[REL] FOTRS Ultimate Project

[cdrsubron7]

Originally Posted by Jeffg

Guys, this is looking great,hope that it will be out soon. I turn 62 next week and want to play this before I make the final dive.

JeffG

I think it's safe to say that FOTRSU will be released long before the other option you mentioned ever happens.

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy

I think there are several SingleMissions that are left in the mod that were test missions.

Propbeanie, you need to take a screen shot of those anomalies of "all white" ships. Sounds like they shouldn't be doing that. But, I'll admit your computer seems to "see" things that some of us don't. Frankly, any mission that's either v1.3 or 2.0 from FOTRS should be looked at with an eye for trouble.......we don't need German language as a lead-in for the mission. Our mission guru should look into those AND, the Campaign missions too.
...

Your wish is my command:

-AND-

The link is still active on this one.

There is also a merchant vessel in there that is white, that I could have sworn I took a shot of, but alas, I apparently didn't. I thought I'd also grabbed a screenie of the Japanese DD that had the weird fire, but apparently, the computer was preparing to crash, and ignored my <Ctrl><F11> request, or perhaps oldmanitis struck again, and I hit <Ctrl><F10> or whatever... There's like 3 or 4 of them that are white in this mission.

My guess is that the missions are from FotRS v2 (the German language text briefing), and this that we're doing is going to SH4v1.5 probably messes with some graphics. This is the Photo Recon mission from stock Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific, modified with a TF coming in with you, and they're waiting on your pix for the engagement - I guess, 'cause I can't read German. If you happen to play it, just don't get run over by the friendlies all around you. They go just a pinch faster than your boat can at Flank...

And just a-'cause I likes explosions, I give you:

for no other reason than I like the colors...

Actually, it's something that's bothered me a few times now. Nothing bad, mind you, but notice the sequence above in the message box, and also the fact that the torpedo has just impacted the merchant vessel. The game says it's dead already, and the torpedo explosion has even begun to fade... How is that Navigator dude so "in-the-know", and why do I lose the targeting arrow in auto-targeting so fast? It took over 20 minutes for that to go down. I mean, I didn't shoot at it any more, but I also couldn't "lock" on it, 'cause it was already dead! Didn't look like it, for about another 10 minutes or more, while I went off and got one of his buddies. That blossom died down, and there was just a small "normal" fire going, then when it went "ka-Bloo-EY", I reasonably would have guessed it a goner. But it just seems that on some of the hits, that the game is too quick with "you're dead". Why ruin the suspense of maybe having to hang around to see if you need to put another in a ship to "finish it off"? Is this hard-coded in, or something that's in the mod?

[Jeff-Groves]

Check all the Units in the Sea folder to see if they have texture files ending with dds
You may need to check the roster folders also.
TGA was used in SH3 but DDS was used in SH4 and SH5

Most of this problem is that the Units still have the old SH3 render controller.
Not the SH4 UnifiedRender controller.
Bad conversions.
Until you fix all the Units you'll continue to see this problem pop it's ugly head up..

For an example....
The Renown in your picture is based on the Repulse which is a clone of the KingGeorgeV files.
So Guess which Units are not correct conversions to SH4?

[J0313]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

One very important addition. The deck mounted sonar is for the normal range of sounds the human ear hears. When you listen with that, you hear what things really sound like.

The balls under the forward torpedo room are supersonic equipment. They hear sounds too high frequency for the human ear to hear. Their electronics lower the sound enough octaves to be able to be heard. What you hear is NOT what those things really sound like.

Supersonic sound is very different from audible sound. Higher frequencies bounce off things that audible sound just goes right through. A thermal barrier is like a total brick wall to supersonic sound. Also supersonic sound is refracted to a much higher degree than audible sound. Something that sounds like it's on bearing 012 might really be coming from 90º away from that, reflected or refracted so it appears to be coming from somewhere quite different.

