[REL] Traveller Mod for TMO

[Traveller]

Here's the complete version change log to give you all an idea just how much Traveller Mod grew and evolved over time:


The main purpose of this mod is to give experienced players more of a challenge, and at the same time encouraging them to play more historically and realistically. Reckless behavior will have dire consequences for your submarine and her crew. Also, I am hoping the many new features I have added will increase your enjoyment of the game.

Thank you everyone for using my mods, and for your feedback. I have put many, many hours into creating, tweaking, and testing them. And I have tried to find the best balance between difficulty, realism, and playability. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have. Have fun, but be careful!

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v1.1


- Added an independent submarine pressure hull.

I decided to add an independent submarine pressure hull due to removing the original hull damage from the game. On the sub-systems screen you will see a small skull and crossbones icon located under the 'Crew Berths' compartment. This represents the current hull pressure integrity for the whole submarine, which covers stem to stern. If the pressure hull becomes damaged, the red damage bar will begin to rise. Pressure hull damage is permanent and cannot be repaired by your crew while at sea. If the pressure hull damage reaches 100% (1), your submarine will begin to sink very soon, even if you are on the surface. And there is nothing you can do to stop it, except maybe prepare to meet Davy Jones himself. This sinking effect represents complete pressure hull failure. Extra compartment flooding will not happen until the pressure hull completely fails. Be especially careful if you are attacked on the surface. A few shell holes or 1 close aerial bomb can sink your sub. (I am aware of the bug that shows the skull and crossbones icon on the surface radar for the S-class submarines. Once I track down the cause, I will incude the fix in a future version)


- Added ability for submarine to sit on the seabed floor and take no damage, even with compartment flooding.

It always bothered me in SH3 and SH4 that there was no way to sit on the seabed floor or mud like in Aces of the Deep (anyone remember that one?) without taking hull and equipment damage. Well, now you can- even if you have compartment flooding. It really enhances gameplay, but there are a few limitations people need to be aware of: One is the sub will not sit directly touching the seabed. There will be a visible gap of a few feet. This is due to submarine equipment damage box perimeters protruding out from the bottom causing collision damage when the hull touches the seabed. There are too many negative side effects and not enough benefits in changing those perimeters. Also, if you have flooding, the submarine will probably move around slowly with the currents while parked on the seabed floor- especially if you are in shallow waters. Thirdly, you will hear collision sounds sometimes, and the interior lights may flicker. But this doesn't mean your sub is taking damage. There really is no workaround to prevent this. Having the ability for sub to sit on the seabed floor and take no damage wasn't even an intended original feature of SH4, and my implementation of this feature isn't perfect, but I feel it's good enough to get the job done!


- Decreased contact mine damage.





v1.2


- Made slight adjustments to added spheres that were preventing correct ship ramming damage.


- Decreased depth charge blast damage radius.






v2.0


- Adjusted most camera angles. Also increased camera rotation speeds.


- Adjusted various equipment hitpoints and armor ratings.


- Reduced flooded compartment weights, and strengthened bulkheads to create more drawn out 'ordeals'.


- Reduced depth charge maximum blast damage radius.


- Adjusted depth charge depth precision settings.


- Reduced AI escort difficulty. Still hard, but not impossible. I have also included the original TMO AI escorts file for those who prefer much harder gameplay. Also, while I did tune down the AI sensors settings a bit, at the same time I increased the time enemy surface escorts will remain in the area searching for you after losing contact to 30 minutes.


- Corrected the missing S-18 and S-42 Propeller Shafts on the equipment screen.


- Removed 'Crew Berthing' compartment from S-18, S-42, Porpoise, Salmon, Tambor, and Sargo class submarines.


- Renamed all 'Damage Control Team' compartments to 'Repair Team / Medic', plus reduced Repair Team / Medic crew slots down to 2. Also renamed S-18 and S-42 'Sensors Stations' to 'Conning Tower'.


- Added bulkhead compartment lables. They will now show which compartment they are, making identification easier in the Repair Team repair box. Also added labels for the Dive Plane Transmissions. They will now show 'Fore' or 'Aft' for easier identification in the Repair Team repair box.


- Mr. Fix-it and Medic special abilities now only work in the 'Repair Team / Medic' slot. You do not need to be at battle stations for the medic to heal injured crew, or for Mr. Fix-it to start repairing destroyed equipment. As long as they are in the 'Repair Team / Medic' slot, the green cross or wrench will light up and they will do their jobs.


- 1 Mr. Fix-it and 1 Medic crewman now come standard on every submarine. Be sure to protect these 2 very important crewmen. Their safety might mean the difference between life and death for your entire boat.


- Removed all special crew abilities except for Mr. Fix-it and Medic. Petty Officers now have a 5-15% chance of acquiring either of these important skills.


- Overhauled the crew injury / healing system. Healing and recovery takes much longer now, and the medic skill plays a much more important role. Crew recovery from injuries can take days or weeks now when a medic is aboard, and can take much, much, longer if there is no medic. Any crewmember with less than 80% health remaining is permanently wounded and cannot recover while at sea, even with a medic on board. The damage control team slots have been renamed 'Repair Team / Medic'. To use your medic, place him in one of the Repair Team / Medic slots. The green cross will light up, telling you he is on duty tending to the wounded. Leave him in there to speed up healing of your injured crew, but be warned- the recovery process can still take days or weeks... depending on the amount of injuries. Remember, if you remove your medic from the 'Repair Team / Medic' slot, he will stop healing your crew, and they might never recover on their own.

Also, crew leader efficiency bonuses have been removed. This was done to model hurt crew becoming incapacitated due to their injuries. Originally in the game, a crew member's efficiency could never go down to zero, unless dead. This was due to them always receiving leader efficiency bonuses, even if their health was very low. Not anymore. If your crew's health goes below 90, they will become fully incapacitated from their injuries, with an efficiency of zero. This simulates them being bed-ridden and unable to perform their duties. If your crew's health goes below 80, they will become fully and PERMANENTLY incapacitated (until returning to port) from their injuries, with an efficiency of zero. Be extremely careful. If large numbers of your crew get badly injured, your submarine could become crippled.


- Decreased Watch Deck watch crews and gun crews injury exposure.


- Reduced S-18, S-42, Porpoise, Salmon, Tambor, and Sargo class submarine crew numbers down to more historical amounts. Crew complement numbers are now the following:

S-18, S-42: 42

Porpoise: 60

Salmon: 60

Tambor: 60

Sargo: 60


- Reduced gap between hull botton and seabed down to 5 feet. It's the closest I can get it without redoing all the submarine equipment zone dimensions.


- Added my More Frequent Weather Changes v1.1 mod. Makes weather change more quickly. Especially effective at lower time compression speeds of 256x-512x.


- Added my Clouds v1.1 mod. Greatly reduces cloud morphing speeds. Cloud shapes will now change MUCH more slowly than before, but they do change. I think they are now modelled more closely to real-world cloud behavior. Also makes cloud shadows visible now. You will now see cloud shadows on the water, plus they drift around. When passing into a shadow, things will get a bit darker. I tried to adjust it to where the shadows are noticeable, but not too dark. Not really a functional addition, but adds to the atmosphere of the game.


- Made nights much darker.


- Made wave shapes slightly more choppy.


- Decreased lifeboat movement speeds.


- Fixed Tambor and Tench campaign upgrade bug.






2.01


** Starting from Traveller Mod v2.01, Run Silent, Run Deep Campaign (RSRD) v502 for TMO will be required to play. **



- Added new variations of Japanese patrol aircraft. There are now 4 different behavior types you might encounter:

* The first behavior is the normal low-level attack. I have tweaked the aircraft to attack faster and die less from their bomb explosions.

* The second behavior is the torpedo attack. H6K and H8K patrol aircraft now sometimes carry torpedoes and will attack you on the surface, or submerged if spotted.

* The third behavior is shadowing. These aircraft cruise around at very high altitude. Upon being spotted, they won't attack. Instead, they will follow or 'shadow' the your sub as long as you remain on the surface. The whole while they will radio in your position, and other enemy aircraft or surface escorts may show up later. The shadowing aircraft will follow you as long as their fuel holds out. Most patrol are radar-equipped, so they will be able to follow you after dark.

* The last behavior only applies to the G4M Betties. They will now do either low-level attacks, or higher level bomb runs.



- F1M2 Pete patrol aircraft are no longer visually blind. They will now be able to spot a surfaced sub. Upon being spotted, they will either shadow or dive bomb.


- H6K patrol aircraft will now remain in service from 1941-1942. H8K patrol aircraft will enter service starting in 1943, in which time the H6k's will be phased out.


- Adjusted aircraft armor and hitpoints.


- Aircraft will now start smoking at 80% damage, and catch fire / explode at 98% damage.


- Re-implemented the Diving Expert crew special ability.


- Increased renown cost of recruiting crew members, based on rank and special abilities. I did this to prevent captains from abusing the ability to recruit new crew after previous crew members are killed in combat, with little consequence of their recklessness.


- Upon promotion, Petty Officers and above now have a 5-25% chance of acquiring the Mr. Fix-it, Medic, or Diving Expert skill... depending on their rank.


- If your crew's health goes below 95%, they will now become fully incapacitated from their injuries, with an efficiency of zero. This simulates them being bed-ridden and unable to perform their duties. If your crew's health goes below 90%, they will now become fully and PERMANENTLY incapacitated (until returning to port) from their injuries, with an efficiency of zero.


- Reduced Gar class submarine crew complement down to a more historical amount of 60. Also removed Gar class Crew Berthing compartment.


- Increased sub crew vulnerablility when manning deck and AA guns.


- Adjusted maximum ranges of Japanese patrol aircraft to more historical amounts, taking into account emergency fuel reserves.


- Japanese air torpedoes dropped by patrol aircraft will now usually sink the player's sub with one hit.


- Corrected the missing submarine AA gun sound.


- Adjusted watch deck camera angle to be able to view high-flying enemy patrol aircraft directly overhead.


- * optional * Cold weather crew clothing. All crew will now wear either jackets all the time, or rain gear in wet conditions... regardless of the season. Good for those long patrols to cooler climates. (if you are using the optional Cold Weather Crew Clothing version, install it last)


- * optional * Traveller Mod v2.01 for TMO compatibility patch for Longer Sinking Times (TMO) v2. Makes Traveller Mod v2.01 for TMO compatible with Bilge Rat's Longer Sinking Times_TMO_v2.


- * optional * No Midway Transfer. Prevents base transfer from Pearl Harbor to Midway after 1942 in campaign games. Player will be based at Pearl for the duration of the war.





v2.02


- Added falling bomb sound effect to all bombs. You will now hear them whistling as they fall toward you.


- Slightly increased minimum bomb damage amounts.


- All G4M Betty bombers not carrying torpedoes will now only bomb from higher altitudes as they usually would have. They may sometimes even shadow you for a little while.


- B5N2 Kate bombers will now all attack from higher altitude, unless carrying torpedoes.


- Slightly increased minimum flight altitude of all low-level attack aircraft.


- Due to game AI logic... Some low-level enemy aircaft will automatically attack on each pass. Others will make contiuous passes without attacking. It all depends on enemy aircraft skill level, plus player sub surface speed.


