Possible to "clone" ships?

[Syxx_Killer]

I am wondering, is it possible to "clone" a ship and then name it something else? Particularly I'm thinking of Bismarck again. Would it be possible to copy the ship data and add it to the roster as the sister ship Tirpitz?

[Jace11]

Serg knows how to do this, it is possible. He gave me some instructions, but I tried to follow them and it didn't work. The key is a bit string unique to each ship, clone all the files then sift through them and change the identifying bit string and you should have a new ship. Except I couldn't find all the bit strings in all the files Serg said they were in, so I gave up.

Here is what he told me.

Each 3D object in the models has its own ID in binary format. That is how they are recognized by the game. I.e. each of two copies of the same 3D object should have an unique ID to appear in the game as independent units. Therefore, while duplicating, one needs to change such IDs throughout the DAT file to make them unique. An example of such an ID is shown in the pic below. It is 8 bytes highlighted in dark blue. These IDs also need to be changed in corresponding SIM, DSD, VAL, and ZON files.

Good luck.

http://usx218.fysik.uu.se/users/Sergei/files/SH3_ID.jpg

[macstu23]

Tirpitz is already in the game, as she is listed as unit 2 on the BBBismarck.cfg contained in the 'SilentHunterIII\data\Roster\German\Sea' folder.
Just open it with notepad and have a look.
The museum only lists each 'class' of ship, so Tirpitz is considered Bismarck class.

As for adding the same model to the museum under the name 'Tirpitz'?... Hmmm. I'm sure it could probably be done. But I've no idea how.

Hope that was helpful :D

[Syxx_Killer]

With the cool skins Type941 is doing, I was kind of hoping that it would be possible to have both Bismarck and Tirpitz independant from each other. It would be cool to see both ships in their own skins rather than using the same skin.

[Type941]

Well, is someone will make a standalong Tirpitz, it would be very very good. Heck, throw in a couple of Hippers as well. :dead:

[Shadow9216]

He gave me some instructions, but I tried to follow them and it didn't work

Same here- I tried cloning the Liberator to make the navy variant, figured that would be a start, then I could try modding pieces of one ship/plane to another...
As Jace said, I couldn't identify the unique character string for the file, so I shelved the project.

It's too bad, as I know SeaCondor was looking at creating a Castle-class corvette, which could potentially use the Flower model.

[Jace11]

maybe I'll have a look at serg's additional merchants or southampton class, and check it against old original files to try and pick up the changes he made.

[benetofski]

... be careful with this one :down:

I understand that if a ship is 'cloned' even though it may be renamed, if the REAL ship is spawned (by date/time) then the game will CTD as two versions of the same data are not permitted.

I think I recal it is the way the data is hard-coded!

Someone who has done much work on this anomoly and can explain in detail is the author of 'MilkCow' MOD (forgot his name) but look up the thread.

[macstu23]

I understand that if a ship is 'cloned' even though it may be renamed, if the REAL ship is spawned (by date/time) then the game will CTD as two versions of the same data are not permitted.

My mod which added the Fiji class destroyer to the Canadian Roster was pretty much a clone...Though it was different from what we want to do with the Tirpitz, it was a simple case of adding an existing ship cfg file to another country folder, and changing the data, e.g. unit name, nationality, and commision dates...The Tirpitz is a little more complex as we wont be changing nationality, but persuading the program to accept the Tirpitz as a new ship class, albeit using the Bismarck model...then persuading it to use a different skin.

I did take a hap-hazard 'lets see what happens if I do this' experimental approach and gave it a try, just by copying and re-naming a few files and folders... and got a CTD on startup, as expected. Where is Sergbuto when we need him ?

[Shadow9216]

I can send you the correspondence he shared with me- perhaps you'll have better luck. I tried to create a clone of the B-24, but got CTD when I tried to view it in the museum- game loaded, and I could click on the B-24, but when I tried to click on my cloned unit is when the crash occurred.

If you or someone else can get this to work, there's several doors that would be opened. As I mentioned, Seacondor wants to modify the Flower class into the Castle class, I want to model the USN Liberator/Privateer, someone else wanted to do the Royal Sovereign as Archangelsk...the list goes on.

Anyone who wants the details Serg and I hashed out, lemme know and Ill forward it to you.

