Triggers, Events & Spawning
 

I would like to bump this one up please, the reason being I'm trying to get other ship units to spawn when I reach a certain area.
I have even had a lone merchant and kept in visual contact with it hoping it spawns a DD but I have not been successful, I do get aircraft though even in bad storms when any right minded pilot would be safely on the ground.

Col i keep looking at the campaign files both in the editor and in word pad and i have to say that (other than aircraft**); i can't find any evidence that anything actually does spawn into the game as a direct result of the player entering an area...im no expert at all ;but it fairly much looks like to me that what generates spawning is simply the game entry date and time and the probability,

only the aircraft seem to be spawned or triggered by the player..

there may even be a mechanism that prevents surface ships from spawning whilst you are neraby to prevent the "ghost ship" blip into view and vanish again that could occasionaly happen ? whaddya say?

maybe some clever dude could hack an airbase so it spawned a DD instead of an aircraft 9there is a naval base available so that would make sense-- for me it only spawned aircaft tho as stock)

mind you we'd be playing SH2 again before you could say "parsnips!" if we had lots of DD's bouncing the player from airbases BUt it might prove usefull later on if it could be done-- just as the SH2 airbases could be used to spawn wolfpacks (and highly agressive ones too) perhaps similar hacks could be used here...

dunno if Aviar has tried hand writting a random group into the game as the editor allways seems to get it wrong and causes a crash...

[RndGroup 1.RndUnit 1]
Type=9
Origin=Japan
Side=2
CargoExt=-1
CargoInt=-1
CfgDate=19420501
No=1
Escort=false
SpawnProbability=100
CrewRating=2

[RndGroup 1.RndUnit 2]
Type=11
Origin=Japan
Side=2
CargoExt=-1
CargoInt=-1
CfgDate=19420501
No=1
Escort=false
SpawnProbability=100
CrewRating=2

[RndGroup 1.RndUnit 3]
Type=101
Origin=Japan
Side=2
CargoExt=-1
CargoInt=0
CfgDate=19420501
No=1
Escort=false
SpawnProbability=100
CrewRating=2

[RndGroup 1.RndUnit 4]
Type=6
Origin=Japan
Side=2
CargoExt=-1
CargoInt=-1
CfgDate=19420501
No=1
Escort=false
SpawnProbability=100
CrewRating=2

[RndGroup 1.RndUnit 5]
Type=13
Origin=Japan
Side=2
CargoExt=-1
CargoInt=-1
CfgDate=19420501
No=1
Escort=false
SpawnProbability=100
CrewRating=2

[RndGroup 1.RndUnit 6]
Type=4
Origin=Japan
Side=2
CargoExt=-1
CargoInt=-1
CfgDate=19420501
No=4
Escort=true
SpawnProbability=100
CrewRating=4

[RndGroup 1.RndUnit 7]
Type=2
Origin=Japan
Side=2
CargoExt=-1
CargoInt=-1
CfgDate=19420501
No=4
Escort=true
SpawnProbability=100
CrewRating=4

[RndGroup 1.RndUnit 8]
Type=1
Origin=Japan
Side=2
CargoExt=-1
CargoInt=-1
CfgDate=19420501
No=4
Escort=true
SpawnProbability=100
CrewRating=4

[RndGroup 1.Waypoint 1]
Speed=5.000000
Radius=0.000000
Loop=-1
LoopProbability=100
Long=15385200.000000
Lat=3658500.000000
Height=0.000000

[RndGroup 1.Waypoint 2]
Speed=5.000000
Radius=0.000000
Loop=-1
LoopProbability=100
Long=15368300.000000
Lat=3626200.000000
Height=0.000000

[RndGroup 1.Waypoint 3]
Speed=5.000000
Radius=0.000000
Loop=-1
LoopProbability=100
Long=15389100.000000
Lat=3651300.000000
Height=0.000000

[RndGroup 1.Waypoint 4]
Speed=5.000000
Radius=0.000000
Loop=0
LoopProbability=100
Long=15407600.000000
Lat=3673100.000000
Height=0.000000

watch the group unit numbers they need to tally with whats allready there in consequtive order i assume..


only other thing i can think of is the create group from unit facility available in the SCR file...
that sounds like summat interesting - tho i can't suss out what it does or get it to work..

one thing tho that did seem like the sort of thing you wanted --- near loch ewe i came across a fishing boat... all on it's own so i surfaced to attack it with the deck gun and immediately two DD's were picked up on sonar and steamed into view (they were not there before i surfaced AFAIK)
i submerged lost the DD's then did it again just to check...same thing as soon as the fishing boat saw me the DD's appeared...even calling a third from heaven knows where the second time..so i dunno ive looked on the editor and i cannot see any clues as to why this was the sase....more likely is that there is some communication between friendly vessels that takes place out side the normal eqp and sensor files ...was very reminisent of SH2 tho that little event!!