- Decreased number of enemy air patrols. Though if your sub is spotted, more aircraft will probably soon be scrambled to your location.


- Switched back to the 90%/80% temporary/permanent injured and incapacitated crew. 90% or below health = temporary incapacitation. 80% or below health = permanent incapacitation.


- Increased length of all torpedo wakes, plus added new wake foam.


- Increased deck gun hitpoints.






v2.03


- Decreased the number of enemy air patrols even more. Also decreased number of enemy aircraft that will scramble to your location if spotted. (thanks Armistead for the playtesting and feedback!)


- Enemy bomber and patrol aircraft will now be able to spot the silhouette of your submarine from the air while at periscope depth, even with periscope lowered. Be careful, especially in calm waters!


- Increased bomb damage. One or two well-placed bombs will now likely disable your sub.


- Increased airbase aircrew modifiers.


- Increased wave height and adjusted shape.


- Weather report text will now show 'Visibility: Excellent; Good; Moderate; Poor' instead of 'Fog None; Light; Medium; Heavy'.


- Included my new and updated More Frequent Weather Changes v1.2 mod. Weather changes will now occur much more often than before, even when playing at higher time compression. (Credit to Leovampire and Subtype Zero for providing technical support)


- * optional * Updated version of Rescue Sub v1.2 which is compatible with the latest Traveller Mod v2.03





v2.04

- All Japanese bases now have surface radar, radar warning, and DF sensors. Range depends on early or late war versions. Early war versions start from early 1942 until early 1943, and the sensors have a range of up to 185 miles. Late war versions start start from early 1943 until the end of the war, and the sensors have a range of up to 275 miles. I based these range numbers and dates on some of the Japanese WW2 land-based surface radar/DF info I came across.


- Over 525 strategically-placed enemy coastal visual observation posts added. There are now enemy observation posts along coastal regions. They will be able to spot your sub and report your position. You will not see them or know your position was reported. The Japanese home islands are especially well-guarded. No more waltzing into Tokyo harbor on the surface. Important bases such as Wake and Truk are also very well-covered. These posts are manned by Japanese military personnel, and also by well-trained local sympathizers. All posts are equipped with high-powered binoculars, spotting scopes, and communication radios. They will be able to spot a surfaced sub during daylight in clear weather at a distance of up to 20 miles. They may even be able to spot your scope while submerged if close enough.


- Over 50 strategically-placed enemy radar posts added. These custom units also have the same surface radar, radar warning, and DF sensor capabilities as Japanese bases. The Japanese military has their islands well-covered with this radar detection network. Important Japanese naval harbors are especially well-protected. Use extreme caution when cruising on the surface near the Japanese islands.


- Wake Island will now have a small Japanese seaplane base starting from December 27 until the end of the war.


- Tweaked Japanese air base aircraft types and amounts. Japanese air bases will now deploy Kyushu Q1W1 anti-submarine bombers from January 1945. Also added Zero fighters and B5N2 Kate level bombers to most Japanese air bases. Plus all Japanese air bases now have some type of patrol aircraft. You should now encounter more variety of enemy aircraft in your patrols.


- US sub hydrophone sensors will no longer work while surfaced, due to wave noise interference. They will now only work at aapproximately periscope depth or deeper.


- Adjusted enemy aircraft visual capabilities. They were a bit blind in version 2.03.


- Reduced aircraft spotting capabilities when detecting a submerged sub. Enemy aircraft will now most likely not be able to spot your sub when below periscope depth.


- Reduced number of enemy aircaft patrols and instances. If you are encountering large numbers of enemy aircraft, you are probably being detected by land-based radar or observation posts!


- Decreased wave size.


- Added a Traveller Mod 2.04 compatibility patch for OTC 1.5 users (optional)






v2.05

- Removed the captain's log screen. Also removed the ship sunk and aircraft destroyed icons from the map.
The 'She's going down!' sound officer message still shows, as it is hard-coded and cannot be completely removed. So you will still automatically know you sank a ship. You just won't know which one unless you visually confirm it!

These changes were done to add a bit more realism and challenge to SH4, by removing the certainty of automatic identification and location when a unit is destroyed. As captain, you will have to now guess the identity/tonnage and location of the sinking. If you shoot off a couple of torpedoes at periscope depth, and then dive, there will be great uncertainty about which ship was sunk. Even though the destroyed unit icons were removed from the map, it is still possible to manually add marks to the map with the pencil tool when a ship is sunk or aircraft shot down. Hopefully this will give you, as captain, a bit more realism and interaction with the game. Upon returning to port, your captain's log will only show 'ship' as type sunk. Unfortunately there is no workaround for this due to the way SH4 shares certain file info. So try to think of it as more realistic gameplay. You will have to write down every ship sinking ID and tonnage based on your own judgement using the recognition manual. But the tonnages and dates will still show in the captain's log. Just not the exact ship ID.


- Added a custom-made F1M Pete floatplane which is landed and floats on the water. Damage model is included.


- Added a challenging custom campaign mission where you will be assigned to find a hidden enemy seaplane base, sneak in, and shell the parked seaplanes.


- Reverted back to the original smaller waves. The larger waves were damaging surface ships over time.






v2.06

- Added 2 optional patches... 'Hardcore' and 'Super Hardcore' versions. Can you handle the challenge, Captain???

Hardcore: Removes the unit auto-identification of all units in the periscope and TDB views. Also removes the ship and submarine auto-identification on the strategic map. Aircraft and land units will still be auto-identified by your crew on the map.

Super Hardcore: Same as Hardcore version, but also removes the auto-identification of all units on the strategic map, except for land bases.



- Added F1M Pete and H6K Mavis aircraft blueprint drawings to the recognition manual.


