enemy ships not showing up in custom mission

[coolguy90]

I'm still learning the mission editor and I read the tutorial but I am having trouble having enemy ships show. I want to have several enemy ships so that I can practice with the torpedoes. I know that the entry date and the start of the mission date have to be exact so I set the enemy ships to that. I validate the mission and it is fine but when I launch the mission, only I spawn and no enemies do. I've attached a screenshot of what the enemy ships look like.

http://i50.tinypic.com/2u97gjd.png

[TorpX]

Welcome aboard, coolguy90! :salute:


I haven't done anything with the editor for a long time, so this is just an off the top of my head guess:

It could be related to the delete on last waypoint element. Check out the route you have drawn for it. You might try having it loop around over and over.

If you start the mission before the ship spawns, you may be preventing it from spawning. Ships won't spawn close by.

Hope this helps.

[Armistead]

Make sure you also set the date correctly on the top toolbar.

I've never had a problem with ships spawning close by with single missions, but it can be an issue in campaign mode.

You have a fast forward button top right tool bar where you can test you mission, see ships spawn, etc,,,try that before you load so you can see whats going on,

[CapnScurvy]

Armistead is right on all counts.

Looking at the ships makeup page, your Feb. 2nd, 1943 is the date the "Large Modern Tanker" is launched (put into the game), but it's not representative of when in appears in the mission. That date is found under the top menu listings. I'm not at my regular computer, but if memory serves me right, it's under the second menu listed.....the first page on that list. That page set's up the basic mission with a specific start date, time, weather conditions, etc. Make sure the date of the ship launch (on the page that's shown in this thread) is before the date listed on this basic menu page.

Your assertion that the entry date, and the mission start date has to be exact is not correct. What's important is to make sure the ship's entry date (the launch date) is before the mission start date and time. It's also true, that the exit date (the date the ship is moth balled), is after any mission date start.

One other idea, you have the "Delete on last waypoint" check marked. That's ok as long as you've made sure the path of travel is close enough to the sub so you'll see it as it passes before it get's to that last waypoint. What you'll need to do is zoom in on the editor map and make sure the target ship passes in front of the sub within at least 2000 meters. The map measuring ruler is in meters only, so use it on the distance between the sub and the target ships tract. It could be you've positioned the Tanker too far away from the sub for the tanker to be seen. Or, the start position is so far away from the sub, the 5 knot speed may take the Tanker two days to pass before it.

You might want to download this JSGME compatible mod that put's 4 jap freighters in front of a Porpoise class sub "AoB Test Mission" (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=3117). The four freighters will come towards you at different angles and speed, testing your manual targeting skill. I made it to test an SH4 v1.5 game with the Optical Targeting Correction mod. It'll work with any mod, or the stock game. You'll find it under the Single Missions menu of the game. I think I made both a night and day version. If nothing else, you can open the AoB Test Mission in the editor and follow the parameters I used, making your's follow in the same way.


Oh..... Welcome to SubSim!! :yeah:

[coolguy90]

Thanks for the help. Im using the AoB mission to use as reference and I've gotten the correct dates for ships so they spawn correctly.

Another question, is it possible to change the distance required between ships?

[CapnScurvy]

Thanks for the help. Im using the AoB mission to use as reference and I've gotten the correct dates for ships so they spawn correctly.

Another question, is it possible to change the distance required between ships?

I'm not sure what you mean?

[coolguy90]

I'm not sure what you mean?

When I want to play 2 or more ships together it gives me a message saying the ships need to be 1000m apart.

[CapnScurvy]

When I want to play 2 or more ships together it gives me a message saying the ships need to be 1000m apart.

Ok, I understand.

Yes, there is a measured limit between where you first place ships on the map. You'll get errors when you run the "test mission" if you initially place them within 1000m of each other. No, you can't change it. When measuring with the ruler, try to zoom in as close as you can and still get the two ships in question on the map. Measure from center to center between ships (use the center of the square on the ships silhouette). That's how the game measures objects between themselves, from center to center. Not bow to bow, or from nearest side to side.

What you can do, is have their waypoints move closer together if the 1000m distance doesn't seem right to you. You need to know that the ships will try to avoid contact with each other, but you're more likely to find they will collide with each other. The AI is smart, but it isn't smart enough to avoid collisions altogether. These collisions are more likely to occur when the sub is detected and the enemy ships start evasive manuvers.

[Armistead]

Strange, I don't recall those messages of distance. I've never had a problem putting ships close together. If I recall the only message you get when when you validate is that ships are too close to one another, but you can still validate. Many times when building traffic in harbors, you need to put docked ships close together. Now, if you do put them too close together, when the group spawns the ships will often dodge each other and it causes a big mess and they'll try to separate.

I assume you've figured out you can build groups two ways. If you generate a random group, you do have default distances you pick, if you build groups by joining ships, you can put them where you want.

Maybe you're talking about separate groups. Anyway, I haven't used the ME in a long time, prefer the batch editor, so trust Scurvy on that.

[CapnScurvy]

I assume you've figured out you can build groups two ways. If you generate a random group, you do have default distances you pick, if you build groups by joining ships, you can put them where you want.

Maybe you're talking about separate groups.

Maybe I am, and don't even know it!! :88)

When I put test mission's together with a sub surrounded by "docked" enemy ships at a specific distance, I'll run into the validation error of having the target ship's too close together. A little tweaking of the placement's and the validation is confirmed. The test mission will look something like this:

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w132/crawlee/Setup.jpg

What's interesting about the image above is the fact that each of the Hiryu carriers are set at 918 meters distance from the sub (found through the computer telling me what each target ships range is through auto targeting) yet when you measure them with the stadimeter the range is different depending on which direction you find the target. Just an interesting fact, that doesn't have a thing to do with what we're talking about! :D

I didn't know there may be two different ways to set up a group.....random, or by joining them. It's been a while since I've done anything with the editor too. I'll be doing some soon as I check the measurements on the RFB + RSRDC + OTC modification I'm beginning to rework.

[Armistead]

I recall that if you placed ships close together that you would get warning messages, not error messages. With warnings you should be able to validate and save your mission, errors must be corrected. Course, about the only place you want ships side by side or close is in ports, for example
you'll notice subs and other ships are side by side. Still ships don't have to be docked to do this, it can be fun to drag place ships close together and blow the hell out of them in single missions.
If you build random groups, you do get default distances, max and min, seems it was 500m -1500m.

You can right click on the map and choose build a random group instance, much quicker way of building groups in campaign mode.