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Old 10-05-19, 01:05 PM   #1
StealthRabbit
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Default Simple(?) Donation NARHWAL MOD question

I have downloaded the Donation NARWHAL and started a campaign with it and am enjoying it very much. The team that put it together did a top notch job, it's a beast of a boat, and those two 6' guns with their high cycle rate are extremely fun. The one thing that I am having difficulty with is the very slow speed and horrible fuel mileage. I was wondering how difficult/easy it would be to just change, or maybe just fine tune the speed settings and fuel usage rate. Is it a relatively easy straight forward thing to modify, or am I entering a potential mine field of problems that I would be creating for myself? I know I recently downloaded a program that I know you guys use to MOD files that you can't MOD with Notepad, but for the life of me I can't remember what it's called or where I put it on my computer. So if someone could tell me what program to download and use to edit the necessary files that would be appreciated.



Never mind, I found it. S3D - Silent 3ditor


If someone could point me in the right direction of where and how to change the speed and fuel usage rate that would be great. I don't want to radically change the Donation NARWHAL, I just basically want to give her a newer faster and more fuel efficient pair of engines. I know in real life that some time in 1942 or early 43 the NARWHAL was given newer engines that where less problematic, so I guess this is what I would be doing as kind of a what if the new engines where two or maybe three generations better then the last.


Something just occurred to me. Do I still need the permission to make this change from the guys that made the Donation NARWHAL even if I am doing it just for me and my own game play, and not to be uploaded as a mod to be used by other people. I have read threw the FAQ and there does not appear to be an answer to this one way or the other. I do not want to do anything that would be inappropriate or rude.



Any and all help would be appreciated and thank you for your time.
-StealthRabbit
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Last edited by StealthRabbit; 10-05-19 at 05:38 PM.
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Old 10-05-19, 08:00 PM   #2
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You don't need permission to wrench on your own game. Only if you intend to share it. As for where to look, in the Data / Submarine / NSS_Narwhal folder, you'll find the dat and other files that S3D can edit. You'll might want to noodle with the sim file, although a lot of the settings in there are not "real", and usually do not have any correlation with real figures, such as "11,500nm at 10 knots", would not necessarily mean that you would get an 11,500 nm range at 10 knots. You would look down in the "unit_submarine", under the "Ranges" section... but those figures also work in conjunction with other sections of the file, influencing battery recharge and other things, as well as working with some of the figures in the NSS_Narwhal.cfg file in the same folder. If ETR3(SS) comes along, he is a wiz at setting things, or maybe just has more patience with it than I do...

Anyway, you should "find" the best speed to drive the boat at for the best fuel efficiency first, before you do any editing, or if editing is even needed. If you are using TMO or some other mods, when on the NavMap (navigating) station, there should be a button on the menu that when clicked will calculate "Maximum Range at Current Speed", or how far you can travel at how fast you're going now. The thing to do is to set your speed, wait a few minutes, and click the button. Notate your setting and result. Increase of decrease your speed, wait a few minutes, and click the button again. Notate your results, and just do a few times from six to ten knots, and see where the most efficient speed is for the current settings. I'm not sure if Stock has that enabled...
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Old 10-06-19, 05:32 PM   #3
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Thank you.


Now that I have a starting off point I can start tinkering, changing, adjusting, altering, coercing and modifying until I get it just right, or until I completely loose my mind and throw myself out a window. Which ever one comes first. I much rather have a place to start from instead of just opening up a file and start blindly poking around. Like you eluded to, some of those things in program files do what you expect them to, then some stuff is a mystery.


I know about the "Maximum Range at Current Speed" button and how that works. It's just that on the surface the NARWHAL is sooooo slow, and compared to the Gato and Balao the fuel mileage is not so great. I don't think I want to change anything about charging time and submerged speed, at least not yet. That could change very quickly depending on how easy or difficult it ends up being for me. At the same time I don't want to change things on the NARWHAL that make it the NARWHAL. That is to say I don't want to take the NARWHAL out of the NARWHAL, if that makes sense. I just want to make it a little bit easier to use on the surface as far as speed and range. One of the many reasons that game is fun is that each boat has different characteristics and limitations that make each one unique, like they each have a different personality.


I am currently running 3 different SH4 games on my computer. One with just TMO, one with TMO and RSRDC, and the last one with TMO, RSRDC, with the Donation NARWHAL. I like to have all my options available. I plan to do a 4th one some time soon with RFB as I have never used that one before. LAA is an absolute must with RSRDC and I am so glad I read about that in the Radio Room somewhere because RSRDC has made SH4 like a whole new game for me again.


Thanks again for the info. In a few days or so after I start tinkering I will try and remember to come back with news of how it all turned out. That is, if I haven't thrown myself out that window.


-StealthRabbit
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Old 03-06-20, 07:14 AM   #4
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glad you like her !!!
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Old 03-06-20, 08:10 AM   #5
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keltos01!!! - Good to see you posting!
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