Note - If you don't understand something, please ask or wait for the official release.

Please don't distribute this file unless you include the disclaimers, etc. Matrix cannot support this release and I don't want them gettimg emails or other support issues to deal with.

This requires that you've already downloaded 3.4 Beta from the official matrix site.

This is an Alpha because it is NOT an official release, that means that posting in the Matrix support forums is fine, someone will try to help you, please don't email Matrix support, if they get very many emails, I won't be able to do this again, it isn't fair to them. I'm hoping to get the next release or another Beta out next week, but it depends on a lot of factors, many of which are out of my control.

If you aren't comfortable with advanced working with your PC (Copying files around, etc.), then please wait for the official (or next beta) release.

Assume the standard EULA applies - I'm not responsible for anything including aliens coming down. I do have a commercial anti-virus, but I can't guarantee 100% that the files are clean, etc.

This update requires that both the orignal game and the 3.4 Beta patch be applied to the same directory. Unzip this file into a separate directory and copy the files onto the program directory.

I mean, first install the main game. Then either install 3.2 followed by 3.4 Beta or just install 3.4 Beta before copying the files in the attached zip file onto that directory.

If you want to copy the directory from The Operational Art of War III to The Operational Art of War III 34Beta191 or some other name and apply the patch to that directory, that would be a good idea. Please feeel free to post on the Matrix support forum if you have any questions about how to do this. It may onvolve setting up shortcuts for the different versions so they can be launched, etc.

I'm attaching the executable and some other files that changed. This is NOT the complete list of files that were changed, so you will still have to apply the 3.4 Public patch, or later Beta patches that come out.

Please let me know if you run into any problems.

I'm releasing this early because while the 3.4 Beta patch is completely usable, this does add a couple of fixes for PBEM. I'm not sure of the timeframe when the offical or next beta will be released. I'm hoping it will be soon, but I can't promise that and I don't want to leave the  PBEM players that upgraded to 3.4 early left hanging.

This contains different versions of the same files that 178 contained, so you can revert to 178 by simply copying those files back over.

Enjoy,

Ralph

3.4.0.191
Elmer no longer commits suicide in Soviet Union 41. He felt compelled to make an attack every round even if it was a poor one.

3.4.0.190
Clicking on the map centers it on the hex clicked on. (Curse you Civ V)

3.4.0.187
Added support for changing screen sizes. This doesn't work while remote desktopping into another PC. I wasn't able to do anything good with the UI, but if you change the N to a Y it will change the screen resolution and will change it back when it's done.
ChangeScreenResolution=N
ScreenY=600
ScreenX=800

3.4.0.185
Fixed supply display on the edit screen. added supply markers back into the 3D display. There's a bug in the BMP version of the 3D display I don't plan to fix for 3.4.

3.4.0.184
When in PO Mode, you can no longer change out of the following orders.
WAIT_ORDERS
DELAY_ORDERS
STATIC_ORDERS
HOLD_ORDERS
FIXED_ORDERS
I also added a new ChineseText.XML file.

3.4.0.183
Fixed an issue with Elmer where the defender strength was not correctly calculated for overruns.

ExperminentalAIP1 and P2 when set to Y (the default) will use a static average value for the chance for it to succeed if it passes the unit quality check. If set to N then it uses a random value instead which is likely to result in more overruns, but could be considered a cheat.

3.4.0.182
These was a bug with 3.4 Beta that is now fixed.
Elmer now won't do anything for the following orders, even in PO mode. If you can do a quick test for one of these like delay to make sure I didn't break anything for the pure PO, I'd appreciate it. I'm pretty sure I didn't, but...

WAIT_ORDERS
DELAY_ORDERS
STATIC_ORDERS
HOLD_ORDERS
FIXED_ORDERS

3.4.0.181
These was a bug with 3.4 Beta that is now fixed.
Clicking on the map would automatically assume it was moving the map and recenter it at the same spot and repaint the entire map. I was afraid that leaving it that way might break something subtle, so it was best to go ahead and fix it. This was most noticeable when clicking through an enemy unit stack while range rings were on, it would leave your unit showing in the top right corner screen.

3.4.0.179/180
These are all bugs with 3.4 Beta that are now fixed.
PO Assist Manual/Fixed wasn't always sticky and manual/fixed units were sometimes moved by Elmer Assist.
Mouse Click and moving off of it sometimes moved the unit under heavy system loads
Elmer no longer puts units that can't move into Tactical reserve.

3.4.0.178
Clicking the left button on the combat planner no longer hides the combat planner.

3.4.0.177
Added 'Slow' Opart 3 - Slow (Should work with XP and processors back to the PII or PIII.)
Added Windows 98 Opart 3 - It shoud work now. I can load and save files. I didn't try PBEM.
Made incompatible with old saves - This was because of the extra visibility in 173. 173 won't load 177.
Added more logging on startup - I moved where the loaw_log is initialized to sooner in the process to add more logging for catching errors on why some people can't run.

3.4.0.176
inventory and replacements dialog not showing in PBEM mode
Local reserve wasn't working
VCR Playback -Tooltips weren't showing both lines
Changed INF to AP in the tooltip

3.4.0.175
Italian was crashing because the unit icon description was longer than 19 characters
Modified Elmer behavior so that if a formation objective has a value and isn't owned, then it will be considered enemy occupied by that formation instead of looking at the percent it's occupied. This can be turned off as experimentalai=N in the ini file. This fixes an issue with one scenario, and in general seems like a reasonable idea that's not likely to break things.

3.4.0.174
Bad ToolTipColor
Silvercolor was reversed.
Some language elements not being reloaded from the exe file.
Spelling Error in OOB - proficiendy
Tooltips on dual monitors are broken
Menu bar doesn't come up on load.
Not all documents are opening correctly

3.4.0.191 - Public Alpha.zip (3.37 mb)