Well... here's what I was working on.

[Ducimus]

Note the subject title is in past tense. Meaning that I am no longer working on this. I kept this under my hat for two reasons.

1.) making a WIP thread is like making a promise to complete, and is tantamount to self imposed deadline.

2.) Didn't want to be an attention whore. (Of course by posting this thread, I'm attention whoring. *sigh*)

I think the main reason i'm posting this now, is to see if any enterprising individual here wants to make it their own and complete it.

The project itself, was meant to be a more technically accurate Gato. (I've already changed many of the equipment dates to this theme) The mods name, was simply going to be "Gato!" or something like that. The premise was one ship done really well. Although if you as a modder take this, obviously name it to whatever the hell you want.

For me, burnout set in when i was redoing sea trial missions out of new london, and i don't want to release the mod without a complete rewrite of the flotilla.upc - which i simply no longer have the energy to do. Without a rewrite of the flotilla file, the mod is pretty much just a strip down version of TMO, with only one boat, and certainly nothing to get excited about. Which is why, at least in my mind, its not even worth the time to compress and upload, with the obvious exception of the interior.

Only a couple people really knew what i was working on. What follows is some Private messages from a few weeks ago.

Using TMO as a base, ive been working on a new mod, specifically for the Gato. If i wrote all the details, id be typing an essay into this PM.

Long story short:
- 4 conning tower configurations
- refits WILL be happening since there are no new commands.
- campaign will start in Feb42, with sea trials in new london.
- There will be only one pacific flotilla. Its home port will be changing as the war progresses. It might progress like New London-> Pearl-> Midway->Dutch Harbor->Brisbane->fremantle. The idea is to make the campaign feel like a journey.
- Reworked interior. Unreleased version of CA's control room with a greater amount of detail then what is publically available.
- 3D TDC and radar ranging unit, is in with most of the bells and whistles of the interior revamps. (IE, not stock, but spruced up)
- Got permission to intergrate Lurkers Subron 50 mod. This is ideal since the panama canal now exists.
etc etc etc.

This morning i was reworking Foobars textures so they acutally look right. have to redo normal maps. Finished CT flags yesterday.

This won't be a mod for everybody, but im trying to put as much spit and polish on this boat as i can. One boat, done well, for those who like captain one boat the entire war.

I've been keeping all this under my hat thus far, IE not making a "WIP" thread. In case i get burned out, or need to take a vacation or whatever. If i never post a thread, i never made any promises, or have people beating me with "when's it ready?!". Less stressful this way me thinks, and at this point, making any formal announcment feels like attention whoring to me.


Anywho...

I fixed Foofighters textures. Im acutally using his Tambor set because the limber holes match for the most part in both the MS/9 and MS/32 skins. This allowed me to create a normal map so the textures aren't as flat.

http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/new_gato_01.jpg
Bow in the Mod3 tower config. Note how the deck isn't flat, and deck details aren't washed out anymore.

-

http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/new_gato_02.jpg
Looking aft in the Mod 1 tower config. 50 cal and deck detail aren't washed out anymore.

-

http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/new_gato_03.jpg
Forward in the Mod 1 tower. Texture's inside the conning tower with the fooskin are no longer jet black and texture less.

-


http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/new_gato_04.jpg
I took the 3d TDC radar ranging unit mod, and added to it, all the stuff that i could from the previous conning tower revamps. Basically rebuilding the conning tower. The fan spins, the TDC rand radar ranging unit working, kalaxons are still in. The only thing thats really changed is i moved the helmsman back to the control room. This saved on resources in the CT, and looks better asthetically in the CR given the animations.

-

http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/new_gato_05.jpg
Added back the telegraph animations to the helmsman. Give him a generic "Yes sir" in response to telegraph orders. The guy in the back is actually from the after battery. This control room is acutally the one Captain America was working on before he disappeared. It hasn't been published yet. It's JUST the control room. No extra areas.

