New Graphic & Sound Mod for Aces of the Deep

[Andreas86]

https://i.ibb.co/g9Y9c02/ps-000.png (https://ibb.co/xLZLrnk)

Graphic & Sound Mod 2.0 for Aces of the Deep
----------------------------------------------------

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kmx8UVkwFAXB0EwTy0lnxUJDlT0Z19CR/view?usp=sharing

Also added to the download section here on subsim.
https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=6474


https://youtu.be/lIl4PFY0nfw


ABOUT THE MOD
-------------------

This project is my attempt at a total audio/visual modification of the classic submarine game «Aces of the Deep», from Dynamix. Since the autumn of 2021 I have tried my best to enhance the game and create a new and more authentic experience, while still keeping the spirit of the original game. Along the way I have uncovered much about how the game functions, created a lot of new content using this knowledge, and improved upon it step by step.

The time is now right to release version 2.0 of this mod. It has been almost a year since my last update and instead of a long version history containing absolutely every change, I have decided to keep it simple and just describe what you will find in the mod as of today, pointing out shortly what is new. If you want an exhaustive explanation of the previous work, please refer to earlier mod version documentation. For this release I have included two options, a complete standalone pre-modded version of the game as well as the independant mod files for manual installation. The pre-modded version is essentially the floppy disk release of «Aces of the Deep» with the expansion disk and latest patch installed, as well as my mod applied. For some assets I have also included alternative files. The mod is almost completely modular, and you can apply what you want to your existing AOD installation. Version 2.0 features the following:

-Realistic ocean simulation / wave motion speed. (NEW!)
-Updated control room graphics for the Type VII and IX series, with gauge needles removed and clickable areas changed to match the new layout. (NEW!)
-Clickable areas enhanced for the Type XXI control room. (NEW!)
-Changed intro text and added new digital sample intro music. (NEW!)
-Lower horizon on sea texture adding better sea/sky contrast and silhouetting. (NEW!)
-Enhanced palette files again for more realistic ocean and sky colors. (NEW!)
-Torpedo room graphics enhanced for better foreground contrast. (NEW!)
-Additional speech and action sounds added, older mod sounds updated. (NEW!)
-Minor cleaning of the previously recovered clear sky texture. (NEW!)
-Lightly enhanced Type II control room graphics, for color consistancy.
-Bridge view for the Type II, VII and IX series, with or without lookouts.
-Crew faces / reaction popup images, more fitting to the game.
-360 degree external view for the older U-Boats. (Alternative to bridge view)
-Improved «Damage», «Captain's Log», «Map», «Radio», and «Torpedo» screens.
-Dedicated set of «Map», «Damage» and «Torpedo» screens for the Type XXI.
-Realistic control room graphics for the Type XXI, based on the real U-2540.
-Recovered and repaired broken clear sky texture from within original game assets.
-Background images for all menu screens. (Alternative included for main menu)
-Port screens for France, Norway and Germany, inspired by historic locations.
-Periscope art in the control room recovered from the demo's scope animation.
-Almost complete set of custom speech and FX sound samples.
-Menu music track for both Roland MT-32 and Sound Blaster.

Requirements: The CD version of "Aces of the Deep" (DOS), OR the latest patched disk version. Expansion Pack is optional. This does not currently work for windows 95 based "Command Aces of the Deep".
See included readme for all details. Updates screenshots & video coming soon!

Enjoy! :salute:


New Type VII / IX control room with custom clickable command areas!

https://i.ibb.co/HDG05ww/Clickable-Areas.gif (https://ibb.co/MDPbFww)

Realistic ocean simulation / wave travel !! No more rubber ducky U-boat!

https://i.ibb.co/3vHLTpM/Motion-Storm.gif (https://ibb.co/5kVf1rn)

https://i.ibb.co/WznLFsF/Motion-Clear.gif (https://ibb.co/yk0r5V5)

New bridge art!

https://i.ibb.co/QNxr2kL/New-Bridge.gif (https://imgbb.com/)

External view (alternative)!

https://i.ibb.co/HXzRQQn/AOD-External-Camera-View.gif (https://imgbb.com/)

Improved newspaper screen!

https://i.ibb.co/jDBf2b2/Newspaper.gif (https://ibb.co/Pg3jnFn)

New game screens!

https://i.ibb.co/vmbvLRx/Collage-Low.png (https://ibb.co/Mpb5PQD)

New crew faces:

https://i.ibb.co/55pb0H5/FACES2.png (https://imgbb.com/)

[John Pancoast]

Well done ! Is it available to use ?

[Andreas86]

Thanks! As soon as I finish it, some small touches left.. :03:

[Andreas86]

Also, how about some new menu screens? :o

https://tinyimg.io/i/l0YSUV8.png


https://tinyimg.io/i/jT09yN8.png

[John Pancoast]

:o:yeah: Outstanding !

[Silent Otto]

Yes, very nice!


I would like to know how you do this as I was hoping to do the same in the areas of awards and promotions, but make it so they would be actually awarded in play and not just imaged as I did below.


The hex edit files list the Iron Cross, so ..?

[SnipersHunter]

Excellent work, I can not believe that this is possible. :subsim::Kaleun_Cheers:

Do you have an ETA for this?

[Andreas86]

Thanks guys! :subsim: As for an ETA, seeing as its christmas I might not get to do much today but I'll try. I want to compile a small but nice graphic mod as well as include the relevant tools, documentation, and write up a simple description of how to do this. The weird (but lucky) thing is that the graphic modding is not really that difficult.. :doh:

I need to work on the periscope bitmaps so they blend more with the rest of the room graphics. Those files are completely independant from each other.

@Silent Otto:

Sure enough, you can modify the graphics of all the awards. I am going to write up the procedure and share, when I can. The pictures all exist in compressed BMP format. I extracted the higher awards / iron crosses here:

https://tinyimg.io/i/knR1WkF.png

[SnipersHunter]

No hurry, this already looks really great. :Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

[derstosstrupp]

Wow, this looks excellent, great work! Great to see Aces getting love in this department as well.

[RConch]

Very nice!:Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

[Jeff-Groves]

Nice work.

Waiting for the Tools and documentation as those may lead to more Hacking of files.

:salute:

[FUBAR295]

Looks excellent. I just purchased AOD on disc and delaying setting this up till your mods are out. Looking forward to this. :Kaleun_Thumbs_Up: :Kaleun_Applaud: :Kaleun_Salute:

Good hunting,
FUBAR295

[Silent Otto]

Andreas,

Looks great!! I added a couple images below for ideas.

The current promotion images for Korvettenkapitan are wrong in the game as the sleeve insignia didn't change from Kapitanleutnant.

Here are the correct images for both Korvettenkapitan and Fregattenkapitan. I have these in larger format if you need them, just let me know and I can email you anything you need or desire.

Additionally, do you think we could/should add other awards to the game for more realistic and incentive reasons? I added a couple below as examples.

Please note on the award PICs, that I drew the swastika back in as I just hate PC and history is what it was. However, I do understand some countries like Germany have a law prohibiting the public display of the swastika. If I need to modify anything for you, that's easy to do.


Best and Merry Christmas!
Tim

[Andreas86]

Thank you all for the feedback!

My mod is now finished and uploaded, link is added to the top post, and also here:

See latest version.

I wanted to make this as polished as possible, and at the same time celebrate Christmas. So I have spent some long nights editing and painting pixel graphics, and trying to overcome some palette challenges. :doh: Anyway, a lot of stuff is added, and everything is much improved since my last postings. I hope you will enjoy the control room and new menu screens. Try to check them all out, and remember that you can click on the graphics outside the menu bar to see the whole image. :ping:

@Silent Otto: It would be very nice if we can improve these areas of AOTD as well, thank you very much for the offer. My hope is that we can all work together on improving the game. As for the awards, I haven't really thought of this yet, but all bitmaps can be extracted and improved. I will try to look into changing the insignias, but I just need a little break as my head is now all numbers and pixels. As for adding more to the game than the existing number of awards, perhaps it is possible by editing .dat files, but I havent gotten into that yet. About political correctness, I fully agree with you. History is history and cannot be changed.

:arrgh!::yeah:

Merry Christmas and best wishes to you, and to all subsim members!

I have also uploaded a written tutorial and tools for modding AOTD, you will find all info in a new thread. I look forward to seeing other new mods in the future!

[John Pancoast]

:salute: A great Christmas present, thank you !

[John Pancoast]

One "problem" with the control room screen...........the guy closest on the left is giving me the same "Do you have ANY clue on what you're doing !?!?" look that they give me in SH3 just before the boat is sunk......:har: !


