[REL] FOTRS Ultimate Project

[torpedobait]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Stock game does that also. As the Save File grows, the game slows. The further into a Career you go, the bigger the file, the slower the game. However, I haven't noticed that on my quad-core, though I had mostly been doing GFO the last few years, until the FotRSU project came along. That 100,000 ton patrol you had, that was FotRSU? Do you remember the dates of your patrol, and what was your home port? Do you happen to have an approximate "count" of the number of vessels you sank? If you go into the Headquarter's Office and look at the log, are all the ships sunk listed there? You're like cdrsubron7, running into all that traffic...

11 ships, sailing out of Pearl Harbor starting 11/1/42 and ending 12/19/42. Tonnage included 2 European Built Liners, 1 Whale Factory Ship, one 10k ton tanker, and the rest were medium to large freighters.

I think you are right that it is due to the size of the save file, having encountered this previously in TMO. I doubt seriously that it is pure FOTARS related. I have made 2 patrols since. On the first one we claimed 52K tons, and the second was 84k tons - I must hang out in the right places - none were from Harbor hunting, which is no fun anymore. On the return crossing of the Pacific from those two patrols, I was able to cruise along at 8192x with no problem! I am going to withdraw my complaint and chalk it up to being exceptionally lucky in the kills department.

Thank you for your attention. You guys are GOOD!

If the size of the save file causes the TC to stutter then deleting save events should help with this, would it not? I remove previous save events as I play using the Save and Delete, just keeping the last save point that I known will provide a recovery point if I need it.

[CapnScurvy]

Originally Posted by torpedobait

I get multiple "yes sirs" from the "fire at will" command, and when changing depth commands (can't remember who is acknowledging the order).

That's a BIG help.

The "Fire at Will" command goes to the Weapons Officer....its his set of "Yes Sir" that's going to need fixing. The "Change in Depth" command goes to the Helmsman....its his group of "Yes Sir" that's stinking up things. Sounds like a quick fix isn't going to do it.

I'll need to change everyone of them. Lets see....27 times nine=243


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Originally Posted by jidjs

I get the "radar" announcement (Aircraft Spotted) even if the boat has no surface radar or if it's turned off. Like wise when SD antenae is not up. The "radar" announcement is from the circling aircraft. Only clears up about 25nm from the base.

The "Aircraft Spotted" phrase comes from the SD component of the Radar units. SD radar is on all boats, at the start of the war. In the stock game the plane is displayed on the Navigation Map in either a "Triangle" symbol, or a plane silhouette, depending on what map zoom level you use. You can not turn off the SD radar like the SJ units (the SJ surface search works both the A-Scope and PPI radar screens only.....unlike the stock games SJ radar screens, planes are displayed on them too).

SD stays "on" all the time. The only time you get the SD to "not work" is when you're submerged and the SD radar antenna is below the water line. You have two types of SD Antenna's....... a late war, and an early war type.

The early war looks like this:



This picture is with the Early War SD Antenna extended while the sub is at "Radar Depth"....notice the SJ Antenna "dish" in front of the search light. It does not extend, but it does rotate.

The Late War SD Antenna looks like this:



You say the SD works "when SD antenae in not up"....that's not right, I've never seen this. When the sub is submerged and the SD Radar Antenna is retracted.....you won't get a call from the Radioman about a "Plane Spotted". If I were you, check the outside camera to see if the antenna isn't sticking up out of the water.

[torpedobait]

Originally Posted by jldjs

If the size of the save file causes the TC to stutter then deleting save events should help with this, would it not? I remove previous save events as I play using the Save and Delete, just keeping the last save point that I known will provide a recovery point if I need it.

I only keep the save from a career standpoint when arriving in port, and the subsequent departure on a new mission (usually saved about 60Nm out). But I do take interim saves within a mission, and that would certainly affect the Save file I should think. I'll check that next time it happens.

[Larrywb57]

Hello Everyone,
First, allow me to say THANK YOU!! to each one that works on this project! When I read the thread, I'm amazed at the things I read and see.

I'm currently in version 0.53 when I come across this:

 

I sunk the lead ship and fired two torpedoes at the Fast Merchant which one hit, the second one missed. As the ship was leaving the area where the torpedo struck, I noticed that the blazes didn't continue with the ship. The ship sailed away with a small blaze close to the bow. I don't know if the blaze is burning on the surface because of oil that spilled out of the ship. Location is Lat 18 29'N Long 156 29'E and the date and time is 28Feb1943, 04:35 hrs at Midway. And no other mods are being used.

I have really enjoyed 'testing' this mod. Thanks for making it available!

Larry

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by Larrywb57

Hello Everyone,
First, allow me to say THANK YOU!! to each one that works on this project! When I read the thread, I'm amazed at the things I read and see.