- Adjusted the 'Find Enemy Seaplane Base' campaign mission.






v2.1

- Added custom enemy land-based fuel storage tanks. These large fuel storage tanks can be destroyed with surface guns, and will explode easily when hit. When destroyed, they will burn for approximately two days. New explosion and fire graphics are included. Secondary explosions also added for atmosphere. These new fuel storage tanks are now located around various enemy ports and seaplane bases. Once destroyed, they are destroyed for good. They will not be rebuilt again later. More locations to come in future versions. Also included are two custom campaign mission where the captain is assigned to destroy fuel storage tanks in enemy ports.


- Added customized landed/floating versions of various float planes. These include American PBY-4, plus Japanese F1M, H6K, and H8K. All include damage models and static propellers. You will find these planes parked near a few various float plane bases and harbors. More locations to come in future versions.


- Added groups of enemy bomber and fighter patrols around the Japanese main islands. These groups consist of 6-8 aircraft, and will attack on sight.


- Added new G4M torpedo bombers. These bombers now carry a single torpedo and will attack from low altitude. Also added new B5N2 Kate level bombers. These small bombers will drop bombs from medium-high altitude.


- Added Allied fighter patrols near Freemantle, Brisbane, Midway, and Pearl Harbor. If you notice any of these aircraft buzzing the port, get their number and report them!


- Added Nakajima A6M2-N floatplane patrols. Also added guns and bombs to them. They will now strafe and bomb.


- Added Zero fighter patrols. Also, all enemy bases now have some type of fighter cover.


- Added guns to F1M Pete patrol planes. They will now make multiple strafe runs.


- Increased firepower damage of Zero 20mm cannon shells. Also reduced shell storage amounts down to more historical amounts.


- Reduced aircraft shadow patrol amounts. There will now be fewer shadow aircraft patrols, and in return, more attack aircraft patrols. Now for about every three enemy aircraft patrols launched, one will be a shadow patrol (~33%). This should somewhat reduce the large swarms of shadow aircraft following the sub around on the surface.


- Changed the completion of defect fixes of Mk14 torpedoes to a more historical date of September 1943. Also added radio messages based on historical dates telling captains what detonater to use.


- Restored the original aircraft map icons on the strategic map for practical gameplay reasons. Aircraft icons will be visible again when zoomed in close.


- Added a few new campaign game radio messages and War News events in the captain's office.


- Rescue Sub 1.2 and Hardcore patches are now merged and permanent features of Traveller Mod.


- Corrected the problem with the H6K and H8K lower altitude patrols not launching in career games.


- Corrected the Subchaser ship ID that was still showing in the periscope, TDB, and map views.


- Updated optional No Midway Transfer patch to be compatible with Traveller Mod v2.1






v2.2

- Added ship sinking sound effects. This cool feature has been a broken in SH4 since it was first released, never have been working correctly due to a probable hard-coded bug. You would only hear these sounds if you were right next to a sinking ship. Now you will hear these ship death sounds at distance. I'm quite pleased with the results of this workaround fix, as it really adds to the atmoshpere of the game.


- Added interior collision metal clanking sounds when unexploded depth charges hit the submarine hull close to the control room.


- Added various Allied aircraft patrols. You will now occasionally encounter long and short range Allied aircraft patrolling out of Midway, Pearl Harbor, Brisbane, Fremantle, Darwin, etc. They won't affect gameplay too much, but hopefully add to the atmosphere.


- Added high-altitude F-4 Lightning photo recon patrols. These recon aircraft will photograph the Rabaul enemy area from spring 1942.


- Added Buffalo fighter patrols around Midway and Pearl Harbor. They will patrol until summer of 1942, and now have the correct early-war markings.


- Added early-war markings to the landed PBY floatplanes at Midway and Pearl Harbor. Their paint and markings will change to later-war from summer of 1942.


- Added solid clouds. Clouds will no longer be transparent. They will now block out the sun, moon, and stars. Cloud shapes, grouping, and shading were also redone.


- Added sharpened and more detailed textures to the S-18 and S-42 submarines. This is just a sample. All other subs and ships to come in future updates.


- Adjusted Sunderland search plane maxiumum range.


- Corrected the destroyed sub compartment bulkheads where they will not be repairable anymore.


- Lowered maximum unrepairable damage of sub diesel engines and propellers from 65% down to 50% for playability reasons.


- Lowered maximum unrepairable damage of sub fuel oil tanks from 15% down to 10% for playability reasons.


- Made nights less dark for playability reasons.


- Lowered sub deck and AA gun sound volume.


- Adjusted various sound effect volumes to be more audible.





v2.3


- Greatly increased wave sizes. Ships will also no longer accumulate damage and/or sink from large waves. For realism reasons, lifeboats will still sink in stormy conditions. Crews of fishing boats and other small vesssels will not be visible in heavy seas (they're taking shelter inside the cabin). Due to the new larger waves, I also readjusted all docked ship positions in ports so they will not become damaged by hitting docks during storms. * Be aware that your sub speed will be slowed and you will burn more fuel now while running on the surface during storms. Remember the movie Das Boot?


- All torpedoes, shells, and bombs now have a chance of critical hit (50% above previous maximum damage), or less than normal damage hit (50% below previous minimum damage). This larger varying degree of damage will add to more gameplay uncertainty.


- Added more landed Japanese floatplanes.


- Added a revised version of my old SH3 Depth Charge Shake mod. The sub interior cameras will now shake violently when depth charges explode close by. Hold on tight. (while running on the surface during storms, the interior cameras will vibrate slightly due to the large waves hitting the hull).


- Added fuel storage tanks to most enemy ports.


- Lowered all submarine cg's to deal with the larger waves.