Seriously, great work !

[Andreas86]

One "problem" with the control room screen...........the guy closest on the left is giving me the same "Do you have ANY clue on what you're doing !?!?" look that they give me in SH3 just before the boat is sunk......:har: !


Seriously, great work !


Haha! I didn't see it that way until now.. :haha:


Thanks a lot!

[John Pancoast]

Haha! I didn't see it that way until now.. :haha:


Thanks a lot!


That is because you haven't had "the look" as often as I have !:D

[SnipersHunter]

Amazing job on the mod I like it a lot.

[Silent Otto]

:up:

[Silent Otto]

@Silent Otto: It would be very nice if we can improve these areas of AOTD as well, thank you very much for the offer. My hope is that we can all work together on improving the game. As for the awards, I haven't really thought of this yet, but all bitmaps can be extracted and improved. I will try to look into changing the insignias, but I just need a little break as my head is now all numbers and pixels. As for adding more to the game than the existing number of awards, perhaps it is possible by editing .dat files, but I havent gotten into that yet. About political correctness, I fully agree with you. History is history and cannot be changed.


Here's just some food for thought for everyone to think about.

We "could" reshape the promotions and awards altogether, not just the accompanying pictures but the whole basis of award structure throughout the game and perhaps assign some type of point basis for each award? It would be similar to what we already see on the Top Score List, where depending on tonnage sunk, overall mission difficulty, etc. determines the final score; in this case, towards any award or promotion.

Not every U-boat commander received the Knight's Cross and many who received it prior to actually having the lower Iron Cross 2nd & 1st Classes had those awards automatically backdated and entered. (Award rules mandated the member must have both levels of Iron Cross prior to receiving the Knight's Cross.) Still, many received the German Cross in Gold (est. 9/41) for award acts that didn't rate the KC. Others only ended up with the Iron Cross 1st Class as the top and final award. There were other awards as well that were not in the Iron Cross series of awards and didn't affect the KC series whatsoever; such as the GCiG, War Merit Cross, etc.

We could add game criteria based on dates that awards were established and actual criteria (though there were always exceptions to any rule). Promotions were also something established (time in service/rank) but changed somewhat throughout the war and again, exceptions to the rule (Luth case in point!).

It might provide some additional game incentives for continuing on and trying to do better. Getting the Knight's Cross series completed through Diamonds before the June 1940 timeframe just doesn't give the player much to try for IMHO and is just too easy to get.

[John Pancoast]

I wonder if CAOD is easier than AOD with awards/promotions. :hmmm: In all my playing of AOD I've only got the diamonds once, mid-war, and I've had lots of tonnage, etc. many times.

[Jeff-Groves]

The file size of the Subsim.exe between versions seems different.
Now that may be because I was sent upgraded Game files?
:hmmm:

[John Pancoast]

The file size of the Subsim.exe between versions seems different.
Now that may be because I was sent upgraded Game files?
:hmmm:


That'd be my guess, especially since the patches includes the expansion pack.

[Jeff-Groves]

I've got the original files from both now.
Nice thing is I can compare from the first release through all releases and patches.

Now given 010 can De-compile the files now? That throws things into Machine language!
Guess who just happens to have some knowledge of that!

[Andreas86]

That'd be my guess, especially since the patches includes the expansion pack.

Makes sense.

On a side note, it was the expansion pack that gave me a clue that AOTD could be modded graphically. The expansion pack works in the same way I have referenced in the tutorial, it just places the new files in the SIM folder outside of the .DYN archive. So when I was able to open and modify one of these files, namely the CONTROL3.SCR file (control room screen for the type XXI), I figured that the other ones must be in the same workable format -just packed away somewhere. From then it was just a question of finding information on the .DYN files and getting the graphics out of it.

[Jeff-Groves]

So what could be done in the long run?
We create a blank DYN file and just have all the files open for install in the proper folders.
Reduces file size of the install and actually reduces download size.
Why a decrease in download size?
There's a lot of information in the header area of the DYN files that does not relate to the files in the DYN. I suspect maybe a guide of sorts to files contained in the DYN but not confirmed.

I can find no reason to even bother with the DYN format once all files are extracted!

How do we test this theory?
Extract the DYN files and place in the folder where the DYN was.
Once that is done? Delete the DYN and see what happens. Then work BACKWARDS from there!

[Jeff-Groves]

I have to go to one of my Job sites to solve problems for the next several days.
So I'll probably not be around for 2 or 3 days.
Life on the road and all that. But I will be thinking about things.

[Andreas86]

That would be very interesting indeed!

By the way, here is a quick test I did with new ocean color. In fact I just lowered the exposure for the wave cycling frames. Looks more like the rough atlantic than the original tropical azure blue, don't you think?

The most interesting thing here is that this sprite bitmap SEA.BMP has BIN/VGA with LZW compression originally. I saved them all as BIN/VGA with compression NONE, and the game accepts them! This is in line with what I have read about other Dynamix games.

https://tinyimg.io/i/CSDHEVJ.png

https://tinyimg.io/i/eO7MxUQ.png

[John Pancoast]

I've got the original files from both now.
Nice thing is I can compare from the first release through all releases and patches.

Now given 010 can De-compile the files now? That throws things into Machine language!
Guess who just happens to have some knowledge of that!


:up: I think it'd be easier to list what you DON'T know about all this computer mumbo jumbo !
Lucky to have your talents on this project. :salute:

[John Pancoast]

That would be very interesting indeed!

By the way, here is a quick test I did with new ocean color. In fact I just lowered the exposure for the wave cycling frames. Looks more like the rough atlantic than the original tropical azure blue, don't you think?

The most interesting thing here is that this sprite bitmap SEA.BMP has BIN/VGA with LZW compression originally. I saved them all as BIN/VGA with compression NONE, and the game accepts them! This is in line with what I have read about other Dynamix games.




How does it look at night though ? That's the main reason for the stock color; so the ships will be visible, i.e.
Nice looking ! But I have to admit, I've always liked how the water looks in AOD. :hmmm:

[Andreas86]

It looks good actually, I thought there would be some day/night palette issues, but I JUST watched it cycle to night on time compression and it gives some light to the surface. But as said, this was just a first try. I will work on the color.

[Jeff-Groves]

What Pallet is the Sea.BMP using?
I haven't figured out how to load a different pallet yet.

[John Pancoast]

It looks good actually, I thought there would be some day/night palette issues, but I JUST watched it cycle to night on time compression and it gives some light to the surface. But as said, this was just a first try. I will work on the color.


:up: Sounds good !

[Andreas86]

What Pallet is the Sea.BMP using?
I haven't figured out how to load a different pallet yet.


I used BRIDGE.PAL, it seems to look right. WATER.PAL does not for some reason.


EDIT: I just remembered, the WATER.PAL is for the ocean background screen that is behind Doenitz in the end. Both BRIDGE.PAL and SCOPE.PAL looks right, which makes sense as they would all need to match.

[Andreas86]

Ignore my previous post!!

SEA.BMP is using CLEAR.PAL, CLOUDY.PAL, OVERCAST.PAL, NIGHT.PAL and STORM.PAL. Those palettes are what gives the ocean different shades according to weather of course, and day / night light.

SCOPE.PAL is for SCOPE.SCR. I am not yet sure about BRIDGE.PAL, but I suspect it maybe one time had something to do with BRIDGE.SCR, which seems to me to be the beta conning tower screen. It is not in use however, and will not look right with any palette I have tested so far. I am sure I have seen this bridge screen before, perhaps in some magazine preview..


https://tinyimg.io/i/oiGxyGP.png

[Jeff-Groves]

More great information Mate!
:salute:

It may be to late but I nominated you for an Award for your work in AOD.
You've guided me to things that helped in what I wanted to do as a Team.
GREAT WORK!
:salute:

[Andreas86]

Thanks a lot Jeff, that is very kind! :o:salute:

[Andreas86]

New update to the mod! 5 new ingame screens are now added. See first post for download link and information. :ping:

https://tinyimg.io/i/6kl6Dcn.png

[John Pancoast]

:o:o More amazing every release Jens ! THANKS !!

[John Pancoast]

The map grid is a HUGE improvement and help.

[Jeff-Groves]

@Andreas86

Nice to see you got a nice shiny badge!
Nicely done Mate! You have Earned it!
:salute:

[Andreas86]

Thanks a lot Jeff! :salute: I really appreciate all the feedback you guys have given me. Very motivating.

