AOEFIX.ZIP V1.0  1-14-94

AOEFIX.TXT
~~~~~~~~~~
THE PURPOSE OF THESE PATCHES IS TO REDUCE THE ACCURACY OF AOE PILOTS AND
REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF "CHEATING" BUILT INTO THE PROGRAM, THEREBY INCREASING  
THE REALISM OF THE SIMULATION. 

DYNAMIX HAS EXPLAINED THAT THE ACES SEEM LIKE THEY NEVER MISS WHEN THEY SHOOT 
BECAUSE THEY DO NOT FIRE UNLESS THEY HAVE AN EXTREMELY HIGH PROBABILITY OF 
HITTING. VETERAN, EXPERT, AND NAMED ACES ARE ALSO ABLE EXCEED THE PERFORMANCE 
ENVELOPE OF THE AIRCRAFT. FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU FIGHT AN ACE IN THE SAME PLANE 
AS HE IS FLYING, HE WILL BE ABLE TO TURN INSIDE YOU (ALONG WITH SOME OTHER 
PRETTY AMAZING MANUEVERS THE PLAYER CANNOT PERFORM).  A THIRD PROBLEM IS THAT 
AI CONTROLLED AIRCRAFT ARE GIVEN TWICE THE AMOUNT OF AMMUNITION THAT THE 
PLAYER IS GIVEN. A FOURTH PROBLEM IS THE UNREALISTIC DEVASTATING FIREPOWER OF
BOMBER FORMATIONS. I THINK HAVE ADDRESSED THESE PROBLEMS IN A FAIR MANNER WITH 
THESE PATCH FILES, AND HAVE INCLUDED SEVERAL DIFFERENT FILES WITH VARYING 
DEGREES OF MODIFICATION SO YOU CAN USE THE ONE WHICH SUITES YOU BEST.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE PATCHES ARE NOT THE "END ALL."  MANY BYTES IN THE
*.PLT AND OTHER FILES REMAIN UNDEFINED.  IF I FIGURE OUT NEW WAYS TO DEAL
WITH THESE PROBLEMS, I'LL UPLOAD THE REVISIONS.

ACCURACY
~~~~~~~~
BY INCREASING THE WILLINGNESS OF PILOTS OF FIRE AND DECREASING THEIR ACCURACY,
YOU WILL NOW SEE AI PILOTS MISS THEIR TARGETS. YOU'LL SEE LOTS MORE TRACER
STREAMS FLYING ACROSS THE SKY. YOU'LL BE ABLE SEE TRACERS FLY BY YOUR COCKPIT
AND BE ABLE TO AVOID GETTING SHOT UP IF YOU REACT QUICKLY IN THE PROPER
METHOD.  ACCURACY AND WILLINGNESS TO FIRE ARE CONTROLLED BY THE *.PLT FILES.

EXCEEDING THE PERFORMANCE ENVELOPE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THIS IS ALSO CONTROLLED IN THE *.PLT FILE. I HAVE MODIFIED THE VALUES OF THOSE
PILOTS EXCEEDING REALITY, BUT HAVE ALSO INCLUDED A FILE WHICH ALLOWS SOME
"PUSHING" OF THE ENVELOPE BY THE ACES IF YOU ENJOY CHALLENGES.  UNFORTUNATELY
THERE ARE OTHER WAYS IN WHICH THE AI CHEATS. FOR EXAMPLE, THE AI IS ABLE TO
CHANGE THE SPEED OF AIRCRAFT INSTANTLY.  AI CONTROLLED PLANES ARE ABLE TO
SEEMING CALCULATE AND MATCH THE PLAYER'S SPEED INSTANTLY, SOMETHING THE PLAYER
IS UNABLE TO DO.

AMMUNITION LEVEL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                                                            
AT THIS TIME I CAN ONLY OFFER A CRUDE ALTERNATIVE HERE WHICH INVOLVES YOU
CHOOSING WHICH SIDE YOU ARE GOING TO FLY FOR BEFORE ENTERING THE GAME AND
UNZIPPING *.GL FILES WHICH REDUCES THE AMMO LEVEL OF THE OTHER SIDES PLANES.
I REALIZE THIS GIVES YOUR WINGMEN AN ADVANTAGE, BUT I HAVE FLOWN DOZENS OF
MISSIONS USING THIS METHOD AND HAVE FOUND THERE TO BE NO REAL NEGATIVE
EFFECT ON "PLAY BALANCE." THE AI RARELY USES ALL THE AMMUNITION EVEN WHEN
IT IS REDUCED TO 1/3 OF THE "REAL" VALUE, AND IS STILL QUITE CAPABLE OF
SLAUGHTERING MY ENTIRE FLIGHT. THERE IS A PLUS TO DECREASING THE AMMO LEVEL
WHICH ARISES IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS.

