[WIP] Radar Range Unit
 

Hello chaps. One of the things lacking in the radar department was the ability to measure ranges accurately. I did a bit of a bodge job by putting in the German range counters, but they were in metres only and they only went up to 9,999 metres.

So, Bubblehead asked a long time later if it was possible to do something with range in yards instead and as I'd been working on other things since, I had a crazy idea that I thought just might work. It did work and now I'm working on a range unit, which is modelled on the actual unit used.

This unit had an 'expanded sweep' mode that acted as a kind of 'window' on a 0 - 40,000 yards range, with the window given an expanded view of the current indicated range and 1,500 yards either side of it. This allowed the operator to accurately see where the target pips were, as with 40,000 yards all squidged into one screen, it would be impossible to read. The expanded mode gave him great precision, which was the main benefot of radar. You would turn the range dial until an indictaor met with the target pip, and you could read off the range in yards from the range unit. The 'A' Scope was called the Range Indicator Unit and was the device used to match the indicator (a step in the trace) up to the target pip.

Here's what it looks like, so far, in game:

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...im/Radar-1.jpg

You can turn the dial to get a rough range and then fine tune the range reading by dragging the radar scope left or right, which will move the expanded sweep's 'window' to either side. When the triangle indicator matches up with the start of the target pip, that's the range of the target. It's been implemented in exactly the same way as the original system used, so range accuracy is down to you now, it's usually within 50 - 100 yards.

Another advantage is that you can measure the range of any pip, not just the one that is closest to you (as the German side does). You can also set the indicator for a certain range and wait until the target is at that range, if you wanted to. Not sure why you would do that, but you can.

Hitman, Bubblehead1980, Wilcke, Virtualpender and LukeFF have been giving input into this as it went along. It will be ready, when it's ready. It's almost ready.

EDIT: Oh yes and if you have the stadimeter selected in the periscope view, the range you measure at the radar will be put into the stadimeter range, so you can send it straight to the TDC.

OOOoooooooo:D

Finally, we can all start making radar attacks on foggy nights and the like!

can't wait!

Outstanding work! Can't wait for this. :)

Been waiting for something like this for ages. Looks way cool

:salute::yeah::rock::D

Looks kind of like the one from SH1.

ME LIKES!:rock:

:cool: Time to kiss "map contacts ON" a fair goodbye. :up:

Or to make them impact realism percentage. :)

Great Work Nisgeis! really excellent:yeah:

nice work !

thankfully the AI subs and the like don't use radar guided gunfire or do they ?

We're gonna feel more and more what it felt like to drive an IJN sub... :wah:

keltos

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...ies/faint2.gif

It's interesting to follow how SH IV evolves more and more into a true "simulator", while the upcoming SH V introduces stepbacks? http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...es/scratch.gif


We owe you guys (and skwasjer) big time! Amazing work! :salute:

:D:up::rock: That about covers it! Cool......

As Hitman has pointed out to me, you can use the radar range and periscope bearing to get two measurements and with that you can use the 'estimate course and speed' button to get a, well, course and speed. You can also use it to get an accurate radar range and then use that to calibrate the masthead height for the stadimeter, to help target ID and also to provide more accurate future stadimeter only range measurements.

Simply amazing work. :)

What he said!

Fantastic work! :woot:

This is something that is badly needed:yep: Just be sure there's a RFB version;)

+1000 :D

I'm sure there will be an RFB version. I'm just trying to decide on a few design decisions, like at the moment the Green numbers are the TDC generated range, but I'm not sure if I'm going to have them in or not. :hmmm:. Need to do a bit of tweaking to this, but that SH5 forum requires a lot of attention.

Holy smokes, that is awesome!

Nisgeis,

Is the Radar Range Unit still in development? I'm just getting back into SH4 after a long absence and the lack of a range readout on the radar was always a PITA.

I'm really looking forward to this mod and was hoping it's still on the agenda...

Cheers