[REL] FOTRS Ultimate Project

[CapnScurvy]

Originally Posted by cdrsubron7

OK, hypothetical question for you guys. Say I was able to take a US ship and clone it into a Japanese ship. Say I got everything working correctly, but the ship still had an American flag waving from the mast. How would one change the American flag to Japanese?

The ship gets its identity form the Roster/(Nationality) folder. In your case, placing the appropriate .cfg file in the Roster/Japan/Sea folder will automatically have that asset use the Japanese flag and have it distinguished as an axis ship.

Keep in mind when making a clone ship, or any other cloned asset, all ID's in the .dat file for the model need to be changed. If you don't the possibility of having two ships with the same ID numbers will cause game CTD's (at worst) IF both assets show up in the same rendered scene. When changing ID's, don't forget to make the appropriate changes within the .sim, .zon, .dsd, files too. All will need to be changed to link the changed ID's to the other necessary functions of the asset.

If you do things correctly (and there's lots of things to check), you can have a completely cloned asset (ship, plane etc.) that won't interfere with other assets when rendered. It's then that the asset can have a name specifically different than another. I found something the other day that was a bit unsettling. When playing with auto-targeting, I was at Pearl and found a "xxxx Maru" tanker sitting in the harbor. Least that's with the naming system calling all tankers an "xxxx Maru". My point about add-on mods, is that there are un necessary outcomes to making changes that don't make sense.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy

My point about add-on mods, is that there are un necessary outcomes to making changes that don't make sense.

It's the cosmic law of unintended consequences: For each intended effect there are three other unintended consequences. Two of them will be bad.

[CapnScurvy]

This image shows that the ships have been misplaced (for some reason) in the mission that their in. The Latitude/Longitude figures may have been slightly changed in the .mis file for the two ships. That's easily done when using Notepad to edit a .mis file.....just a couple of numbers off and the ship is sitting on dry land. Either that, or its due to the following Random Spawn Radius.

in 15 attempts now I have only encountered it 3 times - perhaps it is a video glitch,

No not really, the game randomly puts ships into play each time you play the same mission. If you set the mission to spawn the asset randomly in its position, it not only may appear some times (and others not at all), it will place the spawn position differently too (within a given radius). I use the very first Campaign mission from Pearl, Dec. 8th 1941 often for tests. I'll start "at sea" usually. Not every time will the same T3 tanker appear near the shore, left of the harbor entrance. That's just how the game keeps the missions from getting stale. I'm guessing the random spawn radius parameter has been enabled for those ships in this mission file. It's not good to have a ship sitting near land, yet have the Random Spawn Radius parameter enabled.

I don't know what happened to me the other night, but I was on what I thought was my last test of what I've been working on with adding planes; the Add-on ships from the google site; and the Emulate Sound file; when I had such a hard CTD that my only way out of it was to use the reset button for the computer.

Guess I'll have to wait on adding my stuff for a bit longer before putting it out for testing by others. I don't want anyone having this happen to them.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy;

I don't know what happened to me the other night, but I was on what I thought was my last test of what I've been working on with adding planes; the Add-on ships from the google site; and the Emulate Sound file; when I had such a hard CTD that my only way out of it was to use the reset button for the computer.

Guess I'll have to wait on adding my stuff for a bit longer before putting it out for testing by others. I don't want anyone having this happen to them.

Don't worry about it Capn, nothing goes out until everyone signs off on it. We're more than willing to wait for it to work right, rather than assemble a fragile build that will have to be reworked anyway.

[cdrsubron7]

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy

The ship gets its identity form the Roster/(Nationality) folder. In your case, placing the appropriate .cfg file in the Roster/Japan/Sea folder will automatically have that asset use the Japanese flag and have it distinguished as an axis ship.

Keep in mind when making a clone ship, or any other cloned asset, all ID's in the .dat file for the model need to be changed. If you don't the possibility of having two ships with the same ID numbers will cause game CTD's (at worst) IF both assets show up in the same rendered scene. When changing ID's, don't forget to make the appropriate changes within the .sim, .zon, .dsd, files too. All will need to be changed to link the changed ID's to the other necessary functions of the asset.

If you do things correctly (and there's lots of things to check), you can have a completely cloned asset (ship, plane etc.) that won't interfere with other assets when rendered. It's then that the asset can have a name specifically different than another. I found something the other day that was a bit unsettling. When playing with auto-targeting, I was at Pearl and found a "xxxx Maru" tanker sitting in the harbor. Least that's with the naming system calling all tankers an "xxxx Maru". My point about add-on mods, is that there are un necessary outcomes to making changes that don't make sense.

Thanks, Capn. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question. I have everything working correctly for the ship and the naming. When I see the ship through the periscope the Japanese name show up perfectly. The only problem is it still flying a American flag. See the image below.



And as you can see the ship.cfg is in the Roster/Japan/Sea folder.



If I can get the flag thingy figured out, I willing to try and clone all the merchants for the Japanese so we can leave the other ships alone.

