Updated: Assisted Plotting Mod. Contact ID Issue Addressed

[Observer]

This is an update to the assisted plotting mod included in RUb 1.42. You must have RUb 1.42 installed for this to work properly. RUb 1.42 contains files necessary for this mod to function as intended.

This version addresses a couple of issues, some the result of the way SHIII works.

1. This version addresses the problem with losing contact ID when the scope takes a wave, or dips for a second. I've included several different versions for the time the contact ID will be maintained, from 5 seconds to 5 minutes. 5 seconds should be enough to prevent losing contact ID because of wave slaps, but will still require a re-identification if you dip the scope.
2. For those with issues with the bearing overlay included with RUb 1.42, I've included the overlay from RUb 1.41.

Fixes:
1. Addresses the contact ID being lost instantaneously.
2. Addresses issue with Pato 1500 meter bearing overlay.
3. Changed warship and opportunity contacts back to hollow squares from the filled squares of RUb 1.42.

Issues:
1. Single merchant and small convoy (<5 ships) will not show on the strategic map.
2. With the scope up, and the nav map zoomed out, a hollow square will be displayed marking the convoy and convoy information for a period of time. For example, if the 1 minute contact ID version is used, this will not fade out until after the scope has been down for one minute.
3. Similar to #2, the circle with contact info will be available at higher levels of zoom. This circle is not updated, and only shows the last known contact info. It fades out after a preset time.

These screen shots show the mod in operation and the issues in this version. These shots are from the convoy attack training mission.

I've ID'd the Hunt I DD and lowered the scope
http://home.nycap.rr.com/jlboaz/sh3_1.jpg

I raise the scope again after 40 seconds and the Hunt is still ID'd
http://home.nycap.rr.com/jlboaz/sh3_7.jpg

I restarted the mission, this time leaving the scope down longer. Note the square on the zoomed out map.
http://home.nycap.rr.com/jlboaz/sh3_8.jpg

After the scope is lowered, note how the contact info is still displayed on the nav map.
http://home.nycap.rr.com/jlboaz/sh3_2.jpg
http://home.nycap.rr.com/jlboaz/sh3_3.jpg

After 1 minute, notice how the info has faded away.
http://home.nycap.rr.com/jlboaz/sh3_4.jpg
http://home.nycap.rr.com/jlboaz/sh3_5.jpg

When I raise the scope, notice how I've lost the ID on the Hunt.
http://home.nycap.rr.com/jlboaz/sh3_6.jpg

In order to install this mod, select the folder with the amount of time you'd like to keep the contact ID (60 sec is the default) and unzip to your \MODS folder. Install using the JSGME mod installer. If you'd like to use the alternate bearing overlay, unzip to your \MODS folder and install using the JSGME mod installer.

Get this mod here:
Assisted Plotting Mod v5 (http://rapidshare.de/files/2955414/Ast_Plot_Versions_v1.7z.html)

[Captain America]

Oh yes...now this I can live with. I just tested out your 5 min version and I think its an excellent work around to the ID issue. It still keeps the realism factor going and doesn't feel like I am cheating. The contacts even kept their ID in the notepad beyond 5 min...good stuff. :up:

Thanks for taking the time to find a workaround...now I can go back to playing.

-Captain America

[Observer]

Glad you like it. Do you find any of the issues (above) make this unworkable? (single merchants and info fade times in particular)

[Sfinx]

Just the ticket! The 5 min version sounds just about right as ID memory. If I need ID info about something I have not checked in 5 min I ought to have time to do a re-ID. :up:

Can't say anything about the map updates as I don't use it. In this case the notepad is all I need to have as a tool.

Now I just have to install it and head out to sea to test it. :up:

[Observer]

After some play testing, I realized the need to get rid of the icons for single aircraft and turn the aircraft and land icons a neutral color. This is an update to the mod fixing these issues.

Assisted Plotting Mod v5 (http://rapidshare.de/files/2955414/Ast_Plot_Versions_v1.7z.html)

[mpugsley]

Thanks! About to go try out.

[Beery]

Thanks Observer. I must admit I haven't had much time to figure out all the details of this issue, but I'm sure your solution will be great. I'll put it in 1.43.

[baxter]

Thanks...it seems to work well. I appreciate it.

[KL Seestern]

Issues:
1. Single merchant and small convoy (<5 ships) will not show on the strategic map.


Just to clarify this -- do you mean contact reports? I currently use RUB 1.42 and occasionally get reports of the odd merchant ship in my vicinity -- nothing on the radio, but a black square appears on my map. These will be gone with this mod?

