AA Guns on Sub Pen Roofs

[U-snafu]

First off--If this had been already done or discussed before can some one point me in that direction--if not... Edit: I figured out a way to do it!! see screenies and post below.

I have been messing with adding ports, cities, lighthouses, etc. with the mission editor. I've been trying to place AA emplacements on the roofs of the german sub pens. I tried placing them on the pens and setting thier height vales at different levels (trying to guess at the height of the pens in game) but that hasn't worked. When placing the AA unit in a new LND file, I can change the height value and then save the placement and it will hold that value (ex: AA gun set at 10.5 m height). But, whenever I save the file or merge it into the Campaign_LND file it reverts back to it's default height (in this case -17 m which is the height of the seafloor under the pen) and the Campaign LND file will not save any height changes entered) .

CB..'s stationary seaplane mod has given me an idea :hmm: (his seaplane is placed in the sea folder of sh3 and scripted in the editor with the ships roster).

Would placing the "LAA_AAPlatform" file from the data land folder into the data AIR folder (and it's corosponding roster land GFG file into the roster air folder) allow the placement of AA units in the editor to be done through the aircraft roster???

Aircraft can be set at varying heights and as long as you set the speed of the AA unit to 0 it should be easy to set the correct height of the emplacement to mesh with the sub pen roof (through many load up tests to obtain correct height value).

Im going to try this when I get the extra time but could anyone who has already found a workaround for this clue me in??--- Or if any of the gurus that are more about the sh3 files who know this method won't work or it can only be done through more advanced methods such as hex editing,etc (way above my level at this time ) ---please let me know so I won't waste too much time.

In the end it's just eye-candy I guess, but it would give the sub-pens a more historic look and possibly help out with the devasting late-war air raids on the ports. Any help or response would be appreciated!!

[U-snafu]

I figured out a way for it to work :Edit: these are the new heights




Farther out:

[danlisa]

I love it. Leaving Lorient in late 1944 is really hard with the formation bombing. I nearly always get hit.

Please, Please, Please
I Want, I Want, I Want

Oh, but take your time

[U-snafu]

What I did:

I copied and pasted the "LAA_AAPlatform" file from the sh3 data land folder into the data AIR folder and it's corosponding german roster land GFG file into the german roster air folder. I then added the line "CDAAPlatform=AA Defense" into the english names file of the data air folder. I then had to change the AA CFG file within the data air and german air roster to UnitType=305. Type 305 is for "helicopter" in the default air file.

[Unit]
ClassName=CDAAPlatform
UnitType=305
MaxSpeed=0.000000
MinSpeed=0.000000
Length=11.5
Width=13.8
RenownAwarded=10

I opened a new file in the mission editor and the AA gun was then available in the aircraft listing for placement (enabling setting an assigned height). I placed four guns on the pens at different heights--30m, 20m, 15m, and 10m and saved it as a SCR file then merged it with the Campaign_SCR file within the editor and saved.

loaded up the game and only the gun set at 30m showed. The base of the gun at 10m was sticking out a little from one of the sub pen walls so the other gun heights formed inside the pen walls. I am going to play more with the height value to try to reduce the elongated base of the gun at 30m as shown in the above photo. I don't know if the guns will fire because i have not had any air attacks yet with them--but I can't see any reason why they would not. (side note-the original AA guns are still left in the land folder for normal placement)

If enough are interested I could do a small SCR script file with the gun placements on the sub pens for the different german bases. It would be just a small scr file to paste in your CampaignSCR and the changed AA folder to paste where I showed them to go. But the scr file would have to match the game mod scr file your running--i.e. im using the Uwac-1.7 Campaign file over GW and I do know that the lorient base has been moved in that file from the GW file. It will take me a little while to have it available.

Like i said before-it's just added harbor eye-candy but it is possible to do for those who want it .

[SimNut]

Great work U-snafu, and thanks for sharing the how to's.

Since you know how to edit the .scr files, you can just pop an air attack in there, or someone who knows (I don't) how can step up and help you to test it.

I'd like to see this added. It is realistic to have AAA in the harbors, and sure would help in the later years when you get nailed coming out of the pen.

