[REQ] no ships on map but keep sonar lines

[jhelix70]

I wanted to turn off showing ship contacts on the map for greater realism. With them its too easy to get speed and AOB. Unfortunately this also seems to turn off the sonar lines (the ones that point to sound contacts when you are underwater). I wanted to keep those as its too hard otherwise to keep track of multiple sound contacts.

Is there any way to mod this? This is one of the difficulty options, and I wasn't sure what file controlled their effects?

Also, the sonar lines give distance information (the end of the line is the location of the ship, its as if you had underwater radar). I think they should be limited to 3 lengths, representing short, medium and long distances. Modding possibilities here?

[fullmetaledges]

bump

[Hitman]

I'm not going to do it personally since I have no time, but I will tell you how you probably can do it based in the SH3 experience. Hope that helps you doing and sharing it

1.- Go to SH4/Data/Sea folder. There is now a subfolder for each and every unit. We are taking now NBB_Fuso as example, so open that folder.

2.- Look for the texture called NBB_Fuso_shp.dds. Convert to tga and edit it making the silhouette transparent in the Alpha channel. Convert again to DDS and replace the original. Making a backup is always a good idea. You can create only one of those icons and use it for all ships, since the contents (transparent-invisible) will be the same for all. Just copy it and rename as appropiate for each unit.

3.- Repeat the same for ALL sea units (No need for air units as planes will not show when submerged unless scope is up).

4.- Go now to SH4/Data/Cfg and open with a text editor (Notepad, Wordpad, Word....) the file "Gameplaysettings.cfg". You now need to change this lines:

[RealismPercentage]
LimitedBatteriesRealismPercentage=7
LimitedCompressedAirRealismPercentage=2
LimitedO2RealismPercentage=8
LimitedFuelRealismPercentage=8
RealisticRepairTimeRealismPercentage=8
ManualTargetingSystemRealismPercentage=15
NoMapUpdateRealismPercentage=12
RealisticSensorsRealismPercentage=6
DudTorpedoesRealismPercentage=7
RealisticReloadRealismPercentage=6
NoEventCameraRealismPercentage=6
NoExternalViewRealismPercentage=8
NoStabilizeViewRealismPercentage=7
MPShowPlayerNamesRealismPercentage=0
MPShowTorpedoesRealismPercentage=0

so that with NoMapUpdateRealismPercentage=0 it all still adds a total of 100. For example, add the 12 you take from map updates to manual targeting, so it is 27 instead of 15.

We have now with that removed the 12% realism (And credit for tonnage sunk) penalty for using map updates.

And that's all I think, you now will not see icons for ships in the surface -they are there, but are invisible, but the sonar lines will still be there while submerged.

Hope that helps, and remember to share it with the community if you get to do it.

[jhelix70]

Thanks for the help! I'll have a look at this...I may do it or just use the new reduced contact info mod that has been done.

[Sailor Steve]

The 'Assisted Plotting Mod' did this for SH3. You had sonar tracks, but the only time a ship appeared on the map was if you locked onto it, so you only had the targets your 1WO might put there as you called them out.

I'm hoping someone does this for SH4 sometime.

[Hitman]

The 'Assisted Plotting Mod' did this for SH3

Sure, it was an original idea from the RUB team and I believe Beery has already added some of that to RFB -dunno cause I'm not using it yet- so probably the best thing would be to ask him.

[Beery]

RFB has a version of the old RUb assisted plotting mod - this one done by Iceberg. Observer also has one out based on his own SH3 version. Those wanting just the assisted plotting mod can find Observer's mod in the thread at http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=108998, while those who want an assisted plotting mod all tied up with a bunch of other realism mods may want to check out the latest RFB mod at http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=111770.

[jhelix70]

Thanks, Beery!

[akdavis]

Originally Posted by Beery

RFB has a version of the old RUb assisted plotting mod - this one done by Iceberg. Observer also has one out based on his own SH3 version. Those wanting just the assisted plotting mod can find Observer's mod in the thread at http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=108998, while those who want an assisted plotting mod all tied up with a bunch of other realism mods may want to check out the latest RFB mod at http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show....php?t=111770.

Beery, what does the assisted plotting mod in RFB do? I've never noticed any difference from vanilla in this area.

[Beery]

Originally Posted by akdavis

Beery, what does the assisted plotting mod in RFB do? I've never noticed any difference from vanilla in this area.

It's in the new 1.21 and 1.22 versions that just came out. It wasn't in the earlier versions. I think the 'No Map Contact Updates' thingy needs to be unchecked in order to see it.