Several people have contacted me, or posted on the Steam Forums that they are having trouble connecting to the multi-player lobby.

Fortunately, for me this is not an issue I've experienced and so I don't personal experience of it. Nor, did I have to deal with it when playing multi-player with the Kriegspiel Group as they use direct IP Connections for their games. So, I'm not the best source of solutions for the problem.

There is a link to the Kriegspiel Group below to the mod page below.

https://kriegsspiel.forumotion.net/t1451-set-up-for-sowwl-napoleon-games-for-kriegspiel-style

The new Norbsoft forum is here
https://www.norbsoftdev.net/index.php/kunena/recent

If anyone wishes to add any more idea's or links please let me know and I shall be happy to add them here for general reference.

Copied from the Kriegspiel News Forum[forum.kriegsspiel.org.uk] courtesy Uncle Billy.

• Many additional flags from Gunship's Road To Wagram & Peninsula mod (for Gettysburg).
  
• Added more courier orders to the Orders Menu and re-arranged them into a slightly more logical order. British-only formations have been added to the courier menu.
  
• All mini-maps have been redrawn in a more period style.
  
• Road errors on all maps have been fixed.
  
• Morale loss from taking fire from flank and rear has been greatly increased.
  
• Four types of cavalry have been instituted; heavy, medium, light and lancers. Heavy cavalry will do the greatest damage to infantry. Light cavalry is the fastest of the three.
  
• All formations have been rewritten for smoother deployment. The Chinese fire drill is gone.
  
• Skirmish formation has been changed & its abilities have been increased. They are faster and significantly better marksmen than line troops. Skirmishers are now a real threat and need to be countered, not left to shoot away at your close order formations.
  
• Skirmishers deploy automatically when they move into range of the enemy.
  
• Formations on the 'Combat' toolbar maintain their formation when moving. They do not change into road column before moving.
  
• OOBs are modified to take advantage of skirmisher abilities.
  
• Overall artillery fire is much more effective. Canister has a range of 400-500 yd. However, unlimbered guns will not rotate; they remain fixed in the direction the battery unlimbers. This allows flank attacks on artillery. Frontal attacks on artillery will be very costly. Battery commanders given a stance and not TC'd will still shift their battery to a better firing position however.
  
• Flags removed from individual guns. Now the only flag of an artillery unit is the battery commander. We felt this restriction was in keeping with a game that addresses command at division and corps level. It also looks better.
  
• Many more flags added thanks to the RebBugler Flag Works including his new Hanoverian ones.
  
• Limited information concerning the progress of the battle has been instituted. This better reflects the reduced information a 19th century general would have had during a battle.
  
• Formation movement speeds have been reduced. Also infantry double time speed has been reduced by 22%.
  
• A more functional toolbar has been created.
  
• Courier message spamming in MP has been removed.
  
• The company-size auto-skirmisher creation has been disabled. The KS Mod uses a single battalion-sized unit within each brigade to represent the combined skirmishing capability of that brigade. This unit can be thought of as representing converged light or other flank companies, attached jager companies, or third-rankers from some units (notably Austrians and Prussians). Our national characteristics also mean that some nations at certain periods have very limited or no skirmish capability (such as 1806 Prussians, 1807 Russians and 1808-1809 Spanish). French formations will always have a second unit that can skirmish if necessary which represents their adaptive training and their tactically identical use of fusilier and leger regiments. We decided this was a better tactical tool given the division and corps command levels of the game than splitting companies off from every battalion. It also allowed us to show different national and period characteristics.
  
• Cannon capture has been largely eliminated so as to not decrease the capturing unit by 30 men. The guns will now rout before being captured. They can be captured while being routed but this will not cause the capturing unit to lose 30 men and the routed gun will be eliminated instead.
  
• Numerous maps have been added (more than 40). These have been ported over from Gettysburg and were the free mod- and add-on maps from that game. Additionally if you own Gettysburg and any of its add-ons, you can use those maps as well in Waterloo (giving another 20 maps). In addition several maps have variants which include such things as impassable rivers (except at road crossings) and fieldwork defenses (using the Gettysburg breastworks sprite).
  
