Home port wherever

[Sniper297]

Reading some non fiction as well as fiction, I noticed it was common practice for a WWII fleet boat to leave Pearl, patrol an area, then go to Brisbane instead of returning to Pearl. Or get orders in Brisbane to patrol the Marianas and go to Pearl instead of returning to Australia - then get a radio message ordering a turnaround at Midway instead, canceling the previous order to return to Pearl.

Has anyone looked into changing the flotilla transfer protocol in the game to allow all bases to be "home port", so you have the option of ending the patrol at any base? As it currently stands you have one and only one home port, and you need to be there a minimum number of months and patrols (6 months, 3 patrols in the basic.cfg file) before you can request a transfer.

I don't know which files would need to be changed but I would like the option to transfer at whim simply by going into any base and selecting end patrol.

[Hambone307]

I believe you would have to go into the files and change the dates that the ports are available. As to which file, I'm not sure. The most I have done is alter torpedo damage for giggles and grins. :03:

[KaleunMarco]

sniper,

i have been looking for a way/fix/patch to make Guam/Marianas a home base but cannot find a way to do it. if you find a way or figure it out please let me know.

mark

[sfc]

looking through several files shows me that it would be real hard to make those changes. very thing shows either pearl or fremantle as flotilla headquarters.
I guess if it was possible to add more flotilla headquarters than it would make them as possible home ports. I'll look at that and get back to you.
it would sure help with the long trips out and return, those bug me too.

[sfc]

I finally figured out how to make midway a homeport, the only problem with this fix is if you try to leave port from the tender or dock- it puts you out to sea about 50km, if you choose to leave from outside of port-you are at sea about 10km from midway.
this changes the pearl homeport to midway around june 29th 1942.
the file you need to add this is to is the Silent Hunter 4 Wolves of the Pacific\Data\UPCData\UPCCampaignData\flotillas.upc
paste the below over the listing at the start of the file which shows only pearl is a homeport

[Flotilla 1.Base 1]
ID= PearlHarbor
NameDisplayable= Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
ExternalBaseName=Pearl Harbor
AvailabilityInterval= NULL, 1942-06-28
DepartureDescription1= -18954703, 2562919, 45.918098 ; Enum of available points, choose one randomly each time a patrol is started
DepartureDescription2= -18954874, 2563059, 46.252201
DepartureDescriptionOut1= -18957616, 2548824, 242.189346 ; Enum of starting points for when the player selects the option to start outside the base

[Flotilla 1.Base 2]
ID= Midway
NameDisplayable= Midway
ExternalBaseName= Midway
AvailabilityInterval= 1942-06-29, NULL
DepartureDescription1= 21867308, 3386167, 267.488647
DepartureDescription2= 21867861, 3384261, 0
DepartureDescriptionOut1= 21899908, 3381216, 210.175903

by making this change it should not effect other mods if make backups of your orginal upc file.
if someone could tell me how to upload this whole file I would, but the site says the file is too big for a txt file.
hope this helps you all.
may also try to fix Guam as a later home port, its just trying to find close map coord in that file.
I'll try to get the leave from tender/dock better, but will take time.:salute:

[KaleunMarco]

sfc

what are the departure descriptions?
what do the parameters indicate?
i am working on a Guam home base that hopefully will compatible with TMO 2.5.

[TorpX]

sfc

what are the departure descriptions?
what do the parameters indicate?
i am working on a Guam home base that hopefully will compatible with TMO 2.5.
DepartureDescription1...2...3...

These are the locations of 'in base' starting locations. The game picks randomly between the choices given.


DepartureDescriptionOut1...2...

Same as above, but applied to starting outside harbor.

The numbers are coordinates on the game map in meters (think longitude and latitude), followed by heading in degrees.

