Realism- and gameplay-related hardcode fixes for SH3.EXE - Page 157

h.sie · 10-09-11, 03:29 AM

@DepthCharger: Sorry, I had very little free time the last week and thus I obviously missed some information you wrote. I apologize and shall re-read your posts.

Does Alpha 2 work for you without LITE setting?

Stiebler · 10-09-11, 04:54 AM

@H.sie,

As far as I can recall, I receive always the 'attack alone' (or similar) message in 'realistic setting' as the first message received from BdU.

For test purposes, I have been attacking convoys close to grid squares AM12 and DH18.

I have cut-and-pasted your campaign_SCR entries for the VIIF U-boats to the NYGM full campaign_SCR.mis file. I have placed the entries at the end of the list of ship units, and before the beginning of the ordinance units. Naturally, I have remembered to renumber the units! (to units 1018 - 1029).

The presence of the VIIF U-boats can be seen in the Canadian/USA great lakes with Mission Editor, in exactly the same place as with your original campaign_SCR.mis files. The VIIF U-boats are correctly installed in the data\submarine folder.

I have played with several successive patrols from June 1942 to June 1943 in the same single test career. Most recently, I have been deliberately trying to follow convoys in broad daylight, good visibility and low wind speeds to raise the chance of a pack attack. But no success. And almost every attempt to approach the convoy to make the first contact report results in the U-boat being detected, under these fine weather conditions.

Of course, in campaign mode there is always a big problem with locating convoys under suitable conditions. As I type these words, I am waiting for a 15m/s foggy-storm to die away and the weather to return to calm. I have predicted previously, that it is very likely that most users in campaigns are going to choose to use the 'lite' wolfpack version (even if the 'realistic' version functions correctly), because otherwise it is so difficult to establish the right conditions for a pack attack.

Stiebler.

Stiebler · 10-09-11, 11:03 AM

Finally I succeeded to get a message from BdU asking me to send hourly contact reports in career mode, with the 'realistic' settings for the wolf-pack alpha-2 mod. (August 1942, wind 12m/s, medium fog.)

This was achieved with a new career, not a new patrol within my existing test career. Possibly the old career had become corrupt.

So I am glad to be able to report that there is no problem with H.sie's code, after all. Also, I never had any CTDs after saving, and reloading, countless saved games, so the code appears to be very stable.

Well done, H.sie!

Stiebler.

h.sie · 10-09-11, 11:53 AM

@Stiebler: NOW I know the reason why you have always been ordered to attack alone in your old career but not in the new one:

The number of wolfpack-attacks per career is restricted to a certain value (this is not intended but necessary to make programming easy). Thus, for testing, better use a new career!

Sorry that this idea came soooo late!

h,sie

h.sie · 10-09-11, 04:48 PM

I have now tested in career mode:

Daylight. Wind: 1m/s. Visibility: Good. Clear Sky.

Environment: OLC Gold MkII, 16k

1. As far as I have one ship in visible range, I can send a contact report.

2. It is not hard to hold contact, even at TC=32. I can see the ships at a distance of about 14km and I can reduce range to about 10km without being seen. That is enough to hold contact, but one has to take care that distance is not getting too small.

What did I do wrong that I had no problems?

h.sie · 10-09-11, 05:25 PM

@DepthCharger: There were some items I did not understand from your posts:

I can already do it from 20k's plus

You can see/lock 20km in a 16km environment??

Firstly, paint the target at 20k's by locking on via your uzo.

What do you mean with PAINT?? I cannot lock at 20km in 16km environment.

Is this true, if I go bust on the first convoy, then will none of the others work in that mission?

There are more than one wolfpack attacks possible per campaign / career, but the number of attacks is indeed restricted, thus, you better start a new career every time for testing purposes.

After a wolfpack attack - or after having been ordered to attack alone, there are no wolfpack Uboats available. This state (no Uboats available) stays unchanged for some days. Thus, in order to save time, you better start a new career for testing purposes.