In the campaign, I never liked the idea of units spawning when
within a certain distance from your boat. I would much rather
see spawning at a port, then maybe sitting there for 3 days
loading and setting sail for another port to sit there for 3 days
unloading. If all traffic could use this method, the game would
seem much more historical to me. Of course it would take more
computer power to run a game this way. To only know that
action is taking place with 200 KM of your boat and nowhere
else in the world is not very real in my opinion. I would like to
see the world ALIVE with activity everywhere and you just
happen to stumble into it as you move around the map...


JIM

i agree FA thankfully this is more or less what they've given us in SH3...

for my tastes all ive done is increase the frequency of the convoys taskfoces and their radio contact reports and left it pretty much like that..i still get bouced by DD's but these are patroling DD's that were there anyway they've just been alerted by a merchant or aircraft sighting...(which is pretty snazzy stuff!! :up: )


thinking on here tho if an area needs a genuine patrol response to the player entering an area then placing a merchant (and an airbase) there with patroling dd's relatively close by will generate the desired effect, as the merchant will alert the airbase and the aircraft will alert the DD's...even frequently if the merchant hasn't spotted you-- get within a certain distance of him on the surface and the "domino" effect falls into place...seen this happen over and over again it's very satisfying to know that the DD's havent been generated on the fly- but were actually patroling nearby anyway and have very realistically been alerted by the aircraft..i hasten to add the neccessary AFAIK as who know what secrets the SH3 campaign engine has been keeping hidden lol! but theres the trick to this Col i think give it try see if it pans out

I have often set out searching with an empty mission so to speak, I place the sub in an area and patrol to see what turns up.
I have hit on a lone merchant and on the odd occasion got a convoy, which like Jim said is a bit more realistic, and I like that.
But sometimes I get attack after attack by aircraft and still no DD comes looking, I expect because there isn't any in the area but I thought may be it spawned one after a certain amount of time.

I just had a thought while I was typing, in SH2 if you shot down the aircraft then the spawn link was destroyed (I think). I wonder if this is the case in SH3?
I may alter an aircraft not to fire any ammo, have it as a spot plane and see if the desired effect works.

crank up this entry and the aircraft range in the airstrike cfg

Enemy Air Strike Probability Increase on Player Detection=70

works a treat for this :up:

Cheers CB, does this also increase the air strikes or does it just increase the range of the spawn, I'm in work right now so I can't test till later?

both Col-- we are both still using the un-patched game (*is that right ?)
and one of the issues i have is that during the campaign the normal airstrike cfg settings result in practically no air cover at all for the allies no matter where you go..so i cranked the range up to hope fully help that side of things....i thought that if a merchant or other spots you then it would be resonable to have the chance of an airstrike dramatically increase

so yup it increases the stock range for a triggered airstrike (via the range entry)
and almost garantues that soon after getting within firing range of a merchant whilst surfaced -an aircraft will appear....
(doesnt seem to matter wether the ship actually detects you or not- fuzzy logic perhaps)

and if there are any DD patrols nearby; soon after you will see one or two come over to have a look see if one of those detects you then often another DD will head over to help (if there's one nearby) i dont think these DD's are spawned AFAIK they are allready there and going about their normal patrol route untill alerted to your presence by the aircraft..UNLESS ---and this is a guess--- the normal entry date and interval/probability rules get over ruled in the case of detection by an aircraft and the DD's appear ahead of schedule in order to respond to the situation? (this i must admit sounds a distinct possibilitygiven the frequency in which this occurs..a little too regulary to be by chance?)
this is in my game just about the only way the aircraft get spawned at all most of the time ...if i dive as i spot the merchant then the aircraft doesnt get triggerred..and if the aircraft doesn't get triggerred then the DD's don't turn up.i cant find any radio sensors or equipment in the game so i'm assuming this is purely an AI function..