[Observer]

Issues:
1. Single merchant and small convoy (<5 ships) will not show on the strategic map.


Just to clarify this -- do you mean contact reports? I currently use RUB 1.42 and occasionally get reports of the odd merchant ship in my vicinity -- nothing on the radio, but a black square appears on my map. These will be gone with this mod?

Exactly correct. You will not get the "square" on the map any longer for single merchant contacts. Depending on the RND layer you are using, I doubt the small convoys will even be an issue. I've never seen one at least.

[Observer]

Thanks Observer. I must admit I haven't had much time to figure out all the details of this issue, but I'm sure your solution will be great. I'll put it in 1.43.

I think this version is going to take some testing to get right because there are a number of issues, such as do you have a problem no longer showing single ship opportunity contacts on the map? Or, what is the right precise contact decay time? I don't know the answer to the last which is why I created a couple different versions. One minute is the default for precise contact decay time.

[Beery]

I'm feeling a bit better now, so I'm getting back to the daily grind that is RUb, LOL. Apologies in advance, Observer, but I'm wondering if we can get to a perfect version of the Assisted Plotting mod, so I have to grill you on a few questions regarding this new version:

What change causes the loss of the map graphic for single ship and small convoy contacts? For me, the lack of a contact 'memory' is not a big deal, whereas the single ship contact issue is. I can always mark a contact while the scope is up, but I can't do anything with a contact that doesn't appear at all. The single ship contacts were a big positive for me. If RUb could have two versions of the file that's responsible for this (one with single ship contact markings still included), I think that would be best, so that players could choose the one that suited their playstyle.

I like the new contact graphics and the U-boat 'blob' is a good size.

I like the current contact lines (although one less dash would make judging the distance harder, which would be a good thing). The distance of the first dash from the boat is perfect - this shouldn't be altered in my opinion. Is there any way that we can have the furthest dash in the line (the one closest to the contact) be further away from the actual contact? Currently, it's possible to judge the exact distance to the contact by finding the last most faded dash. Maybe we could just have that one single dash - the one that appears closest to the U-boat - and no more dashes. I'm thinking that this would give the least info while still giving us some idea of the distance (because it repeats). Maybe what I'm asking for is not possible. What we have is already great, but I'm wondering if we can get to perfect.

Finally, about the new protractor graphic: is this one fixed so that it doesn't cause the 'offset' that some players have experienced? I'm worried that this offset is caused by the greater size of the graphic, which appears to be the same in this mod as it was in the previous version. I like this protractor graphic better than the older RUb one, but I need to be sure that it won't cause the offset problem.

Sorry to be so picky, but I think we're very close to a perfect version of this mod, or as perfect as it can get.

[U-1966]

Is there another place to get this mod? I tried the link with "free" access and then it says I have a proxy server and need to sign up for the "premium" membership to download the file.. :cry:

[terrapin]

Is there another place to get this mod? I tried the link with "free" access and then it says I have a proxy server and need to sign up for the "premium" membership to download the file.. :cry:

sure...at our file library in the /Mods section

[U-1966]

Cool...Is it this new updated version?

[U-1966]

Thanks Observer. I must admit I haven't had much time to figure out all the details of this issue, but I'm sure your solution will be great. I'll put it in 1.43.

I think this version is going to take some testing to get right because there are a number of issues, such as do you have a problem no longer showing single ship opportunity contacts on the map? Or, what is the right precise contact decay time? I don't know the answer to the last which is why I created a couple different versions. One minute is the default for precise contact decay time.


Not showing single ship contacts on the strategic map is the most realistic way to go. U-Boats were informed by BDU of CONVOY position reports, not single merchants. The U-Boats found single merchants by just stumbling into them.

Read any U-Boat Commander or Crew Member's biography and you can see that single ships were surprises, not something they knew about way ahead of time.

[terrapin]

Cool...Is it this new updated version?

Sure...

[Captain America]

Not showing single ship contacts on the strategic map is the most realistic way to go. U-Boats were informed by BDU of CONVOY position reports, not single merchants. The U-Boats found single merchants by just stumbling into them.

Read any U-Boat Commander or Crew Member's biography and you can see that single ships were surprises, not something they knew about way ahead of time.

I agree with the above statement....all of my uboat readings have indicated the same.

[Beery]

Not showing single ship contacts on the strategic map is the most realistic way to go. U-Boats were informed by BDU of CONVOY position reports, not single merchants. The U-Boats found single merchants by just stumbling into them.