[Jeff-Groves]

All I did was nominate you. You earned the Award all on your own Mate!
:up:

[Mister_M]

Great work here ! :yep:

Do you intend to re-do the sound effects and speeches too with more "realistic" ones ? :D But maybe this kind of mod already exists, I don't know, I'm pretty new to this... old game. :doh:

[Andreas86]

Great work here ! :yep:

Do you intend to re-do the sound effects and speeches too with more "realistic" ones ? :D But maybe this kind of mod already exists, I don't know, I'm pretty new to this... old game. :doh:


Thanks! :salute:


Yes, in fact I do! I have been working on it for a while :03:

[Andreas86]

:ping: UPDATE 19.01.22 (added to first post!)

-New control room screen for the Type XXI!
-New map view, torpedo room and damage control screen for the type XXI.

While Dynamix gave the type XXI some deserved attention in their adddon, it did little visually other than change the tower view. All the rest of the screens were the same as for the older subs, except for a new radar screen and an active sonar button on the map view. With this in mind I set out making a completely new control room for the type XXI, based on the real control room of the last XXI in Hamburg. A small liberty had to be taken with the periscope, as in the real sub the scope is placed in a different part of the control room, not near the gauge wall. But overall I am very satisfied with the way it all came out, and thanks to some great photos online I was able to match this up quite well. I hope you will enjoy
spending time in the new control room, the crew is ready! The gauges has also been changed visually

In addition I made a modified map screen for the type XXI, as well as a new torpedo loadout screen and damage control screen. I hope you will appreciate the small historic touches.

The control room .SCR file is independant and can be placed in your SIM folder, but the new type XXI ingame screens will overwrite my older ones so I suggest backing those up. I suggest installing these screens when
you are planning on using the type XXI. In the future I might write a simple .bat file to make it easier to change between the screen packs.

Download link:

See latest version.

https://tinyimg.io/i/wiaJvw4.png

[Hitman]

Awesome, great job! :Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

Incredible that this game is still being modded and loved in 2022 :Kaleun_Cheers::Kaleun_Applaud:

[John Pancoast]

Awesome, great job! :Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

Incredible that this game is still being modded and loved in 2022 :Kaleun_Cheers::Kaleun_Applaud:
The tools to mod AOD are all right here Hitman; spin some more of your magic. :up:
If nothing else, at least it's a LOT quicker and easier to test mods vs. the SH series. :)

[Andreas86]

Awesome, great job! :Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

Incredible that this game is still being modded and loved in 2022 :Kaleun_Cheers::Kaleun_Applaud:


Thank you very much Hitman! :salute::DL

[iambecomelife]

Excellent work?

Question:

Is there any chance at all of modding the ship, sub, and plane models? That would be dreamy. :up:

I just binge-played Aces of the Deep the other day when I was flying cross country, so I'm glad to see mod work on it.

[Andreas86]

Excellent work?

Question:

Is there any chance at all of modding the ship, sub, and plane models? That would be dreamy. :up:

I just binge-played Aces of the Deep the other day when I was flying cross country, so I'm glad to see mod work on it.

Thanks! :salute:

I have not found a way to do this yet, but I hope that through our collective effort we can maybe get to these files in the future. But I got a related surprise coming soon.. :arrgh!:

[John Pancoast]

The grid lines added to the tactical map view are perhaps the best graphical mod done.
They are a huge addition to the game and make plotting intercepts much better.
In my current career, the difference between playing with/without them is readily apparent and it is a must have mod for AOD.

[Andreas86]

:ahoy:UPDATE 04.02.22

https://tinyimg.io/i/wl6FXWF.gif

New in version 1.3

-New bridge view for the type VIIC! Both with and without watch crew on duty.
-Updated map view screens for all u-boats. 3 different colors to choose from, plus minor graphic fixes.

I am happy to be able to bring you a completely new bridge view for Aces of the Deep. Using an excellent 3D model of the type VIIC made by talented creator "splatypi" on www.blendswap.com (http://www.blendswap.com), I used the program Blender to produce the 64 frames needed for a complete 360 view in Aces of the Deep. A lot of time and effort was put into finding the right viewpoint, exporting, palette conversions, graphic editing, fine pixel work, sourcing good sprites for the crew, aligning them correctly in each frame, and much, much more. I have made a version both with and without the watch crew on duty, so you can choose depending on your preference. Some may like to have an unmanned bridge with a free line of sight, but for authenticity I recommend using the bridge with a watch crew! I really hope this will add a lot to the immersion in the game.

The second, smaller feature in this version is updated map screens for all u-boats. My original white map screen has been replaced by an updated version with a different font on the top, shadows for the small items on the table, and you can now choose between 3 different colors for the map view (both for the regular u-boats and the type XXI). The colors are tan, blue-grey and grey. This update was made following a request by John Pancoast for a map that is both more pleasing for the eye, as well as more authentic. The tan colored map should resemble actual Kriegsmarine maps more than my original white. I used the closest shade I could find in the map screen palette. The two other colors are there if you like them. In the future I will also work on making the strategic maps more realistic.

Many thanks to John Pancoast for good advice and ideas, sending me various files, testing, feedback and motivation! Without your help this would not have come out as nice! I really appreciate it.

Download here:

See latest version.


https://tinyimg.io/i/AARbRfQ.jpg

[John Pancoast]

Well done ! No need to thank me; I've done nothing. You've done all the work, you started and took on this project and the community owes you a huge debt of gratitude.
Incredible talent, skill, and creativity. :salute:

[astvitaliy1982]

Большое спасибо!) Шикарная работа!)

[SnipersHunter]

Just updated to 1.3. Excellent work guys :Kaleun_Applaud:

[Andreas86]

Thanks guys! :salute:

[Andreas86]

UPDATE 20.02.2022

:arrgh!: New in version 1.4:

-All new type VII control room screen!
-New scope graphics in the control room, rescued from the AOD demo.
-Weather mod with new texture and colors, unused clear sky texture rescued from the AOD.DYN archive!
-New ingame crew face graphics!
-Tactical map gridline color fix.
-New alternative single mission screen.
-Updated type XXI control room screen.

This is a big update which has taken a lot of time and thought.

In the months since I made the first type VII control room, I felt there were much room for improvement. Unfortunately there were limitations in the photos I had from inside U-995. Either there were visitors I had to cover with sprites or edit out, or the camera angle was too wrong for the AOD gauges to fit. Also, the fluorescent tube lighting within U-995 is too artificial compared to the real lamps they used back then and lighting is hard for me to change to any meaningful degree. So I chose to look to other subsims for material. Initially I had hopes that Silent Hunter III would produce the right control room perspective and mood for a new AOD screen. John Pancoast tried hard to help me with this, and sent me many good shots from SH3. Unfortunately, the room perspective produced by SH3 just wasn't right for what I needed. Luckily I found that Silent Hunter 5 was much better suited. And I certainly hope you like the results. I had to redraw a lot of details, but I think this is the most realistic control room I possibly could make for AOD. All gauges and details has been sourced from SH5 and carefully drawn in where AOD needs them to be. To make this work I had to take the liberty of having the scope a bit further to starboard than it is in reality. But seeing as the real thing is very cramped I do not feel it detracts from the immersion.

Next, I had a look at the long self-running demo of AOD to check out if the control room scope animation was different and could be used. Not only is it different, but it seems Dynamix had to sacrifice a lot for the final version of AOD. In the self-playing demo the scope graphics gradually changes perspective as it extends up. Not so in the final version. Additionally the handles are extended when the scope is fully up, also not in the final version -although the extended handles are there in the final SCOPE.BMP file! Strange.. Unfortunately I cannot yet do anything to bring this function back. But I was able to rescue a fitting perspective scope frame from the demo scope graphics, to better match the control room perpective. Even better, the demo version scope graphic is cleaner and more defined pixel-wise! I recolored it grey to blend better with the final version elements. The file can be found in the control room folder.

Another goodie that seemed lost in AOD was an unused clear skies texture. In AOD.DYN there is a file named CLEAR.BMP. It is similar to STORM.BMP in that it consists of 4 frames that combined makes for a texture of 1024 x 160. It is obvious that Dynamix intended to use this texture for clear skies weather. It is also showed in the demo. But something must have gone wrong at the last minute forcing them to program it out, and falling back on the incredibly dull and completely wrong shade of blue for clear skies. All because the last frame in the sprite BMP file is partially corrupted. The EGA-like blue sky in the game has bugged me since I bought Command: Aces of the Deep in 1998. Luckily I was able to rescue the texture, airbrushing in what was missing. So now we have a beautiful clear day blue sky, with light clouds -like Dynamix must have intended. It is also well suited for all other weather conditions, and the weather conditions been improved accordingly!

