Shall we talk about file sizes in mods?

[s7rikeback]

Originally Posted by Jeff-Groves

How to duplicate Units in SH3 the SH4 way:

Look at the BBNevada in SH4
ClassName=BBNevada
3DModelFileName=data/Sea/NBB_Colorado/NBB_Colorado

This type setting works in SH3 also!
Follow the files.

Oh yes one of Jeff's first teachings...

Been doing this for a long time now, for personnal use and for a add-on mod for FOTRSU, which gives us 20+ "cloned" ships, all having the Maru name attached for the Japan roster, while keeping the original files within their own rosters and with totally different names. Yet the clone shares the dat / sim / val / dsd / cam / zon of the model it's cloned from.

[bigboywooly]

Originally Posted by s7rikeback

Oh yes one of Jeff's first teachings...

Been doing this for a long time now, for personnal use and for a add-on mod for FOTRSU, which gives us 20+ "cloned" ships, all having the Maru name attached for the Japan roster, while keeping the original files within their own rosters and with totally different names. Yet the clone shares the dat / sim / val / dsd / cam / zon of the model it's cloned from.

In SH4 ?

[Jeff-Groves]

In SH4 it works fine.
I know damned well I had it working in SH3 at one point!
I'm still looking at what I had working and trying to duplicate.
If I can't get it working I don't have a problem saying.....
"Oh Crap!! I was wrong!"

[bigboywooly]

Originally Posted by Jeff-Groves

In SH4 it works fine.
I know damned well I had it working in SH3 at one point!
I'm still looking at what I had working and trying to duplicate.
If I can't get it working I don't have a problem saying.....
"Oh Crap!! I was wrong!"

I vaguely remember you mentioning it back in the past.
Have looked thru all my emails from then and can't find anything, must have been in the lair

[s7rikeback]

Originally Posted by bigboywooly

In SH4 ?

Yes sorry.
Pm with files coming your way.

[bigboywooly]

Originally Posted by s7rikeback

Yes sorry.
Pm with files coming your way.

Thanx, will take a look

[ArnoldR]

Originally Posted by s7rikeback

Oh yes one of Jeff's first teachings...

Been doing this for a long time now, for personnal use and for a add-on mod for FOTRSU, which gives us 20+ "cloned" ships, all having the Maru name attached for the Japan roster, while keeping the original files within their own rosters and with totally different names. Yet the clone shares the dat / sim / val / dsd / cam / zon of the model it's cloned from.

So, how is it working?????

[s7rikeback]

Originally Posted by ArnoldR

So, how is it working?????

Very well...

[ArnoldR]

Originally Posted by s7rikeback

Very well...

I mean....what's the mechanism???

[bigboywooly]

Originally Posted by ArnoldR

I mean....what's the mechanism???

Do you have SH4 ? In the uboat expansion the Nevada was added.
In the Nevada cfg in the sea folder is a line of text which points the game to look for another 3d model.
Colorado if memory serves.

There is no Nevada dat, sns etc. Game uses the Colarado model for that but with a skin dedicated to the Nevada.

2 ships, one 3d model.

The mod above uses same set up but with merchants.

Nowhere near PC at mo so this is from memory

[ArnoldR]

Originally Posted by bigboywooly

Do you have SH4 ? In the uboat expansion the Nevada was added.
In the Nevada cfg in the sea folder is a line of text which points the game to look for another 3d model.
Colorado if memory serves.

There is no Nevada dat, sns etc. Game uses the Colarado model for that but with a skin dedicated to the Nevada.

2 ships, one 3d model.

The mod above uses same set up but with merchants.

Nowhere near PC at mo so this is from memory

Thank you for the reply! So,you mean that both ships (original and cloned) are exactly the same (AA guns, hitpoints.....), except for the texture?
I don't have SH4, could you send me the files, or show me a screenshot?

[Jeff-Groves]

So. I dug out some old DVDs and found my Delphi stuff and installed it.
Since ref gave me his source code for the SH3 to SH4 converter?
I'm going to ATTEMPT to adjust that to just search the SH3 files and whack the dynamic shadow stuff. The converter has that ability so I hope to remove the fluff and just scrub SH3 dats in one click.
Freaking Delphi programmers! C or C++ is SO much easier for me!

[ETR3(SS)]

Originally Posted by ArnoldR

Thank you for the reply! So,you mean that both ships (original and cloned) are exactly the same (AA guns, hitpoints.....), except for the texture?
I don't have SH4, could you send me the files, or show me a screenshot?

So, the file structure for SH4 is different than it was for SH3 despite being the same game engine. The Colorado is the base model for several of the US battleships utilizing the same 3d model, texture, and damage model. Each individual entry differs in it equipment and sensors to provide it with the appropriate main, secondary, and AA weapons and sensors for the particular class of battleship. For example the Colorado had 8 16" guns while the Nevada had 10 14" guns.

From the Colorado:
[Equipment 1]
NodeName=M01
LinkName=16in_Double_base_US
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19451231

From the Nevada:
[Equipment 1]
NodeName=M01
LinkName=14in_Triple_base_US
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19451231

[gap]

Interesting thread Jeff, I am following it

Originally Posted by ArnoldR

Thank you for the reply! So,you mean that both ships (original and cloned) are exactly the same (AA guns, hitpoints.....), except for the texture?
I don't have SH4, could you send me the files, or show me a screenshot?

This is an example taken from SH5, but it works the same in SHIV and probably also in SHIII (never tried in the latter game but I trust what Jeff says )

File: data\Sea\NAMC_Patroclus\NAMC_Patroclus.cfg:

[Unit]
ClassName=AMCPatroclus
3DModelFileName=data/Sea/NAMC_Rawalpindi/NAMC_Rawalpindi
UnitType=13
MaxSpeed=15
Length=165.89
Width=21.39
Mast=39.69
Draft=9.00
Displacement=11198
DisplacementVariation=10
RenownAwarded=220
CrewComplement=40
SurvivalRate=70
SurvivalPercentage=40
RecManualCategory=TroopTransport
BowShape=Plumb
Funnels=2
ShowInRecognitionManual=No;it is a clone. the player will identify it as another single ship
;*********** THE END ************

Note the line marked in orange: the Patroclus has not 3D model of her own, but her cfg file is pointing to Rawalpindi 3D model (dat file, or gr2 file in this case, since we are talking about SH5).

Other files found in the same folder (besides the above cfg file):

NAMC_Patroclus_sil.dds
NAMC_Patroclus.eqp
NAMC_Patroclus.sns

All other (sim, zon, val, dsd, etc.) files are shared with the Rawalpindi. The two ships have most features in common, but textures, armaments and sensor outfits can be customized.

The external look of two ships having the same 3D model can be customized as well, to some extent: all you need to do is removing parts you want to customize from the main model, edit them in two or more variants, and storing them in an external library file whose content can be linked to the units sharing the said model through equipemnt nodes/bones and .eqp files. There are not examples of this type of advanced technique in stock SH5, but there is at least one in SHIV.

In general, this method is very useful for dealing with sister ships, similar ship classes and aircraft variants. We refer to it as "proxy-cloning" as opposed to simple "cloning" where you duplicate an unit with all her binary files