Random and Date "Commander Question"

[HundertzehnGustav]

Now i have red the FAQ, and understand all the to me important features of SH Commander in its Release 3. I love the patrol log editor,too!

But Can someone wiser than me, with good teaching skills teach me how to insert a Random file?

For example randomize something easy, like the Fanfara01 music that is played at the start of the patrol, how to do that? I have had a look at the files and folders, but, like a ship in the fog, i can see it, but yet cannot recognise it.

What would the new Fanfara file be named like? where to put it, and how to nae the folder it sits in?

I have just last night understood the POTENTIAL these Date related changes or Random Changes have, and would like to... play with it, and see if it gives me new ideas. One could make the Planes act differently early and late in the war. One could change the Damage that Torps do (torpedo SIM file), on a Random Basis. One could...

Yea i get it! WOOOOO!!? PO-TEN-TIAL

But how do i handle the files and folders? i aint got a clue.:hmm:

[Sailor Steve]

Well, I'm not wiser than you, nor am I smarter when it comes to this stuff, but since JScones pounded it into my head several times I've finally got it working, so in this case I can actually help.

In the Program Files/SH3 Commander folder is the Random folder. In each one of the 0-4 folders make a new folder called Date. Inside each new Date folder make a new folder called 19390901. Inside each 19390901 folder make a Data folder, and inside each of those make a Sound folder. Inside each of those put (1) and 1 only of your fanfare files. Each one should say the same: Fanfara_01.

That's it. I wasn't sure it worked at first, because I heard 'Muss I Denn' over several times, but one day I started a patrol and there was something else!

Something else I've put in those folders is a Menu/Gui/Layout folder set, and in each one of those I've placed a different Leer file. Some have a clear map table and some have different sets of clutter--extra maps, tools scattered around etc.

[HundertzehnGustav]

Thank you, THAT should be written in the readme....
very clear explanation indeed!

random ship textures. different plane textures. late war random stronger ship hulls.
there is a lot of potential for thiose that wish to let loose on the "control mania" a little bit.

late war more chances of enemy airstrikkes
or less chance of friendly air strikes

just a few random ideas as they pop into ly head like popcorn

WOOW.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by HundertzehnGustav

THAT should be written in the readme....

"Adding Things To The Random Files For Dummies".:rotfl:

"Only another dummy could have written this"

[JScones]

Originally Posted by HundertzehnGustav

I have just last night understood the POTENTIAL these Date related changes or Random Changes have, and would like to... play with it, and see if it gives me new ideas. One could make the Planes act differently early and late in the war. One could change the Damage that Torps do (torpedo SIM file), on a Random Basis. One could...

Absolutely. SH3Cmdr is largely under utilised simply because, I guess, it's potential hasn't been explained well enough by me or understood well enough by users.

I mean, you should see what I've added to my SH3Cmdr installation!

If you are interested in randomising "stuff" then look in the "Randomised events.cfg" file, which is much more powerful than the random folders. It's concept is prolly a bit harder to grasp, but the file itself has some instructions and there's plenty of posts on this forum that explain how to use it. Randomisation can be date based too, meaning different sets of data for different periods of the war. What you get out of the feature is really only limited by your imagination, as SH3Cmdr can essentially randomise any value in any file for any date.

In fact, I'd recommend applying only graphic and sound files to the Date or Random folders and applying everything else to the Randomised events.cfg file.

On a related note, I even use SH3Cmdr to replace JSGME in many circumstances. For example, the VIIC/41 optional mod that comes with GWX2...I've moved it to the SH3Cmdr\U-boat\VIIC41 folder, which means I never have to remember to enable or disable it manually. Likewise, assuming that GWX2.1 includes the Med plane skin optional mod, I'll move that to my SH3Cmdr\Flotilla\907 folder, thus ensuring that the skins automatically appear when I'm in the Med, without me needing to think about it.

Anyway, I could write a 50 page manual and still not completely cover the uses and potential of SH3Cmdr, hence why I haven't bothered (plus I don't want to have the opposite effect and limit imagination). The existing user guide does at least refer you to the files that you can tweak if you want to. At the end of the day though, I leave it up to you guys, the users, to explore. If you're happy with it as it is "out of the box", cool. If you choose to explore it more and tailor it to suit you, bonus to you.

[bigboywooly]

Interesting on the med skins and VIIC\41
Have stolen those ideas
LMAO
Any others oh guru ?

