Researched, Written and Edited By: MarkEAW

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CONTENTS

PATCHES INTRODUCTION
CODEGROUP | FXEXE | HEXEDITED | MISC

Related Download Links:
-game-patch-codegroup - many downloads, Includes several of the un-official early builds from the EAW Code Development Group (2008 to aprox 2013) of the Code-Groups versions. Later full standalone builds are not present.

These unofficial source code modifications normally include many available, old but adapted campaigns up converted to work with the programmed version of EAW. Including New hires Skins and Sounds. Plus a whole lot more,

See my 'CodeGroup Patches Help Document' to get an idea what the source modified versions have included.

Note: Some of the Unofficial Source code modifications are compatible with the stock game (I think v1.28e and below), but It all depends on the custom version your using.

Related Download Links:
-game-patch-fxexe

EAWPRO: (/pro/  folder)
by VBH.
This is a new modification. Download in this archive. (Supersedes the older FXEXEv1) This is the latest version from the official author. This archive is applied over an offical MPS 1.x version of the stock game.

Note: This modification requires 1.2 add-on's to be adapted to the new FXEXE.

Read my 'FXEXE Patches Help Document' for a wealth of information on the FXEXE / EAWPRO patch.

FXEXE 1.2 Career: (FX1.2_Targets_FM.7z 154KB)
by VBH
A FXEXE Career files download; this allows you to play the stock EAWv1.2 Career Campaign in the FXEXE mod. Just dump the files in the FXEXE Game folder...
Info: You add these 1.2 Target Set and FMs to the FXEXE to allow the Campaign Mode to work correctly. The v1.2 targets are the only set which will allow unhindered campaign play. It also restores the original v1.2 flightmodels. You will loose the large targetset and the flyable bombers, but all other EAWPRO features will remain.
If you're interested in using this downgrade:
Just extract the .ZIP into (a copy of) your EAWPRO gamefolder, where the EAW.EXE resides and allow overwrites.

Related Download Links:
-game-patch-hexedited

There are several unofficial Hex Edited executable's that provide various changes, as I have some listed and described in my 'Hexedited Patches Help Document'. Among the mentioned is the unofficial version 1.26e.

All are hex edits are compatible to work with the add-ons and tools on this files page.

EAW EXE v1.1a: (E-11a.zip 545kb)
by ??.
...This file came from the 352nd squad web site, after more than a decade went by, I asked what the changes where, if any. They didn't remember what was possibly changed in this exe...

eaw v1.26E 7217 v3: (eaw1.26e7217v3.zip 688kb)
by Sydbod and Jel.
This particular 1.26E was later hacked by Jel with "16 bit screens" (not really!). If no items appear on a selection menu then right click. Fonts have been modified to make text visible. EAW ERROR 7217 is fixed by running this exe for WinXP. This is best for a new user who is not 'PC technically minded' or who does not feel ready to work with the Online Air Wars (OAW) frontend launcher and organizer.

eaw v1.26E c4 SAW: (eaw1.26Ec4(SAW).7z 412kb)
by Sydbod and Andy's c4 version additions added by Pobs.
This exe contains the tmod table for SAW and Andy's Garble Fix based on Von Beerhofen's (VBH) work on cracking the EAW.EXE It forces the game to only use hires terrain tiles and textures thus saving space in memory. Not all cards take advantage of this, but most do! It also contains Knegel's cannon fix and Dom's early years fix...

 

EAW v1.26E Patch: (EAW1.26Epatch.zip 4.14MB)
by Sydbod.
The unofficial 1.26 patch is meant to be installed over the top of a clean fresh FULL EAW installation from the game CD. Automated installer included. Works over v1.2 also.

eaw v1.26E Patch Files: (eaw126e_extracted.7z 3.87MB)
by Sydbod.
Already installed files. Just place in your game folder. Overwrite any files.

eaw v1.26E Modified Weapons Patch: (eaw1.26e-ModifiedWeaponsPatch.zip 1.14MB)
by Sydbod and weapons patch by Ray Otton aka Rotton50.
It has always bothered me that we couldn't drop bombs individually or fire rockets in clusters so, I have been working on the weapons.dat file. We can now have up to three bomb drops or three rocket firings instead of one and bombs in the drop tank slot will drop down, not fly back like a drop tank. In addition, by making some minor changes to the exe files we can have a complete weapons.dat file for the axis or the allies.

eaw 11c: (eaw11c.zip 546kb)
by Andy.
...

eaw 11c ger: (eaw11cger.zip 546kb)
by Andy.
...

eaw 11pc: (eaw11pc.zip 546kb)
by Andy.
...

eaw 11pc4: (eaw11pc4.zip 546kb)
by Andy.
...

eaw 11pc4 vo: (eaw11pc4vo.zip 523kb)
by Andy.
...

eaw 12a: (eaw12a.zip 515kb)
by DaveS.
This is the same as the other exe below, except it has the CD Check intact.

EAW v1.2a NoCD: (Eaw12a+nocd.zip 515kb)
by DaveS.
An unofficial AI mod for European Air War. This is a hex-modified version of EAW version 1.2 that has some changes in the exe. Installing it won't break anything, so don't worry, it works with all the other aircraft, terrain and skins out there.

eaw 12ac: (eaw12ac.zip 515kb)
by DaveS, Andy.
...

eaw 12c: (eaw12c.zip 553kb)
by Andy.
...

eaw 12c4: (eaw12c4.zip 554kb)
by Andy.
...his forth release of the "C version"...

eaw 12c4vo: (eaw12c4vo.zip 530kb)
by Andy.
...

eaw 12c German: (eaw12cger.zip 553kb)
by Andy.
...

eaw 12 Hard Destruction NoCD: (eaw12HardDestruction NoCD.zip 554kb)
by Big_Babousa_G.
...This EXE changes the toughness of all targets.

