[REL]: Randomised Searchlights
 

Randomised Searchlights for GWX3
--------------------------------

Requires: SH3-Commander 3.2


About this mod (package)
------------------------

In GWX, most of the convoy merchant ships (even unarmed ones)
use their searchlights (SL) when in U-boat alarm state at night.

Following some discussions in the subsim forums about this topic,
I came to the conclusion, that it would be historically more correct,
if the merchants hide in the darkness and try to evade instead of showing
their position with the SL.

A guy called schlechter_pfennig already made a great mod which totally
removes the SL from all merchants and all big warships without
anti-submarine weapons:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=169499

With his mod, all merchants keep dark. But I wanted a little bit of
uncertainty, a little remaining chance that one or two merchants use
their SL. I want to be surprised.

This is now possible, I think.

I made the mod time-dependent.
The later the war, the higher the probability,
that at least one merchant uses his SL.



How this mod works
------------------

This mod package consists of 4 parts (2 required and 2 optional)

1. Remove Searchlights from Merchants.7z. (Required).
This mod at first disables all SL from all merchants.
Install via JSGME.

2. Random.7z (Required).
This file must be extracted to the "Random"-folder of Sh3-Commander,
so that after extracting, the "Random"-Folder contains 200 subfolders
called "0" to "199".
Most of these subfolders are empty but some of them contain the
necessary files to re-activate the SL for a few armed (and one
unarmed) merchants.
Everytime SH3 is launched via Sh3-Commander, the contents of one of
these 200 folders is copied into the SH3 game and thus pseudo-randomly
some SL are re-activated by a certain chance.
The time-dependence of SH3-Commanders Random function is used to achieve,
that the probability for a ship to use his SL rises from the early
to the late years of the war.


Optional mods:

3. Remove Searchlights from Warships.7z (Optional).
If you also don't want those big warships without anti-submarine weapons
(battleships, cruisers) to use their SL, then install this mod.
Install via JSGME.

4. Demo Campaign.7z (Optional)
Campaign files for testing and demonstration purposes only.
Contain only a single random-generated unescorted convoy.
- Start a new career and choose a year.
- Abort the patrol if daytime and try again until it's dark.
- Don't move your U-Boat
- Set time compression to 128 and wait
- You'll soon see the convoy.
- Every 1-2 hours a new convoy is spawned.
- Attack the convoy with the Deckgun or Flak and see what happens.



Fine-Tuning
-----------

"P_dark" here is the probability, that all merchants of the convoy
stay dark, no use of SL. I made P_dark dependent of the war period.
In the default configuration, the probabilities are as follows:
1939: P_dark > 95%
1944: P_dark > 80%

Delete the Random-Subfolders 100 - 199 if you prefer the following
probabilities:
1939: P_dark > 90%
1944: P_dark > 60%



Compatibility
-------------

* GWX3: YES
* GWX3-WilhemshafenSt-NazSchluese-and-xtra-ships-V6 from BigBoyWooly: YES

* Wreford-Browns "Extra ships for Wilhelmshaven campaign v2.4": YES, BUT ONLY
if you install the Compatibiliy Patches on top of the mods.
There is 1 Compatibiliy Patch for Remove Searchlights from Merchants
and 1 Compatibiliy Patch for Remove Searchlights from Warships (optional).



Important
---------

* SH3 must be launched via SH3-Cmdr, otherwise no SL will randomly activated.

* Don't save/reload the game when enemy in render range (approx. 30km?).
Otherwise (according to my observations) the enemy, at least the merchants,
are totally dumb and defenseless after reload. This is a SH3 bug and not
related to this mod.

* NEVER save/reload during a battle action at night. Otherwise the
ships SL will malfunction after reload. This is related to this mod
but unavoidable.


Known problems
--------------
This mod leads to a "camera out of sectors"-error when using the
"," and "." keys of the external camera to show the next/previous ship.
But there is a simple workaround for that: Don't use these keys.


Credits
-------
schlechter_pfennig: For permission to use some files of his mod.

Furthermore: I don't know where to begin. The list is endless.
Many people helped me with discussions, mods, ideas.
Thank you all.


Hope you like it!

h.sie




Detail information
------------------

For most of the ships the SL are removed permanently.
This has been done by replacing "LinkName=Ref_xxx" with
"LinkName=NULL" in the .eqp files of the ship.

19 merchants (18 armed and 1 unarmed) take part in the
SL randomisation. The nearby idea, to use SH3-Commander
to randomly change the LinkName in the .eqp files for
those ships, does not work, because changing equipment
between save and reload of a patrol may lead to a crash.

Workaround: Instead of that, I simply moved the SL out of
the visible range by setting the Translation Y value of
the L0x nodes to 1E6 in the ships .dat file.