[cdrsubron7]

As you can see the Sub Tender also show up in the ID book, only in the Merchant section. It should be classified as a warship and part of the IJN, but I don't know if that be done.

[XTBilly]

Hello dear friends!!

Lost many episodes but I finally found some time to read everything up from the "Rusty exhaust" to the first page.

Hey, I'm really glad you like the Ship Acceleration Model.

In my tests, the destroyers and escorts were much more authentic, like in the movies. No more 3 torpedoes for 1 (possible) hit. A well placed near shot cannot be avoided by the escort, no matter what it does. On the other hand, I cannot explain their sudden lethality. They're much more difficult now. I did not touch their RPM or the AI at all. I enjoyed much seeing 3-4 of them chasing me. I had not seen any collisions at all. I really liked them.

Did anyone notice any strange behavior from the rest of the ships?
Are they accelerating ok?

My finest regards to all.
I'll be back soon, I hope.
Billy.

[cdrsubron7]

Originally Posted by XTBilly

Hello dear friends!!

Lost many episodes but I finally found some time to read everything up from the "Rusty exhaust" to the first page.

Hey, I'm really glad you like the Ship Acceleration Model.

In my tests, the destroyers and escorts were much more authentic, like in the movies. No more 3 torpedoes for 1 (possible) hit. A well placed near shot cannot be avoided by the escort, no matter what it does. On the other hand, I cannot explain their sudden lethality. They're much more difficult now. I did not touch their RPM or the AI at all. I enjoyed much seeing 3-4 of them chasing me. I had not seen any collisions at all. I really liked them.

Did anyone notice any strange behavior from the rest of the ships?
Are they accelerating ok?

My finest regards to all.
I'll be back soon, I hope.
Billy.

Good to see ya around here again, take care.

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy

... This image shows that the ships have been misplaced (for some reason) in the mission ...

That was done on purpose CapnScurvy, as "proof-of-concept" that it can be done and saved from the ME, after s7rikeback was getting anomalies with his display. Might be mod soup, might be his onboard ATI APU, and it might be the game. A couple-three pages back s7rikeback had a ship that had been in the channel coming into Pearl as s7rikeback was departing with his sub, show up on land on other departures, if he took the long way from the docks... I've been trying to replicate what he got. Nothing yet.

Originally Posted by XTBilly

Hello dear friends!!

Lost many episodes but I finally found some time to read everything up from the "Rusty exhaust" to the first page.

Hey, I'm really glad you like the Ship Acceleration Model.

In my tests, the destroyers and escorts were much more authentic, like in the movies. No more 3 torpedoes for 1 (possible) hit. A well placed near shot cannot be avoided by the escort, no matter what it does. On the other hand, I cannot explain their sudden lethality. They're much more difficult now. I did not touch their RPM or the AI at all. I enjoyed much seeing 3-4 of them chasing me. I had not seen any collisions at all. I really liked them.

Did anyone notice any strange behavior from the rest of the ships?
Are they accelerating ok?

My finest regards to all.
I'll be back soon, I hope.
Billy.

Everything looks fine with it from my end, XTBilly. I'm thinking the lethality of the DDs is just their nature anyway in TMO 1.7 / FotRS, and can now be changed with the AI Level changer that cdrsubron7 put up the other day, which also seems to work fine. I've been mostly running on #3 for my testing lately, and it can still be rather tough, especially with the airplanes. If you want ASW where the opponent has x-ray vision and superman's eyesight and hearing, try level #5 in it...

[propbeanie]

Well, I've got a third "pristine" install of SH4v1.5, and have put all the latest files in once again for FotRS Ultimate v.1beta, and I am still barely finding any merchant vessels, and so far, about 75% of them have been friendly (encountered in previously installs)... I have had another half-dozen encounters with sub hunter groups. My latest escapade was while enroute to area 6 ("Proceed to Area 6 and once there, receive new orders."). I am trying out max-peck's altered mission orders, and have YET to get an actual "Patrol Area" assignment, in like a half-dozen tries, so this is the closest, and I was going to see what it gave me once I got there. For whatever reason, in this install, I've been assigned three photo recons, and 2 insertions... New skipper, in a Porpoise boat, going to Hiroshima for a photo op... This is like the third time with that mission - all in different "career" starts, but still. And the number of times I've encountered 2 and 3 destroyers, with and without DE and patrol craft for support - it's wearing thin on me. No merchant vessels in all sorts of starts now. Does the game track any of the other activity one does? Like, does it know that I've done some duck-shooting Single Missions, just so I can see max-peck's ship skins?

This latest incident is really weird. I picked up a sonar contact while doing Standard on the surface. Coming at me from initial looks, bearing 20. So I turn on the radar and have a look-see... It's three of 'em, coming right for me, with a little lead to allow for my Ahead Standard. So I go to Full, and turn away from them a bit, to 270. They follow. The date is supposed to be June 18, 1942, we're several hundred miles off the Japanese Honshu coast, Sofu Gan is in the rearview mirror, quite a while back. These guys are making a bee line for my position, so I turn off the radar, and turn more away, to minimize my profile some. They close in more. I eventually went to 172 for a while, away from my destination, in order to try to open the gap. Should I dive and duke it out with them? I mean, it's 0640 with the initial contact, and it's now getting on toward 0700, and the sun is definitely coming up... They'll be able to see me shortly. So I hit Flank and turn a bit more. Thankfully, there's a bit of morning fog, and I did finally slip away from them by staying on the surface. If it had been a clear morning, I would have had the DD on top of me once again... It's now 0750, and I finally lose the sonar contact. Mind you, I'm still doing Flank, and could maintain the sonar contact - to my rear... They didn't have radar in June of 42 on Japanese DDs, did they?...

At 0910, I've got two airplanes closing directly on me. Surprise surprise surprise... I watch them for a bit, and then crash dive when they're still bee lining for me at 6nm out. I went ahead and used the free camera here, and sure enough, flew right over my position... Now, I've got cdrsubron7's #3 AI level, running on the game's "Normal" difficulty from a brand new career, on the first patrol. I'm almost to my "Area 6 destination" max-peck, and we'll see if I get one of your modified patrol briefings later this evening...

Sorry about the verbosity, but it seems that the AI is a bit more dogged than even TMO at my current settings. The DDs can see my every move. That wouldn't be so bad, but I've encountered and sunk only one enemy merchant vessel in over two dozen patrol assignments. Yet I've encountered over a dozen Sub Hunter groups. No other capital ships. The one patrol in January of 1945 has been 4 ASW groups, and I'm still enroute to assignment. I think I'm going to back out the AI settings mod, and see what happens after this patrol...

[cdrsubron7]

OK, I've been fiddling around with this Sub Tender a little more, I've even got it designated as a warship now, but still am American flag flying on the mast.




Edit: I guess I'm too much of a purist. This ship not only has a American flag but an American crew also. Also can't get any sonar contact with this ship where it worked earlier this evening.

[granite00]

I've been following the FotRSU development and I'm impressed with the work the team is doing.

If I understand correctly, TMO is the base of this mod. When I play TMO 2.5, my weather tends to be heavy (winds at 13-15 meters per second with huge waves) or dead calm most of the time. This is not the Pacific that I experienced in my Navy days.

If the wind scale is 0-15 meters per second, it seems there should be a bell curve distribution centered somewhere around 8. I'm not sure how much the weather can be altered, but if it can, do you have plans to do so?

[propbeanie]

TMO 1.7 as the base, and I've had similar with the weather Jeff-Groves. Either glassy smooth, or just this side of a tempest about to hit. Every once in a while, you'll find a good storm, and maybe have it follow you for a week or more...

cdrsubron7, the ship looks good. Are you just trying to get another combatant target onto the Japanese side? Perhaps it doesn't want to be traded?...

[CapnScurvy]

cdrsubron7, the sub tender is still reading itself as an American ship placed in the American "Sea" folder of the Roster. That's the only other reason for it not to show as a Japanese ship (IF you've done everything else right). Did you change the UnitClass name of the Jap sub tender (in the two .cfg files) from the one the stock game uses? You have to have a separate name for the game to know the difference between an American sided ship and the Japanese one (besides just putting the right files in the right place).

Changing a ship from a cargo to a tanker, or a dive bomber plane into a torpedo bomber is done in the .cfg file too (although there is some things you have to do in the plane .sim file). The proper "number" designates such.....which comes from the Names.cfg file.

[CapnScurvy]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

That was done on purpose CapnScurvy, as "proof-of-concept"............A couple-three pages back s7rikeback had a ship that had been in the channel coming into Pearl as s7rikeback was departing with his sub, show up on land on other departures, if he took the long way from the docks... I've been trying to replicate what he got. Nothing yet.

That's fine, I saw the ship s7rikeback had posted (about the tanker sitting in/on land), but I couldn't repost his image. So, I used your's. The reason behind the anomaly can still be what I pointed out. Either the ships placement is off, or the ships spawn radius is enabled in the mission file he was playing. Mod soup could be the reason, but it usually has you quickly returning to desktop when it flares up.

They didn't have radar in June of 42 on Japanese DDs, did they?

No, they didn't. But that doesn't mean FOTRS following Ducimus's work won't have such things. From what I've read in several post war studies from both the U.S. Navy and Air force, we gave the Japanese way too much credit for having electronic advancements such as we had. Actually the ASW from them was non existent for most of the war. I'm not wanting to get into the specifics now, but the way the Japanese ran their wartime shipping (or protection of same) was nothing like what occurred in the Atlantic. Freighter's seldom ran in convoys of more than a couple of ships, hardly ever having protection. The Japanese Army (always at odds with their Navy) many times controlled specific areas of the Pacific, it was from these separate commanders that would decide whether they wished to provide any support at all for the merchant fleet. Frankly, the Japanese in all their bluster ran quite a different war then the Germans.