- Readjusted depth charge depth precision to be less accurate.


- Readjusted ship sinking sounds to where they should not suddenly cut off quite as often anymore.


- Readjusted water colors and shadows closer to stock SH4 1.5 settings. Water is much less black now.


- Removed water impurities.


- Removed the extra Narwhale AA gun crewmember.


- Added Improved Stock Environment mod v3 compatibility patch. This patch will allow players to use Improved Stock Environment mod v3 with Traveller mod v2.21. See included readme file for installation details.






v2.4


- Torpedo Scandal revisited. Mk 14 torpedoes now have higher dud failure rates, averaging around 50-70% through 1943. Until now, (in my opinion) it was still too easy to rack up unrealistically high campaign game tonnage scores in the early years of the war with the Mk 14 torpedo, due to almost no dud failures. No more. Hopefully this will reflect more historical torpedo failure rates and patrol tonnage amounts from 1941-1943. Get ready for the same frustration actual commanders had to deal with!


- Lowered enemy surface ship nighttime visual sensitivity. No more enemy lookouts with night vision goggles. This was done to allow more realistic nighttime surface torpedo attacks, which until now has been all but impossible due to always being spotted almost immediately... even at extreme ranges in complete darkness. This change is not meant to be a cheat, as you can still be detected visually at night- but at least at more realistic ranges now. And it will now sometimes even be possible to escape on the surface into the darkness. But remember that your surface speed and angle of bow can still give away your position. I also lowered sub crew nighttime visual sensitivity to compensate for lower enemy nighttime visual sensitivity.


- Truly dark nights. I made nights much darker to compliment the new lower enemy nighttime visual sensitivity. I have adjusted darkness and spotting visuals to correspond the best I could, playing with the game default gamma correction setting of ~50%. I strongly recommend playing in a darkened room when it is nighttime in the game, or possibly adjust your game's gamma setting slightly brighter (but not too much, or it will be a huge cheat). You or an average sub watch crew should be able to visually spot a ship in total darkness at a range of around 2,500-5,000 yards on a moonless night with no waves. Enemy ship searchlights also play a much more important role now. Stay out of their searchlights if at all possible. If you get caught in an enemy escort searchlight, it will be very difficult to escape on the surface. Remember the movie Jaws when Hooper and Brody were on Hooper's boat late at night, and Hooper picked an object up on surface radar while eating pretzels? Hooper ominously said 'There's something out there.' That's how you'll feel when you pick something up on surface radar in the the middle of night, but will be unable to visually see it until very close.


- Lowered enemy ship visual and radar surface area detection sensitivity. No more instant, automatic detection at long range. This was done to reflect a submarine's much lower detectable profile. Submarine angle on bow will play a much more important role now. Keep your bow or stern pointed toward enemy ships to greatly reduce your chance of being detected by lookouts or radar.


- Added all submarine flotilla availability dates and locations to the new career start and transfer screens.


- Added over 40 new loading screens. You may now enjoy viewing beautiful American pin-up girls and movie stars from the World War II era while your game loads.


- Added two optional main loading screens. See the included 'Extras' folder.


- Removed all available renown points when starting a new career. No more free handouts. You'll have to earn your way from the beginning!


- Added optional automatic ship ID. This option restores the submarine crew automatically identifying ships through the periscopes, TDC, and attack/navigation maps. Good for lazy people like me who don't like using the recognition manual! See 'Extras' folder.


- Battle stations icon at top right corner of screen will now flash when activated as a reminder.


- Fixed the missing ship sinking sounds.


- Lowered chance of repeat enemy airstrikes on detection of player sub.


- Increased all minimum and maximum shell damage amounts. Surface engagements will be deadlier now.


- Reinforced Tawi Tawi bottleneck. Due to heavy losses of Japanese merchant shipping in the Tawi Tawi region, the Imperial Navy has decided to reinforce the area with surface escorts, air patrols and radar-equipped shore batteries.


- Watch crew weather condition reports will no longer be possible unless the submarine is surfaced.


- Submarine sonar station and functions are no longer available unless the submarine is submerged.


- Readjusted wave motion and shape.


- Readjusted sub interior cameras. Cameras will shake and vibrate much less now in waves. I also included the option to not have shaking interior sub cameras. This option can be installed and uninstalled while in mission. Such as if you are trapped on the seabed floor with flooding, the camera will shake violently. You can install the no-shake camera patch during this time, then unistall again later.


- Readjusted sky and water colors to be less brightly-colored.


- Restored the original gramophone. You will be able to listen to your favorite music now. Also check out my separate gramophone music add-on with over 40 new World War II songs.


- Sharpened and added more detail to all submarine interior and exterior textures. Should have no impact on framerates.


- Removed the landed PBY floatplanes. They were continuously being destroyed by the large waves. I had to make a choice between keeping the large waves or the landed PBY's. I chose the large waves.


- Readjusted sub equipment damage repair times to eliminate the saved game bug where all damaged or destroyed sub equipment would usually be magically fixed to 100% upon saved game reloads. Also, Mr. Fix-It can no longer repair destroyed sub equipment, yet he can still speed up repair times. But in return I have made the submarine rudder, starboard diesel engines, and the starboard propeller indestructible for practical gameplay reasons. You will never be permanently stranded at sea due to damage (unless you run out of fuel). All other sub equipment is destructible and unrepairable after destroyed.


- Readjusted various sound volumes.


** Gameplay honesty reality check- Due to the ever-present stock Silent Hunter 4 v1.5 saved game bug, your dead or injured submarine crew will usually magically be resurrected to 100% health again upon saved game reload. I have tried and tried to create a workaround for this unforgiveable stock 1.5 bug, but so far have been unable to find one. So in the interest of honest gameplay, upon returning to port, try your best to remove any dead crew members who died during your patrol... regardless of their health status upon saved game reload. **






v2.5


- Automatic Ship ID option was not showing ship ID names in the periscope and TDC views. Fixed.


