Dr. Who's Harpoon Pages

Harpoon 2, Multimedia and Admiral's Edition

Q.Why no nukes?

A. The various routines for handling nuclear weapons are in the program, but not implemented. Thus, there is no way to obtain nuclear release.
Editor's Note: This is a direct quote from 360.

Q: I am having problems with sound in H2 under Win95

A: There appears to be a problem with H2 and the higher IRQs that are available. We have tried with a high rate of success moving the sound IRQ under Win95 System to IRQ 5 to get the sound to work. You may have to swap IRQs with another device to free IRQ 5. Also you will have to disable PNP in the BIOS so Win95 can manage the IRQs. If you having this problem and cannot get it resolved send email to Edward Ladner for assistance

Q.Scenario editor crashing
I've just had a very annoying experience with the scenario editor of H2! I'd finished an editing session with a new scenario (LARGE) and started to save it when I had an assertion fault and the SC exited out to DOS with the screen in 132 character mode (I think). Ok I thought, let's load the scenario again and all I've lost is the changes since the last save I thought. I rebooted my PC and started the scenario editor AND loaded the scenarion again - IT WAS EMPTY. The message window reported that weather, map info etc was loaded but no tactical window was shown and when I checked the sides where all missing!!! The Windows 95 explorer reports that the scenario has the size 49 kb which I think maybe is to little since the other scenario which also is quite large has the size 134 kb. Unfortionatelly I didn't check the size of the scenario before the crash. Has anyone got a solution to this problem, how to repair a broken scenario?

A. Oh dear, I've got bad news. What you've probably got is part of the scenario, scenedit got part way through saving the scenario and then crashed (sounds like it saved the map and weather but crashed before it got to the platforms). When creating scenarios it's best to sequentally number the scenario files each time you save, e.g. Large1.scn, Large2.scn, Large3.scn, etc. that way you can always go back to the last version (by using different file names you are not saving the new version on top of the old one).
Robert

Q.Memory Upgrades
I'm just wondering if I will see any changes if I pass from 8mg to 16mg with harpoon2. In other words, is that a good move?

A. In my opinion, a very strong move, and will even do you better should you upgrade to H2AE. On some systems and applications, adding a full extra 16 megs can be beter than adding increments of 8 megs at a time (ie, you could add 16 megs in one slot, then shift over your 8 megs to the second slot, for a total of 24 megs). Just depends on how much you want to invest.
Stan

Q.Reload times
I noticed that the reload times for aircraft is either 30 or 60 minutes in the Harpoon games. Is this the amount of time taken in real life? If the crew actually reloads faster than that, does the crew chief allow the plane to take off earlier, or is there a protocol, etc. to follow?
I find these reload times as critical in scenarios where you have the improper loadouts and the enemy is sending wave after waves of bombers and missiles. The runways could have been decimated within the first hour. Could anybody please enlighten me?

A. The times are based on averages and do not necessarily indicate the true/exact time required... but the programmers had to have a basis to work from and the AI just isn't smart enough to allow for the variations you... and others would like.
For instance... the time necessary to turn an F-14 around from trap to launch depends on several variables.
1. Does the new mission change loadouts?
2. Is it necessary to unload ordinance to make space for new?
3. How much fuel is required to top off the tanks?
4. What are the condition (morale/energy) of the plane crews?
All these factors will change the time requirements... not to mention other factors such as a major strike/launch in progress which will force the flight to have to wait it's turn. And since we are playing on a pc platform and not a CRAY-II (hmmm... 4 terabytes of RAM... at $89 per 16meg...) they assigned fixed values.
I believe that the AI does factor in ship/base conditions as sometimes it's 30 minutes and other times it's 60 minutes, but you'd need to speak to the programmers to get the exact nature of the factor.
You are VERY correct when you state that these times can be critical during a game. And speaking about improper loadouts and rearming... the best example of that would be the historical battle of Midway in WW2... where our CV's planes caught the Japanese CV's deck's loaded with planes trying to arm-rearm-rearm... well, you get the picture... and so did they!
During Nam... I've seen jets trap, scoot to the side for hot pad refueling and rearming and the pilots having enough time to take a head call and grab some bug juice and then launch... and they didn't get to finish their bug juice. And I've seen times when it took several hours to turn an aircraft around from trap to launch. Depends on many factors as I mentioned above. While we didn't have too much trouble with the CV's coming under attack from the VC/NVAF... there were other factors that could mess up your timing.
So... what's the answer... plan ahead!.. as much as you can... if you need to change loadouts, think about maybe launching a strike to use up those HARM's your F-4's were loaded with before changing them to air-to-air. As an example... I've launched bombers (F-111's and Tornados) against other bombers because they were carrying two AIM-9's in addition to their bomb load... and twelve aircraft multiplied by two gives me twenty-four chances at stopping the enemy... but you get the idea. Practice and plan... and then hope you planned correctly! :)
Patrick

Running under Windows 95 Update!

We have had better results lately getting Harpoon2 to run under Windows 95 with the following settings. You can create a desktop icon or edit the properties of the programs itself. You can do that by highlighting Harpoon2.exe and right clicking.

Under properties make the following changes.

PROGRAM TAB:
add these options to the end of the command line.
-A -e -t
-A is autosave -e is error trap -t skips title

Under advanced check Prevent MS-DOS programs from detecting windows.

Click ok

Change run to maximized

FONT TAB:
No changes

MEMORY TAB:
Conventional = 600 or best you can
Expanded = none
extended = none
MS-DOS Protected = 16384
Initial Environment = auto

Make sure no check boxes are checked.

SCREEN TAB:
Uncheck everything but full screen.
Make initial size 25 lines

MISC TAB:
Uncheck everything but Exclusive for mouse and warn if still active.

click on ok at the bottom and give H2 a spin.

Q.Running Harpoon2 Under Windows 95
What was the method. Mine crashes after a few minutes of running, although it seems to keep going if I don't touch anything.

