[REL]hsGUI, a combimod consisting of GWX-IntegratedOrders+U-Jagd-Tools+PeriTDC
 

hsGUI 3.1 for GWX
=================

This is a Combi-mod consisting of:

* PeriTDC from Ducimus.
* U-Jagd Tools 1.3.1 from JoeGrundmann & Hitman.
* GWX-Integrated Orders
* TDC-Screen, Navigation-Map Tools and more from Onelifecrisis.
* Extended stations main menu and
* Numerous other tweaks by h.sie

Screenshots:

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/655/shot1ea2.th.jpg

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/6103/shot2xx1.th.jpg

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/251/shot4mt3.th.jpg

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/7125/shot3lj6.th.jpg


The aformentioned changes in detail:
====================================


Main Stations Menu:
-------------------
* Added menu items for Binocular, UZO, Observation-Periscope, Captains-Log, Telegrams, Mission-Objectives.

* Added small buttons for completely rising/lowering periscopes.


U-Jagd-Tools:
-------------
* Added U-Jagd-Chronometer with 75m-Scale


PeriTDC mod:
---------------
* Added small button to toggle (enable/disable) manual TDC entry (can also be done using "Ctrl-T").

* Added TDC-dials to the Observation Periscope.

* Added Salvo Selector switch labels from Onelifecrisis' OLCGUI. (Details see below.)


Navigation Map:
---------------
Added Map Tools (Protractor/Nomograph/Depth Indicator) from Onelifecrisis' OLCGUI.


Binocular:
----------
* Re-enabled the bearing indicator (GWX has disabled it). For me, that is no step backward in realism, because in real life one has a "feeling", in which direction one looks. an important feeling, that one doesn't have in front of a monitor! See Appendix below, if you want to disable it.

* Added Flaggen Chart to Binocular View


Integrated Orders:
------------------

* Re-arranged the menu structure, so that important and frequently used orders (e.g. "Crash Dive", "Surface" or "Periscope Depth") can be accessed much easier and faster without many mouse-clicks.

* Deleted UZO-/Binocular-Icons and "Periscope Up/Down", because these orders have moved to the main stations menu.

* Deleted "Choose Target"-orders from the Weapons- and Watch Officer menu, because in GWX it seems not to have a functionality.

* Watch-Officer: Added an command-icon to mark the target for the deck-gun (only works in Binocular view and can also be done using the "Space"-key on the keyboard.)

* Weapons Officer: Deleted the icon "Get torpedo aiming data", because the firing solution calculated by the Weapons Officer is too perfect and thus unrealistic in my opinion. See Appendix below how to re-enable it.


Attack-Periscope:
-----------------

In Hitman's documentation about German Optics (see Documentation-Folder) one can find the information, that the Attack Periscope (AP) has a smaller head to make it less visible to the ememy. Hence, the AP has a lower light transmission than the Observation Periscope (OP) and because of that, the OP is better suited for night attacks. In order to simulate this, I reduced the light transmission of the AP to give both Periscopes a balanced usefulness. Now at dark nights the AP is nearly useless, as intended, and one is forced to use the OP instead. In Hitmans document one can also read, that in real live the AP and OP had the same magnification (6x). In GWX, the AP has 10x and the OP has 4,5x. I don't want to change this, so we have to live with it. This means:

AP = less visible, better magnification, lower light transmission
OP = more visible, lower magnification, better light transmission.

At daylight you have to be careful and attack from a larger distance, so the higher magnification of the AP is useful and the lower light transmission does not bother much.

At night you may attack from a nearer distance, so the lower magnification of the OP is okay and the better light transmission is required.

Now for me both periscopes are different but both are equal useful, depending on the situation.

People who don't like this tweak can restore the original light transmission with a small Mod, that can be found in the "Optional"-folder of this Mod.



Notepad
-------

Disabled the display of the ship category (e.g. "freighter" / "destroyer") in the notepad when one turns the periscope or UZO, because otherwise at dark nights this would betray all surrounding ships, even if they are currently invisible to the player.


Crew- and damage Screen
-----------------------

* Re-enabled the display of the hull integrity percentage (can be disabled again using SH3-Commander). The whole damage screen is full of (unrelistic) counters and numbers - so why not show the hull integrity?

* Used better icons to display the flooding-times of the compartments.

* Used a smaller font


Other Changes:
--------------

* Disabled the sliding GWX-compass-rose, because I don't like it. See Appendix below how to re-enable it.

* Disabled the sliding chief engineer report dials. See Appendix below, if you want to re-enable them. The chief engineer report dials are still available via the Integrated Orders.

* Main Menu: Smaller and better font for messages and slightly reduced menu size.



Optional Mods (can be found in the "Optional"-folder):
================================================== ====


Optional 1: Alternative Periscope and UZO-Textures
--------------------------------------------------
Added FLB Sales "NeuUZO&PeriV.2" mod with much darker Periscope and UZO-Textures. This mod can be installed optionally on top of hsGUI.


