SH3 Campaign editing
 

Hi guys,
i'm just starting to try editing the campaign files for the first time, and am not sure what some of the convoy lines do, so i'm looking for some advice on how various lines affect what happens.
[RndGroup 163]
GroupName=BRTaskForce_39_01 < first task force in game starting 39?
Category=0 < don't know
CommandEntry=0 < don't know?
Long=-353720.000000 < start longitude
Lat=6733700.000000 < start latitude
Height=0.000000 < Answered in later post
DelayMin=6 < don't know?
DelayMinInterv=1000 < re- spawned every 1000 minutes
SpawnProbability=100 < it's defo gonna be there lol
RandStartRadius=0.000000 < Answere in later post
ReportPosMin=700 < Answered in later post
ReportPosProbability=100 < it's gonna be reported to me
Heading=84.171303 < heading from start position i think
Speed=21.000000 < knots
ColumnsNo=3 < columns
Spacing=500 < columns 500 metres apart
DeleteOnLastWaypoint=true < disappears on last waypoint
CurrentInstanceID=0 < don't know
GameEntryDate=19390801 < convoy spawn date?
GameEntryTime=0 < don't know
GameExitDate=19441220 < no more convoys generated after this?
GameExitTime=0 < don't know
NextWP=0 < don't know

[RndGroup 163.RndUnit 1] < 1st unit in convoy
Type=7 < unit type= heavy cruiser
Origin=British < British
Side=0 < is British side 0 and German side some other different number?
CargoExt=-1 < don't know
CargoInt=-1 < don't know
CfgDate=19390101 < picks a cruiser with an existence date b4 this?
No=1 < 1 unit of this type
Escort=false < not an escort. ie: being escorted
SpawnProbability=100 < defo gonna be created
CrewRating=3 < crew competence? whats the range? 1-5?


These questions have probably been asked b4, but i've not been able to find answers in a search, and i've spent hours pouring over posts.
Is there a guide or a post someone can point me to that explains the holes in my understanding please?
The lines without question marks are what i have/ or think i have found out so far.

Thanks GlobalExplorer,
what i'm after more than anything tho is brief descriptions of what the lines with question marks mean, such as
catagory=0
CommandEntry=0
DelayMin=6

etc.
One wrong move and it's a CTD with Campaign.RND editing, or the convoys will collide lol.

I appreciate the info tho m8, many thanks :)

Maybe send your question directly someone like bbw, I cannot help with the entries you mentioned :(

EDIT: Check if the category does comply with my unit codes .. I think there might have been a connection, but I do not remember.

Some of this is just a WAG by me, but I do know at least two of them.

You can edit them in the mission editor of course, but that likely isn't much easier. You'll need a map/chart with detailed lat/long lines, for starters.

Height above the surface, likely for planes. For subs (negative values?) IIRC weird things happen if you start them submerged.

The first would, I'd imagine, randomly place the group within that radius when they start.

ReportPosMin is the number of minutes between position checks. In this case, the group will show up as a contact on the map every 700 minutes (11 2/3 hours), 100% chance, IF you are within the range listed in contacts.cfg. For units in the scripted campaign, it will use the "Important Radio Contacts" range (from your sub). For the random layer, it uses "Opportunity Radio Contacts". Default ranges are rather small; if you up the ranges to like 2-3,000 km you will get a ton of contacts.

Looking at that list Global it seems about right.

I don't want to bug anyone specifically about these things, so i'm leaving it to volounteers to answer my unknowns. If you think how many times some of these guys answer the same questions, sometimes they may not be in the mood. Understandable.

I'll leave the height at 0.000000 then for shipping difool2 cos i had a clue it might be height from the water
Might change the ReportPosMin to 360 or something, depending on the convoys start co-ordinates, though it's probably best left alone anyway, don't want to make things too easy lol.
Trouble is i have no idea what German reconnaissance was like in the Atlantic or round Britain during various stages of the war, so i might have to try reading up on that first.
Default opportunity contacts were 300km in default, and important were 1500km. Changed them to 500 and 2000.

Thanks lads, you've helped me fill in a few blanks :up:, just a few more left.

Still don't know what
DelayMin=6 means though.

And the other problem is that troop transports and liners share the same class, 103, but i have 4 of VonDos's liners and a hospital ship added to my SH3, plus 4 heavy cruisers.
So i was wondering if it's possible to reclassify the liners as say 108 or something, cos then i could find the PPL entry's for the liner runs in my Campaign.RND using the "find" and "replace" facility in the menu, take out the Class=PPL line and have any liner show up.
If i re-classified the hospital ship to say 109 i could script some appearances by hospital ships by replacing some of the KSQ or KSL entries.
In fact i could replace the convoy KSQ's with blanks so any type 102 would show and edit some of the KSL's so i get troops, hospitals or even heavy cruisers, depending on which type number i insert.
Re-classifying would minimise the scripting.
Would this work, or are the classifications hard coded?

Forget it. Such stuff can only be changed in the source code.

Are you sure Global?

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=107482

It would mean changing the class name in the roster file to match, but that would be easier than searching for so many PPL, TR or Type=103 entries in Campaign.RND.

Depends on the field requirements for "Type=" in the source code.
It may only insist on a 3 digit integer, though someone suggested in a different post that you could change the "Class=KSQ" to "Class=M35B".

If the type CAN be changed, you could leave the liners as 103, replace the "Class=PPL" with a blank line, and know you won't get a troop transport turn up doing 25 knots, or get a CTD.
Where "Class=TR" i'd have to put the new type number in, but subsequently either of the troop transport types would show, then just script in random convoy entries for the hospital ship and a Heavy Cruiser, to have a target i can't sink unless i want negative renown, balanced by a nice HC to aim at.
After that you could add as many liners, troops and hospital ships as you want and they're effectively all scripted.

