[REL] Real Fleet Boat 2.0

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by KaleunMarco

firstly, how can i translate the UPC text to the Sensors_sub_US.dat? i ask because you lost me in the explanation above but clearly there must be connection between the UPC-text and the binary-dot-DAT

secondly, prior to firstly, your questions made me stop and think: i had SJ radar before the upgrade and lost it with the upgrade. the UnitParts file does not have any radar equipment so the upgrade has to come from the UpgradePacks.UPC file.
here is related section from UpgradePacks, however i do not know how to parse the last line.

 

[UpgradePack 18]
ID= UpackSJRadarPorpoise
NameDisplayable= SJ Surface Search Radar
Info=SJRadarInfo
Notes=SJRadarNotes
FunctionalType= UpFTypeSensorRadar
UpgradePackSlotType= SurfaceRadarPorpoise
Type=NULL
;UpgradePackInterval=1942-06-01, 1943-09-01
UnitUpgradePackIntervalOptionCurrent= 1942-06-01, 1942-10-31, 0
UnitUpgradePackIntervalOptions1=1942-06-01, 1942-10-31, 0
UnitUpgradePackIntervalOptions2=1942-11-01, 1942-12-31, 0
UnitUpgradePackIntervalOptions3=1943-01-01, 1944-06-18, 0
IDLinkUpgradePackElements= SJRadarApp, NULL, SJRadarAntennaEarlyPorpoise, SJRadarAntennaEarlyPorpoise2

then i compared the antenna section after the upgrade with the antenna section before the upgrade and i discovered that the upgrade neglected to add a piece of equipment, namely the actual antenna mast.

 

not sure where to go because i do not know where i am.

You are missing a "translation" file in your radar "hunt"... Firstly though, first things first - lol - The "ActiveUserPlayerUnits" part that you point to (the same thing as in NSS_SubName.upc) is the "Slot" something sits in. If it is "upgradeable", it will show "AcceptedType" as "NULL". Otherwise, the gear is named at that slot entry, and it will not be found in an UpgradePackSlot in the section below. For radars, you will often find a "UserPlayerUnit 1.Compartment x.EquipmentSlot y" in the submarine's hull upc and a similar entry of "UnitPart x.Compartment y.EquipmentSlot z" in the UnitPartsXSubName.upc file that holds additional entries. After the equipment entries in the NSS_SubName.upc file is the UpgradePackSlots that list all of the possible upgrades for the slots listed above and in the matching UnitPartsXSubName.upc for the conning tower(s). Those entries point to the slots above for the mounting location(s), as well back to the UpgradePacks.upc file. Inside that UpgradePacks.upc file, you will find how it is "built" from pieces of the Equipment.upc file (or Weapons in the case of guns). That file is where you will find the "ExternalLinkName3D=" line that puts you into the SensorsSub (or other) files. If that "ExternalLinkName3D=" is "NULL", then it is a "virtual" entry. The PPI and A-Scope cabinets are such. From the looks of things, going by the "builds" of the parts into UpgradePacks, it does look like the intention was to have at least some of the "virtual" entries be actual 3D pieces of gear. It is possible to do that, but would be a major undertaking... Anyway, look in the Equipment.upc file (based upon what is found in the UpgradePacks.upc "build") for the "link" to the sensors file... From that info, you might be able to edit the ActiveUser... and other associated files in the Save folder. Back-up all data there first, of course...

[KaleunMarco]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

You are missing a "translation" file in your radar "hunt"... Firstly though, first things first - lol - The "ActiveUserPlayerUnits" part that you point to (the same thing as in NSS_SubName.upc) is the "Slot" something sits in. If it is "upgradeable", it will show "AcceptedType" as "NULL".

Otherwise, the gear is named at that slot entry, and it will not be found in an UpgradePackSlot in the section below. For radars, you will often find a "UserPlayerUnit 1.Compartment x.EquipmentSlot y" in the submarine's hull upc and a similar entry of "UnitPart x.Compartment y.EquipmentSlot z" in the UnitPartsXSubName.upc file that holds additional entries. After the equipment entries in the NSS_SubName.upc file is the UpgradePackSlots that list all of the possible upgrades for the slots listed above and in the matching UnitPartsXSubName.upc for the conning tower(s). Those entries point to the slots above for the mounting location(s), as well back to the UpgradePacks.upc file. Inside that UpgradePacks.upc file, you will find how it is "built" from pieces of the Equipment.upc file (or Weapons in the case of guns).

