[WIP] In-game naval Enigma M4 machine

[THEBERBSTER]

IIRC Shaefer commented on this in his YouTube Enigma episode.
Peter

[SkyBaron]

Originally Posted by THEBERBSTER

IIRC Shaefer commented on this in his YouTube Enigma episode.
Peter

Yes, I saw it. I'll put a link to the video in the first post.

[gap]

I have been a big fan of this mod since day one, so you will forgive me if what I am gonna say will sound a bit heretic here.

In short, I am pretty sure that though an U-boat captain would have known the enigma encoding/decoding process inside and out, it wasnt his duty deciphering any incoming message.

So my question is: how difficult would be for you adding a "Radioman, decode the last message for me" button to the UI? If possible, you could add a random delay of 3-10 minutes between the issuing of the command and the decoded output, depending on the length of the message and on the training/morale of the radio operator. And, of course, if the radio man was injured, the said button should be greyed out.

Imho this feature and the automatic message encoding that I was talking about a few days ago (needed for the correct encoding of campaign orders based on their variable issuing date), would further improve your amazing mod, and provide the perfect compromise between casual and hard-core playing styles.

[SkyBaron]

Originally Posted by gap

So my question is: how difficult would be for you adding a "Radioman, decode the last message for me" button to the UI? If possible, you could add a random delay of 3-10 minutes between the issuing of the command and the decoded output, depending on the length of the message and on the training/morale of the radio operator. And, of course, if the radio man was injured, the said button should be greyed out.

Not very difficult but time consuming. I actually had similar ideas for a future version. They are on the back burner so to speak. I'm finishing a couple of mods so that I can start playing SH5 again after a while away from it. So it's going to take a while, but in the meantime Vecko is doing a great job encrypting BdU orders.

[gap]

Originally Posted by SkyBaron

Not very difficult but time consuming. I actually had similar ideas for a future version. They are on the back burner so to speak.

[...]

So it's going to take a while, but in the meantime Vecko is doing a great job encrypting BdU orders.

Originally Posted by SkyBaron

I'm finishing a couple of mods so that I can start playing SH5 again after a while away from it.

You make me wonder what is brewing for us

[vdr1981]

SkyBaron, can you confirm that there should be no problems if we use mild TC during deciphering process IF we don't use real keyboard to type letters?
I was able to successfully decipher several messages while running TC ~128 in the background. I encountered no problems but I still wonder is this correct way to go because you have clearly stated in the manual that the game should be paused even if we don't use real keyboard?

[vdr1981]

And one more thing...In order to speed up combat orders encryption I would need slightly modified EME.exe aplication which will give me encrypted groups without new line , in the form like this...

BDU[3xspace]1843/1/3/41[3xspace]14[2xspace]||FNCS LKEZ ZISR PSBY LQNX FLWC FUKI KHVE WKJM HPEH VYXL MTAO FNCS LKEZ

That would be really helpful... Is this feasible?

[SkyBaron]

Originally Posted by vdr1981

And one more thing...In order to speed up combat orders encryption I would need slightly modified EME.exe aplication which will give me encrypted groups without new line , in the form like this...

BDU[3xspace]1843/1/3/41[3xspace]14[2xspace]||FNCS LKEZ ZISR PSBY LQNX FLWC FUKI KHVE WKJM HPEH VYXL MTAO FNCS LKEZ

That would be really helpful... Is this feasible?

Yes it's possible. Once I get it done, I'll PM you.

About the pause, it's a warning related to keyboard input and mouse click-spots. Depending on where you have the camera pointed at, you might click on 3d clickable objects or crew members who are "behind" the Enigma machine, pages, etc. It shouldn't affect the decoding. If you're sure there's nothing clickable behind the pages, you can use it unpaused. I haven't tested it with high TC but it should work.

[Ashikaga]

Hey Gap, you are incorrect what the special mission orders concerned. They were solely done by the Captain himself together if necessary, but only if necessary, with the radio operator.

Special codebooks were Captain and XO's eyes only, just like these days on modern subs. Funkers were not privvy to all information sent.


Ashikaga.

PS the one continuous line is quite a good idea because that was how messages in general came in even though the letters were written down underneath one another on the paper.

[steevo45]

Sorry if I seem a dummy but on patrol with my shiny new enigma machine but all the orders I get are just the usual non-encrypted just like before the new mod. Am I doing something wrong?

[Ashikaga]

No. You will get the encrypted orders as soon as you reach your designated patrol area which coordinates you can find in the captains log on the left hand side.



If all orders/messages by Bdu would be encrypted there probably would not be any gaming time left. You would become a fulltime decoder




Ashikaga.



.

[steevo45]

Many thanks Ashikaga, yes I suppose there wouldn't be any time left for patrolling.....

[AstroMelly]

Just wanted to say massive thanks to SkyBaron for this amazing mod and to everyone else who is contributing to making it a fully functional part of the game.

My two penner'th - if you want to go through the extra work of decrypting encrypted messages, install the (optional) mod and learn the procedure. In my experience, I read and re-read the in-game instructions, assuming they were not incorrect, and eventually decrypted my first message in about 15 minutes. The second (with a mistake) took about half that time and I expect to get it down to 5 minutes with practice - this is not an unreasonable overhead on game time when you are often sat at sea doing nothing for extended periods anyway.

Also search YouTube for NorseCast's excellent Enigma episode! He walks you through a message decode.



The one gripe I have (and I know it is in the process of being fixed) is the duplicated messages - unencrypted messages arrive at the same time as encrypted ones. I am waiting with bated breath for a patch to fix this for good since it was quite disappointing to decrypt my first message and then find it sitting in the messages list right above my coded one!


I have one question which I have not yet found an answer to - how do you get the decrypted column on the notepad to appear (or move) to the right hand side? I saw an earlier post where someone had done this and then added spaces to the words. I also noticed that if I click the 'Send to Patrol Log' text I only get an empty entry with 'ENIGMA MSG' - probably because there is no text on the RHS to send to the log.

Apart from the duplicated messages isssue - which I hope won't take long to patch out - this is an amazing achievment and makes the game so much more immersive - well done!

My return to the oceans could not have been timed better - I reinstalled the game after a break of about 2 years a few weeks ago!

Happy Hunting!

[vdr1981]

Originally Posted by AstroMelly

J


The one gripe I have (and I know it is in the process of being fixed) is the duplicated messages - unencrypted messages arrive at the same time as encrypted ones.

Mate, that issue was fixed several updates ago...

[gap]

Originally Posted by Ashikaga

Hey Gap, you are incorrect what the special mission orders concerned. They were solely done by the Captain himself together if necessary, but only if necessary, with the radio operator.

Special codebooks were Captain and XO's eyes only, just like these days on modern subs. Funkers were not privvy to all information sent.

Source?