• A number of scenarios which can be played in SP or MP. For SP or co-op MP, there is one side that is recommended for the player(s) to command. There is a initial situation map in each scenario folder for the human side. It gives the position of that side's troops.
  
• Suicidal advance of artillery into the enemy's lines has been mostly eliminated. Guns also will not fire when friendly troops are in front of them.
  
• Cavalry will not attack troops in cavalry unfriendly terrain, e.g. woods, rough, stone walls and towns.
  
• Artillery will not fire when friendly troops are in front of it.
  
• Cavalry and artillery AI rewritten to fix bugs and make both act in a more historic manner.
  
• Foot artillery will not move very close to an enemy position. Horse artillery will. This is more historic.

• Prussia and France (1806)
  
• Russia and France (1807)
  
• Austria and France (1809) - Italian and Danube theaters
  
• Russia and France (1812)
  
• Anglo-Portuguese-Spanish and France (Peninsular 1808-1814)
  
• Anglo-Dutch-German, Prussia and France (1815)

In addition the following minor nations have some sprites to allow some of their units to be fielded. Use of different flags allows further nationalities to be represented (e.g. Neapolitans and Italians, Portuguese Legion, Irish Legion, etc):

• Baden - line infantry
  
• Bavaria
  
• Brunswick
  
• Dutch-Belgians
  
• Hanover - flag only, use British sprites
  
• Italy - flag only, use French, Westphalian or Wurttemberg sprites
  
• Naples - flag only, use French, Westphalian or Wurttemberg sprites
  
• Nassau (Coalition) - line and light infantry
  
• Nassau (French Ally) - line and light infantry
  
• Orange-Nassau - line infantry
  
• Poland - uhlans
  
• Portugal - line and light infantry
  
• Saxony - 1806 infantry, later infantry, cavalry
  
• Swiss - line infantry in French service
  
• Westphalia - line infantry
  
• Wurttemberg

The 1806 Prussian army uses sprites from the 1745 Fontenoy Gettysburg Mod. We know these are not correct but they are better than nothing. We are still working on improving them.

You will need the latest versions of both the game, KS Sprites Mod, KS Napoleon Mod II and KS SOW Supplemental Maps.

To play the Kriegspiel Mod you will need.

• The latest versions of the game.
  
• The KS Sprites Mod (which adds all the additional units.)
  
• KS Napoleon Mod II (which changes how the game plays.)
  
• KS SOW Supplemental Maps. (which provides all of the additional maps.)

In practice the later is constantly being added to as the members are always adding new maps and campaigns. So, if you are joining a multi-player game you may be asked by the host to download a new map to add to the KS SOW Supplemental Maps folder before the game starts.

To obtain the mod you must register as a member of the Kriegspiel Forum.[forum.kriegsspiel.org.uk]

The mod is currently compatible with Scourge of War Waterloo (SowWL) version 1.01. It will not work with older versions of the game,


This is a collection of free maps done over the years and gathered up in one place. It is not a stand alone mod, (it doesn't have the mini-maps inside it), but is for use with either the Napoleon mods for both Waterloo and Gettysburg or our ACW mod for Gettysburg, Courier & Maps.

Other mods can sometimes be used, but care must be exercised, as they may conflict with the required mods. Those which are known to be safe for use are: Realistic Smoke Mod, GCM/Jolly's Terrain. It is always best to ask before using an unlisted mod.

In practice I find most mods will work with the KS Mods in single-player mode (the main exception being Expanded Toolbar, which works but causes funny things to happen.). However, for multi-player games it's best to de-activate all of your mods except the KS ones to ensure mutual compatibility with other player set-ups.

Download and extract the KS mods into the SoWWL Mod folder as usual.

[Note: If you are not familiar with how to install a Mod for SOWWL, please refer to my seperate guide on How to add Mods SOWWL?]

Start the game and make sure the three mods are listed on your modification screen and ticked as selected, (check mark in the box beside them).

