I'd like to see more light houses and better charts in SH4. I know that wartime meant blackouts and such. But combining astronav with coastal piloting by lighthouses would make navigating without the "god's eye view" much more feasable. One could then simply take one last fix to use as a reference for dead reckoning before heading for open water. At least we ton't need to account for set and drift.

I always had this Lighthouse idea since someone made an attempt in SH3.
Would you (or anyone) know of an historical database ('39-'45) of Lighthouses around the world.
:D

You could start here.

It's a lost of lighthouses all over the world. Over 14000 listed.

WOW... Thanks
:D

I hate to hijack the thread a bit, but I suddenly got a flashback from time spent using the Heavens for updating the Apollo Guidance Computer while playing the "authentic" mode of NASSP in the space sim "Orbiter", connected to a third-party program called "Virtual AGC". Yeah, the checklist for "Program 54 - Backup IMU Realign", or "V37E 54E" if you prefer; thankfully the sim had a toggle for Celestial Markers or else I would've been digging into astronomy lessons along with everything else on my plate.

Authentic navigation really does add a whole new dimension to the "simsperience", but man, it has to be an obsession if nothing else, especially if you aren't already familiar with the intricacies and can't spend as much time learning as professionals or serious hobbyists.

I remember this girl I dated briefly at the time, who said she was looking for a guy who could talk about something other than video games, what LC was up to, and other blah. "So okay, sweetie, how 'bout Cislunar Navigation Techniques?!" :|\\

Don't take any of this as some kind of discouragement though, mates, because I definitely appreciate what's happening here!

:o... I haven't had any beer today ?

Everybody has their own preferences... but all the mods make an otherwise boring game exciting to play.
Put it this way.. my kids buy these silly games.. they finish them in a month or 2, boring !!. Short attention span of sorts, or just crappy games. Crappy games I'd say.

Or you can educate yourself by playing the hardway.... it's definitely more exciting, the way Virtual Reality on the HoloDeck is supposed to be..:hmm:

Oh, I definitely agree! I'm with you all the way about keeping the mind active, opening new books and exploring territory that you'd never see otherwise. There's nothing quite like that feeling when you realize that you're right on the money, that something that was previously just a concept to you actually works.

That's why I didn't want my previous post to be taken the wrong way, because I really do appreciate the aspects of increasing the workload, taking a more active participation rather than just being along for the ride. I think what I was really intending to say, was that for me, this striving for a "realistic" experience brought me only further into The Matrix, so I had to begin taking a more moderate approach to simming. In the navigation area, this means that I limit myself to dead-reckoning for the most part, except when a maneuvering board is needed to reach an intended station. A compromise, but that's my limitation.

But the arithmetic and concepts certainly have come in handy as my studies continue :up:

I'm going to take a bit longer with this..
My mother's coming down from Durban for a week, Kids school preparations, and all that real life stuff.:/\\x:

Other news:
Had a problem with the celestial formulae, did a email request but zero answer :nope:.
Anyway found a book printed in 1970 at a 2nd hand bookstore today. Explains everything in precise detail, as clear as daylight, beyond Wikis ability and any other website (even USNO) - So back to the usual when I can and I'll transfer this book into a pdf document for the Mod.

Later
:know:

do the PDF
 

enjoy the visit with your mother, I know how it gets when mine comes down from Panama, but do the PDF, ever since I read my first Hornblower and later the Patrick O`brian novels Ive had this interest in celestial navigation (got a Galileo thermomether and a Goethe barometer, from amazon, of course, no use in a ship but they are cool.

luck man

:up:
:arrgh!:

As a social update..
We went to the 'outlaws' for supper/dinner/evening meal.
I'm totaly plastered.. really wrecked... actually drunk.
So my mother and I start 'talking' (she's plastered as well)
You know... that Mother-Son stuff, and talking about the kids/grandchildren...

You look at the 'old bag' - Your mother..
The mother that brought you into this world..
I was there, 'right there', when my kids were born...

You know .... that stuff....

Hey Vanjast

Its looking real good from the first posts and the periscopes - can you update us on the status??

:oops: side-tracked with another 'quick mod', will get back to this when RL goes away..:D

Any news on the sub icon yet ? I play the game with the 'no map contacts' option set, but my own sub still gets this little dark round dot, which gives away it's position precisely.

That also makes approaching ships less interesting. I mean half the fun is to track the movement of your target and the other half of the fun is tracking your own movement during such an approach ^^.

I used the RealNavMod 1.3 for SH4 I found around here, and it replaces some icons (supposedly) with just transparent images, but this small dot representing my sub still remains on the nav map :88)

Sorry guys... RL is getting in my way... a lot lately:damn:

Links...
Starmaps - You might have these from SH3 days.
http://www.vanjast.com//SH4NavMod/EquatorStarMap.zip (66MB)
http://www.vanjast.com//SH4NavMod/NH...ereStarMap.zip (36MB)
http://www.vanjast.com//SH4NavMod/SH...ereStarMap.zip (41MB)

Documents
http://www.vanjast.com//SH4NavMod/LongitudeMath.pdf (850KB)
http://www.vanjast.com//SH4NavMod/MoonSun39_45.pdf (225KB)
http://www.vanjast.com//SH4NavMod/navstarchart.pdf (1.5MB)
http://www.vanjast.com//SH4NavMod/SFAStarChartsAll.pdf (526KB)

ObsScope Sextant
.... is in the following Mod. This mod scales all the scopes to their 'correct RFB' dimensions. You will probably have to make changes manually - the instructions are contained in the PDFs PLEASE read these.
http://www.vanjast.com/SH4Mod/AOBWheel.zip (7.5MB)

ichso
You're probably looking for these files - Read the contained ReadMe for info.
One can just extract the dds files that you want.
http://www.vanjast.com//SH4NavMod/RealNavTesting.zip (9KB)

I will eventually get back to this, but this lot should help you 'most of the way'

:up: