SH3 has come finally come full circle for me

[Ducimus]

Finally we come to what is arguably my best achievement. At first glance it seems hard, but once you understand it, its incredibly simple.


How to do New Flotilla's and Bases.
I've talked about them quite a bit in the past:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=87316
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=89619
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=93647

Ironiclly my orginal release of new base's arrangements appears as a file called "GPLAY_MONSUN_BOATS.zip" . You can find it on UBRS in the SH3/SKINS section of all places. How it got there i don't know, i've never uploaded anything to UBRS.


Anyway here's the gist. You cannot create an entirely new flotilla. At least i dont think you can, and ive poured over this for hours upon hours. I belelieve the number of flotilla openings (i call them slots) is hardcoded. To allow more flotila's, i think (not sure) that you'd have to totally rewrite the 1024_ini.file and that is simply out of the question and well beyond anyones ablity to mod. So You have 8 flotilla slots. They are occupied by:
1.) 1st
2.) 2nd
3.) 7th
4.) 10th
5.) 11th
6.) 12th
7.) 29th
8.) 33rd.
You can however, define what these flotilla openings are any way you see fit. I wont go into full concepts on how to best utlize and get the most use out of each flotilla slots, ill just tell you how to edit them.

Lets take the 3rd flotilla mod. You can find this in NYGM's documentation directory.

All the 3rd flotilla mod, is a rewrite of the 10th.
So heres a step by step process of how this is done:

Step 1:
Make sure the base you want to start your flotilla in exists in the LND layer. If it does not, place it. Preferbly where theres a harbor defined in the locations.cfg

Step 2:
Open the file sh3/data/menu/en_menu.txt
Using the find function, type in "10th". That will bring you to this line:

273=10th Flotilla was founded in......

Obviously, its the flotilla description. Change it to whatever you want the flolilla selection screen will say about your new flotilla.


Step 3:
Continuing with the find function of "10th" will bring you to this line:

905=10th Flotilla

This is assining the flotlla and ID handle number. This number is whats used by the flotilla.cfg when it calls upon this flotilla. The game recongizes the flotlla slot by this number. Chane it to read:

905=3rd Flotilla

Step 4:
Again continuing with the find function of "10th" will bring you to this line:

1103=10th

This is the number that you see on the select flotilla map when starting a career, change this to:

1103=3rd

Step 5:
Here we are going to define the base number that the rewritten flotilla will use. For simplicities sake, just search for "Kiel" in the EN_menu.cfg, After hiting "next" once, you should arrive at this block of code:

750=Kiel
751=Brest
752=Wilhelmshaven
753=Lorient
754=St. Nazaire
755=Bergen
756=Bordeaux
757=La Spezia
758=Toulon
759=Flensburg

Add this line to it after 759=:

760=La Rochelle

Remember, this base must exist by the EXACT NAME you list here in the LND layer.

Step 6:
Open the file sh3/data/cfg/flotilla.cfg and search for "10th".

That will bring you this like block:

Flotilla3=905
TO3=942
NbStartingDate3=3
NbDate3=3
Emblem3=data/Emblems/SubEmblems/Flotillas/10th flotilla.tga
NbBases3=1
Base3_0=753;Lorient
Date3_0_0=1942
Month3_0_0=2
Date3_0_1=1944
Month3_0_1=8
DeparturePointLong3_0=-399037.000000
DeparturePointLat3_0=5729694.000000
Heading3_0=135.000000
NbUboats3=1
Uboat3_0=2

Now this bears a moment of examination. See the two areas ive highlighted? Does that 905 look famillar? How about that 753? 905 is the ID number handler for the flotilla, and 753 is the base ID number handler that are defined (that you just redefined) in the EN_menu.cfg

Now note the italicied parts. It's the starting position, We'll get to that next step. For now, change:

Base3_0=753;Lorient

to read:

Base3_0=760;

Remember you just defined who and what this base is, in step 5.


Step 7.
Time to get those coordinates for the starting position.
Open sh3/data/campaign/campaigns/Campaign_LND.mis in WORDPAD.
Search for "La Rochelle". Make sure its a german naval base, and then copy the lat and long coords you find there straight into your flotlla.cfg in the appropriate place.

Congradulations, you have now moved the 10th flotilla to La Rochelle, and renamed it as the 3rd flotlla. (note, in the flotilla transfer menu in game, it will still be listed as the 10th, you'll have to edit the 1024_768.ini file for that, but it's not neccessary, and honsetly i woudlnt advise it)

But, where not done yet.

Step 8:
File sh3/data/menu/cfg/Flotillas.cfg

If you want to properly place the flotilla on the map in the flotilla selection screen, this is the Not so much fun file to play with. I wont go into too much detail here except its trail and error. Heres a basic example, ill use the 2nd flotilla which moves starts in wilhelmshave and moves to Lorient later on.:

[FLOT903]

]PosFlot0=839,410,200,20
PosBase0=884,409,200,18;Wilhelmshaven
PosBitmap0=863,410,17,17
PosSubm0=718,417,127,36

This is the entry for the first base.
PosFlot i think is the flotlla name
PosBase i think is the cirlcuar dot
PosBitMap the word flotilla
PosSubM is the sub icon.

The coordinates are a sort of grid that behaves like an XY grid. I could be mistaken on what does what where, it was sort of a trial and erorr thing and while ive adjusted flotlla locations on the slection screen before, its not something i documented very well.

PosFlot1=570,200,200,20
PosBase1=615,202,200,18;Lorient
PosBitmap1=595,202,17,17
PosSubm1=446,207,127,36

This is the second half of the 2nd flotllas icons. Note the numberic change from base 0 to base 1.


Step 9:
The rest of this is just sort of cleanup to make sure you got the flolilla dates correctly. I can't go into any major detail here without explaining how the flotilla.cfg file works. Instead ill give you a before and after blocks of code, highlighting changes youd be making about now and hopefully the picture will become clear for you:

BEFORE:

Flotilla3=905
TO3=942
NbStartingDate3=3
NbDate3=3
Emblem3=data/Emblems/SubEmblems/Flotillas/10th flotilla.tga
NbBases3=1
Base3_0=753;Lorient
Date3_0_0=1942
Month3_0_0=2
Date3_0_1=1944
Month3_0_1=8
DeparturePointLong3_0=-399037.000000
DeparturePointLat3_0=5729694.000000
Heading3_0=135.000000
NbUboats3=1
Uboat3_0=2

AFTER:

Flotilla3=905
TO3=942
NbStartingDate3=4
NbDate3=4
Emblem3=data/Emblems/SubEmblems/Flotillas/10th flotilla.tga
NbBases3=2
Base3_0=750;Kiel
Date3_0_0=1941
Month3_0_0=3
Date3_0_1=1941
Month3_0_1=9
DeparturePointLong3_0=1218743.000000
DeparturePointLat3_0=6521462.000000
Heading3_0=50.251987
Base3_1=760;La Rochelle
Date3_1_0=1941
Month3_1_0=10
Date3_1_1=1944
Month3_1_1=9
DeparturePointLong3_1=-141466.000000
DeparturePointLat3_1=5537980.000000
Heading3_1=270.000000
NbUboats3=2
Uboat3_0=1
uboat3_1=0