[WIP] Wolves of the Kaiser:1914-1918 Mod

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Bubblehead1980

Very nice. Messages are a key for immersion but such a pain lol. One of my least favorite parts of modding.

Certainly ... At least I've learned a lot about WWI, especially the land battles. Verdun, the Somme, Neville's Offensive, Tannenberg, etc. Plus, there's no way I can do 3d modeling on lunch break in the office, so text-based modding while at work makes sense.

Mini update: Finished all the top ace sinking tonnages! Completed 1918 last night. Woohoo! To simplify things, the game will calculate top ace scores biweekly, but in my opinion that's a good compromise. Early in the war, Otto Weddigen is the man to beat (Aboukir, Cressy, & Hogue gave him about 36,000 tons to start with!) Later in the war you compete with aces like de la Periere, Rose, & Saltzwedel.

[Jeff-Groves]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

I may release some items to people willing to help with aspects of the mod.

Would some animations in SH4 format count?
NOT Mesh animations as in SH3. But TRUE SH4 animations.

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Jeff-Groves

Would some animations in SH4 format count?
NOT Mesh animations as in SH3. But TRUE SH4 animations.

Hey great to see you again! I would be happy to give you pretty much anything I've worked on, knowing your skill....you name it I can send it! We will be in touch. I have gigs and gigs of source material and ships/figures/aircraft.

I did not forget about our discussions, and actually it's a good time to get together again because I have decided on the poly count for new NPC human figures (about 1400 polys for men, 1800 polys for women). I tested my high-poly freighter with about 40-50 crewmen at ~ 1500 polys each, and got no slowdown. On top of that, we can use minrenderdim controllers and object substitution to optimize things even more. Imagine a realistic number of people on ships, going about their business or abandoning ship. Much nicer than stock silent hunter "ghost ships", eh?

I am starting to build a library of ship crew members, based on the SH4 submarine crew and some 3rd party figures I paid for to get permission to use. Categories will be:

-Navy Sailors
-Soldiers
-Merchant Sailors
-3rd Class Passengers/Refugees
-Wealthy Passengers
-Fishermen
-Nurses/Hospital Ship Crew
-Dock Workers

IMHO we probably don't need anything too extravagant, just "at rest", "panic", and maybe jumping overboard animations. Possibly a few others like soldiers firing guns, fishermen fishing, etc.

I have already gathered some pictures of Edwardian-era clothing so we can have nice, period appropriate skins.

Also, a few new animations for the player sub wouldn't hurt (U-Boat chef cooking, crew torpedo maintenance, helping injured comrades, etc).

[Mad Mardigan]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

Hey great to see you again! I would be happy to give you pretty much anything I've worked on, knowing your skill....you name it I can send it! We will be in touch. I have gigs and gigs of source material and ships/figures/aircraft.

I did not forget about our discussions, and actually it's a good time to get together again because I have decided on the poly count for new NPC human figures (about 1400 polys for men, 1800 polys for women). I tested my high-poly freighter with about 40-50 crewmen at ~ 1500 polys each, and got no slowdown. On top of that, we can use minrenderdim controllers and object substitution to optimize things even more. Imagine a realistic number of people on ships, going about their business or abandoning ship. Much nicer than stock silent hunter "ghost ships", eh?

I am starting to build a library of ship crew members, based on the SH4 submarine crew and some 3rd party figures I paid for to get permission to use. Categories will be:

-Navy Sailors
-Soldiers
-Merchant Sailors
-3rd Class Passengers/Refugees
-Wealthy Passengers
-Fishermen
-Nurses/Hospital Ship Crew
-Dock Workers

IMHO we probably don't need anything too extravagant, just "at rest", "panic", and maybe jumping overboard animations. Possibly a few others like soldiers firing guns, fishermen fishing, etc.

I have already gathered some pictures of Edwardian-era clothing so we can have nice, period appropriate skins.

Also, a few new animations for the player sub wouldn't hurt (U-Boat chef cooking, crew torpedo maintenance, helping injured comrades, etc).

Whooaaahhh....

[Jeff-Groves]

I think I can manage what you want.
I have a vast collection of animations that I can adapt to the SH4 standard.

I'll dig out my Scripts for 010 and update them as needed.