I started my campaign with patch 1.4b and RUB 1.41. I have not
upgraded RUB cause i don't want drastic changes in my existing
campaign. I am on Patrol 6, date is July 23, 1940. I just attacked
my 3rd large convoy near AM52 in deep water. I have seen no
aircraft that far out this early in the war. In fact, the only time I
see them is near enemy ports. The only aircraft I have seen to date is the Hurricane with 1 or 2 sightings of some bi-wing fighter
which I assumed was from a carrier. My last attack on the convoy
was typical of how I conduct convoy attacks. I send 4 torps at 4
different larger British Merchants and most always get 3 sunk with
1 dead in the water. This is perfection to me because I can hide
under the dead in the water merchat while the 2 escorts circle
and circle me dropping their DC's at regular spots. (not close to
me or the merchant) In about an hour, they break off and rejoin
the convoy. (wolfpacks would have a field day with this arrangement) After about 45 min, I surface and destroy the
merchant with gunfire (approx 30 shots) I then beat a hasty retreat without having to worry about aircraft. (will be different later in the war, bigger & longer range planes) Always the escort
will break from the convoy and head back for my position after I
have surfaced. I have seen this all 3 times. One time I made an
end run while he was away and got 2 more sinkings in the convoy before he returned. Leaving the convoy is a flaw in the way escorts should behave, at least till they get about 4 or 5 escorts for each convoy. This convoy had 20 merchants and 7 were American. All the C3s and T3s were American ships. The Brit ones
I sunk were C2s and T2s. Many Brit ships were smaller and I usually don't waste torps on those in a convoy, only on single ship
encounters....


JIM

Trigger by player's location. How?
 

I have a simple mission. There are 2 objectives:

1. Sink a ship.

2. Evade.

I have no problem defining the 1st objective.

I have no idea how to get the 2nd one defined. I've searched here, read Red Devil's tutorial and read the editing doc that comes with the game. Nada!

I want the 2nd objective to be met in one of two ways:

1. Succeed in moving to within a certain location on the world map.

or

2. Move a certain distance away from the closest enemy ship.

Does this have anything to do with "map zones" and, if so, how do you define them?

Help appreciated. TIA! :up:

OK, I've figure out how to define map zones. Just make sure no objects are selected by left clicking on any empty area of the map, then right click and select Add Map Zone.

So I assume triggers and objectives can be made to check for the player unit's presence within a defined zone.

Now more questions:

1. What are map notes? Do they show up when the mission is played, like map markers?

2. Are map zones only round? Can zones be rectangular or oval shaped?

3. My earlier question remains: is there a way to trigger a completed objective when the player is beyond a certain distance from one or more other units? This would, for example, indicate a successful egress operation.

They only show up in the ME.

Unfortunately yes.

No, not really. Of course you could use "Reach Zone" for that, but that´s way too much work and also doesn´t make really sense...

How unfortunate. So I assume there is no way to place markers on the map for the player to view.

In which case, is there an easy way to determine what the grid boundaries and IDs are in the mission editor's map?

Suppose I want to set up a map zone surrounding a particular grid, say AE76. Can this be easily achieved by some sort of visual identification of the grids in the mission editor?

I asked the question. I'll answer it: no. However, there are 2 workarounds to accomplish this.

The first one is to drag the players sub in the mission editor to the location you want to identify by grid number. Save the mission, start the mission in SH3, go straight to the navigation map and you've got the gird number. Remember to zero out the player sub's random radius start location before doing this.

Another method is to download and install the MQK Converter utility. Unfortunately, its data file does not contain info for the lattitude/longitude location in my mission. Oh well!

Why is this event not being triggered?
 

I have 3 objectives in my mission:

Sink target1
Sink target2
Reach mapzone1

I have the following 3 triggers defined:

Failed to sink target1
Failed to sink target2
Reached mapzone1

I have an event to issue a message should all 3 of the above triggers be true. Yet when I run the mission in SH3 and I go to mapzone1 without sinking anything to test this out, the event is not triggered, resulting in no message being displayed.

How come? :-? :cry: