JA2 vanilla vs 1.13

[Nostaljaded]

Some (selected) incentives for playing 7609:

Sort and Filter Sector Inventory
*Quiet Training
MOLLE LBE Items
*Mark Remaining Hostiles
Dual Weapon Burst/Autofire
Skill/Trait Tooltip on Merc Portrait
Swap Merc Position Order in Tactical Team Panel
*Moving in Formation in Real-Time mode
Compare Item Stats in Strategic Screen

Your fav mercs are back from grave/retirement/prison/addiction.

(Most of the portraits are done by bearpit's anv.)

Grab the unofficial 7609 update for more bug fixes by bearpit's sevenfm.
http://thepit.ja-galaxy-forum.com/index.php?t=msg&th=22117&goto=344006&#msg_344006

 

[zool]

Hey, I found the SCI!
http://www.ja-galaxy-forum.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=printthread&Board=35&main=15918&type=thread

Good stuff! And this must be the first SCI to integrate HAM 3.6, so you're good to go. It will still require some time dabbling with the INI and XML editors to find the balance that you like but it is definitely easier to do than to work on later features-loaded releases.

Some (selected) incentives for playing 7609:

Sort and Filter Sector Inventory
*Quiet Training
MOLLE LBE Items
*Mark Remaining Hostiles
Dual Weapon Burst/Autofire
Skill/Trait Tooltip on Merc Portrait
Swap Merc Position Order in Tactical Team Panel
*Moving in Formation in Real-Time mode
Compare Item Stats in Strategic Screen

Your fav mercs are back from grave/retirement/prison/addiction.

(Most of the portraits are done by bearpit's anv.)

Grab the unofficial 7609 update for more bug fixes by bearpit's sevenfm.
http://thepit.ja-galaxy-forum.com/index.php?t=msg&th=22117&goto=344006&#msg_344006

Thanks for the heads-up. I really want those JA / JA: DG mercs into my game, so I guess I'll have to go with 7609 next time (and it's true those AI improvements by sevenfm look interesting).

 

[sser]

Possible to defend Drassen with mostly pistols, a shotgun, a SMG, and two molotov cocktails? Not sure how to go about this as I've gotten myself into a very unfortunate position here.

Edit: slaughtered most of them using the bar strategy, although I'm not sure if any other way is even remotely possible on 1.13. Currently still have about 3 or 4 enemies out there I gotta physically hunt down -- except a few of my guys are bleeding out so I gotta do it fast while simultaneously trying not to get killed.

The funniest part about the bar strat is you can summarily execute so many red shirts, and then out of nowhere a fucking ninja will sprint in past the interruptions and shank someone. I had a guy dodge in and throw a dagger into my I.M.P.'s chest

 

[octavius]

You haven't seen pain until you try a night mission with enemy outnumbering you and having three elites with high level NVGs seeing your mercs far beyond visual range, throwing flares at you so their red-shirt comrades can spot you easily as well, using aimed burst fire to one-shot your mercs and tear gas grenades to scatter you. That kind of shit just doesn't happen in any other game or mod in this genre.

It's funny, but that was excactly what happened in my first game (using Stracciatella).

So I decided it was time to GIT GUD and restart, but this time with 1.13 Vanilla.
But now I have a problem with guns using the wrong ammo, like a shotguns using .357 ammo.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Possible to defend Drassen with mostly pistols, a shotgun, a SMG, and two molotov cocktails? Not sure how to go about this as I've gotten myself into a very unfortunate position here.

Yes it is. Don't try to go for a stand-up fight. You can start harvesting the counter-attack patrols as they congregate around Drassen. You'll see 20-30 enemies at each map square near Drassen - just attack one, kill as many enemies as you can before they can overwhelm you, then fall back. Rinse and repeat. When they attack Drassen, take few of them out, fall back. Rinse and repeat, though usually they are happy to just take the mine and will give you a day or two before advancing again. Asymmetric warfare / lightning strikes. Wear them down. Even just wounding enemies is useful as they do not heal, though they do not bleed to death either. It will take time and you must not get greedy / over-ambitious at any point. I find it more satisfying than cheesing interrupts at mine office or the bar. Plus you have the risk of them throwing grenades or having a ninja run in like you had.

octavius sounds like your installation got b0rked hard.

 

[octavius]

octavius sounds like your installation got b0rked hard.

No, it's a known (but not fixed) problem.
After some searching I found a hot fix, though.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Are you using the 2014 "stable" version of 1.13? You should use the latest "unstable" one. The terms are meaningless nowadays. Go to:
https://onedrive.live.com/?id=13A6926EAC52083!202&cid=013A6926EAC52083
and "Builds" and download 8548 being the latest.

 

[octavius]

I tried both 4870 and 7435.
I'll try the newer version later.

 

[octavius]

Are you using the 2014 "stable" version of 1.13? You should use the latest "unstable" one. The terms are meaningless nowadays. Go to:
https://onedrive.live.com/?id=13A6926EAC52083!202&cid=013A6926EAC52083
and "Builds" and download 8548 being the latest.

