Spring: 1944 "Operation Koltso" Public Release!

[SpikedHelmet]

It's here! It's finally here!



Click Here to Download Spring: 1944 "Operation Koltso"!

Spring: 1944 has been unleashed upon the world! After much anticipation (from us as much as our fans), months of hard work and countless late nights playing Battlefield 2 and Team Fortress 2, we feel confident that we're ready to release something fun and worthwhile. This comes roughly a year after our initial public release of Spring: 1944 v0.21 through which we learned quite a lot (including how not to release a game publically before it's ready!) Many changes have been made which have made Spring: 1944 a lot different than it used to be, so be sure to check out the Official Spring: 1944 Play Guide.


This version of Spring: 1944 is still a "beta" -- while we've put a lot of work into it, we still have lots more to do, so don't expect a finished product. In the future, we plan on including many more units and features, such as naval and air units, different game modes, and a suite of custom Spring: 1944-specific maps. For this release, however, you'll have to make do with "only" about 200 different units, ranging from infantryman to vehicles to tanks and artillery. For a more detailed look at what units are included in this release, again, check out our Play Guide.

As Spring: 1944 is still in its beta development stages, we're always interested in hearing what sort of constructive feedback and especially bug reporting any of you players have to say. That's half the reason we decided to release our beta publically (the other half being because some people just couldn't stand waiting anymore, you know who you are!). A note about our naming convention: Rather than use bland numerical designations for different versions of the game, we've adopted the practice of using the names of Operations carried out in WW2, in alphabetical order. Internally, we have had builds such as Dragoon, Ferdinand, Goodwood, and Jaywick. This version is named after Operation Koltso, the Soviet offensive to destroy the remaining German forces trapped in the city of Stalingrad after its encirclement by the Red Army in 1942-1943.

What files are included in this release?:

There are several files included with this release. The first is the base game file, S44Koltso_v09.sdz. The second are a collection of 4 newly redesigned maps specially made for Spring: 1944. You can also find a list of recommended Total Annihilation-style maps on our forums and website which can point you towards other maps which "play well" with Spring: 1944.

In the next day or two we will be releasing a full installer package containing the Spring engine files, Spring: 1944 files, and SpringLobby, for release to those outside of the Spring/Total Annihilation Community. For the time being, those who are already familiar with playing games and mods on the Spring engine will have access to this game base file. However, if you've stumbled upon this post from outside of the Spring community and can't handle waiting a day or two, you can try to swim the quagmire of the Spring installation and dodge rabbid Total Annihilation fanboys at The Spring RTS website. Here you will have each of your senses assaulted by things like "Speedmetal", "Balanced Annihilation" and a host of other assorted nonsense that you needn't pay any mind. Just download and install the base Spring engine files (including SpringLobby) as well as the Spring: 1944 game file and you'll be good to go. Though be sure to check our website -- by the time you read this we may have released the full installer already, saving you countless minutes of agony.

Installation:

-Save S44Koltso_v09.sdz to your Spring\mods\ folder. Note that Spring's Archivemover will NOT work currently -- we use newer files that Archivemover has not yet been updated to handle.

Note: Some browsers and OS' have trouble saving files with extensions .sdz and .sd7. You may need to rename your files with these extensions (.sdz for mod/game files, .sd7 for map files) in order for them to work properly.

Thanks for your support over the past few months. We look forward to hearing from and seeing you in the community over the coming months as we continue progress on Spring: 1944. As always, feel free to drop us a line on our website, or visit our multiplayer channel at #S44 from SpringLobby/TASClient!

Best wishes,

The Spring: 1944 Team
http://www.Spring1944.com

Visit our forums on Spring1944.com here.
See screenshots, unit renders and other art here.
Learn about Spring: 1944 and the team behind it here.

[Argh]

Cool, can't wait to give it a go. Cheers on your release

[Masure]

I quickly read the play guide -> awesome !

