[REL-UBM] Playable USS Fletcher Destroyer

[horsa]

Excited by the playable surface conversions of Xantro and Mikhayl, I set about attempting a conversion to see how easy or difficult the process was. The aim was to then create a “mugs guide” based on my experiences to make the techniques as accessible as possible to as large a number of people as possible. For my learning curve I chose USS Brooklyn and (later) USS Fletcher.

I need to point out that prior to the start I was unfamiliar with both the S3D editor and the workings of SH4 in general ( which I have never really played ).

Currently ( at 2+ weeks) I’m increasingly running into problems which are taking me too long to sort out, so I’m hopefully going to speed up the process by releasing this early beta. My hope is that others will look at it and suggest where changes/corrections can be made. I can then incorporate this extra knowledge into the “mug’s guide”

To be fair it’s difficult to say exactly when these conversions are “complete”. Even the conversions of Xantro and Mikhayl ( and later Rene) go only so far. In a sense they are all “beta”.

Personally I believe these playables are a whole new ball game for SH4. However I also believe they will never be the complete item. There are, IMHO, too many problems and limitations to ultimately make this the complete“ New DC2” or the “New Whatever” . However , they are a lot of fun, and I believe that with further determined and ingenious modding, they could offer a reasonable surface experience for certain types of operation. Their potential will perhaps be best realized in multiplay.

So here it is for what it is worth – a playable Fletcher .

UPDATED TO 1.1 / 21 May 08
DOWNLOAD V 1.1
FROM http://www.mediafire.com/?3xdmcyxmcjz

Fixed Smoke and "floating WO"


From the README

WHAT IT DOES

Looks like a Fletcher in all its SH4 glory ( Model and textures)
Responds to telegraph and rudder.
Has a mannable single 5inch turret and a mannable AA gun position.
AI main guns/AA guns respond to targets.
Has “watch” position in the Bridge with free view camera.
Selectable targets with binocs.
Wake trail and turning props.
Is playable in :-
Some missions - Battle of Midway ( Revised ) , Photo Reconnaisance
Patrols - Philippines
Campaign. ( although the AI of other ships is so poor I’m not sure this is much of an experience )
This ship and the AI ships open fire at longer ranges (W4lt3r fix)

WHAT IT DOESN’T DO OR DOESN’T HAVE

Have sensible damage response. It neither takes damage like it should, nor has anything resembling damage control.
No flag.
No bow wake.
No smoke
No dappled water on the hull.
No ability to release depth charges.
I’ve not really done much with the crew, although there are figures manning the decks and guns, and acting kind of like they should be there.
One of the crew ( the WO I think) is suspended in mid air
Interior view – it’s still a sub
Values for turret movements need adjusting
Doesn’t fire torpedoes like a destroyer ( they are spawned at 0 deg )

Probably lots of other things


Acknowledgements

Mikhayl – Huge credit for the Clemson which was the template for this conversion . Also for the detailed tutorials he has made and the help and advice he has given freely.

Skwasjer – for the absolutely essential S3D editor
JScones - for the incredibly useful JSGME

Xantro – likewise for his help and advice and the example of the Graf Spee.
W4lt3r – The range fix files, and also his tips and advice.

All the many folk who responded to my pleas for help on the forums

"Legal" thingie

You can mod it freely without prior permission, roll it about the floor playfully, cook it carefully over a slow gas oven or give it away to your grannie if you want, but you’ll not be my friend if you release a better version of it and don’t mention that I had some input into its creation. It might be a good idea to mention Mikhayl’s name as well.

Everything used at your own risk etc

[Mush Martin]

Nice and Congrats

ps. Love the Legal:rotfl:

[Francesco]

downloading

thx for your work

[Lagger123987]

any screenshots?

[horsa]

Main gun position







AA gun position



Bridge position

[Mikhayl]

Very cool I spotted some odd things in the .dat but anyway it works fine. Smoke flag & wakes shouldn't be too difficult to add/fix from the AI unit.
Now I can't agree more that these conversions are only in a "nice toy" state. To be complete a simple conversion isn't enough, it would need really a "total conversion" to make the whole environment fit & to try to "limit the limitations" as much as possible (the most obvious one being the AI) to provide a solid environment with a real challenge, historical accuracy and a real "playing value". This could take quite some time without even being sure whether or not it's possible to achieve a satisfying end result, but that could be interesting to go through it. Otherwise it's just a simplistic marine-shooter IMO.

[gimpy117]

we need a WWI battleship mod...

[UrPeaceKeeper]

Originally Posted by gimpy117

we need a WWI battleship mod...

I personally was thinking War or 1812 Broadsides baby!

Looks Good! You could take some stuff from the Pocket BB thread and see if you cant modify it for your use. So far we have a ship that has a better damage model than a stock sub but some of the armor plating values would be in the wrong place becaues of the geometry of the ships. But it's a start. Also the flags and what not should also be in the PBB mod.

I would be more intrested in a Iowa or any US BB though Simply outa the fun factor

[Rolf Eschke]

Hello !
I have a Question.
You say its a Fletcher Destroyer but the Folder Name is USS Clemson and I found this in the Roster Cfg :

DisplayName=USS Fletcher ; DD-186 Clemson.

I dont understand that,
Regards
Rolf

[Francesco]

probably he start working on Clemenson file right?

how can I increase the number of AP shells?

[horsa]

Otherwise it's just a simplistic marine-shooter IMO

Yep, that's about it. The eye candy is so good in SH4 that it almost justifies it on that count. It'll be interesting to see if sufficient momentum gets going to tackle the wider issues that could make it a more serious and replayable sim.
Worth the investment of modding energy ? .... I guess if you're a genuine surface freak the answer is yes, but will it attract enough of the middle ground folk ?

we need a WWI battleship mod...

Well actually that already exists ........
Iron Seas Thread http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/forumdisplay.php?f=226
Website www.Ironseas.co.uk
...... but total posts of 325 in 8 months tells its own story.
SH4 has lovely graphics and it has the "brand" so even an indifferent representation of Fletcher on SH4 will attract more interest and excitement than a fully functioning realistically rendered WW1 battleship in the old DC.

You say its a Fletcher Destroyer but the Folder Name is USS Clemson

Heh, if you dig even deeper it says Gato as well.
All of these playables are based around something else. Mikhayl's Clemson was based on the Gato and what I have done is taken his Clemson and used it as a template (to save debugging time). They are only labels. They could all be renamed but it wouldn't make it any more of a Fletcher than it is. What's important is the ship parameters which have been transfered ( albeit not perfectly). If you use the very fine Graf Spee it is still actually behaving in some ways like a sub ( AI ships think it's a sub for instance) because that's what it's based on

You could take some stuff from the Pocket BB thread

Yep, sure will.
All these playables are about finding the way forward with new modding ideas.

I would be more intrested in a Iowa

It will come

[horsa]

how can I increase the number of AP shells?

Edited out wrong information

[reallydedpoet]

Nice work horsa


RDP

[Fincuan]

Originally Posted by horsa

Use S3D and go into data/submarines/USSClemson. Open the sim file there (USSClemson) and explore the turret nodes. I think the ammo counts are in there.

The ammo counts for AI controlled guns are in Data/Library/ShipParts/guns_radars*.sim (replace * with a number, I think there are four of those files). The way I do it is to look at the .eqp file to see what guns are used, then search the gun from those files. The player controlled gun's file depends on the mod, but it should be in the same folder if it's a US ship.

[horsa]

LOL
Sorry Francesco. I was talking complete rubbish.
I was thinking of the player operated gun ( which wasn't in there either !!)
There's begginers for you .....