To Install Manually delete any old versions of BICE from the TFH/mods folder and remove the previous mod exe.
Step 1:
After you have downloaded BlackICE, copy the installer to the same directory that as the hoi3game.exe and hoi3_tfh.exe files in it. Generally speaking, this will be somewhere like:
• d:\games\Hearts of Iron 3
• c:\games\steam\steamapps\common\Hearts of Iron 3
Step 2:
Install Podcat's LAA (Large Address Aware) version of the HOI3 .exe file with BlackICE. This will solve a great many issues with the game crashing as it will take advantage of the larger amounts of memory that newer computers can use. Podcat's LAA .exe file can be found in the following Tech Support thread on the PI forum
•Overwrite the original hoi3_tfh.exe file with it.
Step 3:
Run the
New: historical unique units/events for USA: 4th and 5th Armored Divisions, USS Iowa, USS Missouri
• New: Many new unique units in the game, including all of the primary starting land divisions for USA, GER, and ENG.
• New: New and improved ship model images for all unique ship units
• New: A new battalion-sized standard Infantry unit has been added, as well as an SS version.
• New: Many battle command and political leader units have had their model images updated.
• New: Added the historical Dutch "Prinses Irene Brigade", which forms in England in 1941. Also added the historical Dutch leader of this unit, AC de Ruyter Steveninck.
• New: Implemented optional/scripted invasion of the USA by GER if ENG falls or is really on the ropes.
• New: Added the historical Mexican Expedition Air Force (201st Fighter Squadron) as an expeditionary force to the Philippines in 1945.
• New: Added a decision/event for the Canadian expeditionary force that assisted the British in their defense of Hong Kong in 1941.
• New: Higgins Boat Prototypes event for the USA
• New: Transport ship changes: Transport Ships are now called "Troop Ship Flotillas", and carry more, but are unable to perform amphibious invasions (except for the AI, which needs this capability).
• New: Landing Craft and Assault Ship Flotillas are available for amphibious invasions, and have been adjusted, with several new techs are available to improve them (bow ramps, machine gun positions, twin engines, structural improvements, armor plating, and auxiliary fuel tanks).
• New: Added additional units to the list to receive amphibious defense bonuses when assaulting from landing craft flotillas or assault ship flotillas. In general, traditional infantry and light infantry units receive defensive bonuses when using landing craft, while heavier vehicles such as armor and mech infantry receive defensive bonuses while landing from assault ships.
• New: Added a new tech folder for "Transport Technologies", which covers Troop Ship Flotillas, Landing Craft, Assault Ships, and all related improvement techs.
• New: USA and ENG now get the equivalent of the Liberty and Fort/Park ship programs, with rolling construction of prefabricated/discounted convoys. For the USA, this resulted in an expansion of the 1936 Merchant Marine Act, and for ENG, it involved the introduction of the British Merchant Shipbuilding Mission event. Now, USA/CAN have a real choice to make. If they help ENG to build prefabricated merchant ships, they get a small IC malus for the duration of the program (6 years basically). They also get some relation improvement. If they choose not to help, they piss off the Brits with a negative relation gain.
• New: New model images for generic HQ units, generic transport planes, generic transport ships, and Aux vessels.
• New: 2nd Cavalry Group OOB event for USA. The USA will now get an event for the formation of the 2nd Cavalry Group as a combined arms unit once they take control of, and have units in, Caen (Normandy).
• New: German SA leaders added by Gamer_1745
• New: Added leader_brigade and model image for USAAF GHQ
• New: Osttruppen event OOBs
• New: All new model images for all custom units in the game (USA, GER, ENG, JAP, ITA).
• New: All new model images for all HQ and HQDEF units in the game. • New: new unit type - the Division HQ unit. This unit now carries the primary Combined Arms (CA) base value for a division. I mean, you can have all the tanks, artillery, and infantry you want, but if no one is around to coordinate them, sorry, but you won't have combined arms ... you'll have a mess! Any way, to compensate for this, the max division size has been increased to 7 brigades. However, building a division without one of these units (or one of the more expensive mixed/mot/arm support brigades - which also carry a CA base value), will not be very effective. In doing this, we are more easily able to implement unique unit counters, as well as allowing subordinate line units to upgrade properly, as the line units themselves are no longer unique.
