SH4 Japanese Seaplane Tender Akitsushima

[JapLance]

Currently working on this:

https://i.imgur.com/kStZwaB.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Vp1Nsx0.jpg

The Akitsushima was a seaplane tender specialised in servicing and repairing the big four-engine flying boats of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the H6K and the H8K. She spent most of her service sailing among the IJN bases in the Solomons, Truk, the Palaus and finally in the Philippines, where she was finally sunk in September 1944.

I happens to be a very popular ship for modelers (and divers :o), with many versions located through Google when I was looking for info for the ship. Strangely, no SH4 version that I know of. Hopefully this will solve that issue :D.

Most of the basic stuff is done. I'm using some parts from stock ships for minor stuff on deck, but the hull+bridge+superstructure is made from scratch.

Textures for camouflage is temporary, taken from a profile found on Internet. Hopefully it will be slightly improved it in the release version.

[Treetop64]

Looking forward to this.

Your work in SHIV has been of consistent quality and has become one of the few that I now download without hesitation.

Thank you.

[propbeanie]

Currently working on this:
...

... I'm using some parts from stock ships for minor stuff on deck, but the hull+bridge+superstructure is made from scratch...
Very nice! Is the hull the same as used on some other ships? Was the Akitsushima built on an older flush-deck DD or CL hull? Thanks. :salute:

[cdrsubron7]

Nice work, JapLance. Look forward to seeing in my scope after you release the final version. :salute:

[Zunaka]

So excited!, Will it work with FOTRS?

[propbeanie]

It would be close to compatible, depending upon the library files he uses. We'll see if we can get it in there, but we might be pushing the limit for the number of ships, planes and land units (I want a train also, so we might have to borrow HanSolo78's from WAC) - besides the fact that we're trying to overwork s7rikeback! lol - but it sure would be nice to have another "rare" ship in there. :salute:

[JapLance]

Looking forward to this.

Your work in SHIV has been of consistent quality and has become one of the few that I now download without hesitation.

Thank you.

Thanks for the kind words. Hopefully the final ship will meet the expectations :up:.

Very nice! Is the hull the same as used on some other ships? Was the Akitsushima built on an older flush-deck DD or CL hull? Thanks. :salute:

No as fas as I know. It was a newly designed and built ship, though when I was doing the hull it reminded me a bit of the Katori training cruisers.

Nice work, JapLance. Look forward to seeing in my scope after you release the final version. :salute:

Thank you. Still some time until it's released.

It would be close to compatible, depending upon the library files he uses. We'll see if we can get it in there, but we might be pushing the limit for the number of ships, planes and land units (I want a train also, so we might have to borrow HanSolo78's from WAC) - besides the fact that we're trying to overwork s7rikeback! lol - but it sure would be nice to have another "rare" ship in there. :salute:

I try to keep my Japanese ships playable with stock game. This one has very common armament (2x2 AA 127mm and the typical 25mm mounts, plus a Y-Gun) so I don't think it would be hard to adapt to any mega-mod.

[s7rikeback]

It would be close to compatible, depending upon the library files he uses. We'll see if we can get it in there, but we might be pushing the limit for the number of ships, planes and land units (I want a train also, so we might have to borrow HanSolo78's from WAC) - besides the fact that we're trying to overwork s7rikeback! lol - but it sure would be nice to have another "rare" ship in there. :salute:
hmmm Better start the pay negotiations sooner, rather than later then..:D

[propbeanie]

...
No as fas as I know. It was a newly designed and built ship, though when I was doing the hull it reminded me a bit of the Katori training cruisers.
That is what my mind was seeing, comparing it to the Katori that ZUIKAKU1944 did a while ago...


hmmm Better start the pay negotiations sooner, rather than later then..:D
As s7rikeback mentions, I suppose we should be proper, and ask you JapLance, if we can use the Akitsushima in FotRSU, with proper credit given, once you have completed it? How much other material do you have in your shipyard? Do you do airplanes, like maybe a B-29 super-fortress?... hint hint :O: :salute:

[JapLance]

That is what my mind was seeing, comparing it to the Katori that ZUIKAKU1944 did a while ago...



As s7rikeback mentions, I suppose we should be proper, and ask you JapLance, if we can use the Akitsushima in FotRSU, with proper credit given, once you have completed it? How much other material do you have in your shipyard? Do you do airplanes, like maybe a B-29 super-fortress?... hint hint :O: :salute:

No need to ask. The best that can happen to any of my ships is ending in a mega-mod.

Not much new stuff in the shipyard. Most of the time I'm doing minor changes to stock ships. Some of them need a number of changes to look right (Fubuki for example).

Planes...:hmmm: Never did any. Not sure If I could get it right. Probably it would be easier to find a model from a flight simulator and ask the creator if it could be used. CFS2 has a ton of available planes and they usually have a reasonable number of polygons, being an old simulator.

What is puzzling me is what could you do with a B-29 in a submarine game. For rescue missions maybe?

