[REL] The Little Ships of SH5 - Coaster Pack

kapuhy · 07-08-20, 02:16 PM

Download links:

Vanilla version, for non TWoS users: STOCK FULL VERSION

NEW Little Ships 1.1 - for TWoS 2.2.25 users: LITTLE SHIPS 1.1

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LITTLE SHIPS 1.1:

This mod is an expansion of The Little Ships of SH5, made for users of TWoS 2.2.25. Since original Little Ships is already included in lates version of TWoS, you don't have to install it - instead, enable this expansion through JGSME within your TWoS_Parts folder.

Little Ships 1.1 brings additional six ships: two coasters, two small ocean-going merchants and two minesweepers. Other improvements include new, historically correct weapons for Fairmile Motor Launch (3pdr gun and depth charge chutes with very limited ammo), as well as further expansion of coastal traffic network modeled by vdr1981 in TWoS.

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STOCK VERSION:
This mod adds 5 new coastal ships and one ASW patrol boat (it also includes coaster I've relased separately earlier). All ships are done in .gr2 format, with visible 3d damage and except for Small Motor Coaster and Small Coastal Tanker - with breakable hulls. Stock version is configured to work with unmodded SH5 - do not install it if you use TWoS megamod.

Ships list:

1. Small Motor Coaster:

I relased this ship earlier and it already was added to TwoS, but I include it in this download for completeness – compared to TwoS version, only minor changes to damage model have been made.

Small Motor Coaster is based on unnamed set of plans, probably of Dutch coastal merchant "Baltic" built in 1940. Motor powered, with maximum speed of 8.5 knots and 250 GRT tonnage, this small vessel represents very common type of coastal ship mainly built in Netherlands in interwar period and still very popular after the war. Crews of these ships often included owner's family to cut costs, and small size allowed for going up rivers while still being seaworthy enough for open sea trade.

Four different textures are included, giving it some more variety.

2. Small Coastal Tanker:

Based on British National Benzole Company ships – "Ben Harold Smith" built in 1952 and "Ben Sadler" built in 1931, its a little motor powered tanker. Its main uses were delivering fuel to small ports that couldn't be entered by larger ships, as well as supplying ocean-going ships anchored in harbours. During the war, some were requisitioned by the navy to support naval operations and landings. Max speed of this vessel is 9 knots and its tonnage 325 GRT.

3. Old Coaster

This might be oldest ship in SH5 – it's based on unusually shaped (designed to fit locks on Eider canal) 264 GRT German steamer "Kanal" which was built in 1886 and served as livestock carrier until 1909 when its cargo stampeded towards one of the sides, capsizing her. Its appearance in SH5 is still plausible though, as some late XIX-century coasters had very long service life and were still travelling along many coasts in 1939.

4. Large Fishing Trawler

It's a bit weird that while stock SH5 has beautiful Armed Trawler model, it lacks any actual trawler. To fix this, I "demilitarized" Armed Trawler removing all military superstructure and repainting it into common civilian "red bottom, black hull, white superstructure" paint scheme. At 1100 GRT, this is remarkably large ship for a fishing vessel, hence the name. It can still be armed – in late war, it will have some 20-40 mm guns for self defense as most Allied merchants did carry some kind of armament at this point.

5. Fairmile "B" Motor Launch:

Although relatively unknown, this 85-ton patrol boat was actually the most numerous ASW ship in WW2. Simple wooden hull that was built in parts by dispersed small companies allowed for mass production - before the war ended, Fairmile served in 10 different navies and was produced in several countries. Many variants of this ship were made, from ASW through rescue to torpedo boat – I only modeled most common ASW variant for now but hopefully I can add some other versions in future updates.

Despite small size, Fairmile is a dangerous enemy – it's as hard to detect and hit as Elco, but carries Y-Gun, ASDIC and later radar, so unlike Elco it's a capable ASW vessel. On surface, it can turn your boat into scrap with mix of Oerlikons. Its weak points are its fragility and limited amount of DC's.

