[REL] S3D - Silent 3ditor

[Rick Fortens]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

Rick Fortens!...the infamous 7-year-itch strikes again, ending your 'silent run' since 2018!

Yes, I was working on a big mod at that time and I wanted to come back to it.



Thanks !

[Rick Fortens]

Is it existing a manual or a tutorial that show how to use Silent 3ditor?

Please to send me a link where I can download it if you know one.

I try, I try and, or sh3 crash or nothing happen.

Thanks

[Jeff-Groves]

Best I can give you at the moment.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/pchml...-vids.zip/file

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by Rick Fortens

Is it existing a manual or a tutorial that show how to use Silent 3ditor?

Please to send me a link where I can download it if you know one.

I try, I try and, or sh3 crash or nothing happen.

Thanks

In addition to Jeff's videos link, you could try the links in skwasjer's signature at the bottom of his first post in the release thread [REL] S3D - Silent 3ditor
Some of those links are still active. Also, there are 97 pages in that thread, but there are some gems of info peppered throughout, especially in the early posts. His (skwasjer) original web site for S3D is now defunct, but the download for the app is here on SubSim as well as other sites.

[Jeff-Groves]

What exactly are you trying to do?

[Rick Fortens]

Thanks to both of you, Jeff-Groves and propbeanie, for your response to my post. I will look into your suggestions.

Jeff-Groves, you ask: "What exactly are you trying to do?"

I want to anchor barrage balloons to the ships, as was common on many convoys.

The story is that I revisiting a huge mod project I started a few years ago called "ARCTIC CAMPAIN". In that project I scripted a "historical" reenactment of the attack on convoy PQ-17, and on that convoy many ships were traveling with these balloons anchored to their decks. It's scripted to be a multiplayer game with the actual route of the convoy, the exact positions of the 10 U-boats involved, etc.

But it is part of a much larger project: the "historical" reconstruction of the Arctic Ocean as a theater of operations for U-boats, for the purpose of a single-player or multiplayer game. This theater offers many interesting advantages: the naval bases remain close (no need to waste time to reach the American coasts to launch a Paukenschlag operation); it takes place in a winter environment (opportunity to model ice and snow); but, above all, the presence of friendly air cover and heavy cruisers that add competition to the U-boats (sink the ship before the plane does); etc.

For this purpose, I have completely rebuilt the map of the Arctic Ocean to scale (with the Kriegsmarine grid inlaid inside). I don't know many SH3 players who are bothered by the imprecision of the map in the game, but it bothers me. So I rebuilt it using SH3 Terrain Extractor. In the game, the distance between Greenland and Novaya Zemlya Island is 8000 km. But actually, on the surface of the earth, it is only 2000 km. So it is on my map (much smaller theater of operations). See the image below.

About S3D, when I started this project, I was able to create drifting ice to put on the surface of the water and snow on the deck of the U-boat (see image) using Google's Sketchup and S3D, but I don't remember how I did it.

So that's exactly what I'm trying to do. At the moment, I would really like to be able to put balloons on these ships.

Thanks

Rick

[LUKNER]

Originally Posted by Rick Fortens

Thanks to both of you, Jeff-Groves and propbeanie, for your response to my post. I will look into your suggestions.

Jeff-Groves, you ask: "What exactly are you trying to do?"

I want to anchor barrage balloons to the ships, as was common on many convoys.

The story is that I revisiting a huge mod project I started a few years ago called "ARCTIC CAMPAIN". In that project I scripted a "historical" reenactment of the attack on convoy PQ-17, and on that convoy many ships were traveling with these balloons anchored to their decks. It's scripted to be a multiplayer game with the actual route of the convoy, the exact positions of the 10 U-boats involved, etc.

But it is part of a much larger project: the "historical" reconstruction of the Arctic Ocean as a theater of operations for U-boats, for the purpose of a single-player or multiplayer game. This theater offers many interesting advantages: the naval bases remain close (no need to waste time to reach the American coasts to launch a Paukenschlag operation); it takes place in a winter environment (opportunity to model ice and snow); but, above all, the presence of friendly air cover and heavy cruisers that add competition to the U-boats (sink the ship before the plane does); etc.

For this purpose, I have completely rebuilt the map of the Arctic Ocean to scale (with the Kriegsmarine grid inlaid inside). I don't know many SH3 players who are bothered by the imprecision of the map in the game, but it bothers me. So I rebuilt it using SH3 Terrain Extractor. In the game, the distance between Greenland and Novaya Zemlya Island is 8000 km. But actually, on the surface of the earth, it is only 2000 km. So it is on my map (much smaller theater of operations). See the image below.

About S3D, when I started this project, I was able to create drifting ice to put on the surface of the water and snow on the deck of the U-boat (see image) using Google's Sketchup and S3D, but I don't remember how I did it.

So that's exactly what I'm trying to do. At the moment, I would really like to be able to put balloons on these ships.

Thanks

Rick

Is it possible to do something similar in SH-4?

[Jeff-Groves]

Take the AerialBomb and do it as a loadout in the eqp file.

[Rick Fortens]

Originally Posted by LUKNER

Is it possible to do something similar in SH-4?

Yes I think so, using GWX_SH4TerrainEX.

