06-21-2006, 05:41 AM
06-21-2006, 12:34 PM
That's a great question!
They'll be reported under ACOW. We're going to get away from having to report games under I, II, TWOTY, ACOW, and III. Really, it's just not necessary anymore.
At one time, newer games could not play the old scenarios; this arose from a complex Talonsoft copy-protect scheme, that required the CD in your drive to match the version of the scenario being opened. However, by the time of COW 1.04, the latest patches to all the old versions enabled the "conversion" of scenarios, to work in later versions. Now almost all scenarios have been converted, and those that haven't been can certainly be, so there's no need to report these games under multiple versions.
Another issue was that with TWOTY and COW, scenarios that had been converted were larger, affecting their scenario size modifier (SSM) under our formula. But once the older scenarios are converted to work in TWOTY and later, they no longer suffer from being undersized.
Bottom line: after we get the new scoring system sorted out, we'll work on moving all the TOAW scenarios over to "one standard" for game reporting purposes. This will probably be done by eliminating all these subcategories of game versions. Basically, all our beloved scenarios will work in the new engine, so they're all treated as one and the same game. For now, report them under COW, because that's our most current, comprehensive database of scenarios.
Incidentally, even if someone is playing a I, II, or TWOTY scenario that hasn't been converted, you can report that as a COW game right now. If for some reason it's not listed as a COW scenario, let me know, and I'll put it up, and check the SSM to make sure it's accurate. Over time, all those older scenarios will be in the COW list, and most of them are there now.
They'll be reported under ACOW. We're going to get away from having to report games under I, II, TWOTY, ACOW, and III. Really, it's just not necessary anymore.
At one time, newer games could not play the old scenarios; this arose from a complex Talonsoft copy-protect scheme, that required the CD in your drive to match the version of the scenario being opened. However, by the time of COW 1.04, the latest patches to all the old versions enabled the "conversion" of scenarios, to work in later versions. Now almost all scenarios have been converted, and those that haven't been can certainly be, so there's no need to report these games under multiple versions.
Another issue was that with TWOTY and COW, scenarios that had been converted were larger, affecting their scenario size modifier (SSM) under our formula. But once the older scenarios are converted to work in TWOTY and later, they no longer suffer from being undersized.
Bottom line: after we get the new scoring system sorted out, we'll work on moving all the TOAW scenarios over to "one standard" for game reporting purposes. This will probably be done by eliminating all these subcategories of game versions. Basically, all our beloved scenarios will work in the new engine, so they're all treated as one and the same game. For now, report them under COW, because that's our most current, comprehensive database of scenarios.
Incidentally, even if someone is playing a I, II, or TWOTY scenario that hasn't been converted, you can report that as a COW game right now. If for some reason it's not listed as a COW scenario, let me know, and I'll put it up, and check the SSM to make sure it's accurate. Over time, all those older scenarios will be in the COW list, and most of them are there now.