Kursk/Prokhorovka map (beta) for SF1942 with SPM 1.5 mod

[Rends]

Here is the beta version of my new map Prokhorovka.

NOTICE: don´t upload this map anywhere else. Final version will be out soon!

What you get:
Command either a T-34,KW-2,SU-122, Panzer IV, Panther or the Tiger on the biggest tank battle of WWII.
Original terrain based on google map heightmap

Get the beta here: http://www.filefront.com/17325876/Rends_prokho_beta.zip
or at http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KZE4BIZG

This map requires the new SPM 1.5 beta mod!
Make sure to read the readme about installing the map (it´s very easy)

Feel free to comment your Ideas suggestions ect...

Rends

[Sledgehammer427]

all these mods for SF are making me hate the fact I left my computer at home!

I'll definitely check this out when I get back

[frinik]

Rends I downloaded and installed your new Prokhorovska Beta Campaign.6 missions! Man you are spoiling us./Unfortuntaely I wasn't able to play it because I installed late last night and when I tried to play it this morning I got a white screen ( possibly my pc giving me trouble again).I will install it on my laptop with my spare games and tried to play your missions.Anyway, in anticipation, a huge thank you for the work you are doing.I am very eager to play your new missions and give you feedback.

Is there anyway I could use your new Kursk maps?Do you have them in datapack format?I would install them in my ME and remake some of the stock SF missions.Please let me know.


Anyway on behalf of all SF fans Vielen Dank!

Frinik

[Rends]

Hi frinik,
Well it´s not a campaign but one mission you can play from 6 different views (means that you can play 6 different tanks but will be still the same mission).

Let me know if you have still problems running the mission.

I know from 2 other guys that it works fine while one person reported that the sky texture was messed up.


About datapack. Well i´havn´t packed the mission as a datapack because i still don´t know what files will be packed and what not. If someone could tell more details i would make a datapack version.

But you should be able to open the map in your editor because all required files are in the zip. But i don´t suggest to use the beta. Wait for the final version.

Rends

[frinik]

I managed to install your mod on my laptop duirng lunch and tested it.No more white screen.I don't know why but the line to add in the camp list kept disappearing.Still even 6 versions of the same mission are 6 missions in my book!

I'll wait for the alpha to play with your map.Looking forward to playing all the versions tonight and reporting.

Cheerio

[frinik]

Rends I played your missions.IT wasn't easy as your mod is very touchy.Three times I had to copy that line in camp list as the moment I made the chnage in my mods enabler it would disappear and I would a white screen with the core 001 error message.May be because it's a beta mod.As well it wouldn't start on my own beta 1.5 install because I have modifed some of the techn cfg files for some tanks as there are inaccuracies in some of the tank's armour thickness and shell complement.I had to undo those changes as your missions weould not start otherwise. In my other beta 1.5 instal, even though your mod is enabled and appears in the JSGME screen and the required line is well placed last in the cam list file the missions don't appear in my game menu????Odd!!I have tried repeatedly to uninstall and re-install your mod but no go still no succes.I com[pared both game's files and they are similar.The only difference is the one that doesn't work is in the C drive the other in a separate F partition.

Anyway was able to play the Panzer VI, Panther and brreifly the SU 122 versions.Excellent work.Good battles, soldi action and especially excellent map.You are making your name for yourself in SF.Please offer your missions to our Russian friends and SF community on Sukhoi.ru Avia forum they will really appreciate and might even incorporate your missions as part of a future alpha 1.5 release!!!!


Would you also be able to tell me how to create maps for SF?I would love to create a real desert mod as the Afrika one was limited with 3 good missions and not much variety in landcapes.

Anyway outstanding work!!!!

PS: what will be part of your Kursk Alpha release?

Cheers

Frinik

[eddie]

Only played it a little bit with the Panther, and it was fun, so thanks for your hard work! Only problem I had at first, was the sky was all messed up, colors everywhere,lol But, I tried to use the English Beta Patch with it, and once i diabled that, the sky returned to normal colors, and your map looked great!!

Thanks again!

eddie

[frinik]

Unlike what some people have reported I haven't experienced any graphic problems with sky texture.BTW this is often the sign of a failing graphic card.

Rends to answer your post on the Aviaz Sukhoi forum both the Elefant and Brummbaer are playable individually or in groups.I plyayed with both last weekend in a test mission.The Elefant bgunsight is like the Stug III D' s and not easy to use.The Brummbear is only useful for massive bombardment of gun and infantry position.Totally useless as far as accuracy is concerned.

