[TEC] Question About Paint Schemes & Towers

[goose814]

Does anyone know what file contains the information that the game utilizes to change the paint schemes and conning towers of the subs? I think it's based on a dating system but don't know which file it's in. I'd like to try and alter it somewhat to keep the Measure 9 (all black) paint scheme longer than the game allows and also obtain the cut down Gato tower (covered wagon) sooner. Thanks in advanced.

Gus

[CaptainCox]

Check this out
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=553279&postcount=5
in this thread
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?p=553279#post553279
Hope that helps.

[goose814]

Actually, I'm aware of the actual files that make up the paint schemes. What I'm trying to find out is what file tells the sim, for example, that on this date the Gato will have the all black paint scheme but on this date it will have the gray paint scheme, or that on this date the Gato will have an early war conning tower but on this date it will have a cut-down late-war conning tower. I want to alter the dates that control when these things change.

Gus

[Julius Caesar]

NSS_Gato.upc etc.

[the_belgian]

you can,of course,also just copy your "black"skin,rename it ending with -02 and replace the stock -02 file(blue) with it.

[goose814]

NSS_Gato.upc etc.


Thanks, I had looked through that originally but must have missed it.

you can,of course,also just copy your "black"skin,rename it ending with -02 and replace the stock -02 file(blue) with it.


I originally did that and it was fine but I wanted to fix it in the game so that it would change automatically and not have to do it manually every time.

I was thinking that the Measure 32 (gray scheme) was being introduced to early in the sim. For example. I would choose the Gato on November 15, 1943 and it would be Measure 32. To me this was too early for this, it should still be Measure 9 (all black). According to the info I've found Measure 32 didn't come into use for the most part until April 1944 and not widespread use until late 1944 or early 1945. I also wanted the cut-down (covered wagon) conning tower for the Gato earlier.

For the Balao, it was simple. I changed the dates in "NSS_Balao.upc" from April 2, 1944 to Feb 1, 1945. This seems to me a better start date for the Measure 32.

For the Gato things are different. Altering the dates in "NSS_Gato.upc" will change the conning tower configuration but not the paint scheme. There are four configurations for the Gato conning tower in the sim: early, med, late, and elite. The early tower is the as-launched unmodified tower, med tower has the aft cigarette deck cut down for an anti-aircraft gun, late is the tower with anti-aircraft guns fore and aft with the high bridge, and elite has both anti-aircraft positions with the lowered bridge and covered wagon look. These dates were changed so that the late tower is used a few months earlier than stock and the elite about 7 months earlier.

However, the paint scheme for the Gato is still a problem. It seems that no matter what, when the tower changes form med to late the paint scheme changes from Measure 9 to Measure 32. I haven't been able to keep it at Measure 9 like the Balao and haven't found what controls this yet.

In addition to this, the guns are a problem also. There are 2 textures for each gun, measure 9 and measure 32. However, it seems that the sim only uses one. For example, I'll have a meassure 9 Balao and the deck gun will be measure 32. After experimenting, here's what I found: the 3 in. deck gun has only one texture, measure 9, the 4 in. deck gun has both but the sim only uses measure 32, even with an all black early Gato, the 5 in. has both but again uses just the gray scheme, same goes for the 40 mm. The 20 mm has both textures but the single is always measure 9 while the twin is always measure 32. The date has no affect on the guns. I know there has to be something somewhere that says for example, use "4_50cal_M32_T01" texture and not "4_50cal_M9_T01". I just haven't found it yet.

Anyway, I'm stuck for now having to alter the texture files maually until this is figured out. As always, any help is most appreciated.

Gus

[elanaiba]

We don't have a mechanic for altering the texture to be loaded on the conning tower/guns, or we would have done it ourselves.

Yeah, it would have been cool to have a less restrictive camo makeup for the sub. We would have let the player select it :D

However, I don't think you are really correct on the dates. While some liberties were taken with the appearance dates - esp. because of the fact that we couldn't have the conning tower in two different camos without having two clones of it, I don't think its all that wrong. Here's some stuff to study:

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h98000/h98043.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:USS_Gato%3B0821201.jpg

http://www.shipcamouflage.com/gato_class.htm
http://www.shipcamouflage.com/balao_class.htm

[CaptainCox]

There is some more info on the schemes here
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=111715&highlight=paint+schemes

@elanabia. Would it in theory be possible to port the "Conning Tower Insignia" function from SH3 to SH4?. That would be so SWEET!