The single merchant radio messages aren't from BdU. They are radio messages from the ships themselves. The U-boat radio officer would scan all the wavelengths to find 'chatter' from merchants, and the U-boat would find the direction and home in on the merchant based on that.

[U-1966]

Not showing single ship contacts on the strategic map is the most realistic way to go. U-Boats were informed by BDU of CONVOY position reports, not single merchants. The U-Boats found single merchants by just stumbling into them.

The single merchant radio messages aren't from BdU. They are radio messages from the ships themselves. The U-boat radio officer would scan all the wavelengths to find 'chatter' from merchants, and the U-boat would find the direction and home in on the merchant based on that.

Good Point. Single ships were found that way. But I think it was much more common to just stumble across them with no advanced warning.

[U-1966]

Not showing single ship contacts on the strategic map is the most realistic way to go. U-Boats were informed by BDU of CONVOY position reports, not single merchants. The U-Boats found single merchants by just stumbling into them.

Read any U-Boat Commander or Crew Member's biography and you can see that single ships were surprises, not something they knew about way ahead of time.

I agree with the above statement....all of my uboat readings have indicated the same.

Yep, it is supported by: Iron Coffins, Operation Drumbeat, U-Boat Commander, Steel Boats Iron Hearts, plus countless U-Boat Reports.

[Beery]

Good Point. Single ships were found that way. But I think it was much more common to just stumble across them with no advanced warning.

The problem is that with RUb's lower overall contact frequency, it's balanced so that it's just hard enough to stumble on merchants, and in 1939-40 it's important that we are able to find lone merchants. Maybe it's time for me to try the new Improved Convoys mod - with no radio messages perhaps that mod will be more realistic in terms of contacts. But then the problem will come with later war contacts when they are supposed to be very few and far between. Also, the IC mod presumably comes with the standard (bugged) elite escorts and no Bay of Biscay patrol. Pentallion's 40/20 mod fixed these issues, and a lot of people don't seem to realise that the 40/20 mod is much more than merely a reduction of contacts.

[Observer]

Sorry I got back into this thread a bit late...just got home from work.

I'm feeling a bit better now

That's good to hear.:up:

I'm wondering if we can get to a perfect version of the Assisted Plotting mod, so I have to grill you on a few questions regarding this new version

It's going to have some compromises either way. I'll explain as best I can.

What change causes the loss of the map graphic for single ship and small convoy contacts?

The "problem" is with the "Decay Time For Precise Sensor Contacts" in the Contacts.cfg. If you set the decay time to zero, as soon as a you lose sight of the contact, even for an instant, you must re-identify the contact in order to take range using the periscope stadimeter. If the decay time is set to >0 in order to avoid the identification problem the nav map is effectively restored to God's Eye Mode.

This means in order to eliminate the identification problem, decay time must be >0, but without precise contacts showing on the nav map. The size of the icon is controlled by these lines in the Maps.cfg (these are just the merchant ships)

;units military symbols
;MatSymbXY where X digit means the type of the unit/convoy and Y digit is the size of the convoy (0 for small, 1 for medium and 2 for large)
MatSymb10=0x3B,0x0B,data/menu/gui/Units/UnitMShip.tga
MatSymb11=0x3B,0x0B,data/menu/gui/Units/UnitMShip.tga
MatSymb12=0x3B,0x0B,data/menu/gui/Units/UnitMShipM.tga
MatSymb13=0x3B,0x0B,data/menu/gui/Units/UnitMShipL.tga

And the "size" definitions are in this portion of the Contacts.cfg:

Single Contact Min Size=1 ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group
Small Contact Min Size=2 ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group
Medium Contact Min Size=5 ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group
Large Contact Min Size=13 ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group

The problem is that the tgas used to display precise (think visual) contacts on the map in God's Eye Mod are exactly the same ones used to display opportunity contacts (think radio contacts) for two or less ships on the nav map.

In order to maintain ship identification, I erased the tga used for single ships (it's the UnitMShip.tga above), and set the decay time for precise contacts to something greater than zero.

I notice above the MatSymb10 line uses the same tga as the MatSymb11. It's possible, though I haven't tested it, one might be for precise contacts and the other for contacts of opportunity. It should be easy to determine by just changing the reference tgas in the Maps.cfg file to the UnitMShipM.tga or UnitMShipL.tga which I did not erase.

Long winded anser...sorry.

