[REL] FOTRS Ultimate Project

[CapnScurvy]

Originally Posted by Admiral Lutjens

Played my first American campaign from trials on up and was wondering why I'm never able to fire the torpedoes? I hit the button and it just clicks....no matter what I did they wouldn't fire.

As a "Safety" feature some mods require you to use the Keyboard "Enter+Ctrl" keys to fire the torpedo. Usually just mouse clicking the "red" fire button on-screen is all that's necessary too. If you're using Fotrs Ultimate, please print off the Keyboard Layout images to know what keys to use, for what purpose. You'll find them in the "main" SH4 game folder, on your computer, after Fotrs Ultimate is "Activated" through JSGME.

[Admiral Lutjens]

Originally Posted by jldjs

Open the torpedo tube outer doors

How?

[propbeanie]

That keyboard chart that CapnScurvy alludes to in the "root" folder of the game. Stock allows you to rotate tube-to-tube in sequential order with the <W> key, and open or close the tubes with the <Q> key. In FotRSU, those are the same, other than the <W> only rotates through the bow tubes, while the <E> key will rotate through your aft tubes. Press the <Q> key anytime above approximately 100 feet, and you'll see the message "Opening Tube X" with the "X" signifying which ever tube happens to be selected at the time. Press the <W> key, and the selction moves to the next tube. Site your target, "aim", and then press the <Ctrl> key, and while holding it, press the <Enter> key (or click on the red Fire button), and you'll "shoot" a torp, if the door is open. Wait until you get the message "Torpedo in the water" before changing your course...

After sinking a ship, as soon as the ship is completely submerged it and all the debris instantly vanish. I sometimes like to watch it sink and in shallow water its nice to see the hull laying aground. I did notice if I zoom in and out of the water I see what looks like a sprite of the ship sinking but I don't know.

Edit: I had a stuck gyroscope(is this correct terminology?) that caused one of my torpedoes to keep running in circles. Which I've seen before, however I was moving forward and unable to stop my boat in time to prevent an accident. The torpedo completely destroyed everything forward of the conning tower. But the strange thing is, I didn't take on any water. 1/4 of my boat is gone and hes holding at periscope depth with no problems. Only a few red subsystems. I was able to surface and return without incident.

[propbeanie]

Your crew must have been very efficient in getting the boat stabilized. Like the Minneapolis or the Northampton, herculean efforts saved the boat...

I've had like four circle-runners in recent history. One I "crash dived" from periscope depth and the torp may or may not have run over the top of us. I heard it go by twice though. Another one hit the shears and destroyed the conn and everything attached, including both scopes. I was still able to get a "bridge view" when we did surface later (didn't wanna do datt in front of a bunch of enemy DD). None of the targeting equipment worked though. We returned to base. Another hit us somewhere around the mid-section and was a dud (someone else recently had that), and the last one happened when I was doing some testing and getting very frustrated with the game, short-tempered, and even shorter on patience, so I turned, sped up, and drove right into one, just from not really paying attention to what I was doing, even though you see me follow the torp in the vid... the boat sank about thirty minutes after the end of the video...



As for the debris field, we might be able to change some of that, but some of the reasoning behind the hard-coded portion of that is due to computer overhead. The game is over 10 years old, and 10 years ago, you didn't want the computer to have to track an empty box or life boat, when it should be tracking your next victim... We'll look and see what all would be involved with changing some of that. I do know that you get the same boxes everytime a vessel sinks, no matter which vessel. Only the number of boxes changes.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Mi...ssafaronga.jpg

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Your crew must have been very efficient in getting the boat stabilized. Like the Minneapolis or the Northampton, herculean efforts saved the boat...

I've had like four circle-runners in recent history. One I "crash dived" from periscope depth and the torp may or may not have run over the top of us. I heard it go by twice though. Another one hit the shears and destroyed the conn and everything attached, including both scopes. I was still able to get a "bridge view" when we did surface later (didn't wanna do datt in front of a bunch of enemy DD). None of the targeting equipment worked though. We returned to base. Another hit us somewhere around the mid-section and was a dud (someone else recently had that), and the last one happened when I was doing some testing and getting very frustrated with the game, short-tempered, and even shorter on patience, so I turned, sped up, and drove right into one, just from not really paying attention to what I was doing, even though you see me follow the torp in the vid... the boat sank about three minutes after the end of the video...



As for the debris field, we might be able to change some of that, but some of the reasoning behind the hard-coded portion of that is due to computer overhead. The game is over 10 years old, and 10 years ago, you didn't want the computer to have to track an empty box or life boat, when it should be tracking your next victim... We'll look and see what all would be involved with changing some of that. I do know that you get the same boxes everytime a vessel sinks, no matter which vessel. Only the number of boxes changes.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Mi...ssafaronga.jpg

Oh interesting. I've never been damage that badly before. Normally I sink if something looks at me funny. So its possible to save the boat even with such massive damage? I thought it was a bug or something because I hadnt taken on water.

[propbeanie]

Under normal circumstances, a torpedo hit to an S boat would be immediately fatal. My boat was able to surface, and we used the cannon (in spite of the damage report) for a while before sinking after about 30 minuts (I forgot my "zero" in the other post). I'm not sure how the damage model functions in the game. But I am sure that this is where some of these "unbelievable" incidents come from. Don't worry about it though, and "take it", 'cause it'll make up for it later, believe you me...