6. Coastal Tanker

613 GRT Coastal Tanker is based on historic American tanker Mary A. Whalen, built in 1938. She survives to this day in Red Hook, Brooklyn, crewed and maintained by members of PortSide NewYork. Mary has became famous after her 1968 grounding, which led to court case shaping modern US maritime law.

In game, she'll be seen carrying fuel on coastal trading lanes (only British, American and
Norwegian in this version). From 1943 onwards, she can be armed with some machine guns.

7. Raised Quarterdecker

Most common coaster design in late 19th and early 20th century, Raised Quarterdecker design was
the result of moving ship's engine aft to simplify machinery (shorter propeller shaft) and free cargo
space. This made stern heavier, so to compensate ship's aft deck (quarterdeck) was raised.

My example is modeled after 1921 Dublin-built steamer Moygannon of 545 tons. The ship survived
till 1940, when – due to navigational error – it crossed the path of outbound Atlantic convoy in
dense fog and sunk in collision with Danish steamer (making her sort-of U-Boat victim, as collision
would probably not happen if both ships weren't sailing darkened because of war).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I still have several models of larger ships I plan to add to this mod in future updates (in this case "larger" means between 500-1600 GRT, these are still coastal vessels):

At the same time, I'll be also improving already relased ships - especially the Fairmile which still doesn't have its historically correct armament added (low-ammo DC racks and WW1-vintage 3-pounder deck gun). Another improvement I'm working on is lights for neutral versions and additional textures for more variety. So, this pack is far from final version

Should you find any bugs, please post them here and I'll try to fix them. I could not properly test ships in campaign (as this would require actually playing the career and hunting them down...), hopefully they will appear as planned.

And last but not least: Big, big thanks to:

Gap, Jeff Groves and Rosomaha: for invaluable advice, and lots of patience – without you I'd get hopelessly stuck along the way and never relase anything.
vdr1981: for the Wolves of Steel mod, only reason SH5 stayed on my PC long enough for me to even start modding it.
Sailor Steve: for inspiration - the idea to create coaster pack was born after reading your post in "what ships would you like to see in upcoming Wolfpack game" thread. This was the first time I've seen the word "coaster". I looked it up and before I knew it I was fascinated by these small ships.

Texas Red · 07-08-20, 02:58 PM

Holy cow man these look amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will give it a try!

Thanks for the hard work!

vdr1981 · 07-09-20, 12:02 AM

Really great work Kapuhy! Thank you very much!

skin-nl · 07-09-20, 12:16 PM

Great work Kapuhy

Downloaded and testing this weekend.

Demon777 · 07-09-20, 02:38 PM

beautiful ships! good job

Jeff-Groves · 07-09-20, 02:54 PM

Very nice work Mate!
And Thank You for the mention.

Pascal · 07-10-20, 06:03 PM

Which more than justifies 5 stars!

Macgregor the Hammer · 09-16-20, 08:24 AM

Beautiful work!!

vdr1981 · 09-16-20, 09:18 AM

OK, you can send me the files on PM Kapuhy. I'll check what's going on...

vdr1981 · 09-16-20, 06:12 PM

NKC_Moygannon is fixed to work perfectly with all other units , don't worry...

Now this is interesting - as soon as I add other tweaked sim file from "old" ships, same problems occurs immediately...

I'm starting to think that the game engine will, from some reason, somehow confuse if some controller files are saved on different PC-ies?!

I guess I'll be able to fix this problem as well...

I'll upload the files tomorrow, it's really late here now.

BTW, new raised quarterdeck looks awesome, great work !

kapuhy · 09-17-20, 01:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vdr1981

NKC_Moygannon is fixed to work perfectly with all other units , don't worry...

Wow that was quick

thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by vdr1981

I'm starting to think that the game engine will, from some reason, somehow confuse if some controller files are saved on different PC-ies?!

That would be... weird but certainly seems like it. Easy way to test it - I'll try today after work: take your files, resave on my computer without any actual changes, run rendering test again. If ctd occurs your theory is true.

