n00b modding

Admiral Lutjens · 01-23-14, 05:52 PM

Hey guys, been playing this game for a few weeks now and I most certainly have much of it down pat. I've been looking at all of these mods, and it's all very intriguing. I'd like to expand my playing experience and was wondering what's a good place to start modding?

I have SH4 Wolves of the Pacific U-Boat Missions that I DL'd from Steam.

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Admiral Lutjens · 01-24-14, 12:56 AM

Nevermind, I think I've got it figured out. I got the TMO mod, albeit the annoying bugs in it. I really like the mod. Looking forward to getting more.

Admiral Lutjens · 01-24-14, 01:20 PM

Either I'm doing something wrong, or there's a bug in the system with any mod I try to use. In the vanilla SH4 from Steam, everything is fine. However, it doesn't matter the mod I use, there's the same issue that's extremely annoying. I'll provide screenshots later when I have a bit of time, so I'll give a brief synopsis of what's going on:

-First, on the attack map, enemy contacts...no matter their distance...aren't identified. They are all gray and 'unkown'.
-Secondly, in the the periscope screen, it lists the type of contact but the range, bearing, and speed are all '0'.
-Third, again on the attack map and navigational map, unless it's zoomed really close, the sub is nothing but a circle. When there's contacts nearby, any kind of contact...they appear as black blobbish-like circles on the close-up tactical screen.

I've had a heck of a time trying to use these mods but with these issues, it's not even worth playing unless it's the vanilla version.

Is there a difference in the Steam version vs the hardcopy? Am I doing something wrong or miss something? I'm very frustrated. Any help would be welcome. Thank you.

Sniper297 · 01-24-14, 04:56 PM

Some mods are set up to override the gameplay settings to make it more "realistic". For example if you set manual targeting and no map contact update ON in the stock game, you'll get something very similar to what you're describing.

Admiral Lutjens · 01-24-14, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sniper297

Some mods are set up to override the gameplay settings to make it more "realistic". For example if you set manual targeting and no map contact update ON in the stock game, you'll get something very similar to what you're describing.

Thank you for the response. I'll fiddle around more and see what's up.

SilentPrey · 01-24-14, 05:57 PM

Those 'bugs' are 'features' of TMO. I installed Run Silent Run Deep Campaign (RSRDC), Optical Targeting Correction (OTC), and Traveller's Mod over top my TMO install. Now I've still got the circle for my sub but the map contacts look right. I play at 100% difficulty (map contacts on but they don't drop the difficulty with my mod soup) so I expect to be manually targeting and such. It does sound like you have some options checked that you do not want checked.

As for Steam vs. not Steam: It's identical. You just have Steam running in the background and your program folder is steamapps.

Sniper297 · 01-24-14, 08:47 PM

My main objection to STEAM is (1) you get "surprise" patches and updates which often turn out to be buggy betas, and unless you have a zipped backup you're screwed - reinstalling a game to get rid of a buggy patch doesn't work with STEAM since any install insists on updating to the latest. (2) For any user moddable game it makes modding a lot more complicated. Playing offline is often recommended, but my experience shows STEAM will only allow that for a limited time before it refuses to launch.

Back on topic, the basics;

At the very bottom for a quick mission you click on REALISM to get the menu.

For a career the menus are in the cutesy books on the shelf, hover the mouse around until it pulls out the book labeled OPTIONS and click on that.

These are the ones I usually uncheck, also recommended for n00bs. Manual targeting and no map updates are allegedly "realistic", but in real life you have a dozen people doing calculations, looking up silhouettes and mast heights, cranking settings into the TDC, keeping a plot on a chart, you don't have time to do it all yourself. You also have an assistant approach officer waltzing with you on the opposite side of the periscope calling ranges and bearings to the TDC officer when you call out "Bearing, MARK! Range, MARK! Angle on the bow starboard 35!" and then loaf around while someone else figures out the course and speed.

Dud torpedoes were a serious problem and that IS realistic, but who the hell wants to play a frustration and exasperation simulator game? Stabilized view because who wants to put up with that, external view because it IS a game, I wanna see the action from different viewpoints.

Again a lot of puritans have a Holy Belief in what they perceive as realism, so many of the big gameplay mods simulate realism to the point of tedium. In real life sinking four or five 3000 ton freighters in 3 months was a big deal, the usual was one or two 500 ton coasters per patrol. Okay, so empty seas was realistic, but is it fun for a game? To each his own, I personally don't enjoy stuff like RFB or TMO.

Admiral Lutjens · 01-24-14, 11:47 PM

SilentPrey, I DL those mods myself and they look amazing!