[fithah4]

Found this article tonight and thought about your MOD!
http://www.hisutton.com/Brazilian-Navy-Sip-Ceara.html

The Surprising Secret Of This Brazilian Navy Ship From 1915 ~ 1946
Brazilian Navy's “Ceara” Submarine Tender

BraziliaCearas Specifications
Displacement: 3,500 tons light, 6,400 tons fully loaded
Length: 101.6 m
Beam: 15.7 m
Draught: 6.45 m (fully loaded)
Speed: 12-13 knots
Propulsion: 2 x 2,100 HP Diesel engines, 2 shafts

Armament: Modest weapons. Possibly 2 x 101.6 mm, 2 x 57mm 4 x Hotchkiss 3-pounder 'Armstrong', 2 x 7mm Hotchkiss machine guns. Reports vary
Complement: 89

The ship was designed and built in Italy in 1915 to support 3 'FF' type (Foca Class) submarines. These were also Italian and formed Brazil's first submarine force. Small and relatively fragile, they primarily provided training in Brazil.

FF Type (Foca Class) Submarine Specifications
Displacement: 160 tons surfaced, 260 tons submerged
Length: 46 m
Beam: 4.4 m
Draught: 4.4 m
Speed: 13.5 knots surfaced, 6.5 knots submerged
Propulsion: 2 Fiat 6cyl 700 hp diesel engines driving 2 electric motors, 2 shafts
Endurance: 1600 nm @ 8.5 knots surfaced, 100 nm @ 4 knots submerged
Armament: 2 x 450 torpedo tubes (some sources say 3)
Complement: 20
Operating Depth: 40 m

Ship’s Fate
Ceara’s service life, from 1917 until 1946, seems unremarkable. And although active on the Allied side in WW2, naturally this ship did not see combat. Yet its long service life meant that it far outlived the FF type submarines which it was designed to house. Subsequent Brazilian Navy submarines were larger and would not fit inside the hangar. So it is unclear whether the hangar was still useful (I suspect not). The design was however still noteworthy, a particularly well-equipped strategic asset

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by fithah4

Found this article tonight and thought about your MOD!
http://www.hisutton.com/Brazilian-Navy-Sip-Ceara.html

The Surprising Secret Of This Brazilian Navy Ship From 1915 ~ 1946
Brazilian Navy's “Ceara” Submarine Tender

BraziliaCearas Specifications
Displacement: 3,500 tons light, 6,400 tons fully loaded
Length: 101.6 m
Beam: 15.7 m
Draught: 6.45 m (fully loaded)
Speed: 12-13 knots
Propulsion: 2 x 2,100 HP Diesel engines, 2 shafts

Armament: Modest weapons. Possibly 2 x 101.6 mm, 2 x 57mm 4 x Hotchkiss 3-pounder 'Armstrong', 2 x 7mm Hotchkiss machine guns. Reports vary
Complement: 89

The ship was designed and built in Italy in 1915 to support 3 'FF' type (Foca Class) submarines. These were also Italian and formed Brazil's first submarine force. Small and relatively fragile, they primarily provided training in Brazil.

FF Type (Foca Class) Submarine Specifications
Displacement: 160 tons surfaced, 260 tons submerged
Length: 46 m
Beam: 4.4 m
Draught: 4.4 m
Speed: 13.5 knots surfaced, 6.5 knots submerged
Propulsion: 2 Fiat 6cyl 700 hp diesel engines driving 2 electric motors, 2 shafts
Endurance: 1600 nm @ 8.5 knots surfaced, 100 nm @ 4 knots submerged
Armament: 2 x 450 torpedo tubes (some sources say 3)
Complement: 20
Operating Depth: 40 m

Ship’s Fate
Ceara’s service life, from 1917 until 1946, seems unremarkable. And although active on the Allied side in WW2, naturally this ship did not see combat. Yet its long service life meant that it far outlived the FF type submarines which it was designed to house. Subsequent Brazilian Navy submarines were larger and would not fit inside the hangar. So it is unclear whether the hangar was still useful (I suspect not). The design was however still noteworthy, a particularly well-equipped strategic asset

Thanks! Will have to take a look at that when I get home. South American countries like Brazil /Chile had some very good Dreadnought designs actually, like BB Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais....they were some of the first ships to be equipped with super firing main guns, an important innovation..for a time they were some of the best dreadnoughts in the world, although unfortunately Brazil did not have enough money to maintain them well....also, the battleships that became HMS Agincourt and HMS Canada were initially South American. The battleship Sao Paulo really fascinates me because not what happened to her...mas you may know, she was sold for scrap after WWll but went missing from her tow in 1951 in a storm..the huge battleship and her 8 man scrapping crew were never seen again. Sao Paulo's wreck site is one of the biggest mysteries in Naval History, and has not been located to date.

