This sounds fantastic. A big thanks for all the effort you put into this here. :up:

First of all, looking very much forward to what you put together. Much as I like the Uboat addon, it strikes me after reading up on the real life campaign how very unrealistic it its.

Couple of points, firstly are you going to change the coastal defences in the mis files? Im idly wonder if I ought to have a go with it. Ive found a map on line that lists the location of Australian gun batteries.The problem Is that to do it, id probably have to delete ALL the other gun positions for the allies and start again. The reason for this is that if you remove 10 and then put in 9 guns, the game has a crash. Part of the reason why Ive not done it for Japanese coastal defences, despite my initial plans to do so. In short, is it worthwhile to remove the unrealistic gun positions, to get historically realistic ones in Australia and Japan? It would leave vast areas like india and east africa uncovered unless its possible to find accurate sources. Ditto japanese guns in places like truk. At the moment, the designers choices look completely spurious as far as I can tell.

Lastly, reading 'Uboats in the Indian ocean', its apparent that both TypeIXC and Type IXC40 were both used in the area. I dont know if its viable for either of these to be introduced across from SH3? If it were, it would be viable to reintroduce upgrades, since its clear Uboat commanders and occasionally crew rotated between different boats in penang. it would also enable the opportunity to allow the single IX that was sent off to operate off new guinea, before getting sunk by a US Fleet boat.

Anyway, greatly looking forward to it, and whatever you come up with will be a great improvement.

What does the "semi-realistic convoys" mean, if I may ask? You mean convoy frequency, escorts, contents....?

Looking forward to see your work finished :up:

No options. Super mod? Part of one. As far as fun....well, like anything else, it is what you make of it.

You are a rare breed! Most want more mods everyday.

Rare breed? Funny thing is, im not even on the GWX team, and yet i feel offended. Go figure. I Guess the "modder" in me is having a twitch reaction. Anywho, life goes on, Scuse me while i go find the forum function which brings bliss.

Lurker,

Thanks for your excellent work. I look forward to playing OM. I'm also really happy to see the harmony between OM & TM/RFB. That definitely benefits everyone.

There's a wealth of knowledge, skill, and dedication that results in the excellent mods for SH3 and SH4.... I wish more people appreciated the contribution of the modders.

Best wishes,

-m

hoarmurath, you have a PM

That's true of the games too. Maybe you don't like two periscopes in a submarine. Maybe the submarine should be pink. It would be nice to have personal preference.

Operation Monsun is about recreating history. It is Operation Monsun. You start in Lorient, with the real U-Boat choices (no Type XVIII), proceed though real traffic in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean to perform real tasks that U-Boat skippers in the Indian Ocean did. There are no fantasy upgrades because for a U-Boat skipper, this was exile to Alcatraz. You won't go raiding Midway because U-Boats didn't do that. Consider it a mission on steroids. And the character of the missions, the type of boat and friendly and enemy traffic all correspond with historical accuracy. Seen from this viewpoint Operation Monsun is not a mod at all!

What's not to like?

I did read it from beginning to end before posting, yet I fail to see why they are "semi-realistic" and not "realistic" :-? All changes I have seen replicate historic routes, etc., so what is not realistic in those convoys? :hmm:

I have read your comments, so forth and so on. You look disgusted by this work and looking at your other post, you are disgusted with other modders work. Personally, if you do not care to have this or other modders work to use, don't. Sorry you do not care for super mods. If that is the case, stop looking in the super mod threads. There is a nice list of bits and pieces you can use located at the top of the forum in the form of a sticky. Also, your time might be served best elsewhere perhaps creating your own mods to your liking. When you have a superlative multiple mod ready for JSGME, post it up.

I have stated this before, most super mods are not like Burger King where you can have it your way.

Just my two cents, I'm talking for me but I suppose it goes the same for some if not most people here : when I work on a mod, be it the smallest or the biggest thing, I do it for me in the first place, to suit my taste and my vision of what that mod should be. That way messing with the game files is a hobby = :).
If I had to do things to suit other people's taste and vision, it would turn into a work :
http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/434...pukecc9oe0.gif(smiley courtesy Jimbuna)

Constructive criticism is always welcome. Again, if the mod does not suit you, add something that might help the creater make it better for all, not just the one. Telling Lurker that this mod is just not what you want and oh well, could be better, IMO is not constructive criticism. Advising Lurker that perhaps the snorkel was an upgrade and he might include it before the release, showing the proof of it's reality is the way to go. Sorry Lurker SPOILED it for you.