[sfc]

as ToroX stated those numbers are map coord. I spent about 3 hours changing the numbers from pearl-then starting a new career in 1943 to tell where the start point was-the I would adjust the numbers again again till my start point was close to midway.
after changing my own flotilla file I went back to a saved career, I sailed from pearl but the briefing said midway- the I docked at midway and started a new mission.
so this does work and I have played a mission from my old saved career.
about guam as a home port, trying out some numbers got me real close to guam but I did not copy them down, I will try to figure that out another day, but you can make guam a home port by changing [Flotilla 1.Base 2] to a base 3 and changing [AvailabilityInterval= 1942-06-29, NULL] to [AvailabilityInterval= 1942-06-29, what ever date]. and of course the name too.
the big thing is the map coordinates. TorpX do you know how to get the map coordinates? is there a way from the game map?

on making all ports a home port, I'll try to look into that soon and does anyone know where the minimum number of months and patrols needed before transfer. I checked the basic.cfg and that covers the german mission stuff.
anyway keep sinking those ships and goodnight. its 1:45 am here:-?

[KaleunMarco]

sfc,

yeah, i understand they are map coordinates, and like you, i am trying to figure out how to figure them out.

does one have to make a home port a careerstart also? i do not necessarily want to make guam a career start as it was activated as a sub base in 1944.

[Flying_Ducthman]

This thread kinda falls into a thing I was trying to figure out. Been trying to find a way to run the S-boats out of Fremantle, I know it wasn't entirely historically correct but something I've been wanting to do.

[Col7777]

Are there any ships in the ports you are interested in?
I wonder if you know how and look in the mission and see their coords.
Not sure if that is feasible or not.
119

[sfc]

Flying Ducthman- looking at the careerstart.upc you should be able to start a career in the far east command with a s boat and the as the bases are lost you would eventually wind up in fremantle.
also you can edit the careerstart.upc to include a s boat even in the later years of the war. just look through the cfg file to the midwar start- then the
CareerStart 3.Flotilla 2 which is based in fremantle and add a s boat to the start up list like this F2Sboat, 6
this will start you in the midwar setting, but if you want to start the war in 1941 you will need to start in manilla and go from there.
it is possible to change your starting point to fremantle with a s boat, but you would need to edit the flotilla.upc file by replacing manilla with the settings from fremantle. that would do the trick for yo since that has the correct map coord and everything else.
about looking at the harbor and if ships are there, I haven't found a file or map with that data but I will keep my eyes open for that.
good luck all:yeah:

[sfc]

sorry about not answering your question in my last post. about the best we could do is make guam as a home port just after it is taken back by us. I'm thinking of doing that with my game set up just as I did with midway. Oh yeah everyone, I will try to come up with a message to be broadcast announcing the move to Midway on the 30th of June 1942, otherwise if youare on patrol from pearl on that day and sail all the way back to pearl to find you can't dock and finish the mission- you would most likely be a little upset. I'll try to get that out soon.
and Mark, do you want me to get that move to guam out real soon or can I take awh:subsim:ile?

[KaleunMarco]

sfc,

i am most of the way there....all i need is a hint on how to compute the departure descriptions and i think i will have it. if you can give me a hint as to how to calculate what i need i can complete it.

i tried to reverse engineer new values based on what is published for midway and pearl but i could not figure it out.

i am only allowing guam to be a home port during 1944-5 and not messing with the careerstart.

[sfc]

I will try to get that info to you as soon as I can, the you can make changes to the flotilla.upc file so guam will be the new home port when it came up as a refit location.:)

[TorpX]

TorpX do you know how to get the map coordinates? is there a way from the game map?

I've never tried to do this, but I would try what Col7777 suggested; placing some units in a mission, at the same location, then opening it with Notepad, to see what the game values are. Should work.

I guess that Ubisoft uses 0° longitude, 0° latitude as the origin, and proceeds from that point using meters as a scale, but I don't know that for sure. Since you need to have positions exactly correct in port areas, you will likely have to conduct some trail and error experiments.

[KaleunMarco]

i feel like a kid on christmas day!:D:haha::up::yeah:
i figured how to make guam a base for start-end of missions.
tested to work under

TriggerMaru_Overhaul_2-5(1)
1.5_Optical Targeting Correction 031312 for TMO 2.5
Better medals for TMO 2.5 and OTC 1.5
now i have to complete the "dirty work": documentation and uploading.
not sure how to upload yet. i may have to ping the forum commander.

