Breakthrough! No instant death screen!
 

After about 10 hours of messing with variables I finally figured it out. Although it is an awkward way of making it happen I have finally found a solution.

I'm currently playing Chinese U-47's Warship mod with GWX 3.0. After having fun for a while it was disappointing to engage another battleship and having them go boom really soon and it was over or likewise.

When a compartment is destroyed it's automatically game over FYI. No mods that I know of have completely defeated this in SH3. Only suppressed it to a less annoying level.

I'm probably not releasing a file. Though it is easy enough to do yourself. This way there will be no conflicts with your installations.

The logic is, not to have compartments flood at all. Instead use the equipment to cause flooding.

I'll explain what I did.

1. I used skwas silent 3ditor to edit the .zon file of my Bismarck. I gave it a small amount of armor around 10, about 2 million hitpoints. To make your ship destroyed finally you must set the CrashDepth to a shallow number like 50. Set the crash speed to a number relative to your hitpoints. 250,000+ in my case would cause it to take that damage every second below 50m.

2. Open zones.cfg in silenthunterIII\data with notepad. Use the find tool (ctrl+f) to find "uboat". In here you'll find your rooms and quarters that flood and bring you death. Set them to a ridiculous amount of hitpoints and armor so they can't be destroyed (for sub users wanting realism: adjust as you see fit). Also set flotability to 0.

3. Once done with that go back through everything under "uboat" in zones.cfg and find equipment that you would like to cause flooding. I noticed my engines, compressor, and pumps were being damaged most so I chose them. Give them flotability. I used flotability=25. You may want to experiment and change these values later.

Try it out with a basic mission.

Here's a screenshot of my results.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g6...nodeathmod.jpg

This is my bissy sinking with... most of my crew still alive. Thank you Mr. HMS Revenge :salute:

At 416 meters still alive I thought to myself "Hmm... maybe I should've set the crashspeed". :har:

WARNING: Here's the drawback. You can't see your flooding state. Your ship will start to list without you knowing unless you're on the bridge, in the command room or in external view.

I hope some more professional modders out there can make use of this info. Just thought I'd take a break from dissecting sh3 and share this with you.

More screenshots from testing.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g6...odeathmod2.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g6...odeathmod3.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g6...odeathmod4.jpg

If somebody can make a mod, make my day :woot:

So far this is what I've learned about the functions in the Zones.cfg file. I figured why not put this out there so a poor sob like I was 2 days ago could just search and learn.


Multiplier= Hitpoints times this number= damage to the hull. Good for explosives like fuel tanks and ammo bunkers. Not a antenna...
Flotability= Not sure of the formula. But at 100 if it's filled you're on a quick trip to the bottom.
HitPoints= The maximum amount of damage this object can take before it's destroyed. It appears that it also affects repair times.
Destructible= The destroyed model for this equipment will show if it's set to yes. If there is one.
Armor Level= HE shells do little to no damage unless their AP value is higher than this number.
Critic Flotation= Untested. But I'm pretty sure this is a multiplier vs flotation when there has been a critical hit.
Critical= If set to "No" then the equipment cannot be critted.
Critical Chance= The chance to be critted.
Father= Where the object belongs. IE: Antennas belong on the Tower.
FloodingTime= The time in seconds it takes to fully flood if left unattended.
CargoType= If set to "fuel" you will lose fuel if this is destroyed. Likewise with ammo.

Critic Flotation
 

Very nice Audessy! I have one thing to add to your list regarding Critic Flotation, from an excellent post by Der Teddy Bear about the mechanics of NYGM Ship Damage Mod here.

Critic Flotation is a percentage of a compartment's HP, that tells you how much damage it can take before it starts to flood. So if a compartment has 200 HP, with Critic Flotation=0.3 that compartment won't start to flood until it has received 60 damage. The more damage over 60 it receives, the faster it floods (also depending on the FloodingTime).

I'm going to use this to try to achieve your "sink by flooding" effect by having compartments flood, as this is more intuitive than having equipment flood. Set each compartment to e.g. 10000 HP so it can't be destroyed, but set Critic Flotation to e.g. 0.005 so that it floods when it takes 50 damage.

audessy, you've given me a great idea. :hmmm: Sounds like it's finally time for a new Longer Repair Times (LRT) mod. :arrgh!:

:rock: :rock: :rock:

Hi Drifter!

In case you are going to release an improved version of the LRT mod sometime in the future could you also remember to assign the dive planes to an exterior compartment so that it won't be able to repair them while submerged? I know this is a minor change (and very easy to do ;)) but maybe you might do it just for the sake of it, yes?

Thank you and good luck! I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon!

:sunny:

I'm changing my work towards Silent Hunter 4. BTW jollyroger that helps me out a LOT.

Main reason why I switched game versions is because SH4 just operates so much smoother. The load times aren't nearly as ridiculous. Plus the graphics are incredible. Check this out.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g6...otaldamage.jpg


This is my Ise losing a fight to a Iowa. Each one of the 6 gun turrets were disabled. This fight happened at 7,500 yards. There was fire everywhere, 80% crew dead, all fuel gone, etc... A glorious fight. Working on getting it to flood quicker at the moment.

P.S. I was still in control of the ship at this point.

Suddenly i feel so warm!:rock:

Maybe incontinence...? :hmmm:

Hi audessy,

First of all thanks to share yours finds.They really can open a new window on this flodding/kill matter for Sh3.( I don't know about Sh4 )

My question is: Will this "warship mod" also work in SH4 then? (I have it for Sh3 only). And with what environment mod you use it on Sh4? Or do you use it over a big mod?

The screenshot from SH4 is with the stock game. No environment mods at all :smug:

The warships mod won't be compatible with SH4. However there's a bunch of guys working on a total surface warfare mod with VERY accurate damage models and lots of brand new 3d modeled ships. They have depth charges on playable destroyers working, AI subs, and they're even working on getting playable carriers to launch planes! However don't hold your breath for that mod. It's been taking a VERY long time (no offense to the team).

It's actually a little easier to simulate real compartment flooding in SH4. The compartments don't get destroyed as easily. Plus the visual damage effects put Sh3 to shame. I wish I had a closeup of that screenshot. The entire ship was engulfed in flames.

Also in SH4 the torpedo bombers work great. Except the allied ones but there's a mod out there to fix them.

I'm also trying to work on the AI battleships and giving them the same damage model I use. So far so good. Battles often result in a draw with 1 ship sunk and the other permanently damaged either unable to keep up with flooding or lack of fuel to return to base.

My next goal is to change the way the aircraft attack. Instead of sending one or two you know in reality they'd send a whole flock of bombers at you. I'd like to change it so it isn't as annoying. Fighting off a couple aircraft every hour gets pretty old. Now a entire squadron every 6 hours would be very fun. :rock:

tomfon, I will try to implement your idea into the next version if possible. :salute: