I don't object to randomisation per se. It's simply not at the top of my priorities. People will need to remember I'm starting from scratch so there are more important things to sort out first. Randomisation is just one of many things that could be put in later as Skipper evolves. I'm telling the world now that Skipper v1.0 will be far more limited that SH3 Cmdr 2.7. What matters most to me right now is getting the structure right, with a particular emphasis on handling multiple game installations and backups. I think automatic rollbacks is the way to go although it could be implemented in more than one way.

Since function will dictate form certain things will necessarily follow. SH4 is so similar to SH3 in the way it works there will be certain ways of doing things that I'll lift in spirit if not in code straight out of SH3 Cmdr. For example, I toyed with the idea of using XML to store the external data but decided it would be more complicated from the user's viewpoint without adding real benefit. SH4's .cfg and .upc files are essentially just .ini files, so mimicking SH3 Cmdr's approach makes more sense.

Certain other things I will be able to do differently. I've mentioned I want Skipper to be smarter up front, which includes both removing its dependency on My Documents\...main.cfg and handling multiple game installations better. It will be laid out slightly differently too.

The one thing about Sh3 Cmdr I am not keen on replicating is the graphics intensive stuff like the Night Club. I'd prefer to keep Skipper much smaller if possible.

As far as I'm concerned Jaesen is more than welcome to butt in anytime he likes. I'll take as much onboard as I can use. I've got a raw prototype but now is the time to make major architectural changes if they prove necessary.

To Potoroo,

Will SH Skipper allow editing Ranks & Medals like SH Cmdr did? If so, could you use Pics of the real Ranks & Medals and NOT those used in SH4.

I would like to actually print out the Crewmen records and see the real equivalent Ranks & Medals (even if just their names) listed rather then the in-game stuff.

All things are possible but lets not get ahead of ourselves. Right now I'm having the SH4 Skipper UI evaluated by a few people and when that's done I can move on to implementing functionality.

A begging letter from a (real) old sub sea mariner.
 

Nah Steve - we NEED SHIV Commander! The SH III version was just waaaay too useful, too excellent and too essential for us not to lobby its hardworking author to please please [pretty please] re-consider.

Mr.Jones,
Apart from the usual sprinkling of dweebs, idiots, whiners, whingers, blamers, scupper rats and just plain irritating rivet hounds found in every gaming realm, this subsim community also includes a fair sprinkling of mature, intelligent, intellectual gamers who have some idea of the vast amount of personal time and work that has to go, not just into making an excellent bit of SW like SHIICMDR but into de-bugging, servicing, maintaining and improving it too. Some of us (shock horror) even had real sub sea time, back in the day, so we constitute your REAL appreciative and authentic audience!

Personally I would be happy to write promotional marketing material for your excellent software any time. Please ignore the above listed annoying people - we NEED you to make SHCMDR MK 2 for SH IV! Hell, I bet if somebody here with more virtual sea-time than me were to put up a vote (hint hint) you would find a HUGE majority of subsim forum members would agree.

It's coming. Be patient.

One of the things I really liked about SHIII Commander was the ability to change the time compression speed when certain things happened. Such as when a ship or plane is spotted, it would default to 8X. I hated that, Id rather have it to drop down to 1X time and that is how I set it up in SHIIIC.

The only other thing I used quit a bit was crew management. I used it to promote, dismiss, and give out medals instead of using SHIII game itself. I like to micromanage my crews carrer.

Anybody know what to change to get the time compression to drop to 1X on certain situations?

I agree - I used both of these functions in SH3 Commander myself, although the crew management much more than the time compression (that was easy enough to tweeak yourself by changing the .cfg file, and you basically only had to do it once and you were set). I messed with the crew stuff on every career and after every patrol and it was really great (I always transferred out several crew members after each patrol to simulate BdU grabbing vets to form new crews, and to keep my crews from getting too uber after a few patrols - then I would use SH3 Commander's crew functions to give all the plain seamen qualifications so I could better manage my crew watches by section/purpose (watch crew, engine room crew, etc) - worked great and I hope Potoroo includes this same function in SH4 Skipper for sure :yep:

Gee, I was happiest with the gazillion crew names.

This is something i am looking forward to with great anticipation...If I could I would help you out, but only did some very basic VB coding in the past. Crack on man, I am sure this will be good!

SH3 Cmdr and SH Skipper
 

I was Lost without SH3 Cmdr, JSCones you did an excellant Job, which provided me with many hours of enjoyment and without you I would never have enjoyed SH3. I bought SH4 on day one, and installed it, but I am not playing it until something like SH3 Cmdr is available, I stop in and check these forums ever day to check on the status on SH4 Skipper.

My only hope is that I see SH4 Skipper ready soon and that all you modders (those people with the skills I don't) I depend on start telling the how, where and with what, to make changes, I have looking around for a FAQ or insturtions for progams like TT mini Tweaker without luck, everyone seams to think we all know how to do/use/install these mods. Some of you have really fine ideals but sometimes when you add one mod you find that the setting from another mod are set back to default, so now you are back to the how, where and with what.

So for now I will sit and watch all of you with skills and hope I might learn something from you.

Good Hunting, and Long Life

The Gunner

Tweaking the Time Compression settings is trivial and I intend it to be in the first release. However, broadly speaking my priorities will be:

1. Getting the architecture right for multiple game installations and rollbacks;
2. Gameplay options (like Time Compression) that can be done quickly;
3. Crew management.

I expect to have sufficient feedback on the revamped layout soon enough to start implementing functionality this week. However, I repeat: SH4 Skipper 1.0 will not be as sophisticated as SH3 Commander 2.7.

But I am sure SH4 Skipper 2.5 will will be down the line ;)
Again great that you are doing this man! looking forward to 1.0 when its done.

What he said! I second every word.

Just a quick update. The core UI is now in place (there will inevitably be tweaks but I've had sufficient feedback to have settled on the UI design, which is quite different to SH3 Commander's). I admit I barely turned my computer on over the Easter holidays but now that life's returning to normal I've begun work on the multi-game installation architecture. Don't hold your breath, people, but it is happening.

so glad you are doing this man cose we need this to make the online campian for sh4 work over at subclub :yep: can you keep us up dated plz :up: nice one