- Automatic Ship ID option was not showing gramophone. Fixed.


- Sounds of unexploded depth charges bouncing off the submarine hull were missing. Fixed.


- S-18 and S-42 submarine clean fuel oil tank status was missing from equipment repair screen. Fixed.



- Added a campaign game 'Send SoS' feature. Simply by clicking a button, you may now be able to send a radio SoS and be rescued, returning to base immediately. This button with a large and small plus icon is located under the 'Send SoS' submarine orders bar menu button on the far right of the list. You must be surfaced to use it. What it does is simulate you sending an SoS radio signal requesting help, being rescued, and returning you to base. I did not include this feature as a cheat, but more as a necessity. There is always the very real possibility of running out of fuel in the middle of the ocean due to damage or poor planning. Of course, if this happened in real life, a rescue force would be sent to your location. So this was added to simulate that. Also, there is that horrible save game bug that randomizes crew injuries and deaths upon reload. And sometimes (due to real-life circumstances) we are all forced to save our career games with dead or injured submarine crews. This feature will also help avoid that by allowing you to retain your dead crew upon instantaneously entering port- no messed up save game reload required. There you can dump off their bodies and bring on some new hands. Plus, you will now be able to issue Purple Heart medals. And to prevent cheating and abuse of this new feature, I have added a career renown point penalty. You will now incur a -400 renown penalty in your campaign game when using the Send SoS feature.

How this all works: There will now be an extra mission objective showing on your clipboard and navigation map at the beginning of each new patrol mission. For example, 'Depart Midway' will show up. Just begin your patrol and start heading out to your main objective area as you normally would. A few hours later you will notice that your 'Depart Midway' objective is complete, and a 'Return to Midway' objective is now showing. Upon returning to Midway (or wherever), be sure that this objective is complete before docking, or you will incur the -400 point renown penalty. To complete the 'Return to..' objective, travel toward the map marker until a pop-up message diplays telling you it is safe to end your patrol. If you use the 'Send SoS' button while on patrol, you will be unable to complete the 'Return to..' objective, and you will automatically incur the renown point penalty. If you are on patrol and your base relocates automatically to a new location, you always receive a radio message informing you of the transfer. Upon receiving this message, you will have 5 days to send a radio message reply. Once a radio message is sent, you will recieve a message saying to transfer to your new base. Sending this message is very important, as it will allow you to avoid the -400 point renown penalty for not returning to your previous home base to complete the mission. Upon sending a radio transmission anytime during patrols, you will also sometimes receive pop-up messages telling other boats where their new base is. Just ignore these if they don't pertain to you. Be careful... using the 'Send SoS' feature too often can abruptly end your career, as SubPac headquarters isn't too happy about sending rescue forces to save you each time!


- All submarine equipment, such as rudders and diesel engines, is now destructible and unrepairable. If your sub gets stranded at sea, use the new 'Send SoS' feature.


- Removed Rescue Sub feature from v2.4, as it is no longer necessary due to the new 'Send SoS' feature.


- Enemy harbors are no longer left undefended. I got tired of cruising into enemy harbors and frequently finding them full of docked merchants and tankers, but not one warship patrol in sight. Not too realistic in my opinion. No more. Now all enemy harbors will have at least one warship patrolling at all times.


- Reinforced all completely undefended enemy harbors, such as Manila, Shanghai, etc. with coastal guns and searchlights.


- Reworked submarine crew death and injuries. Your sub crew will now sustain more injuries during combat, and may even die in the interior compartments. Also, at crew injuries of 50%+, their efficiency will be zero. Be careful!


- Moonlight is brighter now, and has much more effect on visual spotting. On partly-cloudy nights, moonlight will be less bright than on clear nights. Take care if the moon is out!


- Added white cross symbols for dead crew members.


- Increased submarine compartment bulkhead repair times.


- Increased submarine clean fuel oil tank repair times.


- Increased enemy air response chance upon player sub detection.


- Reduced interior camera shake and bounce even more. If you experience interior camera bounce after bottoming out at the end of a crash dive, just slightly readjust your depth again and it will stop.


- Toned down wave movement influence.


- Increased night time ambient light for partly cloudy and stormy conditions.


- Merged Tater's IJN Radar Fix Mod. Credit to Tater.






v2.6


- Added 2 new search patterns to the submarine Navigation menu bar. There are now a total of 3.


- Added new optional 'Larger Search Patterns' patch. This optional patch doubles the waypoint distances of all 3 navigation map search patterns, allowing you to search a larger area automatically. See included 'Extras' folder.


- Added 2 new emergency evasion orders to the submarine Control Room menu bar. 'Double-Knuckle Evasion Maneuver': Crash dive, then 2 hard turns to port or starboard. There are now a total of 4 emergency evasion orders.


- Added new 'Turn to Current View Direction' command to the submarine Watch and Periscope menu bars. This command instructs the Navigator to set the submarine heading to the current direction your camera view is aimed. Makes navigation by visual much easier.


- Added 2 new commands to the submarine Watch menu bar: 'Target Nearest Warship', and 'Target Nearest Merchant'. These commands instruct the Watch officer to lock the TDB/UZO onto the specified ship type. It also instructs the deck gun crew which type of ship to target.


- Added 2 new commands to the submarine Periscope menu bar: 'Target Nearest Warship', and 'Target Nearest Merchant'. These commands instruct the Weapons officer to lock the periscopes onto the specific type of ship requested.


- Added new command 'Report Nearest Base Radio Broadcast Traffic Received' to the submarine Radar menu bar. This function orders the radio operator to report the nearest airbase radio wave broadcast traffic that is being recieved- both friendly and enemy.


- Added new ability to use the following functions while the game is paused: Recognition Manual, Sub Crew Management, and Gramophone.


- Added my own version of Ducimus' original TMO harder enemy escorts. This optional patch increases sensitivity of enemy escort hydrophone and sonar sensors. It should give you much more of a challenge, without making the game impossible.


- 'You have successfully returned to ... port' objective complete pop-up message will now show before the 'Dock to End Patrol' option appears. Should cause less confusion and accidental dockings before 'Return to ... port' objective is completed.


- Lowered submarine bulkhead durability, plus decreased depth charge blast damage. This will cause surface engagements to be even deadlier. One bomb or two shell hits may destroy sub bulkheads now.


- Decreased number of enemy air patrols upon player detection.


- Decreased wave height and influence. The larger waves were causing poor performance and a probable memory crash at higher time compression.


- Removed all sharpened and detailed submarine textures. They are now available as a separate download called 'Traveller Improved Submarine Textures'. This was done to reduce the file size of Traveller Mod by 1/3. 'Traveller Improved Submarine Textures' mod is compatible with all versions of Traveller Mod.


- My custom career missions will now have a much higher chance of occuring, depending on the year. These include orders to shell Wake and Guam fuel storage tanks, find and destroy enemy floatplanes at a hidden base, and find and rescue the aircrew of a downed PBY patrol aircraft.

[Runnybabbit]

Hope you had a good Christmas, Traveller? You certainly deserve it with the sheer amount of work you put into modding the game .

Just wanted to say a sincere thanks for all of your efforts. Directly because of your mod, I still play SH4, and more importantly, still enjoy it. I've dabbled in World of Tanks (amongst others), and it was fun while it lasted, but as with all FTP MMORGs, there is (for me, at least) a law of diminishing return, especially regarding the business model (rather expensive if you get addicted). Not so with Silent Hunter 4. I know it isn't regarded as the best of the series by many, but for me it works, and coupled with your mod, the realism is much greater. I couple that, together with Fred's radio mods (all of them, including ALL of the databases!), and to be honest, I'm just as happy sailing along without any drama or targets, tuning and retuning the radio to catch different broadcasts. To anyone who hasn't tried them, I can heartily recommend them..

Here's wishing all Subsim Forum-ites a pleasant remaining Christmas holiday, and a damned good Happy New Year!

[bandit484]

You have made a very nice MOD that goes superbly with TMO . I salute you Traveller on a job well done!

[derekb525]

I'm getting a CTD when ever I start a patrol and go to the bridge. It's a new campaign since installing the Traveller Mod and I'm using a Balao starting January 44. I can move around the control room and the conning tower but as soon as I go up to the bridge it freezes then the game crashes. I moved the mods folder and had JSGME start a new one and just put the mods below into the new one. Still nothing.


TMO 2.5
1_TMO_25_small_patch
RSRDC_TMO_V502
RSRDC_V5xx_Patch1
Traveller Mod v2.6 TMO
Traveller Mod 2.6 No Midway Transfer

[Mikemike47]

Originally Posted by derekb525

I moved the mods folder and had JSGME start a new one and just put the mods below into the new one.

Explain this better or show picture. I can not tell here if you are enabling and disabling mods by JSGME, or dragging and dropping mod folders manually or combination of both.

[derekb525]

Originally Posted by Mikemike47

Explain this better or show picture. I can not tell here if you are enabling and disabling mods by JSGME, or dragging and dropping mod folders manually or combination of both.

I figured it out. But I'll explain anyways incase someone else gets the problem

I had a bunch of different mods that I've used over time and activated and deactivated a number of times. When I installed Travellers mod and it started acting up I decided to remove the MODS folder from the SH4 main directory. I then restarted JSGME so that it would create a new MODS folder with a new .ini file then imported a select few of the mods I wanted. I activated them and was still getting crashes and as a result, deactivated them one by one and was still getting CTDs even with the setup I have in my above post. I removed the MODS folder once again and re-applied justthe mods I knew would be compatible instead of playing the hope and pray game.

It seems that even after you deactivate mods with JSGME it still may have the tendency to leave remnants of said deactivated mods which seemed to me to cause the CTDs.

[Mikemike47]

Originally Posted by derekb525

It seems that even after you deactivate mods with JSGME it still may have the tendency to leave remnants of said deactivated mods which seemed to me to cause the CTDs.

That is exactly why I started a JSGME thread with common links, errors and solutions. See the signature link. There is a stickied JSGME thread under my name in fleet boat mods workshop.

[TG626]

Did Traveler ever release a stand alone "Take Me Home" mod for Vanilla SH4 v1.5?

I'd ask him, but I can't PM him...

[fitzcarraldo]

Originally Posted by TG626

Did Traveler ever release a stand alone "Take Me Home" mod for Vanilla SH4 v1.5?

I'd ask him, but I can't PM him...

I think all Traveller's mods are only for TMO 25 plus RSRDC.

Regards.

Fitzcarraldo

[TG626]

Rescue sub has a version for stock, that's why I thought maybe take me home had one....

[AVGWarhawk]

Traveller, I'm using your mod with TMO 2.5. The additional goodies are great. Can someone post the correct mod loading? Currently I have the following:

TMO 2.5
RSRD for TMO V502
do I need the RSRD patch ? V5XX patch 1?
Travellers Mod 2. current version
(would like to add OTC and ISE mod. What orders should these be installed?)


I would like to use OTC for TMO/Traveller's Mod. I see it in the folder containing all the major mod and the smaller components that can be used. I also see here the improved stock environment mod can be used with the compatibility patch. I was wondering what ISE patch was.

Thanks all!

[HertogJan]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

Traveller, I'm using your mod with TMO 2.5. The additional goodies are great. Can someone post the correct mod loading? Currently I have the following:

TMO 2.5
RSRD for TMO V502
do I need the RSRD patch ? V5XX patch 1?
Travellers Mod 2. current version
(would like to add OTC and ISE mod. What orders should these be installed?)


I would like to use OTC for TMO/Traveller's Mod. I see it in the folder containing all the major mod and the smaller components that can be used. I also see here the improved stock environment mod can be used with the compatibility patch. I was wondering what ISE patch was.

Thanks all!

I don't know if you need the RSRDC patch but I think you do.

You can use OTC but not with a different aspect ratio other than stock (4:8 I think it is).
(altho some use a different aspect ratio which seem to work, Traveller added a note in the readme which states it doesn't).


ISE v3 works with Traveller aswell, there's a mod converting ISE to Traveller in the Options folder.

Traveller Mod v2.6 - ISE v3 Compatibility Patch

This patch makes Improved Stock Environment v3 mod compatible with Traveller Mod v2.6


Installation order:

1. Trigger Maru Overhauled 2.5
2. Run Silent, Run Deep Campaign (RSRD) v502 (TMO version)
3. Traveller Mod v2.6 TMO
4. Improved Stock Environment v3 mod and/or ISE Improved Colors mod
5. Traveller Mod v2.6 - ISE v3 Compatibility Patch



From Travellers readme:
Traveller Mod v2.6 Compatibility Patch for OTC 1.5 (RSRDC version)

This compatibility patch allows Traveller Mod users to retain the main features of OTC v1.5- adjusted camera view angles and menu changes. Most other features of OTC 1.5 are not retained when using Traveller Mod, as it overwrites most of the other shared files.

** Please note this compatibility patch only works with the main OTC v1.5 version. It will NOT work correctly with any of the other OTC aspect ratio versions. **


Installation Order:

1. TMO v2.5
2. Run Silent Run Deep Campaign mod v502 (TMO version)
3. OTC 1.5 (RSRDC version)
4. Traveller Mod v2.6
6. Traveller Mod v2.6 OTC 1.5 Compatibility Patch


Traveller Mod v2.5 Compatibility Patch for OTC 1.5 (RSRDC version) Automatic Ship ID

This compatibility patch allows Traveller Mod 2.5 users to retain the main features of OTC v1.5- adjusted camera view angles and menu changes. It also restores the automatic ship ID in the persicope, TDC, and map views. Most other features of OTC 1.5 are not retained when used with Traveller Mod, as it overwrites most of the other shared files.

** Please note this compatibility patch only works with the main OTC v1.5 version. It will NOT work correctly with any of the other OTC aspect ratio versions. **
Installation Order:

1. TMO v2.5
2. Run Silent Run Deep Campaign mod v502 (TMO version)
3. OTC 1.5 (RSRDC version)
4. Traveller Mod v2.5
5. Traveller Mod v2.5 OTC 1.5 Automatic Ship ID Compatibility Patch


Created by Traveller


So the installment should look like this:

1_TriggerMaru_Overhaul_2-5
1_TMO_25_small_patch
RSRDC_TMO_V502
RSRDC_V5xx_Patch1
OTC 1.5 (RSRDC version)
Traveller Mod v2.6
Traveller Mod v2.6 Compatibility Patch for OTC 1.5 (RSRDC version)
Traveller Mod v2.5 OTC 1.5 Automatic Ship ID Compatibility Patch
Improved Stock Environment v3 mod and/or ISE Improved Colors mod
Traveller Mod v2.6 - ISE v3 Compatibility Patch

There are some extra optional Mods like no camera shaking, Lager search patterns, no midway transfer which should be installed last.

This is merc4ulfate Mod soup might give you an idea what els is possible too.

Originally Posted by merc4ulfate

1_TriggerMaru_Overhaul_2-5
1_TMO_25_small_patch
RSRDC_TMO_V502
RSRDC_V5xx_Patch1
Traveller Mod v2.6 TMO
#1 Real Environment mod install
Traveller Mod 2.6 Patch 1 - ISE v3 Patch
#4 Warships retextured
Traveller Mod 2.6 No Midway Transfer
Traveller Mod 2.6 No DC Camera Shake
Traveller Mod 2.6 Larger Search Patterns
Traveller Mod 2.6 Harder Enemy AI Escorts
Traveller Mod 2.6 Automatic Ship ID
Traveller Alternate Main Loading Screens
Convoy Routes TMO+RSRD
tambor198's TMO+RSRDC missions pack

Hope this helps

[AVGWarhawk]

Exactly what I was looking for sir! Thanks!

EDIT: HertogJan, up and running. Took a few to get the ratio with OTC correct for my screen. I was able to iron it out. Busy plying the seas again.

[derekb525]

I did a quick search of this thread and didn't find this posted before.

I have some extremely violent camera shaking in the conning tower when surfaced. If I turn the radar it stops shaking the camera. Tonight is the first night I've encountered this bug and I've been using this mod for a few weeks.

TMO 2.5
1_TMO_25_small_patch
RSRDC_TMO_V502
RSRDC_V5xx_Patch1
Traveller Mod v2.6 TMO
Traveller Mod 2.6 Automatic Ship ID
SS285 USS Balao_Historical BALAO HI-RES Weathered
TMO_Alternate_JS_Radar_Performance
3000 Yard Bearing Tool (1920x)

[merc4ulfate]

Traveller Mod 2.6 Harder Enemy AI Escorts


I love harder escorts ...