[REL] SH3 Log Mod; Beta testers required.

[Tycho]

Some observations from me:

Don't type symbol = in comments field! Well, don't put = in any fields. Result is that entirely EntryText will be missing:


When a ship sunk, the navigation officer informed me. But from installation instructions I replace "She's going down!" with "Following plotted course!" to hide the fact of sinking. Well, in every situations by now, this is noticeable for me.
But if I don't have navigation officer in his station, then I don't have any message for sinking ship.

[LGN1]

Hi Tycho,

thanks for the feedback. In my private version I also removed the access to the log via the 3d interior. However, in order to avoid compatibility issues with different mods, I did not include any interior files in the mod.

Thanks for the comment about =. How did you find this out? Was there any reason to include =? I guess there are a few characters that can cause problems, e.g., \ / .... You can test this by editing the save-game files directly.

Thanks also for the tip with the navigation officer. Unfortunately, removing him from his station is also annoying. How do you give course and speed commands without him? I use the "Following plotted course!" command quite frequently so in many cases it properly 'hides' the sinking. However, not in all situations Well, it's not a perfect solution, but the best I can think of.

After reading some more historical accounts, my feeling is that the current 'BDU' is quite strict. What are your experiences? Should the 'BDU' be more tolerant concerning over-claiming?

Cheers, LGN1

[Tycho]

Originally Posted by LGN1

How did you find this out? Was there any reason to include =?

In second screenshot I was typed: "Torpedo run: 71sec = 1460m"

Originally Posted by LGN1

After reading some more historical accounts, my feeling is that the current 'BDU' is quite strict. What are your experiences? Should the 'BDU' be more tolerant concerning over-claiming?

I don't have feeling how strict program is. I'm very accurate with my claims.
Problems are only when in the RecManual have two ships that looked exactly the same, but for example one is 11000 and another is 9000.
In this cases I always claim one with less tonnage.
Happens that BDU correct my tonnage from another source, but never to reject my claims.
Well, in my next patrols I'll try some over-claiming, to see what happens.

[BigWalleye]

Originally Posted by Tycho

In second screenshot I was typed: "Torpedo run: 71sec = 1460m"
I don't have feeling how strict program is. I'm very accurate with my claims.
Problems are only when in the RecManual have two ships that looked exactly the same, but for example one is 11000 and another is 9000.
In this cases I always claim one with less tonnage.
Happens that BDU correct my tonnage from another source, but never to reject my claims.
Well, in my next patrols I'll try some over-claiming, to see what happens.

BdU has given me leeway of almost 20%. I wouldn't want more than that. But I would prefer that they correct my misidentifications, rather than rejecting them. I have had confirmed sinkings rejected because I was wildly off in my ID. (OK, I went in and checked the saved logs.) If I sank something in BE17 on August 10, and BdU knows it was only a tramp freighter and not a Liberty ship, then I would like them to credit me with the known tonnage. From what I have read, this was commonly done.

On rereading, that sounds like a strong complaint. I am really quite pleased with this mod and what it adds to the game. But, since you asked what I want from Santa....

[LGN1]

Hi BigWalleye & Tycho,

thanks for the replies! The idea with the semi-colon in front of the numbers is great. However, I thought this would lead to some problems , but I will test it again (years ago people tried to get rid of the 'The enemy is pinging us' comment and IIRC, no one had a good solution. But your method should also solve this give-away).

I will think about your suggestion that BDU will correct your claims. However, I think this would require quite some work. In addition, in most cases BDU would not know more than you do (except in the early-war period). So, I'm not sure about a good solution.

Personally, I always interpret the rejection as a very poor report/briefing to the BDU so that he is very upset with the poor quality of my report no matter what my actual performance was.

Regards, LGN1

[sublynx]

Here's the info on C2 cargo in the version of NYGM (TMT, NYGM version) I'm playing:

[Unit]
ClassName=KLS
UnitType=102
MaxSpeed=15.5
Length=140.5
Width=19.5
Mast=22.6
Draft=7.8
Displacement=14225
RenownAwarded=4770

There is a huge difference between Displacement and RenownAwarded. Which number should I report, Displacement or RenownAwarded?

[BigWalleye]

Originally Posted by sublynx

Here's the info on C2 cargo in the version of NYGM (TMT, NYGM version) I'm playing:

[Unit]
ClassName=KLS
UnitType=102
MaxSpeed=15.5
Length=140.5
Width=19.5
Mast=22.6
Draft=7.8
Displacement=14225
RenownAwarded=4770

There is a huge difference between Displacement and RenownAwarded. Which number should I report, Displacement or RenownAwarded?

