Installing BlackICE may seem daunting at first, but provided you follow the directions here, you should have a relatively easy time with it.
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 installer. Do Not Change ANYTHING unless you know what you are doing, just hit next until you
- Seaplane Tender
- Heavy Artillery
- Railway Artillery - Long range aux vessels
- Many more unique divisions/ HQs added including famous Panzer korps, Army HQs and Army groups HQs each with unique counters.
- Added XXXIII. Uboat
- Added GER_Pz38_rgt for 7. and 8. Panzer-Division
- Added GER_pz35_rgt for 6. Panzer-Division
-jap multi role model 9 fixed
-german heavy armor GFX corrected
-Better event image for Overlord/FUSAG event
-Replacement model images for AST battle commanders (Blamey and Morshead)
-Backgrounds of Gurkha and Commando brigades made consistent with Mountain brigades
-Updated counters for German U-Boat Flotillas
-Updated Combined Arms counters
-Replacement counters for combined arms brigades (Kampfgruppen)
-Replacement SS HQ counters
-New model images and localisation tweak for ENG airunits
-Changed the starting techs for subs, medicine, destroyers for Germany to be more historical
-Changed special forces branch difficulty lowered to level 2
-Jap naval doctrine update
-Changed Division HQ command structure tech to be 12 levels instead of 6, and adjusted values for bonuses accordingly (halved them per level)
-missing ss/guards units added to a few techs
-Added commando_brigade/ss_commando_brigade to several special forces techs. Also added a missing desert bonus for them in the "Commando Training" tech, etc.
-some SF techs supply consumption reduction reduced
-hidden tech for red airforce effiecnecy penalty after the purges - penalty removed when germans begin zitadelle offensive (1943)
-AI hidden tech gives small boosts to land unit air attack
-Individual Allied Majors difficulty level option added to Allied difficulty event
-Danish 20mm AA captured by germany
-Gustav/ Doar split into two events. historically available in 1942 not 1941.
-Added localisation for US Naval HQ events
-Greater chance Japanese AI won't annex of manchuria
-AI Japan might DOW soviet player when the germans attack
-soviet offensives recieve greater TP bonus
-SS pack artillery activation event image
-Added event-chain for Moscow Proletarian Rifle Div to 1 Gds Mot.-Rifle Div.
-UK, US, Soviet, Italian, Jap Railway artillery events
-artillery division event OOBs
-Moved Vichy OOB event (after their formation) back into production.
-Italian AI event OOBs for Africa depend on Italy losing ground in Africa
-manpower gain from anchluss reduced
-SS panzers now buildable earlier if ahistorical ss option chosen
-Fixed event text on the "Mulberries damaged by large storm" event.
-USA 6th Army Group will now no longer spawn in Corsica unless it is controlled by the Allied faction
-Operation Britannia Rising events (US liberation of occupied UK)
-scripted JAP invasion of the Philippines added
-Revamped the SHAEF event by adding historical HQ units for ENG and USA and an event that loads the right OOB for either the ENG or USA player
-soviet event OOBs spawn in Kuybyshev
-soviet AI rebels nerfed after fall of France
-possible fix for the North africa partisan bug
-check for the SCW triggered before KG 88 is removed
-sealion now has a no invasions option check
-Fixed event text for the British Shipbuilding Mission
-german - soviet commercial agreement typo fixed
-Singapore - the Guns are Useless event ... added event pic and description
-Rewrote the Evacuation of Dunkirk event.
-missing soviet province added to a snow region
-mud/ snow levels lowered slightly
-level 1 airbase added to Stendal provicne in Germany ( paratroop training base )
-Added user-provided province image for Oradea in Romania
-Added naval_base and air_base 1 to Lerwick and changed some positions on Lerwick to be more accurate to RL
-Added 2 folder to ai_tech_minister.lua
-defines fort bonus boosted
-Removed twin_engine_fighters from the default AI air ratio
-Fixed bug where USA/AI was building INF divisions with an extra (8th lol) brigade.