• Related-Change: As part of the above, the USA event-OOBs will now load the DivHQ unit only through historical events (e.g. the historical formation of the U.S. Armored Divisions). By doing this, the player is then free to join their own line and support units to the unique division without getting "free" units, but at the same time, getting the unique historical unit counters. This approach may be implemented for other countries at some point. The AI, however, will continue to load full divisions for these events, so as not to handicap it!
• New: Colonial units
•New: A new "Infantry Battalion" unit has been added. The SS Infantry Battalion unit has also been added. These units are the battalion-sized younger brothers of the infantry brigade.
• New: Garrison Detachment unit
• New: Tropical Island Garrison unit - same size as a normal Garrison unit, but bonuses in jungle terrain!
• New: Revamp of most USA model images
• New: Lots of new counters! All new counters for GER unique divisions, as well as new air unit counters.
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edit i downloaded the map file that you linked on the comments it fixed the problem error but now it just crashes on creating borders screen. i was wondering if you could fix this for me
are you using podcat's TFH exe ?
this is still me i just logged in no i am not using podcats tfh exe
it will not let me got to the page on paradox plaza to download podcats tfh exe can you give me a different link to download it from?
paradox own the podcat's TFH exe so we can't link it separately here for copyright reasons. To access the page on paradox plaza you simply need to register your copy of TFH expansion on the forum.
Why do not my division to land on a beach? In previous versions it was absolutely no problem, they all landed within a few hours, but here the blue line sekne nothing. While there is some enemy division, or HQ, so the procedure is fighting to 0. What to do?
troop transporter ships are only used for moving divisions between ports you control. Consider them to be like converted ocean liners. You can't do invasions with them. Instead you need to either research and build special landing craft/ assault ships or make do with the auxiliary vessels. You will get an event offering to requisition an amount of aux vessels when you go to war. Depending on your nation you will get more from various events. They are slow, short ranged, and very vulnerable to attacks. Also don't carry many units so you will need a lot for a big invasion and will need to have control of air and sea.
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Ok so i installed the mod and did everything. The mod runs fine but the flags of some countries are not correct(France has Japans flag etc.) help?
userdocuments/paradox/hoi3/blackice/gfx/flags folder - delete the contents.
Thanks!!
I absolutely love what you guys have been doing, keep up the great work!
You forgot to add the fact you if you play as germany, you can make the KPD (Kommunistische Partei Deutschland, the German Communist Party) a puppet in the changelog. Same goes for DDR and Weimar Republic.
+what code language is used? Java?
+Love the new artwork
What's the point of having Division Strenght Increase/Decrease techs? In my game as Germany I let the AI control my research and they researched all the Strenght Decrease techs and now all my division keep shattering after just few hours of combat.
You trade off strength against costs. Germany can afford to research all the increase techs, but a country like Luxembourg is better off with smaller units as they cost less supplies (might also cost less IC and building time, can't say for sure)
As the player you have to police the AI research a little here. The AI controlled nations won't research those techs ( they are instead controlled by decisions) but a player controlled nation will if left to the AI research.
Hello all! For some reason whenever I try to go on to Paradox Forum page where Podcats tfh exe is it says i don't have access. I have an account, I have linked my game and so I have no idea why it will not work...
You have to link both HOI3 itself as well as HOI3 Their Finest Hour
hi guys, whats the best combination for a successful Air wing....?? the problem is when i play german & when i create a wing with only 4 intercepters & when i assign it for air supperiority with in 3 or 4 air battle its strength drops to 20% or sometimes 0%. & I assign for a cricular radius of say 120Km & for abt 2 months..??
feedbacks are welcome....???
but having said that, i do have seperate wings for CAS (3 cas & 2 intetcepters) or (2 lt.bomber + 2 intercepters + 1 fighter bomber) which i use only for CAS & infantry support.
problem is with air superiority..?? I do research pilot training, ground crew control, prototypes, etc..!! & air strategies..!! so in research wise im ok i guess.....
I mostly use wings of 9 interceptors when attacking enemies, wings of 3 when intercepting bombing runs. Best is to try to use TAC bombers (or heavy if you have those) to bomb enemy air bases. It'll reduce their repair rate and will damage aircraft on the ground.
As has been said by Panzeroo before, BICE has much larger air groups. You really need to spam aircraft. Regardless of research, if there's 2 planes on your back for every one that you're after, you're not going to get far.Especially the UK AI spams air wings like crazy.