H.Sie

Depth Charger · 10-09-11, 06:31 PM

Really enjoying Alpha 2 now in lite mode. Agree with Stiebler, I want lots of unrealistic wolf packs. Have still only had the one contact in realistic but who cares, I got lite now!

In reply - To "paint" a target is to highlight it with a laser so that an aircraft from out of sight can target it. I use the term because I have found that in SH3, if you get within about 20k's of your target, you then point the uzo in the direction of the ships and even though you cant see them, click the lock-on button and move it around a bit and it should select a target. If you then go and check quickly on your map, you can see it as though it was in sight. Sometimes you can send the contact report straight away but not always, other times I use it to help with my approach in the dark if I have to go closer. LGN has also picked up on this and mentions it in his posts.

If you do it this way, you can TC at 128 from hour to hour while sending contact reports!

Kindest and thanks for the testing tips.

Robin40 · 10-10-11, 01:33 AM

Is this Wolfpack mod working also on this environment?

M.E.P v3
M.E.P v3-Patch
MEP v3 VisualSensors for gwx3

h.sie · 10-10-11, 02:08 AM

@DepthCharger: Thanks. I think all is sorted now!

@Robin40: Makman94 tested the Wolfpack Mod with MEPv3 with success.

SquareSteelBar · 10-10-11, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stiebler

...I have cut-and-pasted your campaign_SCR entries for the VIIF U-boats to the NYGM full campaign_SCR.mis file. I have placed the entries at the end of the list of ship units, and before the beginning of the ordinance units. Naturally, I have remembered to renumber the units! (to units 1018 - 1029)...

Why don't you use the 'Merge' function in MissionEditor? It saves time and more important: it prevents renumbering faults...

Stiebler · 10-10-11, 03:27 AM

@SSB:

Quote:

Why don't you use the 'Merge' function in MissionEditor? It saves time and more important: it prevents renumbering faults...

I have found in the past that saving the file so created can have an odd effect on generic entries. For example, I have seen generic escorts for convoys replaced with generic battleship escorts!

True, this will not have an effect on the campaign_SCR.mis file. But I have got out of the habit of adding ships in Mission Editor now. I use it only to check files for problems.

@H.sie:

Quote:

I have now tested in career mode:
Daylight. Wind: 1m/s. Visibility: Good. Clear Sky.
1. As far as I have one ship in visible range, I can send a contact report.
2. It is not hard to hold contact, even at TC=32. I can see the ships at a distance of about 14km and I can reduce range to about 10km without being seen. That is enough to hold contact, but one has to take care that distance is not getting too small.
What did I do wrong that I had no problems?

Now try in light fog or at night!

Stiebler.

Rhodes · 10-10-11, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by h.sie

@Rhodes: If you have NYGM text in your GWX installation, then you didn't follow the install instructions correctly. You have overwritten your en_menu.txt file with an invalid one, instead of appending only Stieblers new messages to your GWX en_menu.txt.
h.sie

Sorry for the late update. First:

But I did follow the instructions, but did not removed the txt files from SSSC mod. I did that but I still get CTD. The alterations of the en_menu.txt that I did, was in the same file of my last mod, that is constituted by a single en_menu. Since it's the final file to be enable, I did the changes there. As I already did it with the prior messages of fog and the oxygen suplly.

Depth Charger · 10-10-11, 10:04 PM

@ Stiebler

I agree, easy to lock on when clear but hard when in reduced visibility or the dark.