A. Open up windows Explorer. Go to your harpoon Dirrectory and RIGHT click on the program (Harpoon2 Scenedit or DBedit) you wish to run. then go to programs then advanced settings and De-select MS Dos Mode. Then de-select suggest Ms Dos Mode as nesccisary and finaly select Prevent MS Dos Program from detecting windows. Click ok. Now if you are going to run DBEDIT I sugguest you add in on the command line a -v105 which should put it in 1024x768 mode. I'm not certain on the number as i ALWAYS run in 1024x768. Click ok and you have set it up.. Now if you want to create an Icon on the desktop right click and drag from Windows Explorer and drop on the desk top... If you want to create a program group... well you will just have to figgure that out for your self:
Craig

I have been doing some expierments with runing Harpoon II under Windows 95 to find out why it works for some people and not for others. I started with two machines both runing 16 megs of memory. I found I had no problems runing H2 on one of the machines but on the other I kept geting a display error when you tried to run H2 and it would kick you back into Win95. I brought the machine that was giving me problems up to 24 megs and found I was still having the problem. This was intresting as I was not having any problems on the 16 meg machine.

Here is what I finally determined is causing some of you not to be able to run H2 under Win95. Win95 uses two types of memory, physical memory, your ram, and virtual memory. When you open a program Win95 puts that program into memory, if it runs out of physical memory it will use virtual memory. Virtual memory is realy hard disk space so when Win95 wants to run the program that is in virtual memory it must move it into physical memory. Harpoon II does NOT like virtual memory and if you try and run it in virtual memory it will crash.

I looked at the machine that I had brought up to 24 megs and found that Win95 was using over 29megs for programs. Obviously some of the programs were in virtual memory. This means that when I tried to load H2 it was put in virtual memory and crashed. I went in and closed enough programs to bring the amount of memory used down to about 13megs and H2 started runing just fine.

The conclusion is that it does not make any difference how much memory you have. It does make a difference in how many programs or TSR's you are using. Of course the more memory you have the more programs and TSR's you may run without using virtual memory. But it does not matter how much memory you have if you are runing a bunch of programs. The more programs you run the more likely you are to have to use virtual memory which is a killer for H2.

I used Norton Desktop for Windows 95 to watch how much memory the programs were using and how much virtual memory was being used. If you do not have Norton than the only thing you can do is to close all programs and TSR's before attempting to run H2. Also be aware that Win 95 does not "clean" its memory out when you close some programs, this appears to be worse with DOS programs. If this happens then H2 will not have enough physical memory to run and will crash when you try and start it. In this case I have found that a reboot has cleared the memory and I was able to start H2.

Craig Paffhausen said that you need 32 megs to run H2 under Win 95. I would agree that this is a good amount of memory to run the program with. I brought my machine at home up to 40 megs and am able to run most of the programs and TSR's that I normaly do and still run H2. You can run it in less memory but you must close done all programs to free up the physical memory. The kicker is, even if you have 64 megs you cannot keep to many programs open. Once you run out of physical memory, no matter how much you have installed H2 will crash.

Saul

Pfedit Installation Instructions and FAQ
by
Saul H. Jacobs

This file is being written to help those who want to use Pfedit get it up and running. It contains Instructions on how to install the program and import a TPF into your database. It also contains some of the most frequently asked questions people have sent in to me. If you have any questions on this document or suggestons on how to improve it send email to the address above.

1. Installation instructions for Pfedit.
A. Load Harpoon II on to your C: hard disk drive.
B. You should now have a directory called harpoon2 on your C: disk drive with a bunch of sub directories below it.
C. Create the following sub directories under the harpoon2 directory, wdb and tpf.
D. Copy all the files from the sub directory database that is located under the harpoon 2 directory into the sub directory wdb that you have just created.
E. Put all tpf's that you want to load into your database into the tpf directory you just created.
F. Put pfedit into any directory you want. I created a directory called wpfedit under the harpoon2 directory and put it in that directory.
G. Start Pfedit with the following command, pfedit c:\harpoon2.
H. When the main menu comes up select 5. receive tpf.
I. Now type in the COMPLETE name of the tpf that you want to load into the database. For example, if you want to load f18.tpf into the database you must type f18.tpf.
J. Once this is done the tpf is now in the database that is in the wdb directory.
K. Repeat all this until you have all the tpf's you want in your database.
L. Now go to the harpoon2 directory and find a file in there called harpoon2.ini.
M. Using a text editor open the harpoon2.ini file up for editing.
N. Search through the harpoon2.ini file until you find an entry that says annexdir c:\harpoon2\database and change it to annexdir c:\harpoon2\wdb. Dont worry about the number of spaces between annexdir and the rest.

You now should be able to go into either the Harpoon II program or the Scenario Editor and see the platforms you have added. If you do not understand any of this or can not do any part let me know and I will try and help you or give you an alternate method.

2. The Platform Editor Locks up or crashes when I try and edit a platform.

The Platform Editor is a DOS program. Dos programs run in the lower 640K of memory no matter what operating system you are using. If you are using Windows 3.1, Windows 95 or OS2, when you run the Editor it will go into the DOS mode. It does not make any difference how much memory you have in your computer, the operating system will go into a dos mode and the Editor will run in the lower 640K. The problem is that DOS will take up part of that lower 640K as will your CD driver, sound card driver and any other drivers you have in your system. This can eat up 100 to 200K of lower, or conventional memory.
The Platform Editor needs 600K of conventional memory to run, if you do not have 600K the Editor will be unstable. Depending on how much conventional memory you have ,it will load some of the data files and lock up on others. To find out how much conventional memory you have left go to the dos prompt , C:, and type mem. This will give you the amount of free memory and the largest executable file that can run. If it is under 600K here are your choices, get a memory manager and free up some conventional memory or do not use the Editor. I have used MEMMAKER that comes with DOS and QEMM386 to free more conventional memory in DOS, Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 with no bad effects. If you have Windows 95 and decide to use QEMM386 as your memory manager, make sure you use version 8.0 as it is the only one that will work with Windows 95.

