Originally Posted by torpedobait (Post 2469507)

I'm whining again! My v.053 campaign has progressed to July 1944. I took the offered Twin 40 AA guns, hoping that there was something in my system that had caused the CTD when attempting to fire one of them. No joy. In fact, the last CTD came when I personally manned the gun and attempted to train it up to the left.

I had started this campaign with a total reload and cleansing of my system with anything suggesting SH4, whether in a directory or the Register. I also ran GameBooster4, that turned off all unnecessary Processes and Services my Win7 Pro was running, leaving only the essentials for video, sound, and keyboard/mouse, plus a few I cannot readily associate with an application. The only mod running in the clean game was v.053.

What I noticed about having the Twin 40's (other that the CTD) was that there was only one available crew slot per gun in the F7 display (shouldn't there be two?), the same as for the single barrel 40's, and those were in a manned and ready status. Then, when I looked at the forward Twin 40 mount from the bridge (F4), there were no gunners present (in view). Someone a ways back I recall a theory being advanced that there was something in the crew slots that may be causing the CTDs. In any event, my attempts to use the Twin 40's failed with a CTD. I am hoping one of the mod team can delve into this, as I'd really like to have the extra firepower the Twin 40's should provide. Thanks!

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy (Post 2461973)

Hope I can squeeze in between this mission slowdown issue.

I've just come up for air, with nearly two weeks worth of time involved in getting things right. I plan to upload my work (maybe tomorrow) to the hidden Google site for incorporating into the next FOTRS Ultimate release.

Some time ago, this issue was noted:



As was pointed out, jldjs found he only had 4 of the 6 forward tubes on his boat after an upgrade. Now I'm not 100% sure, but it doesn't help to have the Balao files for its torpedoes having this kind of gap in its calendar:

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...BalaoError.jpg

Notice the "default" MK14 torpedoes ends on the last day of the year 1942, when the MK23's pick up on January 2nd 1943?! Of all the things a computer can do....it counts very well. Having gaps in time for two specific Balao torpedo tubes, during the very period of time jldjs has his upgraded issue....I think there's a connection.....and a cure coming.

It's these kinds of upgrade/refit issues I've been working on that I'm just about done with. I think you'll find a difference and happily find these issues will soon be forgotten with the game. It's my hope that when a refit or upgrade of a conning tower takes place, the transition will go smother than its been. I'm hoping upgrading from one boat to another will be without a hitch too.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...nagement01.jpg

The above "Crew Management" screen is how things will look (its a 1024x768 res screen image...that's why the compass is covering some of the lower AA gun slots). You're going to find most of the "slots" are filled, and you're going to have a couple of the "start out" crew have a Guns Qualification that FOTRS didn't have. And, there won't be a Watch Crew Qualification crewman sitting in the Torpedo section, or a Sensors man winding up in the Engine room. Their going to be starting in their proper place, leaving it up to you to move them if you wish.

Speaking of choices, you're going to find specific weapons will be offered, at specific times for all boats. The default Deck Gun will be the Stern 3"50 Caliber for all boats. However at specific intervals you'll be able to upgrade to a 4"50, then a 5"25....choosing either a Stern, or Bow. There are a few exceptions, the Narwhal will only have twin 4"50's; the S-Class will only have Bow mount deck guns, a choice of all three as time allows. There will be an offer to purchase the twin 5"25's after Jan. 1945 for most of the other subs. Sorry, but its impossible to get two camera's to work with the deck guns as it does with the smaller AA guns.....its a game thing, there's no script for the deck guns like there are with the two AA guns.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...e/EquipMan.jpg

The smaller guns will follow the deck guns...... in that, the default weapon will be the .50 Caliber Browning for all boats (I put it on the S-Class, Start of War Conning Tower). As time allows, the 20mm's will come before the 40mm's (single and twin). These upgrades will be offered with the purchase of Renown while your in port.

As expected, filling the crew slots in the Crew Management screen is required for manning the guns:

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...0mm%20Crew.jpg

I've added a crew of 4 to the deck guns.....a crew leader, and a loader (sorry, he's only going to stand near the breach). As this Narwhal shows, the 4"50's are manned, and the AA 20mm is out of the "hole" the stock game has it in on this early war tower. I just couldn't see shooting the heck out of the sides of the rear tower because of the low pedestal mount. I raised it up:

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...ck%20Crews.jpg

I also, made some different looking Ammunition for the guns. The 20mm looks different than the 40, the DG is different still. I also put Flak Burst shells in play for the 20, 40, and 5"25 DG.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...0mm%20Flak.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...e/5.25Flak.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...e/20mmFlak.jpg

You'll still have Armor Piercing, and High Explosive shells with the guns. All ammunition are color coded....... Black projectile for the AP, Green with a Red tip for HE, solid Green with a White band for the Anti-Aircraft Burst shell.