This brings me to the next modification, namely the palette files. For the rescued blue sky texture to work, I had to edit the relevant palette file to both improve the shade of blue, and to make it gradient. Of course I then could not resist to improve the rest of the weather palettes too, and utilizing the new texture there are now proper overcast, cloudy and storm skies. I also changed the palette colors for the ocean, so the sea will reflect the current sky conditions with more color variation. I have also experimented with new realistic sea foam textures, but for now the original foam files are fine. The greyscale for the bridge has also been altered somewhat to improve lighting during clear and cloudy conditions. Let me just say that palettes can be incredibly confusing to work with in old games like this, but I hope you like the new environments. In clear weather you even get a hint of a pink sunset effect at dusk. These palettes are REQUIRED for the new sky texture to work, and to enhance the bridge lighting.

Perhaps the most challenging feature in this update was the new crew faces. All 18 faces has been changed. I was never happy with the original crew faces ingame, many of them are quite awkward and out of place. And the lighting made them all too pink. They don't really seem like a real uboat crew and the backgrounds are mostly random control room graphics. Now, getting good hi-res quality face shots to translate to tiny pixel faces is difficult to say the least, especially as the face frames uses a very limited palette. I had to try and fail A LOT before I found a good "formula" to get them right.

Moving on, I added another small update to the map files, the inmap gridlines are now light grey instead of solid black. It should be more realistic, if you don't agree just leave them be. As a small bonus I made an alternative new "Single Mission" screen, based on a nice promo shot I found for Silent Hunter II.

Finally, the type XXI room has been changed. I removed the generic officer I had originally put in as he looked a bit out of place, and contorted. I replaced him with the chief engineer from the first type VII screen, since I like him and he needed a place to go. :)

That's it for now. Enjoy the mod!

DOWNLOAD:
See latest version.

https://tinyimg.io/i/GzqleAh.png

Day changing to dusk, with the new sky texture:

https://tinyimg.io/i/TzY6Tgq.png

https://tinyimg.io/i/ZlAmF13.png

[John Pancoast]

You've found some great discoveries hidden in AOD and made some great mods from them ! :salute:

[RConch]

Would these enhancements work with CAoD as it does in AoD?:Kaleun_Salute:

I ask this cause the file names are not identical.

[skin-nl]

Thanks Andreas for this great work :salute::up:

[Andreas86]

Thanks Andreas for this great work :salute::up:

My pleasure, skin-nl! :salute:

@RConch: I should think not, as Command: AOD uses double the resolution of the original, and different palette files. So I guess it would look horrendous, if it worked at all. I don't think I want to convert the whole mod to CAOD, but if there are some individual screens or graphics you want I might be able to help.

I did try earlier to load Command:AOD graphics in dos AOD for fun, and surprisingly it works but everything is HUGE onscreen and goes beyond all borders.

[RConch]

I was afraid of that-so I have not "mucked" around with these wonderful enhancements.

Thank you for your response and wonderful work.:Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

[Andreas86]

A little test of an external view I am working on, giving you some good video views a la "Das Boot", see video. It replaces the normal tower view, but gives you a nice outside view of the boat. At the moment I have found no 3d model crewmen to place on the blender model, so most likely there will be no crew in the final version. But for those who are used to the lonely original bridge view, this may not pose much of a problem

Rough first trial model, from low res blender export frames:

https://tinyimg.io/i/1r6O0dw.gif

EDIT:

New version. Original blender 3d model is exported to 64 individual frames in 1600 x 1200 resolution. Then, using Gimp I found an intricate way of processing these down to very clean looking and sharp 320 x 200 frames. This way I avoided all ugly artifacts, unwanted black contours and transperancy pixels. Very time-consuming stuff, but worth it! It will look like this in AOD, only a tad darker:

https://tinyimg.io/i/VcJHNoN.gif

https://youtu.be/Hs7uKqp-aVI

[John Pancoast]

More amazing work, thanks ! :salute:

[skin-nl]

Looks good Andreas :up:

[Andreas86]

UPDATE 06.04.2022

New in version 1.5 :hmm2:

-External camera view for the type VII!
-Small fix for the type XXI control room graphics.
-Sound and music mod is from now on joined with the graphic mod for convenience.
-New sound updates!

Download link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HTKNVnE3_oPdgZwvKDf7j2FX8MAv1b7y/view?usp=sharing


https://tinyimg.io/i/j4PL0vB.gif

The big news here is a new external camera view for Aces of the Deep! It replaces the normal bridge view, but gives you a nice outside view of the boat in 360 degrees. As source I have used the same excellent 3D model of the type VII as for the new bridge view, the 3D model made by Blendswap user "splatypi" years ago. At the moment I have found no 3D model crewmen to place on the blender model. But if anyone is willing to draw them in by hand on the 64 frames that make up the external view, please contact me on the subsim forum! Having a crew in this view would be great and I hope to be able to make that update in the future. However, for those who are used to the lonely original bridge view, the lack of people may not pose much of a problem. Making an external view of the u-boat in this quality was possible by exporting a 360 camera pan of the Blender model to 64 individual frames. The resolution for these were 1600 x 1200, which was then processed in various ways using GIMP and downscaled to the low resolution needed for AOD. These final frames are at most 320 x 91!! My main goal was to make these as clean, sharp, and high quality as possible. And by using high resolution source frames I gave myself room enough to work with the frames in order to get rid of unwanted ugly artifacts, as well as black contours in the low-res frames. But this was all extremely time consuming, and this is why I have taken good time on this. A lot of final hour cleanup and pixel editing was also needed to get the quality where I wanted it. But I feel the final result is good, and I hope that this will add to the playability and enjoyment of Aces of the Deep. You will find that the scale of the u-boat in this view relates well to the size of the targets when you get close to them. I hope to see some great screenshots from you in the future!

Second on the list is a small fix of the type XXI control room, specifically the engineer. When I put him in as part of my last update, I somehow missed that he was all askew in his appearance, kind of warped to the right. I have therefore done a little perspective correction on him so now he should look correct and natural. Sometimes you see yourself blind on the same images over and over again, and then after some time away from modding, problems suddenly become clear.

The sound and music mod is from now on part of this mod, and the title of the mod will reflect this. This is for convenience, to gather everything I have made under one roof. I personally feel the mods go hand in hand, and this way I don't have to maintain / update two archives and forum threads. Updates to the sound mod will be documented here. Following is the description of the sound mod from its original readme:

"This is a mod for Dynamix' Aces of the Deep which will change almost all sounds in the game. I have tried my best at making the game more immersive and realistic, and done a lot of work sourcing good samples, editing, layering, editing pitches, and mixing together the various speech and effect samples. At the same time I wanted to keep them clean and not colored by movie background music or very recognizeable long passages from popular movies. A few stock sounds are still used but I have either edited them or layered them with other sounds. The few sounds not changed are not included, like the ricochet and aircraft fly-by sound as I found they were good enough. I hope these new sounds will greatly enhance your experience of Aces of the Deep, and that the new depth charges will rattle your cage a bit! ;)

Being a hobby musician as well as retro gaming fan, I have made an original new main theme for Aces of the Deep in my old DOS program "Sequencer Plus Gold". There are files included for SoundBlaster and Roland MT-32. You can easily use MT-32 in DOSBox X or DOSBox SVN-Daum, which I personally use. But be sure to choose MPU-401 in the AOTD sound setup and not MT-32. The main theme song in AOTD is called "Shell__l.hmp". Just place either of the music files in your "Sound" directory. If you don't like it just delete it and AOTD will look for the main theme on the CD as usual.

Thanks to John Pancoast for testing the mod, suggestions and sending me sound and music files, many of which I hope to include later!"

As a final goodie there is also now an update to the sound mod! The biggest one is that both surface and submerged engine sounds now have ocean noise in the background. This was possible by lengthening of the original mods engine samples, then layering them with the sound of waves crashing against the hull / underwater noise. These sounds had to be carefully looped and balanced. The result is the sonic impression of waves hitting the boat, and the frequency increases or decreases with engine speed! I have also made new speech samples for the firing of torpedoes, there are again two versions. One I have chosen as default and another one as alternative. You can exchange these at will by renaming them. They are both good and are in my ears more consistent with the rest of the sound mod.

