1914: Shells of Fury

[VFC_Baxter]

Looks much more authentic . Thank you for your work.

[adrians69]

I'll be interested in any mods also, I haven't played SoF for a long time but I still have it!

[Vox165]

Thanks VFC_Baxter. It really does help to know these mods work for other players, and Im open to anyones suggestions too.

As previously mentioned, my emphasis is manual targeting and a more challenging game. In short, I want to do my own "hunting" and targeting in SOF and to simulate some of the WWI commander's challenges.

I' m working on a new map mod, that replaces the default icons with simple circle marks. The goal is for the player to ID targets without aids and determine target heading, speed, AOB, etc from the map. Another version removes the icons completely. I have also made some progress removing the targeting text that seems to appear on every screen in the default game.

I think manual firing the 88 deck gun is one of SOF's best features. So why ruin the scene with a clip-board? The board seems stuck there unnaturally ( I doubt they used one when in action?), blocks the view, and really spoils the cool effects. Remove -it and the player will need to range his fire based on splashes he can see or by using the reticle in the binoculars. In- short the player needs to learn bracket "Strichschiessen "techniques. More later this after I do some testing. -Vox

[Vox165]

Screenshot_1. An escorted enemy convoy is seen through binoculars at dawn. Convoy’s heading is NNE at about 5 knots at a range of about 7000m. At the far left is a destroyer, near the center a large tanker1, at the far right another destroyer and tanker2. A third destroyer is off the screen on the convoy’s left flank( see map ). Various freighters round out the rest of the convoy. (see *AAR below)





Screenshot_2. The map view of the same convoy using the circle icon mod. This mod replaces the default icon symbols for enemy (red) and neutral contacts (blue) with circle-icons. Friendly icon symbols remain default. Torpedo and sinking ship symbols are removed. It would be really nice to have a proper compass to move around the map, but I haven’t had success getting one to work. In the meantime, I added a compass rose to the player’s sub and waypoint markers to help fix directions. The “no-icon” version of the mod removes all enemy and unknown icon symbols from the map.




Screenshot_3. Circle icon mod symbols






Download icon mods:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D27...ew?usp=sharing


*AAR : I go to periscope depth shortly after the above screenshots were taken. There is no automatic setting for periscope depth in SOF. Periscope height and boat depth are adjusted separately depending on sea conditions. To avoid being spotted the player must monitor the “detection probability meter” and adjusts height and depth accordingly. My plan was to use bow torpedoes for the middle tanker1 and then swing the boat for a stern shot at tanker2.

Targeting data collected on the surface was used to plot a submerged run to a firing position for a bow shot at tanker1 . Frequent quick periscope checks are made on the submerged run. The scope is raised just high enough to see ship smoke, funnels, and masts. When the firing position is reached, it’s raised higher and longer to collect the final targeting parameters: Target range 400m, heading NNE constant ~5 degrees, traveling at 5 knots, AOB ~90 degrees Port, torp speed 36 knots, 8 degrees deflection angle. My bow was pointed at 100 degrees, the periscope was pointed at ~108 degrees.. I remained unseen- The target crosses the wire and both torps run out ..........1 MISS-DUD?)/1HIT

After shooting at tanker1- I swing hard to starboard to line-up a stern shot on tanker2. I’m was immediately spotted. One of the destroyers moves out fast in my direction to ram and opens fires. I submerge-then escape, and quickly returned to periscope depth. Through the periscope I saw Tanker2 starting to ZigZag. Both stern torps shot ......2XMISS (range 600m, AOB 110 degrees Port). .... Disengage to reload and repair.

I think SOF plays-out fairly authentically using manual targeting.
-Vox

[foz]

Thank`s guy`s for keeping , shells of fury going.

[toolsey2]

Vox165 thanks for your continued work on modding Shells of fury I remember when it was first released in a half finished state and thought how great it could of been , a modder named CB did a few good mods for this game and he had done some good mods for SH2 and I was expecting him to do the same for this but he seemed to disappear and then Kurs West came out and that was it until you so I am going to install this again thanks to you and hope you continue if I am not being too cheeky
Regards

[Vox165]

Thanks toolsey and foz it does help to know there still is interest in this classic sim out there. I made these modes for my game, but I thought others might like these too. So, I made them available. It helps to get feedback to know whether these mods work for other players and any thoughts they might have too.



The mod/tools I made so far are designed principally to help collect targeting data, and then plan the attack as a WWI u-boat commander and crew would do. There are similarities and differences between WWI vs. WWII tactics partly because of the technologies that were available which makes this sim different. We could discuss this sometime -if there is interest.


I use the U-Boote Kurs West Mod (recommended very good) and my mine together. CB is listed as a contributor to UKW, but I don’t know what happened after that.


Back to mods... I do use another mod that removes the clipboard at the deck 8.8cm deck station; it opens the view a bit, and seems more authentic. Long range targeting with this gun works very well with my binocular reticle mod so the clipboard is not needed. The other mod I’ve been using removes the auto-targeting txt that appears everywhere in the game. I found it really distracting and defeated the purpose of having to collect your own data. The text can be dropped through the game’s “translate.txt” file. Anyone can change it themselves but I’ll get something available for those who would prefer that. I’m away from my Desktop; give me a week or two to get these posted.

[toolsey2]

Vox165 thank you for reply , I wish i could mod but I left school in 69 and have tried to tinker through the years but work and family has just made time go by and these days I can barely remember my name joke but I really do appreciate people like you anyway about the game as far as I remember it was released in quite an unfinished state which is a shame because the models in it have a certain beauty I think and has the makings of a great sim , the game is still available at Gamersgate if anybody is interested and the Kurs west mod at Subsim downloads plus your mods
Here is a what I think is a great video on YouTube of the game

[mtannel]

I found this game recently and like it. But I'm having a problem with the UI.
There's a red semi-transparent overlay. This happens to me in the stock/vanilla game, with the several mods I've seen here installed, and in both windowed (left shift start) and full screen mode and with various compatibility settings (I'm running this under windows 10).

It doesn't break the game, but is starting to impact the game's coefficient of fun.

Is this a known issue with a fix?

Thanks to all who have contributed by modding or otherwise supporting the game, it's appreciated.

Sample image of problem

[Aktungbby]

mtannel!

[Vox165]

I assume you did the usual dance with your graphic drivers, cables etc Your system/ card type??

Some thoughts: monitor 32 bit color, Allow SOF graphics setting to take priority , DirectX 9c required by SOF. Some library elements in 9 were not carried over to directx 11 and 12. Some older sims need those missing elements. I hope you find a solution

[Vox165]

Screenshot1. A freighter is seen above through the binoculars(F7). The “NoTargetText” mod removes the target information from the gray dialog box at the lower left and from the map (not shown). The idea is that the player will manually find the targeting parameters (ID, range, speed, course, AOB, etc) by observation or from the map. Unfortunately, the dialog box remains- I can’t figure out how to get rid of it... Suggestions?
The binocular crosshair is centered on the target, and the compass at lower right (compass mod), clearly indicates the target’s bearing to be 60 degrees. Based on prior experience, the reticle’s horizontal and vertical lines indicate the range is <6000m. Other target parameters AOB, course, speed etc are estimated similarly. BTW: These screenshots are not as clear as images in the game.



Screenshot 2. Same view from the deck gun (F5). The target is barely visible from here. The clipboard has been removed using the “NoClipBoard” mod for a better view to the left. The “NoTargetText” mod leaves the black text at the lower left to show number shells remaining, targeting data, damages, etc.



Screenshot 3. From the deck gun (F5), you can operate the gun, and view through the binoculars at the same time by using the mouse wheel. Using the reticle adjust deflection and elevation using the keypad to guide the shell splashes onto the target (more realistic than the clipboard). You need to adjust for wave action, your own speed, and that of the target. Wind is not modeled. I usually start by aiming short and a little to the one side, You can engage targets at very long range using this method. (Note: You cannot use the binocular (F7) view and control the gun at the same time.)

Vox_NoTargetTex_v1
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dJS...ew?usp=sharing

Vox_NoClipBoard_v1
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rzf...ew?usp=sharing





Screenshots 4&5. A closer view of the freighter. This model is from the default game and It’s riding a “U-Boote Kurs West” mod sea. Although my mods are focused on game play, I really enjoy the work of all the modelers.

[mtannel]

Yeah, I tried all the usual things. I've got an AMD R9 200 series card. I messed around with app specific settings on the gfx card too, but no luck.

In the end, I loaded the game on an old machine that's running XP and it works fine there. It's not as comfy playing at that machine (chair etc..) as my main PC, but I guess that just makes it more realistic.

Cheers!

[Captain Reyes]

It seems also the "U-Boote Kurs West" mod fixes some of the graphical glitches I´ve encountered:

[KleineUboot]

You can actually throw depth charges here on UC-II with W. Be careful to not blow yourself up.
P.S. This actually was my first subsim, lol