I suppose only a Dev Team member could answer the question for sure.
Hopefully one of them will enlighten us :)

roadhogg

;Warships
Type0=Patrol Craft
Type1=Corvette
Type2=Frigate
Type3=Destroyer Escort
Type4=Destroyer
Type5=Minesweeper
Type6=Light Cruiser
Type7=Heavy Cruiser
Type8=Escort Carrier
Type9=Fleet Carrier
Type10=Battlecruiser
Type11=Battleship
Type12=Minor Warship
Type13=Auxiliary Cruiser
Type14=
Type15=
Type16=Iceberg

;Merchant ships
Type100=Replenishment
Type101=Tanker
Type102=Cargo
Type103=Troop Transport
Type104=Coastal Vessel
Type105=Environmental

The above are the ONLY available type=
You can reclassify any ship you like BUT you must also alter any entries for that ship in the campaign files or CTD

Example

[Group 1.Unit 1]
Name=Small Merchant#2
Class=KSS
Type=102

If you reclassify the KSS to a type=106 then you will need to change ALL KSS entries over to suit or CTD

You CANNOT remove the Class= line from the SCR or CTD
You can do that in the RND and in GWX I have for the bulk of the entries bar special uses such as lit ships or historical convoys

Example

[RndGroup 1.RndUnit 1]
Type=102
Origin=British

In the above entry the game can pick from ANY type=102 in the Br roster
The type= line HAS to stay

Now you can certainly try adding more type= but in my experience tis not good

Example
Just added the NLOV as a type=106
Both cfg read the same as type=

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...Hunter_672.jpg

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...Hunter_671.jpg

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...Hunter_673.jpg

Drag the ship onto th mission ed and it CTDs
Notice on the last pic that the ships have a prefix before class names

AO means type=100 replenishment
MS means type=104 coastal
MN is for the type=106 I added - ?

Not in shot are
MC for 102
TK for 101
PP for 103

I guess the devs didnt think anymore type= would be needed


Does all that make any sense ?
I know what you are trying to do and believe me been there myself but unless you can find where the info on those type= are stored not a lot you can do
Have asked Ubisoft too with no joy

I see :shifty:

Yes i'm with you.
have you tried type 14 or 15?

Only really need to find 1 extra category, although 2 would be better obviously.

Seems a bit odd that everything else has it's own allocation number, but liners and troops share.
I know theres different types of coastal etc. that share but they're all small with similar top speeds.Liners and troops are very different.
Whoever did it must have been on the wine the night b4 lol.
Would have saved them having to specify the class name at all, as with the battleships, light and heavy cruisers and carriers. Just the type would have done.
Then they could have just used the class names as a back up.
The annoying thing is that i now have to script every liner in to the campaign.RND, cos they're PPB, PPQ, LUS, NOR and LAF, so they wont show as PPL's.

Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Thanks for the info BBW, and the Tirpitz :D

No problem
Just remember when the game was released there was only 1 liner and 1 troopship
And very few countries
As most liners were taken over as either troop or hospital ships I guess they thought one classification was plenty

That was 3 years and thousands of mods ago though :rotfl:

I take your point BBW about 1 liner and 1 troop.

Does seem a bit short sighted though in view of the fact they released it knowing (surely) that it still had bugs, and in a form that allowed for mods.

A similsr thing happened with a Formula 1 racing game though called Grand Prix 4, where they released it knowing it was going to be modded, but hard coded the amount of track slots.
Damn nuisance i say lol.
Only way round it is to classify all liners as PPL's and lose the ship names, though i'm not sure if that would work having 5 Passenger Liners.
I'll think of something, i hope lol.

When will these game developers learn to allow for expansion by putting a bit of thought in to the coding, tut. ;)

Was the Tirpitz file an SH3 GWX file btw?

It CTD's my game. The classification looks ok, though i notice in the data/sea/NBB_Tirpitz folder theres an airgroup included in the .CFG file.

Any idea what i need to alter to make it run in the stock SH3 1.4b patch game?

Damn sorry
Remove the airgroup as no Arado in the stock game

As for the PPL
Well they have to be renamed differently or game wont run
Only solution is to remove the Class= line from the RND so the game will load any 103
Not ideal but best on offer

The info regarding those type= MUST be somewhere for the ship to know what traits it has
Noone AFAIK has found it though

Quick example
I took a Flower Corvette and recloned\renamed it into something I cant remember now but made it a type=6 light cruiser
In a test mission it opened fire on me but ignored its DC racks and sailed away when I was submerged
So somewhere holds the info on what each type= does ingame

Thanks, i'll remove the airgroup and see if it was the cause of the CTD :up:

Are those GWX classification types you listed?

GlobalExplorers list of types differs, ie: theres no replenishment Type=100, or minesweeper Type=5. Unless those groups exist in SH3 but are unused.
I did a "find" on Type=100 in Campaign.RND and nothing came up.
Same with Type=5

If i'm right in assuming GWX is a modpack done by a group of players and not the Devs, it means they're unused in stock or there IS a way of adding groups.

I just gotta find it lol.
Or do a lot of Campaign.RND editing :cry:
But i'm basically a lazy so and so, so i'll have a look for the classification file b4 i start editing :)
I don't have the editor for MIS files though, tried downloading S3D but the download failed and i got the message " a cabinet file necessary for installation cannot be trusted. Please check synchronisation is enabled and the cabinet file has an authentication certificate". Double Dutch to me lol.

Failing that i'll do as you suggest for the liner entries and wipe out the PPL line, but i'll have to add the medium troop transport and hospital ship manually convoy by convoy.