Hello EVERYONE ! Oh god I have some news for you. By now you know what it means when Im being silent and not very active on Steam. It either means Im with my girlfriend, or working on something big :) Last time it was being with my GF, this time its been working on something big ! I am sorry to once again advertise the new game Im working on (Hex of Steel : Napoleon, feel free to join the discord server !) but thanks to starting all over on a brand new project, motivation came back to do some new stuff Ive never done before. Including : Translation, that new game will be fully translated in all supported languages, but also and especially real time multiplayer. I have been getting to know the plugin (Photon) and toying around with it enough to get a good idea of how everything should be organized in order for it to work / be possible. My friends, I have a good, a great news. It was possible for me to implement it in HoS at its current state. It has been a lot of work, I have yelled a few times, I got mad, but I have made it. I got ready a working prototype of this real time multiplayer. This update will not impact (at least it shouldnt unless I messed something up) your single player game, or your PBEM game. Please PLEASE keep in mind that this is a PROTOTYPE, and in no way the final version. Im sure therell be some issues that I will as always quick-fix. I will not update the demo just yet, Ill wait a bit for that (24h). I hope you will enjoy this update as much as I did preparing it, working on a new game doesnt mean the end of this one, as you can see, since I am learning more and more every day. Hex of Steel has a lot to gain from me working on a second game. But Im sure you already understood that :)

Added

• Real time multiplayer. When hosting a game, you can now choose if you want to host PBEM game or real time multiplayer game. Real time multiplayer doesnt really have a limit in terms of players, you can play up to anything youd like until it crashes (You can SAFELY play with up to 16 human players and probably even more). For now I am using the free version of Photon (plugin providing multiplayer) which allows 20 players simultaneously playing. I will be monitoring very closely how many people are playing at the same time and if I see more than 20 people wants to play I will upgrade to the paid version to support more players. Reason why I am not doing this now is because : 1 its pretty expensive. 2 : We roughly have a maximum of 20 players connected at the same time on the game, and I am sure those 20 people arent playing in multiplayer. Anyway, if there are slots issues Ill be buying more slots so do not worry ! For now AI is not supported, not all the data will be exchanged between all the PCs. AI currently runs only on the hosts PC, and that will probably stay that way. Please ensure that the host has the best internet connexion (The game shouldnt use much data but its better this way).
• Multiplayer autosave. Those autosaves will be on top of the usual autosaves, they wont overwrite your single player autosaves, they will be an extra file.
• M19 MGMC for the US (SPG AA).
• UI volume setting in the settings. It will probably be 0 when you will open the game, make sure you adjust that value to whatever you feel comfortable with.
• Online chat in the game, not just in the main menu anymore. Real time multiplayer means the need for real time chat inside the game, when you are playing. No bad words filter so go crazy, but please be respectful. Sucking at the game doesnt give you the right to insult your opponent :)

Changes

• Online chat is now saved across the multiplayer menu and never deleted. As long as you do not leave the multiplayer menu, the chat will be active and updating received messages. Once you leave the multiplayer menu for X reason, chat will disconnect.
• You can now save your multiplayer games. This is used to re host it later (I had real time in mind). But also to continue a game for example. Lets say you started a PBEM game but you want to take it to real time, well now you can. Just host from your save and take pick your countries back, you will be able to continue from there.
• The number of players in the multiplayer menu is now the number of players really connected to the games servers. It includes you. So if you see 1, it means only you are connected to the multiplayer. If you see 2. it means you and someone else are connected, and you should go to the chat to set up a game maybe ? :)Stalingrad42 changes, couple of things were off/wrong.
• The online chat is now available throughout your single player games as well ! Chat with other players while playing your solo campaign !
• Lot, lot of various code optimization and changes but you will probably not notice it. Still writing it cause it took a huge amount of my time haha.

Fix

• Small UI issues.
• Couldnt right click on a unit to show its history on a unit that was in the fog of war for the AI when the AI was playing.
• German Heavy Infantry wasnt available until October 1939 (instead of January), not sure how this data change happened o_o
• Clicking on the minimap to move somewhere was totally glitched and it never went where you clicked. It was basically useless.
• Rank calculation issues.
• Pressing escape when the previous turn summary panel was shown would close it but also bring up the menu.

Removed

• Many countries from south america and africa which werent used in the game (Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Yemen, Oman, etc).