Sniper,
I get that, I was just wondering about the maps. Just kind of struck me as odd. For example:

Sniper297 · 01-25-14, 08:06 AM

Just so we're clear, there are major mods and minor mods. What I call major is something designed to completely change the gameplay, minor is stuff like radar range rings or the optics mod.

I tried several of the major ones, RFB, TMO, RSRD, the ones I could get to run (I have the Direct2Drive version of SH4 which has a different executable from the standard) I didn't like so I went back to plain vanilla with minor mods. I forget which one, but one of the major mods I tried had those blobs - they are intentional, the idea being that seeing the circle and tail which gives you the heading on the map is a cheat. You want to run whatever mod that is, you just gotta live with the blobs and do some manual plotting to determine the target's course.

01-25-14, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sniper297

Some mods are set up to override the gameplay settings to make it more "realistic". For example if you set manual targeting and no map contact update ON in the stock game, you'll get something very similar to what you're describing.

my only thoughts on your options list is with the event cam, if you are going to turn off exterior views then why use the event cam that gives you unrealistic zoomed in exterior views in a pop up box?

its kinda a thing where if you are going to use one then use both since they aren't much different from each other, in fact I think having the exteriors views is more realistic then having the event cam.

if you went back to stock try my GFO mod if you aren't already using it.

it adds a lot of fixes to the game without changing the difficulty or playing style of the game.

Admiral Lutjens · 01-25-14, 05:36 PM

Ah, I see now. Perhaps I was over-analyzing the situation. Thanks again for clearing that up, Sniper.

I guess I'm too much of a n00b and appreciated the vanilla version more.

But these mods are amazing. Thank you again.

Sniper297 · 01-25-14, 11:50 PM

Need to look at it again Webster, "no event camera" is checked ON. I like the free camera, dislike the event camera.

I just today ran another test on the "Manilla attack and resupply" WIP, this time with a sugar boat and full realism. Exercise in masochism, after all that careful tedious measuring/plotting/estimating I fired four fish at a heavy cruiser, three misses and the one that hit was a dud.

At the Admiral (SIR!) I also highly recommend Webster's GFO mod if you have SH4 version 1.5, I'm using a strange download version (not STEAM, Direct2Drive which is now gamefly or something) with only the 1.4 patch, so I had to use a modified mod.

01-23-14, 05:52 PM	#1
Admiral Lutjens Machinist's Mate Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Michigan Posts: 121 Downloads: 73 Uploads: 0	n00b modding Hey guys, been playing this game for a few weeks now and I most certainly have much of it down pat. I've been looking at all of these mods, and it's all very intriguing. I'd like to expand my playing experience and was wondering what's a good place to start modding? I have SH4 Wolves of the Pacific U-Boat Missions that I DL'd from Steam. Any help is greatly appreciated!! Last edited by Admiral Lutjens; 01-24-14 at 01:23 PM.

01-24-14, 12:56 AM	#2
Admiral Lutjens Machinist's Mate Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Michigan Posts: 121 Downloads: 73 Uploads: 0	Nevermind, I think I've got it figured out. I got the TMO mod, albeit the annoying bugs in it. I really like the mod. Looking forward to getting more.

01-24-14, 01:20 PM	#3
Admiral Lutjens Machinist's Mate Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Michigan Posts: 121 Downloads: 73 Uploads: 0	Either I'm doing something wrong, or there's a bug in the system with any mod I try to use. In the vanilla SH4 from Steam, everything is fine. However, it doesn't matter the mod I use, there's the same issue that's extremely annoying. I'll provide screenshots later when I have a bit of time, so I'll give a brief synopsis of what's going on: -First, on the attack map, enemy contacts...no matter their distance...aren't identified. They are all gray and 'unkown'. -Secondly, in the the periscope screen, it lists the type of contact but the range, bearing, and speed are all '0'. -Third, again on the attack map and navigational map, unless it's zoomed really close, the sub is nothing but a circle. When there's contacts nearby, any kind of contact...they appear as black blobbish-like circles on the close-up tactical screen. I've had a heck of a time trying to use these mods but with these issues, it's not even worth playing unless it's the vanilla version. Is there a difference in the Steam version vs the hardcopy? Am I doing something wrong or miss something? I'm very frustrated. Any help would be welcome. Thank you.

01-24-14, 04:56 PM	#4
Sniper297 The Old Man Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Philadelphia Shipyard Brig Posts: 1,386 Downloads: 160 Uploads: 19	Some mods are set up to override the gameplay settings to make it more "realistic". For example if you set manual targeting and no map contact update ON in the stock game, you'll get something very similar to what you're describing.