PLANES WHICH RUN OUT OF AMMO WILL ATTEMPT TO DISENGAGE IF THEY HAVE A WAYPOINT
TO GO TO. WHILE USING THE 1/3 AMMO LEVEL PATCH, ON MANY OCCASIONS I HAVE FOUND 
MYSELF ALONE (EITHER I GOT SEPERATED OR ALL MY WINGMEN GOT SHOT DOWN) BEING 
CHASED BY ONE, TWO OR EVEN THREE ENEMY PLANES. IF I AM ABLE TO AVOID GETTING 
KILLED WHILE THE ENEMY KEEPS FIRING AWAY, EVENTUALLY THEY WILL RUN OUT OF 
AMMO AND WANDER OFF HOMEWARD BOUND.  THIS IS A POOR SUBSTITUTE FOR REALISTIC 
DISENGAGEMENT IN THE SIM, BUT IT WORKS.


BOMBER RETURN FIRE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOMBER RETURN FIRE IS TOO EFFECTIVE IN AOE.  STATISTICALLY VERY FEW GERMAN
FIGHTERS WERE SHOT DOWN BY BOMBER GUNFIRE. IT SEEMS THAT AOE TAKES THE VIEW 
THAT THE GUNNERS IN BOMBERS DID, WHO REGULARLY CLAIMED ON SINGLE MISSIONS TO 
HAVE SHOT DOWN THE EQUIVILENT OF THE ENTIRE LUFTWAFFE DEFENDING THE WEST. 
I CONTEND THAT IF THE BOMBERS WERE AS EFFECTIVE IN REAL LIFE AS THEY ARE 
IN AOE, THEY WOULD NOT HAVE NEEDED ESCORTS.

MAYBE YOU DISAGREE, BUT DYNAMIX KNEW THEY HAD A PROBLEM, AND REDUCED THE
.50 CAL WEAPONS ON THE BOMBERS TO .303 CAL. ADDITIONALLY, THEY REDUCED THE 
TWIN GUN TURRETS TO SINGLE GUN POSITIONS (EXCEPT FOR ONE, PROBABLY THE TAIL
POSITION IN THE B-17 AND B-24, I HAVEN'T BOTHERED TO FIGURE IT OUT).

THERE ARE THREE OPTIONS WHICH WILL REDUCE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE BOMBERS.
BY USING THE PLT*.ZIP PATCHES TO CORRECT THE ACCURACY AND CHEATING FOR THE 
FIGHTERS YOU WILL ALSO IMPACT THE BOMBERS. BUT MANY OF THE BOMBER UNITS ARE 
VETERAN OR EXPERT UNITS, SO THEY'LL STILL BE HOT.  SO I HAVE INCLUDED A FILE 
WHICH GIVES ALL BOMBER UNITS "POOR" CREWS.  FINALLY, I HAVE INCLUDED A FILE 
WHICH ALTERS THE DAMAGE FACTOR AND RATE OF FIRE OF THE BOMBER WEAPONS ONLY. 
THIS NEEDS TO BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH NEW GL FILES ALSO INCLUDED.

I USE ALL THREE AND STILL GET ALL SHOT UP, EVEN IN HEAD-ON ATTACKS, IF I HANG
AROUND TOO MUCH. I GUESS NOT GETTING WAXED IMMEDIATELY SOMETIMES GIVES ME A 
FALSE SENSE OF INVULNERABILITY.


