[REL] Real ASW Mod

[gap]

Originally Posted by padi

Sounds vers nice and helpful!
Also that you have models available is like a dream come true!
Do you also have information about the ammount of DC's the vessels have carried, because for some ships like the french or the Isaac Sweers I find zero information.
Thanks

Hi padi, and sorry for the late reply. I need to check the documents I have available as I didn't look at them in a long time. I think, but I am not sure, they have information about DC shapes, sizes, weights, type and quantity of explosive charges used, types of detonators used and detonation mechanisms, kill radii, etc.
Some good documents that you can start from are found at the following page:

http://www.lexpev.nl/manuals/unitedstates.html

Navweaps.com also has a good deal of data, but you probably know it already. Most of the information collected in it comes from John Campbell's Naval Weapons of World War Two, of which I have a copy. Should you need to check directly the source, I will be glad to do it for you.

Talking about 3D stuff, I have good quality models of the following depth charges: Type D MkIII, MkVII, MkVII-Heavy (GB), Mk6, Mk7, Mk9, Mk9-Mod2 (US). All the models are by me, so no need to ask for permission to use them, and they come with throwing arbor models as well

[jaxa]

Good to hear that your work is in progress, padi

[A6Intruder]

Originally Posted by jaxa

Good to hear that your work is in progress, padi

Copy that!
Best regards

[the_frog]

Hello padi,

in case you are looking for 3D models of the two basic types of British throwers, check the lastes version of the guns_UK library.

As for the Isaac Sweers, it was fitted out in the UK and had the standard outfit of fleet destroyers of 1941/42 (4 throwers, 2 rails).

The original French ships had an internal rail systems for heavy depth charges and Thornycroft-type throwers. All that is included in the models done by Texelbo and also in my Le Fantasque model.

The French ships serving with the Royal Navy had their equipment replaced by British material. So, try making educated guesses by comparing with similar British units.

The Italian used their very own type of throwers and also specific rails. A simple model of the Italian throwers was done by JapLance for his SH4 models. Just check the libraries he provided.

Cheers

[padi]

Wow that are really nice and useful informations!
I'm implementing that information into the files and I hope that I can upload a extended file in the next few days.

But I have two questions regarding your answers:

1. to the Frog: Which guns_UK do you mean? Is the file supplied with your last ship?

2. to gap: I would really like to implement the Models into the files. There is only one Question: Did the Mk7 Mod2 look different from the Mk7?
Sadly the Mk9 Mod2 is useless for the purpose of this mod, because the only advantage (that I have read about) was the deeper detonation depth...
But if the Mod2 had any implementable improvements I'm going to implement them.

Also thanks to all the replys which show me that the work isn't useless and nobody cares about it!

Like we say in Germany "das geht runter wie Öl"!

[gap]

Originally Posted by padi

2. to gap: I would really like to implement the Models into the files. There is only one Question: Did the Mk7 Mod2 look different from the Mk7?

I don't have any information on the existence of a Mk7 Mod2, but there were a Mk9 Mod1 and a Mod2 if that's what you meant. IIRC, the Mk9 and the Mk9 Mod1 were almost identical, the only difference consisting in construction details. The Mk9 Mod2, on turn, differed in many ways from the two previous mods:



Depth charge Mk9 on the left, MK9 Mod2 on the right

Originally Posted by padi

Sadly the Mk9 Mod2 is useless for the purpose of this mod, because the only advantage (that I have read about) was the deeper detonation depth...
But if the Mod2 had any implementable improvements I'm going to implement them.

I am going by memory, but I think the Mk9 and the Mk9 Mod2 had slightly different explosive charges/blast radii, and I am pretty sure their sinking rates differed quite a lot. Conversely, the Mk9 and the Mk9 Mod1 shared the same characteristics.

Detonation depths depended on detonators/fuzes fitted, and they can't be associated with any particular depth charge mark/mod, as they were interchangeable and new detonators were often retrofitted to older depth charge models. Information available on the web is often misleading on this point, but the US manuals that I pointed you to are quite clear on this respect.

Originally Posted by padi

Also thanks to all the replys which show me that the work isn't useless and nobody cares about it!

Sure it isn't, quite the opposite. Depth charge's evolution, together with the improvement of detection technologies, was one of the key factors of WWII ASW. At the beginning of the war, DCs were more a deterrent than an actual threat, but by mid-late war, they had turned into deadly weapons. Unfortunately devs oversimplified these factors. Any mod addressing them, is of high interest

Originally Posted by gap

Depth charge's evolution, together with the improvement of detection technologies, was one of the key factors of WWII ASW. At the beginning of the war, DCs were more a deterrent than an actual threat, but by mid-late war, they had turned into deadly weapons. Unfortunately devs oversimplified these factors. Any mod addressing them, is of high interest

+1

[padi]

No, I mean the second modification of the Mk7, which I refer as Mod2.
Here is the corresponding text from Navweaps:

A redesigned Mark 4. The redesign was to simplify the construction and took advantage of new production techniques developed since the end of World War I. This was the standard depth charge for USN ships early in World War II. Mod 1 (issued in August 1942) increased the maximum depth setting to 600 feet (183 m). A later version reduced the warhead to 400 lbs. (181.4 kg) TNT in order to add a lead weight which increased the sink rate to 13 fps (4 mps).

The part from "A later version..." I think is refering to the Mod2.

I am going by memory, but I think the Mk9 and the Mk9 Mod2 had slightly different explosive charges/blast radii, and I am pretty sure their sinking rates differed quite a lot. Conversely, the Mk9 and the Mk9 Mod1 shared the same characteristics.

I have never heard from that, but I will search about that.

I also haven't knew the information about the fuzes before...

[the_frog]

Originally Posted by padi

1. to the Frog: Which guns_UK do you mean? Is the file supplied with your last ship?

The one with the Southampton/Fiji is the latest; using any other would cause potential problems. The files have also the roll-off chutes, either with one or two DCs. Those chutes and the DC (British-made US type) were made GWX Alex.

@gap:

What is the poly count of those DCs?
Do the DCs loose their arbors upon being fired?

[gap]

Originally Posted by the_frog

What is the poly count of those DCs?

On average, a little more than 2,400 polygons for the depth charges, and almost 1,000 for the arbors. Do you think they are too much? there is still some space for downsampling them...

Originally Posted by the_frog

Do the DCs loose their arbors upon being fired?

That's what I had planned. DC barrels and arbors are separate models. I think it is impossible making arbors to detach themselves in midair, and to fall down in the water following a different trajectory that their barrels. Nonetheless, we can place them on a child node of the barrel node, and attach to them a VisibleUnderwater controller set to false. What do you think?