Panzer campaigns modding basics

[vakarr]

Hi, I would like to modify the Panzer Campaigns Sealion game but can't find some things in the documentation.  I emailed HPS and they sent me here.

1. a description of the columns in the .dat file.  I worked out what most of the columns are except for three columns.  Two of the columns seem to contain all zeros so I guess that's not a problem, but the last column is mostly zeros except for a few units - what is that last column for?

What .dat file do you mean? Please give an example. The only .dat files I am aware of are units.dat and weather.dat, and none of them end with a column of mostly 0s?

2. I would like to add some aspects of the Plan Z, alternative scenarios, and the maps mods but these don't seem to use .dat files.  How do I find out what the stats are for the units?  

Units.dat for each nation gives the unit types and stats. Alternatively, use the OOB editor, you can view all the current units there and create new ones.

3.  Is is possible to allow the British troops to  make gas attacks somehow?

Not directly. But you could create new units in the OOB editor, I would suggest one time use only that come on at various times, that have IF capability of whatever range, and high SA values. Figuring out where to place them would depend on the range and their planned usage.

4.  The Kriegsmarine had two battalions of marines and I figure these would have been used to attack ports like Folkestone and Dover.  It looks to me like they can't land at those ports because of the cliffs behind/beside them, how do I get around that?  Probably if I can work out the marine stats for the Plan Z mod that will answer this question, but there's no dat file for them.

5.  I'd like to give the mountain troops the ability to climb the (impassible) cliffs, how do I do that?  There are mountain troops in those mods I know, but I haven't found out how they did it.

Try the flag for Assault Inf in the OOB editor. I am not positive that will work but you can try - Rangers in Normandy can climb cliffs, from what I recall, and the only special thing for them is the assault inf setting. Try it and see.

6.  I'd like to add some shots from the cross-channel artillery.  Can I add off-map artillery somehow?

No way I am aware of. They fired such small shells their value would be fairly small I would think, but nice chrome if you could do it.

7.  Why do the Kriegsmarine troops get added via a new nation "East Germany" in the mods?

Various nation types are hard coded in the .exe, for the side they are considered a part of. So people use a nationality that is available in the code, used in a different game. So someone uses East Germany in whatever mod you are looking at, and uses images for the Kriegsmarine. Anyway, you can't add nations, so this is the workaround. If I recall, having done something similar in Kharkov 43 about 12 years ago, I had to use Notepad to change the nationality directly in the OOB, at least to start. But I think if the nationality folder gets added to the game structure, you should be good to use the editor for this part.

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