[Jace11]

Each 3D object in the models has its own ID in binary format. That is how they are recognized by the game. I.e. each of two copies of the same 3D object should have an unique ID to appear in the game as independent units. Therefore, while duplicating, one needs to change such IDs throughout the DAT file to make them unique. An example of such an ID is shown in the pic below. It is 8 bytes highlighted in dark blue. These IDs also need to be changed in corresponding SIM, DSD, VAL, and ZON files.

Good luck.

http://usx218.fysik.uu.se/users/Sergei/files/SH3_ID.jpg

The above is all I have at the moment,

Shadow,

If you have any more details I'd be grateful as I could not get it to work using the instructions above. It doesn't seem to be the whole story...

Thanks

[Shadow9216]

Just sent you a PM. Using the Liberator as an example, I did a find and replace of Liberator with Privateer. Although this changed every reference (and the hex code to boot), it didn't create a successful clone. Serg indicates the string in blue is the specifc. My problem is that I can't determine for a given file what that string is.

If someone can figure out how to determine the specific string, that would open doors to all of us.

Jace, the only thing I can guess at is counting back from the NAMC to the string in dark blue and figuring out how many characters that is, then using that as a starting point. IE: if the string in blue is separated from the NAMC by 6 characters, try a six character separation from the name of the unit you want to clone. Maybe?

[Rubini]

Jace,

Shadow,

Sergei "sergbuto" is the only guy that have this information. I also tried to clone uboats but only him get the right work. If he is able to clone a uboat then I think that he is able to clone any ships or planes in the game...


Rubini.

[Shadow9216]

He's tried to help both of us, too, but we (me speaking for Jace here) can't seem to fathom the directions. There seems to be a crucial piece we're missing to get it to work. Dunno about Jace, but maybe I'm beyond help? :P

Nice hat BTW Rubini :lol:

[Rubini]

And I'm really a medic, pediatric. So, I like that hat! :know:

But if a uboat's medic really have to use that hat...it's hilarius! :D


Rubini.

[macstu23]

But if a uboat's medic really have to use that hat...it's hilarius! :D


That medics hat has been a bone of contention since my SH2 days, and now I'm stuck with it too. We're both going to have to do a lot of posting this week to get rid of it. :lol:

[Shadow9216]

Macstu- hold on now, now that I think about...that look is YOU! Run with it!

:rotfl:

[Rubini]

I just call my aux. nurse to see this nice hat and she said to me that's a charme...I think she is just afraid about her job! :-j


Rubini.

[Rubini]

Oh yeah,

No more that hat! :arrgh!:

Came on macstu23, just post,post, post....!

Rubini.

[Syxx_Killer]

If the rest of the guys on the boat saw one of their mates walking around with that hat on, they would probably keep their distance and sleep with one eye open. :rotfl:

[Shadow9216]

Maybe we need to modify the sound file..."Men down on the deck! MEDIC!!! Oh, wait, no, never mind, they'll be okay..."

Do you think Men Without Hats used to post here? :rotfl:

[Rubini]

Shadow,

After saw you number of posts I feel that is my duty to advise you about your future ( very soon ) hat. :rotfl:

Rubini.

[joea]

Shadow,

After saw you number of posts I feel that is my duty to advise you about your future ( very soon ) hat. :rotfl:

Rubini.

Yea Rubini, you got the Village People avatar. :-j

[Shadow9216]

Reminds me of the line in Jaws- "that's some bad hat, Harry". Oh well, I go to meet my doom with a smile on my face and a song in my heart...and that stupid hat soon to be on my head :rotfl:

[THE_ORZEL]

Yep, It’s possible to clone objects in sh3 I’ve done it. Actually it’s very easy. The whole concept is easy it depends on how big the object is. The info provided by Sergbuto is kind of vague and in my opinion incomplete.

[Shadow9216]

Okay, so....don't make us beg! :P

[THE_ORZEL]

I'm finishing my tutorial as I write this, so hold on should be ready soon :)

[macstu23]

Great news :D

14 posts to go till i'm rid of the crap hat.

[Rubini]

THE_ORZEL,

Great news. We are awaiting your post. :up:


macstu23,

Looking for that hat again I notice that it's not so, so strange (he he). For true, don't hurry, it's cool! ;)


Rubini.