[WIP] Wolves of the Kaiser:1914-1918 Mod

[Schnee]

Video from the U-35 commanded by Lothar von Arnuald de perrie - great reveal showing what a 1917 patrol was like!

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Torpex77

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGreatWar...tm_medium=mweb

Thanks a lot! Some of that footage I had never seen before. Very interesting and very rare! Other parts were posted on youtube some years ago but had been removed around 2015 I think. It was good to see those parts posted again.

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by ijustwantrisingsun

Will crew on ships be dynamic? Have animations such as walking or falling down when attacked, different panic states etc

Yes; this will be one of the most crucial aspects of ship sinking effects. You can use certain SH4 controllers to give the illusion of animating arms & legs - this can save a lot of time. Right now there are plans to have the following:

-Men passing out life jackets
-Crew using leak pumps
-Crew using fire hoses & extinguishers
-Crew readying lifeboats
-Crowds gathering on boat deck
-Officers using megaphones
-Crew in panic
-Crew jumping overboard animation and/or particle effect
-Crew using distress rockets/flares
-Semaphore crewmen with flags and/or lamps
-Firing rifles/pistols at you if you come too close
-Lifeboats/Rafts suffering damage or destruction - on or off ship
-Injuries to ship crew, varying degrees
-Ship gun crews with functional or "wiped out" state
-Destructible human bodies, with particle effects

Due to potential controversy, blood effects etc. will be in an optional mod. Various screenshots of crew and crew behavior ... right now I am trying to decide between three basic figure types:

-550 poly per man
-1100 poly per man
-1800 poly per man

I will have to see what performance is like when all ships and game objects are introduced. Various old screenshots are below; I haven't had time to work on this aspect much but now that the major warships are almost done that will change!

[Jeff-Groves]

Interesting on the animations.
Are you doing animations based on SH3 Mesh Animations?
Or the more advanced SH4 animations?
The SH4 animations are Biped based and control the already built in Skeleton.

I think the blood is a bit over the top in your screen shots.
I'd say if that is a partical effect? It needs edited.
Blood spatter will follow the path of the bullet exit.
And speaking from real life experience?
You'd not see much blood in a water setting. More body being blown apart type stuff with heavy guns.

[Jeff-Groves]

If you are doing the SH3 Mesh animations?
You ARE adding overhead that is not needed!

[Mad Mardigan]

Whoah... talk about serious realism effects...

Is 1 thing I have noted that has sorely been lacking, seriously, in SH3, as well as 4, thus far.

Please note, is not an indictment aginst the modders... is more just a notation of the lack of proper planning that the dev's did not look at, which was likely due to the ones over them, just wanting them to slap something together, shove it out the proverbial door & start making money.

Some how, I highly doubt most there at Game sources, are even gamers... which seems to account for a lot of games, ending up being hated by well... gamers.

As a rule.. we know what we like & what we want in a game. On the flip of it, not all gamers will agree on everything, but.. generally, there will at least be a fair central core on what we will agree on. At least, as I see it. Just My own thoughts & I know that not all will agree on it.. which is fine.

M. M.

[Jeff-Groves]

There were long and sometimes strong discussions about survivors in SH3.
SH4 had them so SH3 modders followed that.

We still refused to make them 'Killable'
(Not that private mods didn't have that years ago!)

IF we are going to go there? Let's make it look real and not some sort of crazy thing out of a very bad Hollywood B movie.

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Jeff-Groves

If you are doing the SH3 Mesh animations?
You ARE adding overhead that is not needed!

Good to hear from you again Jeff! The little work I have done so far has been using SH3 keyframes and watchman controllers to give a crude imitation of arms waving, legs moving, & other body movement. I am not sure how to use SH4's existing animation system to make bodies move. And I only model using Wings3d, which AFAIK does not have any animation capability - thus I need to export things frame by frame or rotate sub-parts using the Watchman function in S3ditor.
Animation is kind of uncharted waters for me, sadly....very inexperienced in that area. In fact this will be my first mod involving any type of animation.

Yes, I agree the blood effect shown is kind of gross and disgusting for a machine gun injury, so I will make the impact effect smaller. The screenshot was basically a test to see if blood spatter could be done; the test was a success except for being too large as you note (which can easily be changed).

I saw a video of some pirates being shot in the ocean off the coast of Africa, and the most noticeable thing was the very large red blood pool in the water from the corpses, as opposed to blood being flung up. So the final effect will probably consist mostly of a blood pool and a visibly injured body using the ObjectRemains controller.

Sorry to be graphic.

