Waterfall on American Platform Problem

[shake307]

I recently bought this game and am really trying to get into it. I have come across a problem with the American Ships and their waterfall display. I can't seem to get any lines on the display. I found something on here about turning the gamma down. I tried that, but it didn't seem to work. I have also tried using narrowband to find contacts, but that didn't seem to work, either. I turn on Autocrew and they seem to pick up all the contacts around. I am finding this all somewhat aggravating. I was playing the 688 in a quick mission and I had a Kilo 1.5 miles off doing 8 knots and I still couldn't pick him up. No lines in any array. But I turned on Autocrew and he shows on the map. What gives? I am starting to think the Russian sonar is superior because at least it works.

[Pisces]

First, is this a stock DW game? Patched to which version? (should be 1.04) Modded?

Do the lines show up in the waterfall AT ALL when the sonar autocrew is enabled? If it detects something (either your own noise, or 'something out there'), then you get contacts displayed on the navigation map. But the trace on the waterfall may be to faint to show for distant or quiet contacts. You better make sure you have a noisy contact near if you want to test this. A Kilo generally isn't, even at 8 knots. Try tracking a surface civilian craft in some mission. Contact madness in New Zeeland comes to mind (Seawolve). Even in default settings I can get lines right at the start. Definitely in broadband. Also with VLAD SOF Pickup (688i). Verify that there really is something with Show Truth on.

The autocrew doesn't care about gamma settings, so you may just not have found the right setting if they don't show. In dangerouswaters.ini there is a line under the [Graphics] section:

.Gamma "decimal.number"

You certainly should see your own noise come out of the baffles if you have the towed array selected and make a large turn. Though it might take a few minutes depending on your speed. Of course, do not forget that the towed array needs to be streamed.

Other than that, I don't know. Maybe show us a screenshot of the situation and sonar screens.

P.S. Sonar suite primer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eemdq495Lxg

[shake307]

Vanilla DW patched to 1.04. Thanks for the reply. I can pick up surface contacts just fine, but for some reason quiet contacts just don't show up. I have adjusted the gamma all the way down to 0.1 (makes the game pretty much unplayable) and I barely get contacts. The autocrew still picks them up faster. I guess I am just wondering if there are any other tricks to adjust my screen to get this to work right. I think I may just try to stick with the akula.:arrgh!:

[Pisces]

Well, maybe contrast and brightness can also help to get the pure black pixels (the faintest narrowband lines) become distinctive over the background image. But those do not have ingame or settings in the ini file. For that you have to tweak your monitor, or graphicscard settings.

I have noticed that the Gamma settings does not seem to work when the game is run inside a window. So you better make it run fullscreen.

As said the autocrew does not really look at the waterfall screen. It works with the raw signal-to-noise values computed inside the game.

If you want to get stronger signals then you need to go deeper, closer, or slow down. Streaming the towed array further helps a bit. But between 1/4th and a 1/3rd usually suffices. Also reduces the straightening period of the towed array. Or consider mods. Vanilla DW sonar performance isn't really matched to real life statistics. Though mods cannot be trusted fully either in sensor performance realism. It's all classified and such.

[shake307]

Well it looks like I have some work to do. I really appreciate the quick and informative response. I will try what you have suggested and get back with my results. Thank you very much.

[shake307]

Well, I seem to have it figured out. I adjusted my gamma to 0.75 and turned the brightness on my screen all the way up. I also noticed that I only seem to have this issue on the 688. I tried the Seawolf and the FFG and I got lines on the waterfall displays (towed array on the FFG). Only the 688 is giving me fits. I also learned to use the lower waterfall (30 min) to locate contacts in broadband. Narrowband also does a decent job at finding contacts. I regret to say that I am still not a big fan of the 688, though. It has some things that I don't really like, but I suppose I better get used to it. Anyways, thank you Pisces for all the good gouge on my problem. I look forward to feeding this addiction more!