[TEC] Observation about zones.cfg

[U-Bones]

I was mapping zones.cfg compartments by tagging items with unique Crit Floation values and made an interesting discovery....

It seems that a given sub will get ALL of its compartments criticalfloation values from a single piece of equipment in zones.cfg.

I have to leave for the weekend, and only had time to load and save 4 subs, but if someone else get curious... I am loading a sub, and immediately saving it, then looking at the ActiveUserPlayerUnits.upc file in the new save directory.


-- snip from zones.cfg --
;************************************************* ******
;UBoat Items
;************************************************* ******

[TowerWatch]
Multiplier=1.000000
Flotability=0.000000
HitPoints=200
Destructible=No
Armor Level=15
Critic Flotation=0.231001
Critical=No
FloodingTime=59.999996
CargoType=None

[PeriscopeAttack]
; this maps to the criticalfloatation=0.231002 of all S-class compartments
; this maps to the criticalfloatation=0.231002 of all Porpoise compartments
; this maps to the criticalfloatation=0.231002 of all Salmon compartments
Multiplier=1.000000
Flotability=0.000000
HitPoints=40
Destructible=No
Armor Level=13
Critic Flotation=0.231002
Critical=No
Father=31
FloodingTime=59.999996
CargoType=None

[PeriscopeObservation]
; this maps to the criticalfloatation=0.231003 of all Gato compartments
Multiplier=1.000000
Flotability=0.000000
HitPoints=40
Destructible=No
Armor Level=13
Critic Flotation=0.231003
Critical=No
FloodingTime=59.999996
CargoType=None
Father=31

[Redwine]

I cant understand well, may be my bad english, but please maintain informed us...

It sounds very interesting...

[Ducimus]

HOLY FLURKING SCNITT!

This might explain ALOT of things.

So if im reading you right, and if i remember what the critfloation does (which im not sure i do) since all compartments are mapped to a singular zone then if you Damage one zone, you damage all zones, or they all just share the one universal crit floation? Adjust the one, you adjust for the entire sub?


on question:

I was mapping zones.cfg compartments by tagging items with unique Crit Floation values

Can you explain how you came accross this discovery? I'd like to mess with it myself and see if i can't come up with an adhoc solution if this is indeed the problem.

I'm not sure if I am understanding your post U-Bones. I do know that critical flotation is how much percent damage the compartment or equipment takes before flooding starts. From my understanding, each compartment has it's own critical flotation settings. Each piece of equipment's critical fotation is linked to the compartment it's located in. So are you saying that you discovered that all compartments critical flotations are dependent on a couple of pieces of sub equipment? And if this equipment is destroyed, then the compartments are destroyed in a chain reaction.. meaning the whole sub?

[akdavis]

Perhaps this would explain why may S-Class started an uncontrolled tailslide after only taking damage to the deck gun and decoy launcher? (however, no flooding or subsequent damage was ever indicated or displayed either).

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by nvdrifter

So are you saying that you discovered that all compartments critical flotations are dependent on a couple of pieces of sub equipment? And if this equipment is destroyed, then the compartments are destroyed in a chain reaction.. meaning the whole sub?

That's what i think he means. And here's why i think this:

As an experiment (and its a damn good one too), mod your MK 14 torpedo's to have a 100% chance to run circular. Load up the torpedo practice sub school mission. Allow yourself to be hit. Then salvage your boat.. surface, whateer, and back it up to shallow waters. Then, make sure everythign is 100% repaired, and when you barely have enough water to cover the top of the conning tower allow yourself to submerge.

You'll notice two things:

1.) the damage compartment will have negative boyancy. And whichever area was damaged will be the first one to hit the bottom.

2.) All other compartments in the sub, even thoguh they are undamaged and at 100% tip top shape, will suddenly break and flood. Its like one big domino effect. Boat folds in like a crushed egg, even with only a couple feet of water on top of you.

[U-Bones]

I am using blackberry, pardon terse replies until Monday.

I wanted to figure out what compartment mapped to the deck watch so I tagged each piece of equip (not just compartments) with a diff value. I then saved a sub and looked in the save file. I was shocked that each compartment used the exact same value - and one not even from a compartment. I repeated with 3 more subs and ran out of time.

All I am saying is that all compartments use a single value from zones.cfg for crit float. I was not drawing any conclusions so much as throwing out a million new questions... We are not in Kansas anymore Toto.

I now wonder how everything else is mapped.

As for odd damage, I do not think it is related - the saves I have looked at indicate undisplayed hull damage - it just unfortunately has weird ways of appearing to be heavy without flooding - no other compartments have to be showing unrepaired damage when this happens (of course sometimes it does). Damage Control has several bugs I think, but before we get a good handle on it mapping out the variables is neccessary.

Crit floatation is simply the damage percentage at which compartment flooding started in SH3 - I would hesitate to assume it does the same thing in SH4 until I look at a bunch of saves.

I will not be able to test more until Monday night, but I am pretty sure there is more to come now we know zones.cfg is being used in such an unconventional manner.

[shad43]

Hmmm, me thinks me smell a good fix on the horizon