How do you use it? There's no ReadMe telling if it's just an update, or if JA2_8548.exe is a replacement for JA2.exe, an installer or an archive.
I get a runtime error when running the file on a 7435 installation, and on a clean installation it complains about DLLs missing.

 

[GarfunkeL]

The exe file with version number is meant for 1.13 use. Just overwrite your old installation with whatever you downloaded. I have 8508 myself.

 

[m_s0]

Are you using the 2014 "stable" version of 1.13? You should use the latest "unstable" one. The terms are meaningless nowadays. Go to:
https://onedrive.live.com/?id=13A6926EAC52083!202&cid=013A6926EAC52083
and "Builds" and download 8548 being the latest.

How do you use it? There's no ReadMe telling if it's just an update, or if JA2_8548.exe is a replacement for JA2.exe, an installer or an archive.
I get a runtime error when running the file on a 7435 installation, and on a clean installation it complains about DLLs missing.

You need to grab the files and an updated exe, depending on how you go about things. Or, just grab the most recent archive from here - there's one put together every now and then, and it's got everything you need packaged in one place:

http://kermi.pp.fi/JA_2/v1.13_Releases/Unofficial/English/Depri/SCI_113/

 

[octavius]

No dice.
With 8548, choosing 1.13 Vanilla I get a Runtime Error message mentioning Items.XML. Regular 1.13 works, though.
So the problem with the messed up XML table for 1.13 vanilla is still a problem in the latest release, even when using the hotfix described in an earlier message.

But 7435 with the Hotfix is working fine so far, so I'll continue using that.

 

[Okagron]

Finally managed to get the latest version of 1.13 to work. I had to disable the intro because with it on, i would get nothing but a black screen. But now the game gets slow downs in screens like Preferences and such.

Even if i use the lowest resolution, i still get just a little bit of slowdown in certain menus.

Any tips on how to fix this?

 

[Okagron]

Found a solution and the game is running smooth as butter.

 

[GarfunkeL]

The solution is hidden inside the installation, the Win8/10 archive.

 

[Okagron]

How to do that:
1) Download wined3d.exe from http://www.nongnu.org/wined3d/
2) Don't run the program! instead, extract it's contents with 7Zip or somesuch http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
3) Copy ddraw.dll, libwine.dll and wined3d.dll from extracted $SYSWIN folder into the root folder of your JA2 installation (e.g. C:\Games\Jagged Alliance 2 Gold\)
4) Run the game. It may take a bit longer to start
5) Enjoy one of the best games ever in as high FPS as your hardware can handle

This is what i did to fix the major slowdown. The slowdown was at its worst in combat where everything moved at speed of molasses.

 

[octavius]

The AI is much more aggressive in 1.13 Vanilla than in Straticella, so it makes me wonder just how vanilla 1.13 Vanilla is...

The Queen captured the west part of Omerta, and is throwing troops (stronger than those in Straticella) at Drassen faster than I can train Militia, so I'm forced to use my Merc squad to defend. It may be more "realistic", but it makes the game a slow slog. It's certainly not more fun to sit and defend Drassen than to find Skyrider and capture SAM sites instead..

 

[octavius]

So how does Drassen work in Vanilla vs. 1.13 (without the counter attack)?
Sporadic attacks easily resulsed by Militia in Vanilla, and constant harassment by stronger troops in 1.13?

And how do you adjust it? Reducing the number of troops the queen starts with?

I'm getting rather tired of defending Drassen.
But the UI and graphics improvements of 1.13 Vanilla are too good to go back to Straticella.

 

[GarfunkeL]

I don't know how "1.13 Vanilla" works. In regular 1.13 you defeat the counter-attack, after which you train enough militia and they will generally take care of patrols that attack. Occasionally there will be a stronger force gathering nearby, at which point you have to use Skyrider to bring your mercs back to wage a big battle.

 

[octavius]

Looks like 1.13 Vanilla does a half assed Drassen counter-attack, throwing one and one squad against Drassen, while from what read in the full 1.13 the squads group together and there's probably more of them.

Another problem with 1.13 Vanilla: no Militia training at SAM Sites! Fortunately it was easy to fix by editing Facilities.xml.
But it makes dread what other bugs will show up...

 

[GarfunkeL]

Yeah you're the first person I've met who plays 1.13 vanilla, I don't think it's that popular. It's probably been overlooked by Bear's Pit regulars for a long time.

 

[octavius]

I guess I'm one of the few who didn't play JA2 back in the days. It seems like the game has a very hard core of old fans, but fails to attrack new players (even for an old game).
So I want the vanilla experience, but with some of the improvements (graphics, CTH displayed), but not all the fluff.

 

[veevoir]

It is a wise choice. Full 1.13 experience is sensory overload for people who didn't play JA2 as vanilla first.

 

[Okagron]

Is being able to toggle the option of being able to make more than one merc from iMP from 1.13 or vanilla JA2? Because i actually like this, specially with how little money you have in higher difficulties.

I only played the Wildfire version and it only allowed you to make one merc in IMP.

 

[veevoir]

1.13

And what is the point of playing hard if using such tricks to make it easier? Full IMP mercs that dont want money trivialize the money management side of the game, not to mention they are quickly becoming pretty boss if you start them with max INT.