Possible Workaround For Lazy Helmsman

Those are the tools icons,
such as the pencil and so on.

[don1reed]

Hello my fellow KLs:

Lansfeld PM'd me. His message brought me back to the surface re the problem of the "runaway" helmsman.

I've been using TC x1 which causes me to stay away from the forums. I surface periodically to get my bearings and to take a sun sight. My skin is the color of milk. Mein Gott, it's 2009 !!!

Since using tc x1 I've gotten accustomed to my fickle driver and pay close attention to his little naps. One must be constantly vigilant. If the player intends to go faster than tc x1 (time wise) then, my friends, you must use the course plotter. I intentionally stay away from SH4 for the simple reason that that game errs in the the opposite direction, that is, the helmsman is flawless. I personally enjoy SH3's helmsman's quirks as it keeps me on my toes.

Here's how to stay occupied during those long patrols:



Bon Chance.

[Lanzfeld]

Thanks for checking in Don1Reed,

I guess I was wondering if, in all your modding, you came across the files that control the course line.

What I am doing does, indeed, work. It does make the helmsman hold a heading as a real helmsman could with very little wobbles back and forth in poor weather. But in order to make this idea payoff we need to make the course invisible.

[danlisa]

I don't want to 'squash' this idea but all the lines that are placed on the Nav/Attack Map when using the Map Tools are code rendered. You can be assured of this as they are unaffected by Zoom levels and are effectively rendered 'above' the game screens. Also, further proof is the fact that there are huge FPS drops when many & long plot lines are placed on the Nav Map, proving they are hardware rendered.

That means that there are no TGA's or Menu1024_768.ini entries that will govern their colour or presence.

Perhaps your last avenue of investigation would be to look at the 'hidden' code. Although there are only a few people in the community that know how.

Edit - There is one last tool to try. DXRipper - http://www.deep-shadows.com/hax/3DRipperDX.htm, with it you can 'Screen Capture' and export all items that are displayed when using any DirectX application. I propose you try it with the menu bar hidden, a single line plotted, zoomed in and in the middle of nowhere (i.e the least on screen as possible).

Honestly though, unless you can access the Dev code, I really do not think that you will be able to remove the plot lines.

[Lanzfeld]

This is a bummer.

Well with this as a hardcoded thing then I have a somewhat less attractive idea for curing the lazy helmsman. I will still extend a course line far away on the correct heading and plot a fix THEN I will double back a second course over my original course so I cannot tell how far I have gone as it will still appear as a line. This masks the distance but not the offset lateraly. I will keep the zoom far away while on the leg at 128 TC so I really cant see my drift in any detail and when I get within 10 minutes of my calculated ETA I will go to realtime and delete all waypoints and just hold the heading until it is time to turn.