03 December, 2005 (1200 hours)
AWITS HOLIDAY CARD OPENING PAGE:
As you can see, the opening pages of both the main website and the forums once again feature the “Frozen Fortress Holiday Card,” which will remain in place until 2006!

I have fond memories of playing MoH:AA on that map, so I hope the picture is as nostalgic for you as it is for me.

26 October, 2005 (2330 hours)
AWITS WEBSITE MAINTENANCE PLAN:
The maintenance work is slowly moving forward, and it looks like a light redesign of the main page is in the offing.

I have also had a couple of suggestions for additional content, including a “history of AWITS” page, which is a fine idea.

25 October, 2005 (0615 hours)
AWITS WEBSITE MAINTENANCE UPDATE:
Duplicating lighting and the exact appearance of the metallic elements of the main page is proving difficult. Work proceeds, however.

23 October, 2005 (1530 hours)
AWITS WEBSITE MAINTENANCE RESUMED:
After a too-long hiatus during which the web presence of AWITS was focused exclusively on the AWITS Community Forums, I have resumed maintenance of these awits.com pages.

It is my intention to update, revise and augment this site’s content as time and energy allow, but at the very least to resume the daily updates of this “Today's Dispatch” item.

I have started the updates by changing the AWITS server IP listing on the main page to reflect the current IP address at Art of War Central. (This had been showing the outdated IP of the old Zencubed server since July.)

As always, if you have any input regarding the content of these pages, whether it is to point out an error, make a suggestion or just to comment on your view of these pages, please contact me by email, or post to the newly opened topic dedicated to such commentary in the AWITS Community Forums.

12 September, 2003 (0630 hrs)
AWITS FORUM COMPLETELY RESTORED:
For several days now the AWITS Community Forum has been functioning perfectly. Not only were all posts quickly and completely restored, but the board software is updated to the newest version, the skin is back in place and tweaked so that it looks even better, and several other enhancements have been put in place. Check it out at:

http://awits.com/Community/index.php?.

Once again, thanks to Tony (Chief Dumbhead) for all the work he put into this, and to Chris (Cpl. Maxwell Klinger) for setting up temporary forum space for AWITS during the brief outage!

(1700 hrs)
AWITS FORUM IS DOWN:
As you may already be aware, the AWITS Forum is down.

This is the result of a problem that arose while upgrading the forum software to the newest version.

Tony is working on restoring the forum to full functionality, but at this point it is unclear how long this might take.

It is also possible that some posts may be lost, and that some other data may not be restored to its most recent state.

Tony will keep me informed, and I will post any new information as it becomes available.

4 September, 2003 (1930 hrs)
TEMPORARY FORUM COURTESY OF MAX KLINGER:
Max has kindly offered the use of his forum until the awits.com forum can be restored. It is at

http://maxklinger.proboards10.com/index.cgi,

so get over there and register!
Thanks, Chris!

(1700 hrs)
AWITS FORUM IS DOWN:
As you may already be aware, the AWITS Forum is down.

This is the result of a problem that arose while upgrading the forum software to the newest version.

Tony is working on restoring the forum to full functionality, but at this point it is unclear how long this might take.

It is also possible that some posts may be lost, and that some other data may not be restored to its most recent state.

Tony will keep me informed, and I will post any new information as it becomes available.

22 June, 2003 (1345 hrs)
CHANGES TO MAP ROTATION:
On 21 June I made major changes to the map rotation. There are now a total of 15 maps running: 5 stock and 10 custom. The stock maps include all the TDM maps except Southern France and Crossroads.

See the detailed rotation here for the custom maps.

ADDED HOMEPAGE LINKS TO REALTIME WEB-BASED SERVER BROWSER:
You can now see who is on the [AWITS] Server, and what map is running, by clicking on the “A Walk In The Sun” graphic in the upper right of the page, or on the IP Number plaque below it. This will open a Real-Time, Web-Based Server Browser in a new window. Click here to see this browser now.

15 April, 2003 (1930 hrs)
CHANGES TO MAP ROTATION:
I removed “Rooftops” and moved “Small City” to the end of the rotation. This makes the five stock maps in the rotation a contiguous string.

8 March, 2003 (1915 hrs)
NEW MAP AVAILABLE, MAJOR CHANGES TO MAP ROTATION:
I have added O. Dahue-Manatee’s new map, “Rooftops,” to the AWITS server rotation. Click here to download this map now.

I have also restored Destroyed Village and Crossroads to the rotation, and have removed the following maps: The Pit, Forward Trench, Go, Winter Compound, Fourth Village, Arnhem, and Suburban Stomp. Check the rotation page for complete details of the rotation changes and order.

