GroupLinkId?

[Jace11]

Can anyone explain what this does pls?

It is a variable for units in Groups as defined in GroupTypeDefs.cfg in the campaign files?

It is usually 0 but occasionally 1..

[gap]

I am trying to figure out the same. It is my understanding that GroupLinkId sets a group of Units, Units with the same Id spawning as group rather than singularly. What I don't get, is how the SpawnProbability of each Unit in the same Group is applied.

Do you have any useful information on that, Trevally?

[vdr1981]

You're cooking up something guys?
Pity because I'm not going to be at home for next two weeks...

[gap]

Originally Posted by vdr1981

You're cooking up something guys?
Pity because I'm not going to be at home for next two weeks...

You said well: campaign files are the place where all the goodies we are creating for SH games are blended and cooked together!

At the moment I am studying OH's files for making sure I won't mess things up. The good thing is that all the files are in plain ascii format, so one can easily replace entire sets of parameters with a single click (using notepad or notepad++), rather than having to do it manually within ME. I have also come around to a nice and easy solution for getting rid of neutral ships within convoys replacing them with their Allied counterparts. More on it later.

[vdr1981]

Originally Posted by gap

I have also come around to a nice and easy solution for getting rid of neutral ships within convoys replacing them with their Allied counterparts. More on it later.

Hey Gap!
Any news?

[gap]

Sorry Vecko, I started working on my reworks, but then summer vacations came in the way, and I couldn't rely on your and Trevally's feed-back either.

I am on it now, but several changes to GroupTypeDefs.cfg files are required, and as I read from another thread you are also working on those files for minimizing the chance of ctd's when a convoy leader is torpedoed.

[vdr1981]

Originally Posted by gap

Sorry Vecko, I started working on my reworks, but then summer vacations came in the way, and I couldn't rely on your and Trevally's feed-back either.

I am on it now, but several changes to GroupTypeDefs.cfg files are required, and as I read from another thread you are also working on those files for minimizing the chance of ctd's when a convoy leader is torpedoed.

No problems!
As a temporarily solution and on your suggestions I use an extended Side=1 date span of free nations because they are really common in British convoys (and only in convoys, sometimes up to 30-40 % of number of units in convoy) spawned from 1939 to 1945 as stated in convoy.mis file. It works just fine , with an exception of few Brazilian and Panamanian merchants/tankers here and there...

It would be really nice if we could add those missing free nations in nations rooster (Like Brazilain, Panamanian. American ect...) Because it is really a matter of time when's game going to spawn British convoy protected by still neutral American escorts ...You can imagine what would then happen...

[gap]

Originally Posted by vdr1981

No problems!
As a temporarily solution and on your suggestions I use an extended Side=1 date span of free nations because they are really common in British convoys (and only in convoys, sometimes up to 30-40 % of number of units in convoy) spawned from 1939 to 1945 as stated in convoy.mis file. It works just fine , with an exception of few Brazilian and Panamanian merchants/tankers here and there...

It would be really nice if we could add those missing free nations in nations rooster (Like Brazilain, Panamanian. American ect...) Because it is really a matter of time when's game going to spawn British convoy protected by still neutral American escorts ...You can imagine what would then happen...

Okay, while we are still discussing your proposed changes to GroupTypeDefs.cfg, I will focus on other files, and I will keep on with my historical data research. There is much to be learned about convoy compositions from some common sources available on the web. For instance I have recently discovered that I was wrong in assuming that no Danish merchants ever sailed within Allied convoys. I am now searching for any "free nation" possibly missing from OH which should be featured in game, and setting their roster and allied/axis alignment appropriately. I have also reworked a bit OH's flags.dat, removing unused entries, adding a few new flags/nations, and adding to each flag the global wind controller required by TDW's flags-aligned-with-wind patch. Last but not least, I am creating the new campaign messages wich will provide the player with updates on any switching of sides and on valid ship targets.

[vdr1981]

Originally Posted by gap

. I am now searching for any "free nation" possibly missing from OH which should be featured in game, and setting their roster and allied/axis alignment appropriately. I have also reworked a bit OH's flags.dat, removing unused entries, adding a few new flags/nations, and adding to each flag the global wind controller required by TDW's flags-aligned-with-wind patch. Last but not least, I am creating the new campaign messages wich will provide the player with updates on any switching of sides and on valid ship targets.

This sounds exactly as it should be...

Just keep in mind (you are probably already aware of this) that from a quick look in Convoys.MIS file, it seems to me that waste majority of convoys/groups is set to spawn randomly through out entire war (from 1938 to 1945)...To match all those dates with entries from other campaign files could be...I'm even afraid to think of it...

You were talking about some "quicker" solution? I'm really interested to hear which one?

[gap]

Originally Posted by vdr1981

This sounds exactly as it should be...

Glad you like my working plan

Originally Posted by vdr1981

Just keep in mind (you are probably already aware of this) that from a quick look in Convoys.MIS file, it seems to me that waste majority of convoys/groups is set to spawn randomly through out entire war (from 1938 to 1945)...To match all those dates with entries from other campaign files could be...I'm even afraid to think of it...

No, they are not random. If you compare convoy data available on convoyweb with some of the convoys featured by OHII, you will notice that most start/end dates, as well as departing/destinations ports are historical. The longest convoy series have been split in several subseries, each with different spawn dates, to reflect changes in daparting/destination ports, convoy composition, veterancy levels, etc.
Anyway I agree with you that having to deal with such an huge files and all the relevant data is a real PITA.

Originally Posted by vdr1981

You were talking about some "quicker" solution? I'm really interested to hear which one?

That's easy and I think you had something similar in mind: we could set most if not all of the "free" nations as Allied (=2) for the whole timespan of the game. That's easily done by changing free nation's start/end dates in sides.cfg. the second step is replacing all the nations represented in Allied convoys (in GroupTypeDefs.cfg) with their "free" counterpart, if they have one, or remove them at all, if they have not. The third step is adding a "random" merchant roster to those free nations which are already set in game, but are lacking a roster. That would be enough for a quick start.

In future we could further refine our patch by adding or removing some free nations, giving them realistic rosters as for ship types and their tonnage, making their ships to spawn within the convoy series that they actually took part in, and with a realistic number of ships for each type (on a statistic base), etc. We can even control from when and for how long a given nation will spawn ships, within a given convoy (taking advantage of the fact that long convoy series are split in several subseries with diffrent dates), or in general within any convoy that each nation is represented in (by changing roster entrie's start/end date). We can even attain the level of detail of deciding which kind of armament, camouflage and cargo the ships of every nation should sport, based on ship type, and convoy/subconvoy that she spawn in. All of this will depend on historical information collected from the web, but I am afraid that processing that huge amount of data will take a loooong time...