-Adjusted LUA to reflect new division_hq unit names.
-Added a custom build script for IRE ... just because! ![:D]( "Big Grin :D")
-Adjusted GAR builds for AI majors to be GAR+(ART|HVYART)+SUPPORTSx2 ("Garrison" Support Group)
-AI can nolong research the landingraft or assault ships
-Commented out garrison deployment tech in the ignore lists of the majors (as it was causing problems with trying to reinforce beachheads with GAR units).
-Soviet starting OOB reworked
-changed model to 4 for 29. PzG Div.
-Changed model Airborne Artillery for 22. LLD into historical model = 3
-soviet generals adjusted to have more high generals level available for 1936 OOB
-Corrected naming Unterseebootsflottille into U-boot Flottille
-removed most aux vessels from AI OOBs
-Changed motorcycle to armored car for armor HQ event OOBs
-Hv artillery added to some OOBs
-Improved the starting JAP island garrison OOB based in part on some historical findings.
-Brazilian Expeditionary Force revamp
-Updated the Thirty Divisions Plan OOB to actually make useful divisions for CHI
-Updated AI/Operation Torch OOB to use the historical counters for USA units
-Updated the Operation Husky OOB for the AI - it now uses the custom unit counters
-removed the "US Volunteer Brigade" from its OOB as it serves no purpose and causes issues.
-various inactive leaders removed from OOBs
-Minor historical naming and configuration fixes to Canadian OOB units
-Improved some generic inline militia OOBs
-Updated the AI Indo invasion OOBs for JAP to make them functional combat groups
-Fixed AFHQ spawn point to be historical, and also tweaked the ENG Torch OOB, which was horribly wrong.
-Added the missing light cruisers USS Richmond and USS Memphis to starting OOB for USA
-Added historical unit names and tweaks to Malta Garrison Force (ENG)
-Corrected standort II. Luftflotte to Braunschweig
-4th Composite Group now starts the game attached to the Philippine Department.
-USS Langley's CAG unit now starts the game based on the ship, rather than in Los Angeles.
-ENG 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions now load as a Division HQ formation for the player, and a full division for the AI
-Added 45. Infanterie-Division as unique for Germany
-The AST 1st Armoured Division is now properly reported as being deployed to Alexandria, rather than Sydney.
-The locations of several Gurkha OOB units for ENG are now properly reported when you choose the OOB
-AI/OOB tweaks for USA historical armored divisions.
-Fixed possible CTD involving ITA Expeditionary Force to Germany in 1941 (should have been 1942).
-Fixed possible CTD with Expeditionary Force leader from ITA to GER in 1941.
-Updated the sale of Lockheed Hudsons to the UK so it used the proper model
-div HQs cost increased, main brigades costs decreased
-speed of medium TD increased + extra Inf AT removed from airlanding Inf
-ss armor stats tweaked to be closer to normal armor
-stat changes for CAS/ medium bombers - less SA for CAS, less HA for meds
-width tweaks to inf bat, + officer cost adjustments
-special HQs no longer grant CA base
-Added pack artillery unit activation as a default tech for the majors. All of these countries had mountain artillery prior to the war.
-mot/arm supports no longer give CA base + IC cost reduced
-bombers IC cost / build times increased slightly
-SS Pz Rct art short name corrected
-Desert Rats short name corrected
-Soft attack reduced for Gurkhas
-Air attack increased for jets
-Armor piercing/ Armor value reduced for captured armor
-normal HQ Brigade no longer gives CA base for divisions
-mixed support changed to direct fire unit type
-elite litgh infantry/light infantry rebalanced - the elites less overpowered and more expensive
-SS AA brigade now comparable to normal AA
-Garrison Detachments will no longer get the same Division size increase/decrease with the Brigade Strength techs. They have been adjusted downward in accordance with the percentages used in other units.
