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Hi Mister_M,

thank you for your contribution of ideas, please find my answers below

Originally Posted by Mister_M

You could link the whilstling effect to the fire effect of a (fake) gun provided with (fake) AP shells and (fake) starshells, so that the boat can make noise even if the submarine has not been visually spotted.

AP shells are bugged in SH5. After firing them, guns become stuck at maximum elevation and they can't fire anymore but I suppose that just one alarm would be enough, so yes, that's a nice suggestion.

Originally Posted by Mister_M

Edit 1 : It will be a bit odd if the whistle blows up each time the ship is changing course while cruising...

Unless a ship is zigzagging or avoiding a collision (in which case the the whistle alarm would be appropriate), changes of course are not so common. I any case I think we can limit the maximum bumber of whistle blows through particle generator's settings.

Originally Posted by Mister_M

Edit 2 : Maybe the trigger could be when the boat goes reverse course ? You might control the effect in the ship's .VAL file, depending on the speed (negative...). Same controller as used for bow sprays...

That's an idea whose feasibility I will check, but I think wakes can only spawn on the sea surface, and I want steam to come out from the whistle, not from boat's stern near the waterline

Originally Posted by Mister_M

Edit 3 : You might use state machine controllers to control the height of a node depending on the rudder rotation (but I don't know how these controllers work ; they are used for rotating things like submarine's radio antenna & radar ; ask Anvart : https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/member.php?u=223431). If the rudder has turned, then a node comes immediately from -10m to the proper height in order the steam effect is perfectly placed on the whistle (and then you use the height controller to spawn the effect).

I have not experience with the StateMachine controller. Can any helpful and knowledgeable subsim mate explain how it works?

Else, I had thought about a "dummy rudder" trigger with its y axis tilted and a particle generator node placed on it so that when the rudder turns bone's heigh chenges and steam + whistle sound are generated. I see one problem though.
If the bone is placed near rudder's pivot center, its height variation will be modest; it will be easier for the particle generator to be triggered by waves than by sterring maneuvers. Conversely, if the bone is placed far from the pivot center, even the slightest rudder rotation will determine an appreciable height change, but then controlling where the setam will come out won't be so easy...