Working on periscopes... help please?

[postalbyke]

As the title says, I am trying my hand at modding, specifically the periscopes.
I noticed that the attack peri shows up aft of the observation scope, and that the observation peri and the attack peri are the same height.
On schematics of u-boats, the attack peri is forward, and is taller due to its eyepiece being in the conning tower, vice the obs. peri's eyepiece in the control room (two m or so below).
So I used S3D to look at the nodes including periscopes (under turms?) and I freely admit I have no idea what I'm looking at...

so! how do I switch them (from the outside view)?

ps i just found something that might help on the peri heights...

[Sailor Steve]

What version are you playing, and what boat are you talking about. In the Type VII the observation periscope is forward, just ahead of the conning tower ladder, and rises from the front of the bridge. The attack periscope housing is in the center of the control room, rises through the aft-center of the conning tower and comes out a little aft of the center of the bridge.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a325/SailorSteve/planstypeVIIC.jpg?t=1306120154

The stock game is all screwed up, with the observation scope too far aft and no attack periscope housing at all, though they rise out of the bridge in the proper places. Pretty much every supermod has them placed properly, and the single mods that fix them are several years old now.

[postalbyke]

aha. I was fixing the type 2 for funsies, and this is what i found, even in NYGM and GWX. I've been following the HAHD crowd for a few minutes, but I decided I wanted to try my hand at something more useful than gawking.
also, on all of the other u-boats in sh3, all of the peri's come up to the same height, contrary to the plans.
So far I've figured out how to switch the cams and change the maximum raised values, but i just need to swap the images for the scopes so they look right from the outside...

I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel, I'm just trying to learn how the wheel works...

[Sailor Steve]

Ah, Type II. I took a good look a the plans for that one, and it would appear that you are correct. There is a new supermod in the works, and it is based on making the boats historically correct. I'm not sure where they're at development-wise, but have a look at the stickied U-boat HAHD thread for more information.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=179694

I'm not trying to discourage you from your own experiments. Keep up the good work.

[postalbyke]

ayuh, been watching them almost from the get-go! :D really excited (which is why i'm doing this at all lol)
thanks for the advice, tho!
anybody else out there?

[Wolfstriked]

I really think we need more difference in the two scopes.By making the actual heights modeled will add new gameplay to SH3.Right now there is no difference choosing the attack or observation scopes.Make the observation scope a pain when submegred since you then have to surface the boat somewhat to use.Offset by a smaller view in attack scope compared to observation scope view and a much higher chance of getting spotted with observation scope.Maybe have the attack scope tinted so night view is compromised forcing use of the observation/night scope.:yeah::D

[DivingDuck]

Moin,

the values for max extension can be found in the respective 'Turm____hd.sim' files. The node to look after is 'obj_Extensible' (10/-1).

This node contains all needed entries to change the extension height and to switch/interchange associated cameras.


Regards,
DD

[postalbyke]

@Diving Duck; I tried swapping the cameras, but ran into a problem with the view from the scopes.... it's okay when they're both up, but when you lower one scope, it changes the view from the other. I'm troubleshooting it now. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm trying to use the attack as the obs and vice versa (since they're swapped on the type 2)

also, i'm trying to figure out how to swap the images for the scopes in external view (not as important, but it would be nice). I tried swapping their 3d components in the .dat file, but I just wound up making a new entry...? anybody know how to move these associations around, or is this part of the learning process? :-?

thanks for the help y'all
oh! @wolfstrike; just trying to fix the scopes themselves without interfering with any other mod. I think filters might have to be mod-specific?

[postalbyke]

Well, that was fast! I just figured out how to move 3d objects around the boat, and I just (physically) swapped the peris, and my problem smoothed right out... I guess now i have to see what I have to do to the others... and test it on all three versions I run (vanilla, gwx, nygm)