-Brazil update - OOB, tech levels, province resources,ministers, generals
-some IC effiecency penalties for very large military - too much armed forces means less factory workers
-Removed twin_engine_fighters from the default AI air ratio.
-Removed inadvertent and tiny swastikas from some German model images.
-new loading screens added
-Added more generic JAP leaders
-combined arms values lowered
-SS panzers now buildable earlier if ahistorical ss option chosen
-pillboxes build faster
-tweaks to laws to prevent exploiting minimal training/ volunteer laws
-Changed "is_defender = yes" to "is_attacker = no" for trait gains.
-SPR leader ID conflict fix
-Changed German template for midwar and late war panzer division builds
-Weak Power strategic effect tweaked
-unqiue SNLF unit localisations added
-Soviet unique cavalry corps localisations fixed
-Event image of HMS Prince of Wales is now correct
-Japanese Heavy cruiser models fixed
-Japanese unique 3rd Infantry division counter fixed
-Germany can now build Pack artillery at start
-Unique pocket Battleships placed individually at game start
-Supercharger Tech added to jet Bombers
-Small armys industry tech reduced to 6 levels from 10
-railway artillery event refusal option spam fixed
-garrison of India OOB spam fixed
-various other localisations fixed
-missing country modifier for UK air bases fixed
-Tweaks to japanese starting techs
-division template div HQs fixed
When will the next version be released?
working on BICE 8 now. It has some very big changes in it, which requires a lot of gameplay balance work. These changes include a lot of new buildings, changes to the way artillery works, and division transport units. The plan is to release an alpha (manual install) version for playtesting on the paradox forum in a few weeks. Then when we are happier with play balance and bug fixes, build an installer version and release it elsewhere. BICE 8 may well be the final version before HOI IV
seriously...? Is that mean the BICE is complete & no-more to modify....? cuz HOI IV will take few months, most probably atleast by 2016 1ts or 2nd quarter........!
& BTW panzeroo; could u send us change-log of BICE 8 ; so that we can know what to expect........!
I would day BICE 8 will receive a lot of updates, so it won't be the last release. Maybe just the final "full" release before HOI IV
Anyways, could we know when BICE 8 will be released......?
hopefully in a few weeks
I downloaded the map cache and it says file exception 624 what do I do
where did you put the map cache ? Do you have podcat's TFH exe ?
Do you mind if I use certain parts from your mod for my own?
sure which parts ?
Hi Panzeroo,
I just installed black ice version 7.53 and its all working fine except from one thing which may be a feature but i am unsure.
I went to put 2 of my armies in AI control to help with Germany fighting Russia (i was Hungary) however if the tile wasn't controlled by Hungary directly they would not do anything. So say the Germany were attacking far into Russia i could not help as the AI control would just sit and do nothing. If this is meant to happen is there a work around or have i done/doing something wrong?
Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks.
that's game mechanics. Anything to do with the military AI hardcoded. You can try giving the AI an objective - such as a city near the frontlines. The easier the objective the more chance you have of the AI doing something.
Thanks for reply.
That's why i'm confused, i'm giving them objectives (ones which i have done in vanilla) and they have worked. It seems when I have installed black ice the AI control has just stopped working :(
Thanks again.
the military AI is fickle, though we can't mod it anyway.
But surely if it is working in vanilla and nothing to do with the auto control is being changed it should work the same? :(
One more thing Panzeroo,
I also installed black ice 7.40 on another clean install of hoi3 and the same thing happened. If the unit is no in my territory it wont move. I did the exact same objectives in vanilla and it worked fine. I hope this can be resolved because i would love to play the mod however i cant imagine playing a big nation with this feature not working properly.
Thanks.
like I said we can't mod this as its the military AI. No idea why its not working for you. No one else reports this issue.
All sorted now, sorry for being needy just really wanted to play this awesome mod. Thanks again and thanks for replying.
Is there a Operation Save Norway and Save Denmark as Sweden? If not i think you should add them as decisions. Launching the Operation will declare war on Germany. Maybe it could give Sweden a combat bonus for a period of time. Just an idea.
If there's a link to Podcat's .exe, it isn't showing up on the page for me. Is there another way to access it? I'm having frequent crashes with just the vanilla game + all expansions, and I think that would help.
podcat's TFH exe is owned by paradox ( its basically just the TFH exe which a paradox dev modified) so you need to register your TFH expansion to access the link on the paradox tech support forum.
You can also use CFF explorer (You have to find it on the interwebs and download it). Just click on the launcher click run with CFF explorer click on file header click the box that says click here and then select the option "app can handle >2Gb address space" that is if you cant get podcats.
Hi I have a problem I installed the game and started it up but I got the wrong checksum I got CQBB and the sides of the screen where cut off (the pictures etc did not fit) whats wrong. please help.
do you have older versions of BICE ? There might be a conflict of files causing the checksum issue. The other issue looks to be a screen resolution problem. What screen resolution do you use ?
I had it at 1280x768 but i changed it to 1440x900
I'm running the right version of BICE 7.53 and I don't have old files because this is my first download of BICE, never got the old version.
I changed it to 1600x900 and it fits right, the other problem I have is that the technology is really messed up. There are ideas on top of each other and in some cases when I click on an idea it does not research it or certain ones do not have any modifiers. The resolution change did not change the checksum it is still CQBB
the checksum is wrong, you should have SOXD for 7.53.
So something is borked in your install.
I deleted my launcher and the files manually. I reinstalled the launcher and the files and got the CQBB checksum is there anything else that could be wrong or that I could try.
not sure. Perhaps the CFF explorer has changed the checksum ?
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BI crashes on creating borders. i have version 7.53 and 7.54 map cache and Podcats exe. my res is 1440 x 900. I have tried everthing, wasted 3 HoI 3 versions to repair.
nothing helps! plz help! im getting desperate!
i also have HPP 3.3.3 installed. so that might you know if that could be the issue.
If both mods are installed correctly in the TFH/mods folder and not overwriting any vanilla files, there should be no reason you can't have both installed.
the 7.53 map cache is best for version 7.53
The other issue can be if you have a 32bit system, you have to do some extra work to get podcat's TFH to work.
where can i find the 7.53 map cache? where can i see if i have a 32-bit system?
actually I think the 7.54 map cache will work fine with 7.53. There were no map changes between the versions.
You can find if your system is 32bit or 64bit in the system properties in the control panel. You also need more then 3Gb of ram for podcat's TFH to have any effect. At least 4Gb is best.
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everytime I download the file it saids it is not an .exe and just calls it a file
can anyone help me?
are you talking about the podcat's TFH exe from the paradox forum ? If so use a different browser such as chrome
no the actual blackice mod
fixxed it just had to use chrome thanks panzeroo
epic mod by the way I love playing it
As always, awesome work. I have one issue, some of the Political leaders (German) can't move. Every time I issue a move command their speed changes to a negative value (ex. -8.42 for Hitler). Any ideas what is going on?
political leader units, and things like railway artillery are moved by strategic deployment. Political leaders can also be transported by aircraft.
every time i save the game crashes. whats up with that? im rather sad as i really want to try this amazing mod :( im on windows 8.1 if thats any help
Whilst there is no 100% solution. It seems to vary between different computer systems and seems to be related to the way your computer creates either the map cache and / or the system logs. The logs are recreated each time you start HOI3. Some people have found deleting the last logs fixes the save game crash ( found in user/documents/paradox/hoi3/blackice/logs folder. Delete that folder. Beyond that its hard to pin down as many people, including everyone on the dev team don't have the save game crash problem. At the end of the day this is an old game ( released in 2009) so the engine has been pushed to its limits and may not work so well with current OS set ups. BICE probably exasperates any issues with the engine in that regard. Beyond that about the only thing you can do is roll back to version 7.4 or earlier to when your computer didn't have save game problems.
hi Panzeroo, I don't get it why in earth have you increased da nunber of days ti build SS units compared to the normal soldiers....?? & won't u make it to same days to build..? BTW I don't find any significant difference in SS compared to normal units :-)
SS is an elite unit it takes more time to train elites
Hey guys I was finally able to install mod and after 2 days of playing (and crashing) I have noticed that minor nations have broken Leadership mechanic.