Edit: and if true, this would explain so many mod conflicts in SH5...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macgregor the Hammer

Beautiful work!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by vdr1981

BTW, new raised quarterdeck looks awesome, great work !

Thanks

vdr1981 · 09-17-20, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kapuhy

I'll try today after work: take your files, resave on my computer without any actual changes, run rendering test again. If ctd occurs your theory is true.

You'll have to change at least something in order to make controllers "red", otherwise there won't be anything for saving.

For example, change max speed from 10 to 10.1 and save. Or , you can change to 10.1 and then revert back to 10 and save again. The point is to make controllers to turn "red" and then save...

Anyway, your files are ready and work perfectly in my (even more stressful) rendering test!

I'll send you PM in a few minutes.

You'll noticed that I've changed quarterdeck's type to 108 (rare cargo ships, instead of 102). I don't think that such a small vessel would be commonly seen in large transatlantic convoys, for which type 102 is primarily intended, but If you tend to disagree please let me know.

Mister_M · 11-01-21, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kapuhy

Another ship in progress. If it looks weirdly familiar, that's because I reused texture and a lot of small details from raised quarterdeck steamer, which simplified the work a lot.

Beautiful ! Maybe the portholes seem a bit too large for me...

Quote:

Originally Posted by kapuhy

I still have several models of larger ships I plan to add to this mod in future updates (in this case "larger" means between 500-1600 GRT, these are still coastal vessels):

I very would like to see one day in game the steam merchant ship which is on the picture in the middle. It's a very common class/type from previous war, and many were still sailing during WWII.

Mister_M · 11-02-21, 06:16 AM

It wouldn't be too difficult for you to model this ship

: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mersey-class_trawler

Precise plans : https://modelismenavalradioc.forumac...ersey-de-a-a-z

kapuhy · 11-03-21, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mister_M

It wouldn't be too difficult for you to model this ship

: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mersey-class_trawler

Precise plans : https://modelismenavalradioc.forumac...ersey-de-a-a-z

Interesting one, added to plans collection, thanks

No promises though, I have several ships I've already started to finish first, including one you've mentioned in earlier post.

