[REL] Increased ASW

After unzipping, place the increased ASW mod in the MODS folder of your SHIII directory. You must be running SHIII with the 1.4 patch and with GWX 2.0. The increased ASW mod was designed for use with GWX 2.0 and has not been tested with any other installation and probably will not work with them. The recommended installation method for the increased ASW mod is to use JSGME. Otherwise, back up your data folder, copy the mod files and paste them in their appropriate folders. Do NOT install this mod mid-patrol. You must first exit SHIII completely before enabling/installing this mod.

I've tried to keep this as historical/realistic as possible, yet also add a bit of additional 'thrill'. The changes made fall into two categories: Air and Sea.

Air:

1) setting all bombs so that they detonate when they impact the water, or just below.

2) setting the air depth charges to detonate at 9 meters (which isn't exactly historic, I'll admit; from what I've been able to research 7.9 meters seems to be the 'normal' depth setting, although I've only been able to find the tech details for British air depth charges so far).

3) setting the 'explosiveness' of air depth charges to match up to the weight of explosives they normally carried.

4) setting the sink rate of air depth charges to match the historical sink rates.
5) modified the Catalina, Sunderland, Wellington, select Liberator and select Fortress aircraft with ASW loadouts.

6) changed the Campaign_RND.mis and Campaign_SCR files so that theabovementioned aircraft carry the ASW loadouts (where appropriate).

7) ASW patrol aircraft now have the potential of spotting a submerged U-boat running at periscope depth. Their chances of spotting a U-boat and/or maintaining visual contact depends on several factors: day versus night, wind speed/weather conditions, clear versus foggy, whether they've already visually spotted the U-boat before it submerged, etc.

Basically, if you spot an aircraft at long range and dive right away you should be fine. If you delay diving you may wind up being bracketed with bombs going off on the surface above you and air depth charges going off below water *around* you. And if you get bushwacked and jumped (say, at night, or in a storm) and you get caught on the *surface*, well . . . . .

Sea:

Most British DDs and DEs begin carrying the Mark VII heavy depth charges starting September 1942. The Mark VII heavy had a somewhat improved sink rate from the addition of lead to the depth charge.

US DDs and DEs begin carrying the Mark 9 'fast sinker' depth charge starting June 1943. Designed to sink fast and detonate at up to 1000 feet, the Mark 9 was aerodynamically shaped, lead-weighted and finned. The lead weight and teardrop shape more than doubled its sink rate, while the fins spun it for stabilization while it sank and also produced a more reliable sink rate resulting in predictable depth charge patterns. Unfortunately I wasn't able to decrease its horizontal 'wandering' so I tightened the vertical as a compensation of sorts. And, of course, the Mark 9 actually *looks* like a Mark 9!

I'd like to thank the GWX team for providing such a wonderful expansion mod. I would have stopped playing SHIII long ago if it hadn't been for their work.

Thanks and credit:

skwasjer; without his wonderful Silent 3ditor I'd never have managed (or attempted!) to do any of this!

Kpt. Lehmann for permission to release modified GWX files

And special thanks and credit to: fury of a seraph; the Mark 9 graphics are entirely his work.

Feedback, comments and critiques are always appreciated!

~Albrecht von Hesse
albrecht_von_hesse@yahoo.com

http://hosted.filefront.com/vonHesse/
http://files.filefront.com/Increased.../fileinfo.html

The Mark 9:

[Graf Paper]

I hate you AvH! Making life harder for us Kaleuns! :p

Downloading and installing this one right away!

[Tomcattwo]

AvH, as these files affect Campaign_RND.mis and Campaign_SCR.mis, both of which I think are affected by Real Weather Fix 2 (RWF), I am assuming I must install this before anything that modifies scene.dat that I intend to fix using RWF, and then modify with RWF using your new files - is that correct?
R/
TC2

Originally Posted by Tomcattwo

AvH, as these files affect Campaign_RND.mis and Campaign_SCR.mis, both of which I think are affected by Real Weather Fix 2 (RWF), I am assuming I must install this before anything that modifies scene.dat that I intend to fix using RWF, and then modify with RWF using your new files - is that correct?
R/
TC2

Errrr . . . I'm not sure. As I'd said, I haven't tested this with any other non-GWX mod, so I've no idea what the result might be. The increased ASW mod doesn't effect scene.dat if that helps any. However, if the RWF mod replaces the Campaign_RND.mis and Campaign_SCR.mis files instead of selectibly modifying them, then there will be a problem.

The only change the increased ASW mod makes in the Campaign_RND.mis and Campaign_SCR.mis files are replacing the ordnance loadouts in some of the aircraft to ASW loadouts. If another mod overwrites the Campaign_RND.mis and Campaign_SCR.mis files then those changes will, of course, be lost. That should have only a minor impact to the increased ASW mod; all the ASW loadouts do is give the aircraft (that seemed to me, anyway ) assigned to ASW patrols a mixed ordnance of bombs and air depth charges. The loadouts assigned them from the stock GWX files were straight air depth charges.

If I had to pick an answer I'd say installing the increased ASW mod should be done first and then fix what you wish to fix with RWF. Let me know how it works if you try it, please.

Will this mod need to be changed or updated when GWX 2.1 is released?

[Tomcattwo]

AvH said:

If another mod overwrites the Campaign_RND.mis and Campaign_SCR.mis files then those changes will, of course, be lost. That should have only a minor impact to the increased ASW mod; all the ASW loadouts do is give the aircraft (that seemed to me, anyway ) assigned to ASW patrols a mixed ordnance of bombs and air depth charges. The loadouts assigned them from the stock GWX files were straight air depth charges.