I have also changed the localization.txt file so the opening screen says “GET MAPS AT AWITS.COM”.

10 February, 2003 (1915 hrs)
NEW MAP AVAILABLE:
I have added O. Dahue-Manatee’s new map, “The Pit,” to the AWITS server rotation. Click here to download this map now.

I have put “The Pit” between Small City and Forward Trench.

12 January, 2003 (1345 hrs)
NEW MAPS AVAILABLE:
Later today I will have six new maps on the server, so I am making them available now for download in one big (about 8.5 megs) pack called AWITS_Maps_Jan03.zip. Click here to download this file now.

Note that the .zip file contains only the .pk3’s, not additional .zip files, so just extract all the contents of AWITS_Maps_Jan03.zip to your /mohaa/main.

I will update the Maps pages with details of where these new maps fit into the rotation as soon as I have them actually running on the server.

09 January, 2003 (1700 hrs)
IP ADDRESS CHANGE:
Another IP change, no power loss, maybe just bad luck. The IP is now:
 129.44.208.95.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

As always, the current IP is on the awits.com homepage.

Why does the IP change? Click here to find out.

05 January, 2003 (1530 hrs)
IP ADDRESS CHANGE:
More power interruptions as the result of the recent snow have resulted in a change of the AWITS server IP. It is now
 129.44.206.119.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

As always, the current IP is on the awits.com homepage.

Why does the IP change? Click here to find out.

03 January, 2003 (1915 hrs)
TWEAKS TO NEW HOME PAGE:
I have made some minor changes to the new home page. The most visible one is the addition of a hit counter to the “copyright” image. You may also notice that the image now floats nicely centered in your browser window (unless you are running a very small window or very low resolution.) Thanks to Tony (Chief Dumbhead) for suggesting that this be done (and in the process of converting the image to a table I got the idea for the hit counter.)

I will add the copyright image/hit counter to each page on the site, starting with this one, and then we will have a way of telling which pages are getting traffic.

 Unless you have a link directly to this “News” page, you have seen the new home page.  If you haven't seen it, click here to see it in a new browser window.

31 December, 2002 (1845 hrs)
NEW HOME PAGE FOR THE WEB SITE:
Unless you have a link directly to this “News” page, you have seen the new index (“home”) page for this site. (If you haven't seen it, click here to see it in a new browser window). I have spent many long (and sometimes tedious) hours putting this together and fine-tuning it.

However, without the original ideas of Max Klinger and Chief Dumbhead, on whose designs this page is based, it would never have seen the light of day. So I would like to express my sincere thanks to both of them for their visions and ideas, which served as the inspiration for this new page.

NEW “FEATURES” PAGE:
I have added a “Features” page, and a link to it on the index page. This is a place for items like ’Twas The Game Before Christmas that don't have any other logical place on the site. Clicking on the “Features” brass plaque on the home page will take you there, but you can click here to see it now. If you have any ideas for future “Features,” please contact me.

16 December, 2002 (2045 hrs)
’TWAS THE GAME BEFORE CHRISTMAS:
Our own Rs Holed Warzonelagger has written a hilarious lampoon of Clement Clarke Moore's ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, entitled ’Twas the Game Before Christmas. You can click here to see it. You may recognize the bearded fellow in the picture.

15 December, 2002 (1500 hrs)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM AWITS PAGE FIXED:
Strikerzz and Lilbit pointed out a problem with the new greeting card page, involving the menu chasing itself off the edge of the page if your browser window is below a certain size. I fixed it by making the greeting card page an entry to the old index page. You can click here to see it. Clicking on the string of lights to the right of the picture will get you to the old main page. Remember, I will have some new features up after the New Year, so keep watching!

14 December, 2002 (1345 hrs)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM AWITS:
Unless you came directly to this page, you have seen the AWITS Holiday Greeting on the index page. If you missed it, click here to see it. Although I have not updated the site in quite a while, I will have some new features up soon (after the New Year), so keep watching!

16 November, 2002 (1345 hrs)
FORUM IS A SMASH HIT:
By now you all know that the forum is wildly popular, and that posts are running far in excess of what Chief Dumbhead anticipated! Right now there have been more than 1200 posts in the 32 days the forum has been in operation, and there are 19 registered members. Once again, a big thank you to Tony for getting this in operation for us!
SPEARHEAD IS FUN BUT A LITTLE ROUGH:
Those who have Spearhead are probably enjoying it, but there are issues, like the “how long can names be?” glitch and the butt-sliding cheat. I would anticipate a patch within 2 weeks.
AWITS.COM EMAIL ADDRESSES ARE COMING:
Those who have requested an email address of the form pon@awits.com WILL get them, I have just been very busy with work and Spearhead, and my own AWITS address is not even activated yet! If you want one, let me know.