[HundertzehnGustav]

...when i came home and looked it up again, it just , like HIT me!
the file structure... looks almost like there is some kind of JSGME thing going on here... right? In a Random or Date related twist...:hmm: :hmm:
I mean like the normal JSGME by WHOOOOOOOooom?

DORGH , the creator is the SAME fella, chrissakes!

look, can`t we get rid of JSGME and go all the way through SH Commander?
JSGME is, i realize, like SO redundant! Like Windows Paint compared to Photoshop!

OR?

Look at a big example: Living Silent Hunter III, recently released... the whole mod gets installed via JSGME. Or take a look at all the optional GWX mods!

Now i could just feed that into my SHIII install via the Date folder "19390901" and bam that is it.
That way you would have more SHCommander worshippers too. good for your ego, eh?

Hold on, the rolling back after playing would be awfully long, wouldnt it?

amazing.

[HundertzehnGustav]

Originally Posted by JScones

Anyway, I could write a 50 page manual and still not completely cover the uses and potential of SH3Cmdr, hence why I haven't bothered (plus I don't want to have the opposite effect and limit imagination). The existing user guide does at least refer you to the files that you can tweak if you want to. At the end of the day though, I leave it up to you guys, the users, to explore. If you're happy with it as it is "out of the box", cool. If you choose to explore it more and tailor it to suit you, bonus to you.

Well, allow me to think differently - how do i say that now...
if I, the user, use the Commander as is, you have wasted a lot of time, effort and intelligence writing it.
if I, the user, am being taught what is possible, best done through a written explanation (the system) PLUS, and that is almost even more important, if you give me two or tree examples (plane skins for different flotillas) then i can recreate what you did.

If i can recreate what you did, i can, with a lil` bit of experience, (no Bluescreen of death, no CTD) expand on that-cause the end user, once he understood the potential, WILL push it. That is the Virus we carry and are here for. PUSH IT. PUSH THE DAMN SIM! Melt that Dualcore! Make that Graphics Card bleed!

You are the smart guy that writes this tool for us, and many are the smart guys out there that can use it and even surprise you with their ideas. That way you get something back for your work, and i think that would be worth a thousand "thank you " posts.

To sum it up:
In your future readme files, please give us a few examples - many of us have not learned to turn a theoretical concept into a, a... working thing... into practic... (for the lack of better words)

Bottom line:
Thank you for widening my Horizon...

[melnibonian]

I'm even more hardcore than JScones as I've made a JSGME installation inside my SH3Cmdr installation. I use this to edit small files in the game like the tonnage, renown, realism options, promotions etc as well as the skins, intro pictures etc. I feel that the combination of JSGME and SH3Cmdr is probably the most powerful tool we have now in SH3

[JScones]

Originally Posted by HundertzehnGustav

the file structure... looks almost like there is some kind of JSGME thing going on here... right? In a Random or Date related twist...:hmm: :hmm:
I mean like the normal JSGME by WHOOOOOOOooom?

DORGH , the creator is the SAME fella, chrissakes!

Well, the underlying engines are the same.

Originally Posted by HundertzehnGustav

Look at a big example: Living Silent Hunter III, recently released... the whole mod gets installed via JSGME. Or take a look at all the optional GWX mods!

Now i could just feed that into my SHIII install via the Date folder "19390901" and bam that is it.

But then you'd have to wait for the full mod to get installed into SH3 every time you launch it from SH3Cmdr.

SH3Cmdr is far a better choice than JSGME for mods that are dependant on circumstances, like the examples I quoted above. For everything else, JSGME is the way to go.

Originally Posted by HundertzehnGustav

That way you would have more SHCommander worshippers too. good for your ego, eh?

But I'd have less JSGME worshsippers, LOL!

Originally Posted by HundertzehnGustav

Hold on, the rolling back after playing would be awfully long, wouldnt it?

Nup, not at all.

Originally Posted by melnibonian

I'm even more hardcore than JScones as I've made a JSGME installation inside my SH3Cmdr installation. I use this to edit small files in the game like the tonnage, renown, realism options, promotions etc as well as the skins, intro pictures etc. I feel that the combination of JSGME and SH3Cmdr is probably the most powerful tool we have now in SH3

Yeah, and I remember first reading your post those months ago thinking "D'oh, why didn't *I* think of that?". It's a great idea; I do it now too.

[HundertzehnGustav]

Originally Posted by JScones

But I'd have less JSGME worshsippers, LOL!