-

CA really went balls out on the detail. I think this is why he burned out. he spent WAY too long on JUST the CR of ONE boat, before he even got working on officers country. Can you imagine the idea of replicating this detail on two other interiors? Makes me groan just thinking about it.
http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/new_gato_06.jpg
http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/new_gato_07.jpg
http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/new_gato_08.jpg
http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/new_gato_09.jpg
http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/new_gato_10.jpg

http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/new_gato_refit.jpg



If any enterprising modder wants to take over the project, please let me know. I'll package it up, and send you the link via PM. I know I can certainly think of at least one modder here who could take this as a base, and along with his own work, and probably make the most technically accurate fleetboat mod out it if he had the passion to.

In the meantime, this attention whore will be playing the Call of Prypiat Complete mod was released today, and enjoying himself with that game for good long time i suspect.

[StarTrekMike]

This could be a pretty amazing mod if it gets snapped up by somebody.

love the look of your Gato.

Mike

[HMCS]

Amazing. Too bad you're not going to be finishing it.

[Quagmire]

How about just releasing what you have already. I would be happy with just the TMO - Working TDC piece. We would be grateful to have whatever is available at this point.

Puhretty Puhlease! :yeah:
.

[Krauter]

Gotta say Ducimus. You're one hell of a guy.

Good job on just this alone, and I hope that this gets picked up by a modder with the passion to keep this going.

You sir just got the ball rolling.

[ViperU48]

Good god those are some hefty interior details.

It really sounds like the campaign you were working on would have been very immersive to play indeed!

PS: pardon the irrelevant question, but what environment mod are you using in those screenies?

[Ducimus]

PS: pardon the irrelevant question, but what environment mod are you using in those screenies?

At this point its taken on a life of its own. Originally it was w_clears EE5. Later on i added tweaks from Real Enviorments to it, and after that i added some of tweaks of my own.

I might do the conning tower flags and release that seperately since im waiting for a patch to COP complete. That's not too hard, and would be a shame for it not to appear. I would like to finish this mod, and i was 2/3rds of the way to fixing sea trial missions before my eyes rolled into the back of my head, /facepalmed, and realized i was not having fun.

Maybe i'll post what i have, with a trimmed down campaign file from TMO, rather then a rewrite. We'll see. My motivation is in short supply, and i know i'll have all sorts of real world things to deal with soon.

[Quagmire]

Maybe i'll post what i have, with a trimmed down campaign file from TMO, rather then a rewrite. We'll see. My motivation is in short supply, and i know i'll have all sorts of real world things to deal with soon.

We would be most grateful! I'm still not using the radar range unit/TDC because I cannot part with the TMO goodies.

Thank you sir for mashing that all together! :salute:
.

[aanker]

At this point its taken on a life of its own. Originally it was w_clears EE5. Later on i added tweaks from Real Enviorments to it, and after that i added some of tweaks of my own.

I might do the conning tower flags and release that seperately since im waiting for a patch to COP complete. That's not too hard, and would be a shame for it not to appear. I would like to finish this mod, and i was 2/3rds of the way to fixing sea trial missions before my eyes rolled into the back of my head, /facepalmed, and realized i was not having fun.

Maybe i'll post what i have, with a trimmed down campaign file from TMO, rather then a rewrite. We'll see. My motivation is in short supply, and i know i'll have all sorts of real world things to deal with soon.
Ditto with Quagmire and others up there; we would be most grateful if you were to release whatever you wanted. I finally got a computer and card capable of setting everything to High and for the first time saw where the Flags go on the aft cigarette deck on the GATO and I think the BALAO goes on the radar mast:

http://www.bergall.org/320/patrol/deckguns.html (http://www.bergall.org/320/patrol/deckguns.html])

I'm happy with anything

I've read about some 4 gig x64 patch that might be worth installing on the exe for your mod if the 4 gig memory patch is for real, legal, and not spyware.

Art

[aanker]

Thank you. I have a campaign layer (patrol) that crashed my old install 2 cycles/patrols ago and this should be the perfect solution.

Apologize for OT but looking at the Duc's hi-res work up there, this isn't entirely OT.

Happy Hunting all !!

Art