[Mush Martin]

Changing Startup features by Mush Martin


Ok finally were off and running.

Lets make a gato class available at pearl harbour at the beginning
of the war and lets change our entry date so we spawn on dec 7 1941
and add a bit of spending money.

To begin Open the following//

C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter 4 Wolves of the Pacific\Data

lets make back up copies of Submarine, UPC and Roster files.
that you see inside the Data file.

For this tutorial I'm going to use vanilla 1.4 files
but it matters only a little I will talk more about this
near the end of this segment.

lets take the first step now and set up a mod folder to work in

create a new folder
Name it "Mymod" or whatever you please.

open the Mymod folder and create another new folder inside
Name this folder Data.

open the Data folder you just made and copy and paste
the three files mentioned above into it.
that is Submarine, UPC and Roster files.
now before we are done open the roster file
and delete the following as we wont need it
and its removal will keep the size of the mod
down and consequently its load time.

in the Roster file delete everything
but the american file. we're not done yet
next open the american file and delete
everything but submarine.

first step done
you have assembled your mod folder and it didnt hurt a bit.


now lets open the mymod folder and put in a readme using
notepad this isnt a release readme this is a breadcrumbs
readme its not mandatory but its a good idea.



Next were going to sort of explore file structures and how
they work a bit. But rather than learning by wrote
We are going to learn about them by doing.
So were first going to give ourselves a raise.

Open the mymod data folder and open the UPC file within it.
There you will see this

four folders and two files
the folders should be

UPCCampaignData
UPCCrewData
UPCLocalization
UPCUnitsData

and the two files

Gameplay settings
UserPlayersettings

lets open up the UPCCampaignData folder

Here you will see seven files open the one
called career start.


Ok, so at the top here we see this

[CareerStart 1]
ID= Beginning
NameDisplayable= 1941
StartTimeInterval=1941-12-08, 1942-02-01
BackgroundPic= 1941.tga
CareerStartBriefingText= The war has just started, and we're being beaten.
RenownOptions= 1000, 2000, 5000

[CareerStart 1.Flotilla 1]
ID= C1Flotilla1
NameDisplayable= Pearl Harbor
IDLinkFlotilla= PearlHarborCommand
IDLinkUserPlayerUnits= F1Porpoise, 4, F1Tambor, 5, F1Gar, 4
FlotillaBriefingText=
FlotillaCommonality= 1

[CareerStart 1.Flotilla 2]
ID= C1Flotilla2
NameDisplayable= Manila
IDLinkFlotilla= FremantleCommand
IDLinkUserPlayerUnits= F2Sboat, 6, F2Porpoise, 7, F2Salmon, 6, F2Sargo, 11
FlotillaBriefingText=
FlotillaCommonality= 2

The first entry above designates when your career starts and how much
money you have the second two entries are defining what flotillas
you can choose from for that start date.

So have a look closely at the first entry

NameDisplayable= 1941
(changeable)

StartTimeInterval=1941-12-08, 1942-02-01
(changeable)

BackgroundPic= 1941.tga
(changeable)

CareerStartBriefingText= The war has just started, and we're being beaten.
(changeable)

RenownOptions= 1000, 2000, 5000
(changeable)

So for starters lets change the above entry
to something more able to suppport the war economy.

lets make our choices 2500, 5000, 7500, 10000


when your done this is what it should look like
[CareerStart 1]
ID= Beginning
NameDisplayable= 1941
StartTimeInterval=1941-12-08, 1942-02-01
BackgroundPic= 1941.tga
CareerStartBriefingText= The war has just started, and we're being beaten.
RenownOptions= 2500, 5000, 7500, 10000

(note we did not add a fourth slot above there always was an unused slot)

For this step now lets also change the entry date for our career
to december fifth I use the fifth because theres variables in the
time consumed during career screen which I suspect are relevant to
to crew and equipment changes.

so in the above entry change
StartTimeInterval=1941-12-08, 1942-02-01
to
StartTimeInterval=1941-12-05, 1942-02-01

the finished product shouod now look like this.

[CareerStart 1]
ID= Beginning
NameDisplayable= 1941
StartTimeInterval=1941-12-05, 1942-02-01
BackgroundPic= 1941.tga
CareerStartBriefingText= The war has just started, and we're being beaten.
RenownOptions= 2500, 5000, 7500, 10000

[Edit] (missed procedure)
As Pointed out by Gunner below this procedure was missed take the step
here.
Mymod_alfa_1.0\Data\UPCData\UPCCampaignData
and open the Flotillas UPC file
there you will see this.

[Flotilla 1.UserPlayerUnitType 4]
ID= F1Gato
NameDisplayable= Gato class
AvailabilityInterval= NULL, NULL <---------(here change the start date to Null or 19411101)
IDLinkUserPlayerUnitType= Gato
UnitTypeCommonality= 10
IDFlotillaLinkTransferTo= NULL

Thanks Gunner




SAVE & NOTE ALL CHANGE IN BREADCRUMBS.

(either type out a description of changes or to save time
copy the unmodded segment and the modded segment for comparison
with a short note)

those of you who havent modded congratulations you just have
taken your first step.

now because ive done the money thing and the date thing
enough times in this specific case we arent going to test
it we will just move on to the next step.

staying on the career start file lets move onto entry two.

