Soundman STILL not Calling.../contact.cfg

[Dogfish40]

Originally Posted by Trevally.

It looks like those values will be affected by things in your campaign - ships sunk, points gained etc.

The best way to test this will indeed be by single mission.
What we should do is make a mission with a ship out of range and watch how far away it is before it is drawn on your map by the hydro line and then at what range before it is called out.

This could also be done with the watch crew.

we should post the single mission here so we can all test with the same conditions.
We should also post what UPC setting we are using.

Actually, Yes, we could all find out if we're getting the same results. However, the lifeboats mission is good too because it uses the soundman and the watchcrew immediately after the start. When I played it last night my soundman called out the contacts. I had removed three files. AND, another friend of ours just sent me his mod list which I helped him work on a bit. So we have a lot of common mods (his list is huge though). His soundman is working. So I'm going to have that to compare with as well.
I was really shocked that I got those results so fast last night.
Trev, I've never used any of these missions before and I was wondering if playing them alters your activated mods in any way. I noticed when I played the lifeboat check mission that even though my soundguy worked, my chief's character had changed back to the original. I use the alternate w' beards right now, so I was thinking maybe the soundman was working because more mods had been deactivated than I had done.
This might turn out to be as simple as switching mods around, but I would rather find the file that's causing the trouble. I know we're going to get this working, but I can't wait to have a working soundman.
Also; I'm not getting the contacts in the messagebox either. This may be even be more important.
Rock n' Roll
D40

[Trevally.]

Ok - made a test mission
I am 30m deep
target is 60km away heading to pass me side on at 8knots



Run the mission
The target is first spotted at 33km and hydro line is drawn on map
no call out or message


target heads towards my at 8knots
hydro line shows where he is the whole way
not shout out from hydro at any time.

Then the targer disappears as it passes by deaf spot off the bow.
When the target reappears the sound man calls out and message is posted
new updates are shouted out and posted as the target moves away out of range



Second go - ran same mission again
target spotted at 32km
this time i ask hydro to repeat last contact
contact is posted, but no shout out


sound man remains quiet and no more messages posted
the hydro line tracks target

again target passes my bow and is about to go into my deaf zone
still no message posted or call outs


as target re-enters by the hydro zone
sonar man posts message and calls out
he continues to call out and post messages until out of range



So - my issue is this
when using real nav - the hydro line is not marked on your map
this line is the only warning you will get unless you ask
or unless contact is lost and then found again before he will start reporting

[Dogfish40]

Originally Posted by Trevally.

Ok - made a test mission
I am 30m deep
target is 60km away heading to pass me side on at 8knots



Run the mission
The target is first spotted at 33km and hydro line is drawn on map
no call out or message


target heads towards my at 8knots
hydro line shows where he is the whole way
not shout out from hydro at any time.

Then the targer disappears as it passes by deaf spot off the bow.
When the target reappears the sound man calls out and message is posted
new updates are shouted out and posted as the target moves away out of range



Second go - ran same mission again
target spotted at 32km
this time i ask hydro to repeat last contact
contact is posted, but no shout out


sound man remains quiet and no more messages posted
the hydro line tracks target

again target passes my bow and is about to go into my deaf zone
still no message posted or call outs


as target re-enters by the hydro zone
sonar man posts message and calls out
he continues to call out and post messages until out of range



So - my issue is this
when using real nav - the hydro line is not marked on your map
this line is the only warning you will get unless you ask
or unless contact is lost and then found again before he will start reporting

So, In a nutshell, your soundman was working, right? You didn't have to adjust anything. My soundman was not doing this at all. The hydrophone line would appear and I will get no warning in the messagebox or a call out from the soundman at all. Until I ran the took out those three mods and ran the life raft mission. Unfortunately, I got home way too late yesterday to do anything but rearrange my mod list and update the UI mod.
For most of us with this problem, the fix is simply go to the SH5/data/cfg/contacts.cfg--open it with notepad and make sure this line reads 60! The same with the precise line, make sure this reads 15. This will fix most of the soundman problems that the Kaleuns are having.
There are several mods that have changed this and you'll need to find those as well 'cause everytime you load the mod, that contacts.cfg gets overwritten.
I hope that swtching my mods around and updating the UI will help.
I'll post again when I test.
Will I be able to access this mission?
Thanks
D40

[Trevally.]