This is what I am doing to get my convoy identified as a convoy in poor vis -
1. Draw up on the side of the convoy until your chaps can see the outer escort. He still cant see you, turn to same heading as him.
2. ID the escort - and check it in the little book. You will see that you have done this correctly if you see it's visual radius displayed in dotted lines on the map and you will be just outside of it. If not, then you have got the wrong ship in the book, search until you get a match.
3. Pull ahead and then gradually turn in front of the escort taking care not cross over the visual outline in front of it.
4. As you get directly ahead of it, your chaps will start to call out that they can now also see the lead escort in front of the convoy which will be about 90 degrees on your side and the side escort you pulled ahead of will now be about 180 degrees behind you. By then, you will also start to see a ship or two on the top side corner of the convoy which is the weak spot you are moving into.
5. Move as close as possible to the side of the lead escort and then reduce power so as to slowly slide as deep as possible back into the weak spot minding the ship behind you. (This is really cool if you it do from the tower with your WO calling the range and you manually adjusting speed and direction as you go.)
6. Shortly after, your men will start to call out that they can see more and more ships in the top side corner of the convoy and you will also note that if you zoom out on the map, you can see the large convoy symbol meaning that you can then send your contact report.
7. You can then pull ahead by up to 20k's and it will still keep the convoy id when you lock on to any ship in that convoy meaning you can tc at 128/256 for the rest. (Might not be same for you but works for me.)

Also, I struggle in fog as you just cant get close enough to get them to id enough ships without blundering about. The maneuver also stops being effective when radar appears. However, I think that this was historically accurate in that surface attacks ceased with the advent of radar and getting lost in the fog sounds realistic to me as well.

Am enjoying your guys mod tremendously, thank you!

DC

h.sie · 10-11-11, 03:47 AM

@Rhodes: If V15G2 works, but - according to your observation - the Stiebler-Addon causes a CTD, then one has to focus on the Addons. I have not looked into his according soucecodes yet and also think that Stiebler is surely more competent to find a possible bug (if existent), but as a starting point you can do the following:

1) Tell us whether the CTD is reproduceable or not. If so, when exactly does it occur?

2) Disable all Fixes that come with the Addon. Does the CTD still occur?

3) Then enable one of them you like most. Does the CTD occur?

4) Continue with the other 3-4 fixes - one by one ......

Rhodes · 10-11-11, 04:00 AM

1.The CTD occurs when loading the mission or patrol, when the red bar reaches almost the "final section".

2.I disable almost all of the right colun in the options selector and still occur, but did not disable all, will do that today and see what the result.

3. idem But I like all,

.

In the afternoon I will get some time to do this, then I post here what I got.
Thank you and sorry for all this!

10-09-11, 03:29 AM	#2341
h.sie Admiral Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 2,192 Downloads: 131 Uploads: 0	@DepthCharger: Sorry, I had very little free time the last week and thus I obviously missed some information you wrote. I apologize and shall re-read your posts. Does Alpha 2 work for you without LITE setting? __________________ My Mediafire page: http://www.mediafire.com/hsie

10-09-11, 04:54 AM	#2342
Stiebler Fuel Supplier Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: London, UK Posts: 1,237 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 4	@H.sie, As far as I can recall, I receive always the 'attack alone' (or similar) message in 'realistic setting' as the first message received from BdU. For test purposes, I have been attacking convoys close to grid squares AM12 and DH18. I have cut-and-pasted your campaign_SCR entries for the VIIF U-boats to the NYGM full campaign_SCR.mis file. I have placed the entries at the end of the list of ship units, and before the beginning of the ordinance units. Naturally, I have remembered to renumber the units! (to units 1018 - 1029). The presence of the VIIF U-boats can be seen in the Canadian/USA great lakes with Mission Editor, in exactly the same place as with your original campaign_SCR.mis files. The VIIF U-boats are correctly installed in the data\submarine folder. I have played with several successive patrols from June 1942 to June 1943 in the same single test career. Most recently, I have been deliberately trying to follow convoys in broad daylight, good visibility and low wind speeds to raise the chance of a pack attack. But no success. And almost every attempt to approach the convoy to make the first contact report results in the U-boat being detected, under these fine weather conditions. Of course, in campaign mode there is always a big problem with locating convoys under suitable conditions. As I type these words, I am waiting for a 15m/s foggy-storm to die away and the weather to return to calm. I have predicted previously, that it is very likely that most users in campaigns are going to choose to use the 'lite' wolfpack version (even if the 'realistic' version functions correctly), because otherwise it is so difficult to establish the right conditions for a pack attack. Stiebler. __________________ NYGM Tonnage War Mod - More than a mod: it's an experience!

