Just when you thought the CT was crowded...

Ducimus · 04-20-08, 09:07 PM

It's gonna get alot more crowded :rotfl:

Basically, non of the positions in SH4 directly correspond to crew positions on a fleet boat during WW2.

( 6th picture down from the top:
http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08315.htm

And then around 1:34 time mark in this Run silent run deep clip on youtube (yeah yeah, as if a Clark gable movie is a credible source)

)

So we have to shoehorn what we have to make a "best fit". I started that earlier, but got an idea on how to improve it, and decide to follow up on the idea.

Heres the result of a prototype ive been working on,
Battle stations:

What is new here is would be the firing key operator behind the helmsman,(dont get excited, he just stands there) and a 2nd sonar man.

yes thats right, two sonar man. During an attack, a fleetboat would have two
sonarman at stations. One would be constantly scanning around for situational awarness, the other would be tracking the immediate target. Unfortunatly, theres a problem......

Due to the animations, the 2nd sonar man blocks access to the active sonar controls in 3d view.

Looks like hes sticking his hand somewhere where the sun doesnt shine if you ask me

I could move him to the left, but then he'll be clipping through the little wall next to the CT hatch. So im leaning on just removing him. Not sure yet.

Also, in a forehead slapping moment, i figured out how to add more crewman. (Major DUH! on my part)

Now before i was "borrowing" crewman from other compartments. The game doesn't care. The "scope of the variable" for crew and node assigments seems to be that node and crew are accessible to the entire submarine object, regardless of what dat the node physcially resides in. That said you have to place a node to get it to appear where you want.

One fundamental problem is THERES NOT ENOUGH CHARACTER NODES!!!!!!!

So, the obvious solution would be to clone character nodes or make new ones following the syntax the game uses. Unfortunatly its not as easy as that. If you create new nodes that do not already exist, the game doesnt acknowledge them. Clone, or try to make new nodes however you want, all you want, doesnt matter, to the game they don't seem to exist.

WITH ONE EXCEPTION!!!!

Repair team nodes. There are 3 of them .RT1_dummy, RT2_dummy, RT3_dummy. On a hunch, i created an RT4_dummy, and the game accepted it. I then created an RT5_dummy, and the game accepted it. I then created an RT9_dummy, and again, the game accepted it.

So i have this theory:

I think what's going on is that character lists are hardcoded somewhere in an array, and the game is matching the nodes in the dat files, to this array.

The exception seems to be repair team nodes. The array for the repair team is either very long (as theortically 1 through 9 will work), OR this particular array is basically a linked list, in which the size of the array will grow or shrink as needed and you could add as much as you want.

More then likely though, its just a fixed array with a large subset. Its probably 1 through 9. Seeing how it stops at 3 by default, i dont think we'll need that many anyway.

The beauty of this is just because it was intended for the repair team, doesnt mean you have to use it as such!

Now mind you, i created RT4, RT5, and RT9 nodes. I didn't test for anything between RT5 and RT9, im just theorizing that they should all work. So im thinking i have 4 other nodes in which to play with.

At any rate, no ETA on this. Im JUST starting this, and nothing is finalized, although i think the gato prototype is *close* to being done. At that point ill make the UPC file changes to all boats that use the gato interior, and the start working on all the otheri nteriors and do the same.

04-20-08, 09:07 PM	#1
Ducimus Rear Admiral Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 12,987 Downloads: 67 Uploads: 2	Just when you thought the CT was crowded... It's gonna get alot more crowded :rotfl: Basically, non of the positions in SH4 directly correspond to crew positions on a fleet boat during WW2. ( 6th picture down from the top: http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08315.htm And then around 1:34 time mark in this Run silent run deep clip on youtube (yeah yeah, as if a Clark gable movie is a credible source) ) So we have to shoehorn what we have to make a "best fit". I started that earlier, but got an idea on how to improve it, and decide to follow up on the idea. Heres the result of a prototype ive been working on, Battle stations: What is new here is would be the firing key operator behind the helmsman,(dont get excited, he just stands there) and a 2nd sonar man. yes thats right, two sonar man. During an attack, a fleetboat would have two sonarman at stations. One would be constantly scanning around for situational awarness, the other would be tracking the immediate target. Unfortunatly, theres a problem...... Due to the animations, the 2nd sonar man blocks access to the active sonar controls in 3d view. Looks like hes sticking his hand somewhere where the sun doesnt shine if you ask me I could move him to the left, but then he'll be clipping through the little wall next to the CT hatch. So im leaning on just removing him. Not sure yet. Also, in a forehead slapping moment, i figured out how to add more crewman. (Major DUH! on my part) Now before i was "borrowing" crewman from other compartments. The game doesn't care. The "scope of the variable" for crew and node assigments seems to be that node and crew are accessible to the entire submarine object, regardless of what dat the node physcially resides in. That said you have to place a node to get it to appear where you want. One fundamental problem is THERES NOT ENOUGH CHARACTER NODES!!!!!!! So, the obvious solution would be to clone character nodes or make new ones following the syntax the game uses. Unfortunatly its not as easy as that. If you create new nodes that do not already exist, the game doesnt acknowledge them. Clone, or try to make new nodes however you want, all you want, doesnt matter, to the game they don't seem to exist. WITH ONE EXCEPTION!!!! Repair team nodes. There are 3 of them .RT1_dummy, RT2_dummy, RT3_dummy. On a hunch, i created an RT4_dummy, and the game accepted it. I then created an RT5_dummy, and the game accepted it. I then created an RT9_dummy, and again, the game accepted it. So i have this theory: I think what's going on is that character lists are hardcoded somewhere in an array, and the game is matching the nodes in the dat files, to this array. The exception seems to be repair team nodes. The array for the repair team is either very long (as theortically 1 through 9 will work), OR this particular array is basically a linked list, in which the size of the array will grow or shrink as needed and you could add as much as you want. More then likely though, its just a fixed array with a large subset. Its probably 1 through 9. Seeing how it stops at 3 by default, i dont think we'll need that many anyway. The beauty of this is just because it was intended for the repair team, doesnt mean you have to use it as such! Now mind you, i created RT4, RT5, and RT9 nodes. I didn't test for anything between RT5 and RT9, im just theorizing that they should all work. So im thinking i have 4 other nodes in which to play with. At any rate, no ETA on this. Im JUST starting this, and nothing is finalized, although i think the gato prototype is close to being done. At that point ill make the UPC file changes to all boats that use the gato interior, and the start working on all the otheri nteriors and do the same.