The SHIV Mission Editor Wish-List

[Safe-Keeper]

Shaping the SHIV Mission Editor

This unofficial thread is to give the developers ideas on how to make the mission editor for Silent Hunter IV. It also has a poll that'll let you vote for or against a more advanced editor.

Post your ideas for the Silent Hunter IV mission editor here, and comment on the ideas of your forum-mates.

Happy posting!

I, for one, would like more features for the Silent Hunter IV editor, even if it makes the editor slightly less user-friendly.

Yesterday I made a fictional "midnight patrol" scenario set in Sognefjorden, Norway (that very long fjord that starts in -I think- AF 87). The Germans had set up a naval supply base in the fjord, and you, with your Type II-D boat, were to patrol the fjord, reporting and intercepting enemies threatening the supply base. Early in the mission, a flight of British fighter-bombers fly into the fjord, low and fast, and discover and attack the supply base (and you, should you be on the surface). With the base compromised, you need to intercept the British task force that's entering the fjord before it can attack the poorly defended base. If you can sink the destroyer or light cruiser, the task force won't have sufficient fire-power to take on the base. If you fail, the defending vessels will get massacred and the merchants in the base will get sunk. A fun, simple little naval ambuscade mission.

Just two problems:

1. There's no way to have you fail the mission if the supply base is wiped out. You can wait for the task force to massacre the base before you attack, and you still win, even if the base you were supposed to defend has been wiped out.
2. The task force consists of a cruiser, a destroyer, and two frigates. If the destroyer and cruiser are destroyed and the task force thus does not have enough fire-power to attack the base, it still makes a suicidal attack and gets wiped out. There's no way to change the orders of ships or planes come certain events.

If there was a trigger that fired when an object was lost (as in, sunk by you or by someone else), it'd improve the mission immensely. It'd also do wonders if the task force didn't press the attack even when it knew it couldn't win. As it is, there are only triggers that fire when you sink a ship, reach a zone, or go to this area. I'd like triggers to go off when this or that object reaches a zone, scores a kill, takes so and so much damage, etc.

I'd like more triggers and effects for the editor, as well as the ability to set initial fuel level, ammunition, damage, crew, flooding, etc. of objects, and to customize their actions (give them specific tasks such as "attack this" or ram that) and primary and secondary targets ("attack first the HMS London, then any merchant ships, and then go to and escort CommerceRaider#67").

S-K

[Safe-Keeper]

7 for, 0 against, 1 who doesn't care? I didn't see that one coming (I was expecting more people to be against a more advanced editor).

[Wilko]

I voted for, I may not be able to use it to its maximum potential but that doesn't mean I don't recognize that in the right hands we could end up with some top line missions

[WilhelmSchulz.]

Originally Posted by Safe-Keeper

7 for, 0 against, 1 who doesn't care? I didn't see that one coming (I was expecting more people to be against a more advanced editor).

Hey as long as there is one.

[Safe-Keeper]

There will be one. Ubisoft would be mad not to include one.

It'd be interesting to be able to over-ride the nation/time/alliance limits in Silent Hunter IV and have an advanced plane be available before it should be. In Silent Hunter III, you have to stick to reality when it comes to introduction dates (no Bismarck in September '39), allegiances (you can't have the Germans scrap it out with the Romanians if you want to), and so on.

[Safe-Keeper]

I'd like the option to set the stance (such as "Cautious", "Aggressive", "Retreat from hostilities", "Reconnaisance/Stealth", "Shore Bombardment" (object prioritizes shore targets over naval targets), "Rescue/Recovery" (hospital ships and sea-planes rescue sailors, tugs bring in crippled ships, and so on), and "Special" (unit-dependant. Mine-layers lay mine fields, fishing boats fish, and so on)) of objects.

[JU_88]

I would like some tools to make importing new units in to he game easier.:hmm:

[WilhelmSchulz.]

Originally Posted by JU_88

I would like some tools to make importing new units in to he game easier.:hmm:

AKA new aircraft?

[Safe-Keeper]

In general, there should be more official modding tools for the game. And an SDK:p.

Another very nice feature would be to disable the Scripted, Random, and/or Land Layer for certain single-player missions. The layer system is really useful as you don't have to fill the seas with ships and planes for every mission, but also exceedingly annoying when your mission fills up with unwanted units.

[Safe-Keeper]

More ideas:

• The ability to make scripted contacts that re-spawn upon getting sunk or reaching their destination. I'd also like to be able to set how long it takes before they re-spawn, and preferably even randomize that number.
• The ability to have random generated groups where new vessels are generated only when there aren't more than so many vessels in transit already. For example, let's say I've got a strait I want some warship traffic in. I create a group which has a 90% chance of spawning 2 destroyers (task forces )each 4 hours, but only if there are less than four task forces already. The group will generate four task forces, but will then wait until one of them is destroyed or deleted before it makes a fifth.
• The ability to set up what aircrafts each carrier, air base, and warship has on board.
• The ability to copy vessels, triggers, and so on from one mission to another.
• The ability to set weather effects as triggers (so that I can start a storm at 900 Hrs., for example).
• The ability to set exceptions for triggers (ie. "you win when 4 warships are sunk, not counting Armed Trawlers", or "you win when 10 German merchants, not counting tugs, reach zone Z).
• The ability to make RTS-style cutscenes with scripted camera movement, sound effects, subtitles, etc.
• The ability to toggle the Invincibility of certain units.
• Some objects that do not have models, only smoke or fire nodes, so that you can place fires and smoke directly to simulate a city burning, for example.

[spork542]

Mm, I voted against it, but now change my mind. It doesn't matter to me. The SH3 mission editor is powerful enough for me.

[Jimbuna]

I don't use the mission editor...but appreciate its usefulness for those that do use it...ya never know I might get to use it myself one day

[Farside]

i think they should take a leaf out of Boheimian Interactive Studios (BIS) book and make one like OFP really easy but can be advanced aswell.

[Safe-Keeper]

I'd like the option to narrow down objectives and random object generation even more than I currently can.

For example, let's say that I want to make a mission where you are to infiltrate a harbour and sink three specific cargo ships (as they carry a specific important cargo or whatever). In Silent Hunter III, I can't do that - the closest thing I can get is say "Sink three Small Merchants" or "Sink so and so many tonnes of merchant shipping", neither of which are really narrow enough.

It'd be nice if I could designate entities to "special groups", so that for example, the aforementioned target ships in the harbour belonged to "Special Group 1" and the objective was to sink "100% of Special Group 1".

Other options that'd be nice to have would be "ships in zone x", "Ships with so and so much damage", "ships that are out of depth charges", and so on.

[CCIP]

Some improvement would be nice.

What I would really like to see, though, is more the campaign engine improvements themselves. I think most of the things you mention as additions are engine improvements more so than ones for the editor...