For me, the lack of a contact 'memory' is not a big deal, whereas the single ship contact issue is. I can always mark a contact while the scope is up, but I can't do anything with a contact that doesn't appear at all. The single ship contacts were a big positive for me.

As I noted above, no contact memory was a big deal for player who are on 100% realism in heavy weather, or dip the scope. One workaround is to map a key for the WO to ID the ship, and another is to measure range on the nav plot, but I'm not crazy about either. I also worked up a set of generic range tables, but I find entering range a bit fiddly on the attack map.

If RUb could have two versions of the file that's responsible for this (one with single ship contact markings still included), I think that would be best, so that players could choose the one that suited their playstyle.

This is possible if you want this as an option.

I like the new contact graphics and the U-boat 'blob' is a good size.

Agreed. I really like the size and color.:up:

I like the current contact lines (although one less dash would make judging the distance harder, which would be a good thing). The distance of the first dash from the boat is perfect - this shouldn't be altered in my opinion. Is there any way that we can have the furthest dash in the line (the one closest to the contact) be further away from the actual contact?

I can simply erase the last dash. Easy to do.

Currently, it's possible to judge the exact distance to the contact by finding the last most faded dash. Maybe we could just have that one single dash - the one that appears closest to the U-boat - and no more dashes. I'm thinking that this would give the least info while still giving us some idea of the distance (because it repeats). Maybe what I'm asking for is not possible. What we have is already great, but I'm wondering if we can get to perfect.

I hadn't noticed this in the current version.

Finally, about the new protractor graphic: is this one fixed so that it doesn't cause the 'offset' that some players have experienced? I'm worried that this offset is caused by the greater size of the graphic, which appears to be the same in this mod as it was in the previous version. I like this protractor graphic better than the older RUb one, but I need to be sure that it won't cause the offset problem.

Unfortunately it's not fixed. I included the original Jace version in this download because of it. I'm not graphically skilled enough to fix it either. I think it's a driver problem, but I can't swear by it. Perhaps a solution is to include both versions, and let people pick the one that works best.

Sorry to be so picky, but I think we're very close to a perfect version of this mod, or as perfect as it can get.

No problem. The more I use this mod, the more I really like it.

[HEMISENT]

Observer.
Thanks for your work this looks like it will help out quite a bit. Most notably the protractor overlay.

Question for you. Aside from all thats been covered in this post I'm having difficulty with actually getting the individual ship contacts (pale round contact) showing up to make a mark on.

I realize that the scope needs to be raised (or the boat surfaced) you wave the mouse cursor over the general area and a circle is supposed to appear. That is the area that a mark gets put for plotting purposes. What I am experiencing is sometimes the contact circle appears and sometimes it doesn't. Even when looking at a ship just a few hundred meters away. I know it's there, the ship knows it's there but the map often times doesn't. Also, the amount of time needed for waving the mouse cursor "looking" for the contact circle is extremely frustrating. Especially when attempting to mark a contact for calculating speed/distance with the stopwatch running.

Any thoughts on the subject would be greatly appreciated.

Am I doing something wrong here?

[Observer]

I haven't experienced this problem. Try locking the 'scope to the contact and see if it helps. Sometimes the contact circle can be hard to find on the nav map. You might try selecting the attack map before the nav map to see if that will help you locate the contact. Remember to lock your 'scope to the contact before going to either map screen. Use this to simulate the WO on the 'scope.

[WalterNovak]

another problem here :-?
I have not too much trouble to find the "contact circle" in the zoomed out map. But when I try to zoom in to do a more acurate plotting, I can't find the target (I'm pretty used to 100% manual plotting and targeting, so it's no that I've missed any shots because of this - but the adv. plotting mod so far is kind of useless to me :-j )

from what I could gather from the screenshots, I should see the contact circle and a bit of text with contact details on the zoomed out map, and only some text on the zoomed in map.
But I only see the circle (without text) on the zoomed out, and nothing when zoomed in.

I run SH3 v.1.4, with RUB 1.42, the "unreal Uboat clear water", Improved Convoys (latest version) and merchant variety pack.

any Ideas why I don't get the contact text?

[Observer]

You have to click on the contact zoomed in (bearing overlay visible) to get the text in the zoomed in view. The easiest method I find is to go from the zoomed out view with the contact circle visible to the zoomed in view (somewhat quickly) with your mouse cursor over the contact using the mouse wheel.

[Lanzfeld]

Is this mod the reason that when I am near a convoy at night my watch crew constantly calls out ships that they have called out a few seconds before. It is getting REALLY irritating! :x