New Graphic & Sound Mod for Aces of the Deep

Andreas86 · 12-22-21, 04:26 PM

Graphic & Sound Mod 2.0 for Aces of the Deep
----------------------------------------------------

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kmx...ew?usp=sharing

Also added to the download section here on subsim.
https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/dow...o=file&id=6474

ABOUT THE MOD
-------------------

This project is my attempt at a total audio/visual modification of the classic submarine game «Aces of the Deep», from Dynamix. Since the autumn of 2021 I have tried my best to enhance the game and create a new and more authentic experience, while still keeping the spirit of the original game. Along the way I have uncovered much about how the game functions, created a lot of new content using this knowledge, and improved upon it step by step.

The time is now right to release version 2.0 of this mod. It has been almost a year since my last update and instead of a long version history containing absolutely every change, I have decided to keep it simple and just describe what you will find in the mod as of today, pointing out shortly what is new. If you want an exhaustive explanation of the previous work, please refer to earlier mod version documentation. For this release I have included two options, a complete standalone pre-modded version of the game as well as the independant mod files for manual installation. The pre-modded version is essentially the floppy disk release of «Aces of the Deep» with the expansion disk and latest patch installed, as well as my mod applied. For some assets I have also included alternative files. The mod is almost completely modular, and you can apply what you want to your existing AOD installation. Version 2.0 features the following:

-Realistic ocean simulation / wave motion speed. (NEW!)
-Updated control room graphics for the Type VII and IX series, with gauge needles removed and clickable areas changed to match the new layout. (NEW!)
-Clickable areas enhanced for the Type XXI control room. (NEW!)
-Changed intro text and added new digital sample intro music. (NEW!)
-Lower horizon on sea texture adding better sea/sky contrast and silhouetting. (NEW!)
-Enhanced palette files again for more realistic ocean and sky colors. (NEW!)
-Torpedo room graphics enhanced for better foreground contrast. (NEW!)
-Additional speech and action sounds added, older mod sounds updated. (NEW!)
-Minor cleaning of the previously recovered clear sky texture. (NEW!)
-Lightly enhanced Type II control room graphics, for color consistancy.
-Bridge view for the Type II, VII and IX series, with or without lookouts.
-Crew faces / reaction popup images, more fitting to the game.
-360 degree external view for the older U-Boats. (Alternative to bridge view)
-Improved «Damage», «Captain's Log», «Map», «Radio», and «Torpedo» screens.
-Dedicated set of «Map», «Damage» and «Torpedo» screens for the Type XXI.
-Realistic control room graphics for the Type XXI, based on the real U-2540.
-Recovered and repaired broken clear sky texture from within original game assets.
-Background images for all menu screens. (Alternative included for main menu)
-Port screens for France, Norway and Germany, inspired by historic locations.
-Periscope art in the control room recovered from the demo's scope animation.
-Almost complete set of custom speech and FX sound samples.
-Menu music track for both Roland MT-32 and Sound Blaster.

Requirements: The CD version of "Aces of the Deep" (DOS), OR the latest patched disk version. Expansion Pack is optional. This does not currently work for windows 95 based "Command Aces of the Deep".
See included readme for all details. Updates screenshots & video coming soon!

Enjoy!

New Type VII / IX control room with custom clickable command areas!

Realistic ocean simulation / wave travel !! No more rubber ducky U-boat!

New bridge art!

External view (alternative)!

Improved newspaper screen!

New game screens!

New crew faces:

John Pancoast · 12-22-21, 06:16 PM

Well done ! Is it available to use ?

Andreas86 · 12-22-21, 06:22 PM

Thanks! As soon as I finish it, some small touches left..

Andreas86 · 12-22-21, 06:56 PM

Also, how about some new menu screens?

John Pancoast · 12-22-21, 07:49 PM

Outstanding !

12-23-21, 03:02 AM

Yes, very nice!

I would like to know how you do this as I was hoping to do the same in the areas of awards and promotions, but make it so they would be actually awarded in play and not just imaged as I did below.