[Aces]

Hi chaps,

I have experienced the same graphic corruption descibed here but ONLY on the Prokorovka missions, all other SP 1.5 and pre SP 1.5 missions run just fine. It's exactly the same corruption that I had when I first tried the game which I cured at the time by not running catalyst AI. I'm now running on a Nvidia card (GTX260) about 18 months old and working perfectly in all other games. I need to experiment a bit more with settings using NHancer but this definitely isn't a failing graphics card issue.

See here for details:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.ph...s/2644659.html

I'm going to try eddie's tip and try without the english patch this evening.


Best Regards

Aces

[Rends]

frinik,
did you enable SPM1.5 or any other mission pack after you added the line to zthe camp file?
I ask this because SPM1.5 overwrites the camp file with it´s own version.

About the nonplayable units. I found out that they appear several times on the division list. Will play around with them to find the version that can be driven. Oh i took the brummbär already out of the map.

Once the Prokhorovka map is done i will go back to my Barbarossa campaign. I have no plan (yet) to make a complete Kursk (Zitadelle) campaign. Msaybe later but Stone is already working on one.

About the graphic sky glitch.
I can only say that i have SPM beta 1.5 and the unofficial patch installed.

[frinik]

Rends, as I suspected I found that weight of the Pzgrante 39/42 for the Panther Ausf. D isincorrect.I have the old Panther-Hetzer mod installed and I always like-d the Panther Ausf. G in that mod with that cool camo and it's especially punchy 75 mm gun.Punchier than the current Panther in beta 1.5. Going into the common resolution folder I found otu that for the Panther G the weight of the Pzgr. 39/42 is given as 7.2 kilos whereas in the current version of the Panther it's only 6.8 kilos the same as the Pzgr.39 used by the Panzer IVF2 and others.Likewise the HE shell for the G version weighs 6.35 kilos and only 5.74 in the current D version.Why the discrepancy/As far as I know they use the same gun and shells unmodified.I did a reseacrh on the internet and found otu that 72 and 6.35 kilos are the correct values and the new values are simply those of the Pzgr.39 which they used ( on purpose?Oversight?) for the Pzgr.39/42

.It's a 5% difference in weight.Not that much but considering that the velocity of the shell is 930 m/s 400 grams more with the kinetic energy will result in significant extra damage to any target.The same goes for 600 extra grams for the HE.If you want to do the same then just go into data/k42/loc_rus/levels/LEVELS/common/common resolution and go way down the file to see the Panzergranate 39/42 and the HE.You'll see 4th or 5th on the line of number the 6.8 and 5.74 numbers respectively indicating the weight of each shell.

Likewise the armour thickness for the Panther is wrong in a couple of places.The side armour in the tech_cfg folder is given as 35 mm whereas everywhere I checked it says 40 mm.The rear armour is 40 mm not 35 and the top of the turret is 16 mm not 10 .You can correct that by going through the same motion except that instead of opening the common folder you open the tech_cfg one which contains all the technical data for the tanks.

BTW one last thing the shell complements for the Tiger I is totally wrong in the game.A few trial Tigers only carried 82 shells but the production units never carrie dless thna 92 shells as normal complement.60 Pzgr.39 and 32 Sprgr.The load used in the game is totally wrong.Likewise they are using the shell load of the Porsche Tiger II( of which only 50 units were built) but the turret of the Henschel model.The correct shells load for the Tiger II is 86; evenly distributed between Sprgr. 39/43 and HE although I have skewed the total in favour of the former.For the Panther D it's 79 to 82 depending on the version of the D and for the G it's maximum 85.

As well there are errors in the armour speecs for the Tiger I, and II (underestimated in some parts) and the T34/85( Overestimated.The modders are Russian and may have been "influenced " when they entered the data).

Cheers

Frinik

[frinik]

Hi Rends!

Thanks for posting my post into the SimHq forum which I follow regularly but I am not a member of. I saw a couple of other posts in other threads that I saw and I could answer through you:

1) The Panzer Luchs, the Marder III the Sturmpanzer IV(Brummbaer), and other vehicles are only available in the Mission Editor.Most are playable but some are not and can only be used as AI manned units in user-made missions.The Missions and campaigns for the beat 1.5 are yet to come.

2) There is a desert mod(Afrika mod) but it consists only of 3 user-made missions available for download on the tanksim.org.ru website.They consists of; The Road to Sidi Rezegh, Tobruk and Africa 01(Hill 206.The map needs to be downloaded prior to playing the mission.They're good missions playable with the Panzer IVF2.They appear in the user-made missions.They were supposed to make more but it seems to be on the backburner since June 2009.I have all 3 of them.

Re the technical aspect of the game.I am going to review some other specs to see if they conform to reality; muzzle velocity for some guns, weight of Soviet 85 mm and German 88mm shells. I am also looking into reducing the incidence of disabled guns in the missions which I find excessive.Once playing the same mission 10 times straight with a Panzer IVF2 8 times my gun was damaged and unable to fire .Many times I have had the feeling that compared to real battle conditions the player's(particularly German) gun gets disabled a bit too often in SF.


That being said I found other discrepancies this time related to the Panzer IVF2 .

According to a website which I consulted the :

• Pzgr. Patr. 39 KwK 40 (Armour Piercing Capped Ballistic Cap High Explosive round)
  • Muzzle velocity: 770 m/s (versus 740m/s used in the tech_cfg folder a - 4% reduction)
  • Projectile: Panzergranate 39 (Pzgr. 39)
  • Projectile weight: 6. 80 kg
  • Explosive filler: 18 g of RDX/wax
  • Fuze: BdZ 5103 or BdZ 5103* base fuze
  • Round weight: 11. 52 kg
  • Cartridge case height: 495 mm
  • Propelling charge: 2. 410 kg of Digl. R. P. G1
  • Primer: electric, model C/22 or C/22 St.

• Pzgr. Patr. 40 KwK 40 (Armour Piercing Composite Rigid)
  • Muzzle velocity: 990 m/s
  • Projectile: Panzergranate 40
  • Projectile weight: 4. 10 kg
  • Explosive filler: none
  • Fuze: none
  • Round weight: 8. 61 kg
  • Cartridge case height: 495 mm
  • Propelling charge: 2. 2 kg of Gu. R. P. 7,7
  • Primer: electric, model C/22 or C/22 St.

• Gr. Patr. 38 HL/B KwK 40 (High Explosive Anti-Tank)
  • Muzzle velocity: 475 m/s (versus the 450m/s quoted in the tech_cfg folder a - 5% reduction)
  • Projectile: Gr. 38 HL/B
  • Projectile weight: 4. 60 kg
  • Explosive filler: n/a
  • Fuze: A. Z. 38 St
  • Round weight: 7. 36 kg
  • Cartridge case height: 495 mm
  • Propelling charge: 0. 43 kg of Gu. Bl. P. -AO
  • Primer: electric, model C/22 or C/22 St.

• Gr. Patr. 38 HL/C KwK 40 (High Explosive Anti-Tank)

• 7. 5cm Sprgr. Patr. 34 KwK 40 (High Explosive)
  • Muzzle velocity: 550 m/s (versus 450m/s in the tech_cfg - 18%!!!!)
  • Projectile: Sprgr. 34
  • Projectile weight: 5. 75 kg
  • Explosive filler: amatol
  • Fuze: kl. A. Z. 23 (0,15) umg. nose fuze
  • Round weight: 8. 71 kg
  • Cartridge case height: 495 mm
  • Propelling charge: 0. 755 kg of Gu. Bl. P. -AO
  • Primer: electric, model C/22 or C/22 St.
• There could possibly be more errors like these that need to be addressed as I go along and check or rather double-check the figures for both Soviet and German tanks.

Cheers

[Rends]

frink, i´ve posted your desert missions and tank information at simhq.
Should i do the same with the shell specs or should i wait until you post more informations?

[frinik]

Rends go ahead and post them please! I'll add more as I go along.

Cheers

[frinik]

Hi redns re Ramas post complaining about the lack of punch of the Tiger ||I's 88 mm shell one reason is that the armour of the T34/85 is overestimated in SF and this makes that tank tougher to kill the only way to address that is to reduce the values for T34/85 front armour is given as 85 mm but this takes into account the sloping factor.To make it more realistic I have reduced the value of the front armour thickness to 67 mm which is 50% more than the real thickness and balances the real thickness and add extra to help account for the sloping which effectively increses armour protectio n at some agnles.Not prfect but a reasonable compromise. I have increased the value of the muzzle velocity of the \tiger's gun to 815 m/s as for the flak36 from which it;s derived to increase the punch factor as the real value 773 m/s seems insufficient.

|Re the Panther Ramas has to understand that the Panther's gun had indeed more punch because of the lenght of its barrel L70 versus L56 for the Tiger I giving it a muzzle velocity of 930 m/s versus 773 or 815 m/s as corrected.Thus for the Panther.

What I'll do is post my techn_cfg filesand the common resolution ones here for people to copy or use them to make correction to some values in the muzzle velocity, shell complement, armour thickness etc.

Keep up with thee excellent work.I am downloading your final Prokhorovska missions and looking forward to playing them!

Cheers