That file is where you will find the "ExternalLinkName3D=" line that puts you into the SensorsSub (or other) files. If that "ExternalLinkName3D=" is "NULL", then it is a "virtual" entry. The PPI and A-Scope cabinets are such. From the looks of things, going by the "builds" of the parts into UpgradePacks, it does look like the intention was to have at least some of the "virtual" entries be actual 3D pieces of gear. It is possible to do that, but would be a major undertaking... Anyway, look in the Equipment.upc file (based upon what is found in the UpgradePacks.upc "build") for the "link" to the sensors file... From that info, you might be able to edit the ActiveUser... and other associated files in the Save folder. Back-up all data there first, of course...

thanks for the explanation, PB.

armed with the above, i still couldn't figure out what was wrong.
so, i started a new Porpoise career with a starting date of mid-1943 in order to see how the game would build a Porpoise in the same time period assuming that the newer conning tower and equipment would be included. and it was.

i then compared ActiveUserPlayerUnits of the upgraded Porpoise to the same file in the mid-1943 Porpoise. the results showed that the upgraded Porpoise was missing an equipment entry:

[UserPlayerUnit 1.UnitPartSlot 1.UnitPart.Compartment 1.EquipmentSlot 1.Equipment]
ID=SJRadarAntennaEarlyPorpoise2
NameDisplayable=Radar Mast (SJ)
EquipmentInterval=1900-01-01, 1999-12-31
EquipmentSlotType=NULL
ExternalLinkName3D=NSS_EarlySJ_PClass_Mount
FunctionalType=EqFTypeRadarAntennaSJEarly

i guess you could say that this could be the root cause of the radar not working, eh?

so, i cut-paste the equipment definition from the Mid-1943 model to the upgraded model and shoved off. when i checked the radar function, eh voila, it worked. whew.

so, now, the question is: how could SH4 execute a programmed upgrade and forget to install a piece of equipment?

[propbeanie]

... uhhh... Deck Guns??

[KaleunMarco]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

... uhhh... Deck Guns??

ok, ok, deck guns.

now a radar antenna.

the hits just keep on coming.

[KaleunMarco]

Career Start December 1941 in Manila driving a Porpoise.

The Porpoise has four conning towers available, the second tower (first upgrade) is available January 1943.
The third tower (second upgrade) is available April 1943.

It took several missions during 1943 to actually get it.

 

on the last two 1943 missions, we took damage, including hull damage, and attained a mission rating of two in each.

And so, it continues to play out in the US Pacific portion of SH4 that a conning tower upgrade requires multiple, consecutive missions with damage incurred and a mission rating greater than 1. It seems, and I stress seems, that a mission rating of three disqualifies the upgrade. Twos and ones along with consecutive missions with some hull damage seem to cause the upgrade.

Next upgrade is August 1944 and it appears to be just a paint job.

[KaleunMarco]

Originally Posted by KaleunMarco

Career Start December 1941 in Manila driving a Porpoise.

The Porpoise has four conning towers available, the second tower (first upgrade) is available January 1943.
The third tower (second upgrade) is available April 1943.

It took several missions during 1943 to actually get it.

 

on the last two 1943 missions, we took damage, including hull damage, and attained a mission rating of two in each.

And so, it continues to play out in the US Pacific portion of SH4 that a conning tower upgrade requires multiple, consecutive missions with damage incurred and a mission rating greater than 1. It seems, and I stress seems, that a mission rating of three disqualifies the upgrade. Twos and ones along with consecutive missions with some hull damage seem to cause the upgrade.

Next upgrade is August 1944 and it appears to be just a paint job.

i think i have this figured out.

