Campaign Watcher v0.65

Required

• Steel Panters: World at War version 5.0 or higher
  
• Windows 98, 98SE, 2000, XP (possibly NT, Linux/WINE)
• Desktop resolution of 800x600 or more
• Browser with support for CSS and frames
• 2 MB of free hard disk space

Recommended

• Desktop resolution of 1024x768 or more

Installation

Installer

After running the setup program, you will be able to run Campaign Watcher from the start menu.

Overview

Definitions

• All information for a single campaign is stored in a record.
• Data extracted from SPWaW saves is stored in a snapshot. Together snapshots form a record.
  Note: After the snapshot has been taken, you don't need the savefile anymore for the operation of CW.
• The core force are the troops you keep throughout the campaign
• An element is a single unit of the core force.
• Unit is used synonymously to either element or core force.

Layout

The user interface of Campaign Watcher is organized into the following tabs:

• Records - Here you can manage your records, add new snapshots and set default folders.
• Roster - This tab shows a list of the core units in a snapshot and all changes compared to the last snapshot.
• Pers. FilesThis displays the changes for a single element across all snapshots.
• Report - This are various status informations compiled from a single snapshot.
• Graphs - Graphical representations for a number of statistics.
• Options - This tab offers settings for default window size and printing.

Configuration

When you start Campaign Watcher for the first time, you should set some default paths. You can define up to five folders where Campaign Watcher will look for new saves. Additionaly, you can set one folder where information in CSV format can be exported to.

To set the paths:

1. select the folder you want to set from the list
2. use the drive/directory boxes to change the path
3. click Set Folder

From now on, you can change to these folders directly by clicking on them. The path to the selected folder is shown below the list of folders.

Note: An invalid path is shown in red.

Tab: Records

Creating a record

Click on New record. You will be prompted for a filename and a title for the record. The filename appears in the listbox to the left and becomes the current record. The filename and the title are displayed at the top of the window. This title will also be the header for all printouts.

To change the title later, doubleclick the titlebar at the top of the window.

The listbox to the right on the Records tab will show saves of which snapshots have already been taken and added to the current record grayed out.

Taking snapshots

1. Select the save(s) you want to include in the record from the list to the right. For best results, saves from the very start of each battle are recommended. (See also Additional Information below.)
   You can select multiple saves by using the standard Windows mouse/key combinations (SHIFT/CTRL).
   For each save, the filename and the date in MM/DD/YY, HH (Turn) format are shown.
2. Click on Add Snapshot(s).

You need to add at least one snapshot to be able to use the Roster tab and at least two to be able to use the Graphs tab.

Note: As far as I know, saving is handled automatically for Mega Campaigns. So to take a snapshot at the start of a battle you probably have to exit the game, take the snapshot and return.

Tab: Roster

The roster tab displays information on all units in a snapshot. In the box to the right you see a list of snapshots sorted by date/turn. The format of the dates is MM/DD/YY, HH (Turn).
The buttons Prev and 1st toggle between different display modes:

• Prev pressed: compare to previous snapshot
• 1st pressed: compare to first snapshot
• both depressed: don't compare

The meanings of the colors used are: good, neutral, bad. An asterisk denotes a bailed crew.

Note: To sort the table by different columns, click on the table headers.

Exporting the roster

Above the snapshot list are two buttons, which both will export the roster in CSV format (the tabulator character will be the delimiter).

• C - Export to clipboard.
• E - Export to file. You can choose the path were the files will be created by setting the CSV export folder on the Records tab.

Printing the roster

Click on the Printer Setup button to configure your printer. See also tab Options. Click on Print to send the currently displayed snapshot to the printer.

Tab: Element history

This tab works like the Roster tab, but instead of comparing two snapshots for all elements it compares all snapshot for a single element.

Tab: Report

The Report tells you at a glance which units are the most experienced, have the most kills etc. You could gather the same data by looking at the Roster, but using the Report should be more convenient.

Tab: Graphs

Click on the Graphs tab for a number of graphs that visualize the development of your forces over the timeframe covered by all snapshots.

If you select Show turns, multiple turns for a given date (i.e. a single battle) will be spread out along the x-axis. Otherwise the first and last turn (if available) for a single date are displayed. In neither case will the graphs show values for more than one snapshot from the same date and turn.

The Kills/Losses graph is not affected by the Show turns button.

You can select a unit class from the second dropdown box to filter the graphs by unit class. The filter is ignored by the Force Composition and Kills/Losses graphs.

Printing the graphs

Click on the Printer Setup button to configure your printer. See also tab Options. Click on Print to send the currently displayed graph to the printer.

Tab: Options

Here you can set window behaviour and printing options. Changes will come in effect once you hit Apply.

Window size

You can choose from 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, Custom and Maximized window sizes.
Note that custom mode acts differently from the other options. If custom is selected, pressing apply will cause the program to remember its current position and size. In all other modes, hitting apply changes the window size to the selected value.

Roster printing

• Color - As seen on the screen.
• Font styles - Different font styles are used to mark the changes.
• None - Changes are not marked.

Graph printing

• Color - As seen on the screen.
• Greyscales - Optimized greyscale palette instead of colors.

Additional information

• The recommended turns for taking snapshots are either turn 0, before you click on "Quit Deploy" or turn 1, before you've done anything else.
  To also record KIAs and to improve accuracy for the Kills/Losses graph, additionaly take one snapshot from the last turn of each battle.
• More snapshots won't hurt; not taking snapshots from the recommended turns will lessen accuracy of results.
• Don't worry about taking snapshots in the correct order, as they will be sorted automatically.
• Duplicate snapshots will be filtered out.

Known issues & limitations

• The values for the Kills/Losses graph and the Kills since last battle figure on the Report tab may be slightly off.
• Sometimes a formation leader gets killed and one of his subordinates takes control.
  e.g. B0,B1,B2; B0 killed; B1 becomes new B0
  In these cases, CW will compare the new B0 to the old B0.
  Note: CW should handle manually reattached units without any problems.

Homepage

The homepage for Campaignwatcher is campaignwatcher.go.dyndns.org. You can always get the newest version there.

Additional resources

• Change log
• Legal information

Contact

If you have suggestions, questions, bug reports, comments etc. please feel free to contact me at campaignwatcher_@abross.de (remove the underscore for the adress to work).