10-09-11, 11:03 AM	#2343
Stiebler Fuel Supplier Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: London, UK Posts: 1,237 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 4	Finally I succeeded to get a message from BdU asking me to send hourly contact reports in career mode, with the 'realistic' settings for the wolf-pack alpha-2 mod. (August 1942, wind 12m/s, medium fog.) This was achieved with a new career, not a new patrol within my existing test career. Possibly the old career had become corrupt. So I am glad to be able to report that there is no problem with H.sie's code, after all. Also, I never had any CTDs after saving, and reloading, countless saved games, so the code appears to be very stable. Well done, H.sie! Stiebler. __________________ NYGM Tonnage War Mod - More than a mod: it's an experience!

10-09-11, 11:53 AM	#2344
h.sie Admiral Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 2,192 Downloads: 131 Uploads: 0	@Stiebler: NOW I know the reason why you have always been ordered to attack alone in your old career but not in the new one: The number of wolfpack-attacks per career is restricted to a certain value (this is not intended but necessary to make programming easy). Thus, for testing, better use a new career! Sorry that this idea came soooo late! h,sie __________________ My Mediafire page: http://www.mediafire.com/hsie

10-09-11, 04:48 PM	#2345
h.sie Admiral Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 2,192 Downloads: 131 Uploads: 0	I have now tested in career mode: Daylight. Wind: 1m/s. Visibility: Good. Clear Sky. Environment: OLC Gold MkII, 16k 1. As far as I have one ship in visible range, I can send a contact report. 2. It is not hard to hold contact, even at TC=32. I can see the ships at a distance of about 14km and I can reduce range to about 10km without being seen. That is enough to hold contact, but one has to take care that distance is not getting too small. What did I do wrong that I had no problems? __________________ My Mediafire page: http://www.mediafire.com/hsie

10-09-11, 05:25 PM	#2346
h.sie Admiral Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 2,192 Downloads: 131 Uploads: 0	@DepthCharger: There were some items I did not understand from your posts: I can already do it from 20k's plus You can see/lock 20km in a 16km environment?? Firstly, paint the target at 20k's by locking on via your uzo. What do you mean with PAINT?? I cannot lock at 20km in 16km environment. Is this true, if I go bust on the first convoy, then will none of the others work in that mission? There are more than one wolfpack attacks possible per campaign / career, but the number of attacks is indeed restricted, thus, you better start a new career every time for testing purposes. After a wolfpack attack - or after having been ordered to attack alone, there are no wolfpack Uboats available. This state (no Uboats available) stays unchanged for some days. Thus, in order to save time, you better start a new career for testing purposes. H.Sie __________________ My Mediafire page: http://www.mediafire.com/hsie

10-09-11, 06:31 PM	#2347
Depth Charger Sailor man Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 45 Downloads: 205 Uploads: 0	reply to h.sie Really enjoying Alpha 2 now in lite mode. Agree with Stiebler, I want lots of unrealistic wolf packs. Have still only had the one contact in realistic but who cares, I got lite now! In reply - To "paint" a target is to highlight it with a laser so that an aircraft from out of sight can target it. I use the term because I have found that in SH3, if you get within about 20k's of your target, you then point the uzo in the direction of the ships and even though you cant see them, click the lock-on button and move it around a bit and it should select a target. If you then go and check quickly on your map, you can see it as though it was in sight. Sometimes you can send the contact report straight away but not always, other times I use it to help with my approach in the dark if I have to go closer. LGN has also picked up on this and mentions it in his posts. If you do it this way, you can TC at 128 from hour to hour while sending contact reports! Kindest and thanks for the testing tips.