The other thing I became concerned with was that constant "Yes Sir", "Yes Sir", "Yes Sir"..... after making a command! TheBeast mentioned something the other day that put me to thinking about it. With some lengthy trial and error (there are 27 different voice "Yes Sir's" that are possible culprits) I was able to get rid of the repeat phrase. You'll hear it one time, and that's it.

Seems I've left out some things, I can't remember them now....anyway, these changes will be in our next public release. :salute:

Originally Posted by torpedobait (Post 2469507)

I'm whining again! My v.053 campaign has progressed to July 1944. I took the offered Twin 40 AA guns, hoping that there was something in my system that had caused the CTD when attempting to fire one of them. No joy. In fact, the last CTD came when I personally manned the gun and attempted to train it up to the left.

I had started this campaign with a total reload and cleansing of my system with anything suggesting SH4, whether in a directory or the Register. I also ran GameBooster4, that turned off all unnecessary Processes and Services my Win7 Pro was running, leaving only the essentials for video, sound, and keyboard/mouse, plus a few I cannot readily associate with an application. The only mod running in the clean game was v.053.

What I noticed about having the Twin 40's (other that the CTD) was that there was only one available crew slot per gun in the F7 display (shouldn't there be two?), the same as for the single barrel 40's, and those were in a manned and ready status. Then, when I looked at the forward Twin 40 mount from the bridge (F4), there were no gunners present (in view). Someone a ways back I recall a theory being advanced that there was something in the crew slots that may be causing the CTDs. In any event, my attempts to use the Twin 40's failed with a CTD. I am hoping one of the mod team can delve into this, as I'd really like to have the extra firepower the Twin 40's should provide. Thanks!

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy (Post 2469495)

Welcome to JoeSnow!

Your interpretation of the "Speed factor" parameter is correct for what it does. However, the "Surface factor" has to do with the readable size of an object at its maximum distance....based on square meter measurement.

Originally Posted by JoeSnow (Post 2469524)

Thank you for the welcome! :salute:

And thank you for correcting me regarding "Surface Factor". The best part about being wrong is it gives me an opportunity to learn! :up:

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy (Post 2469522)

...

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Propbeanie, just read your post. I thought those changes regarding the Twin 40 are what's in the present public release?!? Maybe I'm all wet in thinking the gun is messed up if those changes haven't hit the public release yet!! I'll have to look......I may be barking up the wrong tree torpedobait, my "fix" may not be in the latest beta, that isn't in your beta.

Where did I leave my shoes???

Originally Posted by JoeSnow (Post 2469573)

...

I also made my own camapaign that I never released to the public. The reason I did not release it is because it contains much of Lurkers work and he was always sensitive to that kind of thing (understandably). He did fantastic work with historical TFs and such but I always thought his convoy routing was more (too) predictable than historical. My shipping routes are much more dynamic with a lot of ocean space so you have to hunt/get lucky more often than with his original campaign. It wasn't tricky to do but sure was a PITA setting up all those routes according to correct dates and cargo types. Took me a long time and I actually bought a WWII geography book with all bases and dates to help me. I can get you those files if you'd like to see what I did but still am not really comfortable releasing it in respect to what Lurker did. I'm not completely sure how it would work with the changes to ships you all are working with anyway but I think there is enough random to it that it wouldn't be an issue.
...

Originally Posted by JoeSnow (Post 2469573)

Some notes perhaps of interest.

The sonar systems that Ducimus used were not historically accurate. I'm pretty sure he said this himself at some point. He was trying to achieve Fun gameplay over historical accuracy and I applaud what he did, so no barbs intended...

I did a couple sonar mods in the past and set it up historically as to range and verticle depth angle. It was nasty and could take hours to lose an elite escort in good weather conditions. Not really most peoples definition of fun :doh:.

Getting a good balance of historical accuarcy and fun in this regard is...challenging. While I presoanlly feel that Ducimus' ASW/evasion was a too fast paced, it may be a good place to start. Might even be a good place to park! I can't recommend using my mod even though I like it. It tends to be tedious.

The problems I see with ASW are mainly hardcoded and not modifiable. An escort should have little chance of detection for about 10 minutes after a depthcharge attack due to the turbulence the explosions caused. Can't do it in the game. Calm seas are actually bad active sonar conditions as prop wash is not cancelled by wave action. On calm days, the sun actually can create a layer around periscope depth (called afternoon effect) but that's not how the game is hard-coded so...

I also made my own camapaign that I never released to the public. The reason I did not release it is because it contains much of Lurkers work and he was always sensitive to that kind of thing (understandably). He did fantastic work with historical TFs and such but I always thought his convoy routing was more (too) predictable than historical. My shipping routes are much more dynamic with a lot of ocean space so you have to hunt/get lucky more often than with his original campaign. It wasn't tricky to do but sure was a PITA setting up all those routes according to correct dates and cargo types. Took me a long time and I actually bought a WWII geography book with all bases and dates to help me. I can get you those files if you'd like to see what I did but still am not really comfortable releasing it in respect to what Lurker did. I'm not completely sure how it would work with the changes to ships you all are working with anyway but I think there is enough random to it that it wouldn't be an issue.

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy (Post 2469522)

Thank you torpedobait for the report.

No!! you're not whining!! I love you guys trying all things out and reporting on what you find. That's what we want.

I'll have to fire up 0.53 and try it again with the Twin 40.....I didn't have an issue with it before...that's why I put it into the mod. Seemed to work as expected to me, but I'll look into it again.

You say your mission was July, 1944. What boat? (although that shouldn't matter). Is this a new game Campaign mission, or a continuation of a presently running Campaign....with a mission starting July 1944? This may make a difference, because when I've run a new Campaign mission....starting mid 1944. The gun had worked, and displayed with its crew just fine.

If you don't mind, clean out your Documents/SH4 folder. Start the game, resetting your game resolution/options you like to use in the "Options" menu area, then exit the game to "set" these into the game. Restart the game again, this time go to "Mid 1944" for a Campaign start....use the same base, same boat you used before. In the Captain's Office, purchase the Twin 40 for your boat, put it either fore or aft mount, then start the mission. What do you have now?

One thing you mentioned about the Twin 40, you need to make sure you have both slots in the Crew Management page (that "F7" page) filled with a crewman. Move two crewmen into the vacant slots so they appear when you "man" the gun and look from the outside cameras.

==============

Propbeanie, just read your post. I thought those changes regarding the Twin 40 are what's in the present public release?!? Maybe I'm all wet in thinking the gun is messed up if those changes haven't hit the public release yet!! I'll have to look......I may be barking up the wrong tree torpedobait, my "fix" may not be in the latest beta, that isn't in your beta.

Where did I leave my shoes???

Originally Posted by torpedobait (Post 2469716)

On several assigned patrols in a current career under FOTARSU v0.52 (and other versions before that) my orders were to transport either soldiers or agents to a point and set them ashore. With only one exception where the sea was glassy smooth, launching the raft resulted in a wave immediately flipping the raft upside down even before anyone boarded. The intended passengers then boarded the raft, also upside down, and proceeded on their merry way. While this does not affect gameplay as far as I can tell, it is a bit disconcerting to see those guys in such a deplorable condition! They are paddling away like mad, bodies under water and paddles in the air!

Is there a way to make the life rafts more stable? Someone has done work on them previously, because I recall seeing them spinning wildly hundreds of feet in the air after leaving a sinking ship! That seems to have stopped. Don't mind seeing the enemy having a tough time in a raft, but my guys need to be able to survive the raft trip to shore. Thanks!

Originally Posted by JoeSnow (Post 2469464)

I'm pretty sure surface factor relates to sea state (0-15 weather) and speed factor is a detection factor of the speed of a specific target/ship.

Thermal layers unfortunately, are not dynamic in SH and are hard coded as far as I know. I don't believe fractions work ie--it has to be a whole number 1/2/3. Your numbers look right as I recall.

I don't remember exact names of Japanese sonar systems in WWII but they are in the files (Type 93 and 95?). I do know that Japanese active systems had a range of ~2500 yards with an angle down of about 16 degrees. Sensitivity/Surface Factor/Aspect of submarine (Angle on Bow)really play into these ranges. Their sonar was actually quite good.

Passive systems were excellent but rarely were a factor of making initial contact with a submarine unless they already suspected one was in the area. Even then, active systems prevailed for making initial contact.

It's been years since I messed with this sim. Just got the hankering to do a little patrolling so reinstalled 3 days ago with RFB and my modified campaign. Read through quite a bit of this project thread today and it looks good. I used to mod a LOT but it's been years. My 1st subsim was Gato for the C64. ;)

If you want any tech stuff on sonars, let me know. I'm familiar with Allied systems but I think I can dig up something for Japanese as well.

Impressive project RR! :up: