Moding projects news

Haihappen · 03-02-11, 10:49 AM

Moin Aces,

I thought the best way of starting to post here was this: first of all to say "Dankeschoen" to you for this great stuff. This includes all the other guys in here, whether they'r named or not.

After a while of staring at SH5 with its up-to-date graphics but never fixed issues (the so-called "game launcher" is one of those) I decided not to leave my old beloved SH3, but to give the Grey Wolves a try. When I then stumbled upon Flakmonkey's New Interior and Luca's Open Hatch in Conning Tower, watching the decreasing numbers of posts in the SH5-forums after the expected release hype and noticing that the ongoing work with SH3 was still stable at a high level, the decision was clear.

And then. Discovering the pictures of your Super Turms and recognizing that there was a lot more (like animated pens, locks, lifeboats...) I never thought would be possible in SH3 due to its game engine limitations - it made me kinda seasick! And with the chance given by your multimods to break the old JSGME rule "win some, loose some" cuz of sims, inis, dats and cams overwriting each other I pimped my boat to the max, started a new carreer and got off to sea again.

Get me right - I was diving around since the early days of SH3 (WITH STARFORCE! Moohaha!) and the only time my screen saw pictures from a stock game was when I installed it and took my first lessons at the academy. Then one of the first "LSH" was already there and from that moment I knew: this is gonna be a looong journey. And it was. And is. And thx to people like you will be!

I never was a great self-modeler, okay I moved some screws here and there, merging some early skin mods or playing around with fatigue levels or wave heights, doing some "Das Boot" soundmodding or so. Nothing dangerous and nothing big, just to get in touch with the games thinking and behaviour. So by now I sometimes have a clou where to search the devil when some odd things accur.

But not by far all the time. So this is the (second, minor, insignificant...) reason for this post. Following my preferences and your recommendations I installed the following (and in the named order):

Privateer's 4Gb_Patch_for_SH3
GWX 3.0 Gold
- GWX - 16 km Atmosphere
- GWX - Enhanced Damage Effects (EDE)
- GWX - Integrated Orders (IO)
- GWX - No Medals on Crew (NMC)
Anvart's GWX Flag and Pennants and DF Antenna (GWX_DFa-Flag&Pens_2010)
Anvart's FuMo30 (FM30_UpDown_final)
Flakmonkey's New Interior (FM_NewInterior_V1.0)
Luca's Open Hatch in Conning Tower (Conning Tower open Hatch093food, NOT "TestFMfood"!)
Nvdrifter's Depth Charge Shake (Longer_Repair_Times_2.04_ll)
- EDE - LRT 2.04 Full patch
Urfisch´s final FX and GUI (Urfischs_ModStrike_Beta1)
- WITH \data\Interior\NSS_Uboat7 included
Rubini's and Racerboy's Waterstream&Exhaust Combi V2.3 for GWX3 (Waterstr+Exhaust-CombiV2.3)
New Uboat Guns 1.2 (New_Uboat_Guns_1.2)
Rubini's Lifeboats and Debris v4 (LifeBoats&Debris_v4.7z)
- installed with the "increased draught"-option
BigBoyWooly's New Wilhelmshaven plus locks for GWX 3 (GWX 3 Wilhemshafen,St Naz,Schluese and xtra ships V6)
- with Atlantic/US East coast only Add-on
Jimbunas Animated Sub Pens for GWX (Wac-Animated-Sub-Pens-interior-start-for-GWX)
Aces' Multimod compatability fix release v1.3 public beta

By now I'm travelling around with my VIIc1 in early '42 and everything works nice and smoothly. The diesels roar as they should, blowing nice little exhaust clouds in the air, the boat rattles and shakes when the depth charges rain down over me while my potatoes get ready for dinner. Okay, the FPS drop remarkably when I raise the pennants, but the new harbour scenery at St. Naz is too nice to reduce a single detail! So my world is sunny and God is a nice bearded old man...

But there are of course some minor issues. There's nothing what makes me Aaargh!! and also nothing what interrupts the gameplay or looks so ugly that it would force me to get off my boat. But nevertheless...

The first thing i did was to compare the single mods (without the GWX ones, cuz they are my basic installation to start from) to discover what they do one by one. Then I surfed up and down the forums. See, I'm a nice guy too... And finally i thought: Who's smarter than the average bear? Ask Aces! 'ear we go!

First thing: Looking around the CR the obs scope stands fast and true where it should. But when I SHIFT+O/CTRL+O to raise/lower the obs scope then it "falls down" to the floor, pointing from its foot in the planesmens direction and disappearing between their feet "through the hull". It moves, but not up/down but left/right and will never return to its correct upright position. The view THROUGH the scope is not affected, it stays correct! By saving the game and loading it again (even without leaving SH3 completely) the scope is in the right place again, until... Have you or has somebody else ever seen that behaviour? If so, please give me a hint.

Pressing NumPad "0" to return to the previous cam view or the latest station as described by Luke (Luca's Open Hatch in Conning Tower) gives no result. But that would be interesting, no? Especially when driving the boat from the attack scope, standing inside the CT it would be great to take a look through the scope, then "step back" from the lens ant turn towards the TDC or the map, maybe click the switches to open the tubes and return to the scope view. Nearly everything inside the CT is functional now (and I give a WOW! to this fact), but this is a bit useless if I have to return to the CR (or elsewhere) first and then climb up the stairs again using the freecam. I'm not a teen any longer... By the way: is there a chance to get a clickspot for entering the CT? Maybe this wish collides with the limited number of cameras, and the diesel compartment cam occupies the last free slot. Then one idea could be to move the diesel cam to the CT, using the given SHIFT+E- and click-on-the-floor-commands to move there instead to the diesel comp. If I want to get there, the only reason is to see Johann and his beloved engines and if he's got the nerve to stand his ground this time. Maybe I ask him: "Na, Johann? Alles gut geschmiert?" But that's it, it has nothing to do with the gameplay like the CT has. Get me right: I love those eye-candy things and I don't cry a single tear about all the fps swallowed by moving valves or steaming pots. They let me feel that this is MY BOAT and let me be extra careful when going to attack. So, if I can get an advice how to deal with cam positions and clickspots - you're welcome!

The fact that some of the clickable icons of GWX "Integrated Orders" will not work any longer is no problem, cuz there is always a keyboard shortcut or a clickspot to use instead. But the new, bigger, "merged" icons I got now (where did they come from?) are not my favourite flavour. Is there an easy way to get the old GWX ones back? In my opinion they're easier to understand.

Have you ever noticed that the volume handle at the hydrophone operators place is out of order? When I search for sound contacts by hand I can no longer increase or lower the volume of the sound contact by clicking at the black handle on the right of the handwheel. Is that intended, is it a (maybe known) issue or have I screwed up something by myself? (In this case: Entschuldigung, my fault, won't ask again...)

Along with Nvdrifter's "Depth Charge Shake included in Longer Repair Times" (aka "LRT") come the following sentences: "The crew efficiency bars will not show green on the U-boat repair screen. This is expected. The mod decreases crew efficiency in order to have longer repair times. Not a very nice way, but the only one." So this seems to be no graphical thing like putting in a new screen graphic without "slots" or "windows" where the green bars shine through but a config or sim or dat thing. Oooohhh...! I understood well that Drifter/ZMC did plenty of work to get this mod on track. But how do the compartments work without any efficiency (normally you hear a "not enough xxx at yyy" and then the rpm of your diesels drop or so)? So there MUST BE SOME efficiency on board, or the boat would not move! And IF there is some efficiency - why not show it "the old way" with green bars? Do you have an idea where or how the bars are calculated? Maybe there is a chance to increase or lower a simple calculating factor between "fatigue*efficiency*specialization = x*green bar" or so. Or IS this (contrary to ZMCs statement) a graphical trick? In that case: why can't I find any new screen graphics inside his mod?

With some hints from you or the crowd 'round here I maybe will start to merge the above named mods, cuz they seem to me like they will stay with me for a longer period and I therefore have to understand how they work. By winmerging or sh3diting some files it's well possible to get into that stuff. I only have to be aware that there is a little Leichtmatrose, delivered by stork-air-mail 5 months ago, yelling "Alaaarm" from time to time. If I don't my better half will depth-charge me...

Finally - if it didn't shine through in my brief sentences: You (all!) did a great work, and I appreciate it very much. It was the reason for me to stay onboard SH3, I enjoy it and hopefully will do so for a looong time to come!

And now: "Not so long ago..."

