[WIP] Wolves of the Kaiser:1914-1918 Mod

[iambecomelife]

2023 early Winter update coming soon... in 24 hours l promise! For real this time.

[iambecomelife]

A very small look behind the scenes - AI destroyers. Modeling going well - current German destroyer roster is:

-G101 Class
-V25 Class
-S31 Class
-S49 Class
-V1 Class

British DD roster is as follows:


-Acorn Class
-K Class
-L Class
-Admiralty "M" Class
-Faulknor Class
-30-Knotter 1890's Type (Needs Work)

Me attacking German DDs with my submarine to test the damage model. British DD's perform well as submarine hunters with only hydrophones when they first detect your sub. At present if you are careless they can sink you with one DC run; however, they they give up too soon in my opinion; I want them to hunt for more than 45 minutes. I will upgrade AI so that they hunt your sub for hours and increase the damage radius for DC's.

[iambecomelife]

More DD images: Still lots of errors/work to do but the new damage methodology/system is complete at last....it was a huge headache. But now I can have events such as crew panic phase, men fighting fires, looking for life vests, lifeboats lowering, fire spreading gradually, ships breaking in pieces without sinking, etc.... the damage will be very dynamic and vary from ship to ship. Even within the same class. One ship may blow into little pieces from a magazine detonation ... another might sink intact after 5 minutes. Still another might take an hour to sink, burn out, or even survive if just the tip of the stern or bow breaks. Dramatic sinkings, men jumping overboard, structural failure like "Titanic", panicked crowds on deck trapped by fires...S3ditor makes it all possible.

[iambecomelife]

[iambecomelife]

Various British destroyers:

[iambecomelife]

Interface options .... of course subject to change









Closer shots of various models - DD's, subs, buildings, and more

[iambecomelife]

Last few shots

[Kapitain Oliver Leinkraunt]

[J0313]

This is going to be so great when you are finished IABL. You are a legend!

[Jimbuna]

A great deal of excellent work on show here

[kongovsfuso142]

They are awesome cant wait for this mod. 😊

[ElCid97]

I really, really hope "Alte Kamaraden" or "Preussens Gloria" aren't copywrited! I can "hear" them when I see some of these shots! It would be great if it was part of the background music, or at least the gramophone!

Excellent work, my friend!

ElCid97

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by ElCid97

I really, really hope "Alte Kamaraden" or "Preussens Gloria" aren't copywrited! I can "hear" them when I see some of these shots! It would be great if it was part of the background music, or at least the gramophone!

Excellent work, my friend!

ElCid97

Thank you and everyone else for your comments, you make it all worth it!!

I was hgoing to post some more screenshots but hit a technical snag - but I can overcome it! Just need to finish my work shift this morning lol.

Work on the UPC Submarine data files is nearly done, this is a big step forward!

Light cruiser models were delayed by the need to model new destroyers, but as you can see work on the destroyers is wrapping up.

Current plan is for AI ships to have the following features:

1) Crew panic effects (running/getting life vests etc) along with fire fighting
2) Lifeboat/Raft lowering - no more need for "magic lifeboats spawn!"
3) 3d shellholes - about 20-50 large 3d holes and hundreds of less detailed damage marks per model
4) 3d boilers, turbines, magazine, and cargo hold (only rendered at close range) - plus real turrets with parts and crew that have destructible sub-components.
5) Varied flags (sometimes false flags!) Be careful or you could sink a German blockade runner disguised with a British flag. Alternatively, some British merchants will disguise themselves with US, Dutch, Spanisb flag etc.
6) Pennant numbers/signal flags/funnel bands for warships
7) Neutral hull markings/ Q Ships that raise British Flag and drop flag boards before opening fire
8) Many new smoke, fire, oil leak, and fume effects for damage
9) Possibly, seaplane take off effect for ships that had them. And barrage balloons.
10) Varied armament for ships as the war goes on - some merchants will just have men with rifles, others will have 2 or even 3 big guns especially late in the war
11) Crew performing simple tasks on deck, just like in UBoat
12) After a ship sinks or plane crashes, rescuing 1-2 passengers with your U-Boat to get information or renown...small chance of rescuing someone important for big renown. Also, retrieving documents/code books for intelligence from flotsam or floating corpses....renown will count towards medals/promotion. Not kidding, this is doable.
13) Not going to go in too much detail, but weapon impacts will affect AI crew. Also, in midocean I plan to add occasional encounters with survivors (or "non survivors"). Again, not going to be too detailed but "non survivors" will .... "change" over time, if you observe them for long enough. These aspects will be optional to make WOTK acceptable for Subsim regulations/all age groups/people who don't want to deal with such things - I completely respect that.