[Avimimus]

Hi,

I've been following this mod for many years and enjoying the updates. I have noticed a bit of feature creep with you discovering new techniques within the engine, increasing your skills, expanding the scope of content.

I'm curious about what the list of features and content you'd consider acceptable for an 'initial release'?

I was think that - if you set goals for an initial release, and then started planning version 2.0 and version 3.0 (or other expansions) we might get to try some of it sooner!

Something like a single player controlled submarine, and enough assets to replace the existing opponents with a couple of WWI escorts. With additional ships coming in subsequent releases. But even if you don't do that - I'd be very curious what you'd consider complete enough for a 'beta' or a version 1.0!

Thanks!

[Aktungbby]

Avimimus! after a long 'silent run'!

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Avimimus

Hi,

I've been following this mod for many years and enjoying the updates. I have noticed a bit of feature creep with you discovering new techniques within the engine, increasing your skills, expanding the scope of content.

I'm curious about what the list of features and content you'd consider acceptable for an 'initial release'?

I was think that - if you set goals for an initial release, and then started planning version 2.0 and version 3.0 (or other expansions) we might get to try some of it sooner!

Something like a single player controlled submarine, and enough assets to replace the existing opponents with a couple of WWI escorts. With additional ships coming in subsequent releases. But even if you don't do that - I'd be very curious what you'd consider complete enough for a 'beta' or a version 1.0!

Thanks!

The 1.0 release will have multiple player subs, complete North Atlantic/Med campaign, limited US East Coast campaign, new awards, prize warfare system, new particles, and extensive new ship roster including dozens of British & German WWI capital ships. At the very least.

Goals for later versions include British & Austro-Hungarian subs, possible speedboat/destroyer campaigns, more extensive East Coast warfare, Black Sea Campaign, detailed Gallipoli campaign, accurate interiors for multiple subs, and battleships/cruisers for the following nations:

-France
-Austria-Hungary
-Turkey
-Italy
-United States
-Russia

There's no need to worry about feature creep; I always maintain a good idea of what the core features of the mod will be.

Note that 3d modeling for the large warships is about 100% complete, and that the other player units will come along quickly now that the U-31 is done.

Excellent progress was being made a couple months ago; the only reason for the current slowdown is my office offering overtime that lets me increase my salary by 40%. This is a huge opportunity, and of course the extra money goes to more WWI source material for the mod.

[iambecomelife]

Super minor update: Working lifeboats are in! In other words, cables actually dropping down from the pulleys & lowered from the davits...As opposed to ghost lifeboats that come out of nowhere. This was an easy improvement to create, and I'm surprised that nobody else has done it before..

Of course, work on
"important" stuff goes on, but IMHO the project to make sinking ships look "more alive" is itself important, and a major goal of the mod. WOTK is basically a big collection of sub-projects making their way to completion.

Tonight...finishing touches on the U-139 cruiser submarine hull. I have three wings3d windows open right now.

[Bubblehead1980]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

Super minor update: Working lifeboats are in! In other words, cables actually dropping down from the pulleys & lowered from the davits...As opposed to ghost lifeboats that come out of nowhere. This was an easy improvement to create, and I'm surprised that nobody else has done it before..

Of course, work on
"important" stuff goes on, but IMHO the project to make sinking ships look "more alive" is itself important, and a major goal of the mod. WOTK is basically a big collection of sub-projects making their way to completion.

Tonight...finishing touches on the U-139 cruiser submarine hull. I have three wings3d windows open right now.

Impressive!

I am quite excited for this mod.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Impressive indeed

[Kapitain Oliver Leinkraunt]

Can’t wait !! : ))

[iambecomelife]

Coming soon .... the BEHEMOTH.