10-10-11, 01:33 AM	#2348
Robin40 Chief Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Rivoli (Italy) Posts: 310 Downloads: 162 Uploads: 0	Is this Wolfpack mod working also on this environment? M.E.P v3 M.E.P v3-Patch MEP v3 VisualSensors for gwx3

10-10-11, 02:08 AM	#2349
h.sie Admiral Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 2,192 Downloads: 131 Uploads: 0	@DepthCharger: Thanks. I think all is sorted now! @Robin40: Makman94 tested the Wolfpack Mod with MEPv3 with success. __________________ My Mediafire page: http://www.mediafire.com/hsie

10-10-11, 10:04 PM	#2353
Depth Charger Sailor man Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 45 Downloads: 205 Uploads: 0	Reduced Vis @ Stiebler I agree, easy to lock on when clear but hard when in reduced visibility or the dark. This is what I am doing to get my convoy identified as a convoy in poor vis - 1. Draw up on the side of the convoy until your chaps can see the outer escort. He still cant see you, turn to same heading as him. 2. ID the escort - and check it in the little book. You will see that you have done this correctly if you see it's visual radius displayed in dotted lines on the map and you will be just outside of it. If not, then you have got the wrong ship in the book, search until you get a match. 3. Pull ahead and then gradually turn in front of the escort taking care not cross over the visual outline in front of it. 4. As you get directly ahead of it, your chaps will start to call out that they can now also see the lead escort in front of the convoy which will be about 90 degrees on your side and the side escort you pulled ahead of will now be about 180 degrees behind you. By then, you will also start to see a ship or two on the top side corner of the convoy which is the weak spot you are moving into. 5. Move as close as possible to the side of the lead escort and then reduce power so as to slowly slide as deep as possible back into the weak spot minding the ship behind you. (This is really cool if you it do from the tower with your WO calling the range and you manually adjusting speed and direction as you go.) 6. Shortly after, your men will start to call out that they can see more and more ships in the top side corner of the convoy and you will also note that if you zoom out on the map, you can see the large convoy symbol meaning that you can then send your contact report. 7. You can then pull ahead by up to 20k's and it will still keep the convoy id when you lock on to any ship in that convoy meaning you can tc at 128/256 for the rest. (Might not be same for you but works for me.) Also, I struggle in fog as you just cant get close enough to get them to id enough ships without blundering about. The maneuver also stops being effective when radar appears. However, I think that this was historically accurate in that surface attacks ceased with the advent of radar and getting lost in the fog sounds realistic to me as well. Am enjoying your guys mod tremendously, thank you! DC Last edited by Depth Charger; 10-11-11 at 01:44 PM.

10-11-11, 03:47 AM	#2354
h.sie Admiral Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 2,192 Downloads: 131 Uploads: 0	@Rhodes: If V15G2 works, but - according to your observation - the Stiebler-Addon causes a CTD, then one has to focus on the Addons. I have not looked into his according soucecodes yet and also think that Stiebler is surely more competent to find a possible bug (if existent), but as a starting point you can do the following: 1) Tell us whether the CTD is reproduceable or not. If so, when exactly does it occur? 2) Disable all Fixes that come with the Addon. Does the CTD still occur? 3) Then enable one of them you like most. Does the CTD occur? 4) Continue with the other 3-4 fixes - one by one ...... __________________ My Mediafire page: http://www.mediafire.com/hsie

10-11-11, 04:00 AM	#2355
Rhodes Silent Hunter Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Figueira da Foz, Portugal Posts: 4,486 Downloads: 109 Uploads: 0	1.The CTD occurs when loading the mission or patrol, when the red bar reaches almost the "final section". 2.I disable almost all of the right colun in the options selector and still occur, but did not disable all, will do that today and see what the result. 3. idem But I like all, . In the afternoon I will get some time to do this, then I post here what I got. Thank you and sorry for all this! __________________ http://www.flickr.com/photos/16416646@N05/