The hex edit files list the Iron Cross, so ..?

SnipersHunter · 12-23-21, 04:03 AM

Excellent work, I can not believe that this is possible.

Do you have an ETA for this?

Andreas86 · 12-23-21, 05:44 AM

Thanks guys!

As for an ETA, seeing as its christmas I might not get to do much today but I'll try. I want to compile a small but nice graphic mod as well as include the relevant tools, documentation, and write up a simple description of how to do this. The weird (but lucky) thing is that the graphic modding is not really that difficult..

I need to work on the periscope bitmaps so they blend more with the rest of the room graphics. Those files are completely independant from each other.

@Silent Otto:

Sure enough, you can modify the graphics of all the awards. I am going to write up the procedure and share, when I can. The pictures all exist in compressed BMP format. I extracted the higher awards / iron crosses here:

SnipersHunter · 12-23-21, 06:09 AM

No hurry, this already looks really great.

derstosstrupp · 12-23-21, 07:41 AM

Wow, this looks excellent, great work! Great to see Aces getting love in this department as well.

RConch · 12-23-21, 08:26 AM

Very nice!

Jeff-Groves · 12-23-21, 02:14 PM

Nice work.

Waiting for the Tools and documentation as those may lead to more Hacking of files.

FUBAR295 · 12-24-21, 04:14 PM

Looks excellent. I just purchased AOD on disc and delaying setting this up till your mods are out. Looking forward to this.

Good hunting,
FUBAR295

12-24-21, 10:30 PM

Andreas,

Looks great!! I added a couple images below for ideas.

The current promotion images for Korvettenkapitan are wrong in the game as the sleeve insignia didn't change from Kapitanleutnant.

Here are the correct images for both Korvettenkapitan and Fregattenkapitan. I have these in larger format if you need them, just let me know and I can email you anything you need or desire.

Additionally, do you think we could/should add other awards to the game for more realistic and incentive reasons? I added a couple below as examples.

Please note on the award PICs, that I drew the swastika back in as I just hate PC and history is what it was. However, I do understand some countries like Germany have a law prohibiting the public display of the swastika. If I need to modify anything for you, that's easy to do.

Best and Merry Christmas!
Tim

Andreas86 · 12-27-21, 09:24 AM

Thank you all for the feedback!

My mod is now finished and uploaded, link is added to the top post, and also here:

See latest version.

I wanted to make this as polished as possible, and at the same time celebrate Christmas. So I have spent some long nights editing and painting pixel graphics, and trying to overcome some palette challenges.

Anyway, a lot of stuff is added, and everything is much improved since my last postings. I hope you will enjoy the control room and new menu screens. Try to check them all out, and remember that you can click on the graphics outside the menu bar to see the whole image.

@Silent Otto: It would be very nice if we can improve these areas of AOTD as well, thank you very much for the offer. My hope is that we can all work together on improving the game. As for the awards, I haven't really thought of this yet, but all bitmaps can be extracted and improved. I will try to look into changing the insignias, but I just need a little break as my head is now all numbers and pixels. As for adding more to the game than the existing number of awards, perhaps it is possible by editing .dat files, but I havent gotten into that yet. About political correctness, I fully agree with you. History is history and cannot be changed.

Merry Christmas and best wishes to you, and to all subsim members!

I have also uploaded a written tutorial and tools for modding AOTD, you will find all info in a new thread. I look forward to seeing other new mods in the future!

