[REL] U.S. Medals Fix

[SinkingDDT]

Modders,

First, let me say--I'M NOT WORTHY!

Second, if I break down and buy the newest SH4 (with the U-Boat add-ons), I have 1.5, right? Will this medals fix work with that version? My 8-year-old just had a sub christmas-- 28" Seawolf model, Gato model, Nautilus model, small Seawolf, Type VII and some modern Japanese sub I can't recall, and his dad bought him a really cool navy ball cap with dolphins, scrambled eggs and commander rank on it. He is on an underwater roll (though he inexplicably hates having to use the TDC and realistic targeting with me... ). I'll buy the new version if I can get him actual US awards.

Third, if I am not clear, you modders amaze me. Thanks for doing this, Cap'n.

[CapnScurvy]

SinkingDDT, Welcome to SubSim!!

Yes, the stand alone U-Boat Missions Addon is patch 1.5. The patch 1.5 is the latest from UbiSoft and they saw fit to couple it with the U-Boat addon. U.S. Medals Fix works with 1.5. Unfortunately it does not work with the game patched to only 1.4 or earlier. Believe me I've tried but the structure of the game changed quite a bit between 1.4 and 1.5 when it comes to the awards. I was able to work with the newer version much easier then with the old.

If you can find the "Gold Edition" of SH4 it has the latest patch 1.5 and the U-boat missions all rolled in one.

Thanks for the kind words.
Best regards

[groomsie]

Curious if this works with the recent update to TMO... Anyone tried it?

[CapnScurvy]

Originally Posted by groomsie

Curious if this works with the recent update to TMO... Anyone tried it?

If you mean the TMO_1.6.2, I haven't taken a look at it yet. Off the cuff I'll say no for right now. Probably just too many changes to make it even closely compatable.

However, it will work with the TMO 1.55 Update for the 1.5.2. The update did change some text at the Main Menu screen; such as adding the "German Campaign" to the menu list (it used to read "---") and the listed title of the mod was changed to 1.55 instead of 1.52.

Those changes and a couple other minor ones are all that is different as far as the U.S. Medals Fix is concerned. I will make another mod to update these minor changes, but for now the "U.S. Medals Fix TMO1.52" is compatable to the 1.55 Update less a few text changes.

[groomsie]

Last night I activated this MOD and started SH4...saw the start-up menu changed back to "---" where the German Campaign should be (the most recent TMO 1.6.2 corrected this for me). So, I chickened out and deactivated the MOD. Can't state any other issues of conflict, but it appears there is at least some minor areas of conflict with TMO 1.6.2.

Hopefully this can be modified to work with 1.6.2 in the near future, as I do like this mod...

[E.B. Fluckey]

Perhaps it should just be rolled into TMO and RFB so we don't have to install a seperate mod.

[CapnScurvy]

Originally Posted by E.B. Fluckey

Perhaps it should just be rolled into TMO and RFB so we don't have to install a seperate mod.

It is in RFB 1.52, but not TMO. I'll be making it compatable to the latest of TMO 1.6.2 soon.

[Te Kaha]

Something interesting on the subject "how does the game award medals";

1 Patrol, 53,768 tons sunk, 3 objectives completed - Medal of Honor

1 Patrol, 51,876 tons sunk, 1 objective completed - Navy Cross

[CapnScurvy]

Originally Posted by Te Kaha

Something interesting on the subject "how does the game award medals";

1 Patrol, 53,768 tons sunk, 3 objectives completed - Medal of Honor

1 Patrol, 51,876 tons sunk, 1 objective completed - Navy Cross

I've been spending a lot of time lately looking at the mechanics of the awards and trying to figure out what triggers what. Using the Stock game I've been having to complete objectives, sink shipping, save game points, kill myself and see what I get as a final reward. This process is very time consuming when all I really need to know is what the heck the devs have hard coded in the game to make the factors for calculating awards. For some reason, I feel the Data/Cfg/medals.cfg file has something big to do with it. The following is a part of that file:

[AWARDED_MEDAL_0]
Idx=0
Cantity=1
[AWARDED_MEDAL_1]
Idx=1
Cantity=2
[AWARDED_MEDAL_2]
Idx=2
Cantity=0
[AWARDED_MEDAL_3]
Idx=3
Cantity=0
[AWARDED_MEDAL_4]
Idx=4
Cantity=20
[AWARDED_MEDAL_5]
Idx=5
Cantity=3
[AWARDED_MEDAL_6]
Idx=6
Cantity=2.......