I am tired of naval games - even the latest naval games - using the same old smoke/fire particles to represent damage. It's time to do better... WOTK will have what I call DSD (dynamic ship destruction). Remember, when you target ships you are targeting people. I'm not going to go overboard on blood/guts but I want to make this mod poignant. My ultimate goal is to make it so that you actually REGRET sinking ships, in a way. For example, when I play Red Dead Redemption 2, certain aspects are so realistic that I try not to target civilians. When you feel that way? That is how you know a game developer has succeeded.

Of course the priority always is the basic game, so don't worry - I will not let "feature creep" stall things, main objective always is core simulator with working U-Boats and a smaller/manageable number of AI target units. In a working core game to be released as soon as possible. Trust me, I will not get sidetracked with little things although details are fun.


I spent this morning before work on a new Chatham Class light cruiser, and research for the HMS Falmouth Class, Weisbaden Class, Emden, Karlsruge, etc. Also work on sub interiors, character features and effects, and a very special surprise that I think has potenital to change Silent Hunter 4 in a big way.... I will say it has to do with the MARINE.dat file in the Library section.

I am not brilliant modder, these changes are not rocket science - it's just that no one has bothered to do them!! We could have achieved so much if we had a bigger modding team like the Total War or Mount and Blade fan communities. So much is possible using Silent 3d Editor - I highly recommend all modders study it!

More news coming up!


Stay tuned!!! Will be trying for more regular posts, images, and youtube movies showing progress more regularly.... also update on FB page and screenshot/preview packages for download.

[Kapitain Oliver Leinkraunt]

So many exploding news Sir; I have no words to describe how much hyped I am for this project and thinking I saw it for the first time so many years ago (I visited this thread first time 10y ago, when I was 12 haha) has…. Well: I don’t know how to explain it; I can only say I’m really glad you are doing this project, an unicum of its kind.

Anyway, reading your new post I thought that the sound pack I sent you is not enough; I already have the idea of redoing some part of it, so I ask you: do you need any other new sounds I for the mod ?

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Kapitain Oliver Leinkraunt

So many exploding news Sir; I have no words to describe how much hyped I am for this project and thinking I saw it for the first time so many years ago (I visited this thread first time 10y ago, when I was 12 haha) has…. Well: I don’t know how to explain it; I can only say I’m really glad you are doing this project, an unicum of its kind.

Anyway, reading your new post I thought that the sound pack I sent you is not enough; I already have the idea of redoing some part of it, so I ask you: do you need any other new sounds I for the mod ?

Thanks! I need the following sounds (no pressure, though) - many other things need to be done first, so take your time

-Harbor ambient noises (like a mix of dockworkers, factories, seagulls - whatever you would hear at a dock.)

-Horse sounds (hooves, neighing)

-Train noises/whistles

-Several different ship steam whistles

-Better water leaking/dripping noises. It leaked constantly in WWI submarines ... it was so bad that sailors on U-Boats even had special rubber sheets for their beds, because cloth blankets would mildew and stink! Leaks/condensation were everywhere, and the stock SH4 command room sound doesn't reflect that.

Thanks again!