[sfc]

figured out the specs for saipan as a home port after the US took it back. below is what to copy and post in your flotillas.upc file
[Flotilla 1]
ID= PearlHarborCommand
NameDisplayable= Pearl Harbor Command
AvailabilityInterval=NULL, NULL


[Flotilla 1.Base 1]
ID= PearlHarbor
NameDisplayable= Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
ExternalBaseName=Pearl Harbor
AvailabilityInterval= NULL, 1942-06-29
DepartureDescription1= -18954703, 2562919, 45.918098 ; Enum of available points, choose one randomly each time a patrol is started
DepartureDescription2= -18954874, 2563059, 46.252201
DepartureDescriptionOut1= -18957616, 2548824, 242.189346 ; Enum of starting points for when the player selects the option to start outside the base

[Flotilla 1.Base 2]
ID= Midway
NameDisplayable= Midway
ExternalBaseName= Midway
AvailabilityInterval= 1942-06-29, 1944-08-02
DepartureDescription1= 21867308, 3386167, 267.488647 ; Enum of available points, choose one randomly each time a patrol is started
DepartureDescription2= 21867861, 3384261, 0
DepartureDescriptionOut1= 21899908, 3381216, 210.175903 ; Enum of starting points for when the player selects the option to start outside the base

[Flotilla 1.Base 3
ID= Saipan
NameDisplayable= Saipan
ExternalBaseName= Saipan
AvailabilityInterval= 1944-08-2, NULL
DepartureDescription1= 17497308, 1826167, 267.488647 ; Enum of available points, choose one randomly each time a patrol is started
DepartureDescription2= 17497861, 1824261, 0
DepartureDescriptionOut1= 17499908, 1821216, 210.175903 ; Enum of starting points for when the player selects the option to start outside the base

but if you start your career after 1942 there is changes needed in the career start upc. I messaged the main office on how to upload file like this but no word back yet. if I can find out how to do that, I will upload the files and you guys can justrepalce your old files(after backing them up of course).
with coords for saipan, it puts you within gun range of the east coast harbor, can't get much closer than that for now. also, remember-leave port from out to sea- not from dock.
when I was trying different coords, a few times I would start a new career in 1943(using midway as a test) and I ended up in the middle of luzon island! lots of damage !!
I will start a new thread to find out how to up load the files and let you guys know.
I also know how to get the sboat start at fremantle or bisbane for Flying Ducthman, but need to upload that too. so I will get back to you all if I can find out how to upload,
later guys:yeah:

[sfc]

hey guys, I finally finished the 2 mods and got them uploaded.
the first-home port makes midway and then saipan as home ports rather than pearl, so trips will be shorter for missions.
the second (fremantle start) is mainly for flying ducthman who wanted to start the war from fremantle and keep a s boat for most of the war. this one also includes the home port changes for pearl but doesn't effect the fremantle part.

for both, after enabling, you should start a new career to ensure the mods take.
both are mod enabled or can be copy and pasted, remember start missions from at sea for the pearl game part, the fremantle can be started each mission at dock-those coords were easy to copy.
still have not found a way to easily get coords, tried a world map search but actuall readings do not match what the game shows.
if anyone figures out how to do it, let me know and I will make changes to the mods.
glad I could help you guys out on these things, hope you enjoy.:)

[Sniper297]

Hmm, haven't been watching this thread. My original question was how to set it so you could end a patrol in ANY US Naval base, then start the next patrol from that base as if it were your new home port - no more of that request denied transfer not possible nonsense.

For changing which is your fixed home port in a career;

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=4358

That's my "Gone Asiatic" mod which changes the home port to a "secret base" after the fall of Java instead of Australia. Download that and reverse engineer the files, should be obvious how I did it.

As for coordinates, the easiest way is to use the mission editor and look at the bottom of the map screen;

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfl1/t31.0-8/12628423_1054578917919721_7183882882290649913_o.jp g

Then use those numbers in Flotillas.upc as the starting points for your new home base.