August 5, 1944. last two missions we took hull damage. this mission, which just ended, successfully, we took hull damage and were awarded a two for the mission and we received the fourth and final conning tower upgrade to the Porpoise. my apologies for not capturing the upgrade screen. for some reason ctrl+f11 did not work this time. stupid game.

anyway, the US tower upgrade seems to require at least two preceding missions with hull damage and a mission rating of one or two but not three.

i intend to move on to another boat class and keep trying to solidify the requirements for a tower upgrade for US boats.

[propbeanie]

We'll have to gather up all of your "study" posts, and compile them into a pdf. Maybe title it "An Exercise In Frustration"... ??

[KaleunMarco]

Originally Posted by KaleunMarco

i'm playing RFB v2.0 with RSRDC v5.75 and i am not experiencing the fatigue issue, but i am not using any environmental mod unless you count Webster's Visibility Mod and that only changes two files, neither of which have anything to do with the crew.

Generic Mod Enabler - v2.6.0.157
[C:\Ubisoft\SH4_RFB\MODS]

1_RFB_2.0
2_RFB_2.0_Patch_23April2010
3_SMMO for RFB 2.0
4_RFB_2.0_Patch_06June2019
5_Stop The Shouting
6_OTC RFB 2.0
61_OTC_Gato Sonar Bearing Fix
7_Increased binoculars for RFB OTC
8_09_RSRDC_RFB_V575
8_RFB_LocNames
805_U.S. Medals Fix II_RFBv1.52
81_Clean and Quiet Map
82_Webster's 300' Underwater Visability for v1.5
83_3000 Yard Bearing Tool (1920x)
9_RFB_Corrections

i am moving on from Porpoise to Sargo, using the same mod set.
when i reviewed the conning towers for the Sargo, i discovered that the RFB Team (LukeFF) changed that whole set up for the Sargo with RFB 2.0. Sargo has a completely different set of files than its sister class the Salmon.

Referencing only Sargo now, Stock has three tower configs with overlapping dates and RFB 2.0 has four.
the odd thing about RFB is that tower two has a prewar date range, which basically negates it use in the game. i've read through all of the available documentation for RFB v2.0 and there is no mention of reworking any of the conning tower configs. So, RFB modded Stock to add a config but invalidated one at the same time.
the Salmon towers have four configs and follow the typical date ranges.

does anyone know why LukeFF/RFB Team configured the Sargo under RFB in this manner?

[KaleunMarco]

has anyone run into this issue?

two ways to train the deck gun to a target:

1. zoom in and then rotate the barrel to point at the target
2. rotate the barrel and then zoom in.

#1 works flawlessly.
#2 will cause the game to freeze as soon as you stop rotating the weapon.

i have experienced this using just about all mod-sets: FOTRSU, TMO, and now RFB/RSRD.

if you have experienced this, how did you fix it?

[propbeanie]

The #2 method is the best way to do it, and it should NOT cause a CTD... in any mod set... If you had a "gun fix" kind of thing, I might be suspicious of that, but you don't... I would be tempted to re-order your mod list, though I doubt it would help:

A_RFB_2.0
B_RFB_2.0_Patch_23April2010
C_RFB_2.0_Patch_06June2019
D_RFB_Corrections (?? - check it first)
E_RSRDC_RFB_V575
F_RSRDC Patch (not necessary - traffic fix)
G_OTC RFB 2.0
H_Increased binoculars for RFB OTC
I_U.S. Medals Fix II_RFBv1.52 (might conflict with OTC's Medals)
J_OTC_Gato Sonar Bearing Fix
K_SMMO for RFB 2.0
L_Clean and Quiet Map (does it conflict with the above??)
M_Stop The Shouting
N_RFB_LocNames
O_Webster's 300' Underwater Visability for v1.5
P_3000 Yard Bearing Tool (1920x)

Not that a re-ordering would help the deck gun aiming, but you should get a more-accurate mix of the mods.

Have you done any Save folder editing to the deck guns?

[KaleunMarco]

Career Start December 1941 in Manila driving a Sargo.

The Sargo has four conning towers available, the second tower (first upgrade) is available September 1942.
The third tower (second upgrade) is available March 1943.
The fourth one (third upgrade) is available March 1944 and i think this is just a paint job.


