Hi
Work is underway atm in the Flower class corvette. Skins aren't supported atm, but, most models already have several textures/skins ready for implementation. I mentioned this, because, for instance, the Liberty ship models and the North Sands class merchants (aka the Fort Ships), there were actual geometrical differences between the variants, so, you had different ship configurations during the war (AA guns, closed cabins, etc...), so, what's going on is this. We build 3, 4 versions of the model, the ones that represent the most important variations, and then, for each variation, we make a couple of skins. The exception to this, is warships, for instance, the Flower class corvette. I noticed already that there are 3, 4 main ship configurations, with _tons_ of differences (they're still flower class corvettes tough).
On top of this, you had color schemes that were dependent on theater of operations, and period of war. So, to solve this, there will be dynamic skins in-game. A Royal Navy Flower class corvette, in 1943, in the mediterranean, will be a slightly different model, and a totally different color scheme, than a Canadian Navy Flower class corvette, in the north atlantic, in 1942.
This applies to all warships, there are skins in place already for the Tribal destroyer already, and in the uboat models, there are already 12 skins in place, for different theater of operations + periods of war. Add to this, model variations, not only uboat type variations, for instance, Type VIIC, VIID, etc..., and the different conning tower configurations, and there's lots of variety. One of the goals is, in the campaign mode, for you to have a uboat insignia as well.
As for the North Sands class, there are 4 variations. 2 variations, the 1941 and 1943 models, are relatively similar, altough they still have tons of differences in geometry, and obviously color schemes, but, the most relevant changes are in the other 2 variations. One was radically changed, to resemble a pre-war freighter, the Nolisciv (i think i got the name right), and the other, was a North Sands class, under the Royal Navy flag/colors (not Merchant Marine then, there were several flags as i'm sure everyone here knows), and this modification is a CAM-ship, complete with a Hawker SeaHurricane.
I noticed the RN, was in a hurry to solve the Fw200 Condor problem, and just took some merchant vessels and adapted them for this CAM-ship solution. I've seen already 3 different freighter types used as CAM ships, one of them, was very very similar to the North Sands freighter. So, altough i'm not 100% sure they adapted a couple of North Sands freighters for this purpose, from the photos i've seen, it looks just like a North Sands (there are other types as well, which i couldn't identify, some sort of coastal medium freighters, but a couple of CAM ships definitively look like North Sands freighters).
Anyway, about progresses in-game, the main developer just returned from Laboe and Bremerhaven, with hundreds of MBs of the U-995 TypeVII and U-2540 TypeXXI, so, lots of work going on, as usual. New control screen for TypeVII uboat in-place, new engine funcionality, etc...
This is still work in-progress, and in fact, this wasn't comitted to CVS yet because there are a couple of issues to solve.
Sonar code, GHG, KDB, BG in place, the sonarman is being worked on, an AI controlled sonar assistent, for players that don't want to learn the intrincancies of those devices (in fact, the GHG, KDB, and BG simulation was so accurate, that we ran into the problems that the Kriegsmarine had with those devices in WW2, particularly, flickering in the detection, caused by the phase misalignement of each hydrophone's sin function (which was caused by a not 100% acurate delay introduced in the strip line condensator array), and sidelobes, problems that seem to be present up to this day in passive sonar/hydrophone arrays equipment)).
Basically that's it, tons of heavy work as usual, but a new release should be out in a couple of monthes.
I take this chance to post here some screenshots, not everyone is familiar, or willing, to do a cvs checkout, and compile (and solve potential problems) code, so, here are some screenshots of the latest models.
The Flower class corvette isn't in-game atm, i still need to UV map it ( :sigh: )
One note about the Liberty ships, and North Sands freighters. These screenshots are from the different variants. This means that there will be more skins for each variant.
As for the CAM ship, same thing, there will be a couple more CAM ships, based on different vessel types.
This post is long already, so to finish it, any suggestions regarding more freighter types? I really didn't wanted to model C2/C3 freighters, these would be the type of models i would leave to the end.
What freighters/merchant vessels/tankers/whatever, are also representative of ww2 era, besides the Liberty Ship and the Forth Ships for instance?
Anyone recomends any particular freighter type from the 1930-1945 era ?
Any reference material for this would be more than welcome.
Thanks in advance.
P.S.: i hope it's ok the post of the screenshots thumbnails, i wasn't sure if i should just paste the url of the image, or the url imageshack referenced with the thumbnails...
P.P.S.: note the sea life incrustations in the hull, at and below the waterline. You can always use the clams as an aiming point for the torpedos eheheheh