[sfc]

Sniper297, I feel so dumb! your pointing out the coords on mission editor could have saved me so much time.
orginally, my ME screen was full page and the bottom part was hidden by my task bar so I didn't even see that part.
thank you for pointing that out to me, its silly little things like this that helps in a big way.
ANYONE reading this thread - remember even little things brought out help others!
again thank you Sniper 297, you are the boss!:rock:

[sfc]

Sorry guys I goofed, on my download home port and fremantle start- I missed a bracket in the flotillas.upc file that made it where the game did not see the saipan homebase transfer.
the new down load files correct this, but you can also go into the flotillas.upc file and make the change as follows

[Flotilla 1.Base 3 this is where bracket missing
ID= Saipan
NameDisplayable= Saipan
ExternalBaseName= Saipan
AvailabilityInterval= 1944-08-2, NULL


[Flotilla 1.Base 3] corrected spot
ID= Saipan
NameDisplayable= Saipan
ExternalBaseName= Saipan
AvailabilityInterval= 1944-08-2, NULL
sorry for goof:dead:

[Red Devil]

US sub capts would go to most convenient port depending on patrol, encounters, evasion and supplies, especailly food. They always however went 'home' afterwards.

In 1944 I leave Pearl, go on attack off Japan, then go to Saipan to refit, then back again before going 'home'.

One Saipan bug called me in to refit (anchor sign) and I found the damn thing full of japs.

[Red Devil]

Sniper297, I feel so dumb! your pointing out the coords on mission editor could have saved me so much time.
orginally, my ME screen was full page and the bottom part was hidden by my task bar so I didn't even see that part.
thank you for pointing that out to me, its silly little things like this that helps in a big way.
ANYONE reading this thread - remember even little things brought out help others!
again thank you Sniper 297, you are the boss!:rock:

No such thing as dumb, only not knowing :up::up:

[Sniper297]

"US sub capts would go to most convenient port depending on patrol, encounters, evasion and supplies, especailly food. They always however went 'home' afterwards."

On the contrary, it was pretty common for them to get orders;

Patrol Area (X) and return
Patrol Area (X) and go to new home port in Australia
Leaving Australia, Patrol Area (X) and return to Australia
Leaving Australia again, Patrol Area (X) and go to new home port Midway
Leaving Midway Patrol Area (X) and return to Pearl Harbor

And so on, there was no "transfer request" to a different home port, they were moved around where and when they were needed. The stock game allows transfer requests after so many months and patrols but then requires a certain number of months and patrols in the new "home port" before allowing another transfer, not how it worked in real life.

[Red Devil]

I was assuming no orders, capt's using their heads

[sfc]

hey sniper 297
I was looking over this thread earlier and got a flash about that first question about using all ports as home ports.
after learning what I have about changing ports I believe it would be possible to make any pearl based career port as a home port and then the south pacific would be another set.
the hard part would be making the flotillas.upc file see all the mission files as one career, as it stands right now the mission are either pearl flotila based or fremantle based.
if you are still interested in this I will try to come up with something this week.
it would certainly change the overall game play of wolves of the pacific.:hmmm:

[Sniper297]

"I was assuming no orders, capt's using their heads"

Yes and no, in some cases the captains put into the closest friendly port by necessity, but mostly followed orders when possible. Even those weren't cast in concrete, they might leave Pearl with orders to refuel at Midway then patrol the Marshalls, after that head for Brisbane - then get a radio message on the second day out of Midway to patrol the Carolines instead. Then a lifeguard mission cuts short the patrol, further radio message cancelling Brisbane, go to Freemantle instead.

I read several books covering the whole Pacific submarine war, about half the patrols finished in the same port they started from, the other half they would sail from one place and end the patrol somewhere else. It wasn't a random whim by the admirals, in many cases it had to do with available facilities - example 1010 dock at Pearl gets 8 subs that are so badly damaged or with stuff broken (HOR engines for example) they need a lot more turnaround time than originally anticipated, so a few subs originally scheduled to return to Pearl are sent to Australia instead to prevent Pearl from getting jammed up with even more subs waiting for repairs. And vice-versa, repair docks in Australia would get jammed up depending on where the current action was so some subs would be diverted to Midway or Pearl for turnaround.