01-24-14, 05:57 PM	#6
SilentPrey Navy Dude Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Texas Posts: 171 Downloads: 58 Uploads: 2	Those 'bugs' are 'features' of TMO. I installed Run Silent Run Deep Campaign (RSRDC), Optical Targeting Correction (OTC), and Traveller's Mod over top my TMO install. Now I've still got the circle for my sub but the map contacts look right. I play at 100% difficulty (map contacts on but they don't drop the difficulty with my mod soup) so I expect to be manually targeting and such. It does sound like you have some options checked that you do not want checked. As for Steam vs. not Steam: It's identical. You just have Steam running in the background and your program folder is steamapps.

01-24-14, 08:47 PM	#7
Sniper297 The Old Man Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Philadelphia Shipyard Brig Posts: 1,386 Downloads: 160 Uploads: 19	My main objection to STEAM is (1) you get "surprise" patches and updates which often turn out to be buggy betas, and unless you have a zipped backup you're screwed - reinstalling a game to get rid of a buggy patch doesn't work with STEAM since any install insists on updating to the latest. (2) For any user moddable game it makes modding a lot more complicated. Playing offline is often recommended, but my experience shows STEAM will only allow that for a limited time before it refuses to launch. Back on topic, the basics; At the very bottom for a quick mission you click on REALISM to get the menu. For a career the menus are in the cutesy books on the shelf, hover the mouse around until it pulls out the book labeled OPTIONS and click on that. These are the ones I usually uncheck, also recommended for n00bs. Manual targeting and no map updates are allegedly "realistic", but in real life you have a dozen people doing calculations, looking up silhouettes and mast heights, cranking settings into the TDC, keeping a plot on a chart, you don't have time to do it all yourself. You also have an assistant approach officer waltzing with you on the opposite side of the periscope calling ranges and bearings to the TDC officer when you call out "Bearing, MARK! Range, MARK! Angle on the bow starboard 35!" and then loaf around while someone else figures out the course and speed. Dud torpedoes were a serious problem and that IS realistic, but who the hell wants to play a frustration and exasperation simulator game? Stabilized view because who wants to put up with that, external view because it IS a game, I wanna see the action from different viewpoints. Again a lot of puritans have a Holy Belief in what they perceive as realism, so many of the big gameplay mods simulate realism to the point of tedium. In real life sinking four or five 3000 ton freighters in 3 months was a big deal, the usual was one or two 500 ton coasters per patrol. Okay, so empty seas was realistic, but is it fun for a game? To each his own, I personally don't enjoy stuff like RFB or TMO.

01-24-14, 11:47 PM	#8
Admiral Lutjens Machinist's Mate Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Michigan Posts: 121 Downloads: 73 Uploads: 0	SilentPrey, I DL those mods myself and they look amazing! Sniper, I get that, I was just wondering about the maps. Just kind of struck me as odd. For example:

01-25-14, 08:06 AM	#9
Sniper297 The Old Man Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Philadelphia Shipyard Brig Posts: 1,386 Downloads: 160 Uploads: 19	Just so we're clear, there are major mods and minor mods. What I call major is something designed to completely change the gameplay, minor is stuff like radar range rings or the optics mod. I tried several of the major ones, RFB, TMO, RSRD, the ones I could get to run (I have the Direct2Drive version of SH4 which has a different executable from the standard) I didn't like so I went back to plain vanilla with minor mods. I forget which one, but one of the major mods I tried had those blobs - they are intentional, the idea being that seeing the circle and tail which gives you the heading on the map is a cheat. You want to run whatever mod that is, you just gotta live with the blobs and do some manual plotting to determine the target's course.

01-25-14, 05:36 PM	#11
Admiral Lutjens Machinist's Mate Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Michigan Posts: 121 Downloads: 73 Uploads: 0	Ah, I see now. Perhaps I was over-analyzing the situation. Thanks again for clearing that up, Sniper. I guess I'm too much of a n00b and appreciated the vanilla version more. But these mods are amazing. Thank you again.

01-25-14, 11:50 PM	#12
Sniper297 The Old Man Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Philadelphia Shipyard Brig Posts: 1,386 Downloads: 160 Uploads: 19	Need to look at it again Webster, "no event camera" is checked ON. I like the free camera, dislike the event camera. I just today ran another test on the "Manilla attack and resupply" WIP, this time with a sugar boat and full realism. Exercise in masochism, after all that careful tedious measuring/plotting/estimating I fired four fish at a heavy cruiser, three misses and the one that hit was a dud. At the Admiral (SIR!) I also highly recommend Webster's GFO mod if you have SH4 version 1.5, I'm using a strange download version (not STEAM, Direct2Drive which is now gamefly or something) with only the 1.4 patch, so I had to use a modified mod.