Just received the first upgrade in late January 1943. It took several missions between September and January to actually get it.

 

on the last two missions, we took damage, including a bit of hull damage, and attained a mission rating of two in each.

And so, it continues to play out in the US Pacific portion of SH4 that a conning tower upgrade requires multiple, at least two consecutive missions with damage incurred and a mission rating greater than 0. It seems, and I stress seems, that a mission rating of three disqualifies the upgrade. Twos and ones along with consecutive missions with some hull damage seem to cause the upgrade.

[KaleunMarco]

with the aforementioned upgrade, we received lots of new goodies although Ubi continues to screw it up.

they reset all of the radar options so i had to re-select both the SJ and SD options. when i did a quick shove-off to check, the SJ was not working...again.
i wonder if they forgot to install the antenna like they did with the Porpoise. (they did forget the antenna)

then, they also screwed up the Hogan's Alley and DC positions. previously i modified the UPC setup to include 15 billets in each, but it was ignored in the upgrade. i keep wondering from where are they pulling the ActiveUser definitions because they sure as heck are not pulling them from the Submarines\NSSSargo folder.

and they also munged-up the Deck gun crew positions. i upgraded both type (4 inch) and mount (fore vs aft) and the positions disappeared.

{sigh} what a piece of crap. remind me: why am i still playing?

[KaleunMarco]

what is/are the connection(s) between the UPC, Upgrades, and Equipment files for upgradable equipment like surface radar?

i am trying to debug the upgrade process in RFB/RSRD because they are clearly messed up for more than one boat.
i THINK it has something to do with the name connectivity between the three files mentioned above however, there is something, a reference, something that is breaking the connection(s).

it would help to know how these three files reference each other for SJ radar equipment. There is a disconnect among these three references...or...there is a fourth reference in a fourth file. (or fifth or sixth or .....)

From ActiveUser

[UserPlayerUnit 1.UnitPartSlot 1.UnitPart.Compartment 1.EquipmentSlot 1]
ID=SurfRadarAntennaMed
NameDisplayable=Surface Radar Antenna
Type=NULL
AcceptedTypes=NULL
UserCustomizable=Yes
ExternalNodeName3D=R01
ExternalDamageZoneTypeID3D=230
IDLinkEquipmentLoaded=NULL

From Equipment.upc

[Equipment 30]
ID=SJRadarAntennaEarly
NameDisplayable= Radar Mast (SJ)
FunctionalType= EqFTypeRadarAntennaSJEarly
EquipmentInterval= NULL, NULL
EquipmentSlotType=NULL
ExternalLinkName3D= NSS_EarlySJ_03
Hitpoints= 200
DamageDescription1= NULL,0,0.1,0,0.1,1,small malfunction,0,0,NULL,0.1,0.3,40
DamageDescription2= NULL,0.1,0.3,0.1,0.2,1,significant malfunction,0,0,NULL,0.3,0.3,320
DamageDescription3= NULL,0.3,0.5,0,0,1,severe malfunction,0,0,NULL,0.5,0.3,960
DamageDescription4= NULL,0.5,1,0,0,1,equipment unserviceable,0,0,NULL,1,2,216000

[Equipment 31]
ID=SJRadarAntennaLate
NameDisplayable= Radar Mast (SJ)
FunctionalType= EqFTypeRadarAntennaSJLate
EquipmentInterval= NULL, NULL
EquipmentSlotType=NULL
ExternalLinkName3D= NSS_LateSJ
Hitpoints= 200
DamageDescription1= NULL,0,0.1,0,0.1,1,small malfunction,0,0,NULL,0.1,0.3,40
DamageDescription2= NULL,0.1,0.3,0.1,0.2,1,significant malfunction,0,0,NULL,0.3,0.3,320
DamageDescription3= NULL,0.3,0.5,0,0,1,severe malfunction,0,0,NULL,0.5,0.3,960
DamageDescription4= NULL,0.5,1,0,0,1,equipment unserviceable,0,0,NULL,1,2,216000

From Unitparts_Sargo

[UnitPart 2.Compartment 1.EquipmentSlot 1]
ID= SurfRadarAntennaMed
NameDisplayable= Surface Radar Antenna
Type=NULL
AcceptedTypes= NULL
UserCustomizable=Yes
IDLinkEquipmentIntervalDefault1= NULL, NULL, NULL
ExternalNodeName3D= R01
ExternalDamageZoneTypeID3D= 230

EDIT:
there is a fourth file.....i forgot to include Sargo.sns.
i see one disconnect. the date ranges here do not match the date ranges in the UPC files. i'll have to square up those items.

