Changing button operation - maximum depth

Raven79 · 06-21-10, 12:01 AM

Hi Skippers and Modders alike.

Though this is my first post here, I'll have to go right in-depth and ask a (silly?) question.
You all know the button labelled "go to maximum depth" in our menus.
I want to change what it does as I never need it and miss another function I use multiple times in every battle.
To see where this wish originates from, three situations of my everyday gaming:

Situation 1:
I'm closing in at PD on a big target, yet on my way to it a DD attempts to block me, readying his DCs. I decide to ignore it completely as I'm getting ready to fire, calculating my solution carefully, opening the torp tubes while getting the target's speed. All the while keep my screaming and whining crew calm, of course. Now that DD really wants to play chicken with me and I'm not finished with the solution yet and ain't got the time for silly games, so I hit the "98ft" and the "flank speed" buttons while lowering the scope to rush right underneath it without it crashing into me (which it would, at PD), come up again and fire the still open torp tubes while getting ready to hit the "crash dive" and "change course" buttons to disappear into the sea and fetch my crew some nerve tea while we listen to the sound of a sinking capital ship.

Situation 2:
I've snuck up to a target, leaving those pesky DDs searching for me in all the wrong places somewhere behind me. I'm running 340ft deep and slow as my target closes in fast, as it laid its new course against mine, to follow its escort or even help it with the search. I hit the "98ft" and the "flank speed" buttons to go up fast, upping the scope on the way and sticking to 98ft for a moment to ready my torpedoes for the new situation, open my torp tubes and fast-feed the TDC from sonar. I could do this at PD, too, yet weather conditions often reveal your position if you're up there. When everything is set I hit PD, get an accurate bearing and fire, getting ready to evade and crashdive.

Situation 3:
Me and my crew are just doing some fishing leaning against our deck gun whilst on the way home, when all of a sudden the radar guy sticks his head out, screaming something about incoming Zeros. As my men gather their stuff, I hurry to my station, calling out orders like battle stations, one man to the AA gun, fire at will, crash dive while doing so.. in seconds we're submerged and on the way to the ground.. the ground? uh-oh.. anyone took a look at how deep it is here? Up to 98ft! Slow down, change course! Phew, that was close, we almost hit the bottom of these shallow waters. At 98ft you're deep enough that the Zero won't spot you, the sonar guy can do his job and you're even in the safe zone for shallow waters.

That one step, going to 98ft, is what I'd like to have a button for!
When things heat up, finding that 98 with the cursor on that dial can be a real pain.
It's defined in every boat's cfg as maximum torpedo depth (30 meters), going beneath it will close your torp tubes automatically and waste precious time on aggressive attack run routines.
Replacing the useless max depth* button with this would be just fine.
Now what I can't seem to find is the place where I'll have to switch the button functionality from "go to maximum safe depth" to "go to maximum torpedo depth". It should be somewhat simple, but I still can't find it after many hours of searching over and over. I guess it's because MTD has no keybind and the button cfg refers to keybinds?

Well, I hope you get the idea and someone can help me out on this one.

Greeting all fellow Captains,
Raven

(* useless: At least for me, because I never run that deep under pressure. When I bought me a little time and want to leave nice and slow, I calculate my own max depth by reducing my favourite 340ft for my Salmon according to hull damage levels, order it and lean back.)

Admiral8Q · 06-21-10, 07:56 AM

That is a really good idea Raven! I wonder if it can be done?

magic452 · 06-21-10, 11:33 PM

Welcome to the boat mate.

That sure could come in handy at times. Have had a time or two that I went too deep and closed the doors myself.

Magic

Raven79 · 06-22-10, 05:21 AM

Sure, just where to find that command..

Down in Menu/cfg/Ordersbar.cfg it reads:

Button10Command=Dive
Button10IconRowColumn=1,10
Button10Tooltip=Auf maximale Tiefe gehen

So that is the dive command - I believe it to be part of FOTRS.
But where does it say what the dive command actually does?
Or what predefined command should I put there to just go to MTD?

JoeCorrado · 06-22-10, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raven79

Sure, just where to find that command..