[Sniper297]

On a lighter note, from Dysfunctional Veterans;

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/12651041_1100372200026057_3456678739325719837_n.jp g?oh=aa7bf6914be0047ec0ee076b1d1ad867&oe=573A1F82

:arrgh!:

Back on topic, looking over the 2nd flotilla in careers;

[Flotilla 2]
ID= FremantleCommand
;NameDisplayable= Asiatic Fleet Submarine Force
NameDisplayable= Asiatic Fleet
AvailabilityInterval=NULL, NULL

[Flotilla 2.Base 1]
ID= Manila
NameDisplayable= Cavite Naval Base, Manila, Philippines
ExternalBaseName=Manila
AvailabilityInterval= NULL, 1941-12-23
DepartureDescription1= 14517308, 1746167, 267.488647
DepartureDescription2= 14517861, 1744261, 0
DepartureDescriptionOut1= 14449908, 1711216, 276.175903

;[Flotilla 2.Base 2]
;ID= Corregidor
;NameDisplayable= Mariveles, Corregidor Fortress, Philippines
;AvailabilityInterval= 1941-12-25, 1941-12-30
;DepartureDescription1= 13888096.0, -3846897.0, 269.614990 ; Enum of available points, choose one randomly each time a patrol is started

[Flotilla 2.Base 2]
ID= Surabaya
NameDisplayable= Surabaya, Java
ExternalBaseName= Surabaya
AvailabilityInterval= 1941-12-24, 1942-02-28
DepartureDescription1= 13526714, -862906, 0
DepartureDescription2= 13528171, -862211, 0.651060
DepartureDescriptionOut1= 13522966, -817381, 358.439789

Note that Corregidor is commented out (in C code the ; means "comment, do not process this line" to a program) and is only open as a "home port" for five days even if it was active, apparently another unfinished idea that was never finished or deleted before the release. Corregidor didn't actually surrender until sometime in May of 1942, so even if it wasn't a home port it should be a resupply port, that could be done easily enough.

However.

One problem with resupply is that you always get a full load of whatever you started the patrol with, no shortages in emergency supply "ports". Sub tenders like USS CANOPUS;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Canopus_%28AS-9%29

Were the most common sources of resupply, and for that type of thing it would be nice to change what's available to the sub. For example instead of getting full fuel, full ammo for the deck guns, and a full load of Mark IV torpedoes, you get topped off with fuel to 75% and half a dozen Mark 10 fish, sorry that's all we have. Dunno if that's even possible, AFAIK the resupply is hard coded to give you everything you sailed with, no substitutes.

[sfc]

as you stated in your post, the availability of the home ports is possible with just changing dates and I believe(but haven't tried yet) that if we change the close out date to NULL that several may be able to stay as home ports.
and could even make new ports just as we did with guam and saipan.
on the resupply angle, I don't know if it would be possible to reduce the load out. and not always the game is right in that- I had a load out of regular torps and some cuties(yeah, I changed the available date) then did a refit at midway. then in an attack I checked what was supposed in the tubes and fired what I thought was a cutie and it behaved like a regular torp. I tried 3 times with cuties and finally sunk a DD with regular shot. that was hairy!
so the supply angle I have no idea of how to reduce the amount. good luck:hmmm:

[Sniper297]

Yeah, if you place a new base the first thing you see is the "loadout" is grayed out, so apparently that's fixed, it's in the ammunition.upc file so whatever it says there applies to all bases. My "Gone Asiatic" mod edits the flotilla 2;

[Flotilla 2]
ID= FremantleCommand
;NameDisplayable= Asiatic Fleet Submarine Force
NameDisplayable= Asiatic Fleet
AvailabilityInterval=NULL, NULL