12-22-21, 04:26 PM	#1
Andreas86 Officer Join Date: Jan 2019 Posts: 241 Downloads: 58 Uploads: 2	New Graphic & Sound Mod for Aces of the Deep Graphic & Sound Mod 2.0 for Aces of the Deep ---------------------------------------------------- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kmx...ew?usp=sharing Also added to the download section here on subsim. https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/dow...o=file&id=6474 ABOUT THE MOD ------------------- This project is my attempt at a total audio/visual modification of the classic submarine game «Aces of the Deep», from Dynamix. Since the autumn of 2021 I have tried my best to enhance the game and create a new and more authentic experience, while still keeping the spirit of the original game. Along the way I have uncovered much about how the game functions, created a lot of new content using this knowledge, and improved upon it step by step. The time is now right to release version 2.0 of this mod. It has been almost a year since my last update and instead of a long version history containing absolutely every change, I have decided to keep it simple and just describe what you will find in the mod as of today, pointing out shortly what is new. If you want an exhaustive explanation of the previous work, please refer to earlier mod version documentation. For this release I have included two options, a complete standalone pre-modded version of the game as well as the independant mod files for manual installation. The pre-modded version is essentially the floppy disk release of «Aces of the Deep» with the expansion disk and latest patch installed, as well as my mod applied. For some assets I have also included alternative files. The mod is almost completely modular, and you can apply what you want to your existing AOD installation. Version 2.0 features the following: -Realistic ocean simulation / wave motion speed. (NEW!) -Updated control room graphics for the Type VII and IX series, with gauge needles removed and clickable areas changed to match the new layout. (NEW!) -Clickable areas enhanced for the Type XXI control room. (NEW!) -Changed intro text and added new digital sample intro music. (NEW!) -Lower horizon on sea texture adding better sea/sky contrast and silhouetting. (NEW!) -Enhanced palette files again for more realistic ocean and sky colors. (NEW!) -Torpedo room graphics enhanced for better foreground contrast. (NEW!) -Additional speech and action sounds added, older mod sounds updated. (NEW!) -Minor cleaning of the previously recovered clear sky texture. (NEW!) -Lightly enhanced Type II control room graphics, for color consistancy. -Bridge view for the Type II, VII and IX series, with or without lookouts. -Crew faces / reaction popup images, more fitting to the game. -360 degree external view for the older U-Boats. (Alternative to bridge view) -Improved «Damage», «Captain's Log», «Map», «Radio», and «Torpedo» screens. -Dedicated set of «Map», «Damage» and «Torpedo» screens for the Type XXI. -Realistic control room graphics for the Type XXI, based on the real U-2540. -Recovered and repaired broken clear sky texture from within original game assets. -Background images for all menu screens. (Alternative included for main menu) -Port screens for France, Norway and Germany, inspired by historic locations. -Periscope art in the control room recovered from the demo's scope animation. -Almost complete set of custom speech and FX sound samples. -Menu music track for both Roland MT-32 and Sound Blaster. Requirements: The CD version of "Aces of the Deep" (DOS), OR the latest patched disk version. Expansion Pack is optional. This does not currently work for windows 95 based "Command Aces of the Deep". See included readme for all details. Updates screenshots & video coming soon! Enjoy! New Type VII / IX control room with custom clickable command areas! Realistic ocean simulation / wave travel !! No more rubber ducky U-boat! New bridge art! External view (alternative)! Improved newspaper screen! New game screens! New crew faces: Last edited by Andreas86; 05-18-24 at 10:39 AM.

12-22-21, 06:16 PM	#2
John Pancoast Ocean Warrior Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Minnysoda Posts: 3,211 Downloads: 501 Uploads: 4	Well done ! Is it available to use ? __________________ "Realistic" is not always GAME-GOOD." - Wave Skipper

12-22-21, 06:56 PM	#4
Andreas86 Officer Join Date: Jan 2019 Posts: 241 Downloads: 58 Uploads: 2	Also, how about some new menu screens? Last edited by Andreas86; 12-22-21 at 07:12 PM.

12-22-21, 07:49 PM	#5
John Pancoast Ocean Warrior Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Minnysoda Posts: 3,211 Downloads: 501 Uploads: 4	Outstanding ! __________________ "Realistic" is not always GAME-GOOD." - Wave Skipper

12-23-21, 04:03 AM	#7
SnipersHunter Samurai Navy Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 596 Downloads: 201 Uploads: 0	Excellent work, I can not believe that this is possible. Do you have an ETA for this? Last edited by SnipersHunter; 12-23-21 at 04:18 AM.

