Getting accurate replays..?

[Dionysus9]

This problem existed in the first release of MTW and it was fixed in the patch.

The origin of the problem is the random numbers used to determine "hits" and "kills" (for example, did the archer's arrow kill the horsie?). Each individual battle uses a "seed#" to tell the random number generator (which is really just a list of previously generated numbers) where to start spitting out random numbers on its list.

Apparently the replays are not using the same seed#'s as the actual battle, so different soldiers will die in the replay than in the real battle. This will cause a massive ripple effect that changes the entire outcome of the battle as shown in the replay--because before long you have soldiers who died in the real battle who are kicking ass in the replay. . . .

Anyway, that is my understanding of how the problem is occurring. How and why this was allowed to happen AGAIN by CA is one of the quality-control mysteries of the universe.

[Nigel]

Ahh, that sounds logical. it would explain a lot. Very good posts.

If what you say about the seed# is true, Dion, it should be fairly easy to fix. Just save one more number with the replay file and no need for a huge video recording.

If it has been solved before, it can be solved again (I just guess MTW and RTW was made by two different teams and there was just not enough crosslinking between them). I hope CA are aware of this now and can include it in the patch.

[Kraxis]

This sounds exactly like when I replayed a battle I had lost back in MTW 1.0, just prior to the patch. Then came the patch and I wanted to do a battlereport. The battle played out and I soon bagan to see things that shouldn't have happened, but they were still close enough but when the time came for the final showdown on a small inhabited hill I actually routed his (Shadewolf) forces... I was dropping my jaw.

So obviously the figures for the stats and chances of each man is different...