Optional 2: hsGUI - Restore original Attack-Periscope
-----------------------------------------------------
As mentioned above, the Light Transmission through the Attack-Periscope has been lowered. This Mod restores the original Light Transmission.


Optional 3: hsGUI - Assisted Plotting
-------------------------------------
This optional mod restricts the information that is shown in the Navigation Map for realism purposes. No more gods eye in the Nav Map. See the Readme contained in the mod for more details.


Optional 4: LLRT+SRM-Combimod (Little Longer Repair Times + Seabed Repair Mod)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Longer Repair Times for damaged UBoat Compartments.
The Uboat can now be easier parked on the seabed for repairs without getting damaged.
See the Readme's contained in the mod for more details.


Optional 5: Salvo selector switch labels
----------------------------------------
Unfortunately, the PeriTDC mod does not change the TDC salvo selector labels automatically. But there are 2 possible workarounds to solve the problem:

1) SH3-Commander users have to copy the "U-boat"-folder contained in this mod into their SH3-Commander folder. SH3 must be invoked with SH3-Commander and the correct U-boat type has to be chosen in SH3-Commander main window prior to starting the game.

2) Non SH3-Commander users can use the JSGME-ready mini-mods which can be found in the "Optional"-Folder. If you plan to use e.g. a Type VII Boat, you have to activate the according mini-mod called "hsGUI - Type VII salvo selector" with JSGME.

If none of these 2 methods is chosen, the Salvo Selector switch remains black. No labels are shown.



Gameplay- and Realism settings
------------------------------

After reading many threads about realism and historical accuracy at subsim.com, I came to the following conclusions and recommended Gameplay-Settings for hsGUI:

1) I recommend to use the help of the Weapons-Officer. This does not lead to a penalty in realism percentage, because in hsGUI the Weapons-Officer is only able to identify ships, but his ability to find a firing solution is disabled.

2) I also recommend to use the stabilized periscope view. According to Hitman (one of the Uboat experts at Subsim) this is nearer to the historical reality than not to use it. Doing so, does also not lead to a penalty in realism percentage.

3) Playing with Automatic Map Updates ON is unrealistic easy, while playing with Map Updates OFF is unrealistic hard. As a compromise, I recommend to use the optional "Assisted Plotting" Mod, which heavily restricts the information shown in the NavMap. For this mod, Map Updates have to be ON, but because of the restrictions, this does not lead to a penalty in realism percentage.

4) With the LLRT mod (Little Longer Repair Times) the repair times for damaged Uboat-compartments take much longer time than in unmodded SH3. This hopefully makes the game more realistic.



Installation & Compatibility
============================

* This mod is JSGME-compatible.

* Compatible only with GWX3 and GWX 2.1. Not compatible with other Supermods, because the included U-Jagd-Tools are designed only for the GWX-specific periscope zoom levels 10x and 4,5x.

* Use this mod INSTEAD and not additionally to the original GWX-Integrated Orders.

* Not compatible to mods, which overwrite the Dials.cfg or menu_1024_768.ini.

* For SH3-Commander Users: The "U-boat" folder contained in this mod goes in the SH3 Commander folder.



Information
===========

Detailed information on the mods used here can be found in the folder "Documentation".



Credits
=======

I want to thank the creators of the excellent mods used here:

* The GWX-Team: for making GWX.
* JoeGrundmann, Hitman: for making U-Jagd Tools
* Onelifecrisis: For his kind help, many brilliant ideas and for the permission to use parts of his OLCGUI.
* Ducimus: for his TW_PeriTDC_For_GWX
* FLB Sale for NeuUZO&PeriV.2.
* Hitman (again) for his help and for the permission to add his Document about German Optics to my mod.
* Nvdrifter: For LRT (Longer Repair Times)
* Mikhayl: For his help and for SRM (Seabed-Repair-Mod).



Hope, you like it.
H.Sie

Thanks

thank you for your reply!!!

greetings...
h.sie

Sounds int resting. Any chance of a screenshot?
Thankyou

hi!
just take a look at the following post:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=141483

scroll down a little bit and then you will see screenies of

* U-Jagd-Tools and
* TDC Dials in Periscope View.

New version 2.0b
 

New version: hsGUI v2.0.

Download:
http://hosted.filefront.com/hennings/

Wow, this looks like what I wanted! Thanks for the work combining those cool mods. Downloading and trying out. :up:

i'm really curious if you like it or not.

(almost 100 downloads of my hsGUI v1 and v2, and almost no reply. what does that mean? is it a good sign or a bad??)