3. When I try and edit a platform I get "enter choice (0-0).

This indicates that the Editor can not find the data files. There are several problems that can cause this:
First the editor expects to find the data files in a subdirectory of Harpoon2 called WDB. If there is no subdirectory under Harpoon2 called WDB or there are no data files in WDB "enter choice (0-0)" will be what you get. Make sure that WDB exists and is a subdirectory of Harpoon2 and that you have copied the 17 .dat files from the database subdirectory of Harpoon2.
Second, you must tell the editor where the Harpoon2 directory is. If the Harpoon2 directory is on C: then the command to start the Editor is "pfedit c:\harpoon2", if the Harpoon2 directory is on D: the command line is "pfedit d:\harpoon2". If you have a Games directory with Harpoon2 as a subdirectory under it on the C: drive the command line is "pfedit c:\games\harpoon2", etc.,etc.....

4. When I try and open a file I get cannot open file *\wbd\*.ind.

This one is very confusing to me. WDB should not contain any .ind files unless you put them in there your self. WDB should only contain .dat files unless you created .ind files from with in the Editor. The Editor can be used to create .ind with one of the selections from the main menu. The only thing I can think is that those of you who are getting this error are using the main menu to try and create a .ind file and you are not pointed to the WDB directory. In this case go back to number two and follow the directions there

Q.Rebuilding Scenarios
How do I rebuild a Scenario

A. Rebuilding the scenarios is a simple matter. You should be able to rebuild a scenario in 5 to 10 minutes. Here are the steps involved in rebuilding a scenario.
1. Load the scenario into the scenario editor noting the name of the file on the hard disk.
2. From the menu at the top of the screen select edit.
3. When the edit menu pops down select units.
4. From the units menu select rebuild all.
5. From the menu at the top of the screen select file.
6. From the file menu select save as and enter the original name of the file that was on the hard disk.
And thats all there is to it. The scenario is now rebuilt and can be played from H2 for here on in.
Saul

Q. Transfer of remaining platforms from one scenario to
Does anyone know of a way of transfering platforms "left-over" from one scenario to another?

A. You can not transfer the results of one scenario to another. Each scenario is a stand alone game and has no relation to any other scenario. Since the game is dynamic and it will not allow you to pick up the remaining platforms from one scenario to another it is impossible to make a campaign that is dependent on what happens from one scenario to another.
Some people have simulated this by making several scenarios that follow another scenario. One that assumes red wins and one that assumes blue wins. The problem with this is that it is not very realistic as you can not guess which ships and bases would be destroyed in the previous scenario.
Saul

Q. Speeding Up Harpoon II
Harpoon II runs so slow. Is there anything I can do about it?

A. Realizing that Harpoon II pushed the envelope in terms of system requirements, the Harpoon II development team spent a lot of time optimizing Harpoon II for speed. One of the reasons that Harpoon II runs slowly at times is due to the amount of calculations that are occuring every second during the simulation. You can imagine what the processor is up against when it has to simultaneously calculate hundreds of performance models such as SONAR, RADAR, ESM, ECM, etc, etc. under varying conditions for every unit on the screen. While these routines are quite processor intensive and sometimes result in sagging game speed, it is all neccessary in order to be the most accurate naval simulation available today.
As mentioned there are many different variables that will cause the game to slow down. The primary one is the number of active units in play (which you can't do much about), but there are some variables you can adjust:

1) set your screen resolution to 640x480x256.
2) close unnecessary windows. If you have windows open, and you are not using them, close them. If you want to use them later then you should iconize them.
3) Toggle off any unecessary Window preferences. Also, if you spawn a new window from an old one, the new one retains the settings for the old one. If you do not need them, turn off all of the active range circles; this will result in a speed increase. Latitude/Longitude lines and borders also slow the game down somewhat.
4) Run SMARTDRV. The cache size should be set to 256k. Please note however that under DOS 6.x HIMEM.SYS is required to load SMARTDRV, and as we recommend that you do not use a memory manager with Harpoon II, this may cause a conflict.
5) If you are setting patrol zones in the formation editor, make sure that they are as squarish as possible to reduce course changes and recalculations.
6) Try not to use tracking threat axes. (SLOOW)
7) As distasteful as the idea is, buy more RAM. Harpoon II uses a Virtual Memory engine, which in affect serves as a buffer for when you run out of memory. When this happens, Harpoon II will use part of your hard drive as a virtual memory space. However, the problem with this is that it involves a tremendous amount of disk access, which is extremely slow compared to chip based RAM.
8) A math co-processor will speed up Harpoon II. If you have a math co-processor installed, Harpoon II will use it automatically.

Q.When I give my Task Force a speed order to go at Full Speed or Flank, why does it slow down to 5 knots off and on?

A. If there are units in the Task Force formation which are off of their designated stations, the whole formation slows down a bit to allow them to get where they are supposed to be. Be patient; the speed will resume when the Task Force AI is satisfied.

Q. I told my submarine to go to Deep and he stays at Shallow or Intermediate depth. Why won't he dive where I told him to?

A. Make a Zoom window around the submarine. Then, click on the PREF button and click on Water Depth. Chances are the water is not deep enough for the sub to dive as deep as you ordered him. Alternatively, turn on the toggle, which will display information (including the current depth/height) about every location where you click the mouse. This information will be shown in the Incoming Messages window.

Q. How come my air-to-air missiles keep missing the target?

A. The probability of an air-to-air missile hitting the target depends greatly on the geometry of every situation, as well as which kind of missiles and targets are involved. Many factors will increase or degrade the probability of a hit or a miss. A common occurance of this is when a missile is fired at a target that is moving away (an opening shot). The probability of a successful engagement is greatly reduced for long range opening shots. Another common situation occurs when non-dogfight capable missiles such as the AIM-54 Phoenix are employed against nimble fighters. These missiles are designed for shooting down heavily laden, unsuspecting bombers, and as such, don't work very well against most modern fighters.