If I may be so bold as to speak for lurker (as a keen observer of his work), "replicating historical routes" and making plausible convoys is not "realistic," but "good enough" in this case due to lack of data.

For his stuff, "realistic" would require having precise information about the comings and goings of all the convoys in the area in question. A convoy name, a date and place of departure, a date and place of arrival, composition of ships, etc.

That's a "realistic" convoy.

For the rest of us, having about the right number of ships, and an appropriate mixture of escorts is "realistic."

<S>

tater

Well put Tater.

I prefer some randomness, anyway. Otherwise, if you have realistic convoys, we're getting back into the realm of scripted missions. I don't want that.

Ill remove you from my ignore list, long enough to answer this question, so maybe you'll "get it". Lets rewind a bit:


Combine this post with some free info and friendly advice which you've chosen to ignore. Thats fine, you can think im full of crap, no problem with that. Nevermind that ive probably spent 5 hours a day working on this game, since it was launched and have learned quite a bit about it.

But the italiziced part, pissed me off. It tells me three things. One, you just insinutaed that i didnt fix anything or that my fixes are crap. Again, keep in mind how much time ive devoted to this game. Two, that you are being a little arrogant towards modders in general Three, you have very little clue about how files interact with each other. Sometimes a fix in one file, requires an adjustment in another.


Now onto the next log on this modders fire:


Ok now this one really ticked me off, because it is a dig at all modders in general. First, it tells me that your using modders work which you get for free, through no effort on your part at all except to click a download link, and your attitude towards is much akin to using a modders work like a wad of toilet paper to wipe your ass with.

Second, it tells me that your insinuating that all their work is crap, and not worth playing, and comfirmed to me that your arrogant towards modders.

Thirdly it tells me you have ZERO appreciation or idea of how much work it takes to make a large mod.


So in sum, you take, you criticize, and you crap on.

How is one NOT to be offended?


Now, this is not to say that you shouldnt offer CONSTRUCTIVE criticizm, but your words are anything but that.


I now return you to my ignore list. Good bye.

There are two major issues behind doing something piecemeal.

The first is that many changes one might want to have a la carte modify the same file(s). This makes them more troublesome to install and raises the likelihood that people will have problems with them.

Second is that many modifications "make better sense" if they are in the context of other changes. Expanding air cover might be of limited impact to the game if the performance of the plane AI isn't improved. Of course, this issue is largely subjective... maybe you just want more weak planes rather than the substantial threat from above that the mod author thinks is best. But this is up to the perogative of the author and most choose to be guided by some consistent philosophy (realism, gameplay and challenge, etc).

I think one should respect the decisions of mod authors to do things the way they see fit. Everyone welcomes constructive criticism or bug finding, etc... But ultimately, as AVGWarhawk points out, this isn't Burger King... you can't have it your way.

Multi-change mods (super or smaller) are generally the best way to consistently modify the game experience... which is the objective of the authors. Everyone is free to start with a mod and tweak it to suit their interests. I've done that since discovering the mods for SH3. I played GWX with a ton of self-made tweaks and now I play TMO with tweaks.

I, however, don't have any entitlement to tell a mod author to do things to suit me. And being ungrateful or hostile is a great way to make the modders feel like they can find something better to do with their time... to the detriment of the rest of the community.

I think a better way to think of it isn't that something like OM is a "menu of modifications". It's a single mod with a single intended purpose. That there are multiple changes in it, some you like, some you don't... is generally moot unless you want to alter it yourself. Going back to the example of the planes.... the mod isn't "1. more planes, 2. harder planes." the mod is "Greater threat from planes". To that end, OM isn't a campaign layer and a multitude of other changes... OM is a "complete Operation Monsun experience."

anyhoo.. .enough babbling from me.

-m

Aye, that makes sense :up:

I made the comment with 0% intention of critizism, quite the opposite. Being one the few ones who read the readmes and enjoy long and throughout ones, I failed to see any critics on the "realism" side in Lurker's work, that's why I asked.

Looking forward to see this mod completed, it will reach inmediately the "no playing without it" status that RSRD got :D