Originally Posted by peabody

Ok, I get the decoy part, I just was suprised to see them since they don't work, I think the guns work, but I know the torps don't. I did not change the campaign.loc file, so the docks were not there. I was not sure how you set it up and I didn't want to overwrite my 'original' campaign.loc. But now that I loaded your mission in the editor, I see what you are doing and I understand it is because there were no docks so that is why you used the campaign.loc file. Is that right?

If I may make a couple suggestions? Don't want to insult you but there is a better was to do this.
In campaign.loc when you add a 'map location' it seems to make it the proper size, but in your attack mission they are little tiny things, hard to positon and put ships into, you have to size them yourself, so here's the best way IMHO. This way you don't have to include the campaign.loc file with you mission.
(edit: I am sure you already know this but check to make sure the 'tools/map location edit mode' is checked if you do this)

1 Open a mission editor
2. Go to file/Open (normal mission) and select Campaign.loc
3. Add your docks (very small Pacific harbor) to Campaign.loc but don't save it. (You already have, but for future reference you don't need to save the changes to the original campaign.loc) You don't need to position the docks, we are just going to take some information from the 'map location' screen.
4. Open a second mission editor
5. Open your 'Truk mission' in the second editor.
6. Add map location (verysmallpacificharbor-same as you did in campaign.loc but they won't be the same size!!) You can add both or do one at a time.
7. Now Go to the first editor with 'campaign.loc' (make sure the drag hand is not selected) and click on the square that shows on the dock to select it, then right click and choose "Edit Map Location". It will show a lot of numbers and selections. Zoom start, zoom end, scale on zoom, terrain height, obj slope, and scale. You can write these down or not.
8. Go to the editor that has your 'Truk mission' and open the "edit map location" for the same dock and take the numbers and any boxes that are checked from the 'campaign.loc' dock and put them into your 'Truk' docks. Now the dock will be identical to the ones in the 'campaign.loc' Same size etc. You don't need to use the same name as the 'campaign.loc' but use the same numbers.
9. In your "Truk mission" make sure "Is savable" is checked in the map location editor and 'accept' the changes. Place them where they need to go. Do the same thing for the second dock and then save your Truk mission.
10. The docks will save with the mission and you will not need campaign.loc anymore because the docks will be saved in your mission file.
11. Basically what you are doing is taking the correct info from the 'campaign.loc' file and putting it into your mission file, so you don't have to keep changing numbers until the dock is the right size. The info is already there you just need to put it into the dock that you add to your mission and then the docks are saved with the mission and you don't need 'campaign.loc for them to show.

If I didn't explain this very well, just let me know. I could even do some screen shots if you don't understand me. Sometimes I don't explain very well.

Ok, so that eliminates the need to include the 'campaign.loc' file with your mission. Now let's get rid of the Jap_Harbor traffic. All that file does is add a 'Random Generated Group' to the mission(which is your cruiser), you can do that by right clicking on the map and select "Add random Generated Group". The problem with this is that it will not generate a group or ship or plane or anything if you are within 20nm and you are a lot closer than that. The only reason that ship appears is the start date in properties for the group (which is a one ship group) is BEFORE the date your sub appears, so the ship is basically there before the mission starts, otherwise it would never appear. You don't really need a random generated group. First of all it is not a 'group' it is only one ship. It is meant to generate groups at certain times, so you can have convoys or Task Forces appearing during the game without having to put them in. It automatically adds them every so often, depending on what times you put in.

Edit: I just read your original post over and noticed you said it put a ship at the dock and one in the bay. It is set to spawn one every 24 hours, and it is set as a docked ship. It shouldn't move from the dock, so it doesn't make sense to even write a routine to spawn a docked ship in the same place every 24 hours. They should spawn on top of each other. ?????? Got me confused. I don't understand I have a mission I just use for testing stuff and I just put a sub and merged the campaign.loc and the Jap Harbor traffic and I didn't get any ships????? I did get the random generated group icon but no ships. And I even set the dates the same. Of course, I didn't put in all your other ships. Got me confused (Guess I said that already). Maybe they won't spawn without the dock?? I'll try that. This program certainly gets the brain cells a workout.
Another edit: That's it, if you don't have a dock you don't get a ship, but I still didn't get one in the bay????? I put in a dock didn't even resize it and the ship showed up.

But you only need one ship, so it is better to add it yourself. Now that your docks show in your editor, you can just add the cruiser, heading 180, speed 0, select "docked ship" and put it up near your dock and it will be facing out instead of in, add a waypoint and done.
Here's another tip, If you add the cruiser with those settings but DON'T select 'docked ship', when you go to attack it, it will try to get away, it won't just sit there and let you torpedo it. Not saying you need to do that but it is kind of cool when you think you have an easy target and it sails away. Of course it may sail away when the PT boats get near it too which would kind of ruin the surprise, so it's up to you how you put it in. You could test it a few times and see what happens. But if you want it to stay put, check 'docked ship'.

Only thing I had a problem with, when the mission starts I am on the surface and take some damage from shore batteries and a destroyer before I get submerged. If it is enough damage it could end the mission right there. So it might be better to set the sub height to minus 15. (-15) that will make it submerged at periscope depth (depending on which sub is selected at the start). Of course that may not be what you want, so you can leave it on the surface if you want to. But, the second time I played it, I had a LOT of damage including flooding.

I think the fun part of this mission is trying to hit ships with all the ships that have been sunk in the way.

Also, I always add a 'readme' file (just use wordpad) to explain about changing the SM## to something else if they already have an SM12. Some people are new to the game and don't know how or where to add a mission so I just tell them where it goes and how to change the SM number on the folder, .mis file and .tsr file. I typed up one and saved it and just change the mission name each time I use it. And make sure to tell them not to change the SM number on the .tga files or they won't work. If fact you don't even need an SM number on the pics they just have to be the same as the filename you use in the briefing screen. (In fact right now your mission is SM83 and the .tga is SM12. I don't have 83 missions, I just picked a number.)

If you already know this stuff just tell me to bug off. I hope you don't take this wrong, just trying to help, not meant as an insult. It was a fun mission and I liked it. You did a good job.

Peabody