[REL] SH4 - Flavored to Taste (Updated 12 Apr. 07)

[modisch]

great work Ducimus.... Been watching this grow... (and I've been using it since the first).

I also appreciate the documentation. Makes it easier for me to go in and flavor to my taste

Cheers!

-m

[Ducimus]

Enable FTT first. Then the SD radar fix over that. When JSGME tells you the file conflicts with the FTT mod, it's ok, click yes and enable it.

When disabeling these mods, remember to disable the SD fix first, then FTT after that. Inverse operation basically.

[Ducimus]

Thanks.

I just hope i really got the radar fixed (as best as possible) this time. It's fooled me twice. The problem laying in i coudlnt figure out how to create a useable single mission for a test bed (my normal practice), so i created campaign games and just ran the sub out of port on different radar settings to see when i stopped getting surface contacts.

What i ended up doing was using the sub school artillery mission. I moved the starting point 25KM away, and having done that, it made a great test bed. Quick loading too, much to my releif. I must have restarted SH4 25 times this morning doing trial and error testing.

[Gatlin01]

Excellent job Ducimus!
I`ve been playing the reg vanilla version and started to hate it, do to the fact the japanese DD woudnt attack nor depth charge me, the Jap planes bugged me more that there ships. Well after installing your version started new campaign and was depth charged on first mission, well I get a new sub. I attacked a jap task force with about 6 dd, 2 heavy cruisers and about 8 passengers ships. I got to remember this moto Run Silent, Run Deep!
Keep up the good work!

[PeriscopeDepth]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

Ok heres an update, i tink i gota handle on it now.

This bugger has defied all logic and reasoning.

I mean, ok. min height of 6 meters (stock). If you look at the rec manual, ships are alot higher then that. Putting two and two together, you figure,.. ok whats the average maximum ship height? Enter some abitrary figure, and you think problem solved.
That was my first attempt. WRONG.

What ive learned is that the min height variable on this radar is SUPER.. and i mean SUPER sensitive. If you enter 6 meters min height, your right back where you started. If you enter 9 meters min height, you get no contacts. So back it off to 8 meters and its as if it were the 6 meters min height. SOme ships you pick up, some you don't.

Ok.. so 6 is too low, and 8 it still works, but 9 it doesnt. So the figure lays in between 8 and 9 right? I make the min height 8.5... guess what.. radar doesnt work.

So this is my new working theory (IE,im guessing and pulling this out of my ass, its the only explantion i can come up with)


Im thinking theres a small incline of an unknown degree that radiates outward. (think in terms of geometric shapes) The farther you are away from the center of the radar transmission (your sub) the higher the space between that incline and the surface of the ocean. The min height etablish's itself from the top of that incline, not the surface of the ocean. So your blind spot at say, at 30,000 meters is going to be ALOT higher in altitude then say 15,000 meters. WHen your talking large distances, a single degree from the source, can make a huge difference when at the end of its path of travel.

In our case since were talking fairly long distances, were talking about a fractions of meters. 8 meters too low, 8.5 meters too high. So my next stab at this is 8.25 and ill go from there.

Thanks for all your hard work Ducimus, you make playing this game tolerable while waiting for the patch. And yes, when I posted earlier I had the SD radar fix applied over FTT. I'll try this new fix out tonight.

PD

[Ducimus]

And yes, when I posted earlier I had the SD radar fix applied over FTT.

yeah, i realized that after i got buzzed by a plane My test methods were rotton, so i had to change the way i was testing it. After this morning, i don't think its possible to totally eliminate surface contacts on SD radar; but i think you can minimize them.

[Ducimus]

Whenever i say "this is my last version for awhile", automatically assume im full of schite.


New version.

Some changes

- I decided remove the gramaphone tracks to make the D/L smaller. This one file has been getting alot of D/L's and my allowed bandwidth meter on my server has been going up in percentages every day. I guess it got popular or something. Its not that i dont have alot of bandwidth, its that im being stingy with it.


- i redid the sub "toughness". I only increased the hitpoints on compartments, watchtower, mainpump and bulkhead to reduce the likelyhood of fatal damage. With double the equipment hitpoints, something seemed odd in repairs that i can't quite put my finger on.

- increased sub dive time by im guessing 10 seconds tops. It needed to be a little faster, but not too fast. These arent type7' uboats after all.

- pretty sure i got the SD radar to be as good as its going to get in terms of not picking up (alot) of surface contacts. I dont think its posible to remove surface contacts entirely. Fishing boats are really odd, i think they're acutally taller then they look because whle a destroyer wont get picked up on the SD radar, a FISHING BOAT will. Go figure. On a side note, there is another bug with radar in general, and i can't figure it out.