Therefore, supersonic sound equipment has a much lower range than audible sound equipment. It's directional capabilities are suspect. The operator must be very aware of factors that would reflect or bend those sound waves. These sounds are very different from what is heard on normal sonar receivers. It takes a lot of training and experience to make any sense of supersonic sounds at all. Screws don't sound like screws at all! Lots of marine life communicate by means of supersonic sounds, tremendously complicating the use of such equipment.

Unfortunately, none of this really interesting stuff is modeled in the game. It can't be modded, as most of the stuff is hard coded. Unless someone shows me language that says it is fine to patch the .exe I continue to believe that is strictly forbidden by the EULA, which I guarantee has prohibitions against decompiling or reverse engineering the game code. Both are necessary to patch it. We're not going there.

If we are to have moddable games in the future we must play by the rules the game companies establish.

I have said it before and I'll say it again. You can do it through a 3rd party patcher. You or someone else make the patcher and then you leave it up to the players to patch their own .exe of the game they purchased. That's the way it was done for Stieblers and hsie's patches and HARDCODE Fixes. TDW also has done it for SH5. It's amazing to me how all of this is on one forum but it doesn't seem to filter down to everybody. These hardcode fixes have been around now for SH3 for a good 4 years and about 3 years for sh5.

[Jeff-Groves]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

Unfortunately, none of this really interesting stuff is modeled in the game. It can't be modded, as most of the stuff is hard coded. Unless someone shows me language that says it is fine to patch the .exe I continue to believe that is strictly forbidden by the EULA, which I guarantee has prohibitions against decompiling or reverse engineering the game code. Both are necessary to patch it. We're not going there.

If we are to have moddable games in the future we must play by the rules the game companies establish.

While I agree with you on the overall statement. I disagree on some level.
SH3 and SH5 have been patched with no argument from UbiSoft.
That in itself sets a precedence to allow such actions in the future.

Be aware that any such actions can be used by Ubi in future builds.
(Yes. I almost died laughing as I typed that!)

[CapnScurvy]

Originally Posted by Jeff-Groves

Check all the Units in the Sea folder to see if they have texture files ending with dds
You may need to check the roster folders also.
TGA was used in SH3 but DDS was used in SH4 and SH5

Most of this problem is that the Units still have the old SH3 render controller.
Not the SH4 UnifiedRender controller.
Bad conversions.
Until you fix all the Units you'll continue to see this problem pop it's ugly head up..

For an example....
The Renown in your picture is based on the Repulse which is a clone of the KingGeorgeV files.
So Guess which Units are not correct conversions to SH4?

Thanks Jeff, I'll look into it.

The one thing that puzzles me is the Renown, Repulse, and the KingGeorgeV look just fine in the Museum. Why would the assets look fine (although there is a slight delay when these ships are rendered compared to others) in the Museum, yet lose their texture during a single mission?

[Jeff-Groves]

It beats the hell out of me why things work one place and not in another.

It's mostly my best guess by just looking at the files involved.
You can also open the dats in S3D and see textures not rendering properly.

Here's my suspect list and that's just 1.3 files.

NBB_Bismark\NBB_Bismark.dat
NBB_Nelson\NBB_Nelson.dat
NBB_Queen_Elisabeth\NBB_Queen_Elisabeth.dat
NBB_Revenge\NBB_Revenge.dat
NBC_Repulse\NBC_Repulse.dat
NCA_Deutschland\NCA_Deutschland.dat
NCA_Lutzow\NCA_Lutzow.dat
NCA_P26b\NCA_P26b.dat
NCVW\NCVW.dat
NCV_Illustrious\NCV_Illustrious.dat
NDD_1936A\NDD_1936A.dat
NDD_A&B\NDD_A&B.dat
NDD_C&D\NDD_C&D.dat
NDD_SU1\NDD_SU1.dat
NDD_Type7y\NDD_Type7y.dat
NECT_Hansa\NECT_Hansa.dat
NKGHAN\NKGHAN.dat
NKGHAP\NKGHAP.dat
NKLCS_Nagara\NKLCS_Nagara.dat
NLUS_Bremen\NLUS_Bremen.dat
NOM_Paula\NOL_British.dat
NOTM_T2\NOTM_T2.dat
NPPE_\NPPE_.dat
NPPQ_\NPPQ_.dat
NTUS_\NTUS_.dat
T07B\T07B.dat

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Jeff-Groves

While I agree with you on the overall statement. I disagree on some level.
SH3 and SH5 have been patched with no argument from UbiSoft.
That in itself sets a precedence to allow such actions in the future.

