[WIP] Atolls & Allies

[Crannogman]

I have been putting together a small, terrain-based mod to augment the Pacific experience. I generally found the stock atolls to be rather ho-hum, with rare islands (of ridiculous elevation) and a lot of open water, with sub-wrecking sub nets strewn about. Other areas are similarly devoid of their real-world navigational hazards, turning treacherous waters into areas where the main concern is simply "how deep can I dive?" I presume this has to do with the curious reality that there is no terrain height between 4m ASL and ~30m BSL.
Inaccuracies extend to the man-made realm as well. Midway, for instance, harbors an enormous battle fleet. Corregidor is toothless, while the batteries protecting Pearl Harbor are placed fancifully. In other places, harbors are completely misplaced.

I have been using the GWX Terrain Extractor to build accurate atolls and reefs, with a hopefully pleasing result. The reefs will still include sub nets, but their location will be much more evident from the navigation map. Not only will this force the player to use the actual channels, but hopefully it will help keep the AI from running aground. As progress is made, the campaign files are being "fixed" to route shipping properly.

I have been adjusting other campaign files to more accurately reflect port locations - Cavite, Honolulu, Tulagi, Wellington, Seattle, and others have all gone under the knife. Major lighthouses are being added, partially as an aid to those who practice "real navigation" in treacherous places like the Torres Strait. Existing pre-war fortifications and mobile units (eg the marine Defense Battalions) will be modeled.

I am also planning on revising the locations (and types) of sub tenders and other auxiliary vessels. Capital ships of both the US and Japanese navies (and perhaps the British, in the future) will also be relocated - no more carriers docked at Midway, although you might find the occasional battleship being repaired in Noumea.

Some the US battleships had odd secondary armaments, and so these have been revised based on the historical record. These and other files may be released pending permissions from the RSRDC team.

I can't speak too much to time-frame. The terrain files are divided into 1 Degree by 1 Degree squares, each of which takes me about an hour to modify depending on how much atoll is present. I obviously only plan to fix a relatively small fraction of the Earth's surface; still, it has taken me most of July to do the Marshall Islands and a few other high-interest points. Other campaign files will await permissions from other modders, as much of the shipping I have adapted from RSRDC. I do hope to have this ready for release in a few months, and hope to have it available for incorporation into Capn_Scurvy's upcoming Day of Infamy mod. But I thought I would go ahead and put this out there in case anyone is also interested in fixing these inaccuracies.

~Crannogman

[fitzcarraldo]

A great work, many thanks!

All the best.

Fitzcarraldo

[Rockin Robbins]

I only ask that you stake out a clear territory: campaign and map, and leave gameplay, ship and sub skins, nav map and attack map tools and usage, enemy AI, all aspects of gameplay BUT enemy shipping, map issues, where guns and ships defending are. Seems like that's a huge territory by itself and it would be great to have a campaign mod that didn't mess with the rest of the game.

And if you keep all added ships those from stock 1.5 then your mod would work with any supermod or the stock game without having to modify it.

I want to see Pearl Harbor like it deserves to be and my fondest wish is to see it under attack December 7, 1941.

[Crannogman]

There's plenty for me to do on the map without messing with 3D models and AI etc. I will need to go back to stock and see what's there, but most likely the campaign changes will be based on RSRDC and NMMO. A stock version may be released as an afterthought, although I can't for the life of me figure out why someone wouldn't want to use RSRDC's (c/w stock) vastly-improved ship traffic (although I realize RSRDC includes a bunch of other changes as well).

I can't speak fully to what you mean when you talk about "Pearl Harbor asit deserves to be." I'd like to at least get the capital ships right, but there's not that much evidence that I've found of where various ships docked after 1941. If you have some, that would be incredibly useful.

[Crannogman]

Finally finished the Marshall Islands, most of the Eastern Carolines, Torres Strait, Ball's Pyramid, Lot's Wife, Smith Island, Bayonaise Rocks, Wake, Diamond Head, Midway, Nishinoshima, and Okinotorishima.

Next up are the Central and Western Carolines, where charts and good satellite imagery is more sparse. Then the Ontong Java area and more of the Coral Sea / Great Barrier Reef. At least the Photoshop skills are coming along

[fitzcarraldo]

Originally Posted by Crannogman

Finally finished the Marshall Islands, most of the Eastern Carolines, Torres Strait, Ball's Pyramid, Lot's Wife, Smith Island, Bayonaise Rocks, Wake, Diamond Head, Midway, Nishinoshima, and Okinotorishima.

Next up are the Central and Western Carolines, where charts and good satellite imagery is more sparse. Then the Ontong Java area and more of the Coral Sea / Great Barrier Reef. At least the Photoshop skills are coming along

Great!

It seems this mod will be a must have.

Many thanks!

Fitzcarraldo

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Crannogman

There's plenty for me to do on the map without messing with 3D models and AI etc. I will need to go back to stock and see what's there, but most likely the campaign changes will be based on RSRDC and NMMO. A stock version may be released as an afterthought, although I can't for the life of me figure out why someone wouldn't want to use RSRDC's (c/w stock) vastly-improved ship traffic (although I realize RSRDC includes a bunch of other changes as well).