Down in Menu/cfg/Ordersbar.cfg it reads:

Button10Command=Dive
Button10IconRowColumn=1,10
Button10Tooltip=Auf maximale Tiefe gehen

So that is the dive command - I believe it to be part of FOTRS.
But where does it say what the dive command actually does?
Or what predefined command should I put there to just go to MTD?

Data\Submarine\submarinetype.cfg example (NSS_Sargo.cfg)

in this section perhaps?

[Properties]
PeriscopeDepth=16.4;meters
SnorkelDepth=12.4;meters
CrashDepth=50.29;meters
MaxDepth=76.2;meters
SurfaceDepth=7.62;meters
TorpLaunchMaxDepth=33.52;meters
StormConditions=9,0.1;max wind speed [m/s], max rain intensity [0,1]

Be careful though- I don't know if this will have any affect on your crush depth.

Raven79 · 06-22-10, 08:46 PM

Well, I thought of that, too..

My guess is that it will affect my crush depth, but since the Skipjack just got bombed by a Zero, ruining it's bow torp room forever while on the way to a toilet paper shipment to Luzon, I might as well test it out now.

Reporting right back when it's done.

...and the Reports are in: Our engineers let the boat run at my beloved 340ft for some 12 hours without problems.
As they deliberately went below 400, the boat was crushed within minutes.
MaxDepth does not affect Crush Depth.

Next run:
MaxDepth 105m (340ft, old value 75m)
Crashdepth 30m (98ft, old value 48.8m)
Let's see if this fixes both problems at once or creates new ones.

...and another round of beer for the glorious engineer.
This actually works real nice. I'll keep it this way. Thanks!
Who knew these weren't the real used values after all? Well, UBI maybe.

PS:
Whomever it may concern, the Skipjack made it back to Brisbane after all, sinking a mere 44k tons of merchant shipping near Leyte on its way using only the deck gun and the aft torpedos. Always aim for the enemy's rudder.

Admiral8Q · 06-24-10, 03:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raven79

PS:
Whomever it may concern, the Skipjack made it back to Brisbane after all, sinking a mere 44k tons of merchant shipping near Leyte on its way using only the deck gun and the aft torpedos. Always aim for the enemy's rudder.

I wouldn't call 44k tons "mere". That would have been excellent in the real WW2.

Raven79 · 06-24-10, 11:43 PM

Oh well, I just can't really stand two digit numbers before the "k tons" on a two month patrol.. neither bringing most of my torps back to base. 14 quick fishes in the bow torp room still left that didn't find a target just look like unfinished work to me.

06-21-10, 12:01 AM	#1
Raven79 A-ganger Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Germany Posts: 77 Downloads: 7 Uploads: 0	Changing button operation - maximum depth Hi Skippers and Modders alike. Though this is my first post here, I'll have to go right in-depth and ask a (silly?) question. You all know the button labelled "go to maximum depth" in our menus. I want to change what it does as I never need it and miss another function I use multiple times in every battle. To see where this wish originates from, three situations of my everyday gaming: Situation 1: I'm closing in at PD on a big target, yet on my way to it a DD attempts to block me, readying his DCs. I decide to ignore it completely as I'm getting ready to fire, calculating my solution carefully, opening the torp tubes while getting the target's speed. All the while keep my screaming and whining crew calm, of course. Now that DD really wants to play chicken with me and I'm not finished with the solution yet and ain't got the time for silly games, so I hit the "98ft" and the "flank speed" buttons while lowering the scope to rush right underneath it without it crashing into me (which it would, at PD), come up again and fire the still open torp tubes while getting ready to hit the "crash dive" and "change course" buttons to disappear into the sea and fetch my crew some nerve tea while we listen to the sound of a sinking capital ship. Situation 2: I've snuck up to a target, leaving those pesky DDs searching for me in all the wrong places somewhere behind me. I'm running 340ft deep and slow as my target closes in fast, as it laid its new course against mine, to follow its escort or even help it with the search. I hit the "98ft" and the "flank speed" buttons to go up fast, upping the scope on the way and sticking to 98ft for a moment to ready my torpedoes for the new situation, open my torp tubes and fast-feed the TDC from sonar. I could do this at PD, too, yet weather conditions often reveal your position if you're up there. When everything is set I hit PD, get an accurate bearing and fire, getting ready to evade and crashdive. Situation 3: Me and my crew are just doing some fishing leaning against our deck gun whilst on the way home, when all of a sudden the radar guy sticks his head out, screaming something about incoming Zeros. As my men gather their stuff, I hurry to my station, calling out orders like battle stations, one man to the AA gun, fire at will, crash dive while doing so.. in seconds we're submerged and on the way to the ground.. the ground? uh-oh.. anyone took a look at how deep it is here? Up to 98ft! Slow down, change course! Phew, that was close, we almost hit the bottom of these shallow waters. At 98ft you're deep enough that the Zero won't spot you, the sonar guy can do his job and you're even in the safe zone for shallow waters. That one step, going to 98ft, is what I'd like to have a button for! When things heat up, finding that 98 with the cursor on that dial can be a real pain. It's defined in every boat's cfg as maximum torpedo depth (30 meters), going beneath it will close your torp tubes automatically and waste precious time on aggressive attack run routines. Replacing the useless max depth* button with this would be just fine. Now what I can't seem to find is the place where I'll have to switch the button functionality from "go to maximum safe depth" to "go to maximum torpedo depth". It should be somewhat simple, but I still can't find it after many hours of searching over and over. I guess it's because MTD has no keybind and the button cfg refers to keybinds? Well, I hope you get the idea and someone can help me out on this one. Greeting all fellow Captains, Raven (* useless: At least for me, because I never run that deep under pressure. When I bought me a little time and want to leave nice and slow, I calculate my own max depth by reducing my favourite 340ft for my Salmon according to hull damage levels, order it and lean back.) Last edited by Raven79; 06-21-10 at 12:32 AM.