If I had to pick an answer I'd say installing the increased ASW mod should be done first and then fix what you wish to fix with RWF. Let me know how it works if you try it, please.

Yes, this is the case if you use, for instance, OLC's new Environment mod, which alter scene.dat. RWF is an update to scene.dat and to .mis capaign files. In order to use RWF with anything that modifies scene.dat or any of the campaign .mis files, I believe the user needs to do the following:

1) install Increased ASW mod using JSGME
2) copy campaign\campaigns\ folders from SH3_GWX\data into folder for \MODS\OLC environment\data and put a copy of the realweatherfix.exe there also. Double click realweatherfix.exe and clean up
3) Then install OLC environment using JSGME. (will give you a warning about interactions with increased ASW mod - this is OK since you just fixed OLC environment to use the increased ASW mod's .mis files)

This process will ensure that RWF is applied to OLC's scene.dat AND to the increased ASW mod .mis files when you install the OLC environment mod.

This is what I did. Loaded OK with no crashes and I am just beginning a new patrol. No adverse problems noted so far.
R/
TC2
U-77

[xristoskaiti]

in the Mediterranean Sea the possibility of pointing out of
submerged u-boat they is roughly up to 25m.with clean wheather
will exist a future change for this??

[xristoskaiti]

I made a SingleMission with submerged u-boat the -12 but airplanes
they do not see me . whether has become some error with sensor?

[Fury of a Seraph]

Despite the array of setbacks and "head-smack-Duhs" we encountered, it was fun.
Glad you folks like it.

Originally Posted by Graf Paper

I hate you AvH! Making life harder for us Kaleuns! :p

Why, thank you! Every future curse my direction will be music to my ears!

Originally Posted by von Zelda

Will this mod need to be changed or updated when GWX 2.1 is released?

If GWX 2.1 makes any changes to the files utilized by the increased ASW mod then, yes, the mod will need to be updated in order to be compatible. I'll have to wait (just like the rest of us :p ) until the 2.1 release in order to review what, if any, changes I'll need to make.

@Tomcattwo: Thank you for the detailed explanation and instructions. I really wasn't sure how things needed to be worked.

Originally Posted by xristoskaiti

in the Mediterranean Sea the possibility of pointing out of
submerged u-boat they is roughly up to 25m.with clean wheather
will exist a future change for this??

I'd have to see what ASW aircraft patrol the Mediterranean but, yes, I don't see why I couldn't do that. In order to do so I'd have to create a small mod that you'd have to enable before running Mediterranean patrols though, and disable prior to playing elsewhere.

Originally Posted by xristoskaiti

I made a SingleMission with submerged u-boat the -12 but airplanes
they do not see me . whether has become some error with sensor?

There are several reasons why you might not have been spotted:

1. I tried very hard to discern which aircraft appeared to be used for typical, dedicated ASW patrols. As best as I could figure out (and please, if anyone knows better let me know) they were the Catalina, Sunderland and Wellington, along with select Liberator and select Fortress aircraft. Those were the only ones I'd modified to give them the ability to 'look down' below the surface. I decided that for several reasons, but the deciding rationale was that personnel assigned ASW patrols would be more skilled at discerning possible submerged contacts than your J-average pilot.
2. Just because the above aircraft now have the ability to 'look below' doesn't give them X-ray vision. If they have no idea you're in the area they most likely will not detect you if they pass over a submerged U-boat. However, if they've visually spotted you on the surface at a distance, and by the time they've reached your position you've already gone to periscope depth (in other words, their sensor state is now 'alert') then they will be able to visually spot you submerged.

In your single mission, first assure the aircraft is one of the ASW-dedicated ones. Then when you run the mission, wait until your watch crew announces they've spotted an aircraft, then go to periscope depth. I think you'll find they'll do a good job of shadwing your submerged boat.



If anyone else has feedback on the 'look-down' performance of the ASW aircraft i'd appreciate it. I've tested that with around 40 missions, but nothing is quite like players' testing and reviews!

~Albrecht

[Sailor Steve]

Looks like a good one; I'm looking forward to it.

I do have one question: does it reflect real-life blast radii? The stock game has sub's being killed by DCs going off as much as 25 meters away. There was a 'Real DC' mod back in the early days that reduced it to a more historical 8 meters. Just wonderin'.

[Jimbuna]

The Mark 9 is looking cool Albrecht

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Looks like a good one; I'm looking forward to it.

I do have one question: does it reflect real-life blast radii? The stock game has sub's being killed by DCs going off as much as 25 meters away. There was a 'Real DC' mod back in the early days that reduced it to a more historical 8 meters. Just wonderin'.

Right now the radii settings use the .zon ones of GWV 2. I'm going to play around the next few days adjusting the depth precision and explosion settings of the .sim files along with the radii settings of the .zon file and see what results I get (although I'm positive the GWX team has done just that, too).

The research I've done so far gives me good ideas as the comparison of 'pressure hull cracking' distances versus 'minor damage' ones. But that has to be balanced against depth precision and explosion range, and min/max hit points worth of the explosion. Quite a few variables there --grins--

I'll see what I come up with.

Originally Posted by jimbuna

The Mark 9 is looking cool Albrecht

I'm glad you like it. I think they look pretty cool, too. But the credit for the graphics go to fury of a seraph; he did all the modeling and texturing.

[Subtype Zero]

Very cool mod, von Hesse--but I am too afraid to use it!