12-22-21, 06:22 PM	#3
Andreas86 Officer Join Date: Jan 2019 Posts: 241 Downloads: 58 Uploads: 2	Thanks! As soon as I finish it, some small touches left..

12-23-21, 05:44 AM	#8
Andreas86 Officer Join Date: Jan 2019 Posts: 241 Downloads: 58 Uploads: 2	Thanks guys! As for an ETA, seeing as its christmas I might not get to do much today but I'll try. I want to compile a small but nice graphic mod as well as include the relevant tools, documentation, and write up a simple description of how to do this. The weird (but lucky) thing is that the graphic modding is not really that difficult.. I need to work on the periscope bitmaps so they blend more with the rest of the room graphics. Those files are completely independant from each other. @Silent Otto: Sure enough, you can modify the graphics of all the awards. I am going to write up the procedure and share, when I can. The pictures all exist in compressed BMP format. I extracted the higher awards / iron crosses here: Last edited by Andreas86; 12-23-21 at 10:53 AM.

12-23-21, 06:09 AM	#9
SnipersHunter Samurai Navy Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 596 Downloads: 201 Uploads: 0	No hurry, this already looks really great.

12-23-21, 07:41 AM	#10
derstosstrupp Grey Wolf Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 913 Downloads: 490 Uploads: 0	Wow, this looks excellent, great work! Great to see Aces getting love in this department as well. __________________ Ask me anything about the Type VII or IX! One-Stop Targeting Shop: https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...WwBt-1vjW28JbO My YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIJ...9FXbD3S2kgwdPQ

12-23-21, 08:26 AM	#11
RConch Captain Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: No. Virginia Posts: 619 Downloads: 518 Uploads: 0	Very nice! __________________ "Noch und Noch" Prowling the Nord Atlantik with GWX 3.0.

12-23-21, 02:14 PM	#12
Jeff-Groves GLOBAL MODDING TERRORIST Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 5,649 Downloads: 137 Uploads: 0	Nice work. Waiting for the Tools and documentation as those may lead to more Hacking of files.

12-24-21, 04:14 PM	#13
FUBAR295 Krusty Krab Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Decks awash in the North Atlantic Posts: 1,450 Downloads: 493 Uploads: 0	Looks excellent. I just purchased AOD on disc and delaying setting this up till your mods are out. Looking forward to this. Good hunting, FUBAR295 __________________ Good judgment comes from experience. Unfortunately, the experience usually comes from bad judgment.

12-27-21, 09:24 AM	#15
Andreas86 Officer Join Date: Jan 2019 Posts: 241 Downloads: 58 Uploads: 2	Thank you all for the feedback! My mod is now finished and uploaded, link is added to the top post, and also here: See latest version. I wanted to make this as polished as possible, and at the same time celebrate Christmas. So I have spent some long nights editing and painting pixel graphics, and trying to overcome some palette challenges. Anyway, a lot of stuff is added, and everything is much improved since my last postings. I hope you will enjoy the control room and new menu screens. Try to check them all out, and remember that you can click on the graphics outside the menu bar to see the whole image. @Silent Otto: It would be very nice if we can improve these areas of AOTD as well, thank you very much for the offer. My hope is that we can all work together on improving the game. As for the awards, I haven't really thought of this yet, but all bitmaps can be extracted and improved. I will try to look into changing the insignias, but I just need a little break as my head is now all numbers and pixels. As for adding more to the game than the existing number of awards, perhaps it is possible by editing .dat files, but I havent gotten into that yet. About political correctness, I fully agree with you. History is history and cannot be changed. Merry Christmas and best wishes to you, and to all subsim members! I have also uploaded a written tutorial and tools for modding AOTD, you will find all info in a new thread. I look forward to seeing other new mods in the future! Last edited by Andreas86; 04-07-22 at 02:24 PM.