Africa at War--History

TheBigRedOne · 06-04-2020, 02:11 AM,

Have been spending some of my time here at home the last three months organizing the files on my new desktop computer, as well as updating all of my SB games with the newer JTS ones. In the process of cleaning up folders, I've been strolling down memory lane looking at all the SB files I've accumulated over the years as the site commander for Task Force Echo 4. It's kind of hard to believe that it's been around 12 years since I took over that site, and even with the slow-down in the SB world, I'd like to think it serves as a nice history of the series, even if some of the files were lost to the void.

One of the biggest moments early on in the series was the creation of the first full game mod, Africa at War.

Created by the original commander of TFE4, Frank Harmon, with help from some of the true legends of the series, this game really was a benchmark, and probably inspired a lot of the other game mods that have followed it, notably the mods from IronX, one of the more controversial folks in the SB history.

The game was based on the Pacific War platform, mainly due to the terrain features being similar to Africa. One of the main features, which caused a bit of controversy and discussion, was Frank changing a lot of the lethality numbers on the weapon systems, making them much more deadly. Get caught in the open in Africa, and you are going to be in for a world of hurt.

If you are unfamiliar with the game, hop over to TFE4 (link above) and read the synopsis for yourself, written by Frank. The installer is still there, but I do recall it being somewhat temperamental. My workaround of not having to re-install was simply copying the entire folder over as-is, to my new computer. I even updated the exe file with the newer PW one from JTS and it seems to work just fine. If folks want to try the game, but don't want to over-write PW and have to re-install, I can copy the entire folder, minus the PW exe file (don't want Rich H coming after me!), and upload it to TFE4. From there you should be able to simply copy your PW exe file into that folder and it should, in theory, work. If someone wants to be the guinea pig, fire me an EMAIL.

Explore Africa, you won't be disappointed.

kolc · 06-04-2020, 02:26 AM,

Thanks BRO. Great game and the "copy folder" approach worked for me. This game has some of the best scenarios of the entire series, especially those involving the French Legion....really brings to the surface the masterpiece SB is....

TheBigRedOne · 06-04-2020, 02:28 AM,

(06-04-2020, 02:26 AM)kolc Wrote: Thanks BRO. Great game and the "copy folder" approach worked for me. This game has some of the best scenarios of the entire series, especially those involving the French Legion....really brings to the surface the masterpiece SB is....

The installer was pretty slick back in the day, but now it causes more work, wiping out your copy of PW in the process.

kolc · 06-04-2020, 02:34 AM,

I have it set up in its own folder and still can play PW. Still had to copy the PW exe file over. The only thing I was missing were the sound files, which I was able to get from elsewhere.

**Compass Rose** · 06-04-2020, 04:38 AM,

Thanks for posting, Alan as it is always good to see you around and still contributing, since you have been such a valuable fixture in the SB community for so many years.

And yes, it is good to see this series still alive and kicking.

I think as along as there are SL and ASL guys around, this series will stay active.

I'd be willing to bet the farm that if Ed was still around, he would have been a little kid in a candy store when the SB scenario editor was released and he'd be mass producing, left and right, his own 3rd party scenarios based off of ASL scenarios. Mex Big Grin

It is hard to believe that I personally have never played any of the 3rd party game mods, such as Africa at War.

There are still a ton of the stock scenarios that I have yet to play.

It is difficult to fathom that some hard core gamers like Dennis and Ed have more than likely played all of the scenarios available, stock and 3rd party, at least once! Crazy

Can't wait to see your next installment of SB history!

Thanks

**Warhorse** · 06-04-2020, 10:29 AM,

Get the Korean War Mod available up top, please play it and give me feedback!!

**Ashcloud** · 06-04-2020, 09:49 PM,

I had a great series of African battles against Laza a good while back - some of my favorite games ever, I guess because I am in Africa.

I have since lost the hard drive that had all my games on - and the serial numbers for the games I still have on CD. I also somehow lost a bunch of my old CD's along the way too. My biggest losses are all my SB games. I am now left with WW1 on Matrix and one original CD of PW, but because I lost the serial numbers I can't use the PW disc - does anyone know a way I can get around this? I would love to play Africa at War again (and PW for that matter). The current prices at the Tiller shop just put them all out of my price range given our african currency.