I'm currently in version 0.53 when I come across this:

 

I sunk the lead ship and fired two torpedoes at the Fast Merchant which one hit, the second one missed. As the ship was leaving the area where the torpedo struck, I noticed that the blazes didn't continue with the ship. The ship sailed away with a small blaze close to the bow. I don't know if the blaze is burning on the surface because of oil that spilled out of the ship. Location is Lat 18 29'N Long 156 29'E and the date and time is 28Feb1943, 04:35 hrs at Midway. And no other mods are being used.

I have really enjoyed 'testing' this mod. Thanks for making it available!

Larry

That is a simulation of you striking a fuel cell, and it spilling and igniting. That is in the original FotRS. Unfortunately, the vessels do not appear to ever run out of fuel, in spite of you helping by "holing" the hull...

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy

You say the SD works "when SD antenae in not up"....that's not right, I've never seen this. When the sub is submerged and the SD Radar Antenna is retracted.....you won't get a call from the Radioman about a "Plane Spotted". If I were you, check the outside camera to see if the antenna isn't sticking up out of the water.

Thanks for explaining that. I should just have stated what was happening rather than guessing at the cause. What happened is the TC kept dropping to one with each newly spawned aircraft, not in visible range (beyond 10-15nm), and did not expect that if SD antennae was down. I was surfaced, not submerged. So if the SD is still on when not submerged is that the sensor that drops the TC?

[Larrywb57]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

That is a simulation of you striking a fuel cell, and it spilling and igniting. That is in the original FotRS. Unfortunately, the vessels do not appear to ever run out of fuel, in spite of you helping by "holing" the hull...

Thanks Propbeanie! Wasn't sure if that was the case.

Happy Hunting!

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by jldjs

Thanks for explaining that. I should just have stated what was happening rather than guessing at the cause. What happened is the TC kept dropping to one with each newly spawned aircraft, not in visible range (beyond 10-15nm), and did not expect that if SD antennae was down. I was surfaced, not submerged. So if the SD is still on when not submerged is that the sensor that drops the TC?

Unfortunately, yes. Hence our attempts to lower the frequency of flights around bases. FotRS and some other mods have constant CAP. We want to have them fly over you a couple-three times and then quit for a while. Same with patrol ships. - well... Not "fly-over" but "drive their ship around"...

[CapnScurvy]

Originally Posted by jldjs

What happened is the TC kept dropping to one with each newly spawned aircraft......(I) did not expect that .......if SD antennae was down. I was surfaced, not submerged. So if the SD is still on when not submerged is that the sensor that drops the TC?

That's correct, the SD being always "on" produces the drop in Time Compression when you're surfaced......no matter whether the SD antenna is up or down.

Running submerged, you'll not get a drop in TC (due to a plane report) unless you're running with the SD Radar antenna extended.

It's been a stock game issue that we've had to live with. Much like both A-Scope and PPI Radar screens each providing the same output, just in different ways. It would have been nice for the developers to have designated the A-Scope to SD Air Search duty; the PPI screen to SJ Surface Search duty; and kept the planes from showing up on the Navigation Map all together. But no, that's not what they did, and there's little we can do about it.

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy

That's correct, the SD being always "on" produces the drop in Time Compression when you're surfaced......no matter whether the SD antenna is up or down.

Running submerged, you'll not get a drop in TC (due to a plane report) unless you're running with the SD Radar antenna extended.

It's been a stock game issue that we've had to live with. Much like both A-Scope and PPI Radar screens each providing the same output, just in different ways. It would have been nice for the developers to have designated the A-Scope to SD Air Search duty; the PPI screen to SJ Surface Search duty; and kept the planes from showing up on the Navigation Map all together. But no, that's not what they did, and there's little we can do about it.

Thanks Capn, I'm learning, please keep on teaching

[CapnScurvy]

Right now, I'm going over the "Yes Sir" phrase of all AI Sub Crewman positions. That will take a bit of time.

I was just about to work on an issue I've run into with the game when a player encounters a ship (usually a warship) and yet, you don't hear it when a player uses the Hydrophone for himself. I've stated before that I've believed when a ship has its "MaxSpeed=" setting in its .sim file set at over half its current travel speed (set through the .mis files)....you won't hear it through the Hydrophones. Even if the thing is right beside the sub!!

For instance, a warship with a "MaxSpeed=32" won't be heard if its traveling 16 knots or less. I ran into this several times when starting a Campaign game outside Pearl Harbor, beginning 1943 (when you have Radar for my most recent Radar tests). Merchants don't usually have this issue because the average MaxSpeed for a merchant is around 15 knots or so, and their travel speed is a lot of times set at 8 or 9 knots (greater than half its MaxSpeed). The "Harbor" mission's within FOTRS Ultimate has (from time to time, it's random) several U.S. Destroyers passing by your "At Sea" start position. I couldn't help to notice a Clemson, a FletcherII (which by the way, needs a .sil image for the map marker), a Benson Destroyer, did not produce a sound to be heard through the Hydrophone! Although a far off convoy of merchants coming into port was heard just fine.