06 November, 2002 (0700 hrs)
REGULAR PLAYER NAME CHANGE — [AWITS] Shade:
You will have noticed by now that the expert marksman formerly known as ShadeAngel has truncated his player name to Shade. He has asked that this change be made “official,” so I have changed his name on the roster to Shade. (He still answers to “Shadey,” or to “You plugged me from across the map, Mr. Shadey, Sir!”)

04 November, 2002 (2030 hrs)
AWITS COMMUNITY FORUM SUCCESSFULLY MIGRATED TO AWITS.COM:
Chief Dumbhead has successfully completed the move of the AWITS Community Forum to the awits.com domain and host! Many thanks are due Tony from the entire AWITS Community for the “blood, sweat and tears” he has put into making this happen. (And this is a great “reverse birthday present” from Tony to the AWITS Community.) Thanks, Chief, you truly are A Walker In The Sun!

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

01. The forum address is now http://awits.com/Community/ with a capital “C” in “Community.” Update your bookmarks. All links on these pages now point to the new address.

02. Although existing posts have been moved from the old moh-awits.wyldcom.net forum address to the new awits.com address, FROM NOW ON posts made to the old address will NOT appear on the new forum. So if you want your posts to survive the shutdown of the old forum, make them to the new address ONLY.

04 November, 2002 (1930 hrs)
MAP ROTATION HAS CHANGED:
Eye of the Needle has been added to the rotation, replacing Battle Field in Slot 06. The consensus was that Battle Field was simply too large for the AWITS server. Click here to see a screenshot of the map, or click here to download the map immediately.

04 November, 2002 (0700 hrs)
EYE OF THE NEEDLE MAP AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD:
Later today I will add a new map, Eye of the Needle, to the rotation. I have posted it for download so the regulars can install it and check it out before it goes into the rotation. Click here to download the map now.

03 November, 2002 (1530 hrs)
WEBSITE IS MOVED TO AWITS.COM:
The website is operative on the new domain. If you entered through the RoadRunner site, click here to go to the awits.com site. You will note that the menu has been redesigned on the awits.com site only. The graphics will take a little longer to load, but hopefully the visual impact will make the wait worthwhile.

If you find any problems on the awits.com site, PLEASE LET ME KNOW, since am not sure I would spot an error after  looking at this for so many hours!

31 October, 2002 (1700 hrs)
[AWITS] SERVER IP IS NOW 129.44.206.237:
The server's DSL connection was interrupted for long enough to change the IP on reconnection. Since today is Halloween, I suspect a Gremlin, shown here with an unknown veteran of the 1943 air campaign:

28 October, 2002 (2015 hrs)
[AWITS] NOW HAS ITS OWN DOMAIN NAME, AWITS.COM:
I have bought the domain name awits.com, along with a web hosting package which should be more than sufficient for the needs of the [AWITS] Community. Included in the package are email services, which will allow the regulars to have an email address like pon@awits.com. Note that the domain name will work with or without “www” in front of it. I will transfer this website to the new host later this week or early next week. Stay tuned for further developments!

27 October, 2002 (1900 hrs)
PAIR O’ NOYAS ALLIED COLONEL SKIN AND MAJ. WINTERS FINAL REVISION SKIN AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD:
I have produced a skin for myself which portrays an American Colonel of (ahem) appropriate age, with the [AWITS] insignia on the left shoulder and on both sides of the helmet (under the netting, no less), and the initials “PON” on the right shoulder. Click here to see it on the Skins Download page.  I have also added the [AWITS] helmet insignia and “MW” initials to the Maj. Winters skin, so if you have downloaded a previous version, please replace it with this one.

26 October, 2002 (1130 hrs)
NEW VERSION OF THE [AWITS] ALLIED AVATAR NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD:
I have slightly modified the [AWITS] Allied Avatar so the sun shines from the upper right instead of straight down. The rays coming straight down looked a little too much like a medieval religious painting to me, and I think this looks much more natural. Click here to see the new version, which you can download.

24 October, 2002 (2000 hrs)
ALL 10 CUSTOM MAPS ON THE [AWITS] SERVER ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD:
I have completed a new Maps Download Page, which includes screenshots with thumbnails of all ten custom maps currently running on the [AWITS] server. Please let anyone who is not a regular on the server know that these maps are all available at this site now!

