[REL] FOTRS Ultimate Project

[cdrsubron7]

Originally Posted by Moonlight

I've just finished my first patrol with my new skipper (Commander Crushed Nuts) and we've come back empty handed again, this happens nearly every time on this 1st mission.
We've travelled the entire length of the enemy mainland and the only thing we've seen are 2 fishing boats and a crab boat, where does every one go on their first mission because I very rarely see anything worth spitting at never mind firing a torpedo at.

What is the starting time and date, location (what base).

[propbeanie]

The first few missions from Pearl and / or Midway are rather light on contact, even airplanes sometimes... South of Tokyo toward Formosa / China / Korea and the Luzon Straits "Triangle" - like the Bermuda Triangle? - is where most of the action is early. Lots of weirdness used to happen there too, in the game, that is. That's why cdrsubron7 starts at Manila a lot on his 1941 starts. Action!

[cdrsubron7]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

The first few missions from Pearl and / or Midway are rather light on contact, even airplanes sometimes... South of Tokyo toward Formosa / China / Korea and the Luzon Straits "Triangle" - like the Bermuda Triangle? - is where most of the action is early. Lots of weirdness used to happen there too, in the game, that is. That's why cdrsubron7 starts at Manila a lot on his 1941 starts. Action!

I like intercepting the invasions fleets that come to Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines at the beginning of the war.

I started a campaign mid June 1942 from Brisbane on an S-42. After selecting to start out of port (?) the game immediately CTDs. Tried several times with same result.
Changed to another campaign, mid June '42 on a Gato. Mission was to patrol off coast of Honshu. Completed this S&D mission and was told to recon Yokohama, date was June 18, but was surprised to see the Recon symbol at a port far north of Yokohama at Ishinomaki(sic).

[cdrsubron7]

Originally Posted by jldjs

I started a campaign mid June 1942 from Brisbane on an S-42. After selecting to start out of port (?) the game immediately CTDs. Tried several times with same result.
Changed to another campaign, mid June '42 on a Gato. Mission was to patrol off coast of Honshu. Completed this S&D mission and was told to recon Yokohama, date was June 18, but was surprised to see the Recon symbol at a port far north of Yokohama at Ishinomaki(sic).

I will give this a looksee after I get home tonight.

[Moonlight]

Originally Posted by cdrsubron7

What is the starting time and date, location (what base).

December 8th 1942 Midway, I ended the patrol on January 23rd 1942, fuel shortage was the reason.

I would need to look at those campaign layers around those times to get an idea of any convoy hotspots, if I knew what layers I was supposed to be looking at I'd fire up this ME thing and have a scan round meself but unfortunately me and SH4 modding are not compatible.

[cdrsubron7]

Originally Posted by Moonlight

December 8th 1942 Midway, I ended the patrol on January 23rd 1942, fuel shortage was the reason.

I would need to look at those campaign layers around those times to get an idea of any convoy hotspots, if I knew what layers I was supposed to be looking at I'd fire up this ME thing and have a scan round meself but unfortunately me and SH4 modding are not compatible.

As propbeanie mentioned above a few posts ago the first couple months of the war start out slow. I remember plenty of times were I found no targets or managed just to sink one ship.

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by jldjs

I started a campaign mid June 1942 from Brisbane on an S-42. After selecting to start out of port (?) the game immediately CTDs. Tried several times with same result.
Changed to another campaign, mid June '42 on a Gato. Mission was to patrol off coast of Honshu. Completed this S&D mission and was told to recon Yokohama, date was June 18, but was surprised to see the Recon symbol at a port far north of Yokohama at Ishinomaki(sic).

That would be that campaign patch jldjs. You encountered what cdrsubron7 was finding. There's probably an Aussie airplane or ship near you that has a bad call, or maybe the IJN was putting out feelers on that particular day... That campaign patch of cdrsubron7's will most likely fix that.

[THEBERBSTER]

Hi Guys
Just downloaded your excellent project.
As a tutorial writer who spends a lot of time helping others I would like to add a few constructive comments which I hope you will not take as criticism but from someone on the outside looking in.
When I unzip the file I see a data folder and a support folder with 8 folders and 4 text files in it.
I cannot see any installation instructions as to what one needs to do once the zip file is opened.
You mention applying the large aware patch to the SH4.exe but you do not say whether this is included in your mega mod, where it is, how to find it, or if it needs to be obtained separately, and how to install it.
It is important with any new project that it is user friendly and I respect that a lot of hard work has gone into getting this up and running.
If it just a case of putting the unzipped folder in JSGME and enabling it and off you go then that can be easily said in an installation text document that even a noob will understand.
It could even be added as additional information to your post #1 on your thread.
What you do not want is for it to be downloaded and then not used because it may appear to some to be complicated and will give up on it before even giving it a go.
Peter

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by Moonlight

December 8th 1942 Midway, I ended the patrol on January 23rd 1942, fuel shortage was the reason.