If you are *really* doubting the validity of the model, you can run Harpoon2 with the "-W" command line parameter. This will show (in the Message Window) all the factors, modifiers, etc, of *every* missile engagement. Keep in mind that this will also ruin part of the fun of playing the game because information not normally available to you will be shown. We call this "cheating".

Q. How come I lose contact with my units or cannot issue orders to them?

A. Harpoon uses a fairly realistic communications model, and several factors can drop a unit off the network. Some common ones are:
a) The unit is out of range of your comm gear.
b) The unit, either by design or enemy action, is now under water.
c) Your communications gear or their comm gear has been destroyed or turned off.

When the communication net breaks down, you will retain control of those units which are on the same net as your designated flagship. Others will act as their mission dictates. Aircraft which have flown beyond contact range will return home when they run out of path or complete their missions. If an aircraft runs low on fuel it will also return home. When these 'lost' units return to your local network, they will share with you any contact information they current hold.

The "Auto Datalink" option (in Difficulty Settings) prevents this modeling and allows you to talk with all of your units, regardless of range or depth. When you play in this mode, if a unit will not talk to you then it is either dying/badly-damaged (eg. no radios), or it's not on your side.

Q. How do I cancel an aircraft's Return to Base (RTB) order?

A. Select the aircraft and hit the "Unassign Aircraft" hotkey (the "U" on the IBM PC). After this point, the plane (or air group) is yours. It is moved into the unassigned list and will loiter until given further instructions. If the plane was landing because of fuel considerations ("BINGO") it will still stop and await orders; it's up to you to get it to a tanker or a base before it runs out of fuel.

Q. How come all of the aircraft I have assigned to a mission do not launch at once?

A. Strike and ferry missions are single events, and all launch together. All other missions are attempting to maintain a steady on-station presence. These missions will try to keep one third of their aircraft in the air at once, replacing them as needed. If you wish to saturate an area immediately, the aircraft can be ordered to launch manually, and will join the mission. Be aware that you are leaving yourself open to shortages down the road
Editor's Note: Strike missions will launch all aircraft but they will travel in groups of 4 and attack as they come in range. A true alpha strike must be launched manually and then assign them a target.

Q. Why do aircraft on an area mission sometimes patrol outside the region defined by the reference points?

A. Aircraft on patrol are fairly curious about unknown contacts. They will wander over and attempt to ID contacts that match their patrol types (eg. Surface patrols look at ships, AAW patrols look at aircraft, etc). This 'closer look' might take them beyond their defined area by quite a few miles. Known hostile contacts will be attacked by Patrol missions if possible, and avoided (but reported on) by Recon missions.

Q. How come my group breaks up when I order it to close and attack?

A. The units which are capable of attacking the target are removed from the group and placed on an intercept mission for the contact(s). I don't recommend doing this with your carrier groups.

Q. Why do my surface-to-air missiles fail to allocate?

A. The theoretical engagement distance for semi-active missiles is much longer than the engagement distance against low targets. These missiles require direction from radars on the firing platform, and any target over the radar horizon can't be engaged. This will display as "Target not Illuminated". Sometimes you will see a range ring that indicates an optimal engagement range against closing targets. This optimal range is not often realized and you must frequently wait until the geometry is more favorable (ie. the target is closer). The missile will also fail to allocate if the projected intercept point is beyond the range of the missile. This will display as "Out of Range."

Q. How do I use dipping sonars?

A. If the helicopter is hovering at or below fifty meters, it will deploy dipping sonar. If you tell the unit to use active sonar, it will go active when the sonar deploys.

Q. Why can't I move the ASW threat axis in the formation editor?

A. The formation editor window is sized to include all of the vessels in the group and all of their stations (even if they're not there yet). The range rings are then placed evenly out from the center. If the group is less than 2 miles across, the described behavior will occur because we round the displayed number down the nearest mile. Don't panic, the rings can be dragged to wherever you want them and the window can be zoomed.

Q. Why no range circles for groups?

A. The inherent problem with range circles is how to best show them. The game could show all of them but that would defeat the purpose of having the group view. This also has the effect of slowing down the game to the point where it would become unacceptable. It is recommend you try using the group view and switching to the unit view (via the "9" hotkey) for ranges.

Q. Gotta question about PFEDIT. Downloaded the most recent version of the HUD and decided to grab some of the WWII acft tpf's also. When adding these tpf's, plus some acft Im adding of my own (P-39Q, P-59B, P-63A [just experimenting :-)]), wont the records and indexes get screwed up because different people are assigning the same numbers to the various loadouts, engines, weapons, acft, ships, etc.??? Please advise...Thanks in advance...

Depends on what you mean by screwed up :) Any time you add anything to the editor through Pfedit, it will stick them on the end of the database and assign them the first open number. If you have 352 planes and add a new one, the new one will be 353.

Now the problems. Since everyone is assigning platforms in different order your database will not match anybody elses. This means that the only way you can send platforms to anyone else you will have create an sdb and send that to them. Now you will also notice that as you add these new items all of a sudden you will have a bunch of duplicate objects. These duplicates will soon fill up your database. It also becomes very confusing when you start building or modifying items, which of the duplicates do you use? If you use a duplicate that is not in the other persons database that you send the item to, it will be created as a duplicate in their database. A mess huh?

This is the reason the HUD was created, to give us a common database to design scenarios, platforms, weapons and sensors. We can pass these items created in the HUD around to each other without screwing each others database up. Most people keep at least two databases, one of their own for experimentation and the HUD for a common database.

Saul

Q: Why does the game stay in 1:1 time after clicking on a staff message?