I tried SH4TerrainEX once and, if I remember well, it was even a little bit easier than sh3 terrain extractor. But it's still a huge and really annoying job. It's also laborious. The annoying part is when you begin to transfer the new map inside the two maps of the game : many strange things happens, like islands of hundred of miles long.

If you want to throw yourself in this job, I can give you my Arctic ocean map in Photoshop format (Photoshop 2005) (if I can remember where I put it).

[s7rikeback]

Originally Posted by Rick Fortens

Thanks to both of you, Jeff-Groves and propbeanie, for your response to my post. I will look into your suggestions.

Hello Rick Fortens,




I have added two X01 nodes, to the M35B, on both the F & B models from GWX-KC.

I then added the following to the M35B.eqp.

[Equipment 34]
NodeName=X01
LinkName=Aerial_Bomb
StartDate=19420630
EndDate=19451231

This would mean, the ship will "always" carry the balloons.

------------------------------------------------------------

To use this as a loadout.


1 - Build the X0 nodes to the ship models in question, X01 maybe already used, so use the next in sequence. X02 etc.

2 - Add the loadout call below to the ship.cfg file, Again, the (loadout 1) call maybe used, then use the next in sequence. [Loadout 2] etc.

[Loadout 1]
Name=Barrage Balloon (or whatever name you want, but both names MUST mirror the eqp (Loadout=xxxxxx) details listed below.
Type=1

3 - Open the ship.eqp, and copy and duplicate the list, and renumber the [Equipment xx] So if the original had 5 calls, you now have 10 calls, it would be like this:

[Equipment 1]
NodeName=M01
LinkName=CratePileL_2_M04B
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19421230

[Equipment 2]
NodeName=M01
LinkName=PlatformL_M04B
StartDate=19421231
EndDate=19451231

[Equipment 3]
NodeName=M02
LinkName=OilDrumsL_M04B
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19401101

[Equipment 4]
NodeName=M02
LinkName=PlatformL_M04B
StartDate=19401102
EndDate=19451231

[Equipment 5]
NodeName=A01
LinkName=NULL
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19401230

[Equipment 6]
NodeName=M01
LinkName=CratePileL_2_M04B
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19421230
Loadout=Barrage Balloon

[Equipment 7]
NodeName=M01
LinkName=PlatformL_M04B
StartDate=19421231
EndDate=19451231
Loadout=Barrage Balloon

[Equipment 8]
NodeName=M02
LinkName=OilDrumsL_M04B
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19401101
Loadout=Barrage Balloon

[Equipment 9]
NodeName=M02
LinkName=PlatformL_M04B
StartDate=19401102
EndDate=19451231
Loadout=Barrage Balloon

[Equipment 10]
NodeName=A01
LinkName=NULL
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19401230
Loadout=Barrage Balloon

4 - And lastly… Add the loadout call to the campaign/mission files.



Hope this helps !!

[Rick Fortens]

Originally Posted by s7rikeback

Hello Rick Fortens,


I have added two X01 nodes, to the M35B, on both the F & B models from GWX-KC.

I then added the following to the M35B.eqp.

Hey, thanks, s7rikeback!


I'd given up on this project, thinking it would never work, but your suggestion gives me hope. I'll try it and let you know how it goes.


Thanks again.

[Rick Fortens]

Originally Posted by s7rikeback

I have added two X01 nodes, to the M35B, on both the F & B models from GWX-KC.
I then added the following to the M35B.eqp.

When you wrote : “I have added two X01 nodes”, you mean the nodes of the ship inside the Silent 3ditor ( with no title and nothing else inside the node) like that ? :





That’s what I’ve done, on both the F & B models. So I got two nodes, one numbered 154 and one 301.


Then I applied your method to use it as a loadout and, effectively, this option appear as a loadout possibility for the ship in the mission editor. I selected it. Also the line “Loadout=Barrage Balloon” has been written by itself (inside the mission coding) when I saved the mission inside the mission editor.


So I run the game but, just after the words “Not so long ago…” appears, the game crashed. (Noticed that’s a good sign, because all my previous attempt shows the ship, but with no balloon).


What I do wrong ?


(for notice, I am on SH3, I tested it on the same ship as yours (M35B, Empire-type Freighter) but in the “Navigation” mission in “NavalAcademy” with the date adjusted to 1943).


Thanks again for your help. I feel to be really near to success.

[Rick Fortens]

Originally Posted by s7rikeback

I have added two X01 nodes, to the M35B, on both the F & B models from GWX-KC.

In the M35B.eqp file I found that there was already in use a NodeName=L01, L02, M01 and M02, so I add an NodeName=L03 and an NodeName=M03 like this in the .dat file :


In the B model;





In the F model;





And, in the .eqp file, I add :


[Equipment 13]
NodeName=L03
LinkName=Aerial_Bomb
StartDate=19420630
EndDate=19451231


[Equipment 14]
NodeName=M03
LinkName=Aerial_Bomb
StartDate=19420630
EndDate=19451231


And it work perfectly. But, after a silly mistake, I loose it. So, I told to myself : just do it again, identicaly.


But this time, the game crashed. I tried as a loadout, on another ship, on another installation of SH3, every time I change my save foalder, but it still crashed, always the same way : at the words “Not so long ago…’


I’m so pissed off.


Do you have an idea what happen ?


Thanks for your help.


RicK