[REQ] How to start docked at tender by default?

[Beery]

I'm looking for a way to have the game start a career mission from the 'docked at tender' position by default. Is there a mod that does this or does anyone know how to mod it?

[BBury]

This would be good. I think it all revolves around the "collision bubble?" that limits being placed within 300 meters of another ship type object.

I'd just like to be able to radio ahead for a rendezvous with a tender for fuel or possible refit.

[Ducimus]

Not sure how you can change the default selection, but i can tell you how to change the locations.

ID= PearlHarbor
NameDisplayable= Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 
ExternalBaseName=Pearl Harbor
AvailabilityInterval= NULL, NULL
DepartureDescription1= -18954703, 2562919, 45.918098 ; Enum of available points, choose one randomly each time a patrol is started
DepartureDescription2= -18954874, 2563059, 46.252201
DepartureDescriptionOut1= 21438780, 3367405, 270.000000 ; Enum of starting points for when the player selects the option to start outside the base

Pretty self explanitory i think. How you get the coordinates is you open up the LND layer and search for a base name. Then copy and paste the lat,long, heading into your flotilla file, and here is where one must be careful, else this will happen:
http://www.ducimus.net/sh4/modding_oops_01.jpg
http://www.ducimus.net/sh4/modding_oops_02.jpg
Not all bases in the LND layer are over water


You can pretty much have the player start whereever you want. In the above code block, those coords for the DepartureDescriptionOut1, put the player past the international dateline, just west of midway, thereby avoiding the IDL bug. How i got those coords was i took a copy of the LND layer, placed a dummy base on it , saved the file, then opend it in wordpad, searched for the base, and got the coords. You'll pretty much have to do something similar.

The trick is starting IN bases. THe problem being that by default the editor doesnt show dock structures on the map. In SH3, there was two ways i was aware of to get this displayed. A fancy hex edited version of the editor, which tend to be propriatry and otherwise not made available for joe modder, or to copy the entire bloody game into another directory. Using the mission editor in the 2nd copy of the game, to access the first. My theory is with resouces in two locations, stuff gets overlayd or something, im not sure why it worked, but in SH3, it just did.

So however you get dock information to be displayed, then you can go about setting your starting points to get coordinate information out of.

[tater]

The merge function in the editor can be used to show the bases on the map--albeit in their kinda low res versions.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=111790

tater

[Ducimus]

Sweet. Thats awesome, much less of a headache. The editor for SH4 has changed so some things are news to me. I just wish it had native 1024X768 support. Run it at that res and some of the dialaog boxes get truncated on the bottom of the screen.

[Beery]

I think I'm not explaining myself properly. When you start a patrol you have two options - start outside the harbour (default) or start docked at the tender (not default). I'm trying to find a way to start at the tender by default. If I plug in a new start position it's still going to try to get me to start a mission 'outside the harbour' even if I adjust all the start positions to be inside the harbour. What I want to do is change the start patrol screen's 'in harbour' start position dialog box so it's checked by default.

[CaptainCox]

Had a look in the "menu" and "menu_1024_768" docs...

In the "menu_1024_768" starts at line

[G4D I1]
Name=Page CareerWhereToStart
Type=1027;Menu page
ItemID=0x4D000000
ParentID=0x0
Pos=0,0,1024,768
Zone= 0 768 1024 768 2 1 0x0 0 0 0x4D000000 0 0 0 0
LoadingMode=1

[G4D I6]
Name=CkSetAsDefaultAction

[G4D I7]
Name=Selection DefaultAction

[G4D I8]
Name=CkDocked

[G4D I9]
Name=Selection Docked

[G4D I10]
Name=CkOutside

Ends at line
[G4D I21]

I think there is stuff there one could tweak.

I think maybe playing with the "
[G4D I10]
Name=CkOutside" could help you further.

In the "menu" I only found this

5834=Docked at tender
5835=Outside the harbor
5836=Where do you want to start from?

I think not as significant maybe...


EDIT: thinking a bit more about this I wonder if this will help as its mainly "graphic" interfaces. I guess you could get rid of the tic box for "outside, but you would still get that screen...

AFAIK, the one you ticked will remain ticked for the next time, but you would still get that screen, and I guess that's what you want to get rid of right?. Always just start docked, without having to select.

EDIT: thinking some more...maybe by just using ; you could try to simply null out that code block :p...did not try myself but could be worth a try.

I am not 100% but I think you don't want to use the "menu_1024_768" in your mod...maybe in this case there is no way around it...

[Elphaba]

Hi

Maybe I'm a little off topic here, but in SH4 ( or SH3 for that matter ) is there a way of STARTING a mission ALREADY IN / NEAR your designated mission area?

i.e. cutting out the long process of trawling all the way there?

If not directly (because the mission area is always different) what about an SHIV one that always starts you in the middle of the phillipean sea, and a SHIII one that starts you just off the Irish West coast?

Thanks!

[Safe-Keeper]

Would be a nice idea for the next patch, to just have the system bypass the menu onc

[7Enigma]

Originally Posted by Elphaba

Hi

Maybe I'm a little off topic here, but in SH4 ( or SH3 for that matter ) is there a way of STARTING a mission ALREADY IN / NEAR your designated mission area?

i.e. cutting out the long process of trawling all the way there?

If not directly (because the mission area is always different) what about an SHIV one that always starts you in the middle of the phillipean sea, and a SHIII one that starts you just off the Irish West coast?

Thanks!

I second this! While not historically accurate, I would prefer to spend most of my time actually hunting rather than getting to the place to hunt. Would also make those pesky planes become much less of a problem...

[Beery]

There is no easy way to start at the destination since the destinations are randomly generated. It would be possible if the campaign game was reduced to a linear campaign, but I'm not sure who would want that.

[Elphaba]

Hi Beery

No, if you re-read my post I did say that I guesed because the mission destinations are always different, maybe a FIXED starting position could be modded - one that put you alot closer to the action ( i.e. SH3 Just off the West Irish Coast and SH4 In the center of the Phillipean sea) so that transit time to the mission co-ords takes less time than all that from going around the aussie continent or all the way from pearl harbour etc..

Surely that can be modded? If you could find out the map co-ords and hard code them to be the starting position...

I'm no modder but can someone help? It seems like a really useful (for those who want it) mod that bridges between the two.