I see....! let me try like wht u mentioned..! BTW in which situarion is a Fighter bomber best to deploy...??
Attacking enemies that have fighter protection. Fighter bombers aren't as good in bombing as CAS but can protect themselves better. They might also be more manouverable and thus have better protection against AA, but i'm not sure about that.
But if you have a lot of fighters/air superiority you don't really need them, which is why i rarely use them.
where can i find podcat's TFH exe?
you need to register your game (TFH expansions and HOI3 ) on the paradox HOI3 forum. Podcat's TFH exe is a paradox game product. basically they altered the TFH exe so that is allows more then 2Gb of computer RAM to be used to run the game engine.
Once you register your game you can find it in their tech support forum for HOI3 or on the Black ICE mod download thread.
Hi，PANZEROO. I can't find Podcat's LAA.exe, could you give me a link or sth? I have an old Podcat's tfh.exe for BI6.xx, but it won't work for BI7.xx. THX~
if you already have podcat's TFH exe it will work for all versions of the mod. It hasn't changed since paradox created it. In anycase I can't link it outside of the paradox forum as it is a paradox game product. They own it. To link it outside of the forum would be breaching copyright. You need to register your TFH expansion on their forum to access it.
problem solved~thanks a lot! I appreciate your work very much!
I need some help. Up until this update I was using subs extensivly, with good results all over Pacific. And now my subs most of the time don't even reach their patrolling destination. They are all sunk by planes. What's going on? Any suggestions how to employ them better or are the subs useless now?
upgrade them if you haven't done that yet.
Try to cover the area with interceptors, and if the enemy has no navy, send fleets with carriers and AAA cruisers.
Unfortunately, there's nothing more to upgrade. These were all Tambor class subs. In less than a month I've lost 30 of them. All in the Pacific theater. All to enemy planes. It looks subs are visible to them all the time. I'll try to update to next class and try one more time...
How large are the fleets you're using? The larger the fleet, the higher the visibility. Hunting in fleets of 3 subs usually works best.
Two boats fleets. But even when one was lost it was looking like subs didn't dive. They were bombed in every province utnil they were sunk.
Hm. Maybe you could try keeping your subs small?
You mentioned you upgraded them completely, what if you don't upgrade the research that also increases visibility (Hull i think, not entirely sure)
Almost all techs are decreasing visibility. Maybe the airplanes are too strong. I'll reserarch "air independent propulsion" it has -10.5 visibility.
That can help a lot, yes.
As you've said, maybe the enemy has a good Navy Patrol air force. That would depend on your opponent and the year you're in.(As some allied nations get better at fighting subs mid- to late war for historical reasons)
And again, if you can you should try to hit their air bases, to try to gain air superiority.
Its 1938 i choose anschluss of austria and imeddiately after that i got an decision the treaty of munich or something else im not sure. the point is that as i accepted the decision i didnt anexx czehoslovakia but they join the axis. in previous mod as i remember i first get the sudeteland then i anexx completely cehoszlovakia? did u change that? how can i completly anexx them? will it fire first vienna and second vienna award?
I think there's a small chance that if some parties (pro-german ones, mainly) get a lot of power in Czechoslovakia, the AI can choose to join Germany rather than cede land. There's also a small chance that they'll go to war with you, but either don't happen a lot.
Hey guys can anyone help me understand why the HOI3_TFH.zip wont replace the HOI3.THFexe?
It's a zip file. You have to unzip it first (using winzip, 7zip or similar) There's a .exe file inside.
Thank you so much! I got it to work. Earlier today, however i wanted to know if there is a way during game-play to make my neutrality go down quicker? I always play as Belgium but being that my neutrality does not go down fast enough i cant ally to with Nazi Germany before they decide to destroy me. Any way to ensure my neutrality goes down to 0 before 1941?
You can use your Annual Espionage bonus towards lowering your neutrality.
What might also help is using spies to higher an enemy's (In your case France or the UK) threat level.
If that doesn't work, you can still use the cheat 'noneutrality' (in the in-game command line) to set your neutrality to 0. Note that that makes it very easy to declare war on you as well.
Thank you very much, i tried the spies, and the espionage bonus before but the problem with that is then i become very vulnerable due to the lack of technologies I completed since im using leadership to create spies and all that i guess i'll just use the cheat to ensure Ze Germans don't just murder me before i even have a chance to align myself to any side. Thanks very much for the help again.