My problem has always been FPS when leaving base, it's so low it's hard to fight back when leaving port. In 44 when I leave port, I either man the flak guns before pulling out, or go to snorkel depth (which doesn't help much). This is a welcome addition.

[Safe-Keeper]

Nice one, U-Snafu.

Since you know how to edit the .scr files, you can just pop an air attack in there, or someone who knows (I don't) how can step up and help you to test it.

It's quite simple, really. Let me post a tutorial, even if you don't care to find out (someone might find it useful).

Let's say you want a flight of Swordfish torpedo bombers to hit Wilhelmshaven from February '41 to March '41.

1. Open the Mission Editor (go to the start menu, then choose All Programs, then find the "Ubisoft" folder. Open "Silent Hunter III" and you should find a shortcut to the editor. Otherwise, it's in your SH3 root directory). Curse the Protection System.
   
2. From the File menu, choose "Open Scripted Layer". In your [SH3 Dir]\Data\Campaigns\Campaign folder, there'll be a file called "Campaign_SCR". That's your boy (you might want to make a backup before opening it).
   
3. Opening the file, you'll see a Heck-load of green symbols all over the map. You're looking at the scripted part of the dynamic campaign system. Quite a few vessels, eh? Anyway, position your mouse cursor over North Germany, if you can find it in the forest of green stuff, and use the mouse wheel to zoom in until you're close to Wilhelmshaven.
4. To the right of the map there'll be a panel called the "Tools Pannel" (their typo, not mine). The one with are six tabs, from "Sea" to "Explorer". Open the "Air" tab.
5. Expand the "Roster" list, then the "British" list. You'll see a list of UK aircraft, such as the B24 Level Bomber and the Swordfish Torpedo Bomber.
6. Click-and-drag a Swordfish Torpedo Bomber onto the map (yes, just click on the line saying "Swordfish Torpedo Bomber"). If you're doing it right, your mouse cursor should change into an aircraft silhouette once it's over the map. Release the mouse button near the port of Wilhelmshaven, and a rather large window will pop up. This window allows you to customize the plane you just dropped on the map. Let's keep it simple and only change its bombs and arrival/departure time.
   
7. Change "Loadout" from "Basic" to your desired bomb loadout (there'll probably only be one, the pair of 100kg bombs).
8. Change "Entry" from 1/1 1938 to 2/1 1940.
   
9. Change "Exit" from 12/31 1945 to 2/28 1940.
10. Let's ignore the other attributes for now. Hit "Accept".
11. Now there'll be another green aircraft icon (long-tailed triangle) on the map. It'll be called something like "TR TB Swordfish1". It's now part of the dynamic campaign and will as such arrive there in every mission or career patrol you open once you save the mission. If you want to move the thing, just click-and-drag it. If you want to delete it, left-click on it and hit the "Delete" button on your keyboard.
    
12. If you want to customize the bomber's path, select it, then right-click. A menu will pop up. Choose "Add Waypoint". Left-click the map to add waypoints, right-click when you're done.
13. The Swordfish will go through all those waypoints, attacking targets of opportunity, and then disappear (as we left the "Delete on Last Waypoint" option on in the window that showed up when we created it). You can open the window again by left-clicking the fighter, right-clicking, and hitting "Properties".
14. If you want multiple fighters, just select the fighter, hit Ctrl+C, and then hit Ctrl+P to paste more fighters with the same specifications to the map. You'll need to give each different waypoints unless you want them all follow the same path (which they of course can if you want them to - it causes no problems in-game).
15. Hit Ctrl+S to save the scr file. The next time you're at Wilhelmshaven in February 1940, there'll be Swordfish torpedo bombers.

There are probably 1000s of tutorials out there already on this, but what the Heck.

I have been messing with adding ports, cities, lighthouses, etc. with the mission editor.

Did you actually find a way to add light-houses, buildings, etc. with the editor, or am I misunderstanding you here?

CB..'s stationary seaplane mod has given me an idea :hmm: (his seaplane is placed in the sea folder of sh3 and scripted in the editor with the ships roster).

Wow, I just have to try that! Thanks for the heads-up!