EAW v1.2_NoOS_NoCD: (EAWv1.2_NoOS_NoCD.zip 1.01MB)
by VBH.
...includes the no Movie option...

VBH 12 TESTEXE: (VBH_12_TESTEXE.7z 414kb)
by VonBeerhofen aka VBH.
This 1.2 EXE has a few other modifications apart from the wide fog. It has the debug path entries removed and uses the highres models instead of the lowres ones which will give an improvement in graphics. The same goes for the terrain which has been modified to only use the highres tiles...

High Speed Cloud Scroll Test: (HighSpeedexe.zip ??kb)
by VonBeerhofen aka VBH.
Having read about some complaints about the lack of appearent speed in EAW I've created this EXE for testing purposes to see if it would be worthwhile to incorperate this into the FXEXE.
The effect works best with a full set of clouds, I mean a set which has plenty of em in all layers. The more clouds the wilder the effect. The clouds with move faster in relation to your speed. A proper sky dl: ("G SkyFlameCast.zip" ??kb)

New scroll speed is better, and does give a much better impression of speed. Maybe too much for the speed of the propeler planes, not so bad for perhaps Jets. The clouds near your plane or far ...have the same speed.

The parameters for the groundtiles (the terrain) have not been found. The reason why we don't have the real imagination of speed to the ground is because the terrain is scaled much too big. I consider Saggin B's terrain (for instance) about 4 times too big in relation to the 'real' EAW scale. That means objects drawn on the terrain tiles seem to move slowlier than they should. That's why we must focus on HR ground tiles to get an authentically scaled EAW world at last....

However the scrollspeed of the clouds can easily be lowered to a more acceptable level. This was only a fast speed test to show how it's working.

The 1.2 NoCD trial version can be found here but make sure you have backed up your default EXE first.

Related Download Links:
-game-patch-misc

These are various extra files you may want to try out.

Day Bomber Stream: (1.2AlansDayBomberStream_beta1.zip 552kb)
by Alan.?
Hacked v1.2 for...

Night Bomber Stream: (1.2AlansNightBomberStream_beta1.zip 567kb)
by Alan.?
Hacked v1.2 for...

Blank Radio Text: (blankradiotxt.zip 1kb)
by ??.
...

Provisional Night Campaign Generator or PNCG: (NightCampaignMissionGenerator-Night_Careers.zip 36.6kb) 
by DOM.
This DOS-utility edits campaign files' time-data so the missions are mainly carried out during the night. Please check the readme-file for more information about its use and effects. Consider this a - as the title states - provisional solution...

Main Executable Patcher For Night-Missions or MEPFN v.1.1: (NightMissionsPatcherv1.1-MEPFN 37.3kb)
by DOM.
This DOS-utility makes a backup of the EAW.exe file and patches it's internal time-table, so the sim is getting primary night missions in single missions and online-games. Please check the readme for further info.

Night Switch Patcher: (NiteSwitch.zip 4.25kb)
by Jelly.
This nightpatch editor changes just two bytes in the eaw.exe....for EAW 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and 1.2a and variants. Goes in your EAW game folder, and lets you change day missions into night, or re-set them back to day. (OAW not needed).

EXE Patcher For Early Campaigns: (ECEEPATCH.zip ??kb)
by DOM.
S! This patch is mainly dedicated to campaign makers (Emil, Andy, ...). It has no real interest at the moment but could be useful for incomming early campaigns and/or updates.

As told in another post, while making the night missions patch, I found the way to use campaigns at dates anterior to 1940, i.e. the accurate dates can be displayed in all screens, logbook, etc ...

This is the readme 11--28-2001:

**************** EAW.EXE patcher for early campaigns **************

The standard EAW can only start campaigns from January 1st 1940. Thus, early campaigns such as Poland, Norway, Spain were (or will be) usually set to year 1940 by our great campaign makers. Of course, this is not historically accurate.

This utility patches any version (v1.0, 1.1., 1.2, 1.2a, no CD ...) of the main EAW executable (usually EAW.EXE) in order to generate/use campaigns dated from 1930 to 1960.

It creates a patched executable named EARLYEAW.EXE that will be able to use incomming campaign files (camp**.dat and Squ**.dat) set to any date from 1930 to 1939 but also the already-existing campaign/career files. EARLYEAW.EXE can then be renamed as EAW.EXE and definitively replace the original EAW.EXE.

Contents of the zip *****

Earlyeawpatch.exe (main executable)
Early.fil
This readme

Using this utility *****

Drop the three files into your main EAW folder (the one which contains the main EAW executable (usually EAW.exe)) or into any folder containing the executable to be modified. Run Earlyeawpatch.exe and enter the name of the executable to be patched. It will work with any version of the EAW executable.

At the end of the process, a file named EARLYEAW.EXE will be present. This is the patched version of the original executable. It is recommended then to rename it as EAW.exe (put the original one in a safe place before).

FOR CAMPAIGN MAKERS *****

To generate Camp**.dat and Squ**.dat using the right dates from 1930 to 1939, just replace in your files any '94 07' bytes (coding for 1940) with :

'93 07' for 1939
'92 07' for 1938
'91 07' for 1937
'90 07' for 1936
'8F 07' for 1935
'8E 07' for 1934
'8D 07' for 1933
'8C 07' for 1932
'8B 07' for 1931
'8A 07' for 1930

OAW Pack and File Manager - Unified: (OAWunifiedV1.01_french.zip 46.1MB , OAWunifiedV1.01_german.zip 46.1MB , OAWunifiedV1.01_usuk.zip 46.1MB)
by MrJelly, Dumoulin, Knegel, and RAF_Roy
OAW Unified Final v1.01 Release, Overview:
A complete package for EAW - European Air War by the OAW OnlineAirWars Unified Team. If you never experienced the modern updated EAW(2005), or haven't flown it lately with the latest High Resolution 3D Aircraft and Ground objects, and all the extras, this OAWunified will set you up very completely, and you will be "Blown Away" by the difference between this and the original stock game. (OAW is not a different version of EAW. It allows you to switch between flight models, missions, skins, terrains graphics, and different versions of eaw.exe such as 1.2, 1.2a and the nightpatch. It also lets you manage ECA.)

