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

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Allerberger

Hey! Few days has passed and i still didn't received the list of ships that were made and i started to worry By the way, i purchased few books about World War 1 haha, nothing can get you more interested in history than the video games or a good book. Have a nice day!

You have a PM.

List of my existing ships has been sent. I forgot to emphasize in the PM how badly harbor buildings and European style town buildings are needed....Warehouses, townhouses, apartments, cottages, and farms from the late 1800's to 1918 in style .... not much work has been done on them. I know how to make them but making ships and subs has consumed lots of time. Aside from ships that's a big need.

[iambecomelife]

Would like to thank Allerberger and Kapitan Oliver for their responsiveness and help regarding recent PM's!

It may seem quiet due to lack of recent screenshots but a lot of grunt work is being done. Very good news regarding freighters, the hull damage/destructible object work for several new types has been done or is near completion:

- 330 foot Medium Merchant

- 340 foot Medium Merchant

- 380 foot Medium Merchant

All are the "three island" type, but they can easily be converted to tanker or coal carrier models - so this saves me even more time!

A few of them will also be converted to military types like minelayers and armed merchant cruisers - the British sometimes used merchantmen as armed merchant cruisers, not just liners.

On top of that, I found nice new textures for use in the wireless room, as well as nice pictures of old Wireless sets, telegraph wiring, and communications amplifiers from the WWI era - really interesting stuff, I will use them to build the wireless room for the sub. Since the MAN engine room is complete, next interior components will probably be Wireless room and galley - I am happy to report this is easier stuff than the engine room because no rocking arms, etc. need to be animated ..... all I need is perhaps a few actions for the cook, chopping vegetables etc.

Bosses owe me some time off and I will be taking it soon! lol.

[iambecomelife]

Minor update: The chief modeler is on leave from the project (haha)... but within about 2 weeks, new information will be posted! Before taking leave, more work was done damage modeling merchant hulls; nothing screenshot-worthy, so I will not bore you with images from Wings3d that are nearly identical to images from a couple weeks ago.

On the plus side, we have a new modeler (Allerberger) who has offered his services; he was brought up to speed re: our requirements and will receive additional documents during my 2 week break. Kapitan Oliver, you may receive additional updates too.

[Kapitain Oliver Leinkraunt]

I already sent to you both private messages, hoping to giving my contribute

[dramaticuser]

Awesome work! excited to play this whenever its finished.

but i am curious, is there a list anywhere of what submarine types will be playable?

[ReallyDedPoet]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

Minor update: The chief modeler is on leave from the project (haha)... but within about 2 weeks, new information will be posted! Before taking leave, more work was done damage modeling merchant hulls; nothing screenshot-worthy, so I will not bore you with images from Wings3d that are nearly identical to images from a couple weeks ago.

On the plus side, we have a new modeler (Allerberger) who has offered his services; he was brought up to speed re: our requirements and will receive additional documents during my 2 week break. Kapitan Oliver, you may receive additional updates too.

[gregb41352]

I'm 73 years old and hoping to live long enough to actually play this.

[Aktungbby]

johnb41352!...as a fellow 73 yearold myself, I empathsize with your concern.

[Kapitain Oliver Leinkraunt]

Any news from the front ?

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Kapitain Oliver Leinkraunt

Any news from the front ?

Good news! "Vacation" is over - new medium merchant was built yesterday, it was one of the fastest building and damage modeling of a new unit I've done. No screenshots in this post, but I am working on civilian ships and the additional interior compartments mentioned earlier.

[iambecomelife]

I am so angry at myself. Thanks to reckless saving procedures I accidentally ruined the damage modeling for two very nice medium merchants. On the plus side I used the opportunity to replace the old hull forms on them with an even better one. I am also happy to report the most critical files for the mod have been saved to both an external HD and an online Microsoft account. Dozens of gigabytes of battleships, subs, sub parts, menu screens, uniforms, textures, and more are saved....if my computer was destroyed tomorrow I would still be in good shape. I learned my lesson several years ago after ransomware annihilated nearly the whole mod. Never again!! This is a tiny setback, hang in there..more images here and on the Facebook group coming soon. Tasks for tonight...rebuilding these two lost ships and work on the WWI era wireless room for sub interior.

[iambecomelife]

Minor update: Smooth sailing, I successfully tested the replacement for the lost merchant ship, it looks nicer! Ocean liner basic hulls have been done. Right now collecting source material for the Wireless room. I only have one photograph of a WWI boat radio room, so I will use some plausible guess work ... and use images of the
Titanic/Aquitania wireless equipment for reference.

[SlySkydiver]

Happy to hear about the new progress and recovery from the merchant accident, I'm looking forward to seeing what you're cooking up for the wireless room when that's eventually all squared away in the future!

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by SlySkydiver

Happy to hear about the new progress and recovery from the merchant accident, I'm looking forward to seeing what you're cooking up for the wireless room when that's eventually all squared away in the future!

Thank you! Weekend update: I am working a 7 day week but modding goes on! I made some changes to external ship damage - they will allow me to finish visible AI ship damage modding much faster. The ship shell holes used to take long; now they will be completed quickly.

I am happy with the replacement medium merchant ship - it's so much nicer than the Merchant Fleet Mod ships I made for Silent Hunter 3 around 2009. With different funnels, masts and bridges these new ships will have a huge variety. Just remember a few of them will be Q-Ships! With guns hidden behind cargo crates.

Also collected more pictures of 1900's - 1918 era wireless equipment.

One thing I am planning in the next few days is to test the default Balao conning tower as a basis for new WWI rooms - so far, the base unit for much of the interior (S Boat) has a lot of rendered shadows and parts that slowed down modding of the engine room. The Balao/Gato conning tower, on the other hand, looks promising because it doesn't have these issues - if it works well it could help me finish up the interior a good deal faster.

Hang in there all you followers, everything is going fine despite no screenshots. And the faster external damage is a big step forward.
I will update again soon.

[1Patriotofmany]

I just hope I don't die before you get this done. It's looks to be the best mod ever for SH4. Thanks again for the effort and skill. If i knew anything except dos(which is forgotten) I'd love to help LOL!