I would need to look at those campaign layers around those times to get an idea of any convoy hotspots, if I knew what layers I was supposed to be looking at I'd fire up this ME thing and have a scan round meself but unfortunately me and SH4 modding are not compatible.

All of the "42b_*" files are what you'd want to look in. They go from September 1st, 1942 to August 31st, 1943. Load the 42b_Jap_TaskForce.mis file in the Mission Editor, set the upper left date, which is probably sitting on 1938, 1 month, set it to 1942, 12 for December of 1942, and hit that little play button to the right of that. Then hit the little "+" (plus) symbol thingie to accelerate time up quite a bit, and you'll see little green bubbles start to pop out of the little yellow boxes' rear ends... and they'll jiggle around all over your screen, giving you an idea of where the traffic will be heaviest. I mention the Task Force file, since that's the one cdrsubron7 found the most errors in, so if you happen to CTD when you encounter one, let us know ASAP, and whether or not you have the Campaign patch applied... Whatever you do in the Mission Editor though, do NOT "Save" anything, do NOT open a Properties box for anything, or if you do happen to accidentally open one, do NOT use the <Enter> key to close it. Hit their little "Cancel" button in the lower right of the screen. If you don't, you'll most likely mess it up worse than what I did...

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by THEBERBSTER

Hi Guys
Just downloaded your excellent project.
As a tutorial writer who spends a lot of time helping others I would like to add a few constructive comments which I hope you will not take as criticism but from someone on the outside looking in.
When I unzip the file I see a data folder and a support folder with 8 folders and 4 text files in it.
I cannot see any installation instructions as to what one needs to do once the zip file is opened.
You mention applying the large aware patch to the SH4.exe but you do not say whether this is included in your mega mod, where it is, how to find it, or if it needs to be obtained separately, and how to install it.
It is important with any new project that it is user friendly and I respect that a lot of hard work has gone into getting this up and running.
If it just a case of putting the unzipped folder in JSGME and enabling it and off you go then that can be easily said in an installation text document that even a noob will understand.
It could even be added as additional information to your post #1 on your thread.
What you do not want is for it to be downloaded and then not used because it may appear to some to be complicated and will give up on it before even giving it a go.
Peter

Thank you Peter. Very helpful, constructive criticism, much appreciated. Those steps are forthcoming, but keep getting derailed by the gremlins... - If you look at some of those ReadMe files, they might have a tendency to confuse also, since they are "insider" info mostly, and have very little to do with the mod itself, but more with the modding. We definitely have to do some weeding and fertilizing in the garden...

[Rockin Robbins]

Thank you Peter. Large Address Aware and MultiSH4 will now be included in the mod. JSGME, of course, cannot be, but we're going to assume that if someone is downloading mods they have JSGME. Yes, I know what assumptions lead to. But modding leads to the same end so you can't be deader than dead! My plan is also to include a video in the installation package explaining setup completely.

Okay folks, major announcement. JSGME has fallen and can't get up. It does not work the way its documentation represents. I made a fresh install of stock SH4 by deleting all files from my SH4FOTRSU directory, copying all files from my SH4Pristeen folder into SH4FOTRSU. I then did a save file configuration function with JSGME. To eliminate all doubt, I then did a file compare. They, of course, matched perfectly. So JSGME scans files correctly and they are identical with themselves.

I installed FOTRSU only, then immediately uninstalled it. Pulling another file compare, remember I did not play the game, just installed and uninstalled FOTRSU, I got this:


Houston, JSGME has a problem. Now it could be our problem. Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse and CapnScurvy if you're interested, your job is to find if there is ANYTHING in the -remove instructions for those seven files that is different from all the other ones which JSGME restores correctly.

We have a situation where JSGME is working as advertised 80% of the time, but it's not a random error. It happens only with those files every single time.

Fall of the Rising Sun Ultimate Project has officially entered.......the Twilight Zone!

[cdrsubron7]

Originally Posted by jldjs

I started a campaign mid June 1942 from Brisbane on an S-42. After selecting to start out of port (?) the game immediately CTDs. Tried several times with same result.
Changed to another campaign, mid June '42 on a Gato. Mission was to patrol off coast of Honshu. Completed this S&D mission and was told to recon Yokohama, date was June 18, but was surprised to see the Recon symbol at a port far north of Yokohama at Ishinomaki(sic).

