Real Battery Life Fix - AKA Advanced NASA Battery Fix

[VonHelsching]

Real Battery Life Fix by VonHelsching

AKA The Advanced NASA Battery Fix

*UPDATE* - Version for the Grey Wolves Supermod

*UPDATE* - Also Rub 1.45 compatibe version


*FINAL UPDATE* Underwater ranges corrected. Now all RL range references are in nautical miles.

-Thanks to:Captain America, Myxale, Stiebler, Gizzmoe and of course Redwine for their help -

From the begining, I had a gut feeling that something wasn't right with SH3 batteries. I checked the .sim files, but everything, all related data there, was as per www.uboat.net. (eg.underwater range for the VIIB: 90 miles @ 4 knots); Well, apart from the bugged battery of the XXI and the flawed surface range of IXD/2...but these are another story.

Also, the thread about the AOTD Coastal Tanker by AG124 (BTW, nice work) reminded me of Aces of the Deep...That was wrong with the batteries...I remembered that batteries in AOTD were an ISSUE, not something that you forget their existance, like in SH3. In AOTD sometimes, your batteries were depleted, BEFORE you ran out of O2 or got poisoned by CO2.

So, I made battery checks. All day and night during 4/3/06.

The testing grounds (seas) were west of Randall Banks, using the Happy Times single mission, O2 unchecked, using regulars crew. Tried with all subs except the VIIC/42, since it does not have a seperate .sim file. And found out what was wrong...

Remember the NASA Mars Climate Orbiter, which crashed on Mars due to a "navigational" error? Well, that proved to be one of the 10 most embarrasing software bugs ever, as I read. It was later proved that this bug was due to the fact that two subsystems of the NASA Orbiter were exchanging data of different metrics systems (metric / English)...

Well the same thing happened in SH3. Until today. And you were all thinking of playing with 100% realism...Well, you have not! Yet.

I have the privelege of presenting you the Real Battery Life Fix, from now on As Known As the "Advanced NASA Battery Fix".

Now, you will be able to boast that you are the true heir of Schepcke and Luth, since your u-boat batteries will scream "Empty" when you pass the true range limits:

- 35 miles @ 4 knots starting speed for IIA
- [43 miles @ 4 knots starting speed for IIB - RuB version only]
- 56 miles @ 4 knots starting speed for IID
- 90 miles @ 4 knots starting speed for VIIB
- 80 miles @ 4 knots starting speed for the rest of the VII series
- 63 miles @ 4 knots starting speed for all IX series and IXD/2
- 285 miles @ 6 knots starting speed for the XXI

In some cases, especially after 1943 close to the English coast, your battery might be empty before your O2, and you will have to wait until nightfall; otherwise you will be a nice target for the freshmen pilots.

In some cases, you will notice that your speed will fall dramatically, esp. after when having less than 25% of battery. And this now happens quite faster than before. Imagine that after trying to escape an ASW hunter group...

After the fix, your u-boats will have from now on around 50% less than the unhonourable underwater range you were falsely granted from the stock SH3. This differs a little bit from sub to sub due to weather conditions, crew, and my human errors in testing. The XXI is another story, since it's battery is seriously flawed. Anyway, it's battery now calls empty when you are 285 nautical miles away from your statring point.

So, now you understood what happened. The Devs put miles in the .sim files and calculated them as kms...So don't jump when you see the new underwater ranges.

This does not mean that the battery business is finished, since some of you may have already noticed in the stock game that the uboat continue to "drift" with < 1 knot for ~ 20 more hours, but I'm afraid that this might be hardcoded. Also, I'll have a look about the battery upgrades.

So, I pulled together a JSGME compatible global fix for all uboat types, and one version especially for RuB 1.45. Just uncompress to your MODS forlder and JSGME-it. Back-up first your submarine folder, just in case.

The fix includes part of my XXI flak and battery fix (XXI battery once recharged will automatically switch to full propulsion) and part of my IXD/2 range and torpedo fix (corrects surface range - 23700 m @ 12 knots), so no worries if you get any JSGME messages concerning the two above fixes. I will also update them , in their relevant subsim threads.


So the final link is:

http://rapidshare.de/files/15327786/...ix_v2.zip.html
or
http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/helsing...ery_Fix_v2.zip

*UPDATE - Version for the Grey Wolves Supermod below *

http://rapidshare.de/files/16397031/..._GW_v1.7z.html
or
http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/helsing...e_for_GW_v1.7z


*UPDATE - RuB 1.45 compatible version below *

http://rapidshare.de/files/15327823/....45_v2.7z.html
or
http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/helsing...RuB_1.45_v2.7z
[/color]

Link for the XXI Flak and Battery Fix v3

http://rapidshare.de/files/15327735/...ix_v3.zip.html

or
http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/helsing/sh3mods/XXI Flak and Battery Fix v3.zip

Link for the IXD/2 Torpedo and Range fix v4

http://rapidshare.de/files/15327883/...ix_v4.zip.html
or
http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/helsing...edo_Fix_v4.zip

Have fun, and don't run out of batteries!!!

VonHelsching

[Gizzmoe]

Mirror:
http://home.arcor.de/gizzmoe/files/R...ery_Fix_v1.zip

Link for the XXI Flak and Battery Fix v2
http://home.arcor.de/gizzmoe/files/X...ery_Fix_v2.zip

Link for the IXD/2 Torpedo and Range fix v2
http://home.arcor.de/gizzmoe/files/I...edo_Fix_v2.zip

RUb-compatible version:
http://home.arcor.de/gizzmoe/files/R...RuB_1.45_v1.7z

[Samwolf]

Great catch!

