[TEC] Lawrence 10-B Slideruler/USN S495-S505

[ElCid97]

Well, still getting nowhere with this.

At least I've been able to get a single object to move -- either the slide or the cursor -- but not both independently of each other and niether of them horizontal or in rotation. All either will do is move up and down the screen, depending on which one is being called up in the Dials.cfg file.

Furthermore, I can't "grab" them in the tool. I have to move them with an existing tool, which in the latest case/test has been the AOB wheel on the upper portion of the attack and observation periscopes.

Nothing possible so far with the Omnimeter changes, either. No matter what I tried to do other than change the graphics, it just breaks when I try to use something of my own with the original stuff.

If I could get my hands on the "kit" or "raw" files from Karamazov, I could PROBABLY try and see how things were done. As it stands with only the final product, well, nothing really makes much sense since I have no access as to WHY or HOW things are interacting with each other.

On the bright side, I can probably make a PDF with these and upload something like the "is-was" that you could print and use at home. Maybe even write a manual to help the user actually use the tool to calculate things.

We'll see.

ElCid97

[mazzi]

Originally Posted by ElCid97

At least I've been able to get a single object to move -- either the slide or the cursor -- but not both independently of each other and niether of them horizontal or in rotation. All either will do is move up and down the screen, depending on which one is being called up in the Dials.cfg file.

Only now I realized that I confused RAOBF with Attack Disks (Lagewinkelscheibe or Angriffsscheibe).
I thought you would choose from the Angriffsscheibe discs that suit you and insert your graphics into these discs. If Dark Waters doesn't have attack dials, then download where they are, KSD for example. And in KSD conduct your experiments with 'linear disks'.

Each disk consists of several layers. The first draws graphics, this is the function where your Crop_0 Mat_0 will be:
Mat 0=data/menu/ksd_main_interface/attack_disk/ad_outer_ring.tga
the second draws a transparent square,
Mat 0=data/menu/ksd_main_interface/lagewinkelscheibe/bkgr.tga
you move the mouse along this square, something clings there and the disk moves.

You need to find these 2 layers so that they are connected to each other (I don't know how to explain), in the first layer you change the graphics, coordinates, size, in the second you change the coordinates and size of this transparent area. This size must match the size of your picture from Crop_0 Mat_0.

To find layers, the first layer with graphics can be moved slightly to the side, and the second layer can be repainted black. bkgr.tga is transparent, and let's say bkgr_FFFF.tga is black, you change it:
Mat 0=data/menu/ksd_main_interface/lagewinkelscheibe/bkgr_FFFF.tga.

I looked at the code a little - I don't want to understand it at all.

[ElCid97]

Thanks for the patience, my friend, I really appreciate it!

Yes, the Attack Disk was an initial "customer" for me, but since I handn't seen any for SH4, I figured the RAOBF would be a better candidate.

I'll have to look at installing KSD-II if for no other reason than to lurk around it and see what I can find. I had done the same with DW6, which is what I have been using as a "template" of sorts. I never found an Attack Disk there.

Which brings me to another question which I think has been posted somewhere on the forums before: Is there a difference in how the sim "looks" at things you can have in-sim depending on which "career" you choose? (i.e. -- whether you are German or American).

My guess is "yes" since I've seen posts where some radar data, for example, was saparated from US and German into two (2) different categories. Not only that, but it was WAY off from what it should be. I believe Capt Scurvey fixed some of those things and they are now part of TMO and FotRSU, but not sure.

If this is the case, then we probably can't have a disk or AOB "tool" on the American side because it has been "coded-out" by the devs since Americans are "supposed" to be using TDC/PK for everything. THAT would be a definate "buzz-kill" for the S-Boats since they were basically an American copy of WWI U-Boats (well, sort of).

I'll keep digging. If I can find the Attack Disk, I can probably just swap out the graphics for an "is-was" and just leave it at that. I just like the possibility of using the S495/S505 since it can be used for FAR more things in-sim than just AOB.

ElCid97

[mazzi]

Originally Posted by ElCid97

Yes, the Attack Disk was an initial "customer" for me, but since I handn't seen any for SH4, I figured the RAOBF would be a better candidate.

Yes, some elements of the German interface cannot be ported to the American interface, but this does not apply to attack disks and AOBs.

The attack disks are in G3F, and G3F for both the German and American side is shared. If the attack disk is in fashion, then both sides have it.

AOB for America can be done, I'm afraid to mix something up again and explain it incorrectly, it's just that there is such a possibility. A couple of times I saw people who just boasted that they had transferred the AOB to America, but I don't remember how the AOB worked for them - good or bad.

All these devices 'is-was', omnimeter, AOB for America in my opinion are useless, because manual targeting DOES NOT work.
For example, if you look visually, the omnimeter counts something very accurately and well. You start taking data from it and entering it into the TDC, entered it, then you shoot and the torpedoes go by.
The Germans have manual shooting - I took data, entered data into the TDC, shoot and hit. Moreover, the Germans can even take data with someone else's omnimeter, enter it into the TDC and there will be a hit.
More useful are the WW-1 torpedo firing tables than these tools.

About attack disks - I only recommended these disks to you so that you can see relatively quickly whether your 'linear disks' are working, or not working, or not working well. Whether you should continue writing your own mod or not.

You want more - In order to build these disks into your mod, you need to deal with the small buttons that these attack disks activate. It's even harder than with the attack discs themselves to figure out how they spin.

[ElCid97]

Well ...

After many tries and reading almost every thread I could find on here, I ran across a thread where Hitman was trying to do somthing similar.

Apparently there is something hard-coded in the game where you can only do round dials and vertical sliding. At least for the U.S. side.

So ...

Going to work on this as a physical thing with some building instructions as well as examples of how to use. There has to be something I'm missing to get this thing to work well on the vertical, but not finding it yet.

At least you can have yet another tool in your bags!

I'll work on something else I've been wanting to do since that would seem more "doable" as it would only mean changing things as opposed to instroducing new ones.

ElCid97

[ElCid97]

Like the Is-Was, this is just a small update.

Testing with it has gone well and I'll send you something, hopefully, by this weekend to test out.

Like the other mod, it'll have a version where you do things manually and another that you just activate and carry on.

I still haven't been able to get this to work with "dragging" the slides, so that's something in another "V2" someday if I can get that to work. So far, nothing.

The only stations you'll be able to technically use it is at the two periscopes and at the TBT since you need the Torpedo Spread Angle dial to work the cursor and the AOB dial to work the slides.

The original version had one slide with two sides, but this will be two slides with one side which will move in unison with each other. The main portion of the slideruler has been duplicated so you basically have one slideruler next to the other one. The one on the left will be for regular math, while the one on the right will be the one set up for "angle" problems (sin, tan, etc.) instead.

I found some nice manuals in PDF that explain the use of the thing in general, so the only thing I'm going to have to do is put together a readme for testing and, once done, an actual "manual" on how to use this thing to help in targeting.

It's going to be part of the stopwatch, so you'll be able to drag it around to wherever you want until you're done. Then you can either close out or just move it off to the side until you need it again.

I decided on the stopwatch because time is used for various functions in the sim to get data. I realize US subs didn't use the "periscope wire" method for speed, necessarily, but I know many users do. Even if not too historical, it's at least convenient, so now you have a tool right "on-screen" like the German side that you'll be able to use to estimate target speed and range -- meters or yards irrelavent -- because it's actually a mechanical calculator designed for math. As long as you have the correct formulae to work with, you're good to go.

If you are interested in testing, please just PM me when you have a chance and I'll send you the link once the test package is put together.

Salute!

ElCid97