Here is a small list of the new sound updates:

5GC.RAW = new "Los!" sample
5GC_ALT.RAW = alternative new "Los!" sample (rename to 5GC.RAW)
6GA.RAW = New "Ship Sighted" sample, less harsh
6GB.RAW = New "Aircraft sighted!" sample, less harsh
DSLENG.RAW = New diesel engine sound, with wave noises
ELECENG.RAW = Electric engines with submerged ocean noises


https://tinyimg.io/i/yeQdFN0.png

[John Pancoast]

This file has been uploaded here. (https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=6074)

Well done Andreas86 !:up:
Can a moderator please change the title of this thread to "New graphic and sound mod for Aces of the Deep!" ?

[Andreas86]

Another screen has been changed. As many other screens I thought the original newspaper after-action screen was very boring with just a wooden table background, so I went about modifying it. This was a tricky one because of the weird way the newspaper sequence uses the palette.

Now the person reading the paper is standing at a news kiosk in a period-correct german city street, taking in the latest reports from the war.

https://tinyimg.io/i/3oIkuBe.png

https://tinyimg.io/i/k9nJNIO.gif

[John Pancoast]

Another screen has been changed. As many other screens I thought the original newspaper after-action screen was very boring with just a wooden table background, so I went about modifying it. This was a tricky one because of the weird way the newspaper sequence uses the palette.

Now the person reading the paper is standing at a news kiosk in a period-correct german city street, taking in the latest reports from the war.




:o:salute: Another great idea !

[Andreas86]

Thanks John! :salute: It will be part of the next update. From now on, you will also be notified ingame when a new version is out. :yeah:

https://tinyimg.io/i/Ik9AIiN.png





Just kidding.. :O:

[John Pancoast]

Thanks John! :salute: It will be part of the next update. From now on, you will also be notified ingame when a new version is out. :yeah:







Just kidding.. :O:


:D I see you found the language.txt file.

[Andreas86]

Haha, yes! :D

[Andreas86]

UPDATE 04.08.2022

New in version 1.6

-New after-action newspaper screen!
-Fixed color error in the new face popup images.

Added a new after-action newspaper screen. Instead of reading the newspaper on a boring wooden desk, the reader now finds himself in a busy german city street, having just bought the latest edition from a news kiosk. Making the new screen work was rather difficult, as I encountered a lot of palette issues when the image fades to dark and the small animation appears in the middle of the newspaper. After a lot of time I managed to sort it out, but you need to install the included new .PAL file for the paper screen to work.

I also found a graphic problem with the new face popups that I was unaware of. All the face images contained the use of black color 0,0,0 which led to a color glitch when encountering fog. Fog is created in AOTD by use of some palette entries, that the program gradually changes to shades of gray or blue, depending on the weather. Color 0,0,0 is part of those entries. While I originally did convert the palette of the new face images to the palette of the original face files, something must have gone wrong. And obviously I must have tested the files without encountering fog. Luckily, correcting this was just a matter of mapping all instances of 0,0,0 to 20,8,12 which is the darkest color used in the original Dynamix created face images, and then to re-export everything.

Download:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GX8SA6TNUQrHlGjyRG-keccAYVFW2Lqs/view?usp=sharing (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GX8SA6TNUQrHlGjyRG-keccAYVFW2Lqs/view?usp=sharing)


https://i.ibb.co/brydW3G/ezgif-com-gif-maker.gif (https://imgbb.com/)

[Andreas86]

Original AOD port screens, Kiel, France and Norway:

https://i.postimg.cc/qqkvZx9T/PORT.png

https://i.postimg.cc/fTRbc5c7/FRANCE.png

https://i.postimg.cc/nVkz9NDc/NORWAY.png

[Andreas86]

Here are some new port screens I have created. I am trying to capture the atmosphere of the industrial ports of Germany, and german naval might at the beginning of WW2. What do you think? I also made a new screen for France, showing, you know, real u-boat bunkers and not some boring houses. Lastly I made a new Norway port screen, with more of a cold winter feeling. The wartime winters in Norway were, after all, some of the worst winters in our countrys history. I will in time try to improve all port screens.


https://i.postimg.cc/cL1zyBZd/KIEL3.png


https://i.postimg.cc/BvXwtZXy/FRANCE8.png


https://i.postimg.cc/sgnNVGD7/NORWAY5.png

[skin-nl]

You did a great job on the port screens andreas :up:

[Andreas86]

You did a great job on the port screens andreas :up:

Thank you skin-nl :DL Grateful for the feedback!

I will include them in the next upload, if you got any suggestions for other enhancements, let me know:salute:

[chevyhd1986]

Was wondering if one of you gentlemen could point me in the right direction on purchasing a copy of Aces of the deep to play. I found CAotD but am finding it hard to find a copy of AoD with the expansions. I would love to try out this mod as it sounds awesome. I’m a sucker for old retro games an heard that this game is actually really fun. Thanks for your time.

[John Pancoast]

Was wondering if one of you gentlemen could point me in the right direction on purchasing a copy of Aces of the deep to play. I found CAotD but am finding it hard to find a copy of AoD with the expansions. I would love to try out this mod as it sounds awesome. I’m a sucker for old retro games an heard that this game is actually really fun. Thanks for your time.

eBay is probably your best bet. Be sure to get the cd version for all the added extras, ease of installation, etc.

[John Pancoast]

Original AOD port screens, Kiel, France and Norway:

https://i.postimg.cc/qqkvZx9T/PORT.png

https://i.postimg.cc/fTRbc5c7/FRANCE.png

https://i.postimg.cc/nVkz9NDc/NORWAY.png


Nice work as usual! Another nice touch AOD had was the bombed out buildings in the ports as the war went on, no band to send you off/greet your return, etc.

[Aktungbby]

Nice work as usual! Another nice touch AOD had was the bombed out buildings in the ports as the war went on, no band to send you off/greet your return, etc....that's cause the 'tubas & miscellaneous brass horns were all melted down for shell casings...for the deck guns!:shucks::arrgh!:

[Andreas86]

Nice work as usual! Another nice touch AOD had was the bombed out buildings in the ports as the war went on, no band to send you off/greet your return, etc.

Thanks John! I did think about this, and possible complications to my screens. But strangely I cannot find any graphical assets in the game archives related to these bombed buildings. I can only find the intact port screens. Do you have any screenshots of that stage in the game, where the buildings are bombed?

The band and audience is of no concern in that regard, as those are just tiny sprites that are superimposed on the big backgrounds.

[Andreas86]

New version 1.7 :salute:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HmHHc3dUAoSgmBEPsEa_rJYB9vacDGwT/view?usp=sharing

-New "Main Menu" screen!
-New "Single Mission" menu screen.
-New "Career Menu" menu screen, with remastered old screen as alternative.
-New "Mission Briefing" menu screen!
-Improved graphics in "Hall of Fame" / "Assignment" menu screen.
-New "Tonnage Leaders" menu screen. (Improved AOTD original)
-Improved graphics in Type VII control room screen.
-Improved graphics in both Type VII and XXI map screens.
-New type VII damage screen (Remastered from original AOTD screen).
-Improved graphics in torpedoroom screen.
-New leaving port screens for Germany, France and Norway!

No long explanation this time, other than that I have tried to give my previous work more polish, as well as to make more new and autenthic in-game graphics for the game. I hope you like the mod! See the included PDF readme for all info.

New collection of screenshots, including the latest work. First, the menu screens:

https://i.ibb.co/ZHXqC02/COLLAGE-MENUSCREENS.png (https://ibb.co/f8Fj7sD)

New in-game screens:

https://i.ibb.co/99sd5hp/COLLAGE-GAMESCREENS.png (https://ibb.co/nszKJBw)

https://i.ibb.co/4Rrpncs/COLLAGE-SIMSCREENS.png (https://ibb.co/gZKJLGv)

New crew faces:

https://i.ibb.co/55pb0H5/FACES2.png (https://imgbb.com/)

[skin-nl]

Andreas there is no file to download :D

[Andreas86]

Andreas there is no file to download :D

Ooopps.. I pasted wrong link in this last post, it is corrected :doh:
I have also uploaded the latest version to the downloads section here at subsim! :up:

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=6229

[skin-nl]

Downloaded.....Thanks Andreas:up:

[ReallyDedPoet]

Nice work here :up:

[Andreas86]

Nice work here :up:


Thanks a lot! :salute:

[Andreas86]

Got a type IX in my AOD career, but realized I had not yet made a new control room for it. For my own enjoyment and to have something a little more immersive, I did some graphic editing of the stock screen, darkened the room and added some lighting effects to the bulbs. Eventually I will make a totally new room in the same quality as the type VII mod.

https://i.ibb.co/WfKwYm8/Type-IX.png (https://ibb.co/JHk4MD6)

[Andreas86]

Another prototype, edited the misplaced stairs out of the room, modified the floor, shadows, diving station chairs, changed depth gauge, lighting, and recruited a diving station guy.

https://i.ibb.co/PztbZ9C/Type-VII.jpg (https://ibb.co/YTbK7yj)

[iambecomelife]

Beautifully done like all the rest! :up:

[Andreas86]

Beautifully done like all the rest! :up:

Thank you very much! :DL

[Andreas86]

Christmas update coming! The radio operator had a case of serious sunburn, and seeing as he didn't really experience that much sun, I have made him u-boat pale again -much to his disappointment. The torpedo room screen has been much improved, featuring a better u-boat model, and a cleaner and detailed color background, less stylistic and more immersive. This also goes for the XXI torpedo screen.

