So does this game need an RUb mod? [Archive]

Beery

03-24-07, 04:24 PM

Hi Gizzmoe. Hi all. :)

I am alive. I'm a little reticent about another big mod. Maybe I'll start off small with a few tweaks and see how it goes from there.

Good to see SH4 already out. I haven't been keeping tabs on it because I thought they were being overoptimistic with a 2007 release date, but I found it in the store today and had to get it.

I'm looking forward to, at the very least, making a BeeryWater mod for it and perhaps a mod for career start dates - we'll have to see about those things - if they're even needed.

CCIP

03-24-07, 04:24 PM

Welcome back indeed!

It needs as much if not more work than SHIII on that front (and not so much because it's buggier and more flawed, but because there are far more features to fine-tune now). So yes, definitely, a Realism Patch of some sort will absolutely be required.

Thanks to the very similar file structure, tons of mods and modders alike are migrating from SHIII, so on the one hand this would allow a more complete pack to come about very quickly, but on the other it would also mean that more extensive testing may be needed at a much earlier stage or there's the risk of releasing a package too early and with some obvious oversights.

Beery

03-24-07, 04:29 PM

FAdmiral

03-24-07, 04:30 PM

Now the circle is complete !! ALL the modders have come back to work on SH4.
So in about 2 or 3 months, we will have a total new game: SH4 Modded to the
Hilt....

JIM

CCIP

03-24-07, 04:31 PM

Not so good news that it needs as much work. I had hoped the developers would have taken some inspiration from our previous work. Can we at least start careers whenever we want to? Are there realistic career lengths?
1) No (well, it's year selection only)

2) Yes, although I haven't got that far yet.

Otherwise, there HAVE been a lot of inspirations from mods, but certainly not universally. It's a good step forward but with a lot of work still left. Perhaps inevitably given how relatively little development time (1 year) Ubi gave it.

Again, though, I think one of the issues is really the fact that the game has more features to look after many of which weren't in SHIII.

Gizzmoe

03-24-07, 04:31 PM

Can we at least start careers whenever we want to?

Nah, only 41-44.

Sailor Steve

03-24-07, 04:37 PM

Who knows what's needed yet? They've only done one patch so far.

But these guys are right: it will almost certainly need something like the Flotilla Mod, and I'm hoping at least to find some way to install a database of crew names similar to the huge list in SH3 Commander.

As for myself, I usually use little mods or pieces of the bigger ones. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Beery

03-24-07, 04:39 PM

Hehe thanks FAdmiral. I hope I can be of some service.

On the career start date, I think that was an SH3 Commander feature. Sadly it doesn't sound as if JScones is going to be able to work on an SH4 Commander. Without his work I think (if I recall correctly) it's going to be a matter of text editing career files on the fly, which will be a bugger for any but the most obsessive realism freak.

Maybe we can find another guy with some talent for that stuff (hehe who am I kidding - Jaesen is the unchallenged and unchallengeable king of 3rd party Silent Hunter tweak programs).

Sailor Steve

03-24-07, 04:43 PM

Sadly it doesn't sound as if JScones is going to be able to work on an SH4 Commander. Without his work I think (if I recall correctly) it's going to be a matter of text editing career files on the fly, which will be a bugger for any but the most obsessive realism freak.
I'm no programmer, so I have no idea how hard it would be to just change the files within Commander to match what's needed. It looks like most of the work is done, and it may be possible to adapt it to SH4 without too much fuss. As to making it look right, maybe somewhere down the road we can convince him to do that one little bit, if we do all the rest.

Beery

03-24-07, 04:43 PM

Who knows what's needed yet? They've only done one patch so far...

One thing is for sure - if there are a lot of bugs I'm probably going to hold off for a bit on any major work, at least until development on official patches slows down. Checking RUb for every patch was a HUGE pain last time.

joea

03-24-07, 04:47 PM

Hey Beery!! Welcome back aboard! :arrgh!: Well, I don't have SH4, I don't have a computer capable of running it, though may get it in anticipation of my next upgrade. Anyway, I suggest we all take a breath, by all means do small tweaks, but we don't know enough about how SH4 works...heck even all the features have not been discovered yet before contemplating supermods. I also think your point about waiting for a patch or two is a smart move. :know:

CCIP

03-24-07, 04:50 PM

Indeed, I can tell you that there are going to be more patches needed here. 1.1 hasn't nearly addressed all the key problems with the original release.