I can't speak fully to what you mean when you talk about "Pearl Harbor asit deserves to be." I'd like to at least get the capital ships right, but there's not that much evidence that I've found of where various ships docked after 1941. If you have some, that would be incredibly useful.

RSRDC makes gameplay changes that make playing TMO, RFB and GFO impossible. He strayed WAY outside the boundary of enemy shipping into targeting, enemy AI, more ships, environmental changes and more. For instance he completely eliminated Ducimus' "evil airplanes" that could spot you realistically when at periscope depth. He basically rewrites all the options for any mod or the stock game and completely misrepresents what RSRDC really is. It's a mod nerfer and its bad effects outweigh its good effects on shipping. It also completely eliminates the random encounters and substitutes vast wastelands between shipping lanes. Idea: excellent. Execution: below average.

[Crannogman]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

I want to see Pearl Harbor like it deserves to be and my fondest wish is to see it under attack December 7, 1941.

I have made some small tweaks to Pearl, as you can see below


One limiting factor is that the 3D model for Ford Island appears to be a little bit large, and overdeveloped on the NW side. For the Sub base, I suppose I could try the "verysmall_harborI" model as is used at Pearl City, but I think this gets a better angle.

Onwards and upwards. I looked through the SpyRon files and they are nice. However, as with the rest of the mods, Spyron misplaces the Sub Tender etc on the North side of the Mios Woendi, when in fact the lagoon is on the Southeast side. The following picture was taken from almost due South:


Here is the satellite view; Mios Woendi is the little un-labelled island outlined in red near the middle:


Majuro has issues as well, Subic Bay is slightly misplaced, Guam and Saipan are quite sparsely populated, and Cavite is generally misrepresented. This is not to bag on SpyRon, but to demonstrate the (mild) inaccuracies that have accrued in all mods from using an incomplete map.

Edit: I should clarify that I am building this from stock files. I have been comparing with other mods to see how compatibility can be achieved with the lowest work for end-users. In most cases, it shouldn't be a problem to overlay the (few) new campaign files over your existing ones. The flotilla.upc files will probably require adjustment for sub spawn locations - the best way to fit this into existing mod environments will probably be to copy/paste the location data into the existing file, letting the other information about sub class and timing reamin true to your particular mod mix

[Crannogman]

Some of you may be aware that not all US sub tenders looked like the Fulton-class tender in the (stock game). USS Canopus and Holland, the primary tenders of the Asiatic Fleet, appear to have been modifications of old passenger ships, while the war-era Griffin-class was a modification of the standard C3-type cargo ship. Since the fast attack transports in game appear to be the Windsor-class (another C3 mod), I plan to use the American troop transport as a stand-in for the "alternative " sub tender classes.

Also moved several of the Australian ports to more accurate positions - eg Fremantle and Brisbane, both of which had their historical sub bases in rivers. It's complicated a little by the preponderance of jetties in the 3d location models - most of the riverine ports were wharf-based

[Crannogman]

Here are some screenshots of the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base in April '42. Fulton and Pelias are at the Base; Vestal stands next to the wreck of Arizona. For sake of simplicity, this is stock 1.5.

[Haukka81]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

RSRDC makes gameplay changes that make playing TMO, RFB and GFO impossible. He strayed WAY outside the boundary of enemy shipping into targeting, enemy AI, more ships, environmental changes and more. For instance he completely eliminated Ducimus' "evil airplanes" that could spot you realistically when at periscope depth. He basically rewrites all the options for any mod or the stock game and completely misrepresents what RSRDC really is. It's a mod nerfer and its bad effects outweigh its good effects on shipping. It also completely eliminates the random encounters and substitutes vast wastelands between shipping lanes. Idea: excellent. Execution: below average.

+1 for this, RSRD is way over hype mod. Sure if some one likes heavily linear campaing :P

[Sailor Steve]

I'm excited about this. So far RFB is the only mod which makes a halfway realistic Midway. This sounds very cool.

[Crannogman]

So my plan is basically to modify the shipping routes so they don't run aground. If people prefer stock to RSRDC, then I can make one for stock, too. I don't really plan to use anything else from RSRDC.

I'm not doing any 3D modeling. There's already a Sofu Gan 3D model, but I made a terrain one that I'm sure is visually inferior - but it is on the map. I find Aanker's model spooky in that it doesn't show up on the map, so I never know quite where to look for it. Presumably, the 3D model will encompass/hide the terrain feature for those who use both.

So, for instance, I haven't seen a Midway that I think is historical - it either appears deserted or overdeveloped. The same is true for a lot of other land locations - but since this game mostly takes place at sea, that's not a huge deal. I'm not going to fix the buildings at Midway. But I have built an accurate reef and shallowed the lagoon, and in time I will make the shipping traffic there more historical.

Again, the engine is hampered by not being able to create a seafloor at a depth like 6ft - submerged, but not deep enough for a ship or sub to navigate. So you will be able to get a sub to places that IRL are not navigable. But I think this is a reasonable compromise

[Rockin Robbins]

Compromise is the only game in town. I'm really looking forward to what you come up with even if I have to run RSRDC to see it.

[Crannogman]

My hope is to have a pure terrain pack ready for release by September. The other campaign layer stuff might be another month or two