07-08-20, 02:16 PM	#1
kapuhy Grey Wolf Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Poland Posts: 874 Downloads: 72 Uploads: 3	The Little Ships of SH5 - Coaster Pack Download links: Vanilla version, for non TWoS users: STOCK FULL VERSION NEW Little Ships 1.1 - for TWoS 2.2.25 users: LITTLE SHIPS 1.1 ------------------------------------ LITTLE SHIPS 1.1: This mod is an expansion of The Little Ships of SH5, made for users of TWoS 2.2.25. Since original Little Ships is already included in lates version of TWoS, you don't have to install it - instead, enable this expansion through JGSME within your TWoS_Parts folder. Little Ships 1.1 brings additional six ships: two coasters, two small ocean-going merchants and two minesweepers. Other improvements include new, historically correct weapons for Fairmile Motor Launch (3pdr gun and depth charge chutes with very limited ammo), as well as further expansion of coastal traffic network modeled by vdr1981 in TWoS. ------------------------------------ STOCK VERSION: This mod adds 5 new coastal ships and one ASW patrol boat (it also includes coaster I've relased separately earlier). All ships are done in .gr2 format, with visible 3d damage and except for Small Motor Coaster and Small Coastal Tanker - with breakable hulls. Stock version is configured to work with unmodded SH5 - do not install it if you use TWoS megamod. Ships list: 1. Small Motor Coaster: I relased this ship earlier and it already was added to TwoS, but I include it in this download for completeness – compared to TwoS version, only minor changes to damage model have been made. Small Motor Coaster is based on unnamed set of plans, probably of Dutch coastal merchant "Baltic" built in 1940. Motor powered, with maximum speed of 8.5 knots and 250 GRT tonnage, this small vessel represents very common type of coastal ship mainly built in Netherlands in interwar period and still very popular after the war. Crews of these ships often included owner's family to cut costs, and small size allowed for going up rivers while still being seaworthy enough for open sea trade. Four different textures are included, giving it some more variety. 2. Small Coastal Tanker: Based on British National Benzole Company ships – "Ben Harold Smith" built in 1952 and "Ben Sadler" built in 1931, its a little motor powered tanker. Its main uses were delivering fuel to small ports that couldn't be entered by larger ships, as well as supplying ocean-going ships anchored in harbours. During the war, some were requisitioned by the navy to support naval operations and landings. Max speed of this vessel is 9 knots and its tonnage 325 GRT. 3. Old Coaster This might be oldest ship in SH5 – it's based on unusually shaped (designed to fit locks on Eider canal) 264 GRT German steamer "Kanal" which was built in 1886 and served as livestock carrier until 1909 when its cargo stampeded towards one of the sides, capsizing her. Its appearance in SH5 is still plausible though, as some late XIX-century coasters had very long service life and were still travelling along many coasts in 1939. 4. Large Fishing Trawler It's a bit weird that while stock SH5 has beautiful Armed Trawler model, it lacks any actual trawler. To fix this, I "demilitarized" Armed Trawler removing all military superstructure and repainting it into common civilian "red bottom, black hull, white superstructure" paint scheme. At 1100 GRT, this is remarkably large ship for a fishing vessel, hence the name. It can still be armed – in late war, it will have some 20-40 mm guns for self defense as most Allied merchants did carry some kind of armament at this point. 5. Fairmile "B" Motor Launch: Although relatively unknown, this 85-ton patrol boat was actually the most numerous ASW ship in WW2. Simple wooden hull that was built in parts by dispersed small companies allowed for mass production - before the war ended, Fairmile served in 10 different navies and was produced in several countries. Many variants of this ship were made, from ASW through rescue to torpedo boat – I only modeled most common ASW variant for now but hopefully I can add some other versions in future updates. Despite small size, Fairmile is a dangerous enemy – it's as hard to detect and hit as Elco, but carries Y-Gun, ASDIC and later radar, so unlike Elco it's a capable ASW vessel. On surface, it can turn your boat into scrap with mix of Oerlikons. Its weak points are its fragility and limited amount of DC's. 6. Coastal Tanker 613 GRT Coastal Tanker is based on historic American tanker Mary A. Whalen, built in 1938. She survives to this day in Red Hook, Brooklyn, crewed and maintained by members of PortSide NewYork. Mary has became famous after her 1968 grounding, which led to court case shaping modern US maritime law. In game, she'll be seen carrying fuel on coastal trading lanes (only British, American and Norwegian in this version). From 1943 onwards, she can be armed with some machine guns. 7. Raised Quarterdecker Most common coaster design in late 19th and early 20th century, Raised Quarterdecker design was the result of moving ship's engine aft to simplify machinery (shorter propeller shaft) and free cargo space. This made stern heavier, so to compensate ship's aft deck (quarterdeck) was raised. My example is modeled after 1921 Dublin-built steamer Moygannon of 545 tons. The ship survived till 1940, when – due to navigational error – it crossed the path of outbound Atlantic convoy in dense fog and sunk in collision with Danish steamer (making her sort-of U-Boat victim, as collision would probably not happen if both ships weren't sailing darkened because of war). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I still have several models of larger ships I plan to add to this mod in future updates (in this case "larger" means between 500-1600 GRT, these are still coastal vessels): At the same time, I'll be also improving already relased ships - especially the Fairmile which still doesn't have its historically correct armament added (low-ammo DC racks and WW1-vintage 3-pounder deck gun). Another improvement I'm working on is lights for neutral versions and additional textures for more variety. So, this pack is far from final version Should you find any bugs, please post them here and I'll try to fix them. I could not properly test ships in campaign (as this would require actually playing the career and hunting them down...), hopefully they will appear as planned. And last but not least: Big, big thanks to: Gap, Jeff Groves and Rosomaha: for invaluable advice, and lots of patience – without you I'd get hopelessly stuck along the way and never relase anything. vdr1981: for the Wolves of Steel mod, only reason SH5 stayed on my PC long enough for me to even start modding it. Sailor Steve: for inspiration - the idea to create coaster pack was born after reading your post in "what ships would you like to see in upcoming Wolfpack game" thread. This was the first time I've seen the word "coaster". I looked it up and before I knew it I was fascinated by these small ships. Last edited by kapuhy; 05-16-23 at 04:00 PM.