Click the Use Selected Mod(s) button and exit the game. When you restart the game, the mods will be ready to use. Note: the mods will not work with the single player SOW scenarios that come with the game.

SOW is both CPU, (computer brain), and GPU, (graphics brain), intensive.

The KS Group have found through trial and error that the following Option Settings give reasonable performance whilst still keeping the game visually appealing.

• Preset difficulty levels: Custom (Set by Host for Multi-player Games.)
  
• Max camera distance from you: 2 (set in sowwl.ini file, see below) (Set by Host)
  (Note: Personally I would recommend 10. Whilst 2 is more realistic you do end up staring at the backs of cavalrymen positioned in front of you at lot, and 10 just gives you a bit more height to look over their heads.)
  
• Orders by courier at this command level and above: Brigade (Set by Host)
  
• Map icons display level: Bare Map (Set by Host)
  
• Disable Context Menu: checked (Otherwise you will have to click somewhere on the toolbar before you can select another command such as a formation.)

NOTE: The top four settings listed above will normally be pre-set by the host of a multi-player game, but will need to be set by you if you are playing a single player game.

• Sprite ratio: 5 or 6 (Set by Host)
  
• % trees showing: 75
  
• Display off map trees: unchecked
  
• Max transparent trees: 80 (very fiddly best I could do was 86)
  
• Make walls transparent w/trees: unchecked
  
• Max terrain draw distance: Best
  
• Show Map Objects: Best
  
• Show off-map terrain: unchecked
  
• Uniform quality: Best (Set by Host)
  
• Show map objects: Best (Set by Host)
  
• Max # artillery hit decals: 50
  
• Max units draw distance: 1000
  
• Max trees draw distance: 1000
  
• Max objects draw distance: 1000

NOTE: Three of the settings listed above will normally be pre-set by the host of a multi-player game, but will need to be set by you if you are playing a single player game.

If you are hosting the battle these are the host option settings.

• Preset difficulty levels: Custom
  
• Map icons display level: Bare Map
  
• Max camera distance from you: 2 (set in sowwl.ini file, see below)
  
• Orders by courier at this command level and above: Brigade
  
• Uniform quality: Best
  
• Show map objects: Best
  
• Sprite ratio: 5 or 6

Now it's time to make a few manual changes to the sowwl.ini file. It probably the most technically fiffly part of the set-up.

It will be found in the My Documents\SowWL folder.
Open it and scroll down until you find the section titled [Custom]
Find and change the value found for MPplyrradius to MPplyrradius=10
You can also change the value of plyrradius to plyrradius=10 This way you can practice commanding in single player at this camera height.

Now find the section titled [initialization]
Add the following line: aicount=55
It doesn't matter where you put it in that section. This will make the AI a bit more clever.

Now save the changes you just made. You are finished and ready to play.

This section explains how to create or join a multi-player game.

When you select Multiplayer on the Main Menu, the Multiplayer Connect Screen will appear.

The first thing you must do is create a PowerLobbies™ account on the NorbSoft Multi-player Server.

To do this you must choose an Account Name, and Password and then click on the Create New Account button on the right of the screen.

The game will confirm that your account has been successfully created and your Account Name will appear in the Main Multi-player Game Lobby.

You should only need to create an account the first time you enter the Multi-player lobby, after that the game will remember your account details.

Once you have an account you need to go back to the Multiplayer Connect Screen and complete the rest of your player details. These may vary from game to game, and so you will need to review them every time you connect.

Player Name
Everyone in the game must enter a name in the Player Name box. A Player Name can be anything you can enter from your keyboard up to 30 characters long.

Player Handicap
Everyone must also enter a number in the Player Handicap box.

Your Player Handicap is the percent of the historical regiment strength your regiments will get.

Thus, if your Player Handicap is entered as “100”, your regiments will have historical strengths. If you need more men in your regiments to compete with the other players, you may enter a number higher than 100. If you want to give the other players an advantage in numbers, you may enter a number lower than 100. For example, if you enter a handicap is 90, then one of your regiments with a historical strength of 300 will have 300 x 0.90, or 270 men. The better a player you are, the lower your handicap should be to give other players a fair battle.