And so on down to Medal_19.

Then it starts:

[MEDAL_0]
Idx=0
Cantity=1
[MEDAL_1]
Idx=1
Cantity=2
[MEDAL_2]
Idx=2
Cantity=0.......

Down to Medal_19 again. I think the first set is for the Captain, the second set is for the Crew but that's about all I've got for this file. What does the twenty specific index's mean is Greek to me?!

Regarding what you pointed out Te Kaha, I've noticed this too. The number of completed objectives adds a multiplier to the over all award calculation.

So does either having the campaign game start with an "easy" or "very hard" option in realistic play AND the amount of "Renown" you start with. Even though you can set the "realism" setting to whatever you want in the Captain's Office in base. The initial campaign setting makes a modifier as well. Set on "easy" with the starting "renown" at 1000, the first award will be given at about 25,000 tons. On "very hard" with the starting "renown" at 5000, it may take until passing the 41,000 mark to receive the first award.

I know the "quality" of shipping sunk (warship over merchant) makes a difference, and so does the amount of time between sinkings. Quality Warships sunk in so much time (ie. 24 hours) modifies the award outcome.

AND, when you take the trip back to base to complete the patrol, I have noticed a lesser award will be given (if at all) when you return, over committing hara-kiri while out on patrol and receiving the Purple Heart to boot.

What does it all mean???? I don't know except so far, I haven't seen anything out of "order" with the given awards and the Fix. Your example above Te Kaha seems right for the order (CMOH over Navy Cross) even though I wish I knew how to get a bit of separation between the two.

I've been doing this in preparation to make the U.S. Medals Fix compatible with TMO 1.6.2.

[SinkingDDT]

Hey, Capn, I went out and bought GOLD just so I could see actual US medals with your mod.

Simply-- thanks. I hurried through my patrol and got an actual not-made-up US award (which, as I sit here writing this, I can't remember what I got... BUT it was an actual historical award).

Looks GREAT!! Thanks a lot.

[groomsie]

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy

I've been doing this in preparation to make the U.S. Medals Fix compatible with TMO 1.6.2.

How is it coming?

[jazzabilly]

What'd be neat would be a Presidential Unit Citation for a particular boat. I don't see how this could be done, though, given that it was awarded to a boat, and not to a commander as such.

[CapnScurvy]

I've released two editions to bring the U.S. Medals Fix up to date. The versions "II" can be found at the first post of this thread. After many missions and following award results, I determined there were two medals "switched" in their order for issue. Why, who knows, the devs don't talk about it much but the basic stock award system is terrible in it's calculations and results. The stock system has the following medals:

Congressional Medal of Honor= 5th tier
Navy Cross= 4th tier
Distinguished Service Medal= 3rd tier
Silver Star= 2nd tier
Bronze Star= 1st tier
Purple Heart= Wounded/Kia Award

The 3rd and 4th tier awards were switched by the UPC files ID's, which made for the awards to be given incorrectly. The only way to correct this was to switch the name and images to match what is correct. I determined this particular flaw with mission after mission and keeping track of what was awarded. A lengthy process since awards are determined (in part I believe) by total tonnage sunk and quality of ships (warships over freighters, BB's over DD's etc.). The fact that we can't change the "calculation process" for awards, only left the ability to change what we can (images and text descriptions). A poor fix to be sure, but our only one.

While I did eliminate the Distinguished Service Medal in the earlier Fix version(adding the Navy Commendation Medal) I eliminated the Congressional Medal of Honor in this second edition. I just didn't like the idea of the CMOH being given for total tonnage sunk. I added the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal to the group as the 1st tier award and moved the rest up one rank. The Navy Cross will be the top award for Captain and crew alike. Although this is just cosmetic, the real change is to the "order" of medals issued through the game calculations. As I said, the change was done through image changes and text descriptions. I still wish we could get a chance to rewrite the hard coded game to make our corrections there.

[virtualpender]

Excellent work as always. Using the the A-P campaign medal is a very clever solution. Thanks for updating and for making compatible with TMO. Much appreciated!

thank you for another excellent mod

keep up the great work