[REL]Combimod: GWX-IntegratedOrders+U-Jagd-Tools+PeriTDC

[h.sie]

hsGUI 3.1 for GWX
=================

This is a Combi-mod consisting of:

* PeriTDC from Ducimus.
* U-Jagd Tools 1.3.1 from JoeGrundmann & Hitman.
* GWX-Integrated Orders
* TDC-Screen, Navigation-Map Tools and more from Onelifecrisis.
* Extended stations main menu and
* Numerous other tweaks by h.sie

Screenshots:










The aformentioned changes in detail:
====================================


Main Stations Menu:
-------------------
* Added menu items for Binocular, UZO, Observation-Periscope, Captains-Log, Telegrams, Mission-Objectives.

* Added small buttons for completely rising/lowering periscopes.


U-Jagd-Tools:
-------------
* Added U-Jagd-Chronometer with 75m-Scale


PeriTDC mod:
---------------
* Added small button to toggle (enable/disable) manual TDC entry (can also be done using "Ctrl-T").

* Added TDC-dials to the Observation Periscope.

* Added Salvo Selector switch labels from Onelifecrisis' OLCGUI. (Details see below.)


Navigation Map:
---------------
Added Map Tools (Protractor/Nomograph/Depth Indicator) from Onelifecrisis' OLCGUI.


Binocular:
----------
* Re-enabled the bearing indicator (GWX has disabled it). For me, that is no step backward in realism, because in real life one has a "feeling", in which direction one looks. an important feeling, that one doesn't have in front of a monitor! See Appendix below, if you want to disable it.

* Added Flaggen Chart to Binocular View


Integrated Orders:
------------------

* Re-arranged the menu structure, so that important and frequently used orders (e.g. "Crash Dive", "Surface" or "Periscope Depth") can be accessed much easier and faster without many mouse-clicks.

* Deleted UZO-/Binocular-Icons and "Periscope Up/Down", because these orders have moved to the main stations menu.

* Deleted "Choose Target"-orders from the Weapons- and Watch Officer menu, because in GWX it seems not to have a functionality.

* Watch-Officer: Added an command-icon to mark the target for the deck-gun (only works in Binocular view and can also be done using the "Space"-key on the keyboard.)

* Weapons Officer: Deleted the icon "Get torpedo aiming data", because the firing solution calculated by the Weapons Officer is too perfect and thus unrealistic in my opinion. See Appendix below how to re-enable it.


Attack-Periscope:
-----------------

In Hitman's documentation about German Optics (see Documentation-Folder) one can find the information, that the Attack Periscope (AP) has a smaller head to make it less visible to the ememy. Hence, the AP has a lower light transmission than the Observation Periscope (OP) and because of that, the OP is better suited for night attacks. In order to simulate this, I reduced the light transmission of the AP to give both Periscopes a balanced usefulness. Now at dark nights the AP is nearly useless, as intended, and one is forced to use the OP instead. In Hitmans document one can also read, that in real live the AP and OP had the same magnification (6x). In GWX, the AP has 10x and the OP has 4,5x. I don't want to change this, so we have to live with it. This means:

AP = less visible, better magnification, lower light transmission
OP = more visible, lower magnification, better light transmission.

At daylight you have to be careful and attack from a larger distance, so the higher magnification of the AP is useful and the lower light transmission does not bother much.

At night you may attack from a nearer distance, so the lower magnification of the OP is okay and the better light transmission is required.

Now for me both periscopes are different but both are equal useful, depending on the situation.

People who don't like this tweak can restore the original light transmission with a small Mod, that can be found in the "Optional"-folder of this Mod.



Notepad
-------

Disabled the display of the ship category (e.g. "freighter" / "destroyer") in the notepad when one turns the periscope or UZO, because otherwise at dark nights this would betray all surrounding ships, even if they are currently invisible to the player.


Crew- and damage Screen
-----------------------

* Re-enabled the display of the hull integrity percentage (can be disabled again using SH3-Commander). The whole damage screen is full of (unrelistic) counters and numbers - so why not show the hull integrity?

* Used better icons to display the flooding-times of the compartments.

* Used a smaller font


Other Changes:
--------------

* Disabled the sliding GWX-compass-rose, because I don't like it. See Appendix below how to re-enable it.