Note: Your Player Handicap will be seen by other players on the next screen, so your handicap will not be a secret.

There are two ways To join a Multiplayer game, either join from the Lobby, or join a pre-arranged game using the Hosts IP Address. The KS Group normally use a pre-arranged IP connection to the Hosts computer.

However, when testing your connection and set-up the easiest way is to enter the Lobby and trying to create a game room.

1) Connect From the Lobby
Click on the Enter Lobby button.

The SOW Lobby Screen
The SOW Lobby shows boxes for both the Main Lobby area and for temporary Rooms that players create to start a game.

When you enter, you will be in the Main Lobby area and your account name will appear in the Main Lobby Users box on the far left of the screen.

The top center box is the Main Lobby Chat area. You may type text in the white box just below the chat window, then hit Return or click on the Send Message to Lobby Members button (labeled with an “envelope” icon) to make your comment appear to all others in the Main Lobby.

Joining a Game.
To join a game, you must enter a Room.

Existing Rooms are listed in the Rooms list on the right. To enter a Room from the Lobby, you must select the name of the Room you want to enter from the Rooms box, then click on the Enter Room button.

The name of each player who enters a given Room will appear in the Room Users box beneath the name of the player who created the Room. If a player wants to leave a Room, he may do so by clicking on the Leave Room button, and his name will disappear from the Room Users list.

There is a separate Room Chat box. This works just like the Main Lobby Chat, but is only seen by the players in a Room; that is, those players listed in the Room Users box.

When all of the players who are going to be in a Multiplayer game have entered a Room, the player who created the Room will click on the Enter Staging Room button.

For the Host and all the players in his Room, the Multiplayer Select Screen will appear.

2) Connect Directly to an IP Address
If one of the players has completed the one-time setup described below and is ready to host, the players may use this pathway.

The other players must enter the Host’s (External) IP address in the Server IP box, and “31791” in the Server Port box. Then they must click on the Join button. For the Host and all the players who join, the Multiplayer Select Screen will appear.
Note: After you have connected to a Host, the Host’s name and IP address will be automatically added to your Host List. To bring up this list, click on the Host List button (labeled with a “bulleted list” icon). Click on the name of the person who is hosting, then click the Connect to Host button (labeled with a “√” icon) to transfer his IP Address to the “Server IP” screen. You may then join his game by clicking the “Join” button.

Experience in playing large multiplayer battles of Scourge of War Waterloo has convinced the Kriegsspiel Group that the online background activity of Steam is the cause of many of their game crashes during play.

Things like impromptu updates, message pop-up's and even friend notifications cause 'blips' in the network traffic which can result in a player being dropped from the SOW Power Server and requires the game to be restarted.

To avoid this problem the KS Group has requested that all Steam User switch to OFFLINE mode before joining one of their games.

I have been experimenting with the best way to switch to OFFLINE Mode and would recommend ignoring the way described by Steam Support. In my experience switching to OFFLINE Mode, after starting the game, merely causes the game to crash immediately when Steam restarts.

Instead I would recommend switching to OFFLINE Mode and then start SOWWL from a desktop icon.

Creating a Desktop Icon.
If you don't already have a Desktop Icon for SOWWL, you can create one quickly and easily simply by Right-Clicking on the the game name in your Steam Library and choosing the option 'Create Desktop Icon.'

引用自 author：

Notice also that I have deactivate the Quatre Bras DLC to avoid the unitglobal.csv error. (See the section 'A Problem with the Quatre Bras DLC' in Checking it Works below.)

Switching to Steam OFFLINE mode.
To switch to OFFLINE Mode click on the Steam drop-down menu in the top left of the steam screen and select 'Go Offline' .
You will receive a warning that steam is about to go offline and needs to Restart.
Once Steam has restarted in OFFLINE Mode, simply go to your desktop and start the game by clicking on its desktop icon. The game should start normally, and you should still be able to use the Steam Overlay and take Steam Screenshots as usual.

