Sh3Gen updates and discussion

[GlobalExplorer]

Originally Posted by mr chris

What i did was get out of port then save then load up as normal then GIS launched I Exited and then opened up my Mycomputer/programe files/ sh3 gen/user data then use the map by frist adding terain then ports and then slowly selecting the intel that i wanted to see.

I dont know if I understand correctly, but you should not have to add anything to the map every time - the viewer should come with anything preloaded if you open "Sh3Gen Tracking Room.TTKGP", and it should open up the file automatically after the generation.

I asb because you should not have to add terrain or anything like that!

If you compare your map with my screenshots, does it look the same? If not, could you send me a screenshot??

www.global-explorer.de/wip_screens/world.jpg

Originally Posted by mr chris

Would it be when you have finshed your patrol to see the course that your boat took on the map? This would be a good for planing future patrols by using pasts intel.

It be possible to mark your sinkings in the map as well as fictional sinkings by the other boats on patrol. The exact course is a bit tricky but if you put markers on any place you went to it should be possible. I think that is a good suggestion, as it would be great to have a summary of your patrols in a nice map.

Another possibility would be to offer some way to edit the map.

Originally Posted by mr chris

One thing i did notice was that when you selected the submarines tab that it did not add anything to the map. This might have been because of the lack of AI subs.

Yes, that wasnt working. It is fixed, with the exception of allied subs still not modelled in the generator (hope to get that added soon).

Originally Posted by mr chris

One last thing though would it be possible to add rings to the map to show the air coverage?

Has been added tonight, looking great. Do you (or anybody) know the exact range of an airbase? so far I have set it to approximately 10 degrees / 600 nautical miles.

Originally Posted by mr chris

But all in all it is a great addition to your great mod sir and runs very well and easy to use once you get the hang of it.

Excellent!

GE

[mr chris]

The Map did open up with everything displayed as per your picture but with a little poking around i found that you have also acess the information by going to
Mycomputer/programe files/ sh3 gen/user data
Then double clicking on the terrainTatukGIS file
This opens up the map with just the terrain the i just clicked on layer then add then picked which tab i wished to open up.

from what you say as regarads to the adding of the ships course to the end map i look forward to what might be possible. as always great suff mate

[GlobalExplorer]

Originally Posted by mr chris

The Map did open up with everything displayed as per your picture but with a little poking around i found that you have also acess the information by going to
Mycomputer/programe files/ sh3 gen/user data
Then double clicking on the terrainTatukGIS file
This opens up the map with just the terrain the i just clicked on layer then add then picked which tab i wished to open up.

OK so it works!!

Good that you found yourself how to locate the map files. But you should normally not open terrain.gml because it will only load the terrain layer without any of the project configuration which I have prepared (its a lot). You can however do it and create you own map project, if you want to, but it might be easier if you start out from the file which I provide ..

Open "Sh3Gen Tracking Room.TTKGP" instead. This is the file that Sh3Gen opens automatically at the end of the generation process, and you can do so anytime later.

Mind that it gets overwritten if you use the same savegame again for generation and dont change the output folder in the Tracking Room Export screen.

Well done,

GE

[Lightning61]

This new functionality of SH3Gen has finally pushed me into experimenting with it, and I'm very happy with what I'm seeing so far.
I haven't used any previous versions, but judging by the previous threads I've read on the subject, this is a Major improvement.
I'm anxious now to actually begin a new career utilizing it throughout.
I only have one minor issue with the operation of the proggie, and through reading I realize it may never be possible, but, the ability to run it without exiting a patrol in progress would make things So much simpler, and more accessible to those less comfortable or in-capable of Alt+Tab out to initialize the generation of data.
I feel a workaround to this requirement would really increase SH3Gen's user base exponentially.
Thanks for a great proggie, and it's constant evolution!

[irish1958]

GE
It's 9 AM in Indiana. I'll get cracking on this this morning, and try to give you some feedback. If it is like all your other projects, I suspect it will be perfect.

[GlobalExplorer]

Originally Posted by Lightning61

I only have one minor issue with the operation of the proggie, and through reading I realize it may never be possible, but, the ability to run it without exiting a patrol in progress would make things So much simpler, and more accessible to those less comfortable or in-capable of Alt+Tab out to initialize the generation of data.

Good luck with using it and dont hesitate to ask any questions.

To clarify this, Sh3Gen itself does not require Alt-Tab to be used, but:

As Sh3Gen writes into a savegame, you must create one before you can use Sh3Gen.

If you have created a savegame before you can run Sh3Gen on it and launch SHIII after that.

But in 90% people will start a new career and want to use Sh3Gen instantly on this one so they must exit SHIII or Alt-Tab. You could theoretically use it on a second computer through a network, but thats certainly not an option for most people.

Unfortunately thats the way it works and there cannot be another way ..

