[TEC] Adding New Ships to SHIV?

[AG124]

Since it looks to me like some areas of the roster are not as complete as they should be (although I don't know for sure, as I will not get the game until tomorrow), I would like to know if it will be possible to add more ships after all (there was an earlier rumour that it wouldn't be possible).

Can anyone tell me if all of the files for individual ships are available in a similar format to that of SHIII (or at least an accessible one), or have they been completely/partially hardcoded? I hope that is not the case.

[UBOAT234]

Hi AG,

I hope that they have not codified the ships as they have made with the submarines in SH3. Otherwise we are lost!

BEST REGARDS
UBOAT234

[elanaiba]

Originally Posted by AG124

Can anyone tell me if all of the files for individual ships are available in a similar format to that of SHIII (or at least an accessible one), or have they been completely/partially hardcoded? I hope that is not the case.

Its similar with a few enhancements:

The textures to be loaded are specified in data/roster/sea/unitname1.cfg

The model to be loaded is specified in data/sea/unitname2/unitname2.cfg

You'll see there are some options and other stuff, but they are self explainable.

Perhaps not 100% apparent at first is the possibility to have separate King George Vs (just an example), each with his own texture, weapon and sensor loadouts and separate and controlable appearances through the campaign. All this while loading the dat file only once. So bye bye long loading times of GWX.

If needed I will explain how, but its not very hard .

[AG124]

Good news so far - at least nothing appears to be hardcoded so far.

BTW - elanaiba, could you possibly make a contribution over at the Confirmed SHIV Ships thread in the general SHIV section? I am curious as to what ships are really included and don't want to wait until tomorrow.

[elanaiba]

No way,

The wondering is part of the fun of waiting for the game

Dan

[ref]

Dan, can you elaborate a bit on the dat file changes?.
I haven't been able to take a look at the game, there's a huge delay with the releases here in Argentina, I may have to order it overseas to get it on a reasonable time

Ref

[Barkhorn1x]

Dan:

Thanks for the info. - sounds good.

...and thanks for the patch!

[elanaiba]

Out of my head its hard since I'm not a programmer guy, right?

There should be a new controler in the dat, called "Unified Render Controler", with the following properties (I'll also paste the comments I can see in my tools):

Medium Lod Distance - Enable bump map and caustics if distance less than this value (SH metrics 1 = 10 meters)

LowLod distance - If distance greater than this value, only the sun is considered (SH metrics 1 = 10 meters)

Bumpenable YES/NO
SpecularMaskEnable YES/NO
SelfOccEnable YES/NO - enable the self occlusion map - specified normally in the roster file
UseSpecularFromDiffuse YES/NO (from the diffuse texture they mean)
Caustics- this being the old controler from SH3, moved here under URC.


I'll try to get more details tomorrow .

[ref]

Thank you very much
I'm sorry to be a pain in the lower part of the back, but is it ok if I pass you a few more tech questions (I know it's not your area, but perhaps you can gather the info) via PM, mostly about sh3 files ?


Ref

[AG124]

Originally Posted by elanaiba

No way,

The wondering is part of the fun of waiting for the game

Dan

Actually, you are right. The first thing I always do when buying a new Subsim is check out what ships are included - that is actually kind of a tradition of sorts for me. I suppose I would like it to be somewhat of a surprise. I just can't help but be a little curious as to what is actually included - the Japanese carrier roster seems a little disappointing to me from what I have heard in preliminary reports though.

On the subject of shipping files, I too would like to hear anything else you can tell us. From what you are saying so far, I have a good feeling that it will not be too long before someone else here (maybe Ref?) figures out how to add more ships to this game. But the more information you can give us for now, the better.

Are the other file formats similar to those in SHIII? For example, I know the damage model is more complex, but is it in a .zon file? And within other files, such as the .dats, are there any other new properties - maybe new node types or all external texture parts (in the new directory you mentioned)?

[tater]

Assuming this is a thread to make suggestions for shipping, here goes.

One, the "sampans" in SH4 look more like Junks. Not a huge issue, but the name "sampan" is not appropriate.

The fishing boats are close to a very needed type of small cargo carrier called a "Sea Truck" (Kaiju Torakku) 100 to 1000 tons. There were steel as well as wooden (on the smaller end of the tonnage range mentioned) versions. The USN term was "Sugar Dog." Smaller than 100 tons was considered a "lugger."

I have loads of images (many from ONI 208-J sup2).





I also have a pile of japanese modelling magazines with a series of articles about scratch built japanese merchant ship models with pictures. I've been meaning to scan them, and If it would help, I could.

tater

[elanaiba]

I'm sure everything would be of help

[tater]

Note the camo applied (plant material) on these small wooden sea trucks.