[WIP] BdU Online

[aergistal]

Project link (development snapshot)



An online tool that allows you to track your (and other player's) campaign status in real-time, on an interactive map, and provides a visual way of downloading custom missions.

Status: brainstorming, specifications

Some features I'm looking forward to implement:
- integration with TDW's UI mod (eg: sending in-game report to BdU updates your position on the map and the details of the patrol so far)
- integration with SubSim forum
- historical patrol report generator
- download custom missions via map
- implement a custom google map based on a world-wide Kriegsmarine map if possible (will require a high resolution kriegsmarine world map)
- given the asynchronous player experience: adding a time-frame selector

-any other thing you think should make it in, post away

[0rpheus]

Sounds like a brilliant idea, being able to track our careers on a global subsim map! Look forward to seeing it in action

[ETsd4]

+Automatic in-game report to BdU with the possiblity to make manual inputs like ...
- position
- Art of positioning (DR, Celestial Fix, Coastal-Fix, ...)
- Remarks


+ Using the international notation conventions for course-plotting like

[Sgtmonkeynads]

This could open up a massive side game, if someone would would like try it. They could be bdu. Send players orders, and have thhe players send back position reports and such. That would be interesting.
I look forward to your progress.

[Stormfly]

i dont know how far the scripting possibilitys inside the engine are, but would`nt it be possible to spawn groups on the fly, using downloaded orders/information in the background while playing ?

would it also be possible (but this is only a dream) connecting a multiplayer game based on this on the fly exchangeable informations while playing the campaign game ?

i would love having a campaign where iam able to invite other campaign players via a BDU position message to form some kind of "wolf pack online"

[mia389]

Awesome! Great ideas!

[urfisch]

sounds interesting! any pics?

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by Stormfly

i dont know how far the scripting possibilitys inside the engine are, but would`nt it be possible to spawn groups on the fly, using downloaded orders/information in the background while playing ?

There is a command that supposedly let's you spawn units but I never can get it to work. Dan (dev) was supposed to look into it and get back to me but I never heard anything back from him.

He also mentioned that there's possibly another way it can be done (something about the campaign files - editing them while the game is running because they are read when needed) but again he never got back to me.

[Stormfly]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

There is a command that supposedly let's you spawn units but I never can get it to work. Dan (dev) was supposed to look into it and get back to me but I never heard anything back from him.

He also mentioned that there's possibly another way it can be done (something about the campaign files - editing them while the game is running because they are read when needed) but again he never got back to me.

...you mean triggerable campaign layer`s (or triggerable scripted layers), which will be read from the engine when triggered ?

well... if i renember correctly, the campaign should be dynamic allready, like spawning hunter/killer groups if you hunted to much in an area... the question is then, how and where those "dynamic layers" are triggered

...then, if a another human player moved into the transmitted active operating area, a layer could be generated using a german ai sub, including fitting coordinates and course, spawning close enough beeing able to pick up the enemy and engage.

[TheDarkWraith]

I finally made a breakthrough in something I've been working on: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=7746

This would be like an offline version of what you're thinking

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Sgtmonkeynads

This could open up a massive side game, if someone would would like try it. They could be bdu. Send players orders, and have thhe players send back position reports and such. That would be interesting.
I look forward to your progress.

As do I. Something similar has been going on with SH3 for several years now.

[aergistal]

Status update: development snapshot

I went with the KM look and feel and geo-referenced the KM grid map on top of Google Maps. I noticed some errors with the KM map in the Canada - Southampton Island, Hudson Bay area. Either the original map has some errors or the ocean level has raised. Or both.

To enable / disable the grid click on the Planquadrat

Originally Posted by Stormfly

would it also be possible (but this is only a dream) connecting a multiplayer game based on this on the fly exchangeable informations while playing the campaign game ?

This was my exactly my original idea for SH4's ComSubPac. I thought of coding an online mission generator, that will allow you to download missions on the fly, based on parameters like orders etc. Maybe someone else can look into it too and lend a hand. I can do standalone coding as well or help port it to a server environment.

Originally Posted by urfisch

sounds interesting! any pics?

See the link in this post for a very early version.

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

There is a command that supposedly let's you spawn units but I never can get it to work. Dan (dev) was supposed to look into it and get back to me but I never heard anything back from him.

He also mentioned that there's possibly another way it can be done (something about the campaign files - editing them while the game is running because they are read when needed) but again he never got back to me.

Do you really have to use a command to spawn units? Maybe we can code our own version of a mission generator that inserts the groups directly into the mission file. I will have to check, but I was pretty sure the mission files are text-based.

The journal map looks very good! Can you overlay the grid and other info like ports etc?

[urfisch]

this looks really nice, man! great idea and great conversion! respect for this...

[Zedi]

Just stopping by because this idea is awesome and Im thinking for a long time how could be possible to go even further and turn SH into a real MMO. When SH5 was released I was convinced that it will be a MMO as a permanent internet connection was/is required. Since then I still keep dreaming about this part but I dont see how we could make this work without Ubi's help.

First of all, we need a server where the campaign files are hosted and shared with the players. Even if we could find a hosting server, would be possible to mod the game in such a way that it will read the campaign files online and not local without hacking the game code and EULA? That way everybody could play on the same map with the same traffic, change intel and form wolfpacks etc... like the real deal.

The biggest problem would be the TC and I dont think the moders could solve this problem even by hacking the game code. Playing with TC1 its impossible even for the most hardcore simers. A solution would to do something similar to PotBS (pirates of the burning sea) where the player can use high TC when sailing free until he encounter/enter a pvp/pve area. Or.. we could reduce the map and play only in smaller area, like North Sea for example. and then maybe we could even use TC1.

The blast would be to combine DC &SH, so we could have some serious pvp. For example, players could perform escort duties for npc convoys by sailing warships and engage other players whom may attack the convoy with subs. Just imagine .. a wolfpack formed by real players attacking a npc convoy guarded by other players


All this may become true in short time because the devs from World of Tanks are working already on World of Battleships where it seems that you may be able to use subs too! And they may unite all their products into a single game, so you could run the war on land, air and sea at the same time. And we are talking about a f2p mmo.. a fine example of smart people doing smart business, exactly the opposite to Ubi.

For those that never heard about WoB, here is the and here are some sshots where you can see even a carrier.

[aergistal]

Originally Posted by Zedi

Just stopping by because this idea is awesome and Im thinking for a long time how could be possible to go even further and turn SH into a real MMO.

One way it could work for now is to have a mission dispatcher in form of BdU throwing single or multiplayer generated missions. We could write an application that will download and install the mission for you, when you check your orders from BdU. At least that's how I see it working for now.

By writing a custom mission generator we could have entire campaigns running and make sure each capital ship is sunk only once etc. The experience will still be mostly single player, but you'd have a feeling you're part of something bigger. This way anyone can play on their own time and still inter-connect.