I found it doesnt bother me that much if you got used to it.

The documentation for Sh3Gen is now under Resources->Documentation or at my site (look at my sig).

Originally Posted by irish1958

GE
It's 9 AM in Indiana. I'll get cracking on this this morning, and try to give you some feedback. If it is like all your other projects, I suspect it will be perfect.

Thanks Irish I will check back tomorrow to get your report. Hopefully everything goes as well for you as for mr chris.

GE

[GlobalExplorer]

Small update on the next version

As I think there is no point in releasing small updates piecemeal it should be enough if I post some new screenshot and some new datafile.


www.global-explorer.de/wip_screens/Sh3Gen081screenshot1.jpg

Updated test data:

http://www.global-explorer.de/Sh3Gen081TestData.exe

[irish1958]

GE
Everything works perfectly. I had no problems. The map generated rapidly and opened instantly. I enlarged the area of concern, and printed a pdf in color to use.
Next I am going to try what Mr. Chris suggests, and just open and add only a few things to see how it goes.
I think 600 Nmiles is about right for the air base circle, as that puts the flight at 1200 NM. Of course fighters have (at least in the first 3 or 4 years of the war) considerably less range.
Adding a NM or Km scale would be nice. It may already be there, but I haven't found it yet.
Adding a capability to add data, including ship sinking, time and date of sinking would be great. As SHIII adds an icon to every sinking, would being able to generate a map at the end of a patrol that would include your sinkings and data be possible?

[irish1958]

generated two more maps on seperate patrols; no problems.

[GlobalExplorer]

Thanks Irish I appreciate your help, especially as I remember we had exchanged some emails some months ago. What I gather from the reports in this thread is that the solution is deployeable as planned and can be released soon. Great!

Originally Posted by irish1958

Everything works perfectly. I had no problems. The map generated rapidly and opened instantly. I enlarged the area of concern, and printed a pdf in color to use.
Next I am going to try what Mr. Chris suggests, and just open and add only a few things to see how it goes.

Yes thats the next logical step. But please read the instructions I gave him about opening "Sh3Gen Tracking Room.TTKGP", because it seems he started a new viewer project from scratch instead of opening the one I provide.

Originally Posted by irish1958

Adding a NM or Km scale would be nice. It may already be there, but I haven't found it yet.

Very good idea! I see no problem to add a scale, and probably also a nautical grid with meridians. I think this will be one of the things I will do next.

Originally Posted by irish1958

Adding a capability to add data, including ship sinking, time and date of sinking would be great. As SHIII adds an icon to every sinking, would being able to generate a map at the end of a patrol that would include your sinkings and data be possible?

The problem here is that from the savegame I only know:
- quadrant where a ship was sunk
- quadrant where player sent report
There is not much more I can work with. That means, I could add sinkings somewhere in the correct quadrant, I could add all patrol report positions + text, also somewhere in the quadrant, and I could add all player made map markers at the precise position. That can be done, anything else would require some new approach.

GE

[Lightning61]

I believe I am guilty of trying to start a new map rather than opening the provided one also.
I just wish I could have figured out what to do with it!
Very cool otherwise!

[GlobalExplorer]

Small announcement sunday 2007-02-18

The new version which I completed over the weekend:

Sh3Gen 0.8.1 RC4

It will possibly be the one I release. This one has much better documentation a lot of fixes/improvements which were found since the last version.

I will leave it here for about a week. If I don't get any negative reports, I will release it on my site www.global-explorer.de and make an announcement about the release.

There is also a new screenshot demonstrating the use of the data view:

http://www.global-explorer.de/wip_sc...Gen081data.gif

Bye,

GE

[GlobalExplorer]

Originally Posted by Lightning61

I believe I am guilty of trying to start a new map rather than opening the provided one also.
I just wish I could have figured out what to do with it!
Very cool otherwise!

Can you report back if you can simply doubleclick "Sh3Gen Tracking Room.TTKGP" and the viewer will open up with the same map like you see on the screenshots? There should be nothing more to do.

It's getting me a bit concerned that everyone seems to miss this.

[Lightning61]

Can you report back if you can simply doubleclick "Sh3Gen Tracking Room.TTKGP" and the viewer will open up with the same map like you see on the screenshots? There should be nothing more to do.

It's getting me a bit concerned that everyone seems to miss this.

My fault!
I was opening the viewer rather than the SH3 data file!
I finally figured this out after I saw the .81 version of your files.
It's nothing to do with you, just my lack of familiarity with the proggie.

Really Cool Stuff!

[Samwolf]

Downloaded and installed everything (Just saw the new version)

Started a patrol and ran SH3Gen and exported the GIS file. Opened it up with no problems, went right to the file I had created. It looks great

Now I have to figure out what I can do with it

Lots of new buttons to play with.

Will download the new version now.