[manolo_]

hi,

i have to correct something (i know u dont have these letters in english, but we have :D)
-Schutzenzug --> Sch├â┬╝tzenzug, also "Zug" isnt really correct, a zug is normally ~100 soldiers, (maybe Sto├â┼©trupp)
-Sturmzug --> Sto├â┼©trupp
-Aufklarungs Trupp --> Aufklärungs Trupp
-Granatwerfer Trupp --> M├â┬Ârser Trupp
-Heckenschutze Trupp --> Heckenschützen Trupp (i think Scharfschützen Trupp should fit better)
-Panzerjager Trupp --> Panzerjäger Trupp (maybe Panzerfaust Trupp would fit better)
-Panzerjager Marder --> Panzerjäger Marder

but when im home, ill play it :)

[Warlord Zsinj]

Good luck guys, hope you make a big splash

[Otherside]

Win

i suggest you get a Autohost running S44 24/7

[[Krogoth86]]

I gave it a short try so here are my first impressions:

• Engineers idling animation is borked -> they start hugging themself or something plus some other issues like that door of the british barracks which has no polies on its back so you just see a floating handle or whatever it was when building something.
• Maybe something that is about "You've to learn it in order to play!" but imo the unit descriptions should be extended because as new player I found it hard to realize about the range infantry has and so some groups of those close combat machine gunners (you know what I mean) were just ripped apart because I didn't realize their low range. There's a hint (-> close combat) for the unit itself - in the barracks I just get this kinda superfluous and vague description of x-times Sten or something like that.
• This is a bit about the point I just brought up: I don't really understand the need of sometimes having units that you can build which then consist of different unit classes. I'd prefer having pure classes to build as this also would make room for precise unit descriptions which now aren't there for some classes as now it's about how many guys of which class you'll get. Also "You've to learn that" but I see no gain in those mixed unit classes per build but just confusion for newbies for the said reasons.
• Does this whole ammo concept work? I had my tanks driving around and firing 100% normal although my ammo support was empty etc. and I didn't have any support points at all...
• There are those yellow and red stars for infantry. I don't know but I only had them in some rare occasions. Maybe I misunderstood something but afaik those stars should show that underfire and weeping on the ground status - it showed up pretty much never for me though even dozens of soldiers were in that state (maybe it also were just certain classes that had those stars - dunno).
• It's not really possible to perform more than a 1on1 even on maps like THIS is it? At least imo the ressources you get per flag are so limiting you wouldn't be able to really build anything but basic infantry at all. Or is there a tag in the lobby to increase the gain per flag ratio? Didn't check that yet...

[SpikedHelmet]

I'll just respond to the last post: S1944 specific maps have different metal characteristics. Tonight I had a few nice teamgames, 2v2 and 3v3, on that map; each spot gives a lot more Command than a single spot of metal on TA maps (there are much fewer of the spots though, so on a mapwide scale it evens out).

[imbaczek]

i've got exams this week you insensitive clod!

[smoth]

about fucking time

[manolo_]

i played one game, so thats what i noticed that far:

-custom formation is working just for some units
-when u "cons" build something, there are 2 buildbars
-ctrl+d a mine dont work
-when unit has no ammo, the health/reload-bar is really long, it vanish when they get new ammo

-->this sucks immo: could u disable the normal res-bar and other luas by mod-default? coz i dont want to disable them just for s44 and then enable them for ta-based mods?

[Pxtl]

The whole LuaUI vs. Mods mayhem is a big problem, even when modders _don't_ think of the lua as a cheat. Imho, we need a standard way for a LuaUI widget to flag itself as "I support mod X" and so the mod can check for the widget and disable it if necessary (as well as a pre-defined whitelist of widgets that the modder may have thought of).

[Hoi]

The archive mover doesn't like s44, however it works by just placing the file in your mods folder.

[SpliFF]

Excellent mod, will definitely become a primary mod I'm certain. I enjoyed it a lot though there are some things to note for fixing:

* The trees looked awful, they were boxy like the alpha wasn't working or something. It may be my graphics settings but i've noticed the same thing in some screenshots on your site (others look fine). If there are some particular graphics settings required to fix this you should make sure players know about it.

* It might be nice to have some terrain awareness added to the suppression system. I had guys up on steep slopes being suppressed by enemy units who were just sitting around on the open plain below. It seems more realistic that units in rocky, elevated or wooded terrain would be less susceptible to being pinned/panicked since they have the benefit of cover. On the same note it would be nice to have trenches and barriers that can be erected to assist in holding ground.

* My main gripe is the handling of minefields. I understand it's realistic that your own units would be hurt by mines but unfortunately you haven't got around to telling the pathing system that. If you give units a long move order there's a fairly high chance they'll decide to walk straight through an allied mine field and kill themselves. Even stationery units holding near a minefield are susceptible to 'maneuvering' through the mines when deciding to pursue enemies. If the engine can't handle this yet then take mines out or make them safe for your troops until it can.

Fairly minor gripes i think, as despite the beta status it is quite polished. I recommend everyone try it at least once. You'll know in a couple of games whether it's something you like as its playing style is fairly distinct from the *A mods. If you liked Company of Heroes, Dawn of War or even the Total War series then you'll probably like this. It seems to lend itself towards short games too so if you're always pressed for time you might try it on that basis alone.