07-08-20, 02:58 PM	#2
Texas Red Fastest Gun Around Join Date: Aug 2019 Location: Agua Fira, New Mexico Posts: 2,367 Downloads: 527 Uploads: 5	Holy cow man these look amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will give it a try! Thanks for the hard work! __________________ There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. — Colin Powell I'm not very active on the forums anymore. If you have a question, please DM me and I'll respond ASAP!

07-09-20, 12:02 AM	#3
vdr1981 Navy Seal Join Date: May 2010 Location: Србија Posts: 6,078 Downloads: 581 Uploads: 13	Really great work Kapuhy! Thank you very much! __________________ Best regards... Vecko The Wolves of Steel v2.2.25_SH5 Expansion Pack_Full The Wolves of Steel v2.2.xx to v2.2.25 - Update PDF Install Instructions How to report an issue If You wish to support my work...

07-09-20, 12:16 PM	#4
skin-nl Kapitain Leutnant Join Date: May 2010 Location: GlanerBrucke Posts: 419 Downloads: 249 Uploads: 0	Great work Kapuhy Downloaded and testing this weekend. __________________

07-10-20, 06:03 PM	#7
Pascal Samurai Navy Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Paris Posts: 584 Downloads: 568 Uploads: 0	Wonderful work Which more than justifies 5 stars! __________________ My Mods

07-09-20, 02:38 PM	#5
Demon777 Medic Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Russia Posts: 163 Downloads: 97 Uploads: 0	beautiful ships! good job

07-09-20, 02:54 PM	#6
Jeff-Groves Village Idiot Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 5,425 Downloads: 131 Uploads: 0	Very nice work Mate! And Thank You for the mention.

09-16-20, 08:24 AM	#8
Macgregor the Hammer Chief Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Minnesota Posts: 325 Downloads: 535 Uploads: 1	Beautiful work!! __________________ "It's impossible to make anything fool proof....Fools are too ingenious!"

09-16-20, 09:18 AM	#9
vdr1981 Navy Seal Join Date: May 2010 Location: Србија Posts: 6,078 Downloads: 581 Uploads: 13	OK, you can send me the files on PM Kapuhy. I'll check what's going on... __________________ Best regards... Vecko The Wolves of Steel v2.2.25_SH5 Expansion Pack_Full The Wolves of Steel v2.2.xx to v2.2.25 - Update PDF Install Instructions How to report an issue If You wish to support my work...

09-16-20, 06:12 PM	#10
vdr1981 Navy Seal Join Date: May 2010 Location: Србија Posts: 6,078 Downloads: 581 Uploads: 13	NKC_Moygannon is fixed to work perfectly with all other units , don't worry... Now this is interesting - as soon as I add other tweaked sim file from "old" ships, same problems occurs immediately... I'm starting to think that the game engine will, from some reason, somehow confuse if some controller files are saved on different PC-ies?! I guess I'll be able to fix this problem as well... I'll upload the files tomorrow, it's really late here now. BTW, new raised quarterdeck looks awesome, great work ! __________________ Best regards... Vecko The Wolves of Steel v2.2.25_SH5 Expansion Pack_Full The Wolves of Steel v2.2.xx to v2.2.25 - Update PDF Install Instructions How to report an issue If You wish to support my work...

11-02-21, 06:16 AM	#14
Mister_M Grey Wolf Join Date: Feb 2021 Posts: 859 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 0	It wouldn't be too difficult for you to model this ship : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mersey-class_trawler Precise plans : https://modelismenavalradioc.forumac...ersey-de-a-a-z Last edited by Mister_M; 11-02-21 at 06:35 AM.