This was the last 'OAW Unified' to support stock EAWv1.2. It is a self installing exe that will set up all the subfolders and files needed for a pretty good base set of community made mods included. This package is a self-installer setup containing compressed files of @ 46MB which sets up everything for you. (The expanded size of @ 90MB is the total size the OAWunified will need on your hard disk).
To avoid problems and make it easy on yourself, all you need is to have a fresh "clean" Full install of EAWv1.2 ready. Download the OAWunifiedV1.01 zip version for the language of interface you wish (there are 3 possibilities as listed: US-English or française or Deutsch).

Then you just launch the OAWunifiedV1.01.exe and the setup starts. (The setup is just like most professional program installers - also works in all Windows since 9x, to Xp or 2000, 2003 etc.) During setup you will have to "Browse" to direct it to your folder that EAW is set up in (normally \European Air War , if you have a default setup - that is; this is the folder containing the eaw.exe and the files EAW uses to run properly, like the .CDF 's ,etc.)
The installer handles all details thereafter, only at last gives you the option of having a desktop icon or not, You can choose yes or no on that. However it will make icons also in your windows start menus for OAWSelect (the program for OAW that controls all fileloading for EAW) and also a sub-program called "Autoscriptget" which is a tool you might need later if new 'scripts' for OAW Select are made - it can download them easily from my server to proper OAW autoscripts folder. ("autoscripts" are merely text files that contain folder and file lists for OAW Select to load particular modifications - they are not "programming scripts" and contain no "code" so they don't make a security risk for your computer)...

The installer also invisibly sets up needed Visual Basic "runtimes" and 2 .ocx files for Windows which are needed by OAW Select program for operation. (These are the the only "registry" entries it makes to your computer other than the simple "shortcuts" mentioned above.)

That's it! You are ready to fly OAWunified , and with a very nice selection of available EAW add-ons already included!
The magnitude of the Package: There are 503 folders and 6,240 files after installation of OAWunified. This includes @ 178 excellent Aircraft "Skins" with 3D models, skins include the most modern cockpits the community had, including the more detailed sharp cockpit instruments, new Flight models (Knegel's latest RP (Realistic Patch v2.6) for the aircraft which are the best we have to offer and thoroughly balanced by our chief EAW ACE Ralf "Knegel", which result in many hard core Simmer's opinions; some of the most realistic of all WWII fighter Simulations! 

But don't worry - These are all easily managed by the OAW Select program by MrJelly for EAW use. Terrains, ground objects and targets, Skies, winter and summer configurations, Desert, Pacific, ETO and Russian Theatres, Many missions scenarios for these theatres are specially coded to be able to function both Online and Offline "Single Missions", and many, many extras. ("Campaigns" are not included in the package.) Countless rebuilds of the files and structures by "Knegel" and "Dumoulin" and all the hours of testing by them and everyone at the launchpad. However we consider it a small price to pay for the thousands of hours of contributions by the entire EAW community on game modifications that are made easily available in one concise setup for EAW players pleasure in this offering! Remember, You only need to have one installation of EAW (apart from back-up copies, or a special installation needed for a campaign which includes modified eaw.exe and other files.)

If you are going to fly online it is advisable not to mess around adding too many extras to it, but for offline play only then this forms the basis on which you can build almost infinite selections of mods to fly...Many of players had two installs, one for offline, which can have more add-ons added to it, and an online one which is left as a standard setup for online flying. Keep in mind this manager at times can be quite confusing and complicated. No insult to its designers and programmers, who tried to incorporate many features rolled into one program. But it can leave a new pilot gasping for breath.

The OAW and how it works.

To understand how it works you first need to understand how EAW itself works.

How EAW works:

If you did a clean full install of EAW then you would end up with a folder called European Air War.
Inside this folder there will be 21 "cdf" files like "Fonts.cdf"
There will also be the eaw.exe (the program file) and a handful of other files.
When you first run EAW it will generate the "eaw.ini" file which stores your preferred settings.
It will probably generate the "Hof.dat" file and a "Savedata" folder.
If you use the 1.2 patch (as most online gamers do) then there an "extra.spt" file is put
into the folder, and this file is necessary for the 1.2 patch to run.

The EAW program operates by getting the data that it needs from those 21 "cdf" files.
If you choose a game where you fly a Spitfire 1a against some Me 109 Es then the program will
use the "SP2A.FLT" file and "109E.FLT" files which are stored along with 28 others in the
"Flt.cdf" file.
It would also use the "planes.dat" file which is stored in the "Data.cdf" file.

Now, if you make a copy of the "planes.dat" file, and edit it so that the Spit 1A has a top speed of
500 mph, and eight 30mm cannon with 1000 rounds each, and leave this edited copy in the EAW
folder then the next time EAW runs it will use this new version of "planes.dat" rather than
the default one in the "Data.cdf" file.

This is how all "mods" work, whether it is the flight models, aircrafts skins, terrains, maps,
sounds etc. Files are placed in the EAW folder and used by EAW in preference to the default
ones in the "cdf" files.

Normally this does not cause any problems for offline gaming, but it is a very different story
for online gaming.
If I were to host an online game running the default EAW, and you try to join my game, but
with the "planes.dat" file with the eight 30 mm cannon Spit 1a in your EAW folder, then as soon
as you come into the game I would receive an error message. It would indicate that you have
different data. Even if you chose a non-modified plane instead of your SuperSpit, it would make
no difference. The game will not launch and we cannot fly together. The same would happen if
one of us had the 1.2 patch and the other had the 1.2a patch. All players in agame must have
compatible software. Just one rogue "flt" file left in the EAW folder will cause an error,
unless every player in the game has exactly the same file. The game would not launch and the
other players would wait in frustration.