PS. The ArchiveMover issue is an engine bug, not a mod bug. However it is already fixed for the next Spring release. You guys should have waited but hopefully most 'early adopters' will know what to do.

pxtl: The LuaUI vs. Mods issue is the same as the Startscripts vs. Mods issue I ran into (and fixed) this week. I'll look at submitting a patch that allows widgets to declare themselves safe for particular mods. We discussed blacklists but you really can't predict when a new mod will come along and break your assumptions.

[Pxtl]

"Reflective Units" handles alpha. And what's this archive mover fix? Will it be handling the disagreement between UAC, TASC, and Archivemover one where the files are (virtualstore vs program files)?

[Hoi]

Alpha requiers the reflective units to be on, I suggest seperating the two and enabling alpha by default in the next spring release.

[winthrowe]

Awesome news. Can't wait to get home from work and try it. :)

[Nemo]

The minefield debate is one we had for a while. Our issue with having mines be allied is that you get people using them for tactical cover (ie, retreat directly -through- a field, or throw them up all over the place) rather than area denial. My own hope was that the auto-placed marker would help to alleviate it a bit, but if the feedback on that particular aspect is overwhelmingly negative, we'll look into a solution.

Terrain awareness for suppression would indeed be cool. The tricky part would be doing relative heights/cover as opposed to absolute, but we'll see.

Thanks for the feedback. We're going to make an installer today which bundles the maps, game, springlobby, and fixed archivemover for the 'masses.'

[SpliFF]

And what's this archive mover fix? Will it be handling the disagreement between UAC, TASC, and Archivemover one where the files are (virtualstore vs program files)?

I don't understand what you just said but the fix makes ArchiveMover recognise modinfo.*lua* files which are the new standard. It's just that nobody told ArchiveMover that.

[FLOZi]

I gave it a short try so here are my first impressions:

• Engineers idling animation is borked -> they start hugging themself or something plus some other issues like that door of the british barracks which has no polies on its back so you just see a floating handle or whatever it was when building something.

Known bug(s), minor enough not to hold up the release, but they are on the list.

[*]Maybe something that is about "You've to learn it in order to play!" but imo the unit descriptions should be extended because as new player I found it hard to realize about the range infantry has and so some groups of those close combat machine gunners (you know what I mean) were just ripped apart because I didn't realize their low range. There's a hint (-> close combat) for the unit itself - in the barracks I just get this kinda superfluous and vague description of x-times Sten or something like that.

Well you could just select the unit and view it's attack range if it's the first time you've built it Mainly I'd say this is a 'learn' thing but perhaps descriptions should be reviewed.

[*]This is a bit about the point I just brought up: I don't really understand the need of sometimes having units that you can build which then consist of different unit classes. I'd prefer having pure classes to build as this also would make room for precise unit descriptions which now aren't there for some classes as now it's about how many guys of which class you'll get. Also "You've to learn that" but I see no gain in those mixed unit classes per build but just confusion for newbies for the said reasons.

Mixed squads allow us to control the ratios of infantry types as well as providing 'basic' squads that can do most work. I've not explained it very well, but mixed squads are not going away.

[*]Does this whole ammo concept work? I had my tanks driving around and firing 100% normal although my ammo support was empty etc. and I didn't have any support points at all...

As far as I'm aware ammo is working fine in this build. Newly built tanks have a full (and sizeable) stock of ammo that won't deplete logistics until the unit is reloading in a supply zone.

[*]There are those yellow and red stars for infantry. I don't know but I only had them in some rare occasions. Maybe I misunderstood something but afaik those stars should show that underfire and weeping on the ground status - it showed up pretty much never for me though even dozens of soldiers were in that state (maybe it also were just certain classes that had those stars - dunno).

All infantry units (including deployed MG's and guns) are suceptible to suppression, but to varying degrees. Strange that it never showed up for you, it's been quite reliable in testing. It doesn't detect the change instantly though.

[*]It's not really possible to perform more than a 1on1 even on maps like THIS is it? At least imo the ressources you get per flag are so limiting you wouldn't be able to really build anything but basic infantry at all. Or is there a tag in the lobby to increase the gain per flag ratio? Didn't check that yet...[/list]

There is a modoption for low/normal/high flag output. Some S44 maps (like bocage and caucuses) are designed to be infantry only. You might also want to try some non-S44 specific maps; ArcticPlains and Terra are two old favourites that spring to mind.