[REL] FOTRS Ultimate Project

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by cdrsubron7

Since RR first brought us all together to start the FOTRS Ultimate Project I've been looking for a way that I could make a contribution. I really don't know much about modding or anything else that has to do with the game files. One thing thing that I do know is the ME. I made over 225 single missions for SH1 in the day. I've made quite a few single missions for SH4 over the years. One of the biggest problems over the years has been that all the mods over the years made for SH4 were always different in one way or another. RFB, TMO, RSRDC, and even FOTRS all were built different because they were made by different people. Now RR has solved some of this dilemma buy customizing FOTRS so it will work with a broader fanbase. Great idea, boss.

Ok, so what I plan to do is make a number of custom missions especially for FOTRS Ultimate. But not just any missions, these missions will focus on the Kido Butai. Kido Butai, what the heck is that you say? Kido Butai, the Mobile Striking Force of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The force that made the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. At the beginning of WW II Kido Butai was the most powerful naval task force in the world. Now with the FOTRS Ultimate coming together all the ships of Kido Butai will be available for the first time. I've been waiting along time for this and now it can happen.

Allow me to introduce the main participants of Kido Butai.


I hope you guys will like my idea. This way I'll feel like I'm making some kind of proper contribution.

Best idea I've ever heard! All those ships brought back memories of playing the Avalon Hill Midway game, where those ships were etched into my memory from all the hours of playing with cardboard rectangles on a hex gridded piece of cardboard. Through it all we were thinking "this is WAY too stylized. Wouldn't be great to find a better way?"

Look at those ships! This is ultimate naval porn! Those are just beautiful in masterfully rendered screenies! No airbrushing necessary here, our "ladies" are flawless. And they're suitable for younger eyes and ears!

[max-peck]

Just started browsing through the museum

Have to say I am particularly impressed with the new destroyer models

Check these out















And this is just some of them

[max-peck]

Definite problem with two of the ships in the museum

Big Modern Freighter - aks KLCS Nagara
Completely stationary - everything else in the museum looks to be speeding along at full pelt.
May indicate a possible issue with this ship

CatapaultShip aka NKSS_Cat
This crashes the museum. Has done three times in a row for me.

As a test I have loaded everything else in the Japanese roster into the museum (ships, boats, aircraft - the lot)
This is the only unit that crashes the museum
Again might indicate a potential problem with this ship

As a test I am going to make a single mission with these in and see what happens

[max-peck]

Catapault ship loads ok in single mission

And what a beaut she is





Don't know why she insists on crashing the museum
Maybe it has something to do with the date? Maybe she is trying to call on equipment in the museum that does not exist or is corrupt?
Just thinking out loud here

The Big Modern Freighter (Nagara) loads but does not go anywhere







The animations seem to be frozen. That flag you see there is frozen and does not move or ripple
The screws are likewise completely stationary
Something wrong with this one

[max-peck]

The Nagara spawns but does not move
Cannot be seen by the deck watch even from 1000 yards in great weather
Cannot be targeted in the binocs as a deck gun target
Out of interest I fired a torpedo at it (hey - this is the kind of test I love)

Tracked the torpedo all the way in, curious as to what would happen
CTD as soon as the torpedo struck the hull

Definite problems with this model

[Rockin Robbins]

Great work Max-peck. We didn't think we'd get out of this without solving a few problems, did we? The Mission Editor has a problem with German and British ConteVerdes not showing up too. But altogether, this is as glitch-free as we'd ever dare dream!

Your findings will be of great help to CapnScurvy in his sleuthing out the museum. And as we all know, if a ship has a problem in the museum it will eventually glitch in some way in the game itself.

Did you notice that some of Maddy's most beautiful ships are GENERIC something-or-others? It's just amazing quality work!

[max-peck]

Yep - I checked the mission editor first before trying to load the museum
It gave me the warning about the Conte Vertes so I removed the roster file from the British and German roster folders before I started SH4

I have made progress with the above problem
It is all about the new Nagara

Got the Catapault ship to show up in the museum


The Cat Ship is next in the list in the museum after the new Nagara
Each time I was just using the next button to go to the next ship
It crashed on the Catship every time - so I assumed that was where the problem was.

Next time I was ready to avoid the crash.
So after looking at the stationary and non animated New Nagara, I clicked on one of the tankers. CTD. Tried it again with a few warships, CTD every time. As long as the museum had loaded the New Nagara, whatever I tried to view next led to a CTD (tried this 4 times)
What would happen if this ship was to spawn in a campaign?
Nothing good I am guessing.

If I just went straight to the Catapault Ship - no problems

I would say the Catapault Ship looks just fine.
But we have serious issues with the new reworked Nagara

Just FYI - this is what the original Nagara looks like (it is a stock ship)



See how they have reworked the model, the funnel looks totally different?