A: There may be one or more staff message boxes hidden behind your map. After clicking on the one you see, if the time still goes to 1:1, try minimizing all the windows and seeing if there are any open staff message boxes. Closing them all cures the problem. There is a check box in the Staff Message window that should be checked if you desire the game *stay* at 1:1 after you close the message window.

Q: Why do my groups suddenly go to 0 speed?

A: The groups course may have been inadvertently set to 0 or it may have reached its destination. Giving the group a new course should cure the problem.

Q: What is the difference between "Plotted" and "Unassigned"?

A: Any units on the "Plotted" mission belong to you. Your automatic Formation AI will not touch them. Neither will the Mission AI. They are completely yours to operate however you see fit.

Any units that are "Unassigned" have no mission, and may be assigned to any mission (included "Plotted" if you wish control of them). The Formation AI will take unassigned units and use them if needed. The Mission AI will not use "Unassigned" units. It will only use units on a mission that are assigned to that mission.

Q: Why are all my carrier-based aircraft unavailable for missions?

A: When a ship is assigned to a mission, all unassigned aircraft on that ship are also assigned to that mission. When you give the carrier a path, it changes from "Unassigned" to "Plotted." Its aircraft change too. You can either make the aircraft missions first or unassign them using the "Remove Aircraft" function of the mission editor.

Q: Why can't I load some aircraft with anything other than "minimal?"

A: Some aircraft have no adjustable loadouts. These aircraft are generally good for only one type of mission. Examples include and E-2 Hawkeye or a Boeing-747 passenger liner. The "Ready" button will not respond when these aircraft are selected.

Q: How can I get my map window to look like the color map displayed on the box?

A: Use the window preferences tool to turn on the display of land elevations and water depths, then shrink the window size. This works best with large area maps, and, although colorful, isn't really very useful.

Q: How come my strike mission aircraft will not launch?

A: Strike aircraft do not launch until they have a known hostile contact within engagement range. If you specified a target when you created the mission, the aircraft will wait until that target comes into range. If no target was specified, they will wait until the first appropriate target shows up. Keep in mind that aircraft combat ranges will be much shorter than the optimal ranges shown in the Launch/Ready dialog. This is because combat aircraft conducting strikes must fly faster and sometimes lower to avoid radar and enemy defenses. This consumes fuel at a much higher rate than normal flight.

Q: How do I edit the mission name list?

A: Once a mission is created and approved (by pressing OK in the Create Mission window), you can't change it. Before that point however, you may type over the suggested mission name with whatever phrase or word you like. The computer will randomly generate mission names for you, drawing on the contents of two text files in your Harpoon2 directory. These files are MISSADJ.TXT and MISSNOUN.TXT and may be customized using any text editor. MISSADJ.TXT contains the adjectives (the first word) and MISSNOUN.TXT contains the nouns (the second word).

Q: How come the time compression rate is so slow?

A: Performance varies with scenario size. The larger and more complex the scenarios will take more time to process, and should be run at lower time compression, especially on slower machines.

Q: How can I pause the game and still have access to game menus?

A: At any difficulty level but full reality (HARD), the pause key will still allow the user access to the entire interface. This can be set at will using the Custom difficulty settings. The "Enforce Realtime" check box, if checked, causes the modal (blocking) pause and will not let you effect the game until you unpause it.

Q: How come I lose contact with all of my units?

A: Check to make sure your flagship is on something reasonable. Designating a submarine as the flagship is liable to leave all your other units on their own when you submerge. If there are no units under your control at all, they're all dead. Better luck next time; Select Resign from the File menu and see how you did.

Q: Why do contacts change colors?

A: Contact colors indicate two things; your posture towards them and the certainty with which the contact is known.

Posture: Initially, most contacts are unknown, and are displayed as such. If an unknown contact is seen to take hostile action, it will change to the Hostile shape/color, although you still may not really know what side it is on. You may designate an unknown (or a known) contact as Hostile with the hotkey ("H" on the IBM PC), but you ought to have a good reason for suspecting them or you may be cited for a Rules-of-Engagement violation in your evaluation.

Certainty: In the default palette set contacts are brighter if you have an exact location for them. They tend to grow dimmer if there is some uncertainty about their location.

Q: How do I intercept enemy contacts?

A: There are two methods of getting an intercept.

a) Select the interceptors, hit the air-ops button, and select the target. This is very fast, but does not provide much information about ranges or times. There may be other air assets better capable to intercept the target than the one you chose.

b) Select the target (any contact), and hit the air-ops button. This will bring up a dialog listing all air units available, with ranges and loadouts listed. This takes longer, but allows you to pull units out of group CAP or ASW stations pretty fast, and allows a more considered response.

Q: How do I remove units or groups from a mission?

A: Aircraft can be removed quickly with the "Unassign Aircraft" hotkey. For all other units, bring up the mission editor dialog, select the mission, and deallocate the units. This also works for aircraft, launched or landed.

Q: How do I get a list of aircraft currently assigned to a mission?

A: Select the mission in the mission editor dialog. Aircraft in the air will be in the assigned units column. Landed aircraft can be viewed using the "Remove Aircraft" button in this dialog. This is also a way to change the loadouts of assigned aircraft; it is not necessary to remove them.

Q: How do I cancel a mission?

A: Bring up the mission editor and delete the mission. All units on the mission will become "Unassigned." Mission generated launch orders and paths will be deleted for these units, and the units will become unassigned as well.

Q: How to I change which reference points an existing mission uses?

A: Select the reference points, then bring up the mission editor. The "Remove" button under "Selected Reference Points" will remove the selected reference points from the list used by the selected mission. The "Add" button does the opposite. This makes some actions a two step process. If you have an anti-ship patrol "MOVING WINDOW" around reference points 1,2,3,4, and you want it to use 3,4,5,9 the following actions are needed.