[Sensor 9]
NodeName=R01
LinkName=NSS_EarlySJ_PClass_Mount
StartDate=19420701
EndDate=19430515

[Sensor 10]
NodeName=R01
LinkName=NSS_EarlySJ_Mount
StartDate=19430516
EndDate=19430630

[Sensor 11]
NodeName=R01
LinkName=NSS_LateSJ_Mount
StartDate=19430701
EndDate=19451231

[propbeanie]

The Equipment.upc file in the Data UPCData UPCUnits folder holds the pieces of the radar and sonar devices (along with others), including the "cabinets", masts & antenna. Notice that the "cabinets" (aka: 'apps') will use a "ExternalLinkName3D=" setting set to NULL, since those 3D pieces are already part of the interior model, and do not change. However, the mast and antennas have the name of the device after that "ExternalLinkName3D=" line, and it points to the mast and antenna in the Sensors_sub_US files in the Data Library USSubParts folder. Those HAVE to match the Data Objects "Conning_SubName_0X file. In other words, the conning tower might require a radar mast that is "supported", ie: has bracing to hold it in place. Or it might require and "unsupported" mast, since the conning tower has integral support for the mast (such as the Balao, among others). Some of the boats change the mast type with the conning tower call, which is where a LOT of trouble comes in. This was the main reason CapnScurvy simplified the conning towers in initial releases of FotRSU by changing which towers were called for which boat. This did cause issue with the radio masts sometimes being set in the middle of hatches, or the cabling not matching the boat.

But it is not as easy as just that of course, since there is also the UpgradePacks.upc file in that Data UPCData UnitsData folder. It takes the "pieces" in the Equipment.upc and puts them into "packs" for installation on the boat. Add to all of that, the fact that some devices have mount points in both the boat AND the conning tower. Notice that there are regular "slots" in the body of the NSS_SubName.upc file for the equipment (and weapons and crew), and those will have the "Node" names with them, such as "R01", etc. Plus, the equipment UpgradePackSlot section below those for the "upgrades" that are in the NSS_SubName.upc file in the Data Submarine NSS_SubName folders. All of those have to be set correctly and match one another. Add further complexity with somewhat "matching" entries for some of the equipment in the "UnitParts#SubName.upc file, and all of its various "UnitPart#" sections for each of the conns in the Objects folder...



I'm not confused, just lost - and probably forgot something...

[KaleunMarco]

Career Start December 1941 in Manila driving a Sargo.

The Sargo has four conning towers available, the second tower (first upgrade) is available September 1942.
The third tower (second upgrade) is available March 1943.
The fourth one (third upgrade) is available March 1944 and i think this is just a paint job.


Just received the second upgrade in late August 1943. It took a few missions between March and August to actually get it.

 

on the last two missions, we took damage, including a bit of hull damage, and attained a mission rating of two in each.

And so, it continues to play out in the US Pacific portion of SH4 that a conning tower upgrade requires multiple, at least two consecutive missions with damage incurred and a mission rating greater than 0. It seems, and I stress seems, that a mission rating of three disqualifies the upgrade. Twos and ones along with consecutive missions with some hull damage seem to cause the upgrade.

as i solve one puzzle another appears. it seems that with RFB + RSRD, each conning tower upgrade fails to insert a surface radar antenna which makes the radar non-functional until i do a manual insertion of the missing piece. takes all of the fun out of solving the conning tower upgrade mystery.

if anyone can figure out how to fix the radar antenna issue, please let me know, as i have not been able to find the "bug".