23 October, 2002 (2000 hrs)
NEW [AWITS] SKIN AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD:
I have completed a new skin for myself, which is available for download. It is the Pair O’ Noyas [AWITS] Gestapo skin, and can be seen and downloaded by clicking here. This skin is on the server now, and I will soon have a version with a different face and the name “Winters” on the armband for… well, Winters, who else?

22 October, 2002 (0645 hrs)
PING WOES CONTINUE:
RoadRunner CONTINUES to have problems which make my ping too high to connect to the server. While I am locked out, I have been working on a couple of Axis skins for Winters and myself, as well as an AWITS Axis Avatar. I will post them as soon as they are finished. If you haven't seen the AWITS Allied Avatar and the custom [AWITS] Maj. Winters skin,  check them out here. Stay tuned for further developments.

19 October, 2002 (1400 hrs)
AWITS ALLIED AVATAR AND [AWITS] MAJ. WINTERS SKIN ARE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD:
While RoadRunner has been having some problems which made my ping too high to connect to the server, I have been busy making an AWITS Allied Avatar and a custom skin with an AWITS shoulder-patch insignia for [AWITS] Maj. Winters. The Winters skin is on the server, so download it and watch Winters in action. Click the above links to download them.

17 October, 2002 (0700 hrs)
ADDED A LINK ON THE HOMEPAGE TO THE AWITS COMMUNITY FORUM:
You can now get to the AWITS Community Forum directly from this site's homepage by clicking the link in the left panel. The Forum will open in a new window.  Chief Dumbhead has also added a link to this site at the far right of the Forum banner. So get over there and post!

16 October, 2002 (1830 hrs)
AWITS COMMUNITY NOW HAS ITS OWN FORUM:
Thanks to the energy and determination of Chief Dumbhead, the AWITS community now has a forum where they can exchange opinions, information, wisecracks and anything else (within reason). It is at http://awits.com/Community and can also be reached at http://kickme.to/awits-community. Major thank yous are in order for Tony (Chief Dumbhead), for all the setup and debugging work he has put in to make this happen, and also to WyldFyre, who has generously donated the storage and bandwidth to make this possible. So get over there and post!

15 October, 2002 (2345 hrs)
SHOCKING REVELATIONS RE: THE BAN BUS:
To most, the existence of the Ban Bus is a comforting thought, and we rest easier knowing that it is there if it is needed. But to the team-killer, the Ban Bus is an object of terror. Click here to find out why.

CLOSE TO RESOLUTION OF THE SKINS ISSUE:
I am now confident that I understand the skins issue thoroughly. I will have a number of skins posted for download in the next few days. If your favorite skin doesn't work, I may be able to repair it. Stay tuned for updates.

14 October, 2002 (1815 hrs)
ZEROING IN ON THE SKINS ISSUE:
I just spent most of a three-day weekend learning much more about skinning than I ever wanted to know. The good new is: I believe that I now understand why some skins will not work across a server, and what needs to be done to make them work. The bad news is: the fix  requires dismantling the skin and repairing the errors that it contains.

I have done this with a couple of skins for Winters and myself (Winters can be very persuasive), so I see no reason why it cannot be done in principle for any skin. I am going to experiment a bit more, and post the results over the next few days. Watch for more news as it develops.

13 October, 2002 (1115 hrs)
UPDATE ON CUSTOM SKINS:
As you know, I have asked the regulars to send me skins that they use consistently so that I can run them on the server and post them on this site for download. I have had no problem with any Axis skin, but unfortunately, I have had major problems with many Allied skins.

They show up properly in the Multi-Player Options preview, and with Force Models on they show up perfectly on others, but they do not show up on others in the game as they should with Force Models off. I went so far as to eliminate every custom pk3 of any kind from both Winters’ and my machines, without effect. I am still trying to come up with a definite answer, but for now it looks like some of these skins just won’t run across a server.

As soon as I get this completely sorted out, I will post the skins that do work as well as a list of which skins are on the server.

HISTORICAL SUITABILITY OF SKINS:
Some of the skins that regulars have submitted for use clearly add present-day camouflage to WW II uniforms, and a couple of them clearly portray modern military gear. Tell me what you think about the suitability of these skins for this server.

REQUEST FOR SCREENSHOTS:
I am in the process of compiling screenshots for a page (or more likely many pages) on this site. Winters has over 400 of them (since he can shoot and take pictures at the same time), and we have selected about 20 of them in a sort of “first cut.” Some are funny, some portray intense fighting, and some are just bizarre. If you have any screenshots you would like others to see, send them to me, and I will see about posting them.

