Tmaru: Repeat patrol fix

[Ducimus]

Ok, in light of this thread:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=120577

and this thread:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=120398

I am at an impass with this. As ive stated previously, I am really sitting on the fence with that mod. On one hand, i question if its neccessary, on the otherhand, i question if i should just make it Tmarus default installation.

Since i can't make up my mind, i guess i'll put it to a vote

[Limerick]

AKA lane2512 at ubi/sh4 forum...

Default the patrol fix into the game.

[maerean_m]

Do you mean there is a fix for the bug that keeps giving the same objective in career mode? If it is the case, do you know how is the fix implemented?

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by maerean_m

Do you mean there is a fix for the bug that keeps giving the same objective in career mode? If it is the case, do you know how is the fix implemented?

Yeah i do, i made it. its sort of a fix, but its more like fancy scripting. As im sure you know, the game normally assigns around 5 (give or take) geographical regions. Each geographical region is supposed to be picked at random, and each region has a random set of missions assigned to it.

Honshu for instance has:
- 5 insert spy missions
- 8 patrol missions
- 5 photo missions
- 8 sink missions.

So again, out of 5 or so regions, the game is supposed to pick one, and once a region is chosen, its supposed to pick a mission of the subset of missions that exist for that region. So ideally, you have alot of replaybilty there. The trouble is, it doesnt always work that way. Instead you get honshu patrol, again and again, and again.

So what i did was, take all the missions assigned to geographical regions, and split them apart into two groups. I put all patrol and sink missions in one group, and all photo, spy, commando, etc into antoher group.

So where as before all missions were under the ID handle of "Honshu", i now have two groups, "Honshu" and "HonshuOPS".


I then went back into the flotilla files and did something like this:

[Flotilla 1.UserPlayerUnitType 1.Objective 2]
ID= PH1Obj2
NameDisplayable= Empire Waters
AvailabilityInterval=1941-12-07, 1941-12-31
ObjectiveCode= Hokkaido

[Flotilla 1.UserPlayerUnitType 1.Objective 3]
ID= PH1Obj3
NameDisplayable= Empire Waters
AvailabilityInterval=1942-01-01, 1942-02-31 
ObjectiveCode= HonshuOPS

[Flotilla 1.UserPlayerUnitType 1.Objective 4]
ID= PH1Obj4
NameDisplayable= East China Sea
AvailabilityInterval=1942-03-01, 1942-04-31
ObjectiveCode= East China Sea

[Flotilla 1.UserPlayerUnitType 1.Objective 5]
ID= PH1Obj5
NameDisplayable= Formosa
AvailabilityInterval=1942-05-01, 1942-06-31
ObjectiveCode= Formosa StraitOPS

[Flotilla 1.UserPlayerUnitType 1.Objective 6]
ID= PH1Obj6
NameDisplayable= Caroline Islands
AvailabilityInterval=1942-07-01, 1942-08-31 
ObjectiveCode= Caroline Islands

[Flotilla 1.UserPlayerUnitType 1.Objective 7]
ID= PH1Obj7
NameDisplayable= Luzon Strait
AvailabilityInterval=1942-09-01, 1942-10-31
ObjectiveCode= Luzon StraitOPS

[Flotilla 1.UserPlayerUnitType 1.Objective 8]
ID= PH1Obj8
NameDisplayable= Palau Island
AvailabilityInterval=1942-11-01, 1942-12-31 
ObjectiveCode= Palau IslandOPS

[Flotilla 1.UserPlayerUnitType 1.Objective 9]
ID= PH1Obj9
NameDisplayable= Empire Waters
AvailabilityInterval=1943-01-01, 1943-02-31
ObjectiveCode= Honshu

[Flotilla 1.UserPlayerUnitType 1.Objective 10]
ID= PH1Obj10
NameDisplayable= Yellow Sea
AvailabilityInterval=1943-03-01, 1943-04-31
ObjectiveCode= Yellow SeaOPS

[Flotilla 1.UserPlayerUnitType 1.Objective 11]
ID= PH1Obj11
NameDisplayable= Empire Waters
AvailabilityInterval=1943-05-01, 1943-06-31 
ObjectiveCode= Hokkaido

What i did was force the game to pick a specific mission be making it the only available mission at the time. Where as stock, the orginal 5 geographical areas were always open, and the game tended to default to just one or two of them, and not use all of them enough. I made each mission have a 2 month time window, before i closed it, and opened the next one. As for mission types, i was careful to stagger them. Patrol, and then some sort of special operations to gain more variety. The above scripting exists for all flotillas and all boats except the S class and the alutians, for all years of the war. The normal flotilla file is about 37KB, my scripted one is about 85KB.

Thats the gist of how it works, group like missions together, stagger them to break up monotony, and the force the game to pick a mission, by making it the only one available. Most patrols plus time in port usualy run in the neighborhood of 2 months, so thats what i set the open and closure times for missions to.

[maerean_m]

Thanks, will look into it

[Rockin Robbins]

I just don't think the repeat missions bug exists. Other posters have convinced me that if you complete the mission and radio in you will have the same experience I have. I very seldom get a repeat mission. I have had six missions in my present career and probably eight in previous careers which were cut short by mod changes that I couldn't resist.

Do what you're told. Radio in when the star turns gray. Missions are truly random. Random choice guarantees some repeats. It works!

[ReallyDedPoet]

As is with the optional mod


RDP