Quick Description to what OAW does with your game:

1) It copies files from the folders that you select and puts those copies in the EAW main game directory. If you have multiply versions of eaw.exe, it can copy one of them (such as the HexEdited EAWv1.26E exe) from the OAW managers \E folder into the EAW main directory, overwriting the eaw.exe already there, if one is present.
2) It lets you change the eaw.ini for a game, thus using the settings in the new eaw.ini file, such as changed extra squads, or screen resolution settings.
3) It handles "LDR" scripts if you ask it to. (LDRs are inserted into the game exe to add or fix features).
4) It can undo any changes you asked it to make, if you want them undone.
5) It re-names music folders so you can choose different ones.
6) It saves your career information in "SD" folders, so that you can resume a career.
7) When it re-starts it reloads the back-up copy of your eaw.ini from in the \OAW folder in case you changed one for an online game, but would not want the change to be permanent. So its important not to make changes to the eaw.ini when its located in the games main directory. So users must be reminded to make a copy of their preferred eaw.ini and place it in their \OAW folder if they make a change to it in their EAW main folder.

Long Description to what OAW does with your game (The OAW Solution):

If you install the OAW software it puts the OAWSelector.exe in your EAW folder, plus a few other
files which OAW needs, but do not affect EAW in any way. It also creates an OAW folder within your
EAW folder. The OAW folder is the key to the new organized system.
Within it you can store downloaded folders from the OAW site, or make new ones of your own.
These special folders must have names beginning with certain letters.
Flight model (FM) folder names must begin with "F-" like "F-Nightfighter".
Mission folders must start with "M-" like "M-Pacific"
Skin folders start with "S-", Terrain folders with "T-", other graphic or general folders begin with "G-"
and you can also have "Version" folders which begin with "E-" such as "E-1.2a" or "E-nightpatch".

When the "OAWSelector.exe" runs it will read the names of these special folders, and list them as
available for selection in a drop-down list.
With all the folders other than the graphic "G-" folders, only one choice at a time can be made. At the end
of each set of choices is the "Default EAW" option.
Now if I choose the "F-Nightfighter" as my flight model, then OAWSelector reads all of the
files in the "F-Nightfighter" folder, and puts a copy of each in the EAW folder.
The same happens with missions, skins and terrains.
Later, if I switch to a different flight model then the OAWSelector reads the names of all of the
files in the "F-Nightfighter" folder, and then deletes any copies of them from the EAW folder.
Then it reads the files in the newly chosen "F-" folder, and copies them into the EAW folder.
Alternatively, if I choose "Default EAW" as the FM then it would delete all the files which were
copied when the previous FM was chosen.

In this way, OAWSelector allows you to choose which folders you want to load, and allows you to
switch from one to another, and to go back to default EAW. It is simply a management tool for your
EAW folder. It is not a replacement system, or a mod, or anything else- it is simply a reliable
management tool.

OAW Air War Help and Hints:

Even though the OAW package was made or utilized for a number of other reasons, one can use it as a simple multi type of manager; Skin manager, terrain, sky, object, scenario, graphics, sound, etc. manager. It can be fairly easy.

The folder name system in OAW is provided to give you a way to differentiate your files, but you are not required too. Only put *.ter files in \T folders  (Terrain). You can actually put them in any folder you like. It's just simpler to identify them by placing terrain files in \T folders. (It's still best to stick with this naming method so not to loose track of your custom add-on files).
Obviously, two files of the same name, cannot reside in the same folder. So when you use OAW, you should use it in a default clean EAW 'install' with nothing else in it (no Terrain files, skins, etc). Anything you load from the OAW manager will load from there respected folders into the default main folder of your game, and then be removed from the main folder if you reset OAW. (they are only copied to the main folder, there not 'moved', so there is a original copy that remains in place back in the OAW folders. Resetting OAW only cleans out by deleting the custom files in the main game directory).

OAW and Loading Add-ons:

You can load anything you want, anytime you want. You can load scenarios, campaigns, exe's, anything. For instance, I want to load VBHs MartianAirWar,.....I put it all in a \Q folder, so I just load that folder, I want to add VB's arc-bridge and hanger,.......I put them in a \G folder, so I just add that folder. (You just must remember, that two files of the same name cannot reside together in the same folder.) So if you load, for instance, a FM for a 190-a8, then load another 190-a8 latter, the 190a8.flt file you loaded last will overwrite the previous 190a8.flt file that was loaded.

--An 'undocumented feature' is that your can add in your own engine sounds to an aircraft file. The engine sound file (or any sound you set up) will be used for that aircraft. It will also be used for all aircraft of that type engine, such as rotary or inline engines. For online play, use OAW Unified and don't change anything in it.

Anything you load in OAW, shows up on the 'AutoScripts + What's Loaded' Tab. Again, If you give your current setup a name and save it as an autoscript, it is a one-click load for next time you want to use it, instead of having to make all the same selections again. If you want to know whats in the autoscript next time you decided you want to use it then you simply goto the 'AutoScripts + What's Loaded' Tab, select "all files" near the top left to list your setups and select the autoscript name that you want. The bottom left light blue screen will show whats 'inside' it.

Try different Autoscript combinations:

1) Start OAW, click 'Reset All', go to the Autoscript section.
2) Now choose a M****.gup from the left hand list. If you mark a M****.gup autoscript, the related number will show up in a field below the list.
3) Now scroll down the list and mark a P*****.gup, its related number also will show up in the field, next to the M****.gup number.( don't pay attention to the S- and T***.gups, they get loaded automatically)
4) Now choose a season and click to 'Load this GUP combination'. The wanted setup will get loaded with skin, terrain FM etc.
5) If you mark an autoscript, the contents, which get loaded due to this autoscript, get displayed in the blue field, on the bottom, left hand. If you like real furrballs, go to the 'general settings' table and mark 'extra squad 4'(bottom right hand). If you set all number of planes to large (singlemission briefing in the hanger), you will find up to around 200 planes in the air!