No problem :)
Hi, planes - especially form AI - are definitely too strong. Navy Planes has so big range, that they patrol from GB islands even to Black Sea! At the Pacific and China Sea is even worse. GB planes can be beaten just near 1944 with great effort. I dont mean fighting them over GB - even over German territory they are overpowered. Problem with GB planes is such, that even their bombers are more powerful than best German planes... Problem with balance GB planes get bigger in every issue of BICE.
Power of Navy Planes (by the AI side) makes any ships useless - no matter how much they are advanced.
Another problem: Japan techs - especially doctrines - are hardly to do. Even if they are pretty old (eg. infantry doctrines from 1920), they cant be discovered earlier than in 1942... Thats why playing with Chinese is so nice: Japan forces are wrong balanced - they cant do anything.
Sorry, but right now - in my opinion - version 7.4 gets deeper in problem of unbalanced sides and units.
that's not fitting with the bulk of the feedback other players are giving. Its possible aircraft range is still too far, however nav bombers are easy to defeat with a proper interceptor defence. CAGs are also powerful enough to easily take out nav bombers. AS far as UK bombers go, you need to set up a proper defence network with radar and a large interceptor defence, even better with air units on reserve at the airbases to keep rotate losses. It is winnable, but you need to devote a lot of resources to it. Nothing has been done to increase the RAF in 7.4, in fact the potency of the UK based radar chains has been decreased. In regards to naval units, you need to make sure the ship AA is upgraded, but also that they have strong aircover. Air units will sink ships in BICE, quickly. I do agree that a player might be having too easy a time as china vs Japan. This will be looked into.
I think you are wrong, or are you playing with very hard settings? Remember to use intecept mission and research the mission efficiency.
With normal difficulty and allies on hard I had no problem with navy or planes as Germany. For naval battles you need to have like a stack with 2 naval bombers and 2 figher-bombers. Of course you will need more stacks as reserves for a prolonged naval engagement.
32 bit, i7, 8 gb ram. Does it work the 7.4 version ?
I've been playing with this system version 3.2 .
you will probably need to enable podcat's TFH exe in the system directory. Recommend 64 bit since that allows the podcat's exe to open up the engine to >2Gb
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All of my units (and I like to see the little soldiers, rather than counters) now look like infantry, including the armoured divisions. I am suspecting the new Division HQ is causing this. If so, can I do anything about it? Is there an Armoured Division HQ that I can make look like a little tank, and so on for the others? Thanks.
we don't mod the sprites as nobody on the dev team uses them. There is a sprites submod for BICE which you might look into.
✠Version 3.2 for BlackICE 7.4x BETA✠
Adds over 100 new sprites for Germany, Finland, Hungary, USSR, USA, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Nationalist Spain.
Download links
✪>>>>>>>>>>Version 3.2<<<<<<<<<<✪
Mediafire.com
Optional downloads (Needs update for all separet BICE versions, to make sure they are compatible. These will change the checksum.)
✪>>>>>>>>>Nationalist Spain 1.3 for BICE 7.42<<<<<<<<<✪
✪>>>>>>>>>>>>Slovakia 1.1 for BICE 7.42<<<<<<<<<<<<✪
Install instructions
1. Install Black ICE
2. Download the files
3. Extract to your main HOI3 Folder(where your exe's are)
4. Overwrite
5. Play
Checksum: SGZW (7.4)
(Should always be same as clean Black ICE. Other submods and optional downloads could/will change it thou.)
Needs Mega German Spritepack.
Recommendable Spritepacks
Hearts of Iron 3: German Sprite Pack
Hearts of Iron 3: German II Sprite Pack
Hearts of Iron 3: German Infantry Sprite Pack
Hearts of Iron 3: British Vehicle Pack
Hearts of Iron 3: Japanese Infantry Sprite Pack
Hearts of Iron 3: Japanese Vehicle Pack
Hearts of Iron 3: Italian Vehicle Pack
Hearts of Iron 3: Axis Minors Vehicle Pack
Hearts of Iron 3: Soviet Infantry Spritepack
Hearts of Iron 3: Soviet Sprite Pack
Hearts of Iron 3: US Infantry Spritepack
Hearts of Iron 3: US Sprite Pack
Excuse me, where can I find the LAA.exe that you mention in the download description?
The paradox forums.
You'll need to register your HOI3 and TFH there.