Lastly, but most importantly, the Type IX will finally get a new control room screen! Finding source art or real photos of the Type IX interior proved difficult, hence I have worked to improve the original Dynamix artwork.

https://i.ibb.co/vBhbTf5/AODcomp1.jpg (https://ibb.co/qnCzchG)

https://i.ibb.co/LP6pW50/AODcomp2.jpg (https://ibb.co/Sx0v8r6)

https://i.ibb.co/4TxPvgy/AODcomp3.jpg (https://ibb.co/FwtgZqv)

Funny story about the diving station guy, no suitable drawings or photos were to be found. But this one small figurine in the picture below (to the far right) from a Type VII model, was just perfect! :o

https://i.ibb.co/rkyJtbk/Models.jpg (https://imgbb.com/)

[toolsey2]

Andreas86
Thanks for modding Aces , you are making it great again , i have loaded your mod inside the game as instructed I think and have seen the new type VII control room graphic but when I start a new career in type II I am getting the original control room graphic is this correct , I was hoping the new graphic would be shown ,have I done something wrong or is there not the type II available
Regards and thanks again.

[Andreas86]

Hi toolsey! Thanks for the kind words! You have not done anything wrong, and you are right. I have not yet made a new control room for the type II, unfortunately. It is on my to-do list. A new room for the Type IX will come soon, and then if I can find source art for the Type II I will do that as well. If you have any good sources for this, it would be most welcome. I'll admit I have prioritized my most favorite u-boats. ;)

Problem is that due to the gauge placements being different from room to room, you cannot simply interchange one with the other. In AoD, the type II has more narrow spacing between where the dials show up, and I have not figure out how to change this. It would probably take some reverse engineering of the code, or clever hex editing. So we are left with working with the graphics creatively instead.


Regards.

[toolsey2]

Andreas86
Thanks for quick reply , good to know I have not installed it wrong , happy Christmas and new year

[Andreas86]

The same to you toolsey2! I'll see what I can do over the next weeks, regarding the control room.

[Andreas86]

More work has been done in the type IX control room. Below is a comparison between the stock Dynamix art and my latest version.

https://i.ibb.co/MnXqrbt/Comparison.jpg (https://ibb.co/wyvDVTP)

[Giesemaschine]

I'm still encountering a glitch where, when on the bridge with the crew graphics, DOSBOX will crash as soon as I pan left or right and a crew member comes into view.

I've upped my virtual memory from 64 to 512 in DOSBOX settings but it still crashes, and I have also tried lowering/increasing cycles.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

[Andreas86]

I'm still encountering a glitch where, when on the bridge with the crew graphics, DOSBOX will crash as soon as I pan left or right and a crew member comes into view.

I've upped my virtual memory from 64 to 512 in DOSBOX settings but it still crashes, and I have also tried lowering/increasing cycles.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

This I have never encountered.. Have you copied all the "tower*.BMP" files over? Can you record a short dosbox video capture of it?

512 MB ram in dosbox should be unnecessary, I think I use only 16/32 myself.. What is your video memory setting in your dosbox.conf file? 1, 2, 4, 8 MB? Are you running standard SVGA_S3 setting? Although it works fine here with SVGA_S3, I usually use SVGA_ET4000 and 2 MB vram (due to dos flight simulations like FS4), and I can recommend the driver for stability and performance.

Do you run the latest AoD version?

I will try to help as best I can. From your description I would guess it is a matter of video ram, or missing files.

[agathosdaimon]

hi

i just tried this mod in AcesOTD and it crashes when i go to the bridge and try to pan around - like as some as the graphic is going be that which shows the other crew on the bridge, it crashes and the game restarts


- what am i doing wrong?

[agathosdaimon]

i have followed you instructions a couple times over and the same result every time - if i go to the bridge, the initial screen showing the new front view is there, but as soon as i pan left or right, the whole things crashes




what patch version of AOD is this mod intended for? also are there any specific Dosbox settings needed?


i notice also that the tower bmp files are not actual bmp graphic files are? it does not appear that one can even open them in any graphics program - o tried to open them in ms paint and photoshop, just to see if there is anythign up with them, but none will open - they come up as Invalid format

[agathosdaimon]

okay its working now - it seems i have to use my CD versions of Aotd and not the old disk version - i seem to have both in my games fodler

[Andreas86]

i have followed you instructions a couple times over and the same result every time - if i go to the bridge, the initial screen showing the new front view is there, but as soon as i pan left or right, the whole things crashes

what patch version of AOD is this mod intended for? also are there any specific Dosbox settings needed?

i notice also that the tower bmp files are not actual bmp graphic files are? it does not appear that one can even open them in any graphics program - o tried to open them in ms paint and photoshop, just to see if there is anythign up with them, but none will open - they come up as Invalid format

Right, the mod needs the latest CD version of Aces of the Deep for DOS, that is what it has been tested with. No specific DOSbox settings are needed, it will run on a minimum of cycles on a 486 setting, so nothing to worry about there. I will do some check later to see why the floppy disk version has these issues, but for a better overall experience of AOD, it is still recommended to play the latest patched version.

The BMP files used in AOD are not ordinary BMPs, but a proprietary Dynamix format. Take some minutes to read this whole thread, my included readme, and also this: https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=251404

Anyway, happy to hear you got it sorted. Let me know if there are any other issues.

[Andreas86]

I have finally finished version 1.8, it is uploaded here on SubSim:

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=6229

and here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s2zYU99iJZCG_GhqWIvN9Dpnp70XqFm5/view?usp=drive_link



New in version 1.8

-New control room screen for the type IX uboat.

-Improved torpedo loading screens.

-Radio room screen color correction.

In this long-in-progress update, the big news is a brand new control room screen for the type IX uboat, a feature I myself have missed. This was a tricky one, since little good material exists in terms of photographic documentation of the type IX interior. So, I had to use the original Dynamix art as a basis for my graphic editing. Luckily this worked out very well, though the screen went through many revisions and a lot of work went into it. Next I focused on updating the torpedoroom screen for both the type VII/IX and the type XXI, featuring better uboat profiles, and a cleaner background. Lastly, the radio room screen has been color corrected and the operator now should look more like a uboat man and less like a lobster. I am nearing the end of what I can modify graphically in the game, at least until we can find out more about various graphic format compression methods. I hope to be able to create a new control room screen for the type II in the future though. That would complete the collection of new control rooms. I wish you a lot of fun with the mod.

Keep Aces of the Deep alive!

17.06.2023


https://i.ibb.co/nc0scWZ/subsim-182.png
(https://imgbb.com/)
https://i.ibb.co/6FghLx2/subsim-180.png (https://imgbb.com/)

https://i.ibb.co/XLTDjtp/subsim-176.png (https://imgbb.com/)

https://i.ibb.co/nkqqzMv/subsim-187.png (https://imgbb.com/)

[John Pancoast]

Well done as usual Andreas! :up:

[Redwing6891]

This mod is absolutely amazing! I happened across it completely by accident - and on Father's Day to boot - after doing the SubSim Skipper quiz for fun. Needless to say, my assessment came up as hardcore, so I decided to rummage around a bit on the website and found this.

Aces of the Deep has always been special to me, and while in the 90s I needed a 486 tower to run it, it now works on my tablet PC.

Your additions are wonderful, and very tasteful as well, in keeping with the original spirit of the game. The different menu screens look so much better, and the crew on the bridge is just genius. Particularly at night time, this looks really realistic.

I never took to the Command edition (though Onkel Neal's videos on it are very entertaining), as the sound in it was dodgy, and the sound in AOD adds so much to the immersion. Part of me misses the old crew voices but your additions are spot on, and after several decades of e-skippering the same crew, I don't mind a bit of a change. The old one all got promoted and moved on, in my mind. ;) The engine and water noises are brilliant, and the new torpedo launch sound is great as well.