As it is now all minor factions do get bonuses if they have low IC and its cool but if they conquer other nations they IC is quickly rising and they leadership is drooping like a rock. I have played as Poland on medium difficulty and before 1939r. i have conquered all middle Europe with switzerland and turkey my base IC is around 150, and my Leadership is around 20pts, and from the begining of the game i was heavly investing in leadership and research bonuses. In the same time Itally which have base IC around 100 have around 50pts of Leadership. This is just stupid, because as Poland I also need to spend around 5pts to train officers so for research i have 15pts and since research costs and time needed to research tech is higher in this BlackICE than in Vanila i'm barely able to research anything, I need to ignore like 80% of the tech! I also played as Poland in vanila (conquered all middle europa minor factions before 1939r.) and since there is much less tech to research and it was cheaper by having those 20pts I was able to keep up with Italy which had around 25 leadership points then.
To fix it it would be good to give all minor factions fixed 100% Leadership bonus so they be able to benefit from conquering land (since they quickly lose leadership bonuses from having low IC)
Also I have found some strange thing when i was checking main factions from my Polish savefile. It seams that around year 1939 all main factions have absurdly low costs for producing support unit for russia it was 0,16 IC daily for armored support and it was basicly the same for mixed and motorized. I never played as main factions so I don't know if they get some events around that time that reduce cost by 99% but it seams to be unlikly.
Hope that my rambling will help you to further improve this otherwise awesome mod.
Regards! MatSoren
The leadership boost for the small minors is only to help them to gain the bare minimum of techs. Once you start conquering nations and your IC goes up you lose that sort of bonus. essentially its a game balance concept. Minor nations struggle to become more powerful.
support units do become cheap at times - esp due to varioud temportary modifiers for the AI. There will be periods for example when the soviet AI are able to quickly produce a lot of units in order to replace huge losses. Its designed to keep those sorts of nations fighting for longer given that the AI is so bad at any sort of long term strategy and management.
Hi thank you for the replay.
I understand why there is leadership boost for the minors, and how it works now. But i would like some mechanics that would allow me to start as some minor and trough struggle and pain grow it to main power, and as it is now I can't do that because my leadership won't grow and i'm not able to catch up to main powers, rather i will fall behind, especially when minors do start with tech years behind main powers, and even if minor conquers half of the europe he still isn't able to catch.
Setting fixed 100% boost for minors wouldn't breake the game cuz small nations do not conquer anything. But it does affect all people that would like to play as minor like me, and i did tryed play the same way in mod and in vanila and in BlackICE it doesn't work. Even if you conquer a lot of land at the begining you will be falling behind in tech.
100% fixed boost is not really much cuz even then my Poland would have 40 leadership points when italy have 50, and i would still need to catch up because they start the game with higher tech level, so i still would be at great disadvantage. How it would be unbalance when currently germany starts with tons of tech, leadership and army. For me starting game as such strong nation isn't interesting they are to strong maybe i will try to play as some weaker ones like italy or france but i would prefer to rise some minor to great power, but currently it isn't possible cuz leadership mechanic will make you weaker over the years.
Regards! MatSoren
Wow...
Did you not realize Black ice is supposed to be realistic? How is it even remotely realistic for Poland to conquer all of europe in the timeframe of WW2?
How is it remotely realistic for Poland to occupy all of europe and gain leadership from that?
PLEASE don't take this guy seriously.
This guy obviously just want to cheat and see all of the map "his color".
If anything, minors should be nerfed to keep them from building too many divisions slowing up the game by 1945.