Beery

03-24-07, 04:55 PM

I'm no programmer, so I have no idea how hard it would be to just change the files within Commander to match what's needed. It looks like most of the work is done, and it may be possible to adapt it to SH4 without too much fuss. As to making it look right, maybe somewhere down the road we can convince him to do that one little bit, if we do all the rest.

If SH4 is enough like SH3 it may be relatively easy, but if it's even a little different it could mean major changes. The problem with SH3 Commander was that twenty people were coming up with good ideas, but the implementation was all on Jaesen's shoulders. With the amount of work involved I was surprised he was able to keep going as long as he did. Basically we had him working full time for a year. With that pace and with the sometimes negative attitude of a very small but vocal minority of the playerbase, burnout was just a matter of time. Heck, he kept going on SH3 Commander longer than I could on RUb, and I think we were both often working 16 hour days on each of our mods. As other modmakers here know, when you put all your spare time into something like that, every negative comment is like a physical slap in the face. I used to call RUb my baby, and it really is like that - that level of personal commitment and loyalty to the work.

Anyway, I'm rambling again.

THE_MASK

03-24-07, 05:49 PM

Welcome back mate , RUB was great , keep up the good work .

gouldjg

03-24-07, 06:27 PM

Already been looking at the mission folders etc,

At the moment, I think most people are browsing the differences and there are quite a few.

I think there is one Japanese sub but do not know if it is independent ai yet, I am sure someone will suss that one out if it has not already been disclosed.

Yet to see any oil slicks but I have not even seen a tanker so there goes. Hope it is big and wide effect cos it is going on sub.

Just looking for the correct line for the bobbing sailors.

Seriously though, I am honestly hoping for someone to do a similar job to sh3 commander just for the randomiser. With that and mini tweaker as well as the radio etc, I think I will be slowly doing a mega text file.

Whilst I wait for that, its more browsing and digging up some things from the past that I wanted to finnish as well as saving for more ram.

p.s. Nice to see you Beery

CCIP

03-24-07, 06:29 PM

I think there is one Japanese sub but do not know if it is independent ai yet, I am sure someone will suss that one out if it has not already been disclosed.

And a torpedo plane, too!

I haven't really looked into this much, but I think the presence of torpedo-launching AI units promises great possibilities :hmm:

PeriscopeDepth

03-24-07, 06:32 PM

Hey Beery. I have thoroughly enjoyed your modding, playing both B-17 and SH3 versions of your mods. It would be great if you could work your magic with SH4 eventually.

PD

PeriscopeDepth

03-24-07, 06:34 PM

I just bought the game - haven't installed it yet. How is it as far as realism is concerned? Would an RUb mod be useful?

I wonder how many of RUb's mods could be ported over to the new game?

Oh, and I suppose it would be Real Fleet boat. :)

PD

vois2

03-24-07, 07:34 PM

Good to see Beery !

Regarding RuB, after about 5 hours of close attention paid to gameplay at patch 1.1 with 'Hard' difficulty ... I would say many tweaks are needed to make it a more "realism" gaming experience.

I could not possibly have been in a worst position in a IJN battle task force, courtesy of a whole-convoy course change when I was ready with my firing solution. Surrounded by destroyers and cruisers on all sides, quiet waters on a moonlit night, my attack periscope hardly concealed, running 1/3 ahead the entire time. There were Jap sailors fishing their lines off the side of the destroyers, paying more attention to their fishing rods, than they were paying to me. Except for surfacing I don't know what I could have done to be a more obvious enemy. All enemy ships sailed right past...
That moment would not have happened in RuB 1.43 .

Also, Jap bombers can easily be kept off target by a series of own-sub speed changes and turns. And you can elude the same plane for ... 15 minutes ... 30 minutes ... 2 hours. The enemy planes seem to have endless ammo and endless fuel to remain on spot of your sub. As long as you keep missing him and he you, then this dance does not end, until you just descend and say the heck with it and creep away.

Beery

03-24-07, 11:00 PM

Hey Beery. I have thoroughly enjoyed your modding, playing both B-17 and SH3 versions of your mods. It would be great if you could work your magic with SH4 eventually.

PD

Wow! Good to see someone remembers my B-17 II mod. I wish the B-17 II community had been as friendly towards modmakers as the SH3 community was - there was a heck of a lot more that could have been done with that game, with a bit more support from a few of the more vocal and influential players. I still believe that AC (an historical advisor for B-17 II) undermined the entire modmaking community by physically deleting certain mods (mine and the real names mod) from the B-17 II site.

castorp345

03-24-07, 11:15 PM

Beery

03-25-07, 01:38 AM

I have thoroughly enjoyed your modding, playing both B-17 and SH3 versions of your mods. It would be great if you could work your magic with SH4 eventually.