Since NYGM counts only tonnage, not "renown", and displacement, while not exactly GRT, is a close measure, I would certainly use displacement.

[LGN1]

Originally Posted by sublynx

Here's the info on C2 cargo in the version of NYGM (TMT, NYGM version) I'm playing:

[Unit]
ClassName=KLS
UnitType=102
MaxSpeed=15.5
Length=140.5
Width=19.5
Mast=22.6
Draft=7.8
Displacement=14225
RenownAwarded=4770

There is a huge difference between Displacement and RenownAwarded. Which number should I report, Displacement or RenownAwarded?

Hi sublynx,

sorry for the late reply. SH3 Log uses the displacement value for judging the 'quality' of your report. Thus, you should use this value.

Since the C2 is quite common, I'm surprised that the difference has not been corrected before. Maybe you should post it in the NYGM thread so that Stiebler can fix it in the next update.

Regards, LGN1

PS: @all: Thanks for your kind words about SH3 Log. I'm happy that you like it.

[BigWalleye]

Originally Posted by Tycho

Some observations from me:

Don't type symbol = in comments field! Well, don't put = in any fields. Result is that entirely EntryText will be missing:

When a ship sunk, the navigation officer informed me. But from installation instructions I replace "She's going down!" with "Following plotted course!" to hide the fact of sinking. Well, in every situations by now, this is noticeable for me.
But if I don't have navigation officer in his station, then I don't have any message for sinking ship.

I found that having the Nav say "Returning to course." for no reason was a dead giveaway. It's just as easy to null out 4140, 4141, and 4142 with semicolons in en_menu.txt. This doesn't cause any problems and doesn't result in an empty line, so I get no indication of a successful sinking. I use h.sie's and Stiebler's patches, so I can get some idea of how well I am doing from how happy BdU sounds, but I'm never sure till I turn in my report.

Thanks, LGN1, for this mod, which adds a lot of fun and feel to the game. Because of the need to report sinkings, I find myself keeping more notes on patrol events and making a more detailed patrol report. Nice! It's mods like this that add to the sense of immersion in the game, not finger-walking up ladders.

[LGN1]

Originally Posted by BigWalleye

I found that having the Nav say "Returning to course." for no reason was a dead giveaway. It's just as easy to null out 4140, 4141, and 4142 with semicolons in en_menu.txt. This doesn't cause any problems and doesn't result in an empty line, so I get no indication of a successful sinking. I use h.sie's and Stiebler's patches, so I can get some idea of how well I am doing from how happy BdU sounds, but I'm never sure till I turn in my report.

Hi BigWalleye,

for a new version I tried your idea with the semicolons. However, I get an empty line in this case "NA: ".

Are you sure that it works in your case (with the navigator in place)?

Regards, LGN1

[BigWalleye]

Originally Posted by LGN1

Hi BigWalleye,

for a new version I tried your idea with the semicolons. However, I get an empty line in this case "NA: ".

Are you sure that it works in your case (with the navigator in place)?

Regards, LGN1

No, I found the same problem, and was unable to figure out how to get rid of the empty line. Usually, after a successful attack, a lot of messages scroll by pretty quickly and it was a while before I saw the empty NA: line. When I did, I played around trying to get rid of it, and eventually just reverted to your "Returning to course" message. By that time, I'd forgeoten about my earlier post. If I had remembered, I'd have posted a correction. I'm sorry if I wasted your time on a dead end. My bad!

Since there is usually a lot of message traffic, at least on my boat, immediately after an attack, I seldom see the "Returning to course" message either. I usually give a genuine Return to course order during the immediate post-attack activities anyway, so if I see the NA's response flash up, I'm never sure it wasn't legitimate. BTW, I use voice command, and my message block is on a slideout, so it usually is off-screen much of the time. That makes the NA's callout easier to miss.

If I have the time, I like to hang around until I am convinced that the target is actually sinking anyway. And when I don't have the time, that usually means I'm busy dealing with POed escorts and not reading mail! So I find your mod really effective. If I want, I can always beat the system somehow and find out how I did before making my report. But what would be the point? The dummy "Returning to course" hasn't proved to be a spoiler.

[LGN1]

Thanks for testing this again, BigWalleye!

So it seems, although not perfect, the "Returning to course" is still the best way to hide the message At least for players who use the command frequently (like I do).

Regards, LGN1

[LGN1]

I have uploaded a new version 1.0 which fixes the problem with special letters like ä, ö, ü,... Only the exe/perl script has changed.

@Moderators: Could you please change the thread title to '[REL] SH3 Log Mod'. I think the mod has passed enough Beta tests. Thanks!

Regards, LGN1

[sublynx]

After my last patrol I tried to report the sinkings and got this:



Any idea what might help?