1) Select reference points 1 and 2.
2) bring up the mission editor.
3) Select MOVING WINDOW.
4) Hit "Remove", then "Ok" to leave the mission editor.

5) Deselect points 1 and 2. (Don't forget this!)
6) Select points 5 and 9.
7) Bring up the mission editor and select "MOVING WINDOW".
8) Hit "Add", then "Ok" to leave the mission editor.

Q: How do I set my permanent game and symbol preferences?

A: Run H2SETUP.EXE to set your preferences. This program makes changes to the HARPOON2.INI file. When loading a scenario, Harpoon II will default to the settings found in the HARPOON2.INI file.

Q: Why do I have more memory listed in the Memory Remaining window than I have in actual RAM?

A: Harpoon II uses a virtual memory DOS Extender. This means the theoretical maximum amount of RAM a program can use is limited by the disk space on the drive with the executable. It should be noted that the game does slow down somewhat when virtual memory is actually used, so it is only used when no more real RAM remains.

Q: There are too many Staff Message windows. How can I get rid of them?

A: Select Game Preferences from the Settings menu and turn off the more common ones. The messages will still be shown in the "Incoming Messages" window; the only difference is that the Staff Message pop-up windows allowed you to put the game in 1-1 time.

Q: How come I can't center my map window?

A: Map windows won't move outside the defined scenario boundaries. If a Map Window is against one or more of the scenario boundaries, it will not move or expand further in that direction. The main map window contains the entire area of the scenario and can't be moved at all.

Q: How come Sea State data is shown on land?

A: Sea state data also shows wind speed.

Q: Why are ship contacts appearing on land?

A: If the contact is uncertain, it is displayed in the center of the uncertainty region for the contact. This sometimes shows contacts over land, especially for detections that reveal only a relative bearing or direction (eg. "We hear something over that-a-way, but we're not sure how far"). ESM detections commonly do this.

Q: What are the lines, expanding circles, and wedges that appear around contacts?

A: These are the uncertainty regions mentioned above. The uncertainty region is created by the accumulated information from the most recent detection cycle, and then it ages when the contact is no longer detected. These concepts are explained very thoroughly in the tutorial section of your manual.

Q: Why do I lose contact with the missiles I just launched?

A: If the missile does not have a command data link, it must be tracked with a search radar just like everything else. You have to decide if your curiosity about the fate of that Tomahawk is worth giving away your location by turning on a radar. But that's up to you.

Q: How come I can't see when my missiles hit their target?

A: For the same reason you don't know what is happening anyplace else you can't see. If you don't have a current visual/IR/passive-sonar track on the target, or a datalink with your missile, you will not know what is going on. You can later fly over the target and perhaps you'll see some visible damage. Perhaps your plane will be shot down instead. But that's a kind of target damage assessment too, now isn't it?

BDA (Bomb Damage Assessment) is always shown for individual land facilities. Make sure you have UNITs showing instead of GROUPs and you will see any relevant damage to facility targets. If you can no longer find the target facility (which are always automatically detected) then you have destroyed it. If the facility is not destroyed or visibly damaged, that does not mean it has any functional equipment remaining.

Q: How do I use point defenses?

A: Point defenses are automatically fired for you. This includes chaff and flares, and point defense deceptive ECM (if you have the appropriate gear). If you do not have the "Weapons Tight" option set, missiles will be engaged by longer ranged SAMs as soon as an intercept is possible.

Q: How do I use Electronic Counter-Measures?

A: The ON/OFF switch can be found in the Sensor dialog. This will activate any barrage/noise jamming equipment for the selected platform. This will certainly give away the location of the jamming platform, but may hide other platforms or weapons from detection.

Q: Why would I ever want to turn my communications off?

A: Broadcast communications gear can be intercepted by ESM equipment, and may give away your location. Most modern communications gear, when employed properly is hard to detect. This type of datalink is shown in the "Secure datalink" color. Some units aren't capable of using this type of equipment (or have moved beyond its' range) and must now broadcast openly to remain in communications with you. These units have datalinks shown in the "Broadcast datalink" color. Units will always attempt to use secure gear where possible. Turning communications to Active gives the selected unit permission to broadcast (if needed) to stay in communications. Broadcasted communications links only give an ESM cut to listening enemy units. Since most units are capable of secure communications, we recommend you just keep this on for most units. The AI opponent does NOT currently take advantage of communications ESM cuts so there is no penalty.
NOTE: Sonobuoys will self-destruct via sinking if they lose their datalinks with their parent unit. Selecting a buoy and turning off its comm gear is a good way to drop unneeded sonobuoys.

Q: What is the difference between a passive and active sonobouy?

A: Passive sonobuoys use passive sonar. Active sonobuoys will give a more positive location on the enemy, but can be easily detected by submarines and tells them how close to being discovered they are. Active sonobuoys are also useful in shallow water, where all passive sonar works poorly.

Q: What loadouts should I use for various aircraft missions?

A: This is a style question. Generally speaking, the following holds true;

IB (Iron Bombs) will give you the most destruction per aircraft. The disadvantage of IB loadouts is that you must fly very close to the target. If the target is heavily defended...
SO (Standoff) loadouts tend to work on heavily defended ships where the price for a close-in attack with IB may be too high.
PGM (Precision Guided Munitions) require a fairly close attack (though not as bad as IB), but promise a much higher hit ratio.
SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) tends to be either decoys or anti-radar missiles and can help reduce the defenses around a target.
ATA (Air-to-Air) is good for shooting down other planes.

This is by no means an exhaustive list... Many variations on loadouts exists such as LR (long range) loadouts which tend to trade ordnance for extra fuel. This means you can strike targets further away. Read up on how modern aircraft are generally employed and as always, experiment.

Q: What types of aircraft can I use as tankers for aerial re-fueling?

A: Obviously, anything with a TANKER loadout will do, as will any loadout containing a buddy-store. Single purpose tankers will not have loadouts, but will be described in the platform display. Common tanker aircraft include the Kc-135, the KC-130, the A-6, and the Tu-16 Badger.