To be able to communicate with other players in a game you will need to join the KS TeamSpeak channel.

Go to the TeamSpeak website and download the free program: TeamSpeak URL[www.teamspeak.com]

The address and password for our server is available on the KS Forum[forum.kriegsspiel.org.uk].



It is recommended that for each game you set up TeamSpeak Whisper Keys for each friendly player commander, so you can talk to them privately when you are next to them on the field.

The process for doing this is as follows:

• On the TS Client screen open the Tools Menu and select Whisper List.
  
  
• This brings up a screen which records all your existing Whisper groups, and allows you to create more, or delete old ones. (see below)
  
  
  
• To create a new Whisper Group click on 'New' and you will be prompted to Press a Hot-Key combination. (This will be the HOT-KEY or Keys you will press to whisper to the group. I used NUM7 and NUM8 for the test. )
  
  
• You can Rename the Whisper Group, once it is created. (I've used Wellington and Blucher just for now.)
  
  
• Finally you have to drag and drop the Contacts you want included in each group from the Contacts List on the right into the Whisper List Group Panel in the centre.
  (Note: I was the only person logged in so I dragged myself into the Wellington Whisper Group.)

If it works how I think it works, Pressing the Whisper Group Hot-Key mutes everyone on the server, except the people listed in the Whisper Group.
(So in the example I would be talking to myself. But you get the idea. I'm not actually sure if you need to include yourself in every group, probably not. So in practice you would just drag the contact for the guy playing Wellington into it.)

引用自 author：

The first thing I noticed when trying to talk to other players on Teamspeak was that the SOWWL game music was making it very hard to hear and be heard. I would therefore recomment that you 'Mute the Game Music' before trying to join a multi-player game. (see below)

One other issue I had in my first use of Teamspeak 3 during an actual game was that Windows (for reasons I cannot begin to comprehend) decided that I need to hear a 'Bling' noise every time I pushed the 'Push to Talk' button.

It was reallly annoying for me, and I mentioned it to the other players and they said they could hear the resonance of the noise every time I spoke. Which was a bit embarrassing, but I had to put up with it, as I had no idea why it was happening. I just found myself reluctant to let go of the 'Push to Talk' button because I knew pushing it again would generate yet another 'Bling'.

What i have done since is go into my Windows Sound system, and carefully mute every Windows notification that uses that particular noise.

So, hopefully no more 'Bling' for me.

To host a Multiplayer game, you will have to check to see if your computer has Firewall protection. If your computer does have Firewall protection, you will have to make an exception in your Firewall so that the packets from Scourge of War: Waterloo can get through to you.

Select the firewall program for your system and follow the directions. You will only have to do this once.

Once you have made an exception in your Firewall, the requirements to Host a Multiplayer game differ slightly between the two pathways.

To avoid embarrassment and delays when trying to join a real game, it is best to perform a few checked to make sure everything is working before you try and join a game.

The simplest way to check that your game has been set-up for Multiplayer correctly is to try and Host a game. You are not actually going to Host a game but the creation of a Host Room will force the game to verify your set-up and highlight any errors.
To create a room simply click on the 'Create Room' button in the bottom right of the Multiplayer Menu.

Another box will pop-up asking you to name your room and state how many people may enter it. The minimum number is two, but you can put a password on the room to stop anyone wandering in.

At this point the game will check your set-up and either create the room, or flag an error with your set-up that prevents you running a game. If you get an error, you need to resolve it before trying to join a game, as the chances are if you can't host then you won't be able to play either.

The above image shows a typical error message from the game telling you that you cannot host a game because there is some sort of Mod conflict in your game set-up. You will need to resolve this before you try and join a multiplayer game.

The key information in the Error Message is the name of the .CSV file which is causing the error. This appears on the extreme right of the Error Message. In the example shown the files is called munitions.csv.