If anyone has good medium poly human beings let me know, especially heads. The stock SH4 AI ship crew are well animated but ugly, and the SH4 submarine crew are nice-looking but probably too high poly to use for AI ships and lifeboats, given that a typical ship will have 30-50 crewmembers. To say nothing of a troopship which would have thousands of men. For example, here the commander of U-35 describes sinking the troop carrier "Gallia" seen below; in all 1428 men drowned:


"A column of water had shot into the air from the explosion. I witnessed the sight of a great ship moving so fast that it left the column of water behind it. There was wild panic on the stricken vessel's crowded deck. Lifeboats were being lowered by men too much in a panic to let them down slowly and safely. Hundreds of soldiers were jumping into the water and swimming around. The sea became a terrible litter of overturned and swamped lifeboats, and struggling men."

"After what I had seen, I did not feel elated".

A nightmare to see, and for a modern-day game enthusiast like me, a nightmare to animate realistically, even with 2021's vast computing power.

[fitzcarraldo]

Ever I want a Tarantino subsim.

Good job.

Fitzcarraldo

[Jeff-Groves]

Being the 3D models are already in SH4?
Way add more over head with mesh animations which are just more 3D models?

Granted only 1 person understands the SH4 animation format and HOW TO CHANGE or create new animations.


Sometimes We need to ask for help to reach a goal.

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Jeff-Groves

Being the 3D models are already in SH4?
Way add more over head with mesh animations which are just more 3D models?

Granted only 1 person understands the SH4 animation format and HOW TO CHANGE or create new animations.


Sometimes We need to ask for help to reach a goal.

I'd be happy to give you the figures I've been working on if you would like to take a look!

[Kapitain Oliver Leinkraunt]

Talking about realistic effects: besides "dramatic" ones, will we able to "help" the castaways ? (such as rescue them or towing lifeboats to nearest neutral coast or sending an S.O.S. to enemy or neutral units)

An other interesting thing about the first submarines' campaign is that often subs sized coastal merchant or Clyde Puffers and sent them to German Ports; is possible to add a similar option in the game or doesn't SH4 permit such things?

And about realism: in my personal opinion, the SH series lack in realistic environment; " there are only sun and rain", but in North Sea, especially 100 years ago, there were frequent snowfall, even near the coast. Are you going or is possible to add snowfall and growlers into the game?

IABL: after seeing your recent posts I need a list of sound you want for the mod
PS: If anyone wants help me, in the building of an appropriate sound mod for WotK, it'll be wonderful

PPS: IABL, have you received my pm ?

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Kapitain Oliver Leinkraunt

Talking about realistic effects: besides "dramatic" ones, will we able to "help" the castaways ? (such as rescue them or towing lifeboats to nearest neutral coast or sending an S.O.S. to enemy or neutral units)

An other interesting thing about the first submarines' campaign is that often subs sized coastal merchant or Clyde Puffers and sent them to German Ports; is possible to add a similar option in the game or doesn't SH4 permit such things?

And about realism: in my personal opinion, the SH series lack in realistic environment; " there are only sun and rain", but in North Sea, especially 100 years ago, there were frequent snowfall, even near the coast. Are you going or is possible to add snowfall and growlers into the game?

IABL: after seeing your recent posts I need a list of sound you want for the mod
PS: If anyone wants help me, in the building of an appropriate sound mod for WotK, it'll be wonderful

PPS: IABL, have you received my pm ?

Hello!

Unfortunately there will be no capturing ships. There is no known way to make the process seem realistic enough, so no plans for that feature.

There are sketchy plans to allow for helping survivors, via the .tga/.dds pop-up graphics system that I am using for Prize Warfare.

The plan is to use the U-Boat's dinghy for many of these tasks; you will have a limited amount of times per mission you can do this, to make it realistic. So at most you may save 1-2 captives for a little renown boost, or hand over a little bit of food. No saving thousands of people from the "Lusitania", for example - a 200 foot sub didn't have much space.

At the moment, however, ship and sub modeling and making cargo graphics for the prize warfare particle effects is top priority.

Weather improvements are possible but another "reach" goal.

I will be in touch with you about your latest submission, and about sounds for the mod. Thanks for your help.

[iambecomelife]

As promised, new screenshots of your new friends and new foes. In the first screenshot, U-35 sizes up some Royal Navy 15-inch guns.

[iambecomelife]

The original model of "Lutzow" has been almost completely revised. Several errors need to be corrected and they need a few more details but it's coming along. Reviewed some models and "Lutzow" doesn't have enough 5.9" guns; a corrected gun deck with two more guns is being modeled.