[propbeanie]

Yes indeedy... after Saipan and Tinian, the player could see a few fly overhead as they're in the area, or if on Lifeguard Duty and in certain missions, might see one or two "ditch". Of course, the planes would "fireball" after gliding in for their ditching in the game, since airplanes aren't supposed to touch water or land - and the player would definitely have to keep their eyes open, and not become a fireball themselves. But definitely for Lifeguard duty, with a PBY, and B-24 as "dumbo" planes, and a few F6F as SCAP (which the game won't let 'dogfight'...), and you've got it for the last year of the war in the Pacific... :salute:

[JapLance]

I will probably create a new class of ships in names.cfg for this unusual ship. Something like

Type22=Seaplane Tender

Unlike Nisshin, which in the game acts as an Escort carrier, this seaplane tender doesn't spawn planes as it was more of a servicing and repairing asset, so I think a different class makes sense.

If it is a new class, it won't appear in any campaign without editing a few files, so I thought about doing a set of missions that only needed to be added to campaign.cfg. I think it's the easiest way. I spent today doing a set of missions in ME to include the ship in a campaign. They're based on the Akitsushima TROM in combinedfleet.com:

https://i.imgur.com/hahu6SN.jpg

I've never done anything like that, so I still have to test it and be sure that it works.

[propbeanie]

I think a Type=100 Replenishment would work fine, and wouldn't necessitate any campaign files. It would be a "Merchant", technically, but fly the Rising Sun flag (I think - maybe)... It would be like the sub tenders or fleet oilers - but, it is your mod, so what you decide to do is what should be done, not what anyone else says. Anyone who wants to use your mod can change things, if need be, to make it work with their other mod(s). But if you want to supply "historical" routings, then what you have in that picture would be a way to go with it also. I don't think though, that you can arbitrarily add another Type= category. We tried that ourselves before with FotRSU, and I cannot recall off the top of my head, the mayhem it caused, but maybe s7rikeback can remember... ?? just be careful of that idea is all I'm saying. :salute:

[JapLance]

I don't think though, that you can arbitrarily add another Type= category.

I tried it yesterday and didn't find any problems. Played a couple of patrols, no crashes and in one of them even found her when I was on my way to my patrol zone in the Marshalls from Brisbane. She escaped unharmed because US torpedoes in early 1943... :damn:

So apparently it works. I will still play more patrols to be sure.

Anyway, I think I will release the ship as an escort carrier just like the other seaplane tenders, with an Extras folder that will include the explanation on how to convert it into an independent class with the proper files and the campaign layers.

[Zunaka]

I think I may actually do a modded SH4 but only with extra ships.

[JapLance]

I think I may actually do a modded SH4 but only with extra ships.

This is what I mainly play. A stock game with GameFixesOnly mod and a ton of extra ships and changes to original ships and campaign layers.

I played some more patrols with Akitsushima included and couldn't find any wrong behaviour of the game. The only glitch is that apparently the Museum doesn't recognize the names.cfg entry for the ships of a class beyond 20.

[JapLance]

Been adding a few things to the Akitsushima: handrails, rigging the masts, a couple of launches, and cleaned up the textures a bit.

https://i.imgur.com/ffiHKvJ.jpg

[Treetop64]

I take it that the World of Warships camo scheme is part of the deal.

:)

[propbeanie]

First of all, he had said earlier:
...
Textures for camouflage is temporary, taken from a profile found on Internet. Hopefully it will be slightly improved it in the release version.
Second of all, it had a rather unusual camo in this pic:
https://i.imgur.com/AWiX0VV.jpg

Maybe JapLance can supply a couple of different schemes for the paint colors... :salute:

[Treetop64]

Omg. That camo was actually a thing in period?

:o

[propbeanie]

Oh yeah. There were some really strange looking ones... Anything that "broke" the lines of a ship were used. Things like the bow splash would give the appearance of a faster ship, the angled lines from a distance would "hide" the parts between colors, etc. Interesting stuff, but sometimes difficult to implement on SH4 ships, especially if you want them to change, due to the layout of the "skin". Some are "easy" to do (relatively speaking), some are nigh on impossible. :salute:

[revli78]

Nice works there, are she's will be available for download soon??

[Aktungbby]

revli78!:Kaleun_Salute:

[THEBERBSTER]

A Warm Welcome To The Subsim Community > revli78
Subsim <> Make A Donation <> See The Benefits <> Support The Community (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=2027002&postcount=1)
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[revli78]

revli78!:Kaleun_Salute:

:Kaleun_Salute:

[revli78]

A Warm Welcome To The Subsim Community > revli78
Subsim <> Make A Donation <> See The Benefits <> Support The Community (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=2027002&postcount=1)
SH3 – 4 - 5 Tutorials > Downloads > Other Useful Information > See Links in My Signature Below


:Kaleun_Cheers:

[flush deck]

Great job boss :up:As usual.
Thanks for your efforts.


Still hope another italian ship from your skill :D

[gap]

Nice project :up: