Well, following the best efforts of a few to sabotage the release of GWX 2.0 during the donation week for Subsim, GWX 2.0 has certainly proven to be a a huge success.
As much as it scratches at our nerves, there is a short list of things that need a touch of polish. We are also quite happy that so few things need adjusting.
Interesting development for us...
Following the release of GWX 2.0, we have also been contacted by Ms. Pamela Armstrong, Co-Author of the 'Silent Warriors' series detailing submarine wrecks in British coastal waters, who graciously offered us previously unavailable material directly relating to the U-boat war, only recently declassified by the British Admiralty. Naturally, we accepted her kind offer and will be implimenting this information in the GWX campaign as best we can within the limitations of SH3.
This information has not yet been published anywhere.
All I will say for now is that it relates to minefields.
Ms. Armstrong also sent us information pertaining to British submarine bases and we have already begun to refine these installations in relation to the GWX campaign files.
I can say that it caused quite a stir in our development forum to find that she plays and enjoys GWX. Following her kind permission, some of her remarks will appear in appropriate settings.
You can review the first of the 'Silent Warriors' series authored by Ron Young and Pamela Armstrong here:
http://www.divernet.com/cgi-bin/arti...n=display&show=
Other things on the 'radar' to be adjusted assuming testing is successful:
"Black triangles on the horizon issue": This is a graphics issue documented with SH3 as noted in the STOCK SH3 readme in your main 'SilentHunterIII' directory. It would seem that though this has usually been attributed to a graphics card issue, (...and it certainly does show more often with certain hardware) all the same we think we may have found a fix. Though I've never experienced it, the fix seems innocent enough to at least attempt.
If you recall, the stock game comes with an 8km limit to the visible world. The 16km visibility mods were a creation of this community, and as a result of doubling the stock settings... it would seem quite possible that the 'black triangles' would still exist having been unknowingly carried over.
Armed Trawler CTD's soon after it depthcharges itself:
This fix is downloadable in JSGME format at the bottom of this post.
I'm not one for bashing the SH3 devs, but it looks like we found a shortcut they took in reference to ships that have a habit of depthcharging themselves when the player is at a shallow depth in-game.
Portions from one of my posts in our dev forum regarding this matter: (refined for casual users)
Important regarding depth precision! (ASW vessel suicide by self depthcharging)
The big problem with setting the depth precision to a low number... is that the old 'laser-guided depth charges' issue returns....
Tightening/reducing the depth precision value will make being depth-charged even less surviveable. Adjusting this value should be viewed as a LAST DESPERATE action... and cannot be allowed to be reduced below '10m.'
ALSO, The damaging blast radius of the standard 'ashcan' DC is set to 14m.
As a result any depth precision of 14 or less will probably damage the player sub every time that DC's are fired on-target in the horizontal plane. (The ****** will REALLY cry to momma then!)
Since we can't decrease the laser guided accuracy on the horizontal plane, we are stuck with having to decrease the stock DC accuracy by loosening the depth precision... which represents the vertical plane as you guys know.
Secondarily, if we change the damage output values of the DC's in any way, it will upset the entire player U-boat damage model in unknown ways.... and apart from people hoping for ***deleted***
This is going to be a tough fix guys.
We are going to have to approach it from a combination of angles... and is why I think it is more attractive.... to make stern DC racks invulnerable to damage and propellors very tough to damage by DC... as opposed to changing things that remove other good effects... or reintroduce old bad bugs.
SH3 leaves us with too little string to tie our boots here.
ASW units blowing themselves up certainly happened in stock SH3... unfortunately it looks like our corrective measures made to remove the perfect ballistic solutions generated by the AI in SH3... increased the frequency of ASW unit suicide though damn it.
The measurements in question have been largely unchanged since before GWX... since TGW 1.0 even. For our first release, the DC settings were one of the most tested changes.
This absolutley sucks... and I HATE it that it is used as a CHEAT by players to exploit a weakness in the game at shallow depths. If only the 'detonate_depth' entries in the DepthCharges.sim were functional... it would be an easy fix. Instead we are stuck with a complicated problem to somehow sort.
*Updated version of the GWX manual
*British and Russian AI sub drafts to be adjusted
*SH3 Commander 'sabotage-malfunctions' option generated random CTD's and affects some users. FIX DOWNLOAD below
*U-boat conning towers may be adjusted (nothing to worry about guys... graphic in nature)
*Two multiplayer missions containing CTD causing agents will be corrected. ('Bismarck Breakout' and 'Carribean Convoy')
*Inclusion of Open Hatch optional mod by Diving Duck
*Will attempt to fix problem in GWX causing destabilization of gravity, rifts in the time-space continuum, global sterilization of hamsters, deforestation in the Amazon, El Nino' weather phenomenon, and acid rain in Borneo. Though in all likelyhood, GWX will still be 'too hard' for those in the peanut gallery.
*Mediterranean Axis aircraft skins optional mod more appropriate for those who like to sail in that operational area.
*Maybe something cool that flies.
(Rocket powered refridgerator possibly?:hmm: )
*More neat stuff from Diving Duck that no-one has even
THUNK about for SH3 yet! (Yes I spelled that wrong on purpose.)
*Sergbuto's Camera Mod following refinement to retain dozens of other GWX camera settings. (Effort to make fully compatible.)
*Maximum elevation fixes for some guns in GWX.
*Location of anchor on player Type IID U-boat correction
*Directional 'tails' will not be reintroduced on contacts... as you are able to see the shape and heading of vessels on the map AFTER you close to visual range and zoom in on said map. Contact tails yield overly precise information for distant 'radio contacts' that is often obsolete following interceptions by the player anyway... as a result of random waypoint and speed changes enabled for ships/convoys in the GWX campaign files anyway. (Where is the fun in plotting a successful intercept 100% of the time? For many, too much success is a serious 'immersion killer.' Half the fun is the uncertainty of the HUNT!
)
Armed Trawler CTD fix: (Please note! This fixes a CTD, not 'suicide by depthcharge')
http://files.filefront.com/GWX+20+Armed+Trawler+Patch7z/;9365112;/fileinfo.html
SH3 Commander Configuration files for GWX Update:
http://files.filefront.com/GWX+21Beta+Cfg+4+SH3Cmdr7z/;9365101;/fileinfo.html
More comments on the GWX 2.1 update build may be added here if needed and when I have time.
We will release the GWX 2.1 update on January 31st.