'concur on all points and especially remember the halcyon days of rb3d...
:D

'tis a quite distinguished history of "modding" you have, sir, and it's good to have you still among us!

cheers
hc

Thanks. Thanks for remembering RB3D too. Not many people know this, but it was the original Red Baron game (RB1) that got me into the modding hobby back in 1991 (or was it 1992?). Since then I've tweaked just about every game I've come across in one way or another. But RB3D, Battleground Waterloo, B-17 II and SH3 were the ones I worked hardest on.

I got SH4 up and running this evening and had a quick look around. Very cool looking. The 3D crew models are much better than before - and one thing I was especially pleased to see was the realistic sound delay checkbox - something our community modded for SH3, so it seems some mod ideas do filter through to the developers.

clayton

03-25-07, 01:47 AM

Your Red Baron mod / patch was the first time I had ever heard of and loaded a 'superpatch'! Is that site still up?

Old Dog

03-25-07, 09:01 PM

I was hoping for an RuB mod. Glad to "see you" Beery !
Clayton, here's a site with links to Beery's UoP for RB3D:
http://redbaronplayers.net/uopmods1.htm

Old Dog

Krupp

03-26-07, 07:08 AM

It was RuB mod's in SH3, that kept me playing during the first year or so until NYGM came. It looks like this one definetily needs similar development. That would be just awesome.

Uber Gruber

03-26-07, 08:39 AM

Hi Beery, welcome back.

For those new to SubSim, Beery produced one of the first and finest mods for Silent Hunter III called Real U-Boat, or RuB for short. It was an excellent mod, addressing many realism issues - the most controversial of which was the 1 minute deck gun reload time ;-)

I got into SubSim games with SH III and it was Beery's RuB mod that kept me playing SH III and which formed the basis of later mods such as NYGM (Not Your Grand Mothers) Mod. These mods have sustained my interest in SH III for over two years now and have made Silent Hunter the game I have played most in my 37 years of game playing.

So a big thanks to you Beery, i'm very pleased to see you back here for SH IV.

Cheers....

FAdmiral

03-26-07, 03:16 PM

Beery, you're going to have to come up with a new name for a
mod like RUB. Real U-Boats just ain't gonna cut it for SH4....

JIM

fire-fox

03-26-07, 03:43 PM

Good to see you back Beery.:up:

waste gate

03-26-07, 03:44 PM

Beery, you're going to have to come up with a new name for a
mod like RUB. Real U-Boats just ain't gonna cut it for SH4....

JIM

How about RFB (Real Fleet Boat)?

Sailor Steve

03-26-07, 03:45 PM

Or just RealSub

Jace11

03-26-07, 04:16 PM

Good too see you guys are all still alive...

I'm already busy looking at the files though I am out-of-practice

I have been away so long that I had never heard of GWX,

All we need now is TT, Nico

There is indeed much work to be done, but it isn't like it hasn't been done before, I can't help but think that the devs were half consious of the fact the community would end up finishing this game for them. Despite the bugs etc there is a great game underneath..

don1reed

03-26-07, 06:02 PM

...its strange, I know, but you MODDERS are like volunteer firemen. Your intuition must be telling you there are "fires" to be put out. You guys have a sixth sense and can feel whenever you're needed. Another rescue, another child saved. :up:

Tip of the Hat to every swingin' Richard among you that keeps these games playable for the rest of us.!!!

JScones

03-28-07, 02:53 AM

...and I'm hoping at least to find some way to install a database of crew names similar to the huge list in SH3 Commander.
Look in \Silent Hunter 4\Data\UPCData\UPCCrewData\CrewMembersNames.upc

Seems to suggest support for exactly what you want. ;)

Maybe a new names mod coming soon from Sailor Steve? :up:

Sailor Steve

03-28-07, 10:55 AM

Well, not soon, since I'm still living on the streets and can't get to my computer. But don't take that as a bad thing, because it is getting better, just slowly.

I should be up and running by early May; then I'll certainly get to work. I'm still wanting to do a complete and final Ship Names set for SH3!:rock:

Beery

03-28-07, 11:05 AM

Beery, you're going to have to come up with a new name for a
mod like RUB. Real U-Boats just ain't gonna cut it for SH4....

JIM

How about RFB (Real Fleet Boat)?

Thanks. I'll use that because its rhythm sounds like 'Real U-boat'. I like RealSub too - I guess someone else will grab that title.