All in all, this is a marvellous labour of love for the first great subsim and I would like to say a big thank you for doing and sharing this. It has rekindled my passion for this old gem. Thank you very much.

Hats off!

:Kaleun_Salute:

Now back to the North Atlantic...

[Aktungbby]

Redwing6891!:Kaleun_Salute:...good to see you on the surface after a 6mos 'silent run'..with "rekindled passion" to boot!:yeah::arrgh!:

[Redwing6891]

Redwing6891!:Kaleun_Salute:...good to see you on the surface after a 6mos 'silent run'..with "rekindled passion" to boot!:yeah::arrgh!:

Haha, ... and I wasn't even going to Argentina... ;)

Thank you very much for the kind words. In the presence of esteemed 'old hares' I usually just stick with being the 'Silent Service'. I am really just an old noob! :) But this outstanding Aces mod just made me break radio silence. It's stuff like this what makes SubSim such a great place.

Good hunting!

[Aktungbby]

In the presence of esteemed 'old hares' Ya bugger! some of us steamy 'old hares' have no hair!:oops::wah:https://i.imgur.com/SawjfKA.jpg Feel free to join the latest social group I just started upon your arrival; I can't beieve there wasn't one in place when I arrived 10 years ago!:hmmm: https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/image.php?groupid=152&dateline=1687115650&type=groupthumb:Kaleun_Salute:

[Redwing6891]

Ya bugger! some of us steamy 'old hares' have no hair!:oops::wah:https://i.imgur.com/SawjfKA.jpg Feel free to join the latest social group I just started upon your arrival; I can't beieve there wasn't one in place when I arrived 10 years ago!:hmmm: https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/image.php?groupid=152&dateline=1687115650&type=groupthumb:Kaleun_Salute:

... it adds to your distinguished air... very Captain Picard. ;)

Sorry for being dumb but could you maybe PM me how / where to join that group?

[Aktungbby]

pm sent

[Andreas86]

This mod is absolutely amazing! I happened across it completely by accident - and on Father's Day to boot - after doing the SubSim Skipper quiz for fun. Needless to say, my assessment came up as hardcore, so I decided to rummage around a bit on the website and found this.

Aces of the Deep has always been special to me, and while in the 90s I needed a 486 tower to run it, it now works on my tablet PC.

Your additions are wonderful, and very tasteful as well, in keeping with the original spirit of the game. The different menu screens look so much better, and the crew on the bridge is just genius. Particularly at night time, this looks really realistic.

I never took to the Command edition (though Onkel Neal's videos on it are very entertaining), as the sound in it was dodgy, and the sound in AOD adds so much to the immersion. Part of me misses the old crew voices but your additions are spot on, and after several decades of e-skippering the same crew, I don't mind a bit of a change. The old one all got promoted and moved on, in my mind. ;) The engine and water noises are brilliant, and the new torpedo launch sound is great as well.

All in all, this is a marvellous labour of love for the first great subsim and I would like to say a big thank you for doing and sharing this. It has rekindled my passion for this old gem. Thank you very much.

Hats off!

:Kaleun_Salute:

Now back to the North Atlantic...


Redwing6891, I am not sure what to say.. Your comment here alone makes all the time spent on this mod worth it !! Thanks a lot for your kind words, I am thrilled that you enjoy it! Indeed it has been a labour of love, as AOD is very dear to me. And being true to the spirit of the game was always my goal, so this all makes me very, very happy to hear!

And if you find any anomalies, or any specific thing you would like to see improved, don't hesitate to drop me a pm!

:salute::DL:sunny:

[Redwing6891]

Dear Andreas86, you deserve all the Kudos you can get. What you have done is just outstanding. I have loved and played this game since it's been out in the 90s, and your mod lifts enjoyment of it to a whole new level. It's like the difference between the submersible torpedo boat and the electro boat. :)

Regards the type II control room, I was wondering if the Vesikko as the type II prototype might be of any help? There are a few pictures available on the net.

https://sakhalianet.x10.mx/shippictures/art_inside_german_ww2_submarine_vesikko.htm

https://northeastatwar.co.uk/2019/03/17/terror-off-the-tyne-i-a-tale-of-two-u-boats/

https://kinsaleangling.com/gallery/ships-and-boats/submarine-uc-42/vesikko/vesikko-8-162#joomimg

https://www.pinterest.co.kr/pin/inside-vesikko-submarine-suomenlinna-finland--45739752435326246/

https://pxhere.com/fi/photo/1111154

[Andreas86]

Dear Andreas86, you deserve all the Kudos you can get. What you have done is just outstanding. I have loved and played this game since it's been out in the 90s, and your mod lifts enjoyment of it to a whole new level. It's like the difference between the submersible torpedo boat and the electro boat. :)

Regards the type II control room, I was wondering if the Vesikko as the type II prototype might be of any help? There are a few pictures available on the net.

https://sakhalianet.x10.mx/shippictures/art_inside_german_ww2_submarine_vesikko.htm

https://northeastatwar.co.uk/2019/03/17/terror-off-the-tyne-i-a-tale-of-two-u-boats/

https://kinsaleangling.com/gallery/ships-and-boats/submarine-uc-42/vesikko/vesikko-8-162#joomimg

https://www.pinterest.co.kr/pin/inside-vesikko-submarine-suomenlinna-finland--45739752435326246/

https://pxhere.com/fi/photo/1111154


Thanks again Redwing, I am honored! I know what you mean, the game has been a longtime companion for me as well. Found it by chance in a game store in the 90s, and always went back to it. They managed to create a very memorable atmosphere in the game, everything from the palette, to the interaction of the crew.

Great links! I haven't found these earlier somehow. Pics look good - I have downloaded the ones that can help me, these will definately come in handy later! ;)

[Redwing6891]

Thanks again Redwing, I am honored! I know what you mean, the game has been a longtime companion for me as well. Found it by chance in a game store in the 90s, and always went back to it. They managed to create a very memorable atmosphere in the game, everything from the palette, to the interaction of the crew.

Great links! I haven't found these earlier somehow. Pics look good - I have downloaded the ones that can help me, these will definately come in handy later! ;)

Glad you found some of the pics useful, Andreas. Happy to scour the net for more or assist in any other way, if needed.

You're absolutely right with the memorable atmosphere. There is something about AOD that none of the other subsims managed to catch. It somehow felt like a submarine, and you got really attached to the crew. I have to admit I pulled rank and transferred them again onto my boat. Left all the other sound mods in place, just swapped the crew voices back. I missed them too much! ;)

In the meantime... I am working my way up yet again from type II to VII and beyond. Slow going, lots of dud torpedoes on 1939/40 and frustrated attacks. But the career prize of your spruced up type VII awaits... Good hunting!

[Andreas86]

Glad you found some of the pics useful, Andreas. Happy to scour the net for more or assist in any other way, if needed.

You're absolutely right with the memorable atmosphere. There is something about AOD that none of the other subsims managed to catch. It somehow felt like a submarine, and you got really attached to the crew. I have to admit I pulled rank and transferred them again onto my boat. Left all the other sound mods in place, just swapped the crew voices back. I missed them too much! ;)

In the meantime... I am working my way up yet again from type II to VII and beyond. Slow going, lots of dud torpedoes on 1939/40 and frustrated attacks. But the career prize of your spruced up type VII awaits... Good hunting!


Thanks, I will keep that in mind, I do hope to be able to modify around more stuff! I understand that, that is why I have left it modular so you can install what you like, and leave whatever in -if needed. While I might make a complete total conversion game folder / pre-installed in the future, I will always release a modular version too. :yep:

Argh, those dud torpedoes were killing my in my last career play. So few to begin with and man, when one after the other keeps failing it is brutal! I really should continue the career, last time I was promoted and leading the boards, so I received a IX assigned in the South Atlantic.

[Andreas86]

Graphic & Sound Mod 2.0 for Aces of the Deep
----------------------------------------------------

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kmx8UVkwFAXB0EwTy0lnxUJDlT0Z19CR/view?usp=sharing

Also added to the download section here on subsim.


https://youtu.be/8gsqMZE6S-o?si=zLPtBVvlc0dujmoL


ABOUT THE MOD
-------------------

This project is my attempt at a total audio/visual modification of the classic submarine game «Aces of the Deep», from Dynamix. Since the autumn of 2021 I have tried my best to enhance the game and create a new and more authentic experience, while still keeping the spirit of the original game. Along the way I have uncovered much about how the game functions, created a lot of new content using this knowledge, and improved upon it step by step.