I had one time where a bomb dropped from a plane landed just forward of the conning tower. We were on the surface, and parts and pieces were flying everywhere. We were just off of the Northern Honshu coast, and I thought that was it, game over. This was one of those times where my look-outs weren't looking, or something, and I got an "Aircraft spotted!" report while I'm looking at the chart for navigation purposes. No plane showed on the chart, so I came top-side to look for myself just in time to witness the "BOOM!" and spray going everywhere. I had just hit the "Crash Dive!" also, so as we're going down, I'm thinking "we'll never stop descending"... but it actually did sort-of "stabilize" at about 200 feet. I mean, there was "red" everywhere on the boat, but no batteries damaged (I don't know how, but...). Damage Control was put to work, and before long, the leaking was stopped. I haven't a clue how many mattresses were used in the hole, and somehow or other, I still had communication with the forward torpedo room. Not realistic I wouldn't think, but hey, it's a game... We did keep taking hull damage while at 200 foot, and at first wasn't able to come back up, but after the leaks were stopped, we did get up above 150, where we quit taking damage, so we got up to one hundred and cruised a while there until dark and then surfaced (she still didn't want to come up) and headed for home.

Another time, we were hit by a shore battery on about their 2nd shot (this has happened like four times in FotRSU to me while "testing"). Hit the conning tower, and as above, we were in the process of a crash dive when we got hit. Again, I had been poring over the charts, planning strategy and tactics... ahem. Anyway I heard the first shot land nearby and almost simultaneously got a "We're under attack, sir!" message, "Crash Dive!" then "BOOM!" we're hit... Again though, they stabilized the boat at the 150 mark, but we've got no periscopes, so this patrol is a wash before we even get started, so back home we go.

Both of those circumstances have been repeated (multiple times), and are usually met with a continuation of the flooding, pumps failing, "hissing" all around, lights flicker and go out, and then the spiral, and it's over... But look at the picture in that link in my previous post - and that's not the worst damage taken by a ship that's made it back. It's one I could find right away. The Minneapolis lost its bow, and made it back... Good thing there weren't any big waves, but they did make it back... The game giveth, and the game taketh away... In the end, it almost always equals out.

[Admiral Lutjens]

All figured out now, thanks!!! Everything is great!

I'll have to get Operation Monsun as well, but I would assume I'd have to deactivate FOTRS to use Monsun?

[propbeanie]

Yes, you would have to back out of FotRSU in order to use OM. Mixing major mods is generally a very bad idea, unless specifically written for each other.

I'm not sure of the functionality of MultiSH4 with the "modern" Steam, so we'll have to wait for someone who has tried to, or is using it now, to comment on that. It'd be great if it works with a Steam install still...

[Admiral Lutjens]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Yes, you would have to back out of FotRSU in order to use OM. Mixing major mods is generally a very bad idea, unless specifically written for each other.

I'm not sure of the functionality of MultiSH4 with the "modern" Steam, so we'll have to wait for someone who has tried to, or is using it now, to comment on that. It'd be great if it works with a Steam install still...

Roger that!

I have one other issue I noticed (I know you're probably sick of me by now ) playing on the German side, when I choose the 3.7mm AA guns, they just fire straight back into the stern instead of at the aircraft. It's bizarre. I believe it causes damage, I'll have to double check on that again.

[propbeanie]

You'll have to wait on me until after 12N Eastern at the earliest before I'd be back near my computer to try the German side of FotRSU out. Maybe someone else will be noodling before that. I do know that the Stock game had issues with the Uboats, which lurker attempted to fix with OM. I cannot remember the AA gun right now. For the last couple of years, all I've done with the Uboat side is just make sure that a Career starts still after doing mods on the Fleet Boat side... but I'll check it tomorrow early afternoon, and see if I can shoot something besides my tail with with it. FotRSU makes no attempt to improve the German side of things, and all we've done, like I say, is just keep the ship calls "compatible" with FotRSU's files, since the same ships will show up on the German side. Sixty-four ways to get sunk instead of 12...

[Psyentific]

I'm putting together a new install of SH4. I'm on the fence between FOTRS or TMO + RSRDC + [something]. As far as I can tell, FOTRS is one of the few (only?) big mods that's still being actively developed. On the other hand, TMO is good.

Is there a major feature list or some kind of "mod intent" document for FOTRS? How does FOTRS compare to TMO et al.?

[Aktungbby]

Psyentific!

[torpedobait]

Originally Posted by Psyentific

I'm putting together a new install of SH4. I'm on the fence between FOTRS or TMO + RSRDC + [something]. As far as I can tell, FOTRS is one of the few (only?) big mods that's still being actively developed. On the other hand, TMO is good.

Is there a major feature list or some kind of "mod intent" document for FOTRS? How does FOTRS compare to TMO et al.?

I played TMO/RSRDC plus a few eye candy mods for at least three years. Loved it, but it became very predictable because RSRDC doesn't really change the events much. You wind up knowing where and when certain juicy targets will turn up. I even made a spreadsheet to make sure I was in the right place at the right time, such as being exactly 17 NM due South of San Cristobal island on May 4, 1942 I could expect 2 Shokaku Fleet Carriers to show up with a couple of escorts that were easy to avoid. Fun, but only in an arcade sense after the second time trying.

For the last year or so I've been playing the beta versions of FOTRS Ultimate (currently at v.063). Way more dynamic. Lots of targets if you get in the right places to hunt, and less predictable. Overall game play is superior in my experience. The Mod team is still working on it, but the improvements over TMO and TMO/RSRDC are substantial and effective.

But I wouldn't suggest you ignore TMO/RSRDC. It's just that when you eventually tire of the repetition you may want to consider FOTARS Ultimate, regardless of it's current state at that time.

Good luck, and have fun - that's why we are here!

[Rockin Robbins]

I can tell you the eye candy in FOTRSU kills anything previously available, doubles the number of ships, introduces enemy submarines into the war, is more vicious than TMO and/or RSRDC. We opted to go for a completely dynamic campaign so you can't game the system.

But the final choice is yours. Heck, run BOTH of them in separate game installations.