Originally Posted by Dogfish40

So, In a nutshell, your soundman was working, right? You didn't have to adjust anything.

Well - this is the problem - I don't think this is working as it should.
I think the sound guy should shout out as soon as the hydro line first appears.
Something is stoppoing him or there is no trigger.

When the contact is lost (passing the bow) and then found again - this does seem to be a trigger to get him to call out and he will then continue to call.

I am sure this counld be fixed by a script where when hydro line is drawn - sound man jumps in and starts calling out the bearings.

This could however be annoying if this happens with friendly ships - so could perhaps be linked to the travel button

Perhaps TDW could look at this when he has time and add it to his UI

Will I be able to access this mission?
Thanks
D40

https://rapidshare.com/files/103820215/Hydrotest.7z

[Dogfish40]

Originally Posted by Trevally.

[/FONT]

Well - this is the problem - I don't think this is working as it should.
I think the sound guy should shout out as soon as the hydro line first appears.
Something is stoppoing him or there is no trigger.

When the contact is lost (passing the bow) and then found again - this does seem to be a trigger to get him to call out and he will then continue to call.

I am sure this counld be fixed by a script where when hydro line is drawn - sound man jumps in and starts calling out the bearings.

This could however be annoying if this happens with friendly ships - so could perhaps be linked to the travel button

Perhaps TDW could look at this when he has time and add it to his UI





https://rapidshare.com/files/103820215/Hydrotest.7z

Question for you Trev.
Did you check your contacts.cfg file? SH5/data/cfg/contacts.cfg. Open it up ans check the two lines ; Imprecise sensor contacts= should be 60 / Precise sensor contacts= should be 15. Even though someone stated that these are for radar, they had a direct effect on the soundman.
If these are already set to those numbers, never mind this, the file is correct. If not, set those two parameters and try the mission again.
This goes for everyone who may be having soundman problems.
In a little while, I'm going to see if my adjustments to my mod soup are working at all. I did rearrange quite a bit + upgraded a couple things so...we'll see.
If it does work I'll be closer to knowing where the culprit file is.
D40
PS; thanks for the mission

[Trevally.]

My contact.cfg:-

 
; Edited by TheDarkWraith for NewUIs_TDC_6_9_0
; Edited on 11/06/2011 @ 1100

[ContactSettings]
; Contact settings
Display Range To Opportunity Radio Contacts=1000 ;[>0] kilometers
Display Range To Important Radio Contacts=3500 ;[>0] kilometers
Decay Time For Important Radio Contacts=172800 ;[>0] seconds
Decay Time For Opportunity Radio Contacts=64800 ;[>0] seconds
Decay Time For Imprecise Sensor Contacts=60 ;[>0] seconds  was 600
Decay Time For Precise Sensor Contacts=15 ;[>0] seconds  was 60
Decay Time For HighPrio Radio Contacts=259200
Single Contact Min Size=1   ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group
Small Contact Min Size=2   ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group
Medium Contact Min Size=4   ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group
Large Contact Min Size=9   ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group
[ContactRange]
;under the (right) value a contact is considered as:
Short=1000    ;[m]
Medium=3000   ;[m]
Long=20000    ;[m]
[ContactSpeeds]
;less than each value means (in this order): stationary, slow, medium and fast speed ; over the last value means very fast speed
Merchant=0.1,8,12,35  ;[kts]
Warship=0.1,8,19,35   ;[kts] including uboats
Air=0.1,8,19,35       ;[kts]
Convoy=0.1,8,12,35    ;[kts]

Looks ok

[BruceLee]

Same problem. My guy almost never calls out new hydrophone contacts. I play with contact markers disabled, so the only way for me to be informed the instant a contact is detected is to hotkey "Report nearest contact" to a key and spam away at it whenever I'm searching for ships to sink.
And also note that, with markers enabled, the hydrophone lines on the map show up perfectly for me as well. The detections are being made, but he refuses to let me know. Probably snickering at me behind my back as all the juicy merchants roll by, the bastard.