INSTALLATION AND WARNINGS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INSTALLATION - UNZIP THE PATCHES YOU CHOOSE TO USE INTO YOUR AOE DIRECTORY. 
THE AOE PROGRAM WILL AUTOMATICALLY USE THE THESE FILES INSTEAD USING THE DATA 
IN THE SIM1.DYN, SIM2.DYN, AND COMMON.DYN FILES. *NO* CHANGES ARE MADE TO ANY 
ORIGINAL AOE FILES, ALTHOUGH IT NEVER HURTS TO MAKE A BACK-UP OF YOUR FILES. 
OF COURSE, YOUR USE OF THESE FILES IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO USE THE MODIFIED FILES SIMPLY DELETE THEM.  THE PROGRAM
WILL REVERT BACK TO USING THE UNREALISTIC ORIGINAL DATA.

DYNAMIX DOES NOT OFFICIALLY SUPPORT THE HEX EDITING OF THEIR SOFTWARE. IF YOU
ARE EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS WITH AOE USING THESE PATCHES, PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT
DYNAMIX. DELETE ALL FILES WHICH CAME WITH THIS PATCH AND SEE IF THE PROBLEM IS
STILL THERE, THEN CONTACT DYNAMIX IF IT IS. IF THE PROBLEM IS ONLY THERE WHEN
YOU ARE USING THIS PATCH, PLEASE CONTACT ME.  THE ONLY KNOWN "PROBLEM" WHICH
YOU MAY EXPERIENCE IS A SLIGHLTY LONGER LOADING TIME WHEN THE PROGRAM ACCESSES
THE HARD DRIVE.

ALSO NOTE THAT VCR TAPES MADE WHEN USING THESE PATCHES MAY NOT FUNCTION IN AOE
PROGRAMS NOT USING THEM. LIKEWISE, YOU MAY GET SOME STRANGE RESULTS IF YOU
ATTEMPT TO VIEW EARLIER VCR TAPES WHEN THESE PATCHES ARE INSTALLED.

THE PATCHES
~~~~~~~~~~~
PLT1.ZIP*     ADJUSTS ACCURACY AND CHEATING.

PLT2.ZIP      USE IF YOU THINK PLT1.ZIP IS TOO EASY.

PLT3.ZIP      LESS MODIFICATIONS MAKE THIS EVEN MORE CHALLENGING, BUT STILL
              IS MORE REALISTIC THAN ORIGINAL AOE.

ALLIED1.ZIP*   BEFORE YOU START AOE, UNZIP *ONE* OF THESE INTO YOUR AOE
ALLIED2.ZIP    DIRECTORY.  DECIDE WHO YOU WILL FLY FOR IN THIS "SESSION"
               AND USE ONE PATCH THAT MATCHES YOUR CHOICE. THE NUMBERS 
GERMAN1.ZIP*   MEAN: 1 = OTHER SIDE GETS 1/3 AMMO
GERMAN2.ZIP          2 = OTHER SIDE GETS 1/2 AMMO
              
               EXAMPLE: YOU DECIDE TO FLY FOR THE ALLIES AND YOU WANT THE
               GERMANS TO GET 1/3 OF STANDARD AMMO LOAD. UNZIP ALLIED1.ZIP
               INTO YOUR AOE DIRECTORY.

               NOTE THAT EACH CONTAINS *.GL FILES FOR BOTH SIDES, MODIFIED
               FOR ONE SIDE AND NOT THE OTHER. SO WHEN YOU CHANGE SIDES AND
               UNZIP A NEW PATCH, THE OLD GL FILES ARE OVERWRITTEN.

BMBRCREW.ZIP*  CONTAINS SQUAD0.DAT HAVING POOR BOMBER CREWS.

BMBRGUNS.ZIP*  CONTAINS BULLET.MEC AND BOMBER *.GL FILES TO REDUCE
               EFFECTIVENESS OF RETURN FIRE.

*I RECOMMEND STARTING OFF WITH THESE SO YOU CAN SEE THE FULL EFFECT OF THEM
 COMBINED. 


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'D LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE:

LARRY GRILL - HIS ORIGINAL WORK ON THE AOTP *.PLT FILES GOT ME STARTED.

BRIAN SANFORD - HE FOUND THE BULLET.MEC FILE.

JAMES "JAYBIRD" JOHNSON - FOR SUPPLYING INFORMATION ON THE SQUAD0.DAT FILE.

GRANT SENN - "TAGERT" TESTED MANY *.PLT VERSIONS AND GAVE ME LOTS OF 
              ADVICE.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW OF ANY PROBLEMS, COMPLAINTS, OR SUGGESTIONS.

NICHOLAS BELL
72162,1667

