Hey Reaper. Sorry I've been incommunicado. I just got really fed up with Silent Hunter and all things Silent Hunter and needed a break. So I've been playing Men of War. Now I'm sick of that and ready to sink ships again. Turns out it was a smart move on my part. I find your patch already uploaded. I've installed it and it fixes the last major problem I had which was the Tri-Ring Compass. Now that I can use the thing, I love it. A very handy little gadget. Makes giving course orders very organic and simple without having to add/subtract and multiply in order to know where to turn. I still like my bearing plotter for the drawing on the nav map though. And you are still welcome to it if you want it, although I'm sure alot of people wouldn't like it. The one I have now at least looks (to me) very nice.
I have made an RAOBFMarkings.dds for my personal use which is as close as the limitations of Paint.Net and the mysteries of SH5 will allow me to come to getting accurate readings with the RAOBF. Pictures follow. I would like to have made the lines slimmer, but it was impossible to make the marks work out that way. So I had to thicken them to three pixels. The important thing is, it works. I very rarely use the stadimeter anymore for range because it resets the AOB and speed in the TDC and the RAOBF is giving (apparently) very accurate AOB calculations. Using my markings dds exclusively I now can use the RAOBF confidently at ranges up to (over?) 3 km which is a long shot in this game at targets moving at whatever speed or aspect should arise. I am now enjoying SH5 again.
Here's the Hog Island again at 1200 m. 10 marks to a side x 4 = 40 is 90.
Mast height works out.
Next, Large Steamer at around 2km.
Mast height gives good range.
Horizontal marks too close to bicker with. Close enough to kill the ship, that's all I care about.
This works with your Cameras file at 1440 X 900. I need to put the rest of the numbers on the left side.
It
should work for anyone using the same cameras.dat and at the same aspect ratio, but at this point I hesitate to say so. What works for others has failed to work for me so far.
Anyway. If you'd like it even just to try it and see if it works, you are welcome to it. PM me if so.
The mod works for me now without any game-breaking problems but I have a little bug report prepared for you in case you mean to perfect it more. If I repeat anything anyone has already mentioned, I apologize.
There is still an occasional problem with the icons for the left and right TDC panels disappearing at the Attack Periscope position (don't know about the OBS periscope, hardly use it). Opening the Nav map and closing it restores them.
The Tac map has a tendency to stop working. A button I don't know about? edit: clicking the "Hide" button to hide the bottom interface panel and then clicking to bring it back makes the Tac map functional.
The Navigator has a tendency to stop providing me with Depth Under Keel, and always when I desperately need to know the depth under my keel. He will still give me any other information I ask for--range to course end, etc.
This next is not a bug, but a suggestion. Weren't there coordinates for Long and Lat on the Nav map originally? Did you remove them? If so, why not put them back? They can come in handy for locating ship and convoy sightings when playing at full realism.
That's about it. Love the mod. Wish I knew how to use that cool, mysterious new wheel at the Obs Periscope. Tutorial to follow?
Ah, yes. The blinking light on the Stadimeter Send Button is a very nice touch.