What I'd really like, if a fix for the issue cannot be produced, is a way to have TC automatically drop to 1 or 8 as soon as a new hydro contact is made. That would alert me to the fact that something is up, even if I get no report message from the hydrophone operator, and it would give my poor left ring finger a break from the constant spamming.

My contact.cfg is also set correctly. Mod list below :

Accurate German Flags
German Voices
MightyFine Less Annoying Footsteps 1.0
Less Annoying Stopwatch Ticking - LAST - v. 01.00 by AvM
KZS Hull wetness for U-Boats + co tower and deck_revised_by_TheDarkWraith
NOZAURIO'S SKIN (Standar No Emblem) v-1.0.0
SteelViking's Interior Mod V1.2
TheDarkWraith_DC_Water_Disturbances_v2_0_SH5
SH5Lifeboats_by_Rongel_TDW_stoianm_v2.11
sobers talking conning crew mod
MoraleMod
MightyFine Crew Mod 1.2.1 Alt faces
MCCD_1.04_MFCM_1.2.1_compatible
A Fistful of Emblems v1.51 (Weathered)
FX_Update_0_0_19_ByTheDarkWraith
NewUIs_TDC_7_1_0_ByTheDarkWraith
NewUIs_TDC_7_1_0_AltAdvSpeedGraphics_by_naights
IRAI_0_0_37_ByTheDarkWraith
TDW_No_Hydrophone_On_Surface_No_Aircraft_Spotting_ 1_1_0
TDW_Ship_Inertia_1_1_0
TDW_IRAI_Inertia_Damage_Test
OPEN HORIZONS II_full v1.9
OHIIv1.9_Patch1
Trevally Automated Scripts v0.6
North Atlantic Green 1.1
My_Mixed_SoundMod_2.1

[Dogfish40]

Originally Posted by Trevally.

My contact.cfg:-

 
; Edited by TheDarkWraith for NewUIs_TDC_6_9_0
; Edited on 11/06/2011 @ 1100
 
[ContactSettings]
; Contact settings
Display Range To Opportunity Radio Contacts=1000 ;[>0] kilometers
Display Range To Important Radio Contacts=3500 ;[>0] kilometers
Decay Time For Important Radio Contacts=172800 ;[>0] seconds
Decay Time For Opportunity Radio Contacts=64800 ;[>0] seconds
Decay Time For Imprecise Sensor Contacts=60 ;[>0] seconds  was 600
Decay Time For Precise Sensor Contacts=15 ;[>0] seconds  was 60
Decay Time For HighPrio Radio Contacts=259200
Single Contact Min Size=1   ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group
Small Contact Min Size=2   ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group
Medium Contact Min Size=4   ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group
Large Contact Min Size=9   ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group
[ContactRange]
;under the (right) value a contact is considered as:
Short=1000    ;[m]
Medium=3000   ;[m]
Long=20000    ;[m]
[ContactSpeeds]
;less than each value means (in this order): stationary, slow, medium and fast speed ; over the last value means very fast speed
Merchant=0.1,8,12,35  ;[kts]
Warship=0.1,8,19,35   ;[kts] including uboats
Air=0.1,8,19,35       ;[kts]
Convoy=0.1,8,12,35    ;[kts]

Looks ok

Yeah, Thats it! Your good there. Well...one more thing, did you check the actual file in your data/cfg folder, there are one or two mods that overwrite this if you load them after TDW's UI mod. I found that out the hard way. Just sayin'
Cheers.
D40

[Dogfish40]

Originally Posted by BruceLee

Same problem. My guy almost never calls out new hydrophone contacts. I play with contact markers disabled, so the only way for me to be informed the instant a contact is detected is to hotkey "Report nearest contact" to a key and spam away at it whenever I'm searching for ships to sink.
And also note that, with markers enabled, the hydrophone lines on the map show up perfectly for me as well. The detections are being made, but he refuses to let me know. Probably snickering at me behind my back as all the juicy merchants roll by, the bastard.

What I'd really like, if a fix for the issue cannot be produced, is a way to have TC automatically drop to 1 or 8 as soon as a new hydro contact is made. That would alert me to the fact that something is up, even if I get no report message from the hydrophone operator, and it would give my poor left ring finger a break from the constant spamming.