[Flotilla 2.Base 1]
ID= Manila
NameDisplayable= Cavite Naval Base, Manila, Philippines
ExternalBaseName=Manila
AvailabilityInterval= NULL, 1941-12-23
DepartureDescription1= 14517308, 1746167, 267.488647
DepartureDescription2= 14517861, 1744261, 0
DepartureDescriptionOut1= 14449908, 1711216, 276.175903

;[Flotilla 2.Base 2]
;ID= Corregidor
;NameDisplayable= Mariveles, Corregidor Fortress, Philippines
;AvailabilityInterval= 1941-12-25, 1941-12-30
;DepartureDescription1= 13888096.0, -3846897.0, 269.614990 ; Enum of available points, choose one randomly each time a patrol is started

[Flotilla 2.Base 2]
ID= Surabaya
NameDisplayable= Surabaya, Java
ExternalBaseName= Surabaya
AvailabilityInterval= 1941-12-24, 1942-02-28
DepartureDescription1= 13526714, -862906, 0
DepartureDescription2= 13528171, -862211, 0.651060
DepartureDescriptionOut1= 13522966, -817381, 358.439789

[Flotilla 2.Base 3]
ID= PHANTOM 42
NameDisplayable= PHANTOM 42
ExternalBaseName= PHANTOM 42
AvailabilityInterval= 1942-02-29, NULL
DepartureDescription1= 15252828, 564928, 270
DepartureDescription2= 15252828, 564928, 270
DepartureDescriptionOut1= 15243232, 564928, 270

So instead of that long drag from Australia you start closer to the action. That's okay as far as it goes, but it would be nice to change bases and flotillas as desired to get a larger variety of missions/patrol areas. One possible hack might be to copy selected parts of the objectives, so (for example) flotilla 2 gets additional objectives similar to the ones from flotilla 1.

[sfc]

it would be great to get some of the fremantle missions in the pearl flotilla, and I'm thinking of trying to make that happen.
the only problem of course is the game decides what area to send you to, right now I keep getting sent to guam/saipan area, then maybe down to the caroline islands where there is very little sailing around. thats why I finally figured out how to edit the .mis files for jap convoys and task forces and add a little more to it.
right now my career is in late 42 and the area should be full of traffic because of the Solomons but there isn't. its like truk should be loaded but its empty when I sail to it.
I'm going to look into this idea and see what I can come with, if anything good comes up I'll let you guys know.:hmmm:

[Red Devil]

The thing about where the computer send you.

If I do not like a destination I pick my own, makes no difference to the game, its results that count when the medals come around. I was sent to photo Singapore once, I thought no way, I'll get belted in those shallows, so I went to Formosa instead (looking for the flying Dutchman) and got loads of ships!!!

:arrgh!:

[Sniper297]

Missing the point, skipping the mission objective is not a problem, the problem is you can't end a patrol without returning to the designated home port. What I'd like to do is put into any port to end the patrol - example home port is Pearl, I leave Pearl and cruise down to Guadalcanal and sink some ships, then instead of having to go back to Pearl I go into Brisbane and end patrol there.

Only hackable thing I can find;

\Data\Cfg\Basic.cfg

That has a datablock;

[TIME]
TransferFlotilla=1
NbDaysInBase=28
NbPatrolsInFlotilla=3
NbMonthsInFlotilla=6

I just edited that;

[TIME]
TransferFlotilla=1
NbDaysInBase=28
NbPatrolsInFlotilla=1
NbMonthsInFlotilla=1

So instead of needing 5 months and 3 patrols in a given flotilla before you're allowed to request a transfer, you should need only one patrol and one month to put in a request. Need to test it, since there are other factors involved - where when and if you can transfer is also controlled by the sub type and starting flotilla (example Asiatic start you have to go through the whole fall of Manila, fall of Java, retreat to Australia sequence before any transfer is possible) in other files, so we'll see if that improves things or not. Still isn't quite what I'm looking for, but might be the simplest way to add some variety to careers.

[Red Devil]

understood sniper, I was replying to part of sfc's post.

[sfc]

first try at making several ports as home ports at same time has failed, I could still refit but not dock even with flotilla.upc file edited to having 2 open at same time as home ports. this may be a no go but I'll keep trying.