Gruesse!

03-02-11, 10:49 AM	#7
Haihappen Watch Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 16 Downloads: 35 Uploads: 0	Some miiiiiiinor issues Moin Aces, I thought the best way of starting to post here was this: first of all to say "Dankeschoen" to you for this great stuff. This includes all the other guys in here, whether they'r named or not. After a while of staring at SH5 with its up-to-date graphics but never fixed issues (the so-called "game launcher" is one of those) I decided not to leave my old beloved SH3, but to give the Grey Wolves a try. When I then stumbled upon Flakmonkey's New Interior and Luca's Open Hatch in Conning Tower, watching the decreasing numbers of posts in the SH5-forums after the expected release hype and noticing that the ongoing work with SH3 was still stable at a high level, the decision was clear. And then. Discovering the pictures of your Super Turms and recognizing that there was a lot more (like animated pens, locks, lifeboats...) I never thought would be possible in SH3 due to its game engine limitations - it made me kinda seasick! And with the chance given by your multimods to break the old JSGME rule "win some, loose some" cuz of sims, inis, dats and cams overwriting each other I pimped my boat to the max, started a new carreer and got off to sea again. Get me right - I was diving around since the early days of SH3 (WITH STARFORCE! Moohaha!) and the only time my screen saw pictures from a stock game was when I installed it and took my first lessons at the academy. Then one of the first "LSH" was already there and from that moment I knew: this is gonna be a looong journey. And it was. And is. And thx to people like you will be! I never was a great self-modeler, okay I moved some screws here and there, merging some early skin mods or playing around with fatigue levels or wave heights, doing some "Das Boot" soundmodding or so. Nothing dangerous and nothing big, just to get in touch with the games thinking and behaviour. So by now I sometimes have a clou where to search the devil when some odd things accur. But not by far all the time. So this is the (second, minor, insignificant...) reason for this post. Following my preferences and your recommendations I installed the following (and in the named order): Privateer's 4Gb_Patch_for_SH3 GWX 3.0 Gold - GWX - 16 km Atmosphere - GWX - Enhanced Damage Effects (EDE) - GWX - Integrated Orders (IO) - GWX - No Medals on Crew (NMC) Anvart's GWX Flag and Pennants and DF Antenna (GWX_DFa-Flag&Pens_2010) Anvart's FuMo30 (FM30_UpDown_final) Flakmonkey's New Interior (FM_NewInterior_V1.0) Luca's Open Hatch in Conning Tower (Conning Tower open Hatch093food, NOT "TestFMfood"!) Nvdrifter's Depth Charge Shake (Longer_Repair_Times_2.04_ll) - EDE - LRT 2.04 Full patch Urfisch´s final FX and GUI (Urfischs_ModStrike_Beta1) - WITH \data\Interior\NSS_Uboat7 included Rubini's and Racerboy's Waterstream&Exhaust Combi V2.3 for GWX3 (Waterstr+Exhaust-CombiV2.3) New Uboat Guns 1.2 (New_Uboat_Guns_1.2) Rubini's Lifeboats and Debris v4 (LifeBoats&Debris_v4.7z) - installed with the "increased draught"-option BigBoyWooly's New Wilhelmshaven plus locks for GWX 3 (GWX 3 Wilhemshafen,St Naz,Schluese and xtra ships V6) - with Atlantic/US East coast only Add-on Jimbunas Animated Sub Pens for GWX (Wac-Animated-Sub-Pens-interior-start-for-GWX) Aces' Multimod compatability fix release v1.3 public beta By now I'm travelling around with my VIIc1 in early '42 and everything works nice and smoothly. The diesels roar as they should, blowing nice little exhaust clouds in the air, the boat rattles and shakes when the depth charges rain down over me while my potatoes get ready for dinner. Okay, the FPS drop remarkably when I raise the pennants, but the new harbour scenery at St. Naz is too nice to reduce a single detail! So my world is sunny and God is a nice bearded old man... But there are of course some minor issues. There's nothing what makes me Aaargh!! and also nothing what interrupts the gameplay or looks so ugly that it would force me to get off my boat. But nevertheless... The first thing i did was to compare the single mods (without the GWX ones, cuz they are my basic installation to start from) to discover what they do one by one. Then I surfed up and down the forums. See, I'm a nice guy too... And finally i thought: Who's smarter than the average bear? Ask Aces! 'ear we go! First thing: Looking around the CR the obs scope stands fast and true where it should. But when I SHIFT+O/CTRL+O to raise/lower the obs scope then it "falls down" to the floor, pointing from its foot in the planesmens direction and disappearing between their feet "through the hull". It moves, but not up/down but left/right and will never return to its correct upright position. The view THROUGH the scope is not affected, it stays correct! By saving the game and loading it again (even without leaving SH3 completely) the scope is in the right place again, until... Have you or has somebody else ever seen that behaviour? If so, please give me a hint. Pressing NumPad "0" to return to the previous cam view or the latest station as described by Luke (Luca's Open Hatch in Conning Tower) gives no result. But that would be interesting, no? Especially when driving the boat from the attack scope, standing inside the CT it would be great to take a look through the scope, then "step back" from the lens ant turn towards the TDC or the map, maybe click the switches to open the tubes and return to the scope view. Nearly everything inside the CT is functional now (and I give a WOW! to this fact), but this is a bit useless if I have to return to the CR (or elsewhere) first and then climb up the stairs again using the freecam. I'm not a teen any longer... By the way: is there a chance to get a clickspot for entering the CT? Maybe this wish collides with the limited number of cameras, and the diesel compartment cam occupies the last free slot. Then one idea could be to move the diesel cam to the CT, using the given SHIFT+E- and click-on-the-floor-commands to move there instead to the diesel comp. If I want to get there, the only reason is to see Johann and his beloved engines and if he's got the nerve to stand his ground this time. Maybe I ask him: "Na, Johann? Alles gut geschmiert?" But that's it, it has nothing to do with the gameplay like the CT has. Get me right: I love those eye-candy things and I don't cry a single tear about all the fps swallowed by moving valves or steaming pots. They let me feel that this is MY BOAT and let me be extra careful when going to attack. So, if I can get an advice how to deal with cam positions and clickspots - you're welcome! The fact that some of the clickable icons of GWX "Integrated Orders" will not work any longer is no problem, cuz there is always a keyboard shortcut or a clickspot to use instead. But the new, bigger, "merged" icons I got now (where did they come from?) are not my favourite flavour. Is there an easy way to get the old GWX ones back? In my opinion they're easier to understand. Have you ever noticed that the volume handle at the hydrophone operators place is out of order? When I search for sound contacts by hand I can no longer increase or lower the volume of the sound contact by clicking at the black handle on the right of the handwheel. Is that intended, is it a (maybe known) issue or have I screwed up something by myself? (In this case: Entschuldigung, my fault, won't ask again...) Along with Nvdrifter's "Depth Charge Shake included in Longer Repair Times" (aka "LRT") come the following sentences: "The crew efficiency bars will not show green on the U-boat repair screen. This is expected. The mod decreases crew efficiency in order to have longer repair times. Not a very nice way, but the only one." So this seems to be no graphical thing like putting in a new screen graphic without "slots" or "windows" where the green bars shine through but a config or sim or dat thing. Oooohhh...! I understood well that Drifter/ZMC did plenty of work to get this mod on track. But how do the compartments work without any efficiency (normally you hear a "not enough xxx at yyy" and then the rpm of your diesels drop or so)? So there MUST BE SOME efficiency on board, or the boat would not move! And IF there is some efficiency - why not show it "the old way" with green bars? Do you have an idea where or how the bars are calculated? Maybe there is a chance to increase or lower a simple calculating factor between "fatigueefficiencyspecialization = x*green bar" or so. Or IS this (contrary to ZMCs statement) a graphical trick? In that case: why can't I find any new screen graphics inside his mod? With some hints from you or the crowd 'round here I maybe will start to merge the above named mods, cuz they seem to me like they will stay with me for a longer period and I therefore have to understand how they work. By winmerging or sh3diting some files it's well possible to get into that stuff. I only have to be aware that there is a little Leichtmatrose, delivered by stork-air-mail 5 months ago, yelling "Alaaarm" from time to time. If I don't my better half will depth-charge me... Finally - if it didn't shine through in my brief sentences: You (all!) did a great work, and I appreciate it very much. It was the reason for me to stay onboard SH3, I enjoy it and hopefully will do so for a looong time to come! And now: "Not so long ago..." Gruesse!