[CareerStart 1.Flotilla 1]
ID= C1Flotilla1
NameDisplayable= Pearl Harbor
IDLinkFlotilla= PearlHarborCommand
IDLinkUserPlayerUnits= F1Porpoise, 4, F1Tambor, 5, F1Gar, 4
FlotillaBriefingText=
FlotillaCommonality= 1

To start with it says

ID= C1Flotilla1
(this is the ID the game uses Career1Flotilla1)

NameDisplayable= Pearl Harbor
(changeable)

IDLinkFlotilla= PearlHarborCommand
(this is not changeable except using properly designated link names)


IDLinkUserPlayerUnits= F1Porpoise, 4, F1Tambor, 5, F1Gar, 4

(here we see what subs are available at flotilla one.
the little F1 at the start of each subname denotes the flotilla
the sub belongs too.
the subnames you can figure out but the little number
after each subname is how many boats are in the flotilla
of that type.)

as for

FlotillaBriefingText=
(this isnt used in game atm)
FlotillaCommonality= 1
(the game uses this when a random sub is selected
to generate probability of a given model being the one
somehow)

Now lets go back to this line.
IDLinkUserPlayerUnits= F1Porpoise, 4, F1Tambor, 5, F1Gar, 4

in order to change a sub you can simply substitute
for an existing boat like this

change say ....F1Porpoise, 4 and turn it into
F1Gato, 6

the above method replaces the porpoise boats
with gato boats and adds another two boats
to the flotilla.

the other possiblity here is just adding another
instead of substituting.

so instead of changing one we leave the existing ones
and add
F1Gato, 4 onto the end of the existing list.

The finished product should look like this.

[CareerStart 1.Flotilla 1]
ID= C1Flotilla1
NameDisplayable= Pearl Harbor
IDLinkFlotilla= PearlHarborCommand
IDLinkUserPlayerUnits= F1Porpoise, 4, F1Tambor, 5, F1Gar, 4, F1Gato, 4
FlotillaBriefingText=
FlotillaCommonality= 1

Note: if the number of subs exceeds the number of
slots on screen in the game then you will be able
to scroll down the list ingame to find the additional
subs.

for "Mymod" lets do that now
just add gato boats to the list for pearl harbour
as described above and make sure your format
of commas and spacings are all correct.

SAVE & NOTE CHANGE IN BREADCRUMBS.

Before we are done though we should make some Gato hulls
available on the starting date
so quickly open the file

C:\Documents and Settings\Game\Desktop\Mymod\Data\Roster\American\S ubmarine

and open the file SSGato cfg.
see the first entry

[UnitClass]
ClassName=SSGato
UnitType=200
AppearanceDate=19411101
DisappearanceDate=19721015
DisplayName=US Gato

the appearance date precedes gamestart so we dont need to change this
at the moment. but down below.

[Unit 1]
Name=USS Drum
DOC=19411101
DOD=19460216

[Unit 2]
Name=USS Flying Fish
DOC=19411101
DOD=19540528

[Unit 3]
Name=USS Silversides
DOC=19411101
DOD=19460417

[Unit 4]
Name=USS Gato
DOC=19411101
DOD=19600401

I have changed the dates on the first four gato hulls so that there are
four names available at the time that our mod has put in the four subs that
we put into the pearl harbour flotilla at the beginning of the war.

thats what I mean about understanding file structure its not what the line
of code means thats usually indicated its how the file connects to other files
that makes the difference and thats the key to being able to text mod.
its also what im here to try and teach you. not how to put on a gun
how to hook it up.


back to work.

if your number of boats exceed the spots on screen
in game in the career screen then you will be able to scroll
down on the career screen list to see the additonal boats.

So now lets copy mymodalfa1.0 to the mods folder
theb activate the mod in JSGME
next start up your game its time to test.
Go through the career screen
you should be able now to choose a Gato class boat
and ten thousand smackers and when you spawn in game
the date should be Dec 6 or 7 depending on a few variables.

Note: dont bother to arm or equip your boat
and dont stop to choose a crew just go straight through
and start game at this point your only trying to confirm
the boat will spawn properly and confirm the date.
if you stop to choose a crew everytime you test
you will be months instead of days doing it.

IMPORTANT: Never make changes to an activated mod always
deactivate prior to making changes.

assuming for a minute that you have never made a mod before
congratulations you have just made your first and activated
it.

Change Mod number now to Mymod_alfa_1.0

(when we get to the next segment it is this
version we will use to start up with and build
on so keep a fresh copy somewhere, as long
as you have put all the stuff into your breadcrumbs
and have saved Mymod_alfa_1.0 then you can delete
the original Mymod that we made. to save on
clutter and confusion.)



Now a few words about this technique.
it is done on and for use with SHIV patched 1.4
this mod as is wont likely work with RFB TM or SSM

this is how you can make changes compatable with your
favourite major mod.

the technique will work just fine but
if you are going to use the technique on a game where
you are going to be using TM or RFB or SSM or for that
matter any major mod. then you should make copy and
use the appropriate mod files from that mod not your
game so as to not lose other changes from the original
author that you didnt want to lose and didnt alter yourself.

So in the example above instead of copying
the files from the game into your mymod folder.
You would copy them from your major mod,
into your mymod folder.
After which you would then alter them

The important thing to remember here is
that your mod should go into the game
After the major mod the files were copied
from.

If you are releasing a mod for public
consumption you must always give credit to the
original author of the files you based your
changes on and advise you mods users to activate
it over top of not underneath the major mod of choice.
that is what I meant by special instructions in the
bit about readme's at the beginning.

The next segment from me will be on upgrade packs
Ive gone through and followed these instructions
and it should work for you fine but if I did something
wrong in the instructions.
Then post it below as opposed to if something
went wrong with your mod. Because I can guarantee
something will go wrong with your mod even with perfect
instructions.At least in the beginning until you learn
to use breadcrumbs and close unecessary screens and stuff.

Good Luck and thanks for stopping by.

Mush