IJN Fleet 22nm Nortwest of Darwin.
 

Fotrsu v1.7p3, no other mods.


Feb 19 1942. starting second patrol (salmon) out of Darwin.
I got sonar contacts almost dead ahead. took a peek.. IJN fleet, including aircraft carrier.


Is this really what is supposed to be there?

Feb 19 1942 is the day IJN carriers bombed Darwin...

Lucky Me!
Got 4 DDs (in self defense). went back to Darwin reload & refuel, took off again.. now there are planes chasing me.
We'll see how this plays out.

Nice lol. :Kaleun_Salute:

Yes, quite the contact for you to "stumble" into. Tough to get into position in early war shots on such targets, no radar, their high speed, escorts, alertness. Plus torpedo failures, rare to even locate them, let alone get a shot.

I added the kido butai's movements to the campaign in TMO, pretty much matches history. Now, some time later I was on patrol and did not register, the date. I stumbled across the carrier force (in TMO) it off Staring Bay, Celebes March 26 1942.

I was chasing a oil tanker after four torpedo malfunctions in a pre dawn attack, was trying to get ahead before he entered the bay at dawn. Morning haze saw the outlines of carriers. Submerged in front of the force, worked way inside screen and fired on CV Kaga from 1000 yards. Two prematures, one miss, one hit on Kaga CV. DD's worked me over for six hours, old porpoise class boat did not have speed to catch up with the force.

Historically, this was the date they departed for the "Operation C" , the Indian Ocean raid.

lol nice. Hope you at least got off a contact report...

stay off the GD radio. who do you think you are, a GD uboat skipper?
:har:

hahah well US skippers would break radio silence for a task force, for sure. Given your proximity to Darwin, possible could have invited friendly air strike on the TF with contact report .

Worst thing about this encounter (the IJN TFJ) is that you are in shallow water with hoards of DDs giving you grief! It's very hard to get away. I am 1 for 2. Best way to do it is to time your arrival in Darwin to let you leave before the 19th!

194305NarwAttu.mis
 

ok....did some additional research and determined that we can get to within approx 34 miles of the first drop zone before CTD (63 km).
so, what mission condition occurs when the user-boat gets to that point?
this is the key to the problem.
i have no idea.
+++
i noticed what could be an anomaly. there are two APD's defined in the mission. one starts life on May 11, 1943 and the other starts life on July 1, 1943. was this purposeful?
++++++
i removed all references to the Holding Area because the first occurrence of the CTD happened as we entered the Holding Area. - made no difference.
changed the entry date of APD#1 to match APD#2 - made no difference.
noticed that the mission briefing was greater than 900 characters. abbreviated a few words to get is under 900. - made no difference.
noticed that the waypoints of APD#2 caused an error message within the Mission Editor. Fixed those. - made no difference.

KM, I am stumped also... I have been editing the file for days, then testing after each edit, and I STILL CTD when about 30nm off the northern coast of Attu. I finally thought maybe something was generating on the 10th that was crashing me, so I decided to go in early, on the 7th the last time, instead of the 11th, and I STILL CTD'd ... I have completely removed the "timer" trip, since it wasn't used anyway, and I have added separate MapZones for a few other triggers, as well as noodling with "dates", but it is still crashing in the same spot. I am now removing the "layers" one by one from the Campaign, to attempt to possibly isolate the issue. Testing after each file is individually blanked. It sure would be a lot easier if it didn't take so #$@%&+ long to play the scenario, to only have it crash... but it does seem to be a "distance" thang, though I cannot "see" anything near the spawn range at the time of the crash. I do know it USED TO function as intended though, because I tested it before putting it in the campaign... sigh - More later. :salute:

I have blanked the campaign files, and removed all manner of items from the mis file itself. It is a location thang, KM. This is the closest I have come to marking where it occurs, without fail, no matter the day, no matter the boat:

https://i.imgur.com/x56sVD7.jpg

It crashed just after taking the screen shot. That is a 24nm circle I made there. If I come south toward the area, I can get the "Hold" to complete, but Attu itself will not let me near it. It doesn't matter if I'm in a Narwhal or a Gato or whatever... sigh. Building a completely new mis file and I'll try that.

Edit: New mission crashes also. It seems to be centered on Holtz Bay...

It sure acts like it with this particular mission file. Very strange. I have created several other missions in the area, and have no issue with them. Here is a screen grab from the 1st of several, set to 5th May, 1943.:

https://i.imgur.com/8bCa6Fq.jpg

Note that my boat is at the mouth of Holtz Bay facing in, basically 'centered' upon the area where the original mission crashes 20nm out. No problem. Note also, I added a hospital ship facing northeast, just so there would be something to look at besides rock and trees. However, the whole campaign is loaded here, and traffic will show shortly, to the north. No amount of editing, including removing all MapZones, Objectives, ships, campaign files, changing dates, etc., as well as using different boats, has been able to change a thing with the original mission CTD - It still crashes at 20nm out from Holtz Bay. A new one is being created to replace this one. All other similar Commando Insertions function as intended. I have no clue as to what is amiss with the original... oh well... Thanks for your help :salute:

yes, i agree, strange brew, indeed. it's like it's a cursed MIS file.
i'll wait for the new mission. PM the link.
:Kaleun_Salute: