5 - Air
 6 - Deep Naval
 7 - Coastal
 8 - All Terrain-Vehicle
 9 - Amphibious
10- *Guerrilla  (formerly Naval)
11-  Ranger


Terrain Types

The new MRT also replaces two Terrain Types  Rice Fields and Lake Regions  with Agricultural  (for fields with crops in season) and Coastal Waters (for ocean adjacent to land).  It also redefines a third  Fortification  as Dense Urban (for city centers).   A fourth terrain  Swamp  was renamed as Wetlands but it retains essentially the same movement characteristics as in the original.

Rice Fields, Lake Regions & Swamp had exactly the same movement rates so they were combined into the new terrain type "Wetlands".  (Actually there was a single difference between all three which appeared to be an error not a meaningful distinction.)

Dense Urban has similar movement rates to the original Fortification terrain type.  I renamed it to encourage scenario designers to think about the core of urban areas as fortified zones:  large concrete and steel buildings impede movement, block lines of sight, interfere with communications and limit artillery fire.

The complete list of Terrain Types (new ones starred):
 0 - Clear
 1 - City
 2 - Airfield
 3 - Forest
 4 - Jungle
 5 - Hill
 6 - Mountain
 7 - Sand
 8 - *Wetlands
 9 - Ocean
10- River
11- *Dense Urban  (formerly Fortification)
12- Port
13- Stream
14- Escarpment
15- Impassable River
16- Rough
17- Lake
18- *Agricultural (formerly Rice Fields)
19- *Coastal Waters (formerly Lake Region)
20- Roads
(Roads are part of the Movement Rates table even though they are an overlay terrain type  that is they are placed over another type of terrain  rather than being an independent terrain type.)


6) CORRECT CAPTIONS FOR ALL 12 MOVEMENT TYPES

PeG, like PG2, has 12 movement types.  All of these types work.  They can be set and used in the equipment files and each type provides different movement rates over different terrains.

However, in the original game only 5 of those movement types were captioned properly.  Tracked was used as the caption for Tracked, Half-Tracked, Towed, Deep Naval, Coastal, Naval, Amphibious and Ranger movement types.  Players with the original PeG had to remember whether the movement rates for each type of unit.

This modification to the EXE file and GUI97 uses correct captions for all 12 movement types.  See the description above of the Movement Rates Table.


7)  CHANGED THE MOVEMENT TYPE ICONS TO SHOW MOVEMENT GROUPS 
 
The 12 movement types only have 4 different icons.  In the original game, these 4 icons were confusing.  As with the captions, the Tracked icon was used for some movement types that were not land vehicles or even land-based, much less actually tracked units.

Each movement type now has an icon showing a particular group:
Vehicle Group	(Tracked, Half-Tracked, Wheeled, Light Tracked &  All Terrain-Vehicle)
Leg Group	(Leg, Guerrilla, Ranger)
Air	(Air)
Sea Group	(Deep Naval, Coastal & Amphibious)
The Vehicle Group uses a wheeled truck icon so that it is distinct from the tracked and wheeled icons previously used.  The Leg Group uses the original leg icon.


8)  NEW BREAK POINTS FOR HIGH SCORE RANKS

The ranks obtained at the end of a campaign are determined by settings in the EXE file.
	Original Values
		Field Marshal: 226-300 points	(75 point range)
		General: 176-225 points		(50 point range)
		Colonel: 0-175 points			(175 point range)

The range for General seems too small at 50 points compared to the very wide range for Colonel  and somewhat larger range for Field Marshal.

	New values:
		Field Marshal: 251-300 points 	(50 point range)
		General: 151-250 points 		(100 point range)
		Colonel: 0-150 points 			(150 point range)

With these new scoring ranges 
	Field Marshall = 	the majority of results are BV; for longer campaigns 1 or 2 losses 
	General = 		the majority of results are V
	Colonel = 		successfully completing any campaign with any results

There are only two cut points so only three possible outcome ranges and zero has to be the bottom of the lowest range.  Thus, there is no easy to way to make zero scores not appear on the rankings.  However, as with all "best scores" listings in games, higher scores will quickly bump the lowest scores off the list.


9) MODIFIED PRESTIGE PERCENTAGE

The prestige percentage (PP) changes how much prestige the human player(s) or AI will receive from bonus hexes and from end-of-scenario prestige awards.  For example, if the human player is to receive 1000 points at the end of the scenario and has PP set to 150 he/she will get 1500 points (1000 X 150%).  Or if the AIs PP is set to 25% and the end of scenario increase for the AI is 2000 points it will only get 500 points (2000 x 25%).

The effect of  the prestige percentage was inaccurately presented in the original PeG.  On the campaign selection screen, clicking on the prestige percentages up arrow for the human player said that it "increased campaign difficulty".  Clicking on the up arrow for the AIs prestige percentage also said that it  "increased campaign difficulty".  That was confusing to me when I started playing PeG.

As the examples above indicate, increasing the prestige percentage will give either the human player or the AI more prestige.  An increase for the player makes the game easier.  An increase for the AI makes the game harder.  The captions now show this correctly.

I also changed the range of the prestige percentage.  Originally it was 100-300; it is now 0-500.  At 500 the number will roll over to 0.  At 0 it will roll over to 500.  


10)  MODIFIED THE COSTS OF VETERAN AND ELITE UNITS

Veteran units originally cost 110% of green units.   Elite units originally cost 130% of green units.

That seems way too low to me for the advantage of experienced units.  I have increased the costs to 130% for veteran units (silver bar) and 180% for elite units (gold bar).


11) CHANGED THE DATE RANGE ALLOWED IN SCENARIO BUILDER TO +1 TO +127 FROM BASE YEAR.

The Scenario Builder originally had a 20 year limit:  +1 to +20 from the base year, whether base year is 2000 or 1900.  Thus, increasing from the year 2020 rolled the calendar around to 2001.   Decreasing the year from 2001 rolls around to 2000.  

Despite this limit,  scenarios set for December 31, 2020 have no problem changing the date to January 1, 2021.  Scenarios dates can be set beyond 2021 (or 1921 for base year 1900) using Luis Guzmans PegSuite; there is no problem with these "over 20" dates.

The range can now be +1 to +127 from the base year.


12)  "BRIDGING" ATTACHMENT RENAMED AS "RIVER ASSAULT"

SSI originally used "Bridging" to mean both the Bridging Special Equipment (which can only be set in the equipment file), the Bridging Attachment (which is purchased during game play) and the Bridging Leader which is awarded during game play.  However the attachment and the leader are not the same as the special equipment.

Bridging Special Equipment "when positioned across a river hex allow other friendly units to cross over as road terrain".  In other words these units are Bridging Engineers.

The Bridging Attachment and the Bridging Leader allow units to "cross river hexes as rough terrain and make attacks while in river hexes".  Both of these only apply to the unit which has them.

But this definition is exactly the same as the definition for the River Assault Special Equipment  which allows "units with this equipment special (to) cross river hexes as rough terrain and make attacks while in river hexes."

For consistency, the GUI file now refers to Bridging Special Equipment as Bridging Engineers that allow other units to cross rivers.  River Assault is used for the attachment and the leader that allow individual units to cross rivers and conduct assaults when crossing.

The icon for the River Assault attachment has been changed also to show this.


13)  "COMBAT SUPPORT" SPECIAL EQUIPMENT RENAMED AS "DEPLOY & SUPPLY"

SSI originally used "Combat Support" to mean both the Combat Support Special Equipment (which can only be set in the equipment file) and the Combat Support Attachment (which is purchased during game play). 

The CS Special Equipment "allows you to deploy units adjacent to this unit and allows you to re-supply and reinforce any unit that moves to within hexes of this unit (as long as it hasn't fired in the turn.)"

The CS Attachment gives a unit three more ammo points.  In addition, reinforcements aren't reduced during play and are replaced to maximum over strength value.

To distinguish these two abilities the CS Special Equipment is now captioned "deploy & supply" in the GUI and has a different icon.


14) ATTACHMENTS MODIFIED

In the original game only eight of the nine possible attachments were visible for any unit.  Starting with PeG 2.6e all nine attachments are visible although some equipment classes still cannot use certain attachments.

Attachment rules have also been changed for the following:
	* Special Munitions attachment is now allowed on all equipment classes
	* Anti-tank attachment is now allowed on all equipment classes
	* Combat Support attachment is no longer allowed on helos
	* Forward Observer attachment is now allowed on helos


15) CORRECTED THE "EASTERN LOSS" PROBLEM

PeG originally showed an incorrect and confusing display when the player lost a scenario.  For example, if the human lost while playing the Western side the end of scenario screen showed
	Eastern Loss 		(although it should say Eastern WIN or else WESTERN loss)
	# 			(data for the Western player)
	"cities conquered"  	(original GUI caption)
The caption "cities conquered" isn't used anywhere else in the PeG game or manual.  It actually means the victory hexes captured by the human player.

Starting with PeG 2.6b this was corrected and all data is presented from the perspective of the human player.  In addition, the caption has been changed from "cities conquered" to "Victory Hexes captured".  


16) ENABLED PEG TO DISPLAY ANY VIDEO FORMAT PLAYABLE IN QUICKTIME

PeG's internal file filter for movies was originally hard coded into PEOPLES.EXE as "CINE\*.MOV" so only MOV files could be played.  Despite this, Quicktime can play a wide range of viodeos inlcuding AVI, (animated) GIF, MPG & SWF.

I changed the file filter to "CINE\*.*" so all these file types can now be played.  ANY video, still image or audio format which is playable in your version of Quicktime can be shown in PeG's campaign.

Most videos look great. MPEG is acceptable but has some flakiness on my system which may be caused by my video codecs.

Quicktime displays still images such as JPEG but when displayed by Quiocktime in PeG they flash by too quickly to be interesting or useful.


To make use of this modification your video files need to be stored in the CINE\ sub-folder of your main PeG folder.

The full file name including the actual extension (.MOV, .AVI, .GIF, .SWF et alia) needs to be specified in the CAM file.  Luis Guzman's will shortly be releasing a new version of his PeG Suite so you can enter whatever file extension you want.

And of course you should check that whatever video you want to use really does play in your version of QuickTime.


What could be done with this new feature

Existing or new AVIs, MPEGS, MOV or SWF could be used to enhance game ambience.

Animated GIF files could be used as more extensive & informative scenario introductions which combine text (larger & more legible!), maps & other graphics. These are easy to prepare using Paint Shop Pro and Animation Shop or other GIF animation software.


Some ideas for video sources:

Jane's,
British Army demonstrates its combined firepower - Warminster Video Gallery
(Challenger 2MBT, AS90 SPH, + 8 other MPEGS)
http://www.janes.com/defence/land_forces/gallery/warminster/warmin_video.shtml

Lockheed Martin's
F-35A  Joint Strike Fighter Video Gallery
http://www.lmaeronautics.com/gallery/videos/products/combat_air/x-35/x35a/


Some further testing needed.  It would be great if others would test or confirm the following:
(1) I believe we can mix video formats in the CAM file. For example: Scenario 0 might have an AVI file for its intro, while Scenario 1 has an SWF file for its intro.

(2) MPEg ought to work smoothly in Quicktime; what video codecs make this best within PeG?

(3) Are Real Player files are playable in QT? I don't remember.