Q: Why are my range rings in the formation editor showing up as only ones and zeros?

A: The formation editor window is sized to include all of the vessels in the group and all of their stations (even if they're not there yet). The range rings are then placed evenly out from the center. If the group is less than 2 miles across, the described behavior will occur because we round the displayed number down the nearest mile. Don't panic, the rings can be dragged to wherever you want them and the window can be zoomed.

Q: What is the difference between a Threat Nav Zone and a Detection Nav Zone?

A: Threat Nav zones are placed around areas where positive danger exists, such as around enemy SAM sites. Detection Nav zones are used for areas where detection is either possible or certain. They operate in the same way, but units can always be told to ignore any of them separately.

Q: How do I reload my weapons mounts?

A: Mounts will automatically reload from on-board magazines when completely empty. To change the loaded weapon or reload early, use the reload toolbar button. The dialog works similar to the Weapon Allocation dialog.

Q: Even though I select Sonar, Radar, ECM, and Comm Link active, only some of them change?

A: You only keep sensor states for those types of sensors you have. If there are no sonars on the ship, they will always come up "Passive."

Q: Why do my missiles/torps turn dark blue and disappear?

A: The missile has gone out of your sensor range.

Q:. Why does a contact seem to jump from place to place?

A: You are probably getting uncertain contacts from several different detecting units. Not all of these will get hits every cycle, so the contact may be updated differently. This is pretty common when a sub crashes through a sonobuoy line.

Q: Why won't my planes follow my orders to go somewhere?

A; When planes are launched as a group, they must form up as a formation before they can go anywhere. This means that all of the planes you launched as a block will wait until they are all airborne before they set off on a path or mission. Generally speaking, planes launched together will form into groups of 4.

If you don't want them to be in a group, break them into single unit launch requests.

It is also possible that the plane is going home, either because it has run low on fuel or ammo, or perhaps has completed the mission it performing. These must be unassigned before they will follow orders.

Q: When I select a ship in the game and press DATABASE, it shows me the wrong ship entry.

A: You cannot get DATABASE information on unknown contacts because you do not know what they are yet. If you selected a ship whose exact identity is known, or if you selected one of your own ships, then you will see the database entry for the class of ship to which your selection belongs. For example; If you selected the USS Eisenhower and pressed DATABASE, you would see the entry for the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier because the Eisenhower is a member of this ship class.

Q: I have an old contact left behind from a ship I sank with missiles. Since I didn't actually *see* it sink, (but I'm pretty sure it did), how do I get rid of the old contact which is still cluttering up my screen?

A: By selecting the contact and pressing the hotkey (3/PGDN on the IBM PC). If the contact is not really gone, you will see it again as soon as it is redetected.

Q: Why does the is the enemy airbase I keep bombing still say "No Apparent Damage" in the Unit Status window?

A: Many of the bases in the Harpoon II scenarios are groups of facilities. Use the hot key to toggle to unit view to see the individual components that you have been targeting during your attacks. Each individual facility will have a damage level.

Q: My planes won't drop bombs or fire air-to-ground missiles, why?

A: There are restrictions on some weapons as to what speed and altitude they can be released from to operate properly. Try using medium altitude and cruise speed.

Q: What is the difference between diesel and electric power for diesel submarines?

A: Diesel subs use electric motors with battery power when submerged. The fuel status indicator shows the endurance at the current throttle setting. If you switch from creep to cruise you should see a dramatic drop in the amount of endurance. To charge batteries, you need to go to at least periscope depth to run the diesel engines to charge the batteries. The battery charge process happens automatically when you reach periscope depth as the sub will start using the diesel engines as soon as the snorkle can be deployed. There are two fuel indicators for diesel subs, one shows the endurance at the present speed and the other shows the endurance capability of the batteries.

Q: When I set a waypoint order for a unit or group the order is not being executed when the waypoint is reached. Why?

A: Waypoint orders can only be set AFTER the course has been plotted. If you are in navigation mode (pencil cursor) any order you give a waypoint will not be retained as the waypoint does not exist until after you click on the Navigation toolbar button to exit the navigation mode. After the course has been created you can assign waypoint orders.

Q: Why do my missiles miss?

A: The probability of a missile hitting a target depends greatly on the geometry of the situation as well as which kinds of missiles and targets are involved. Many factors will increase or degrade the probability of a hit or miss. For example, when a missile is fired in a long range opening shot at a target that is moving away, the probability of a hit is greatly reduced. Other factors that also affect missile hit probabilities include the ECM and point defense capabilities of your target, target size, what decoys are in place (chaff & flares), the image signature of your target (i.e. does it have a highly visible radar cross section), weather conditions (affects optically guided missiles), etc, etc. As you can see, firing a missile at a target doesn't necessarily mean that you are going to paste it!

If you are *really* interested in the missile performance models that Harpoon II uses, you can run Harpoon II with the "-W" command line parameter (i.e. type "harpoon2 -W" to get the game to run). This will show you all of the factors and modifiers for every single missile engagement in the message window. Keep in mind that this will ruin part of your enjoyment of the game as information not normally made available to you will be shown.

Q: How do DICASS sonobouys work?

A: All of the DICASS buoys in H-II operate in medium frequency (MF) range and are subject to the pathloss limits of that frequency range. Since we attenuate the figure-of-merit appropriately for different frequencies, (not to mention location, seasons, shipping noise, etc.) you will have a reduced chance of detecting signal sources outside the normal range of the receiver. Additionally, each model and type of sonar set has a different sensitivity and S/N level.

Yes, you can get passive MF detections with a DICASS buoy. No, MF passive sonar isn't very good, and you won't get detections on every platform unless they are pretty loud or *really* close. Passive MF also implies direct path (or possibly bottom bounce), non-integrated source signals. The detection period is adjusted for this as well.

