Watch officer scanning cycle
 

Hi all,

I have a question concerning the watch officer's scanning cycle. If I ask the watch officer for the distance to the nearest visual contact, he puts down his binoculars and tells me the distance. Then he takes them up again, but does not continue to rotate again (the figure). Now I am wondering whether only the figure does not rotate anymore or whether also the sensor is frozen to a direction. The latter would be really bad.

I am wondering about it because some time ago Kpt. Lehmann wrote in a thread ( http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=135244 )

'In addition to loss of bridge crew interaction, the free cam mod caused the watch officer to periodically freeze his scanning cycle... and as he represents one of the more powerful visual sensors aboard, exclusion of the mod was logical.'

So, the question is whether the scanning cycle is also frozen when I ask for the nearest contact.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

Cheers, LGN1

Hi !

Interesting question LGN1 , I've not even noticed! The answer I would also be interested! :hmmm: !

Best regards,
Magic

Moin,

I´m certainly not the authority on this subject, but this is what i reckon. The models of the crew just rotate to give the impression of a real scanning process. The state machine system indicates that they will spot a target regardless of direction of view as long as it is present in their sector. There is an entry named 'RotateToTarget'. Whenever a target enters the detection range / range of view the respective watch will report it and turn to it´s direction immediately. So, you´ll never know he reported the target before actually looking into the right direction. The watch officer is indeed a more powerful sensor, but the reason for that is obvious in 'WatchMan' node. While the sectors of each watch crew covers 90° only, the watch officer has a full 360° view. As a conclusion it does not matter whether any of your watch crew is standing still transfixed to the spot or not. He will spot the target anyway when close enough.

That´s my two EuroCents. I´m not sure I´m right. So, please, don´t nail me down on that. ;)

Regards,
DD

Just as a confirmation on that - watch him while you are manuevering through a busy harbor. He will be constantly turning to you, reporting a ship contact, then never gets back to scanning before another contact report comes in and he re-starts the whole routine.

Hi all,

thanks for the comments. It was also my impression that the sensor rotation and the rotation of the WO are disconnected. However, I am still wondering about the comment of Kpt. Lehmann. How did he/the GWX team figured it out that there was a problem? What is the problem exactly?

Anyway, I guess I will ask him via PM.

Thanks again, cheers, LGN1

Hi Padvotke,

I would like to know in general how the scanning cycle can be broken and how to find it out. The reason is that, e.g., in the Open Hatch mod a free cam is implemented. In this mod you can also not klick on the WO again. The only way to get him rotating again is to leave the bridge.

In addition, I have assigned a key to get the distance to the nearest target and I use it a lot when shadowing a target (in map view). So, I do not want to go to the bridge all the time to get him rotating again.

Anyway, I think we agree that the distance to nearest target command is no problem. However, the questions remains how the cycle can be broken and how to find it out. I think the answer to this question is important for the OH mod and many other camera mods.

Best, LGN1

Hi LGN1. I received your PM.
I'm not really able to add more to the conversation here apart from what I've already posted in reference to an old freecam modification that we could not use.

Your watchmen are a representation of visual sensors that pan one way and then the other... Your 1WO has a 360 degree scanning pattern while lesser watchmen scan quadrants.

With the old freecam mod that we couldn't use for GWX appeared to interrupt the scanning cycle of the 1WO completely... and you were also required to leave the bridge to get him scanning again. It may be that only the 1WO animation was interrupted... and not the scan cycle itself... but it did indeed appear to interrupt the 1WO's visual sensor scan also. I couldn't be 1000% sure... but given its problems and apparent sensor breakage, I vetoed its use in the GWX core files.

If the same matter is occurring with DivingDuck's latest open hatch mod, I'm sure he can either correct the interruption without losing user interaction with the 1WO/animation/visual scan cycle... or that particular freecam can be removed in subsequent versions in favor of previous fully functioning versions, if it cannot be corrected.

IMHO, losing user interaction with the crew and/or the possibility of sensor functionalality breakage is too costly to retain for the sake of a new feature.

I really love DivingDuck's work and follow it more closely than most things here at Subsim. DD is a great guy that I've gotten to work closely with and consider a friend. I'm CERTAIN that he won't be happy with open hatch mod matters until they all function without an unacceptable cost.

DivingDuck's OH mods are still a work in progress. Keep the faith! The fat lady hasn't sung yet.:arrgh!:

Moin,

how dare you call me a fat lady, KL? :rotfl2: And you don´t want to hear me sing!

Like the Kpt I´m not 100% sure the scanning cycle stays intact while the bugger is hanging loose. But the entries in state machine indicate it. So, my conclusion is based on circumstantial evidence.

The actual state, the watch officer reporting the nearest visual target, does not satisfy me. Recent tests showed that the player loses the rest of the interaction.

Btw, you can make him re-start his scanning cycle by switching to UZO / binocs and back.


Regards,
DD

Moin,

found a way to make the slacker continue his cycle while in free cam mode with full interactivity. But it came at the cost of an arm and a leg. Half the brain is lost to OH already. So it doesn´t really matter. :D

Regards,
DD

Oh come on, DD! Just a little bit???? Its a long way to Tipperary? :arrgh!:

Hi all,

thanks for the comments and taking the time to investigate the problem. The question bothered me already quite some time, but since I never really experienced a problem, I didn't ask earlier. Anyway, as long as I do not see any clear evidence/experience any strange things, I assume the sensors work fine even when the WO is 'frozen'.

@DD: Could you say a bit more about the 'Recent tests showed that the player loses the rest of the interaction.' ? Which interaction do you mean?

Again, thanks for all the 2cents from everybody :yep:

Cheers, LGN1

Moin,
I hate this song!



when clicking the watch officer you haven´t been offered the selection of commands to choose from. That´s what bothered me in recent tests. So, I decided to go back to the common 'CMD_Watch_officer' and reworked the 'UZO.dat' to make him continue his scanning cycle after shouting orders to the crew/CR through his megaphone. 'UZOR.dat' still needs to be adjusted though.





Regards,
DD

Hello !

Okay, I will also do!

I would also say thanks for the comments, it is an interesting Thread!

Best regards,
Magic