My contact.cfg is also set correctly. Mod list below :

Hey BruceLee.
You see...Yours is the perfect example of a soundman that should be working. I can only suggest until I find that culprit file that you switch around some of your mods. I know you've probably already tried to optimize this but for now, I would place the UI mod a bit further up, say above the MFSM/MCCD mods. I'm trying this as well now. I am on a quest, I just gotta' get "Benni" to work else he's gonna' get shot for dereliction of duty and also I don't wanna' see him cry
D40

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by Trevally.

[/FONT]
I am sure this counld be fixed by a script where when hydro line is drawn - sound man jumps in and starts calling out the bearings.

This could however be annoying if this happens with friendly ships - so could perhaps be linked to the travel button

Perhaps TDW could look at this when he has time and add it to his UI

https://rapidshare.com/files/103820215/Hydrotest.7z

Scriptmanager does not expose anything that relates to bearing lines or when contacts appear on the maps.

Originally Posted by Dogfish40

Hey BruceLee.
You see...Yours is the perfect example of a soundman that should be working. I can only suggest until I find that culprit file that you switch around some of your mods. I know you've probably already tried to optimize this but for now, I would place the UI mod a bit further up, say above the MFSM/MCCD mods. I'm trying this as well now. I am on a quest, I just gotta' get "Benni" to work else he's gonna' get shot for dereliction of duty and also I don't wanna' see him cry
D40

What's the best way to kill a lot of time when you have nothing but time to waste? OllyDebug! I had many hours of flight from down south in Mexico to home so I decided to look into this sonarman problem. A little under 3 hours into it I finally narrowed down the routine that is called when a sonar contact is detected. A few minutes later I had a patch that made the sonarman call out everytime a new contact line is drawn on the map. Preliminary testing results are good so I'll release the patch for this tomorrow. Then you all can test it extensively to see what the negative side effects are (I don't foresee any but you never know! case in point: sub on bottom patch). Right now I need to get some sleep

[BruceLee]

Well how about that. MUCH appreciated. Will this new patch modify SH5's exe though? I have the Steam version, which means I can't use your other exe patcher. Would hate to miss out on this fix!

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by BruceLee

Well how about that. MUCH appreciated. Will this new patch modify SH5's exe though? I have the Steam version, which means I can't use your other exe patcher. Would hate to miss out on this fix!

Yep, it requires a mod to the SH5.exe. Being that you can pick up the DVD version for ~$5 from Amazon.com there's no reason to be using the Steam version anymore

[Dogfish40]

Originally Posted by Dogfish40

Hopefully, if worse comes to worse, you can get the patch and insert the files manually right? I mean , a patch is nothing more than a collection of one or more files to place some where in the data folder. You just hope that it's not 400 files
This shouldn't be a huge change, but thank God for TDW, he's got a gift with this stuff. I am still looking through sensor files that turn up nothing.
We'll see when TDW's patch comes and then help everybody get "Benni" (a little too close to Bernard) working again.
Cheers.
D40

Hey TDW, My god, thanks. I'm still stuck looking at sensor files that haven't helped a bit so far.
As far as the steam version, is there no way for them to manually insert the changes? Os does an .exe type patch negate this?
By the way, I can't thank you enough, I must admit, I was getting bogged down, everytime I found an answer to something I got twice as many new questions.
Thanks again mate!!

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by Dogfish40

As far as the steam version, is there no way for them to manually insert the changes? Os does an .exe type patch negate this?

There are two problems with the Steam verison of the game:
1) Steam uses a form of self-modifying copy protection (obfuscator) that unpacks the game when you run it. Thus it's very complicated to try and make any changes to the code.
2) I don't have/use the Steam version of the game. If I did then I could make a DLL file that could be injected into the game to make the changes (but this DLL would have to be injected every time the game was run). The cost/reward relationship for this though is very low and isn't worth the time/effort to make even if I had the Steam version due to Amazon.com selling the game for ~$5. If the game was still ~$50 then it would be worth the time/effort

I'm putting together the patch currently. Not only does the soundman call out every new bearing line but the messagebox gets a message about it also.

[TheDarkWraith]

Turns out this function that handles the new sonar contacts also handles many other things (aircraft spotted, smoke on the horizon, etc.). Very interesting function I'm playing with it currently trying to figure out how it determines all these different items.