Is this fix compatible with Rub 145 & HT147 which also mod some of these files?

IS IT COMPATIBLE WITH rUb/iUB? THERE'S .SIM IN THESE FOLDERS TOO

[Pkunzipper]

Great job!

I really hope that this changes will be implemented on the big incoming mods!

[CB..]

great stuff.....does any-one have any info on wether or not u-boat batterys developed a "memory" affecting recharge and drain capacity?

a long while ago i used to race remote control electric buggys...and one of the main tricks of the trade was that in order to get the full life time from a charged battery it was essential to completely drain the battery before recharging it---other wise what actually happened was the batterys developed a "memory" regarding the level of drain the battery had reached when the recharge was started and would actually die at that level instead of when completely flat--ie

if you drained the batterys to 2/3 rds capacity ( ie 1/3 charge left in the cells) then did a full recharge the battery would tend to "remember" this ( not sure exactly how) and if thsi continued the battery would start registering as flat when in fact it still had 1/3 capacity left---

allways wondered if the u-boat batterys had the same trouble--if they did this would have a huge impact on battery life and recharge

doesn't really matter here as it probably doesn't apply and even if it did it's doubt full if it could be introduced into the sim....interesting tho

[VonHelsching]

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

Mirror:
http://home.arcor.de/gizzmoe/files/R...ery_Fix_v1.zip

Link for the XXI Flak and Battery Fix v2
http://home.arcor.de/gizzmoe/files/X...ery_Fix_v2.zip

Link for the IXD/2 Torpedo and Range fix v2
http://home.arcor.de/gizzmoe/files/I...edo_Fix_v2.zip

Many thanks Gizzmoe!

[ I think I have 10MB space from my provider...I'll look into it for the future ]

[VonHelsching]

Originally Posted by Samwolf

Great catch!

Is this fix compatible with Rub 145 & HT147 which also mod some of these files?

It is compatible with HT 1.47. These three subs that are modified are probably used for the AI Uboats. Since I have HT 1.47, my underwater range settings were made on these files; So, it's OK

I have RuB 1.43 (never installed it, though). Are there any differences in the .sim files between 1.43 and 1.45; I'dont want to download 50 megs just to check 3 4k files. I'll make a check for 1.43 first.

Oh! Idea: Can someone compress RuB's (1.45) submarine folder and post it to rapidshare? I can check it at once.

JonZ, IuB Master, the same stands for IuB. Thanks!

[VonHelsching]

Originally Posted by CB..

great stuff.....does any-one have any info on wether or not u-boat batterys developed a "memory" affecting recharge and drain capacity?

It was probably pretty bad in 1940. I woudn't think that the uboat batteries lasted more than a year or so (less than 500 recharges definitly). But no other info than this: http://www.uboat.net/articles/index.html?article=54

In consumer devices the memory problem was resolved partially with the NiHMg batteries. I saw them first time about 10 years ago and they were quite expensive. I think they started using them for cell phones before 5 years or so.

[Samwolf]

Thanks. :P

[Samwolf]

Originally Posted by VonHelsching

It is compatible with HT 1.47. These three subs that are modified are probably used for the AI Uboats. Since I have HT 1.47, my underwater range settings were made on these files; So, it's OK

I have RuB 1.43 (never installed it, though). Are there any differences in the .sim files between 1.43 and 1.45; I'dont want to download 50 megs just to check 3 4k files. I'll make a check for 1.43 first.

Oh! Idea: Can someone compress RuB's (1.45) submarine folder and post it to rapidshare? I can check it at once.

JonZ, IuB Master, the same stands for IuB. Thanks!

http://rapidshare.de/files/14758275/...older.zip.html

[Nedlam]

Just curious. Did you use TT SH3 Inspector to adjust the settings on Uboats for your mod? I use it frequently and the values I have for the type VII are already 80 mi @ 4 kts. So I'm wondering if the mi is mislabelled in the Inspector prgm.

[VonHelsching]

Originally Posted by Samwolf

http://rapidshare.de/files/14758275/...older.zip.html

Excellent! Back to work!

[VonHelsching]

Originally Posted by Nedlam

Just curious. Did you use TT SH3 Inspector to adjust the settings on Uboats for your mod? I use it frequently and the values I have for the type VII are already 80 mi @ 4 kts. So I'm wondering if the mi is mislabelled in the Inspector prgm.

I used TTs mini tweaker. Indeed in the unmodded SH3 it says 80...But the Devs erroneously multiplied (not visible - probably hardcoded) this by 1,609 (miles / kilometers), so you got 60% more underwater range than you should. This stands for the Type II and Type IXs. Eg. now in the IIA range, you will see 23. Don't get confused, though. With that figure, your Typ IIA will now run 35 miles @ 4 knots or, if you prefer 56 kilometers @ 4 knots - BTW, the ruler is in kilometers.

And it got worse: The VII series underwater range seemed to be multiplied by a factor of 1,4something. Now, instead of 80, you will see 57. With this figure, you will get ~80-90 miles actual range before you get the "Battery Empty" message". Before that you got more than 40% more range.

[don1reed]

@CB:

I believe the batteries used aboard UBoats were the Lead-Acid (wet cell) types, not the NiCd (nickel cadmium) or NiMD (nickel metal hydride) modern rechargables, and therefore did not have "memories".

They did require a lot more tedious maintenance, however. Wet-cells could become dangerous when drained too low. Heck, they were always dangerous with all the H2SO4 lying about; not mention, hydrogen and chlorine gases. Made for some wickedly ratty dungeries...lol