How do you get the Whiz Wheel to show up in version 2?

edit

In version 1 I think I selected the Weapons Officer to make it show up...but can't find it anywhere in version 2.

one side of the wheel with the weapons officer, the other side of the wheel with the navigator. click on the officer icon, so that the icon is framed yellow. then move the mouse a little bit to the right side and then down ..... the wheel appears......as joegrundman wrote in his manual of the u-jagd-tools

I did that...

The process did not work in version 2 of the combimod.

It works correctly in version 1 though.

Interesting...what do you think? Something different in the menu_1024_768.ini?

edit

I should add that I have a fresh install of GWX 2.1 and this is the only mod installed.

Greatly prefer version 2 of this mod, but need to get the attack wheel showing up for the NA and WE.

Not sure I like the transparent tools from the OLC mod though...interface is getting cluttered with draggable tools.

I've been using it for a couple of weeks h.sie, and its a damn good combimod. :up:
Trying to tweak a few things, for example putting the GWX pop-out compass back in, the Chief's fuel/battery report popping out from the left..

I use manual targetting, so assigned a shortcut to Auto-TDC. Because I couldnt get the button for that, working. I need to also dig the menu file for that.
Other than these personal customizations, it's very nice of you to combine these great mods into one install.

For your local setup, have you done any new additions to it since v2?

OK, I got it figured out. Problem in menu_1024_768.ini

In version 2 of your mod, I had to edit the following in order to get the attack disk to display when the WE or the NA was selected...

;;;;;;;;;;;sliderule;;;;;

[G3F I339]
Name=sliderule
Type=1026;Menu group
ItemID=0x3F070010
ParentID=0x3F070000
Pos=180,630,600,600
Color=0xFFFFFFFF
;VertSlide=-720
VertSlide=-700

and

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Angriffsscheibe

[G3F I327]
Name=Angriffscheibe
Type=1026;Menu group
ItemID=0x3F4E1000
ParentID=0x3F060000
Pos=180,630,600,600
Color=0xFFFFFFFF
;VertSlide=-720
VertSlide=-700

Will do more testing later...

EDIT

Yes. The VertSlide needs to be something larger than -720 for the whiz wheels to show up on my monitor in version 2. Currently using -715 and getting good results. Oddly, the value of -720 worked fine for me in version 1 of the combimod.

EDIT AGAIN

Might be related to lowering of officer icons in version 2...or maybe the message text window got moved. You should definately load the version 2 mod on filefront and test it. Others may have had that problem as well.

Love it
 

h.sie,

Got version 2 working now. Here are my thoughts...

1. Great job combining these three excellent mods!!! These are 3 important mods, together at last, and with some good tools from OLC.

2. Your reworked station menu is fantastic! The new stations are useful and the double column saves space. I can finally get to the log and radio messages quickly. I always forget the keystrokes and sometimes get lost in the integrated orders, your solution is the best. Your small buttons to raise and lower periscope from any station is brilliant! Well done!

3. The new navigation map tools from OLC are very nice (I changed my mind). Again, the double row of tools saves space. The depth tool thingie now seems more accurate. I wonder if this is because you got rid of the colored StrTactMap? The nomograph is much crisper, even though it is harder to use. These draggable tools sometimes get lost under the bottom user interface, but I found they can be retrieved by hitting number pad delete.

4. The new smaller font. Mixed feelings about this. I like the size, but don't like the typewriter fond. Old font was more clear. Wish I could have the old font but smaller size.

5. I love the I/O button on the TDC. Absolutely necessary. Brilliant!

6. I must have the salvo selector switch labels back. These can be editted to correct them, deleting the labels just doesn't look right.

7. I would suggest another button somewhere to open/close the tubes. Everything else for the attack is right at your fingertips. I always remember to open the tubes, right after I push the red button. :lol: If I was the engineer at Siemens, I would have put a third button between the black and red that says Open/Close.

This mod is a winner. I will be keeping it. :rock:

My suggestions are to put those salvo labels back, look into changing to a more clear font, and adding an open tubes toggle button. :hmm:

Hey piri_reis: Thank you for the positive resonance. In the appendix of the manual I described how to re-enable the GWX compass-rose.

currently I don't know, if the fuel-report can be as easily re-enabled. I only remember, that it massively interfered with other command elements of hsGUI, so I had to disable it (only moved it out of the visual area of the monitor!). but you can still access the fuel-report using the integrated order commands. or try to find the according lines in menu1024.ini and move the report back into the visible area. I can help you to find the lines.........

i'm wondering that the I/O-button for manual TDC does not work for you. for Bravo11 and me it works. It does not change its color, but after clicking it once, manual TDC entry is possible, after ckicking again, manual TDC entry is not possible.

No, v2 is currently the lastest version for me, too. currently I make printable ID-manuals for SH3, which takes time. and after that, I plan to PLAY SH3. I've never played a career, because most of the time I was working to optimise things ...... perhaps I'll never play.....??? but I'll make a version v3, which is compatible with GWX3 and then I'll consider the suggestions made in this thread.....