[TEC] SH5.exe patches to fix bugs and add functionality

[gap]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

I don't have the ability to radio for assistance tied to zones at all. I just might have to add it This would make strategic placement of deck gun shells paramount

That's it! Just what I had in mind

[TheDarkWraith]

I'm going to remove the ability of the player's sub's radio operator from being able to radio for assistance without command from the patch.

Now I really like the idea of tying the ability to radio for assistance to the command deck and radio zones. Before I start coding that we need to check if every unit (ship,sub,air, and possibly land) has the command deck and radio zones and if not they need to be added. We also need to ensure they are in the correct places on the unit. Who wants to take this on
Once I know someone is spearheading this I'll start coding it

This will be perfect for next patch that I already started working on also!!!

[gap]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

I'm going to remove the ability of the player's sub's radio operator from being able to radio for assistance without command from the patch.

Now I really like the idea of tying the ability to radio for assistance to the command deck and radio zones. Before I start coding that we need to check if every unit (ship,sub,air, and possibly land) has the command deck and radio zones and if not they need to be added. We also need to ensure they are in the correct places on the unit. Who wants to take this on
Once I know someone is spearheading this I'll start coding it

I just had a look into an half dozen of units. Warships have just basic zones on them, and merchant ships reworked by you are missing the said zones, at least the ones that I have checked so far.

If you want, I can take a deeper look into other units tomorrow. Adding the missing command deck / radio zones shouldn't be a big deal

PS: should we set new zones for our purposes, or can we use yet existing zone definitions? If yes, which one(s)?

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by gap

Can't you instead update the logic steps counter: i.e. when an unit detects a contact, you set a new random variable that must be equal or lesser than the current logic step and equal or lesser than a preset value (for making sure that delay isn't too long), the you load the new variable as current logic step

What I can do is this:
take current logic steps counter value and multiply by random number (0.0-1.0 range). Compare that result to a minimum and maximum value. Adjust accordingly. What should I set the minimum and maximum values to This will be used when ANY unit detects a contact (to force the game to check for airstrikes quicker). One exception is aircraft. I do not let them set the ignore logic steps bit because when they are spawned they will more than likely detect a contact and this would cause the game to check for airstrikes again resulting in more aircraft being spawned etc. etc. This is why aircraft are not allowed to set the ignore logic steps bit.

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by gap

I just had a look into an half dozen of units. Warships have just basic zones on them, and merchant ships reworked by you are missing the said zones, at least the ones that I have checked so far.

If you want, I can take a deeper look into other units tomorrow. Adding the missing command deck / radio zones shouldn't be a big deal

PS: should we set new zones for our purposes, or can we use yet existing zone definitions? If yes, which one(s)?

If we are creating new zones for the command room and radio we should make new zones for them IIRC FX_Update already has a zone for the command room.

We also need to define the damage level (in 0.0-1.0 %) for each when they are not allowed to radio for assistance. I need these values to start coding this

FX_Update:

216=DistressFlareWarship
217=DistressFlareMerchant

Ok, I was incorrect. I called them something different.


Stock zones:
11=Command deck
14=Antennae
15=Mast
19=NavDeck
32=CommandRoom
42=CommunicationsRoom
50=LRRadio
207=UbtComRoom
208=UbtRadioRoom
212=CmdRoomNP

all these zones above look like great candidates!

[gap]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

What I can do is this:
take current logic steps counter value and multiply by random number (0.0-1.0 range). Compare that result to a minimum and maximum value. Adjust accordingly. What should I set the minimum and maximum values to This will be used when ANY unit detects a contact (to force the game to check for airstrikes quicker).

You said that a logic step lasts 91 seconds. I would say that a good interval would be between 1 and 4 logic steps, i.e. 1.5 - 6 minutes. A delay longer than this wouldn't make much sense imo

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

One exception is aircraft. I do not let them set the ignore logic steps bit because when they are spawned they will more than likely detect a contact and this would cause the game to check for airstrikes again resulting in more aircraft being spawned etc. etc. This is why aircraft are not allowed to set the ignore logic steps bit.

In other words, aircraft must wait for the whole logic steps cycle before calling for reinforcements? That sounds rasonable

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by gap

You said that a logic step lasts 91 seconds. I would say that a good interval would be between 1 and 4 logic steps, i.e. 1.5 - 6 minutes. A delay longer than this wouldn't make much sense imo



In other words, aircraft must wait for the whole logic steps cycle before calling for reinforcements? That sounds rasonable

1 and 4 it is

A caveat to the aircraft is say an aircraft is spawned. A few seconds later a unit in the game detects a contact. Because this unit detected a contact the ignore logic steps bit is set and thus when the current 91.0 second interval is up game will check for airstrikes again. There was no real easy way to code this

[gap]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

We also need to define the damage level (in 0.0-1.0 %) for each when they are not allowed to radio for assistance. I need these values to start coding this

It depends on how many HP we will assign to them...

By the way, should we make disabling them by a lucky flakgun shot possible?

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

Ok, I was incorrect. I called them something different.