Be aware that any such actions can be used by Ubi in future builds.
(Yes. I almost died laughing as I typed that!)

I would do it if I had a statement from Ubi in writing that it was fine to analyze, reverse engineer, decompile and patch their code. They are never going to do that because they retain full ownership rights to their code.

The fact that a bank is robbed and the robber was not caught is not sufficient reason to say that robbing the bank is permitted. At any time they choose, Ubi can enforce their ownership rights even if they failed to do so in the past. Even if they permitted it in the past. If we patch the .exe and they decide to enforce their EULA we simply will lose. I'm not willing to risk the implications of losing such a case. Other people than myself would be in jeopardy because of my decisions.

This has always been the opinion of the SH4 modding community. It hasn't been an act of ignorance of other choices for SH3 and SH5. It is a purposeful position limiting the difference between modding and hacking.

[Jeff-Groves]

Well stated.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Jeffg

Guys, this is looking great,hope that it will be out soon. I turn 62 next week and want to play this before I make the final dive.

JeffG

I'm 62. You will play this mod.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Jeff-Groves

Well stated.

Thank you! But beware! A skilled speaker or writer can say complete bullhockey and make it sound very plausible. Take Hillary Clinton's latest television commercial for instance. She's going to "finally" (they already pay over 50% of federal revenues) make the corporations (corporations cannot pay taxes. To survive they MUST pass those taxes plus expenses onto the public in the form of higher prices) and "fat cats" (those are the people who produce the jobs) pay their "fair share" (that means raise their taxes greatly) so that she can use the money to create jobs in a way never seen before (government creates NOTHING. It is a cost to society and generates no wealth except for the lawmakers like Hillary). So, translated into English, she is going to penalize the wage payers so that the wage earners can make more money. Wage payers participate in the economy voluntarily. They have the freedom not to produce because they have assets to survive on even if they have no income. The wage earners typically can survive a couple of weeks without income. Get the wage payers torqued and we'll see a depression that makes the Great Depression of the 20's, 30's and 40's look like a carnival. The wage payers who close their businesses will take their money and have a carnival while we literally die of starvation. We would deserve our fate if we vote for her, openly advertising catastrophe.

Still, individuals have a much greater latitude to take risk than a team. It would endanger every member of this team if we were to decide to patch the game, Ubi woke up and decided it would be good sport to take our houses, automobiles, computers, personal property, first-born male children........ there is a small but not zero chance that we would all be on a very bad roller coaster ride, that only went down.

I don't have the right to take that risk for everyone concerned and their families.

[Jeff-Groves]

Tell me about taking a risk!!
If the funds are raised for the SH5 Project?
Guess who's behind is mere inches from the grill!


As an individual, I can accept the terms of the License as it is right now.
Knowing what would happen if I release anything not allowed by it?
You can bet everything will be highly guarded and NEVER in a position to be hacked!

Playing by the rules does pay off in the long run.

[cdrsubron7]

They say a picture is worth a 1000 words. That's good, because the picture explains it all.



Well done, max. Those ships are things of beauty.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by cdrsubron7

They say a picture is worth a 1000 words. That's good, because the picture explains it all.



Well done, max. Those ships are things of beauty.

Yikes! That's why it joins CapnScurvy's work in the core mod! That's amazing!

[cdrsubron7]

Now that was fun, just played one of my newer missions and had a ball playing it. The submarine is a sugar boat. The screenie I posted a couple of posts up is from the mission "Kiska Unbound".