[WIP] Draft Fix for all ships

[TH0R]

This has been bothering me from the very first time I fired up SH4. And no one was patient enough to fix this, so I went and did it myself. It is almost done and I plan on releasing this shortly after next RFB patch goes public.

Draft value of all ships have now been calibrated - now water line perfectly matches water surface on 0 m/s winds.

Here are some preview shots (before/after):











There will be two versions:

- RFB/RSRDC
- GFO

I have written down draught changes for every ship in game so anyone can incorporate this into any super mod out there. I just don't have the patience to make compatible versions for all of them.


EDIT:

Released in this thread

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=168436

[virtualpender]

Fantastic stuff!

You are a saint for keeping a log of the adjusted values. Hopefully a TMO/RSRD version can be created at some point.

[TH0R]

Thanks.

I was hoping to do the TMO version myself but I just don't have the time. This took almost two weeks of testing alone.

I am just testing the GFO version and on two ships I had to use different values.

Javelin DD was in dire need of a fix - it almost blows up by sitting too deep in the water and Fiji class CL seems to bounce weirdly in GFO/Stock... In any case, I have every value used documented, and from which mod/supermod it came from if not from me (well, 95% are mine).

Not only ships, submarines were also adjusted - latest versions will be included in the new RFB patch, Luke approved it.


This should be ready for the weekend.

[virtualpender]

Am I understanding you correctly that even the revised draft values vary from mod to mod?

Thanks again for all of your work on this.

[VonHesse]

Originally Posted by THOR

I am just testing the GFO version and on two ships I had to use different values.

It might not work the same with GFO, because Webster already did his own ship draft fix mod, and I'm pretty sure he rolled all or most of it into GFO.

Link: [REL] Webster's Ship Draft Fix for v1.4 and v1.5

From the draft fixes changelog:

Originally Posted by Webster

(American)
BB North Carolina, BB Iowa, DD clemson, DD Somers, CVE Bogue, CL Cleveland, victory cargo, liberty cargo, troop transport, sub depot ship
(japan)
BB Kongo, CA Furutaka, CL Naka, CV Hiryu, CV Shokaku, CV Taiho, DD Minkaze, large composite freighter, small composite freighter, small passanger liner, small old oiler, large modern composite freighter, large old split freighter, small modern composite freighter, all 3 sampans

and then from the GFO changelog:

Originally Posted by Webster

Draft heights for several ships and subs in the game were corrected

Might be why the numbers don't match from mod to mod

Good luck with your mod though, can never have too many

[TH0R]

Originally Posted by VonHesse

It might not work the same with GFO, because Webster already did his own ship draft fix mod, and I'm pretty sure he rolled all or most of it into GFO.

Link: [REL] Webster's Ship Draft Fix for v1.4 and v1.5

I am fully aware of his mod and changes made. Lets just say that my values are more accurate than his. Because of several reasons - 0 m/s winds in stock game still rock the boat a lot compared to the RFB's RE environment mod. So it is easier to get the accurate draught. Another example - all stock sub drafts look as if they are museum ships, not ships ready for war and trimmed for fast dives. My mod will have them matching waterline with water surface, as it was in WW2. Also, Webster did only few of the ships. I fixed them all.

I calibrated every single ship (that needed to be calibrated) in SH4. So far only the two ships in question (J class DD and Fiji class CL) are the exceptions where I had to use different values for GFO version. I don't know what the reason is, probably some supermods (RFB or RSRDC) change the .sim file that causes this. Or it might have something to do with the environment mods, I don't know...

My mod will overwrite Webster's changes.

Originally Posted by virtualpender

Am I understanding you correctly that even the revised draft values vary from mod to mod?

Thanks again for all of your work on this.

As I said, this is probably due to someone changing the original ships .sim file or due to environment mods. It should be easier to integrate this into the TMO, as it has its own environment mod.

Originally Posted by TH0R

I am fully aware of his mod and changes made. Lets just say that my values are more accurate than his. ... Webster did only few of the ships. I fixed them all.

I calibrated every single ship (that needed to be calibrated) in SH4. So far only the two ships in question (J class DD and Fiji class CL) are the exceptions where I had to use different values for GFO version. I don't know what the reason is, probably some supermods (RFB or RSRDC) change the .sim file that causes this. Or it might have something to do with the environment mods, I don't know...

My mod will overwrite Webster's changes.

RFB uses its own sim values for many ships so i think they made changes for other reasons besides draft heights (manuvering and sinking charactoristics come to mind). i have found RFB has a tendency to be different enough that its files arent meant to be used (or will work very well, if at all) with anything other then RFB.

