[REL] Ship damage from fires

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by Capt. Morgan

Started 2 fires on a Med. Modern Composite Freighter with the single 20mm - doing as little damage to the ship as possible, then i just followed the freighter for 24hrs (game time). Still afloat and burning, with no reduction in speed at that time (clean install of SH4 - 1.5 with no other mods).

Repeated. this time the freighter slowed from 5 kts to 1kt in the first 3 hours, but did not sink after 24.

Third test: started a fire but this time with 4 shells from the deck gun. Followed the burning ship for 1 hr., then started a second and third fire with the single 20mm. Ship sank by flooding while I was starting the third fire. I've never sunk a freighter with a 20mm before.

The fires do not seem to be enough to sink a medium sized freighter by them selves, but do seem to amplify other damage done to the target. Very nice!

As the mod was made with SH5 damage model in mind the SH4 damage model and ship available HPs will most likely be completely different. Thus it's quite possible that the SH4 version needs to be tweaked for SH4. I don't play SH4 (only SH5) so someone would need to do this

[Capt. Morgan]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

.... Thus it's quite possible that the SH4 version needs to be tweaked for SH4. I don't play SH4 (only SH5) so someone would need to do this

Well beyond my skills I'm afraid, but even based on the SH5's damage model - ship fires will now contribute to sinking - which is a big improvement.

Thanks again

i know with sh4 there were some issues with some fires (smaller ones) not having any sounds attached to them and vickers03 had done a small tweak to fix this for my GFO mod some time ago, do you think this sound fix may have anything to do with or interfere with the way your mod works?

or maybe vickers03 could better answer this

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by Webster

i know with sh4 there were some issues with some fires (smaller ones) not having any sounds attached to them and vickers03 had done a small tweak to fix this for my GFO mod some time ago, do you think this sound fix may have anything to do with or interfere with the way your mod works?

or maybe vickers03 could better answer this

I hook the fire events so unless someone changes the fire's IDs or changes the effect that's played for fire in the Zones.cfg file there's nothing to worry about

[Nisgeis]

So does this actually work at all? All reports seems to indicate not?

[Char]

It seems the fires do cause damage,but not at a noticeable rate to make a difference.Though after causing enough damage to sink a ship with Torpedoes and deck Guns,I HAVE noticed an increase in secondary explosions AND had a few ships break in two.

For example: (Running Webster's 1.5 Deck Gun mod) During the Artillery test mission,I noticed that the Freighter split in two after 10 HE shots to various locations(Cargo,Funnel,Below the waterline etc.) around the ship.

It has NEVER done that before.

So I take off the Deck Gun Mod,and do it again.While taking Considerably longer to sink,She Split in two AGAIN.There were 2 fires burning on her when the game declared her "sunk"

I have replicated these results twice both with and with out the Deck Gun mod.And taking this particular mod off seems to make it revert to just blowing up and sinking.

[Capt. Morgan]

Originally Posted by Nisgeis

So does this actually work at all? All reports seems to indicate not?

Well I wouldn't say all reports.


What I was trying to say in my report was that it does work in SH4 (that is - fire causes actual damage, rather than just being eye-candy), but that a fire - by itself - is not enough to sink a medium sized freighter (TheDarkWraith asked for conformation on this point in his SH4 port).

I have never been able to sink anything larger than a large sampan with a 20mm before, but I was able to finish off a moderately damaged burning medium freighter with one. That is a first for me.

[TorpX]

I was playing around with the mission editor a little using this mod and RFB.

Used about 60 rds. of 4 inch to attack an anchored medium merchant. I started a medium sized fire, but this burned out after a short time and ship did not sink.

Used about same number of shells attacking a medium tanker (with fuel). Fires started very easily, but did not last. Continued with attack and started more fires, but still they burned out and ship did not sink.

Note that I aimed shots above waterline to test this mod; otherwise ships may well have sunk anyway. I think fire behavior in RFB is squirrelly. Fires can start at the drop of a hat, but also burn out almost as quickly. The tanker started on fire with the first hit, and appeared to seriously engulfed, but it didn't last long. Successive hits were only able to start smaller fires, which also didn't last long. This seems to be typical in RFB. Note also that one can hear the audible sound effect of the burning, after the fire has gone out. I don't know if this has anything to do with the actual damadge and all.

So far, I can't really see any difference.

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

As the mod was made with SH5 damage model in mind the SH4 damage model and ship available HPs will most likely be completely different. Thus it's quite possible that the SH4 version needs to be tweaked for SH4. I don't play SH4 (only SH5) so someone would need to do this

This makes me wonder, how exactly DOES the sh5 damage model work?? Just out of pure curiosity

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by USNSRCaseySmith

This makes me wonder, how exactly DOES the sh5 damage model work?? Just out of pure curiosity

The damage model (code wise) is the same for all versions of Silent Hunter. What is different are the .zon files for each ship and the Zones.cfg file that defines the zones for each game. This Zones.cfg file is the major player in the damage model for the game. Each ship builds it's damage model from that file.

[AVGWarhawk]

Very nice! Long missing damage fire. Nice work!

[Char]

After doing some more testing,I've found this mod to only be effective if the target is at extremely low health or already sinking.I've seen increased amounts of ships splitting in half and an increase in the amount of secondary explosions on Tankers,Destroyers,and Cruisers.
I've also seen that while fires are burning,Ships WILL flood and sink at a slightly quicker pace.But were talking a maximum of only 10 to 15 seconds quicker than usual.

Perhaps increasing the rate the HP burns off would show more results?

On a Side note HOW MUCH HP does this mod actually burn off per second and how much Total HP do most mid-sized tankers have?

[TorpX]

I suspect the real problem (at least in RFB) is the underlying damadge model. The fires go out too quickly. There was probably no thought about fire effects; just something for a good visual. If I had the computer skills, I'd take a look at the whole damadge model/ weapon model.

I assume the devs had the ability to stop the game and debug or check the variables, as the program was in operation. Trying to figure out what needs tweeking from observing things a case at a time, is both difficult and tedious.

[TheDarkWraith]

I'm working on a new version of this mod that will increase the chances of the ships sinking due to flooding from fires. I'm also adding fire/smoke damage to airplanes. I've done this for SH5 and SH3 and now I need to add it to SH4. Problem is I'm away from home and I need two files to complete it (for reference):
\data\Zones.cfg
\data\Library\Particles.dat

Is it possible someone can PM me these please so I can finish this new version

[Capt. Morgan]

P.M. sent