Star Wars: Armada - Vassal module version 4.2.0

By Green Knight, in Star Wars: Armada

1 hour ago, Ginkapo said:

Have you added the map expansion to that version?

Yes, and this map is not part of the expansion anyway.

2 hours ago, Darth Veggie said:

Is it possible that the distant planet map is broken in 3.8.2?

I don't think so. Petty sure I've used it. I'll check.

13 minutes ago, Green Knight said:

I don't think so. Petty sure I've used it. I'll check.

Yeah, we used when we played, seemed fine

1 hour ago, Green Knight said:

6x3 is well suited for 600 points.

9x3 is probably good for 1000 and above.

The thing is you don't want too big a table, or it gets boring.

Also, consider 7 rounds for really big games.

Played a 1500 pt per side game on 6x3 and it wasn't too bad. Surprisingly few rams.

6x3 is way larger than the base game actually needs unless you make a fleet that is designed entirely to just run away all game. In most casual games you rarely need it.

True. One of my buds has a kitchen table at 4x3. It works pretty decent, as long as we avoid setting up only in the corner.

@Green Knight - for Thrawn, we're going to need command dials. I tried it with the command 3 stack, but that refreshes every turn. I checked the Command Dials in the Pieces section, but I can see the command even when they're flipped. What can we use to mark his commands and not let the enemy see them? Are the individual command dials not transparent to the non-owing players?

Question on this, as a friend and I are starting to tinker with it...

...is there any way to invert the view for the top player, so they don't look like they are playing upside down (to themselves)? IE., 'rotate the table' for their perspective?

It seems like that should be pretty easy to do, code-wise, but I don't see a way to rotate the table view in VASSAL...

2 minutes ago, xanderf said:

Question on this, as a friend and I are starting to tinker with it...

...is there any way to invert the view for the top player, so they don't look like they are playing upside down (to themselves)? IE., 'rotate the table' for their perspective?

It seems like that should be pretty easy to do, code-wise, but I don't see a way to rotate the table view in VASSAL...

Unfortunately that's not possible.

It's a limit of the game engine, not the module.

I know it's a small consolation, but once you have some games in, playing from the top is no more difficult.

If an experienced players meets a new player on vassal, he should extend him the courtesy of the bottom setup.

29 minutes ago, Green Knight said:

I know it's a small consolation, but once you have some games in, playing from the top is no more difficult.

If an experienced players meets a new player on vassal, he should extend him the courtesy of the bottom setup.

I just realised that starting from my very first Vassal game, I've played every single one (only about ten so far though) from the top side. I've never even tried bottom setup.

Hasn't been a problem at all, apart from occasionally setting the manoeuvre tool on the wrong side by accident.

Thanks for the inputs everyone. With only playing a few games, I just need to get more used to the maneuvering tool itself. Managed to fly 2 ships off by just a hair in my first game. Have to make sure I don't make silly mistakes like that in the future.

2 hours ago, GhostofNobodyInParticular said:

@Green Knight - for Thrawn, we're going to need command dials. I tried it with the command 3 stack, but that refreshes every turn. I checked the Command Dials in the Pieces section, but I can see the command even when they're flipped. What can we use to mark his commands and not let the enemy see them? Are the individual command dials not transparent to the non-owing players?

If you flip them, you can see, but your opponent can't, so you can know exactly which dial you want to flip for Thrawn :)

Just now, Visovics said:

If you flip them, you can see, but your opponent can't, so you can know exactly which dial you want to flip for Thrawn :)

Thanks!

3 hours ago, GhostofNobodyInParticular said:

@Green Knight - for Thrawn, we're going to need command dials. I tried it with the command 3 stack, but that refreshes every turn. I checked the Command Dials in the Pieces section, but I can see the command even when they're flipped. What can we use to mark his commands and not let the enemy see them? Are the individual command dials not transparent to the non-owing players?

I think I'll make a special 'stack' for Thrawn. For now, use the free standing legacy dials.

On 11/04/2017 at 4:33 AM, GhostofNobodyInParticular said:

To install the graphics pack follow Green Knight's tutorial #5 here .

I followed the tutorial but it only applies to Windows.

Has anybody had any success on Mac? I've tried the Unarchiver, Keka, UnRarX and RAR expander but they all just auto extract the .vmod into a folder. There is no way I have found to explore the contents of the .vmod to just replace the images inside.