**Ashcloud** · 06-04-2020, 10:21 PM,

(06-04-2020, 09:49 PM)Ashcloud Wrote: I had a great series of African battles against Laza a good while back - some of my favorite games ever, I guess because I am in Africa.

I have since lost the hard drive that had all my games on - and the serial numbers for the games I still have on CD. I also somehow lost a bunch of my old CD's along the way too. My biggest losses are all my SB games. I am now left with WW1 on Matrix and one original CD of PW, but because I lost the serial numbers I can't use the PW disc - does anyone know a way I can get around this? I would love to play Africa at War again (and PW for that matter). The current prices at the Tiller shop just put them all out of my price range given our african currency.

After tinkering around I figured out how to turn off the autorun on my CD reader and could access the files so it looks like I have solved my own problem.

Anyone up for an Africa at War game? or PW? or WW1?

**Compass Rose** · 06-04-2020, 10:23 PM,

(06-04-2020, 09:49 PM)Ashcloud Wrote: I had a great series of African battles against Laza a good while back - some of my favorite games ever, I guess because I am in Africa.

I have since lost the hard drive that had all my games on - and the serial numbers for the games I still have on CD. I also somehow lost a bunch of my old CD's along the way too. My biggest losses are all my SB games. I am now left with WW1 on Matrix and one original CD of PW, but because I lost the serial numbers I can't use the PW disc - does anyone know a way I can get around this? I would love to play Africa at War again (and PW for that matter). The current prices at the Tiller shop just put them all out of my price range given our african currency.

I am not sure if very early on, HPS games had serial numbers however, I don't own a single HPS John Tiller CD that ever came with a serial number, and at one time I owned over 60+ titles.

The only serial numbers that I know of on a John Tiller game would be starting with any titles that were released in 2012 or after, when JTS was formed and all of their new releases were digital download.

If you can't afford to replace your whole collection, either cherry pick and only get a few new JTS versions or buy the old HPS CD versions on Amazon or Ebay.

Also, in case you are not aware of it, JTS offers a bluk discount of 20% off any order over $199.

https://john-tiller-software.myshopify.c...k-discount

**Ashcloud** · (This post was last modified: 06-04-2020, 10:46 PM by Ashcloud.)

(06-04-2020, 10:23 PM)Compass Rose Wrote:
(06-04-2020, 09:49 PM)Ashcloud Wrote: I had a great series of African battles against Laza a good while back - some of my favorite games ever, I guess because I am in Africa.

I have since lost the hard drive that had all my games on - and the serial numbers for the games I still have on CD. I also somehow lost a bunch of my old CD's along the way too. My biggest losses are all my SB games. I am now left with WW1 on Matrix and one original CD of PW, but because I lost the serial numbers I can't use the PW disc - does anyone know a way I can get around this? I would love to play Africa at War again (and PW for that matter). The current prices at the Tiller shop just put them all out of my price range given our african currency.

I am not sure if very early on, HPS games had serial numbers however, I don't own a single HPS John Tiller CD that ever came with a serial number, and at one time I owned over 60+ titles.

The only serial numbers that I know of on a John Tiller game would be starting with any titles that were released in 2012 or after, when JTS was formed and all of their new releases were digital download.

If you can't afford to replace your whole collection, either cherry pick and only get a few new JTS versions or buy the old HPS CD versions on Amazon or Ebay.

Also, in case you are not aware of it, JTS offers a bluk discount of 20% off any order over $199.

https://john-tiller-software.myshopify.c...k-discount

Thanks for the tips - $199 is like R3 361,91 - that is like a small fortune, almost our monthly minimum wage. I have managed to get PW and Africa at War to work. Wish I hadn't lost all the others, love this game. Just checked and it actually needs the cd in the drive to run the game - damn annoying, lucky for me the cd still works (I have the same problem with my Campaign Series Middle East Divided Ground - but the CD does not want to read anymore). Is there some way to turn this off so the game runs without needing the CD in the drive? Pretty sure CD drives are not going to be around for much longer.