GFO has changes made to the sim files for the draft fix as well as the manuvering fix mod merged together so that should be kept in mind as well.

i tried to get everything very close to exact with my mods draft settings but if it looked ok up close and it wasnt that obvious that it was a tiny bit off then i didnt change it for a very small (and IMO) a minor change thats not going to be noticed in the game. i concentrated my efforts on the ships with a foot or more error to them.


as you suspected i went with a standard stock calm sea state in protected waters and didnt set it up on dead calm seas to get the accuracy that you did in your mod. i think i had 1 ft rolling waves or something and took the average level of peaks and valleys of those waves.

there are a couple of ships that had some quirks that acted different then others, most sim files acted fine but some didnt want to use the surfaced draft settings. its been a loooong time since i fooled with it so my memory of it is fuzzy but i seam to recall that a few ships would get "interference" from the submerged draft settings so in some cases those were changed to zero to allow the surfaced drafts to be accepted.

i applaud your efforts as a fellow modder and perfectionist and i hope to see more mods like this from you

[TH0R]

Originally Posted by Webster

RFB uses its own sim values for many ships so i think they made changes for other reasons besides draft heights (manuvering and sinking charactoristics come to mind). i have found RFB has a tendency to be different enough that its files arent meant to be used (or will work very well, if at all) with anything other then RFB.

GFO has changes made to the sim files for the draft fix as well as the manuvering fix mod merged together so that should be kept in mind as well.

Just to be clear on this - I modified GFO v1.1 files for the GFO version, and RFB files for RFB version. It is a pretty boring process, I have to tell you, editing all those .sim files.

Originally Posted by Webster

i tried to get everything very close to exact with my mods draft settings but if it looked ok up close and it wasnt that obvious that it was a tiny bit off then i didnt change it for a very small (and IMO) a minor change thats not going to be noticed in the game. i concentrated my efforts on the ships with a foot or more error to them.


as you suspected i went with a standard stock calm sea state in protected waters and didnt set it up on dead calm seas to get the accuracy that you did in your mod. i think i had 1 ft rolling waves or something and took the average level of peaks and valleys of those waves.

I thought so. Playing stock version with default water and environment it is not so obvious to spot draft errors. But when one plays RFB and encounters a whip on 0 m/s winds - it becomes quite obvious and it bothered me enough to change it. And it helps to find the dead on accurate values for draft fixes.

Originally Posted by Webster

there are a couple of ships that had some quirks that acted different then others, most sim files acted fine but some didnt want to use the surfaced draft settings. its been a loooong time since i fooled with it so my memory of it is fuzzy but i seam to recall that a few ships would get "interference" from the submerged draft settings so in some cases those were changed to zero to allow the surfaced drafts to be accepted.

i applaud your efforts as a fellow modder and perfectionist and i hope to see more mods like this from you

Thanks. Feel free to include this into GFO if you want.

Originally Posted by TH0R

Thanks. Feel free to include this into GFO if you want.

[TH0R]

I would just like to add that without my fix - J class DD in GFO v1.1 is busted. It is sitting too deep in the water and parts of it blow up every time it spawns.

Originally Posted by TH0R

I would just like to add that without my fix - J class DD in GFO v1.1 is busted. It is sitting too deep in the water and parts of it blow up every time it spawns.

i had no issues with it, i suspect you have a mod soup thing going on there.

probably a stock bug depending on situation or leftover mod file that didnt get uninstalled correctly but thats not a GFO issue

[TH0R]

Originally Posted by Webster

i had no issues with it, i suspect you have a mod soup thing going on there.

probably a stock bug depending on situation or leftover mod file that didnt get uninstalled correctly but thats not a GFO issue

Hmmm...

I un-installed all mods before applying only the GFOv1.1. And I ran the 'compare game files to a snapshot' which was taken before any mods were installed in the first place. JSGME said everything was OK.

It happened in the Museum and in single mission I created to test the draft values...


EDIT: Just to be extra sure I will reinstall the game completely and install GFOv1.1 first. But that won't happen before a day or two as I don't have the time to spare...

[TH0R]

I un-installed the game, deleted the SH4 folder from My Documents and the install (game root) folder completely.

Then I installed SH4 with UBM and fired it up - and went to the museum to check the J class DD. It was sitting too deep but nothing was blowing up.

After that I enabled GFO v1.1 and fired the game again. Went to the Museum and - J class DD blows up when spawned in Museum with GFO v1.1.

Conclusion - I don't / didn't have a mod soup.