The time is now right to release version 2.0 of this mod. It has been almost a year since my last update and instead of a long version history containing absolutely every change, I have decided to keep it simple and just describe what you will find in the mod as of today, pointing out shortly what is new. If you want an exhaustive explanation of the previous work, please refer to earlier mod version documentation. For this release I have included two options, a complete standalone pre-modded version of the game as well as the independant mod files for manual installation. The pre-modded version is essentially the floppy disk release of «Aces of the Deep» with the expansion disk and latest patch installed, as well as my mod applied. For some assets I have also included alternative files. The mod is almost completely modular, and you can apply what you want to your existing AOD installation. Version 2.0 features the following:

-Realistic ocean simulation / wave motion speed. (NEW!)
-Updated control room graphics for the Type VII and IX series, with gauge needles removed and clickable areas changed to match the new layout. (NEW!)
-Clickable areas enhanced for the Type XXI control room. (NEW!)
-Changed intro text and added new digital sample intro music. (NEW!)
-Lower horizon on sea texture adding better sea/sky contrast and silhouetting. (NEW!)
-Enhanced palette files again for more realistic ocean and sky colors. (NEW!)
-Torpedo room graphics enhanced for better foreground contrast. (NEW!)
-Additional speech and action sounds added, older mod sounds updated. (NEW!)
-Minor cleaning of the previously recovered clear sky texture. (NEW!)
-Lightly enhanced Type II control room graphics, for color consistancy.
-Bridge view for the Type II, VII and IX series, with or without lookouts.
-Crew faces / reaction popup images, more fitting to the game.
-360 degree external view for the older U-Boats. (Alternative to bridge view)
-Improved «Damage», «Captain's Log», «Map», «Radio», and «Torpedo» screens.
-Dedicated set of «Map», «Damage» and «Torpedo» screens for the Type XXI.
-Realistic control room graphics for the Type XXI, based on the real U-2540.
-Recovered and repaired broken clear sky texture from within original game assets.
-Background images for all menu screens. (Alternative included for main menu)
-Port screens for France, Norway and Germany, inspired by historic locations.
-Periscope art in the control room recovered from the demo's scope animation.
-Almost complete set of custom speech and FX sound samples.
-Menu music track for both Roland MT-32 and Sound Blaster.

See included readme for all details.

Enjoy!

:salute:

New Type VII / IX control room with custom clickable command areas!

https://i.ibb.co/HDG05ww/Clickable-Areas.gif (https://ibb.co/MDPbFww)

Realistic ocean simulation / wave travel !! No more rubber ducky U-boat!

https://i.ibb.co/3vHLTpM/Motion-Storm.gif (https://ibb.co/5kVf1rn)

https://i.ibb.co/WznLFsF/Motion-Clear.gif (https://ibb.co/yk0r5V5)

New bridge art!

https://i.ibb.co/QNxr2kL/New-Bridge.gif (https://imgbb.com/)

External view (alternative)!

https://i.ibb.co/HXzRQQn/AOD-External-Camera-View.gif (https://imgbb.com/)

Improved newspaper screen!

https://i.ibb.co/jDBf2b2/Newspaper.gif (https://ibb.co/Pg3jnFn)

New game screens!

https://i.ibb.co/vmbvLRx/Collage-Low.png (https://ibb.co/Mpb5PQD)

New crew faces:

https://i.ibb.co/55pb0H5/FACES2.png (https://imgbb.com/)

[John Pancoast]

Graphic & Sound Mod 2.0 for Aces of the Deep
----------------------------------------------------

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pzhNgTbtEcivIphVfzQXvUf4MzT1TuUR/view?usp=sharing

Also added to the download section here on subsim.

ABOUT THE MOD

This project is my attempt at a total audio/visual modification of the classic submarine game «Aces of the Deep», from Dynamix. Since the autumn of 2021 I have tried my best to enhance the game and create a new and more authentic experience, while still keeping the spirit of the original game. Along the way I have uncovered much about how the game functions, created a lot of new content using this knowledge, and improved upon it step by step.

The time is now right to release version 2.0 of this mod. It has been almost a year since my last update and instead of a long version history containing absolutely every change, I have decided to keep it simple and just describe what you will find in the mod as of today, pointing out shortly what is new. If you want an exhaustive explanation of the previous work, please refer to earlier mod version documentation. For this release I have included two options, a complete standalone pre-modded version of the game as well as the independant mod files for manual installation. The pre-modded version is essentially the floppy disk release of «Aces of the Deep» with the expansion disk and latest patch installed, as well as my mod applied. For some assets I have also included alternative files. The mod is almost completely modular, and you can apply what you want to your existing AOD installation. Version 2.0 features the following:

-Realistic ocean simulation / wave motion speed. (NEW!)
-Updated control room graphics for the Type VII and IX series, with gauge needles removed and clickable areas changed to match the new layout. (NEW!)
-Clickable areas enhanced for the Type XXI control room. (NEW!)
-Changed intro text and added new digital sample intro music. (NEW!)
-Lower horizon on sea texture adding better sea/sky contrast and silhouetting. (NEW!)
-Enhanced palette files again for more realistic ocean and sky colors. (NEW!)
-Torpedo room graphics enhanced for better foreground contrast. (NEW!)
-Additional speech and action sounds added, older mod sounds updated. (NEW!)
-Minor cleaning of the previously recovered clear sky texture. (NEW!)
-Lightly enhanced Type II control room graphics, for color consistancy.
-Bridge view for the Type II, VII and IX series, with or without lookouts.
-Crew faces / reaction popup images, more fitting to the game.
-360 degree external view for the older U-Boats. (Alternative to bridge view)
-Improved «Damage», «Captain's Log», «Map», «Radio», and «Torpedo» screens.
-Dedicated set of «Map», «Damage» and «Torpedo» screens for the Type XXI.
-Realistic control room graphics for the Type XXI, based on the real U-2540.
-Recovered and repaired broken clear sky texture from within original game assets.
-Background images for all menu screens. (Alternative included for main menu)
-Port screens for France, Norway and Germany, inspired by historic locations.
-Periscope art in the control room recovered from the demo's scope animation.
-Almost complete set of custom speech and FX sound samples.
-Menu music track for both Roland MT-32 and Sound Blaster.

See included readme for all details.

Enjoy!

:salute:

Nice, thanks! Andreas, do you know where the various messages one gets right before entering the game for a patrol, mission, etc. are stored at? I'd really like to try those in SH Commander in SH3 vs the current silly ones in Commander stating world events. Much more pertinent and useful than the current world event info. that is meaningless to a u-boat commander, let alone if he would have even known it anyway.
I.e., the advisory messages shown before a career patrol?

[Andreas86]

Thanks! Hmmm, I have to check out what specific messages those are, a lot is stored in the EXEs, but some not. Do you have an example?

[John Pancoast]

Thanks! Hmmm, I have to check out what specific messages those are, a lot is stored in the EXEs, but some not. Do you have an example?

Here's a link on my mediafire page of an example. Posting pics here is a pain to do. :) I can provide more examples if needed.

https://www.mediafire.com/view/sidhb82097ytrov/Screenshot_%2528530%2529.png/file

[Andreas86]

Right, those can all be found in the AOD\SHELL\SW\SHELL.TXT file. Can be opened in any text editor. :yep:

[John Pancoast]

Right, those can all be found in the AOD\SHELL\SW\SHELL.TXT file. Can be opened in any text editor. :yep:

:salute: In the past I looked all over for those and the entire time they were right in front of me!

[Andreas86]

That is sometimes how it goes, haha!

[astvitaliy1982]

I've been following your mod all year and have been waiting for this update, thank you for this gorgeous gift!!!)))

[Andreas86]

Thanks for the nice words astvitaliy1982!

Here is another gameplay video:

https://youtu.be/lIl4PFY0nfw

[skin-nl]

You did some great work for this 30 year old subsim Andreas..For me this one started my interest in german sub games :salute:

[Andreas86]

Thanks skin_nl :salute: Same here, AOD started a long lasting interest!

[toolsey2]

Andreas
Sorry to bother you but when I click link to mod on google it says file doesn’t exist.
Can you please help.
Many thanks
Regards

[toolsey2]

Sorry forget my question about mod download found it in the subsim download section .
Fantastic mod thanks for your hard work .
Regards

[Andreas86]

Sorry forget my question about mod download found it in the subsim download section .
Fantastic mod thanks for your hard work .
Regards

Thanks for the heads-up and the kind words, toolsey2! I have fixed the link :salute:

[green_abobo]

:Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

danke

[Aktungbby]

green_abobo!:Kaleun_Salute:...after a 6-year 'silent run'!:up:

[Andreas86]

:Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

danke

Bitte schön! :salute: