[REQ] Japanese aircraft loadouts are SCREWY
 

OK, this is BS. The zero in game carries 3x500kg bombs or 5x250kg, LOL. How about 2x60kg.

How does one release a mod? I can tweak this, or supply someone with changes to very japanese plane (heck, allied too) with proper bomb loads, etc. Who do I PM the data to?

How does it choose between loadouts? 50/50? Can you add more loadouts? Can I simply delete loadouts? Tell me how to do it, and I'll go through every plane an make them right.

Add it to the bug report though I doubt it will have high priority.

I can mod the loadouts, what does "Type=3" mean? Can I pick any value for the bombs in kg, or must it be from some list of values, if so, where is the list (I can't find it in the cfgs, just looked). Seriously, get me started and I'm all over this.

tater

Whoah.. calm down there Tater old boy. :rotfl: It's just a game. We all know there are serious realism problems in SH4 (not to mention all the bugs). Sometimes we do need people pointing out realism mistakes, but please no 'realism police' patrolling everyone's mods. It's still just a game, remember? I worry that some modders might eventually become scared to even post new mods due to patrolling realism police criticisms and rants. A lot of realism comments are subjective opinion. But not all. Your hard data is always welcome.

Errr he didn't criticise anyone's mods...just found some mistakes in the stock game. Plus as you said, it's based on hard fact...look at the links I posted on the sticky thread, can't get more basic than the USN technical mission to Japan after the war. All the data is there. That said, I love all the mod efforts, "real" or not... loved the uberboot mod for SH3 for example.

[quote=joea]I know he wasn't criticizing anyone's mods, but there seems to be a different attitude in this forum than in the SH3 modder forum. A lot of new members and much less friendly feeling. Of course, we had the 'modder wars' before in the SH3 forum. Just don't want to see that happen again here.

I'll make my own mod/tweak, point me in the right direction. The cfg files are easy, and I just realized I can open the eqp files as well. They seem to have bomb types and sizes, is there a master list someplace? Some of us LIKE things to be right, if it was a mod, then people could pick the level they wanted, and install it or not. Pointing out a gross historical inaccuracy in their code is not deserving of a derogatory "realism police" crack. Having huge bomb loads on planes incapable of holding them affects gameplay. I looked at the planes, and they all hold virtually the same loads. That also makes the air attacks boring since they are all the same with different planes.

So it's one thing if the game (or a mod) has a slight inaccuracy in the name of making gameplay work, but 3 1000lb bombs on a plane that was capable of carrying two 120lb bombs---and virtually never even carried those---is way beyond nitpicking. It also goes to the danger of air attack. Strafing by fighters, sure, dangerous enough to a sub. Worried that each of the countless zero horde will drop 3 bombs that were what SBDs dropped on the Kido Butai at Midway (1 per plane), that's crazy. It also might have to do with their behavior of hanging around. If a plane has the proper load, it might make a pass or two, then RTB.

People can chose vanilla SH4, they can also pick and chose mods/tweaks. Help me figure this out, and I'll make an accurate one. Anyone else wants to mod that and make one tweaked for another form of gameplay, that's fine too.

Just trying to make myself useful.

nvdrifter, I guess the problem is some folk's expectations were dashed, and as moddders or those who support them it was a bit disheartening to see the same darn bugs as in SH3. Or maybe we have short memories. :lol:

You have a good attitude because at least you are willing to fix it yourself instead of ranting about other people's unrealistic mods and doing nothing to fix it.

I'd also add that this theater is the one I am interested in personally. I have a large library of ww2 books, and the large majority are PTO. I like the game, I like that it can be tweaked by players, and I like to tweak games---though most of that I have done was board and minaitures games, lol.

I used the [REQ] in the title only because I have questions about what I can mess with. Point me at a mod faq, and i'll do it myself, I'm not tryng to be demanding of others' time.

I totally agree. The realism in SH4 is a joke. I love realism, but I hope anyone who criticizes other's mods (Tater wasn't criticizing) try and remember how much voluntary time we put into these mods.. realistic or not.

I think we all want the same thing, a more realistic, more fun SH4. But then again, there are frustrating limitations to SH4. We'll all do the best we can.

indeed he does (kudos tater!), and it's nice to see someone using actual data to support the work they're doing (ie thinking about what they're doing before diving-in and hashing away without a thought beyond "gee, this feels right")...

[edit:grammar]

OK, the loadouts are listed in each plane's cfg. Then each plane has a eqp that looks like this:

It says loadout defs are in platform.cfg, but I cannot find that file.

Hmmm.

i fail to see what one has to do with the other.
'last time i checked, "criticism" (when well informed) is generally considered a valuable thing and a stepping stone to improvement...

It's not what people say, it's how they say it.

i suppose that's true for sensitive egos.
personally, thanks to many years in academia, i've learned the value of having something of a thick skin and learned to look more towards substance than towards tone... ;)

Regarding research and games, this is my attitude: Start with accuracy, THEN tweak.

I realize it's a game, and even tot he extent it is a sim, the OUTCOMES are what is important to simulate. So start with the bombs on the planes that are right. Start out with a realistic chance of air attack, and when it happens, have a realistic number of planes. In this case 1xflying boat might be seen, but even with a single 250kg bomb, you'd not see 1 Val, but 3, 6, or 9 (IJNAF/IJAAF planes operated in chutais of 3 grouped into sentai of 3 chutai).

If that turned out lame frm a game standpoint, THEN I'd mess with it. They way it is now is about like putting 1945 torpedos on a 1941 US sub (with multiples of the real loadout).

Anyone who can grok the whole plane loadout thing is welcome to chime in, I'll happily mess with the files, I just need to know what I can change without breaking stuff (I BSOD and CTD enough with SH4 as it is).

Regarding "tone" I reserve the "this is BS" for stuff made by the DESIGNERS since getting it right in the first place is their job, IMO. I'd never be so harsh towards a mod, that's voluntary work that people can chose, or not chose, to install.

If a modder claimed that a purpose of their mod was more realism, I'd offer constructive criticism on that basis. If a mod was for fun, or gameplay at the expense of accuracy, I'd likely not comment at all (since I'm interested primarily in accuracy, at lkeast as a baseline to start from).

<S>

tater

Hey, is there a way to open the .sim files?

notepad sees them, and I get taunting text, then control characters...

thanks to many years in academia..

Ohhh, that explains a lot. I also worked in acadamia for a long time and had to put up with the same know-it-all, egotistical attitude such as yours for years which is institutionalized in such places. :nope:

Well, this forum isn't high school or college. You may be used to talking down to people there, but here we are equals.. ok? ;)