[WIP] Wolves of the Kaiser:1914-1918 Mod

[Kapitain Oliver Leinkraunt]

regarding the "Live Bait Squadron", I found this intresting pic.

I hope that you like it for the menu art work

[iambecomelife]

Thanks for the picture.

It's funny how, after the three cruisers were sunk, the German press produced all these arrogant patriotic images celebrating. While the men of U-9, including Weddigen and his officers, wrote that they were sad to see so many men die. Even if they were the enemy. As you may know, over 1,400 men drowned, making it almost as big a disaster as "Titanic".

Weddigen was a compassionate man who, when he sank unarmed ships, would surface to give the crew warning.

As usual, the men of the U-Boat force knew all too well that war is not something to be taken lightly....even when you "win".

[coyote47713]

Is there an ETA for the release of the mod? Or even a download link? I'm sorry if this has been asked before but I don't want to wade through 100+ pages to find it. Thank you!

[J0313]

It's not released yet.

[Bubblehead1980]

Going to say I've been reading a bit about World War 1 sub warfare, quite interesting. Didn't know about the large amount of shipping U boats sent to bottom or that a few long range types made patrols off US Coast.

[iambecomelife]

COMING SOON:

One of the core concepts of Wolves of the Kaiser: Screenshots (and possible videos) of a huge sub-project for the game:

DSD (Dynamic Ship Destruction).

DSD is a theme with application not just for WOTK but all maritime military simulators.

-Real Cargo
-Real Equipment
-Real Damage Components
-Real Structural Failures
-Real Wreckage
-Real Catastrophic Damage
-Real Human Beings (Panic, Bravery, and everything between)
-Real Injuries
-Real Variety

When you fight, you are making war not against a ship, but against other people. DSD will prove this:

1) Captains and crew will fight to save their ships.

2) If unsuccessful, they will fight to save their lives. As a submarine commander, you witness it all in close-up.

No more "100 hp and you're dead" gaming.
No more "ghost ships" populated by no one.
No more "empty shell" hulls that show no damage.

I have been shocked by how many new maritime simulators don't bother to show what it was really like to sink a ship. The Hitpoints/Fire Decal system has literally been used in nearly every naval sim since the 1990's. Well, DSD is a rebellion!

More news coming soon.

[Bubblehead1980]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

COMING SOON:

One of the core concepts of Wolves of the Kaiser: Screenshots (and possible videos) of a huge sub-project for the game:

DSD (Dynamic Ship Destruction).

DSD is a theme with application not just for WOTK but all maritime military simulators.

-Real Cargo
-Real Equipment
-Real Damage Components
-Real Structural Failures
-Real Wreckage
-Real Catastrophic Damage
-Real Human Beings (Panic, Bravery, and everything between)
-Real Injuries
-Real Variety

When you fight, you are making war not against a ship, but against other people. DSD will prove this:

1) Captains and crew will fight to save their ships.

2) If unsuccessful, they will fight to save their lives. As a submarine commander, you witness it all in close-up.

No more "100 hp and you're dead" gaming.
No more "ghost ships" populated by no one.
No more "empty shell" hulls that show no damage.

I have been shocked by how many new maritime simulators don't bother to show what it was really like to sink a ship. The Hitpoints/Fire Decal system has literally been used in nearly every naval sim since the 1990's. Well, DSD is a rebellion!

More news coming soon.

Very interesting. Look forward to this.

[bdd458]

Looking forward to DSD, that is an exciting sounding feature!

[iambecomelife]

Not all recent work really lends itself to screenshots....but here's a little follow up - the four hatch coal carrier, now running simulated trials off the simulated coast of Europe.....

The one hatch is floating in midair to show (as promised) the internal cargo of coal.

-All crates are destructible (and I mean ALL)
-Dozens of hull plate sections are destructible, to simulate holes
-Internal damage texture of twisted metal
-Fewer than 50% of the vertices in the SH5 Hog Islander (~25,000 vs 70,000)
-Historical Merchant Navy and Shipping Line flag
-Historical funnel colors
-Improved lifeboats
-Alpha Channel use to maximize detail and reduce polygon count

To Do:

-Ship Breakup modeling
-Additional crew figures
-Abandon Ship sequence modeling
-Various 3d internal destructible components

Much of this work can be reused on other merchant ships and player units.

[KDAM]

Fantastic!

I've always thought the ships of this era, even the industrial ones, are the best-looking ones the world has seen

[max-peck]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

COMING SOON:

One of the core concepts of Wolves of the Kaiser: Screenshots (and possible videos) of a huge sub-project for the game:

DSD (Dynamic Ship Destruction).

DSD is a theme with application not just for WOTK but all maritime military simulators.

-Real Cargo
-Real Equipment
-Real Damage Components
-Real Structural Failures
-Real Wreckage
-Real Catastrophic Damage
-Real Human Beings (Panic, Bravery, and everything between)
-Real Injuries
-Real Variety

When you fight, you are making war not against a ship, but against other people. DSD will prove this:

1) Captains and crew will fight to save their ships.

2) If unsuccessful, they will fight to save their lives. As a submarine commander, you witness it all in close-up.

No more "100 hp and you're dead" gaming.
No more "ghost ships" populated by no one.
No more "empty shell" hulls that show no damage.

I have been shocked by how many new maritime simulators don't bother to show what it was really like to sink a ship. The Hitpoints/Fire Decal system has literally been used in nearly every naval sim since the 1990's. Well, DSD is a rebellion!

More news coming soon.

Now this sounds absolutely phenomenal - a true quantum leap in damage modeling for SH4

Very excited for this

[s7rikeback]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

Not all recent work really lends itself to screenshots....but here's a little follow up - the four hatch coal carrier, now running simulated trials off the simulated coast of Europe.....

The one hatch is floating in midair to show (as promised) the internal cargo of coal.

-All crates are destructible (and I mean ALL)
-Dozens of hull plate sections are destructible, to simulate holes
-Internal damage texture of twisted metal
-Fewer than 50% of the vertices in the SH5 Hog Islander (~25,000 vs 70,000)
-Historical Merchant Navy and Shipping Line flag
-Historical funnel colors
-Improved lifeboats
-Alpha Channel use to maximize detail and reduce polygon count

To Do:

-Ship Breakup modeling
-Additional crew figures
-Abandon Ship sequence modeling
-Various 3d internal destructible components

Much of this work can be reused on other merchant ships and player units.

Outstanding work, the detail is second to none..

I have been converting hitmans Ada, Aden & Ansyu Maru OBJ models into SH4 working units...

Alot of kitbashing to match photo's found online, for guns, funnels, cranes, etc. But your rigging is breathtaking...

I can barley manage to string two cranes together, how did you manage to create such a perfect picture?

[iambecomelife]

Well, it took lots of trial and error to learn how to do better rigging - lol - my first ships didn't even have rigging back in the day.

One tip: to get more realistic rigging, take a cube in Wings3d, stretch it into a rectangle, and slice via the "Z" axis multiple times - that way, you can get rigging with a "sag" in the middle from gravity, and not just a straight line.

Just added all the sailors and captain figures in their "at rest" position for when the ship is not damaged last night....everything going smoothly.

Next, firefighting equipment, crew entering lifeboats, and life jackets for "panic" mode when the ship is under attack.





So much for bravery.





The model posted (Light Collier) can be used for the Light Merchant category with minimal changes - just delete coal cargo nodes and remove the coal buckets from the derricks. Lots of interesting stuff will be carried, like WWI aircraft, armored cars, locomotives, steel pieces, and whatever.

Will also have ballasted ships, riding high in the water with empty cargo holds and different sinking properties in zones.cfg. That's another thing; coal, iron ore, boxed cargo, wood & more will all have unique sinking properties in the mod - this is very easy to do.

[bdd458]

This is certainly a project I'm following with interest, your work is absolutely breathtaking.

[Bubblehead1980]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

Well, it took lots of trial and error to learn how to do better rigging - lol - my first ships didn't even have rigging back in the day.

One tip: to get more realistic rigging, take a cube in Wings3d, stretch it into a rectangle, and slice via the "Z" axis multiple times - that way, you can get rigging with a "sag" in the middle from gravity, and not just a straight line.

Just added all the sailors and captain figures in their "at rest" position for when the ship is not damaged last night....everything going smoothly.

Next, firefighting equipment, crew entering lifeboats, and life jackets for "panic" mode when the ship is under attack.





So much for bravery.





The model posted (Light Collier) can be used for the Light Merchant category with minimal changes - just delete coal cargo nodes and remove the coal buckets from the derricks. Lots of interesting stuff will be carried, like WWI aircraft, armored cars, locomotives, steel pieces, and whatever.

Will also have ballasted ships, riding high in the water with empty cargo holds and different sinking properties in zones.cfg. That's another thing; coal, iron ore, boxed cargo, wood & more will all have unique sinking properties in the mod - this is very easy to do.

Impressive work.