Works fine going to your patrol area, and while patrolling, but i swear, the instant i shoot the last torpedo out of the boat and head for home, it stops working and i get buzzed by planes. With the slow diving time, it feels like im back in a type9c off the US east coast- submerge by day, surface only at night in order to survive. I figure with a bit faster dive time, i might have more of a chance if surprised.

I think thats about it. I was going to start dabbeling in the flotilla files, but decided id rather mess with that later.

One thing i REALLY want to do, is increase the time it takes for the torpedo tube doors to open. It takes a full 7 seconds. Theres some delay in when you issue the command and when the command acutally executes. Perhaps its a function of crew effeciency, i don't know. What i do know is when firing salvo's, its AGGRIVATING when you feel like your waiting damn near 10 seconds before the next tube is ready. 10 seconds is ALOT when your at the firinng point and must shoot.

[PeriscopeDepth]

Thanks. Why's it so much smaller of a download this time?

PD

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by PeriscopeDepth

Thanks. Why's it so much smaller of a download this time?

PD

I removed the gramaphone files to save on bandwidth.

[Loaf]

Hi Ducimus,

I'm curious... When you reduced the sub dive times, were you using real-world stats or just going for better "feel?"

Cheers!

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by Loaf

Hi Ducimus,

I'm curious... When you reduced the sub dive times, were you using real-world stats or just going for better "feel?"

Cheers!

The reduction of the time to dive was based on the following:

- SD radar doesnt always work for some reason.

- Visual range is limited, given the planes rate of travel, if you detected it on the very edge of your visual range you *might* get under far enough to have water cover the periscope shears, but thats about it. If the aircraft was detected later (as often the case) you simply did not have time to dive.

When you combine those two points, it made for what i felt was bad gameplay.

So i had several options.

a.) Try and fix SD radar from quiting like it does. (not really an option since this is a game coding thing)

b.) Decrease the speed of aircraft so they don't come at you as fast.

c.) Increase the speed of the subs diving time.

I opted for C. Running a stopwatch, it took 1min and 10 seconds from the start of the klaxon, to when the sub had its stern fully underwater. After some experimentation, i decided that 58 to 60 seconds sounded like a good figure. All i did was shave that extra 10 seconds off. Now i dont have historical figures, but a 60 second dive was a number that stuck in my mind may hhaving happened historically. I really don't know for sure. But i didnt want to go overboard with it as well. It could be entirely possible that they took 47 seconds to dive.

But overall, considering the limiations placed upon the player, i dont think getting the dive time to be exact to historical records is what will work. Now if you want to increase the visual range to say, 16KM as in SH3 (i woudlnt recommend it, would be bog your system down probably), or fix the SD radar so it doesnt up and quit for no apparent reason for the remainder of a patrol, then there would be no need to speed up the dive time.



as an aside.. figrues. as i type this, a nice horizontal line just appeared on my monitor. Looks like im going to be looking for a new video card soon.

[Ducimus]

New version.
I had to make a few changes to the bulkhead HPs. From as near as i can tell, 200 is as high as youd want to raise that. Ill have to experiment with it again, later but with a 400 hp bulkhead, a ciruclar running torpedo that hit my engine room didnt sink me, (infact while it damged the engines fairly well, the pressurehull barely even regestered a scratch, and no flooding occured), so.. well yah.. THAT had to change.

I also moved forward in time when youd get conning tower changes. This was based primarly on, "I really hate that dam bathtub around my AA gun and these huge periscope shears" and less on historical accuracy. That said, i only moved them forward in the timeline by about 6 months to be available at the beginning of the year rather then the middle of it.

Gameplay/ personal annoyance changes aside, i think im going to start looking at the campaign layers soon. Too much traffic in general.

[Deep Six]

So the new version...we do not need the radar fix anymore correct?

Deep six

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by Deep Six

So the new version...we do not need the radar fix anymore correct?

Deep six

It's included.

But its not really a fix, at least not the improved SD radar. The First SD radar, the occurance of surface contacts was less, but using the same settings with a farther range on the improved SD radar, well, now im back to square one with a super radar. Ill have to come up with a new setting for that one.

What im thinking i might do, is make them both the same in range, but reintroduce the random probablity of getting contacts on the first SD radar, and then keeping the random probablilty OFF on the I-SD radar. That way, they shouldn't be uber, with the first version being a little flaky and the improved version not so flakey, both being the same range, and yet having a reason to use one over the other.

But this is all based on the assumption that its the improved range of the improved SD radar that is making it pick up surface contacts. While the first verson of the SD radar does pick up ground contacts, its does nowhere near as often as the improved version. So im going to have to do something about that.

[Deep Six]

Oh yeah ......This works..Now I'm getting my assed kicked by DD's as soon as they see me/detect me....Its not safe anymore folks.....

Way to Go Duc!!!!


Deep six