Q: How to control ECM status through EMCON mission status.

A: The missions do not (at this time) control the ECM. It is used by computer controlled units in a defensive manner only (i.e., when my ship detects incoming missiles that it thinks are targeted at it, or another friendly ship on the network, it turns on the jammers).

Q: Planes and intercept missions: Why plane groups split

A: Remember; if you assign a airgroup to intercept, only those planes capable of executing an ATA attack will split off (and they WILL split off) individually. If you want to split a couple of planes off, select the airgroup and then go to the formation editor and split off a few planes, then assign them to an Intercept mission. Remember that an air group will loiter at its optimum fuel-saving altitude.

Q: What is a group, and how do I make one?

A: Groups are a bunch of units that are in formation with one another, and their relative positions can be assigned in the formation editor. You can combine several units into a Group by clicking on the center of a unit and dragging a line from the unit to another. The two methods of creating a group are: Select all of the units by using the drag-select or by using shift-click to select each one individually. Once all of the units are selected, use the hot key to create a group with all of the selected units (make sure that NumLock is NOT on, or the hotkey will not work); or select a single unit and hold the mouse button down to drag a line from the selected unit to another unit, the two units will then form a group. This is explained more fully on page 142 of the manual.

Q: Groups demystified

A: We have two methods for viewing your units; the absolute view and the relatively uncluttered group view. Often the volume of information can become overwhelming, and so the program allows for it to be managed this way. Normally, what you do is toggle back and forth from the group view to the unit view and back again with the hot key (9 on the numeric keypad) to see the ranges. To find the range-to-target, we suggest making a Zoom Window around the target, make the window tracking, then toggle unit view for that window, and watch all the range circles necessary, while the main window is still in group view.

Q: Why no range circles for the enemies?

A: The reason that enemy weapon range circles are not displayed is due to the fact that you would not have access to this sort of information in a real-life encounter. After all, how can one tell what weapons the opposing ship has available to it?

If one really wants to know the weapon ranges they can be looked up in the database under the appropriate ship. This information will indicate what the standard loadout for that vessel is, and what the ranges on the weapons are. You can then subsequently use range and bearing to determine if you are in the danger zone for what you think they might have. It should always be remembered that loadouts vary, even for ships...

Q: Why won't all the air platforms I select launch at the target?

A: Strike missions that have no specified target will launch one group (of at least one up to how many you assigned to that group, default is 4) of that type of plane at the first target that satisfies the mission. Any additional groups of plane types will wait for the next viable target. If you create a mission to attack a specific target such as, say, Haifa, then all of the units (planes, ships, lifeboats, etc.) assigned will move to attack with.

Q: Why don't the hotkeys work?

A: The hotkeys must be enabled by turning NUMLOCK and CAPSLOCK off.

Q: Threat axes and formation editor hints.

A: When you select a unit in the FE, the current threat axis for that unit's station is shown. Every station has a threat axis, and the station is always relative to that threat axis. An example; you have an aircraft on a station that appears about 90 DEG(East) from the group center, and the active threat axis for that station is the AAW axis, and the AAW axis is 000 (North); If the AAW axis is moved (either you drag it manually, or the staff decides a new threat warrants reorientation) to, say, 270 (West), then the air station will now be at 000 (North). All stations are attached to an Axis. When the Axis moves, the station moves with it.

You can change the Axis a station uses by selecting a unit with a station and then picking some other Axis (the triangle tags). The ASW axis points along the path of intended motion for the group, so Station Keeping type stations tend to use this axis by default.

Q: How do I get my A6s to launch their decoys?

A: The keystroke is CTRL-F1.

Q: Why won't my platforms use the Laser-Guided Bombs?

A: They won't, can't, and don't. As per the database, these otherwise-potent purveyors of potential peril lack the guidance devices necessary for them to hit their targets. Thus, they are never launched. "Direct Quote from 360 Tech Support"

Editor's Note: This problem has been patched in the HUD.

Q: Why don't my units do what I want them to?

A: IF YOU ASSIGN UNITS TO MISSIONS YOU ARE GIVING CONTROL OF THEM TO THE AI. If you want to make a plane group fly a roundabout course to a target, don't put them on a strike mission. Move them to Plotted. Plotted means it is under your control. If you want your planes to avoid a particular area of the map, you should use a Navigation Zone. Look them up in the Manual for details on how to use them.

Common Error Messages And Solutions For Harpoon II
This section is about some of the more frequently encountered Harpoon II error messages and how to resolve them.

ERROR MESSAGE: Country border data file not found

If you receive the above error, try increasing the FILES line in your CONFIG.SYS file to read as:

FILES=40

Remember to reboot after effecting this change to your file.

ERROR MESSAGE: Interrupt 0DH, General Protection Fault, Possible Illegal Address

Try making a boot disk using the optimum Harpoon II CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT as discussed in Section 4 of this document. You can of course modify your existing CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, however we recommend that you back them up first before doing so. Make sure to have at least 10MB of free space on the hard drive where Harpoon II resides. Also make sure that this drive has been de-fragmented. De-fragmentation is a process whereas the fragmented files on your hard drive are consolidated, thus increasing performance (most commercial utility programs such as Norton Utilities and PC Tools have this capability). If this fails, try setting Harpoon II to run with no sound, through H2SETUP.EXE.

ERROR MESSAGE: Cannot read drive

Set the LASTDRIVE line in your CONFIG.SYS to the next highest letter. (i.e. if the CONFIG.SYS has LASTDRIVE=F, set it to LASTDRIVE=G)

ERROR MESSAGE: Interrupt 0DH, General Protection Fault, possible illegal line 2.

The sound card in use is most likely a Gravis Sound Board. Disable all Gravis drivers which are in your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS files and reboot. Harpoon II should now run properly, but without sound. Please read section 5 of this document for a more complete compatibility explanation.