06-21-10, 07:56 AM	#2
Admiral8Q Ace of the Deep Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Prince Edward Island, Canada Posts: 1,077 Downloads: 24 Uploads: 0	That is a really good idea Raven! I wonder if it can be done? __________________

06-21-10, 11:33 PM	#3
magic452 Sea Lord Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Reno Nevada USA Posts: 1,860 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	Welcome to the boat mate. That sure could come in handy at times. Have had a time or two that I went too deep and closed the doors myself. Magic __________________ Reported lost 11 Feb. 1942 Signature by depthtok33l

06-22-10, 08:46 PM	#6
Raven79 A-ganger Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Germany Posts: 77 Downloads: 7 Uploads: 0	Well, I thought of that, too.. My guess is that it will affect my crush depth, but since the Skipjack just got bombed by a Zero, ruining it's bow torp room forever while on the way to a toilet paper shipment to Luzon, I might as well test it out now. Reporting right back when it's done. ...and the Reports are in: Our engineers let the boat run at my beloved 340ft for some 12 hours without problems. As they deliberately went below 400, the boat was crushed within minutes. MaxDepth does not affect Crush Depth. Next run: MaxDepth 105m (340ft, old value 75m) Crashdepth 30m (98ft, old value 48.8m) Let's see if this fixes both problems at once or creates new ones. ...and another round of beer for the glorious engineer. This actually works real nice. I'll keep it this way. Thanks! Who knew these weren't the real used values after all? Well, UBI maybe. PS: Whomever it may concern, the Skipjack made it back to Brisbane after all, sinking a mere 44k tons of merchant shipping near Leyte on its way using only the deck gun and the aft torpedos. Always aim for the enemy's rudder. Last edited by Raven79; 06-24-10 at 12:47 AM.

06-22-10, 05:21 AM	#4
Raven79 A-ganger Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Germany Posts: 77 Downloads: 7 Uploads: 0	Sure, just where to find that command.. Down in Menu/cfg/Ordersbar.cfg it reads: Button10Command=Dive Button10IconRowColumn=1,10 Button10Tooltip=Auf maximale Tiefe gehen So that is the dive command - I believe it to be part of FOTRS. But where does it say what the dive command actually does? Or what predefined command should I put there to just go to MTD?

06-24-10, 11:43 PM	#8
Raven79 A-ganger Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Germany Posts: 77 Downloads: 7 Uploads: 0	Oh well, I just can't really stand two digit numbers before the "k tons" on a two month patrol.. neither bringing most of my torps back to base. 14 quick fishes in the bow torp room still left that didn't find a target just look like unfinished work to me.