Egads! Massive frame rate hit when searchlighted

[schlechter pfennig]

I usually get between 20 -40 fps out at sea, even with a lot of ships around me (like a convoy; port is another story entirely). After making a surface attack on a convoy in the middle of the night, a soon as the eels went off I was lit up like nobody's business. Considering I launched 400 meters from some gawdawful big merchant I didn't have a lot of time to get moving away.

No sooner did all those searchlights hit me then my frame rate dropped down to 2 - 4! Not exactly what you want happening as a Black Swan a mere 1,700 meters away also had you spotlighted!

Is such a frame rate hit normal when a lot of searchlights are on?

[h.sie]

seems to be a driver or software problem. have the same frame rate stuttering with xp 32 bit. so i made a second install with vista 64 bit - works perfect.

[schlechter pfennig]

Originally Posted by h.sie

seems to be a driver or software problem. have the same frame rate stuttering with xp 32 bit. so i made a second install with vista 64 bit - works perfect.

Drat! Well Vista 64 bit is out of the question for me at the moment. Thanks for the tip though!

[bigboywooly]

Heres a couple of previous threads with same thing

This one tells you how to remove some of the lights or all if you want

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...ht=searchlight

And this one is a searchlight mod from OLC

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...=Search+lights

So you can combo both if you want

[schlechter pfennig]

Originally Posted by bigboywooly

Heres a couple of previous threads with same thing

This one tells you how to remove some of the lights or all if you want

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...ht=searchlight

And this one is a searchlight mod from OLC

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...=Search+lights

So you can combo both if you want

Danke!

After having reviewed both, I think I'll go with the removal one. I don't mind the length and brightness, it's just the amount of 'em that seems to bugger up my frame rate.

I just wish to confirm something: did or did not the majority of merchants carry and use searchlights?

[bigboywooly]

Toughie that
Guess not all carried them so its realistic to remove most

[schlechter pfennig]

Originally Posted by bigboywooly

Toughie that
Guess not all carried them so its realistic to remove most

OK, inane question #2: if I remove most, but not all . . . which classes are the most realistic/historical to leave the searchlights?

[bigboywooly]

Not an inane question but not sure I know the answer
lol
Possibly just the larger units

Wheres Sailor Steve when you need him
Right up his alley this subject

[schlechter pfennig]

Originally Posted by bigboywooly

Not an inane question but not sure I know the answer
lol
Possibly just the larger units

Wheres Sailor Steve when you need him
Right up his alley this subject

I think I'm likely to just remove the searchlights from all the merchants, except maybe tugboats, trawlers, fishing boats, etc.

Quick question though: If I go to Go to data\Sea, open the individual merchant's Sea folder, then open the Eqp file in Notepad and replace the entries REF_small01\ REF_small or REF_big with NULL, will then activating mods like GWX 3 Wilhemshafen, St Naz,Schluese and xtra ships V5, or LifeBoats&Debris_v4, or Merchant Fleet Mod then overwrite/replace those values?

[bigboywooly]

Originally Posted by schlechter pfennig

I think I'm likely to just remove the searchlights from all the merchants, except maybe tugboats, trawlers, fishing boats, etc.

Quick question though: If I go to Go to data\Sea, open the individual merchant's Sea folder, then open the Eqp file in Notepad and replace the entries REF_small01\ REF_small or REF_big with NULL, will then activating mods like GWX 3 Wilhemshafen, St Naz,Schluese and xtra ships V5, or LifeBoats&Debris_v4, or Merchant Fleet Mod then overwrite/replace those values?

No it wont overwrite those changes but any new units in those DLs will need going thru as well
Best to do before enabling with JSGME so always done in your files

[h.sie]

I'm also interested in an answer how to make searchlights of convoys/merchants/tankers more realistic. Perhaps I'll look which ships in NYGM are equipped and which are not.

Sailor Steve ...........what do you think???

h.sie

[h.sie]

In NYGM there are a few unarmed ships (hospital ships, cargo, tanker) which do have searchlights: not for searching enemies, but to enlighten their flags to show their neutrality. does GWX also have such ships? if so, I think it would be a good idea not to delete their lights.

In the next days I'll start to make a "delete searchlights" mod for my personal use, but if there is interest, I'll share it with the community.

Unfortunately I need some help from people with historical knowledge, in order to decide which lights to delete and which not.

[bigboywooly]

Yeah GWX has them also
NLLS,NLSs.NLSQ,NLPL,NPTL,NLTF,NLTMs,NLTSf,NHSL from memory
and a couple of fishing boats too
But IIRC the searchlights are just that on those vessels
Searchlights
The lights showing the flags arent on the EQP AFAIK

[h.sie]

thanks, bbw. that means one could (should) remove all (or at least almost all) lights from the merchants and tankers .eqp files. should be an easy job.

[schlechter pfennig]

Originally Posted by h.sie

thanks, bbw. that means one could (should) remove all (or at least almost all) lights from the merchants and tankers .eqp files. should be an easy job.

Well, I was just starting to work on a mod to do this, but I seem to have been a wee bit too slow.

What I was thinking of doing was removing the searchlights from all merchants, except for ones like tugboats, trawlers, fishing boats, etc., that I thought could reasonably be expected to have lights simply due to the nature of their jobs.

Also, I'm using the "GWX 3 Wilhemshafen,St Naz,Schluese and xtra ships V5" mod. Will what you're working on remove the searchlights from whatever extra ships are included there?