Gives us two choices

1 - (Less than ideal) remove all the new nagara stuff and revert to stock. As a bonus my Razzle Dazzle should work with this

2 - (Ideal) Someone above my pay grade can figure out what the problem is. The new Nagara model look pretty good IMO

On another note I just went through the museum to figure out what I have to do next - and the results are astonishing

I happen to remember (from doing Razzle Dazzle) that the number of merchant ships in stock is 17
FOTRS has just doubled it to 34!
That's right - 34

That on it's own would be massive

Add in all the IJN units added and this is a colossal edition to the game

This is gonna be huge

[max-peck]

PS might be an idea if someone wants to do it to load the museum and view every single unit in the game
Tedious work - but if we find any crashes and can narrow it down to a specific unit could save us headaches in the long run
If no-one has the time I will start this tomorrow night

[cdrsubron7]

The Mission Editor has a problem with German and British ConteVerdes not showing up too.

I get the same thing when trying to open the ME. One question, what is the Platform Library? Did not get this message when starting the ME in previous versions.

PS might be an idea if someone wants to do it to load the museum and view every single unit in the game
Tedious work - but if we find any crashes and can narrow it down to a specific unit could save us headaches in the long run
If no-one has the time I will start this tomorrow night

I just tried opening the Museum and crashed when it finished loading. So I can't even view the Museum right now. Funny, I did't have this problem in v.04.

[Berserker]

Will the TUS still be in the sim??? I would love to get a chance at a very large luxury ship packed full of japans top brass...

[max-peck]

It's probably a memory issue, especially with all the new ships. Try googling something called the 'large address aware' patch. Can patch your sh4 exe to use more ram. That is assuming you are running a 64 bit version of windows. Worked for me.

PS - please do a backup of your sh4 exe first :-)

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

... And a second video shows the on a sub which has repaired all its damage ...

Unfortunately, the leaky pipe isn't the sound I've encountered a couple of times. I'll see if I can get any consistency from it (The Wave Sound), and post with the procedure. I only get it when I'm doing FotRS Ultimate with the "Creaks_And_Crash_Fix" applied. I haven't tried the v0.5 yet, I'll see about that later this evening.

As for that catapult ship that's causing trouble in the museum, that's what in , sinking with the Ise BB, courtesy of a US torpedo from my boat's stern tube (linked to previously). It blows into two pieces every time I've hit it, which is now like four times. I downloaded several "test" Single Missions, and I do believe I got them from the AOTD web site, so that link earlier should have 'em in there somewhere. If nothing else, I'll pack 'em back up and put them up on the top-secret site.

Originally Posted by cdrsubron7

Since RR first brought us all together to start the FOTRS Ultimate Project I've been looking for a way that I could make a contribution. I really don't know much about modding or anything else that has to do with the game files. One thing thing that I do know is the ME. I made over 225 single missions for SH1 in the day. I've made quite a few single missions for SH4 over the years. One of the biggest problems over the years has been that all the mods over the years made for SH4 were always different in one way or another. RFB, TMO, RSRDC, and even FOTRS all were built different because they were made by different people. Now RR has solved some of this dilemma buy customizing FOTRS so it will work with a broader fanbase. Great idea, boss.

Ok, so what I plan to do is make a number of custom missions especially for FOTRS Ultimate. But not just any missions, these missions will focus on the Kido Butai...

...I hope you guys will like my idea. This way I'll feel like I'm making some kind of proper contribution.

I am *STOKED* about that idea sir! I've been a fan of your ME stuff since day one - well, maybe since day 2-weeks after I first downloaded some for SH1 way back when. I was sunk quite a few times trying to do your Missions - or was it "Suicide" missions?... Great stuff. In fact, so good, I might have to run downstairs right now and fire up DOSBox and load me one up for old time's sake... - I love the idea of modeling the Kido Butai. All I'm concerned about, just what devious machinations are whirling about in your brain for the sub skippers?...

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by max-peck

... The Big Modern Freighter (Nagara) loads but does not go anywhere ...
The animations seem to be frozen. That flag you see there is frozen and does not move or ripple ... The screws are likewise completely stationary
Something wrong with this one

Does the skin seem off to you, also has a pink flag? Or is it just the way the screen capture got it, or the way my computer is displaying it? -This section has been terminated with extreme prejudice - outdated commentary has been eliminated ... What happens if the BMF(N) is eliminated? I don't even know if that can be done, when you're talking about a "boat-load" of ships... Sorry, I know, bad joke. Won't happen again - until next time...

[cdrsubron7]

All I'm concerned about, just what devious machinations are whirling about in your brain for the sub skippers?...

I guess we'll just have to wait and see how much deviousness I have left in me.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Rabid Wolverine

Will the TUS still be in the sim??? I would love to get a chance at a very large luxury ship packed full of japans top brass...

I'm trying to think what a TUS might be and I'm coming up snake-eyes. If there is a TUS in the stock game, whatever it might be--prolly my brain arcing agan--it would also be in FOTRS Ultimate. With a few noteable exceptions mods add to the game and don't subtract.

I'm afraid years back we did have a bit of a tiff where one set of mods cut the U-Boats off and another cut off the Fleet Boats, but we won't tolerate that now. As a matter of fact, it appears that FOTRS stepped in that pile of........okay! And we aim to make sure U-boats are fully enabled.

The reason that FOTRS stepped in it is that the base mod for FOTRS is TMO. It was not a product of Maddy's. He is German, by the way. The last thing Maddy would do is eliminate German boats.