[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by torpedobait

Don't recall if the matter of Split Merchants sitting still was ever resolved, but I just found another instance, but this time it is two Hiyo Class CVs.

On completion of third patrol out of Fremantle, was offered a new boat (Gato) and upon taking it was airlifted to Pearl Harbor. Requested a transfer to Brisbane, which was granted. Left Brisbane for a patrol off Lingayen Gulf on 2/09/43. On 2/19/43 encountered an IJN Task Force South and East of Leyte Gulf, where I sank two escort carriers and one Takao heavy cruiser. Making my escape to the NNE, about an hour later I got two sonar contacts, that appeared not to be moving.

I checked them out - 2 Hiyo class CV's sitting dead in the water, about 1/2 mile apart. Whether they were part of the TF I had attacked and laid back, or were held up for some other reason I can't say. They were at approximately 127-34E; 008-39N and just sitting there in the dark.

Three Mark 14's each later and they went to the bottom.

Now I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but finding that much tonnage in strategic warships just sitting there was indeed strange. No escorts in sight, sonar, or radar range!

Just thought you'd like to know.

They ~were~ problem children. s7rikeback has put the kabosh-whoop on those, and hopefully all other vessels in the game. The issues of this type should be resolved, but keep reporting them, in case we missed one. It can be most difficult to find the typos in some of these files, but we are slowly rooting them out, kind of like taking a dandelion weeding fork to a 10 acre tract of land... we will eventually get there, but not without time - and blisters in places we don't want to think about or see... lol

Originally Posted by Mios 4Me

Another plane-induced CTD, this time just below the southernmost contour line of the Bungo Suido on 7/7/45, sometime between midnight and dawn. Plane type is unknowable as the CTD occurs before it's in visual range. Timeframe is mid-1943 to mid-1945.

Types believed to be excluded:
- all single-engine fighters operating in pairs or lacking radar
- Betty ASW
- Betty Ohka
- Emily/Mavis (encountered multiple unit flights of one of these types around Truk without issue)
- Lorna (not spotted but non-operational prior to 1945)

My impression is that all of the other identified all-weather ASW contacts we've had post-Truk were of a single type, most likely Judy. Not sure we've seen a single Kate or Jill; the latter being the obvious culprit and so undoubtedly exonerated long ago.

If the CTDs are not induced by a specific plane per se, could it be a combination of diving, turning, and a radar alert in conjunction with something else? In three of the four specific cases I recall, we were following a recently plotted course involving multiple turns over a relatively large area (Convoy College being the smallest; Bungo-Kii-Suruga the largest) and went to periscope depth upon radar warning of a plane. TC was somewhere between 32 and 250ish, IIRC.

USS Balao, ex-Saipan, after completing Abuse patrol.

Yes, we have found a couple of problem planes also, similar to the ships with configuration problems. It is a pinch more difficult to "weed out" air problems though, since it can be difficult to find leverage for that dandelion fork...

Originally Posted by KaleunMarco

i vote for the ASW Betty. That is the plane that was in the vicinity when i got my CTD.

Originally Posted by Mios 4Me

Could be we're talking about two different issues as mine are never identifiable. One of those ASW Betties showed up and was promptly shot down while we were disposing of convoy remnants the afternoon before the CTD.

The ASW Betty is seemingly fine, for the most part. There was one of the several "Zero" models (I cannot remember exactly which one), plus another plane that were found with troubles. However, note some of the previous posts about issues with the IJN's use of AI Subs... In this case, they are like Divine Wind vessels, in that since they can't get to your submarine, they "dirty bomb" the environment, and can potentially CTD the game... - wow, somebody has had too much coffee and is ~full~ of analogies - or B.S... Either way though, there are several "problem children" influencing this issue, on the sea, above the sea, and in the sea... With all of the "testing" I've been doing the last few weeks, I have not encountered any ships that do not have props & rudders functional, nor airplanes crashing the game (seemingly). The crashes that I did encounter seemed to occur at "visual range", so if you have radar on, they are fine, but as soon as they render, "BOOM", the game CTDs. As I say though, I have not encountered that in weeks now. All I get now is the self-inflicted weirdness of the Flotillas file and playable submarines.

Another little side note: I have found a mission assignment in more than one flotilla (Pearl & Midway??) that is from "back in the day" (I have to do more research to find its origin) - the date range in Flotillas.upc does not match in the PatrolObjectives.cfg file for the given assignment. Someone was attempting to "historically" restrict assignments to certain areas by date in the PatrolObjectives, but neglected to remove, or restrict the attempted assignment in Flotillas.upc (surely, it wasn't that propbeanie fellow - ). The boat ends up with the game's "default" East China Sea assignment, which is what the game attempts to fall through to when there is trouble with finding a valid "Objective" assignment. What seemingly happens here, from what I have seen in the Save file, is that this "throws an internal error" or something, and the Save file then grows from roughly 300-500 KB into a 1.2+Gig monster (basically doubling in size), that seems to impact everything. The extent of the trouble this causes is difficult to gauge. Trying to find all such occurrences is quit tedious - more difficult than finding typos - especially with oldmanitis eyes (not related to Betty Davis eyes, but close)

This does not mean an East China Sea assignment is not correct. There are probably over two dozen such assignments for CenPac boats. However, if any of you are using SoWesPac subs out of Fremantle, Brisbane, Milne, Manos, Mios, etc., and you get an assignment to the ECS, especially after March of 1942, definitely give us a SHOUT!