What the Autoscripts in OAW are good for:

The Autoscripts are somewhat a simple text file, where some OAW-folder-names get stored. While running this scripts the listed OAW-folders get loaded.

What is so exciting regarding the Autoscripts??
1.With help of the Autoscripts we can load big setups, which consist of many different availabe addons, by one click!
2.We can create new autoscripts by will. For example we can have a ETO Winter1, ETO Winter2, ETO Simmer, ETO Spring, ETO autumn, BoB_clear_weather, BoB_bad_weather, BoB_1941 etc setups, which consist in big parts of the same addons, but in a total different meaning.
Most important here is that the user can create working setups, with for him working skins etc, this can help to solve graphical compatibility problems.
3. After loading of a setup, the player can change this setup like a 'by hand loaded' OAWsetup! So he can change the terrain, the Sky , the gunsight, the number of groundobjects, the trees, etc.
Very important to know its that the user of course need to have this addons available! OAW is a addon manager, it dont include many addons and dont create addons!!
4.If different users have exact the same addons, stored in the same OAW-folders, they can share Autoscripts!!

How do i create a own Autoscript of a preferred setup?
1.Load a setup by hand. (choose the wanted addons in the 'World settings and complete sets' and 'Planes and Single Skins' sections).
2. Test this setup. (play some games and look if all is fine).
3.Go to the 'Autoscript´s and whats loaded' section.
4. Look to the window in the center if all wanted addons are listed. Delete unwanted addon´s out of this list like in a normal text file.
5. Give your setups a name(insert it where 'Enter Autoscript Filename' stand) and click on 'Safe current settings' to store it.
Now your Autoscript will show up in the Autoscript list on the left side.

How do i delete a Autoscript?
1.Mark a Autoscript in the Autoscriptlist by a mouseclick.
2.Cick to 'delete this autoscript'.

How do i load a Autoscript?
1.Mark a Autoscript in the Autoscriptlist by a mouseclick.
2.Click to 'OK load this one'.
Mark: You can load different autoscripts to combine them into a more big setup!
Example: You can create a 'BoBAndy' Autoscript, which include the campaignfiles, hangerscreens, Mainscreen, Skins, FM/DM´s etc. Additionally you can create different 'seasonal' Autoscripts, with different weather, terrains, trees (winter, summer Autumn etc). So you load the BoBAndy Autoscript and after this you can load a special season.
If you have stored the different addons like i have recommended it so often (the Help_Foldercontets.txt in your OAWfolder should help), you can switch between different Autoscriptsetups without the need to reset all completely!!

With help of sensible spitted campaigns and other addons in combination with the Autoscripts you can enhance the possibilities by alot!! The main idea was to offer as many EAW addons already packed in OAW-folders, so that as many people as possible have the same setup! Then onlinegaming can be very variable and easy.

 

The 'gup' Autoscripts:

'Gup' stands for 'Ground up' and and represent a setup´s which consist of addons which are available in OAWbasic04.

For now there are 14 different Gup´s (01Gup-07Gup, 11Gup-17Gup). They include 7 different planesetups, 1. EAWrp2.6 default, 2. EAWrp2.6 ETO_1(mainly 1941), 3. ETO_2(this also can be a desert setup), 4. ETO_3 (mainly mid war), 5. ETO_4 (mainly late war), 6. East early, 7. East late. This 7 planesets get combined with two different onlinemissions [ M 1(Onlinemission1) and M 2(Flying Circus 2)].

Dumoulin made fitting 'Gup Skinsets' to this Gup missions, so every user can have the right skins to the right FM´s!
The Gup Skinsets of course are not static Skinpacks! They are singleskins which get laoded via the included '**Gup+Summer Skins' Autoscripts.
But every user of course can create own preferred skin Autoscripts that fit to the Gup´s, if he have the needed Skins on his Hard Drive(This is probably something for more advanced users).


All this is still in the beginning! Later more Gups will follow, with different planes (pacific), other onlinemissions (Island missions) and hopefully other terrains (Pacific).

For now the Gups are still somewhat in beta stage, cause they don't got used that often (unfortunately), but maybe soon others will offer preferred Autoscripts, based on the for all available OAWbasic6.04 and Gup_Skins addons and maybe other specially for OAW packed addons, which probably will be available soon.

About GUP and OAW autoscripts:

Apart from the earliest versions of the OAWSelector, we have been able to use the OAWSelector to set up complex combinations of folders, save the setups as autoscript files, and at a later date load the same complex combination of folders by a single mouseclick on the autoscript, and another on the "load" button. This saves heaps of time and effort.

In the past, individual users tended to name folders as they wished, so my autoscript which loads "F-Ralf's2.6", "P-00 Mossie", and "L-Smooth Hilly" would not load anything on another user's computer which has the three folders named differently, even though their contents match perfectly. Each user would need to set up and save up their own, simply because they may name their folders differently.

So we pursued the idea of using standardized folder names for the OAW folders that we make available for downloading. That way we can also supply ready made autoscripts, such as this one:
**************************
D interdict2
F 1(EAWrp2.6)
L 1(smooth-hilli-world)
M 1(OnlineMission1)
U 1(TransparentAirfield)
P-00_38H(0)
P-01_38J(0)
P-02_47C(0)
P-03_47D(0)
P-04_51B(0)
P-05_51D(P39N)
P-06_B17(0)
P-07_B24(0)
P-08_B26(0)
P-09_Hu(Hu2)
P-10_Sp1(5b)
P-14_Temp(P40E)
P-16_109E(F2)
P-17_109G(F4)
P-18_K4(G6)
P-22_190A(A4)
P-23_190D(.)_1
P-26_J88C(.)_1
P-27_Ju87(.)_1
A-00-P38h(.)_4
A-01-P38J(.)_4
A-02-P47C(.)_4
A-03-P47d(.)_4
A-04-P51B(.)_3
A-05-P51d(P39N)_2
A-06-B17(.)_4
A-07-B24(.)_3
A-08-B26(.)_3
A-09-Hurr(2)_3
A-14-Temp(P40E)_3
A-16-109E(F2)_3
A-18-109K(G6)_2
A-22-190a(4)_5
A-23-190d(.)_4
A-25-Ju88A(.)_5
A-27-Ju87(.)_3
*****************************
This is the "03Gup+Summer_Skins" autoscript, which is one of a package available from the OAW download site.