I think I've figured out why......but I'll have to test things further before I go crowing about a fix!!

==============

As far as the SD Radar, there might be a possible fix for it too. I'm beginning to think "outside the box" and I'm wondering if it's possible to eliminate the SD Radar all together and just use the SJ setup to do both. I've mentioned I've got the SJ to show planes detected with the SJ (I put it into FOTRS Ultimate some time ago).....why not use just the SJ to look for all possible targets and follow its detection results? I'm not sure what would become of the Navigation Map showing a planes whereabouts...or if it would even matter, if the plane is reported through the Text Message Box, and shown on the Radar screen?

Just thinking out loud now, but if I eliminated the SD completely from the game; using the SJ, which is capable to be turned off at the discretion of the player, what pitfalls or positives would there be? Just thinking out loud!?

========

More thinking this morning: I'm wondering if keeping the SD intact, but getting the Antenna to go below the waterline (which I'm assuming turns off the SD detection) while the sub is surfaced, would work?? I'm thinking THIS might be the answer. A shorter/smaller modeled pair of antennas would be necessary to "hide" them within the sub model when their retracted....but I think this may work.

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy

Right now, I'm going over the "Yes Sir" phrase of all AI Sub Crewman positions. That will take a bit of time.

I was just about to work on an issue I've run into with the game when a player encounters a ship (usually a warship) and yet, you don't hear it when a player uses the Hydrophone for himself. I've stated before that I've believed when a ship has its "MaxSpeed=" setting in its .sim file set at over half its current travel speed (set through the .mis files)....you won't hear it through the Hydrophones. Even if the thing is right beside the sub!!

For instance, a warship with a "MaxSpeed=32" won't be heard if its traveling 16 knots or less. I ran into this several times when starting a Campaign game outside Pearl Harbor, beginning 1943 (when you have Radar for my most recent Radar tests). Merchants don't usually have this issue because the average MaxSpeed for a merchant is around 15 knots or so, and their travel speed is a lot of times set at 8 or 9 knots (greater than half its MaxSpeed). The "Harbor" mission's within FOTRS Ultimate has (from time to time, it's random) several U.S. Destroyers passing by your "At Sea" start position. I couldn't help to notice a Clemson, a FletcherII (which by the way, needs a .sil image for the map marker), a Benson Destroyer, did not produce a sound to be heard through the Hydrophone! Although a far off convoy of merchants coming into port was heard just fine.

I think I've figured out why......but I'll have to test things further before I go crowing about a fix!!

==============

As far as the SD Radar, there might be a possible fix for it too. I'm beginning to think "outside the box" and I'm wondering if it's possible to eliminate the SD Radar all together and just use the SJ setup to do both. I've mentioned I've got the SJ to show planes detected with the SJ (I put it into FOTRS Ultimate some time ago).....why not use just the SJ to look for all possible targets and follow its detection results? I'm not sure what would become of the Navigation Map showing a planes whereabouts...or if it would even matter, if the plane is reported through the Text Message Box, and shown on the Radar screen?

Just thinking out loud now, but if I eliminated the SD completely from the game; using the SJ, which is capable to be turned off at the discretion of the player, what pitfalls or positives would there be? Just thinking out loud!?

========

More thinking this morning: I'm wondering if keeping the SD intact, but getting the Antenna to go below the waterline (which I'm assuming turns off the SD detection) while the sub is surfaced, would work?? I'm thinking THIS might be the answer. A shorter/smaller modeled pair of antennas would be necessary to "hide" them within the sub model when their retracted....but I think this may work.

{Maxwell Smart} Ahh yesh, the old "fake bomb" trick, the old "invisible target" trick... {Maxwell Smart}

How does the game have the SD radar on the S Boats? You have to "buy" it with renown, right? The first couple of missions you run in a new career with an "S" Boat, and you don't even have SD enabled, correct? How do they do that?

[CapnScurvy]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

How does the game have the SD radar on the S Boats? You have to "buy" it with renown, right? The first couple of missions you run in a new career with an "S" Boat, and you don't even have SD enabled, correct? How do they do that?

Well, let me get back to you on that......I've got to check before opening my mouth!!

As far as I've known, the SD Air Search is enabled for ALL subs at the start of war. Its a stock game feature that's put on all U.S. subs (even though it was poorly developed....no radar set displaying its findings etc.). The SJ Surface Search comes along mid 1942 (which does display its findings on both A-Scope and PPI screens).


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Just ran the first Campaign mission from the Asiatic Fleet base in Manila....start of war. The S-18 has SD "On Boat", and found a plane traveling from north to south half way between the "At Sea" start point and the Manila base. SD working as expected.

[propbeanie]

Ratz... must be the way that the Aleutian Campaign was set-up then... let me look closer at that later on today or probably late this evening, and I'll see why I'm not getting radar reports up there... I'm almost certain I had to "upgrade" in order to get it... but I might be dreaming of SH1 again... - shtinking oldmanitis...