Very important modding issue

[supposedtobeworking]

I think this is important, hence the title, and I have not found a mod that does this, but is it possible to program an audible notification when a contact is reported on the navmap?? i.e. for single contacts as well as convoys as soon as they appear on the map? Because I like to let the time compression go at 256x, and sometimes it can be quite a while until a contact shows up, and in order to catch it I have to be glued to the navmap. It would be nice to be abel to go off and do something else in the game or in real life, while I wait for contacts to be reported audibly, and then drop whatever I am doing or holding (hopefully it will not break) and rush over to the navmap to get a position....that would make SH3 more fun and immersive I think.

If an audible notification is not possible, what about a trigger to drop time copmpression to 1x when a contact does show up on the navmap--this happens occasionally, but more often then not, with convoys esp., by the time I look up to the monitor from reading my book, a contact has shown up and been on the map for 6 or 7 hours game time....

[THE_MASK]

I second that.

[Ducimus]

Somwhere in your MyDocuments/sh3/ directory is a file called main.cfg.It defines time compression settings. Assigning a value of "-1" for a given action will pause the game.

[supposedtobeworking]

assigning--how do you do that? I've checked the existing settings in that file and SH3Cmdr, but no event exists in the file to do what I want. Are you saying that you can specify time compress values for specific events in game by adding the event to the file?? if so, how do you do this? thx

[Ducimus]

Somwhere in MyDocuments/sh3/ is a file called Main.cfg. You can edit this in notepad.

Want to increase your maximum TC to 2048? Thats the file to play with. Want to increase the TC near land to 1024 instead of X1? this is the file. Want to have aircraft warnings pause the game? again, this is the file

[JScones]

Originally Posted by supposedtobeworking

assigning--how do you do that? I've checked the existing settings in that file and SH3Cmdr, but no event exists in the file to do what I want. Are you saying that you can specify time compress values for specific events in game by adding the event to the file?? if so, how do you do this? thx

In SH3Cmdr select SH3 Options then Time Compression. Then just set the required value for the required event. Setting 0 means pause.

"When enemy ship(s) detected" sounds like the one you want.

[kylania]

Originally Posted by JScones

"When enemy ship(s) detected" sounds like the one you want.

Does that include single merchant map only contacts though? Or just sonar/watch crew confirmed contacts?

[Ducimus]

Here's the acutal TC settings in the main.cfg file (err well acutally, these are my TC settings )

[TIME COMPRESSION]
TimeStop=0
RealTime=1
LandProximity=1024
CriticalDamage=1
CrewEfficiency=1
AirEnemyDetected=-1
SoundEffects=2
CharacterAnim=4
EnemyDetected=1
RadioReport=1
Particles=8
PrayState=16
HunterState=32
3DRender=32
Maximum=2048

[JScones]

Originally Posted by kylania

Does that include single merchant map only contacts though? Or just sonar/watch crew confirmed contacts?

Dunno - try it. But I think it is the closest option there is.

[TarJak]

Only one problem with doing that is when you are in a harbour your game will keep pausing for every ship that gets seen and added to the map!

Originally Posted by Ducimus

Here's the acutal TC settings in the main.cfg file (err well acutally, these are my TC settings )

Unfortunately, things don't work quite the way they would appear they should.

1) RadioReport works when you get a direct radio message, one that your radio operator reports to you. A general radio message (ex. a convoy report) will not drop time compression.

2) EnemyDetected and AirEnemyDetected won't automatically drop your time compression. Your watch crew has to first actually spot it. Which is why you'll often have an aircraft make its attack run and bomb or depth charge you while still running at a high TC. Also why a DD or escort will sink you like a stone in bad weather/low visibility: the compression doesn't drop until the action is already over and you've taken damage.

3) Haven't noticed it in the stock game or GW so I don't know if it happens there or not, but in NYGM, the setting for CrewEfficiency is useless. You'll be tooling merrily along to your patrol area at TC1024 only to have your crew manning the diesels get too fatigued to work, and your engines shut down as TC just keeps racing along.

[supposedtobeworking]

QUOTE:

2) EnemyDetected and AirEnemyDetected won't automatically drop your time compression. Your watch crew has to first actually spot it. Which is why you'll often have an aircraft make its attack run and bomb or depth charge you while still running at a high TC. Also why a DD or escort will sink you like a stone in bad weather/low visibility: the compression doesn't drop until the action is already over and you've taken damage.

Right, I have tried the enemydetected settings. They do not do what I am asking about. I want the time compress to drop to 1x when a square appears on the navmap basically which it usually does not do. By the time I catch the square on the navmap it has been there for a few hours game time and I am out of optimal intercept position. I think this is a huge oversight on the developers part since the captain surely would have been notified immediately of a contact report in RL and I can imagine the captain rushing to plot the contact and position as we should be given the chance to do. So far what I am hearing is that it isn't likely that it's possible to mod, but is there any hope?? thx again

[danlisa]

@supposedtobeworking
Have any of your changes taken effect? Rollback issue with SH3C:hmm:

Also there are 2 Main.cfg files. 1 is in my documents and 1 is in the main sh3 folder. I have always changed both to match.

I use this method to drop me out of TC as I leave SH3 running while I'm in another room. No probs so far.

Might be able to help in more depth later when not at work.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by Albrecht Von Hesse

2) EnemyDetected and AirEnemyDetected won't automatically drop your time compression. Your watch crew has to first actually spot it. Which is why you'll often have an aircraft make its attack run and bomb or depth charge you while still running at a high TC. Also why a DD or escort will sink you like a stone in bad weather/low visibility: the compression doesn't drop until the action is already over and you've taken damage.

In regards to AirEnemyDetected, when your on the surface, you're correct, your watch does have to spot the plane first. Only fair really. The point of auto pausing the game is to give you a chance to do something if you leave your computer chair and come back to it later. The thing is, in high enemy air traffic areas, your going to have not NOT use a higher TC setting. It's just the way the game is. As long as i dont go past 512 or 1024 if im really pushing my luck, (my max is 2048 ) im never surpised and always have time to react. Another key thing here is you have to pause yourself whenever you renable time compression. Human nature wants to mash the TC increase button to kick it back up to max to move forward with the game. Ive lost a couple games doing that. Thesedays i push the button once, wait a second, push it again, and so on until i max TC again.

As an aside, AirEnemyDetected of -1 Submerged, is something of a cheat. YOur watch crew doesnt have to spot it. Just pop the scope and twirl it real fast. If theree a plane about, even if you can't see it (and most of the time you won't, its a flyspec) the game will pause.

[supposedtobeworking]

Danlissa and all,

I have set those settings mentioned, and they work fine, but they are not pertaining to what I want to happen, which is that when a contact shows up on the navmap as a grey square (whether convoy or single ship), I need the game to pause or go to 1x time compression to give me a chance to react. Ideally, I would like to have an audible notification (like "CAPTAIN, CONTACT REPORTED!"). But if that is not moddable, at least a reduction in time compression would be nice so the game doesn't plow forward at 256x or 1024x while a contact has been on the map for hours. The settings you are talking about in SHCmdr and the cfg file are only for when the watch spots the ship. I am talking about when just the square shows up on the navmap and is hundreds of km away.