Three of us used a similar one to this online. We agreed which one, and with two mouseclicks (the first to clear the EAW directory) the whole complex setup was loaded, including several alternative planes in the various slots, such as the P40E in the Tempest slot, plus appropriate skins.

So we all loaded exactly the same set-up, because our folders are all named the same, so there were no incompatibility errors ("..warning Player has different aircraft data..." etc). We were off to our game in the shortest possible time.
This is the GuP concept working as it was intended to work.

I have been involved in some discussion regarding blocky props and strange effects from skins. This system can virtually eliminate that, because the "A-" folder method which loaded the skin-set for a "P40" in the Tempest slot, automatically deletes the copies of the individual files, before it loads another skin for the same slot. Individual skins for individual planes are loaded, rather than a complete skin set for a given scenario. There could be a problem if a complete skinset is loaded, which includes 12 tempest files, but then you load an alternative which only uses 9 files, so 9 of the 12 are over-written, but three remain, and may cause problems. This should never happen if the inividual skins are loaded, via the autoscript.

I strongly recommend this system, and thank Ralf and Dumo for their hard work in making this material in ready made packages available to all users.

OAW and Magic Numbers:

A OAWunified quick help for set a game ONLINE with the "magical numbers" feature....

1- Choice of the kind of terrain (Desert)
2- Choice of the GUP (P03.GUP)
3- Choice of the mission type (Islands close)
4- Loading of the elements (Load this GUP configuration)
5- The configuration is loaded and already a magical number appear(0503)
6- Choice of the AI planes to appear in the game (10 SpitV)
7- All the planes are set up (SpitV - B-17G - BF 109F-4 - Ju87B)
8- The magical number is made (Load and copy to clipboard 22061710050300) and you past it to the chat room .....
9- The joining player copies the magical number and go in the main OAW window and put his mouse pointer on the little case left side of the Autosetup button...and the magical number appear and the Autosetup button coming active.
Clik once this button...and all the files are loaded.
Please allow the files to load (see the active OAW banner up) before any further moves.

OAW and Loading Add-ons for Online:

If you want to fly online, you most likely need a similar setup in the main folder that other players are using, So you would normally "reset-all" in OAW, then select what you need from the 'World Settings' Tab for online play, like a different Flight Model(FM) than what you have been using offline. At this time, Online players only need to really have the same Flight and Damage model (fm/dm) in place. So you can add whatever skins, skies, terrains, and effects you want. (However having an un synced game can and will cause performance problems, some users may resort to "texture cheating" where players will use a light-colored sky and winter terrain so they can spot enemy planes better, and they might change some of the skins for easier spotting....and so on....)

And once you have established what you want loaded, you can just save it as an autoscript, for even easier one-click loading at a later time, next time you need the specific set of add-ons to be present again.

OAW Needs to be Reset?:

If OAW fouls up, go to the \OAW folder near the bottom and find "Folders Loaded.txt". Delete everything and put it back. You will also find your original eaw.exe and eaw.ini file there, To avoid loosing your "Configured Game" changes during a reset. Make changes to your ini file in the OAW folder instead of the games main folder. Because the old eaw.ini is reloaded as well. Or just copy your "Configured Game" changes--they are in the main directory eaw.ini that's gonna get destroyed when you play again--and replace the eaw.ini one in the OAW folder. Yeah, it's hard to remember to do that. If you do add alot og stuff, be sure and hit "Reset All" before exiting OAW. Not doing that can mess things up...

OAW and Modifying The Game /!\:

/!\ For modders, It's advised NOT to make or modify new files within a games main directory that has OAW installed for that game folder. Example for changing and play testing. As it's very easy (due to OAW not moving files) but rather deleting files from the games main directory when certain functions are used in OAW , such as Reset and Delete All. Also your newly customized files can also be easily over written with files with the same name stored in the OAW sub folders. /!\ OAW modders are advised to load their own stuff from the OAW folders ONLY. /!\

Charles Gunst's ECAPanel Integrated into OAW:

This excellent program allows EAW pilots to fly a whole range of planes in many different scenarios.
A number of online squadrons use ECA and support it strongly.
However, one problem is that the ECA files are installed and run from the EAW folder. So if you
choose "Western 43" then 30 "flt" files, a "planes.dat" plus some other "dat" files are generated
in your EAW folder. This is fine if the other online players both have, and only use, ECA. The problems
occur when someone wants to fly only has EAW 1.2 and they cannot join a game. The ECA files are not
compatible with the default EAW files, error messages appear, the games will not launch, players
get frustrated, and some get to the point that they no longer fly online. This makes me very sad,
because once you have developed sufficient skill and confidence to fly against online opponents
then offline play is second rate, unless you are practicing the skills that you need to become a
better online player. It is most disappointing to lose players because of online compatibility problems.


OAW and ECAP (Combining ECA and OAW):

To set up ECAP to work with OAW is simple.
1) Make a new flight model folder named: "F-ECA" and put it in the "OAW" folder.
2) Unzip the ECAPanel and ECA 1.4 zip files into this folder. (Copy your ecapanel.exe and ecapanel.dat files into it)
3) Make a shortcut to the ECAPanel.exe on your desktop.