I set up the parameters you mentioned, jldis. I was able to start a career out of Brisbane in June, 42 and it first patrol did not CTD when I started it. Just out of curiosity what other mods do you have installed if any?

[CapnScurvy]

CapnScurvy if you're interested, your job is to find if there is ANYTHING in the -remove instructions for those seven files that is different from all the other ones which JSGME restores correctly.

Jaesen Jones the creator of JSGME states in his JSGMEHelp.txt file:

You can remove files from the game by including in your package (empty) text files with -remove added to the filename (ie "filename.ext-remove"). Files will be returned when your mod is disabled.

However, as I pointed out some pages back, the file does not return to its original state in some cases. There has been a long standing issue with Ducimus's Trigger Maru mods that lose the stock games original German ship flags because of this feature.....going back to 2007. I wouldn't use it is my best advice. There seems to be no rhyme or reason. The type of file makes no difference; .dds .dat .dsd .sim etc. All get REMOVED from time to time.

As your image of a JSGME "Compare Snapshot" shows, there are 5 stock game files that are lost (REMOVED) in the Conte_Verde folder. The lower part of the Compare Snapshot states there are 7 REMOVED....the other two are the German.dds images from the Textures/TNormal/tex folder.

Ducimus's dead hand rises out of the grave!!

[propbeanie]

Concerning the above request:

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

edited ... Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse and CapnScurvy if you're interested, your job is to find if there is ANYTHING in the -remove instructions for those seven files that is different from all the other ones which JSGME restores correctly... edited ...

Here's CapnScurvy's list:

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy

Regarding this stock game corruption "error" only occurring of a time... edited ...



... edited ...

I've been through this several ways of sideways searching. I finally took to copying all the -remove file names to a list and stared at them until I went cross-eyed. It's been a similar exercise into looking for the 2nd Shift Conning Tower Crew... I have a headache. They all look the same. I've condensed the list quite a bit:

NCVE_Bogue
----------
CVE_Bogue_N01.dds-remove
CVE_Bogue_N01_lr.dds-remove
CVE_Bogue_O01.dds-remove
CVE_Bogue_O01_lr.dds-remove
CVE_Bogue_O02.dds-remove
CVE_Bogue_O02_lr.dds-remove
CVE_Bogue_T01.dds-remove
CVE_Bogue_T01_lr.dds-remove

NKMSS_HogIsland
---------------
NC_HogIsland.dat-remove
NC_HogIsland.sim-remove
NC_HogIsland.val-remove
NC_HogIsland.zon-remove
NC_HogIsland_N01.dds-remove
NC_HogIsland_N01_lr.dds-remove
NC_HogIsland_O01.dds-remove
NC_HogIsland_O01_lr.dds-remove
NC_HogIsland_T01.dds-remove
NC_HogIsland_T01_lr.dds-remove

NPL_Conte_Verde
---------------
EuroLiner.dat-remove *
EuroLiner.dsd-remove *
EuroLiner.sim-remove *
EuroLiner.val-remove
EuroLiner.zon-remove *
EuroLiner_N01.dds-remove
EuroLiner_N01_lr.dds-remove
EuroLiner_O01.dds-remove
EuroLiner_O01_lr.dds-remove
EuroLiner_shp.dds-remove *
EuroLiner_T01 ORIG.dds-remove
...
EuroLiner_T10.dds-remove

The asterisks denote the files that don't make it back alive from CapnScurvy's list, when the mod is removed. Nothing really stands out. I've left justified, right justified, changed type face, etc., to see if maybe there's a space or something we're missing, the "dash" isn't a dash, ~something~. nothing. They are all zero-length text files. Then I thought, "wait! the Euroliner files aren't coming back, and they're in an NPL_Conte_Verde folder. That went out the window with the NKMSS_HogIsland. File names? Well... most of the other vessels have a leading set of capital letters and underscore characters. could that be it?... but there is that "_shp" file in there with the Euroliner stuff... Edit: Those "German" files are like the "Euroliner" files, in that they don't have multiple underscore characters... but I'd just about bet there are others like that that do come back in...

Other than that, nothing... unless we can bring Rod Serling into the discussion again...

I would say that the JSGME Operator's Manual should be updated to include a disclaimer for the use of the "-remove" directive reading something to the effect of "Your files thusly removed may or may not be restored when the mod is deactivated. Your mileage may vary."