[REL] Sh4 Tracking Room GIS maps
 

This is a revised edition of a project I began almost two years ago but never finished, at the time due to my lack of interest in Silent Hunter.

Thanks to lurker_hbls excellent work on OM back I got again interested in Silent Hunter and could finally put the finishing touches to this.

Basically, I use a modified version of the Sh3Gen campaign interpreter to automatically generate intelligence maps, very similar to what I did with Sh3Gen Tracking Room. But here I release only the finished maps, not the program to create them. So in contrast to Sh3Gen, it's totally easy to use. All you need before you can open the map installation of the free TatukGIS viewer (included in the Tracking Room Download or separately here). This represents all the progress I have made after the Sh3 Tracking Room was finished and before I abandoned Silent Hunter for a long time.

The maps were all generated automatically for the OM campaign. There are 7 maps which give information for every year from 1939-1945. No randomization was applied, so unlike Sh3Gen the information is reliable! However, if there is interest, randomization and other things could be done at a later date.

While this release is for OM, I will also make a version for other campaigns, especially a Pacific version. I also think future releases may come with a map for every quarter or even every month of every year of the war.

It would be very helpful if some of you try the maps and give suggestions about their usefulness, from my point of view they are already in a state to release them.

There are some oddities, for instance all British bases are in fact American, but this has more to do with the campaign data. I did see no reason to change it.

If there is interest, I will try to collect ideas and see if they can be incorporated.

Instructions follow. Screenshots in a minute.

[MAP LAYERS]

artillery (coastal batteries)
anti_aircraft
docked ships (approximate or detailed)

minefields
subnets

patrols (coastal asw)
coastal traffic

Traffic layers, show only areas of activity (so this is no spysat information!)

merchants
asw
navy

geographic locations
major locations
minor locations

gshhs_h shorelines
bathymetry

[DOWNLOAD]

Tracking Room Maps [15.8 mb]
GIS Viewer [4.6 mb]

[INSTALLATION]

1.) Install the TatukGIS Viewer
TatukGIS_VWR_1_13_1_370_NOHELP.exe (included in the download)
you could also get a more recent version from http://www.tatukgis.com

2.) Open maps
the maps are in folder \\SH4 Tracking Room
there you find one folder for every year, for example OM_1940_.. is for 1940
in each folder you find a file "Sh3Gen Tracking Room.TTKGP"
either: double click this file and it will open in the viewer (file association required)
or
you can also start the Viewer first and then open the file (Sh3Gen Tracking Room.TTKGP)

[TATUKGIS VIEWER]

The TatukGIS viewer is a free GIS viewer.

On the right side you see a layer panel.
Use it to check/uncheck layers. names should be mostly self explaining.

Click on the "hand" symbol to drag the map

Use the mouse wheel to scroll

[SCREENSHOTS]

All information enabled:

http://www.global-explorer.de/FILES/...ipboard08s.gif

Global view with most layers enabled

http://www.global-explorer.de/FILES/...ipboard01s.gif

Minefields

http://www.global-explorer.de/FILES/...ipboard02s.gif

Zoomed view on Coastal Traffic and Patrol zones

http://www.global-explorer.de/FILES/...ipboard03s.gif

Detailed view of harbor defenses (Scapa Flow)

http://www.global-explorer.de/FILES/...ipboard04s.gif

Allied and Axis ASW concentrations:

http://www.global-explorer.de/FILES/...ipboard05s.gif

Concentrations of Allied Merchant traffic:

http://www.global-explorer.de/FILES/...ipboard06s.gif

Concentration of Allied naval units (warships):

http://www.global-explorer.de/FILES/...ipboard07s.gif

Woooow :yeah:

Hello
Please forgive my stupidity but how do i install this and where ie what part of the game do i put it in ?

There is no need to put this in the game, it's stand alone. It's not a mod, but maps (files) that you can open with a free GIS viewer (not Silent Hunter).

Here is a bit of information about the GIS viewer: http://www.directionsmag.com/product...feature_id=112

There are only very few steps involved:

1. Download the maps Tracking Room Maps [15.8 mb]
2. Download the viewer application GIS Viewer [4.6 mb]
3. Install the viewer
4. Open the maps with the viewer [ always the file: Sh3Gen Tracking Room.TTKGP ]

I hope this makes it clearer?

These maps contain a lot of information, probably more than you are used to. For example they give you positions of minefields, approximate patrol zones of ASW ships, approximate traffic concentrations, etc. In my opinion no captain would have gone to sea without approximate information about such threats, that's why I felt a need for this.

On the other hand, if you are afraid that the using this information is too much of a cheat, I suggest you look only at the maps from the previous year (i.e. if you go on patrol in 1941 you use the map for 1940), so the information is reasonably outdated.

Try it out. If you still want more information you should review my patrol data generator for SHIII (Sh3Gen Tracking Room), which also had a GIS map output.

Ok thanks for the reply will give it a go

Hey, because it still sounds much more complicated than necessary I have made visual instructions ;) The people in my firm usually get along with these much better than walls of text ...

Start the viewer and open the map file [Sh3Gen Tracking Room.TTKGP] via File->Open

http://www.global-explorer.de/20100415/3.jpg


Reminder: This is the Sh4 Tracking Room Folder that you extracted:


http://www.global-explorer.de/20100415/1.jpg

There are seven folders with a map for every year. Choose the map by the year you are interested in.

http://www.global-explorer.de/20100415/2.jpg

The map will open in the viewer. The usage is like in any CAD/GIS application. Use the mouse wheel to zoom, click / drag etc.

You could also open a map by double clicking on Sh3Gen Tracking Room.TTKGP. This however requires the TTKGP file extension to be registered with TatukGIS Viewer, which is probably not yet set :) I hope you know how to do it ?

TMO
 

put one for TMO 2.0 (when released!!!)

that would be very usefull, now that Ducimus brought the minefields to be.

A Pacific version is definitely planned. Just send me a message when the campaign is ready. I also expect that you test the maps (the new and the current) and give feedback.

Where could I get this mod?? please Links are down