So, the next step is to find out where the duplicate copy of munitions.csv has come from. To do this you need to open the Windows File Explorer and search for duplicated file. (In this case munitions.csv)

This search will reveal every copy of the duplicated file that exists in your game folder, and by hovering your mouse over the list you will be able to see where they are located.
.
Having discovered where the duplicate file is located the final step is to remove it from the set-up for the multiplayer game. This will usually mean de-activating one of your Mods, because as stated earlier several mods conflict with the KS Mod and will cause a conflict.

引用自 author：

In the example above I discovered that the extra version of the munitions.csv that was causing the error was located in the Explosion Effects Mod. The solution in this case was simply to deactivate the Explosion Effects Mod before trying to join a multiplayer game.

However, I did discover one problem which was not linked to a Mod, and therefore cannot be solved by simply deactivating it.
If you get this error (and you almost certainly will if you have purchased the full DLC pack) you will find that the duplicate file Unitglobal.csv is not located in a Mod, but is actually a part of the Quatre Bras DLC.

Presumably, the Quatre-Bras DLC is using this file like a Mod to alter the strength composition of the two armies that fought at that battle. Though why the other DLC's don't use it too is a mystery.

The problem is that it conflicts with the KS Mod which also uses this file to add extra units and armies and change unit strengths and attributes. So, the bottom line is that the KS Mod and the Quatre Bras DLC are currently incompatible, and you can't use both at the same time.

In my opinion the easiest solution to the Quatre Bras DLC problem, if you want to play multiplayer using the KS Mod (Note: It doesn't affect single player) is to temporarily deactivate your copy of the Quatre Bras DLC in your steam library.
Doing this will remove the Unitglobal.csv from your game set-up and avoid the duplication. Once you have finished playng multiplayer KS then simply reactivate the Quatre Bras DLC and you can play it as usual.

引用自 author：

This is a conflict between the Quatre Bras DLC and the KS Mod. It may not affect multiplayer games that aren't using the KS Mod, and it doesn't cause a problem when using the KS Mod in single player mode.

引用自 author：

Martin from the KS Group has discovered that the conflict netween the QB DLC and KS Mod in multiplayer is caused by a bogus Logistics folder that was mistaken left in the DLC when it was released. The only thing in this folder is the unitglobal.csv file and all it contains is a 1-line entry for Marshal Ney - nothing else. He has spoken to a member of the NorbSoft Development Team, who has confirmed that he personally removed the Logistic's folder from the DLC package was sent to Matrix for publication and release. The implication being that the wrong version was sent for publication. So, the Logistics folder should not be in the DLC folder at all (and isn't in the Ligny and Wavre DLC). It seems that someone at NorbSoft or Matrix have messed up the release by issuing the wrong version of the DLC. Apparently, they did the same thing with the Antietam pack for Gettysburg and that has never been fixed. So, the KS Group fix it that themselves. Likewise, this issue will almost certainly never be fixed by NorbSoft or Matrix.

However, if you get fed-up with deactivating the Quatre Bras DLC everytime you want to play multiplayer KS you can quite safely delete the Logistic's folder from the QB DLC folder yourself without damaging the game.

I would like to thank all the members of the Kriegspiel Group for providing me with the basic information for this guide and for giving me permission to publish it on steam.

I would also like to thank them for letting me join their games, and hopefully I will get better, I promise. I just need to practice taking out massed artillery batteries with the bayonet. That's me on the horse.

Kind Regards

Didz

The following video's show a recent Multi-player Co-Op battle involving eight players from the Kriegsspiel Group using the KS Mod system described above.

These video's show the battle from just one players viewpoint, namely Miko who was playing Sir Henry Clinton.


My own command was that of Sir John Ormsby Vandeleur commanding the British Light infantry Brigade in Manninghams Division. My Brigade was deployed on Clintons left flank for most of the battle, between his Division and the town of Lerida. You will catch glimpses of my boys standing in squares whenever the French cavalry attack.

So, come and join us, we can always do with some more cannon fodd.....err... I mean talent'

Regards

Didz