The Random function of Sh3-Cmdr is used to randomly
put back some ships original .dat files and thus activate
the SL.

Merchant ship types that take part in the SL randomisation:
-NAMM
-NCOT
-NGRA_
-NHA_Boat1
-NKBL_
-NKC3
-NKGN
-NKLK_
-NKSEF
-NKSQ_
-NLL_
-NLOL
-NLST
-NPTB
-NPTR
-NRC_
-NSCT_
-NTR
-NVV

Looks good. Do we have a download link? (sorry I couldn't find it :oops:)

yup. see my mediafire page.

Thanks :up:

I'll download it asap

This sounds good, h.sie.

Anyone using my 'Random Loading Screens' mod be aware that if you want to use this mod as well you will have to eliminate the '100-199' folders as well, or else only half the folders will have the random screens.

Hello SailorSteve,

thank you. I forgot to mention this aspect, because I didn't know about your mod. So if one already uses the Sh3-Cmdr. Random folder function for some other mod, one of course has to merge the contents of the random folders (which results in a strong but unavoidable correlation).

Instead of deleting the folders 100-199 one could also duplicate the loading screen data from folders 0 to 99 to the folders 100 to 199.

h.sie

I think it would be nice to have a patch that covers WBs ships as well

Yes I think that too. Will create a compatibility patch for WBs extra ships during the next days.

Fantastic! :yeah:

Thanks a lot for that. I look forward to try it

I'll certainly try this H when a compatability patch is released http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...s/thumbsup.gif

new version uploaded , it now contains compatibility patches for WB's extra ships.

Danke http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...s/thumbsup.gif

Bitte! :salute:

Another essential mod from the great h.sie! Thank you :up:

Thanks for that reply.

Thank you h.sie, this is another great addition to realism.

Thanks, thanks, hope you like it.

Hello h.sie and everyone elsel,
Thank you for this mod. I have a question about the year when the different percentages of spotlights are changed. To my way of thinking spotlight discipline would be far worst at the start of the war and get progressively better. By say, 1943 I would expect that spotlight discipline to be almost 100%. By that time those who didn't follow spot light discipline would have been weeded out (sunk). If I wanted to change the probability dates to follow my logic do I simply change the probability date that you mention in your "fine tuning" section to read, say: 1939: P_dark > 80%, 1943: P_dark > 95%

If it is more complicated could you describe how I could change the probability years and percent?

I am using your ACM-GUI reloaded, and enjoy it very much. Thanks for your contributions

GvB

Hi GvB,

the problem is that I have no historically based information about that question. So I had to guess. My thoughts were: According to the .eqp files of the ships, the weapons of most ships get heavier during the war time and because of that I assumed, that the ships become more courageous to use their lights. But I may be wrong. Your argumentation also sounds meaningful and you are free to change my mod as you like. But deleting folders 100-199 won't help you.

You first have to understand how the Random-folder function of SH3-Cmdr. works. One of these folders 0 - 199 is chosen by random on startup. Only the folders 10-49 contain data. Look into one of these folders and you'll see how the time-dependence works. If we e.g. have 17 July 1943, then all data from the subfolders 19380101 to 19430101 is copied into SH3 in order to activate the lights. But not the data from folder 1944xxxx. But if we have 5 May 1939, only the contents of 19380101 and 19390101 are copied.

So you have to work the other way around (reverse) as I did. You first have to activate some SL by default and then succesively deactivate the SL during the war. Use the standard .dat files from the ships to activate the lights, and use "my" modified .dat files to deactivate the lights.

It's hard work to fill the 40 folders 10-49 with pseudo-random content, but I've written a batch script to do that. Tell me if you want to have it.

h.sie

h.sie,
Thank you so much for your quick response. I understand your logic, which I believe is equally valid. My logic is not based on any concrete data, but rather when I did some research on The Battle of the Atlantic several sources regarded the " The turning point (the Battle of the Atlantic ) was slow Convoy ONS–5 (April–May 1943), when a convoy of 43 merchantmen escorted by 2 destroyers and a frigate was attacked by a wolf-pack of 30 U-boats. Although 13 merchant ships were sunk, the U-Boats were detected by HF/DF, six U-boats were sunk by escorts or Allied aircraft and – despite a storm which scattered the convoy – the merchantmen reached the protection of land-based air cover causing Dönitz to call off the attack."

This German reversal was due to convergence of new allied technologies and tactics. I thought that wrapped up in all this was the gradual enforcement of light discipline from what the Brits learned from 1939 through the disastrous lack of blackout/light discipline of the US's entry into the war to the Allied convoys of '43,'44,'45.

I don't believe that there is a right or wrong to this issue. Either way you have developed a tremendous mod.

I would like to try the batch script that you kindly offered to me. I will send you my e-mail by PM.

Thanks again

GvB