Stock zones:
11=Command deck
14=Antennae
15=Mast
19=NavDeck
32=CommandRoom
42=CommunicationsRoom
50=LRRadio
207=UbtComRoom
208=UbtRadioRoom
212=CmdRoomNP

all these zones above look like great candidates!

Going by the name, zones # 207 and 208 might be already in use on U-boats. All the remaining zones make for excellent candidates

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by gap

It depends on how many HP we will assign to them...

By the way, should we make disabling them by a lucky flakgun shot possible?

Damage is damage, doesn't matter how it's done

IIRC I can read the damage level of the zone (in 0.0-1.0 range) thus it doesn't matter how many HPs you give them. All I care about is what damage level do we say can't be used for each zone?

Pick the zones you want to use and give me the damage level unit cannot radio for assistance for each and I'll work my magic

[gap]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

Damage is damage, doesn't matter how it's done

Yes, and in theory we could gut the ocean with a tea spoon

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

IIRC I can read the damage level of the zone (in 0.0-1.0 range) thus it doesn't matter how many HPs you give them. All I care about is what damage level do we say can't be used for each zone?

What I meant is, how many HP's do we want radio equipment to eat, before it stops working? Once we decide it, we can set accordingly zone's overall HP and damage threshold that will disable the radio.

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

Pick the zones you want to use and give me the damage level unit cannot radio for assistance for each and I'll work my magic

What about 14=Antennae and 42=CommunicationsRoom (we should make sure that they are not used on U-boats though)? Whichever of them reaches the desired damage, let's say 50%, prevents the ship from radioing other units. If an unit got two antennas or two communication rooms, they both need to be damaged/destroyed. Do you like it?

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by gap

What about 14=Antennae and 42=CommunicationsRoom (we should make sure that they are not used on U-boats though)? Whichever of them reaches the desired damage, let's say 50%, prevents the ship from radioing other units. If an unit got two antennas or two communication rooms, they both need to be damaged/destroyed. Do you like it?

Keep the number of each to 1 if possible. I'll see how the code comes out with multiple numbers of a zone. If it becomes too complex then I won't do it. I'll have it just check for one of each zone type. For know it's a go with multiple numbers of a zone.

I'll make the damage a variable in the patch file so it's easy to change. Actually what I'll do is let us define a damage level for each zone type

I'll do even better! I'll let us define the zones and the damage to each zone in the patch file. That way nothing is hard-coded.

[gap]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

Keep the number of each to 1 if possible. I'll see how the code comes out with multiple numbers of a zone. If it becomes too complex then I won't do it. I'll have it just check for one of each zone type. For know it's a go with multiple numbers of a zone.

I'll make the damage a variable in the patch file so it's easy to change. Actually what I'll do is let us define a damage level for each zone type

I'll do even better! I'll let us define the zones and the damage to each zone in the patch file. That way nothing is hard-coded.

Okay, tomorrow I will start adding CommunicationsRoom and, wherever possible, Antennae (one of each) to all the ships

[THE_MASK]

How hard would it be to make something work like an indicator for enemy harbors . All the info for what ports they were in is here . I just need something able to be put in the campaign with the mission editor 2 . Any ideas . Some kind of sensor that can alert nearby vessels and aircraft to my subs presence . A floating mine would do .
http://indicatorloops.com/loops.htm

[gap]

Originally Posted by sober

How hard would it be to make something work like an indicator for enemy harbors . All the info for what ports they were in is here . I just need something able to be put in the campaign with the mission editor 2 . Any ideas . Some kind of sensor that can alert nearby vessels and aircraft to my subs presence . A floating mine would do .
http://indicatorloops.com/loops.htm

Hi Sober, your idea is good, and the website you have pointed got plenty of precious information.

I am still of the idea that one or more lines of stripped down subs (or, even better, semi-submerged ships) equipped with an omnidirectional sonar, is just what we need in order to implement your idea. I can be wrong, but I am confident that a tiny, submerged, motionless, silent object in the ocean will easily pass unobserved to our sensors, while still being able to detect us or other foe units.

The only precondition that we need to check, is AI sonars to still work without the sonar sound controller that usually is coupled with them, since, for obvious reasons, we don't want to hear our dummy indicator loops while they are pinging us.

[Vanilla]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

I double checked that last constant for electric and diesels and it's the same.

You have to remember that I gave the function that does this calculation it's name. I have no clue whether the name I gave it corresponds to it's true meaning or is just a wild guess. I do know that it works with the engine ratio selected and the final value is used in the engines to determine speed of the sub. I haven't traced down where the actual max speed of the unit (as defined in .dat file) is used yet. When I do it will probably unlock the remaining mysteries about how speed is calculated.

Originally Posted by gap

Okay, I will check the formula for errors on my part



I see. Let us know if you stumble upon any juicy piece of information re. this subject

We've came accross this algorithm previously, and as far as I remember TDW experimented with it the result being that it affected RPM if different constants are plugged into it but it did not change speed much. Here is the link (and read further on!): http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...70#post2032170