* Disabled the sliding chief engineer report dials. See Appendix below, if you want to re-enable them. The chief engineer report dials are still available via the Integrated Orders.

* Main Menu: Smaller and better font for messages and slightly reduced menu size.



Optional Mods (can be found in the "Optional"-folder):
================================================== ====


Optional 1: Alternative Periscope and UZO-Textures
--------------------------------------------------
Added FLB Sales "NeuUZO&PeriV.2" mod with much darker Periscope and UZO-Textures. This mod can be installed optionally on top of hsGUI.


Optional 2: hsGUI - Restore original Attack-Periscope
-----------------------------------------------------
As mentioned above, the Light Transmission through the Attack-Periscope has been lowered. This Mod restores the original Light Transmission.


Optional 3: hsGUI - Assisted Plotting
-------------------------------------
This optional mod restricts the information that is shown in the Navigation Map for realism purposes. No more gods eye in the Nav Map. See the Readme contained in the mod for more details.


Optional 4: LLRT+SRM-Combimod (Little Longer Repair Times + Seabed Repair Mod)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Longer Repair Times for damaged UBoat Compartments.
The Uboat can now be easier parked on the seabed for repairs without getting damaged.
See the Readme's contained in the mod for more details.


Optional 5: Salvo selector switch labels
----------------------------------------
Unfortunately, the PeriTDC mod does not change the TDC salvo selector labels automatically. But there are 2 possible workarounds to solve the problem:

1) SH3-Commander users have to copy the "U-boat"-folder contained in this mod into their SH3-Commander folder. SH3 must be invoked with SH3-Commander and the correct U-boat type has to be chosen in SH3-Commander main window prior to starting the game.

2) Non SH3-Commander users can use the JSGME-ready mini-mods which can be found in the "Optional"-Folder. If you plan to use e.g. a Type VII Boat, you have to activate the according mini-mod called "hsGUI - Type VII salvo selector" with JSGME.

If none of these 2 methods is chosen, the Salvo Selector switch remains black. No labels are shown.



Gameplay- and Realism settings
------------------------------

After reading many threads about realism and historical accuracy at subsim.com, I came to the following conclusions and recommended Gameplay-Settings for hsGUI:

1) I recommend to use the help of the Weapons-Officer. This does not lead to a penalty in realism percentage, because in hsGUI the Weapons-Officer is only able to identify ships, but his ability to find a firing solution is disabled.

2) I also recommend to use the stabilized periscope view. According to Hitman (one of the Uboat experts at Subsim) this is nearer to the historical reality than not to use it. Doing so, does also not lead to a penalty in realism percentage.

3) Playing with Automatic Map Updates ON is unrealistic easy, while playing with Map Updates OFF is unrealistic hard. As a compromise, I recommend to use the optional "Assisted Plotting" Mod, which heavily restricts the information shown in the NavMap. For this mod, Map Updates have to be ON, but because of the restrictions, this does not lead to a penalty in realism percentage.

4) With the LLRT mod (Little Longer Repair Times) the repair times for damaged Uboat-compartments take much longer time than in unmodded SH3. This hopefully makes the game more realistic.



Installation & Compatibility
============================

* This mod is JSGME-compatible.

* Compatible only with GWX3 and GWX 2.1. Not compatible with other Supermods, because the included U-Jagd-Tools are designed only for the GWX-specific periscope zoom levels 10x and 4,5x.

* Use this mod INSTEAD and not additionally to the original GWX-Integrated Orders.

* Not compatible to mods, which overwrite the Dials.cfg or menu_1024_768.ini.

* For SH3-Commander Users: The "U-boat" folder contained in this mod goes in the SH3 Commander folder.



Information
===========

Detailed information on the mods used here can be found in the folder "Documentation".



Credits
=======

I want to thank the creators of the excellent mods used here:

* The GWX-Team: for making GWX.
* JoeGrundmann, Hitman: for making U-Jagd Tools
* Onelifecrisis: For his kind help, many brilliant ideas and for the permission to use parts of his OLCGUI.
* Ducimus: for his TW_PeriTDC_For_GWX
* FLB Sale for NeuUZO&PeriV.2.
* Hitman (again) for his help and for the permission to add his Document about German Optics to my mod.
* Nvdrifter: For LRT (Longer Repair Times)
* Mikhayl: For his help and for SRM (Seabed-Repair-Mod).



Hope, you like it.
H.Sie