Placing mine fields
 

A question, which leads to a sticky we need.

First, the title question: could someone give a shot FAQ on placing a minefield? I hve put some in there, but have yet to save any. Are the circles on the waypoint path each a single mine inside the circle at some random place in the circle?

Also, what type of campaign layer should a minefield/subnet be? I assume it is "scripted."

The sticky we need is a campaign layer FAQ that tells us what stuff gets saved as what kind of layer (random, scripted, etc).

The campaign layer for mines should be either Jap_minefield or US_minefield. Ignore layer type - the campaign does not work with random, Scripted or LND layers anymore, thats just a hangover from SH3. All campaign layers are .Mis files. Always save, open or create using the icons on the 'Time filter start' bar rather than from the options above it. I do not know for sure whether the game even saves files as SCR, RND or LND anymore anyway. The only time I ever use one of the options under 'File'is when I am wanting to use merged data.

Further to this, a layer will only be used if it has been referenced in the campaign cfg file. This is only for the actual layers, Objectives and so on are slightly different.

If I had known people were confused about this I would have written something up. There seem to be all sorts of popular misconceptions about the editor at the moment that need clearing up.

But back to the orginal question: I'm not sure about mines, is it not simply a case of setting the density, area and depth?

I saved campaign_loc from under "file" as the wrong type, and it got erased. I didn't even now there was any other place to save or open files, frankly.

Ah, yeah. That happened to me the first time I tried to save something in the new formats. I'd forgotten about that. :nope:

It's a good point and worth the price of a sticky on its own: Always save from the disk icon in case you lose all your new work.

So I made a single mission, and I placed an arc of mines. I set them to 100/km^2, depths -3 to -7m. Don't see them in game.

What am I doing wrong?

The first time I worked with laying mines in the editor it didn't go so well
either. Than after fiddling with it for awhile, I finally got it to display the
mines I had placed. Its different from SH3 in that you need to first set the
mine icon away from the actual minefield. In its properties, you set the height and density of the mines. When you set the waypoints, the circle you see at each waypoint is where the mines will be. The circle is smaller or bigger depending on the diameter you set in the waypoint properties. I hope that explains it good
enough. Now I set minefields that look and work very good. I nailed ole
"Bungo Pete" in one I set up in the Bungo Straits....

JIM

OK. So you set up a minefield with depths -1m to -8m.

Density I set to 200.

Place waypoints, and they are connected by a string of little circles.

Dates are right, etc.

I placed them from the end of a sub net.

Sub net shows, nary a mine. WTF.

Do I need to also set a waypoint radius, or odes it place them in a line along the waypoint path?

tater

I notice when the mission starts there is a wierd sound every time.

Is there a maximum density of mines? I dialed down to 10 per km^2, which is absurdly low, still nothing.

When you set the waypoint, you will see a shaded circle with a # at that spot.
Do a "properties" at the waypoint and you will set the size of the circle down where it says "radius (KM)". Inside that circle is where the mines will be. Then just keep
setting waypoints and do it again. The density, min. & max. level of the mines and their actual depth are set at the minefield icon before you set the range circles at the waypoints. It's a bit different from SH3 so it takes longer to figure out the new
way minefields are layed....

JIM

I never owned SH3, so I have nothing to unlearn.

I seet the minefield, added some radii, etc. Never see a mine.

I made a mission specially for testing the way mines work in SH4.
If you can PM me with your e-mail addy, I will send it to you...

JIM

EDIT: Mail sent...

Interesting.

Have you ever seen any of the stock mine in game? I notice your mission has a -1m depth where the heading stuff is (like planes and subs have alt). None of the stock fields have this. None.

I also notice that with your mines my machine slowed down for the first time ever, lol.

It's interesting that the mines go inside the target and explode within. Wonder if that could be modded. They shouldn't be so universally fatal to ships.

Try setting all the heights (min,max & actual) to 0 (zero).
If that doesn't do it then it can't be done. You cannot put
a positive number in those because it will always reset to zero....

JIM

Tater, all the stock mission that have mines have the density set very
low. All like 2 or 5, I set mine to 50 so there will be many more mines
for your PC to track. This could and will slow down some PCs that have
minimum requirements...

JIM

PS. I tested that mission before the mod that changed all the ship hit points to
more realistic numbers. That could change the results of ships hitting mines
to more normal damage !!