4)Running ECAP; Click the shortcut and run ecapanel.exe, making your choice of planes, or global settings as usual.
The ECAPanel utility will generate the files, the various .dat and .flt files in the "F-ECA" folder, but they remain in the "F-ECA" folder, not in the EAW folder.
5) Then you load the OAWSelector and select "F-ECA" as your flight model. This copies all of the files that ECAP
generated into your EAW main game folder. (unless you need to make more selections such as skins or terrains
that you  want to use to complement the eca setting that you have chosen.) You are then ready to fly!
6) Run EAW.

Note about Aircraft names:
They are in two distinct file types.
The first is "pnames.str" and ECA generates a new one when you select planes from it.
The second is "picpln a/b/g.mnu". These three files are menu files which contain the position of the rectangles on the American, British and German aircraft selections screens where text appears if your mouse is over the area. These three files also contain the text that is displayed.
Unfortunately, ECA does not edit these files, so you see the stock names as you describe.
However, if you use OAW, and load an alternative plane for a slot, then the OAWSelector will generate new "picpln a/b/g.mnu" files, so you do see the correct name displayed on those menu screens.

Also remember that the ECApanel is a FM/DM switcher, without skins. You can load the wrong skin to the wrong FM/DM and the other way around!!...

Changing the ecapanel selection:

It is important that any ecapanel generated files are removed from
the main eaw main directory first, so select the EAW Default FM to do this
for you.

The great benefit of OAWSelector, is that if you need to switch to another flight model, or to default
EAW, then it is a matter of one mouseclick, and the ECAP copies will be completely removed from the
EAW folder. In this way a group of ECAP enthusiasts could accommodate a newbie online who does not
yet have ECA, and only has EAW 1.2. They switch to 1.2 by selecting the EAW Default FM, the newbie
gets a game, and maybe we have one more online player that we might have otherwise lost.

Then back to step 4 above.

OAW Hassles with other Data Files?

95% of the problems that we have had have occurred because a new user has tried to install OAW in
an EAW folder which already has ECAP installed in it. Then when another FM is selected OAW
overwrites some ECAP files, and ECAP no longer works properly, and because there are still some
old ECAP files remaining in the EAW folder a "Different Data" error is generated for an online
game, everyone gets frustrated, and the new OAW user blames OAW. All ECAP files need to be deleted
before OAW is installed, and ECAP set up in the "F-ECA" folder as documented above.

Other OAW matters:

When OAW first runs it will make a copy of your eaw.exe, and your eaw.ini in the OAW folder.
After that it reads these copies every time you launch OAW, and makes a copy in the of both in
the EAW folder. Some new users of OAW have used a clean install, and installed OAW before
running EAW. This means that no eaw.ini file has been generated, and OAW cannot find one to
make a backup copy. This generates a missing file error. So, do not install OAW in a newly
installed eaw folder before you have run eaw.
If you modify your eaw.ini settings, and want to retain them then make a copy of the new eaw.ini,
and put it in your OAW folder. If you do not do that, then next time OAW runs, then a copy of
your old eaw.ini will be made, and it will overwrite the new eaw.ini that is in your EAW folder.

To avoid other hassles download all the files necessary, including the VB6 runtime files, and follow the guidelines presented here.

 

Why was it done this way and our way of thinking?

One of the original concepts was to allow different levels of difficulty for an online game.
The "Disable/enable keyboard control" options allow you to fly, for example, with cockpit only
views, no icons, and so on, in an online game when all of the players have agreed to use the same
settings.
The cheatcheck feature will generate a "Different Data" error if a pilot claims to be using
cockpit only view, but actually has the free cockpit view enabled, which gives this pilot an
unfair advantage if the others do not have the cockpit free view. Obviously, thes modifications
to the eaw.ini file are of a temporary nature, maybe for one game only. Checking/unchecking the
various boxes modifies the eaw.ini file in the eaw folder, and gives you the setup you want for
that game, but next time you load OAW a copy of your normal eaw.ini file is placed in the EAW
folder, based on the backup that it has stored in the OAW folder.

The eaw.exe is copied so that you can use different versions. I have an "E-12a" folder, an "E-Tanks"
folder (with the newly modified eaw.exe which has more realistic damage models for ground objects),
and an "E-Nightpatch" folder with Dom's nightpatched eaw.exe file which I use for the nightfighter missions.
Each of these exe files has been renamed where necessary to "eaw.exe" and they can be selected from the
Versions panel. However, whem I next run OAW the normal default eaw.ini is copied from the backup made
and stored in the OAW folder, and placed in the EAW folder.

Adding Skins in OAW:

In your "Skinfolder" of OAW you have all the defaults slots presents .
They are like this.....:

A-00 P38H A-09 HURR A-16 109E
A-01 P38J A-10 SP2A A-17 109G
A-02 P47C A-11 SP09 A-18 109K
A-03 P47D A-12 SP14 A-19 110C
A-04 P51B A-13 TYPH A-20 110G
A-05 P51D A-14 TEMP A-21 M410
A-06 BB17 A-15 MOSQ A-22 190A
A-07 B24A A-23 190D
A-08 B26A A-24 262A
A-25 J88A
A-26 J88C
A-27 JU87
A-28 H111
A-29 V1V1


You see ...all the planes have a code for be represented. (add the necessary prefix for the skin according to his slot).
So for add a plane...take EG one FW190A you will create a new folder in the "skinfolder" like this one:

A-22-190A(.)_1....
And put inside this folder all the files of the skin.
For have a description of the skin you will have to put the "readme" text of the skin..in a file you will name "contents.txt". And for illustration you will put a JPG image of the plane with as dimensions..400 X 300 pixels.
(.) mean is a default plane ..the A8
The content of A-22-190A(.)_1

If you want keep tidy your skin folder you will put this folder if you use a FW190 A R8:
A-22-190A(R8)_1
 

Extracting a Skin or any other add-on out of zip file, do this:


OAWunified use this logic:
[Slot number and name]
[......A-**-****.....]

In brackets:

1) a '.' let appear the deault skin of the skin slot always on the top of a list.
Example:
A-00-P38H(.)_*

2) a planedescribtion, if the skin vary from the default plane of the used slot.
Examples:
A-00-P38H(Hu2)_* --> HurricaneII in the P38H slot
A-00-P38H(Blenh)_* --> Blenheim in the P38H slot

3) The season: If no season is listed, its a summer skin, wint = winter, trop= desert.
Examples:
A-16-109E(.F)_*
A-16-109E(.Ftrop)_*
A-16-109E(.Fwint)_*
This represent one Bf109F summer, winter and desert skin.

Behind the brackets we write the number of available skins for the same plane in a sequence.
Examples:
A-05-P51D(P39)_1
A-05-P51D(P39)_2
A-05-P51D(P39)_3
A-05-P51D(P39trop)_1
A-05-P51D(P39wint)_1
This represent 3 skin for the P39 in the P51D slot.

I personally don't write special description of a plane into a foldername, we have the 'contents.txt' to do this!!
In the foldername i only make a different between real visible differences. Therefore i dont make a different between a 109F2 and 109F4, or a P38H, J and L, such special differences find place in the contents.txt.
Of course there is a greyzone at what moment it make sense to include a special description into the foldername. For example almost all FW190A´s did look almost exact the same, the biggest different we can see if one plane only have 2 x 20mm instead of the 4 x 20mm, but´such a setup every of the 190A´s could show, so i store all 190A´s with only 2 x 20mm in a A-22-190A(.F***)_* folder, cause the 190F´s, same like the G´s only had 2 x 20mm.
What skin fit to my wanted setup, i can read and see in OAW due to the contents.txt and picture of the skin.
 

A Little OAW History:

Before we had the source code a number of us used the OAW File Manager. I (MrJelly) wrote it originally to make a system which helped online players to ensure that their set-up was the same as the other players in their game. This avoided the "Player X has different aircraft data" EAW multiplayer errors which prevented the game from launching until Player X left the game. Player X would often modify his set-up, come back and still get the error. It sometimes took an hour between the host pressing "Launch" for the first time, and finally getting it to run. It was very frustrating for players! Then OAW evolved to meet users' requests and new capabilities were added. It became a general EAW filemanager, even though several people mistakenly believed that it was only for online players.

At the time we were still stuck with those horrible 30 plane files such as "pnames.str" and "planes.dat". "Planes.dat" files varied quite a lot, Ralf Knegel came up with an idea of having a set "planes.dat" file with a known location for the start of data for each slot. That allowed us to get OAW to load the new default files into the root folder, and then read scripts to modify the "planes.dat" data for a slot and the "pnames.str" file, and other files relating to aircraft selection. OAW would also load skins for each slot, so the overall effect was equivalent to the planeset system we have now in the source code modified game.

We released the "OAW Unified" package which included a skinfolder with over 200 skins, and some scripts which enabled a user to load a saved set-up in a single click. OAW also included a page which allowed the user to select the skins and flightmodels for each slot. This is when the "lazy skinner" effect really became evident because whole sets of skins were being loaded and the default files were not used. (The old-timer) skinners linked there skins to Microprose's EAW .TPC files in the stock 3D.CDF files. The maker is assuming that the default TPC in the "3D.CDF" will be used, and this is all well and good until the player loads his preferred skin for the 190A with a different version of the TPC file which will be used instead of the default one.

Even though we are using the DirSetExeManager programs a number of us still use OAW (in the year 2015). It enables modders to load the content of folders containing test versions of their files, to try them out in the game, and then to unload them safely without any need for copy and paste.

The OAW team:

Ralf "Knegel" is a key member of the OAW team. He has developed some much more realistic flight
and damage models for the standard aircraft, and came up with the concept of changing the eaw.ini
to set different levels of difficulty. The OAWSelector was written to enable players to easily
load one of these new FMs, and to set cockpit only/no icon settings for a game. These new FMs are
excellent, and we are close to releasing the OAW nightfighter package, with Lancasters, Halifaxes,
Mosquitos, Uhus and Black Widows.

RAF_Roy is the third and another extremely valuable member of the OAW team. He developed the
first OAW mission, which has only four bases available (Brussels, Grimbergen (Allied), St Trond
and Le Culot(Axis)). These bases are all close together, and it has enabled players to have online
games where all pilots can take off from their home base, and contact the enemy in a few minutes,
and if they survive they can return to their home base and land. This adds a vital new dimension
to online gaming.
Roy is currently developing new missions, and a tutorial which will enable other eaw enthusiasts to
develop their own missions.

MrJelly wrote the software, and help test the new FMs and missions.

The OAW team and the Online flyers:

Went a long way to carry EAW through the "dark days"(maybe 2002-2005) when people left EAW in droves and hardly an online game / friend could be found. At this point I'd (Raf_Roy) also like to point out: the OAW Team surely should now stand for the majority of people that became comrades in our squadron-like gathering. Not only just Knegel, MrJelly and Roy.

And much more than that; if you look at the Contributions made to EAW overall by individual members that were also gathered together by OAW and the spirit of OAW user's enthusiasm it is quite impressive! In fact most of the members of the present day Code Group (2008+) are/were OAW enthusiasts.

If you ask me the OAW spirit is the EAW spirit.
I know quite a number of great EAW members have never used OAW, but at least they do/did respect it and us!

Now that the new era of EAW is just around the corner OAW alone may not be the biggest thing to come to EAW since Gunst's landmark Enemy Coast Ahead, but for the past 5 years it was!

I like to congrat all for their outstanding effort and more importantly their team spirit and and undying enthusiasm for EAW!
-S!  RAF_Roy (1-09-2008)

OAW was a major undertaking to open up and attempt to organize the myriad of mods available for the game and as such it was a great effort and revolutionized online play. I take my hat off to the team for their effort, it is a real worthwhile project that has paid dividends to those that use it.
-Cheers  Pobs

[END]