Thanks

8 hours ago, Cybran said:

I followed the tutorial but it only applies to Windows.

Has anybody had any success on Mac? I've tried the Unarchiver, Keka, UnRarX and RAR expander but they all just auto extract the .vmod into a folder. There is no way I have found to explore the contents of the .vmod to just replace the images inside.

Thanks

I have gotten it to work on my Mac. It was back in version 3.0.0 - I just checked and it still works. Now, you'll have to give me some time to try and remember how I did it!

EDIT: Ok, I worked it out. It's a bit cumbersome, but it works. I used the Unarchiver, but I'm sure most of the other programs will work too.

1) Open up the .vmod extension with your program. It may be easier to save to a new folder. The contents of the folder should now include the graphics folder.

2) Unzip the graphics pack in a different folder, ideally in a different window.

3) Select the images from the graphics pack, and drag them to the graphics folder. Click on the "Apply to all" checkbox and click "Replace". This should overwrite all the files.

4) Now you need to recompress them to a zip file, essentially. It's easiest just to use the Mac OS Compress function. Select all the files in the exploded .vmod folder (including your graphics folder), and right click. Select the "Compress 5 items" and it'll compress them to archive.zip (or something like that). Rename that file "ArmadaModule_-_3.8.2.vmod" or whatever

5) At this point you're set. Open the module in Vassal as usual, it'll do the file graphics thingy, and you should be good to go!

Edited by Maturin
6 hours ago, Maturin said:

I have gotten it to work on my Mac. It was back in version 3.0.0 - I just checked and it still works. Now, you'll have to give me some time to try and remember how I did it!

EDIT: Ok, I worked it out. It's a bit cumbersome, but it works. I used the Unarchiver, but I'm sure most of the other programs will work too.

1) Open up the .vmod extension with your program. It may be easier to save to a new folder. The contents of the folder should now include the graphics folder.

2) Unzip the graphics pack in a different folder, ideally in a different window.

3) Select the images from the graphics pack, and drag them to the graphics folder. Click on the "Apply to all" checkbox and click "Replace". This should overwrite all the files.

4) Now you need to recompress them to a zip file, essentially. It's easiest just to use the Mac OS Compress function. Select all the files in the exploded .vmod folder (including your graphics folder), and right click. Select the "Compress 5 items" and it'll compress them to archive.zip (or something like that). Rename that file "ArmadaModule_-_3.8.2.vmod" or whatever

5) At this point you're set. Open the module in Vassal as usual, it'll do the file graphics thingy, and you should be good to go!

Thanks Maturin, when you say the graphics folder do you mean the Images folder? I tried those exact steps yesterday but Vassal couldn't open the newly recompressed/renamed .vmod

8 minutes ago, Cybran said:

Thanks Maturin, when you say the graphics folder do you mean the Images folder? I tried those exact steps yesterday but Vassal couldn't open the newly recompressed/renamed .vmod

What compression method was used?

1 minute ago, Green Knight said:

What compression method was used?

I believe it was the default mac right click > compress. I'll try it again to make sure and report back here with my findings.

As long as the folder structure remains intact and the compression software is ok, it should work.

Ok so it works. I know what I did wrong before - I selected the top folder and compressed that as opposed to selecting the 5 items and compressing those.

I'm glad I don't need to keep bothering you GK for the text versions every time a new version is released ;-)

Thanks to both of you for your help!

6 hours ago, Cybran said:

Thanks Maturin, when you say the graphics folder do you mean the Images folder? I tried those exact steps yesterday but Vassal couldn't open the newly recompressed/renamed .vmod

Yes, I believe so.

I'm glad you were able to get it to work!

GK, is there a way to let Mac users know about this? I was trying to explain to a friend the other day and couldn't figure it out at that time....

I use betterzip on my mac to modify the Card artwork ... works as a charme

Question for the fellow Mac users out there - what is the shortcut to increase and decrease ship speed? CTRL UP and CTRL DOWN pull the windows out and in respectively :/

1 hour ago, Cybran said:

Question for the fellow Mac users out there - what is the shortcut to increase and decrease ship speed? CTRL UP and CTRL DOWN pull the windows out and in respectively :/

There's a whole bunch of shortcuts on the Mac that don't work thanks to OS shortcuts overriding the Vassal ones. Best thing to do is to go into your Settings menu and disable all the keyboard shortcuts. Then the Vassal ones will work - and the time you'll save is definitely worth it!