12 October, 2002 (1915 hrs)
CHANGED THE COLOR SCHEME FOR ALL PAGES:
A couple of the regulars have told me that the red-on-green color scheme that I was using was hard on their eyes (particularly late at night).  Consequently, I have implemented this mellower color scheme which I hope is easier for all of you to read. Please let me know what you think of the new colors.

11 October, 2002 (1115 hrs)
CORRECTED SERVER IP PAGE:
Although the correct server IP is posted on the site's main page, I had not updated the page you see when you click “Current Server IP” on the navigation menu. The page now contains the correct information.

10 October, 2002 (1815 hrs)
CHANGES TO TITLE PAGE LAYOUT:
I made some changes to the layout of the title page, including making the large AWITS logo be illuminated without clicking on it. Tell me what you think.

10 October, 2002 (0615 hrs)
SERVER IP HAS CHANGED AGAIN! IT IS NOW:
129.44.206.103
As I said yesterday, Verizon does not offer fixed IP addresses. This morning I had to reconnect again. If you connect by IP and have been unable to connect, this is why. It has been a bad time for ISP issues with RoadRunner. I hope the same is not becoming true of Verizon.

09 October, 2002 (0715 hrs)
SERVER IP WILL BE POSTED ON THE HOME PAGE:
In all likelihood, the server IP will continue to change from time to time, according to the whim of Verizon. You will always find the current IP on the homepage.
HOME PAGE QUOTE/SEND ME YOURS:
I have also added a quote to the homepage. I plan to post a page of quotes “Real Soon Now,” so if you have anything you think others would enjoy, send them along.

08 October, 2002 (1715 hrs)
THE SERVER IP HAS CHANGED. IT IS NOW:
129.44.208.130
Since Verizon uses PPPoE (Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet) to “to allow authentication and maintain the familiar ‘dial-up experience’ when connecting to the Internet through a broadband modem,” whenever the connection drops, unless I discover it immediately and log back in quickly, I lose the current IP. Verizon does not offer fixed IP addresses. If you connect by IP and have been unable to connect, this is why.

07 October, 2002 (1715 hrs)
SEND ME YOUR SKINS:
 I received a couple of skins from Shadeangel that he asked me to put on the server so others could see him as he would like to be seen. Of course, the regulars would also need these skins running on their own machines in order to see them. It has always been my intention to do this, so please send me one Allied and one Axis skin that you use fairly consistently. When I get a few more, I will put them on the server and post them on the download pages.

06 October, 2002 (2315 hrs)
NEW MAPS RUNNING:
 The entire new rotation ran all day today without problems. The four new custom maps were well received. Please note that The Secret Lab download differs from most map downloads in that it is not a .zip archive from which a map .pk3 must be extracted . The download is the .pk3 file itself, which must simply be copied or moved to your /mohaa/main/ directory.

06 October, 2002 (1115 hrs)
FIXED BROKEN DOWNLOAD LINK:
 Capt. Andrews informed me that the download link for Pair O’ Noyas Politically Incorrect Axis Avatar was broken. It is working properly now, so if you were unable to download this avatar, please try again.

06 October, 2002 (1045 hrs)
NEW MAP ROTATION:
 The rotation now includes the four new custom maps which are available on the downloads pages. I have made some other changes, including the long-promised elimination of Destroyed Village (sorry, Shadey!) Watch for a complete listing of the map rotation in the next day or two.

05 October, 2002 (1830 hrs)
DOWNLOADS AVAILABLE:
 I have posted three custom avatars and four new custom maps on the downloads pages. The new maps will be running on the server sometime tomorrow, so I made them available for the regulars today. Watch for a complete listing of the map rotation in the next day or two.

05 October, 2002 (1030 hrs)
Fixed Background Glitches:
 Under some circumstances, the Main Regulars Page and Regular Roster Pages would show empty white, instead of the olive-drab “Army-blanket” background. I think I have fixed this. This will teach me not to do website changes and updates at Oh-Dark-Hundred hours! Pair says, “Check it out!” and please inform me of any glitches or typos you find anywhere on this site.

04 October, 2002
Tweaks to Main Regulars Page:
 Pair says, “Check it out!”

03 October, 2002
Update on updates:
 Although the page says this is a “daily dispatch,” It has been four days since the last one (which was also the first one)! I will try to make the updates true to the title.

29 September, 2002
The big news is that this website is up and running, if only at minimal functionality!