[REL] Knights of the Sea Depths II: Ace Edition

Or lock on ship with "L" and "Shift + I" for quick ship ID ...

It seems to me not very correct to leave such cheats enabled by default.

[Kapitän]

Originally Posted by rainbowjose

It seems to me not very correct to leave such cheats enabled by default.

Or, one simulates that the I.W.O is checking the Ship Recognition Manual for the Commander ;-)

[propbeanie]

Kapitän, from over in the Dark Waters thread, you posted:

Originally Posted by Kapitän

Again, very helpful - thanks! Yes, the game crashes at certain convoys and after about 1h or so of D/C attack.

Let me check one-by-one:

- If I undestand correctly, if I set the FPS to let's say 60, it won't go higher than that but would go lower depending on game status, correct?

- My PC config is: i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 8GB RAM. I have the game installed on Drive :/C ... :/D has a bit less than 50% space left and :/C about 2/3 (just got an upgrade) ... so, I not sure that's the issue...

- I applied LAA but simply starting the program and selecting the sh4.exe and running the program, and getting the message that the activation was successful. If there is more to that than meets the eye, I certainly would be interested finding out about it ...

- So far, the game will not load certain large convoys and crash, and as said, after being submerged for about 1h of D/C attacks (I'm wondering if having the External View or Event Camera activiated could have somthing to do with that) ...

Comments welcome ...

Originally Posted by Kapitän

Okay, clear on the first two points.

On LAA, I checked the Attributes on the sh4.exe, and the "Read-Only" Box is unchecked.

I do not have any other mods outside of what is provided with the game installed, in the order given here:
- Real patch 1.4 full
- Patch 1.4.2
- KSDII_New_interface1.4.1 Salvo type label for IX
- Convoy radio reports ON
- English objectives names
- No radio antenna poles
- Increased underwater clarity

During one convoy attack that the game managed to load after the 3rd or 4th attempt, I did notice that there were a couple of cargo ships in there, that from a distance were appearing bright neon green and when getting closer, had some kind of green camouflage color. Not sure if that is merely a graphic card issue or perhaps a "bad" ship installed in the game ...

I just set-up a KSDII Aces on my machine, and have taken it for a couple of spins, but nothing too "deep" yet (sorry for the pun). I have not encountered any large convoys yet, but thus far, everything seems to be functioning, though I am not starting from France just yet. If I manage to find a large convoy, I'll let you know what happens on my machine.

You made the statement "... the game will not load certain large convoys and crash, and as said, after being submerged for about 1h of D/C attacks..." Had you taken any damage in those depth charge attacks? Is there a "shake" mod in KSDII Aces? In other words, when a DC detonates nearby, the boat's camera "shakes"? Is there a "clang" sound mod when a DC hits your boat and hasn't detonated?

[Kapitän]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Kapitän, from over in the Dark Waters thread, you posted:


I just set-up a KSDII Aces on my machine, and have taken it for a couple of spins, but nothing too "deep" yet (sorry for the pun). I have not encountered any large convoys yet, but thus far, everything seems to be functioning, though I am not starting from France just yet. If I manage to find a large convoy, I'll let you know what happens on my machine.

You made the statement "... the game will not load certain large convoys and crash, and as said, after being submerged for about 1h of D/C attacks..." Had you taken any damage in those depth charge attacks? Is there a "shake" mod in KSDII Aces? In other words, when a DC detonates nearby, the boat's camera "shakes"? Is there a "clang" sound mod when a DC hits your boat and hasn't detonated?

Damage to boat: Seems to vary, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't ... I somehow think, it has to do with for how long one is under D/C attack and not so much, whether the boat is damaged or not ... but that's my mere assumption ...

Shake-Mods: Yes, the boat does shake, if the D/Cs explode nearby ... not sure what kind of Mods do this though ...

Clang-Sound: That I have not yet experienced or perhaps it did happen, but I simply haven't noticed it.

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by Kapitän

Damage to boat: Seems to vary, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't ... I somehow think, it has to do with for how long one is under D/C attack and not so much, whether the boat is damaged or not ... but that's my mere assumption ...

Shake-Mods: Yes, the boat does shake, if the D/Cs explode nearby ... not sure what kind of Mods do this though ...

Clang-Sound: That I have not yet experienced or perhaps it did happen, but I simply haven't noticed it.

OK, thanks. Depending upon what the "shake" is based upon, some of those mods caused trouble years ago. There really isn't an easy way to pin-down what causes the issues, but I'll be sure and get attacked and see what happens.

When your game CTDs with the large convoys, does that occur when you get several sonar contacts? or generally only when the convoy gets within visual range? or somewhere in between? Do you notice if there are airplanes nearby when you CTD?

[Kapitän]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

OK, thanks. Depending upon what the "shake" is based upon, some of those mods caused trouble years ago. There really isn't an easy way to pin-down what causes the issues, but I'll be sure and get attacked and see what happens.

When your game CTDs with the large convoys, does that occur when you get several sonar contacts? or generally only when the convoy gets within visual range? or somewhere in between? Do you notice if there are airplanes nearby when you CTD?

Okay, let's see on the D/C topic.

The Large convoy CTD actually happens when I approach the convoy and I am about 25km away, at which point I notice that the game stops, I guess in order to load the convoy. Depending on the size of the convoy (that's my guess) it either continues or crashes .

The same thing happens when I come across a task force of about 5-6 ships: The game stops for a second or two and than continues.

I know this behaviour also from Sh3. It always let's me know, that there must be a convoy close by,.even without me be able to see it, yet.

Regarding A/C, same thing: Sometimes, yes, sometimes no.

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by Kapitän

Okay, let's see on the D/C topic.

The Large convoy CTD actually happens when I approach the convoy and I am about 25km away, at which point I notice that the game stops, I guess in order to load the convoy. Depending on the size of the convoy (that's my guess) it either continues or crashes .
That would near the 3D render range...

The same thing happens when I come across a task force of about 5-6 ships: The game stops for a second or two and than continues.
One common denominator between Task Forces and Convoys is, of course, destroyers...

I know this behaviour also from Sh3. It always let's me know, that there must be a convoy close by,.even without me be able to see it, yet.

Regarding A/C, same thing: Sometimes, yes, sometimes no.
The more aircraft, I am guessing, the worse it is?

I have gathered all of the included mods' data and run some checks on my set-up, and while there are some issues, I do not see anything obviously incorrect in what Niume has done. It might either come down to the details, or maybe when you CTD sometimes, there might be a 2nd or 3rd group not too far away, but close enough to influence the game's bandwidth capabilities. Also, the "stutter" when encountering groups is a "feature" (NOT!!) of the SH series... the game apparently takes too long to "draw" each 3D asset, and their rendering "overlaps", resulting in the game impacting Windows and the game's TC, which is evidenced by that "stutter" you see, which does indeed warn the player of a nearby grouping. Why airplanes take so much more bandwidth, I don't know, but they do. If you look at airplanes, they're basically ships that fly, while the player subs are similarly ships, that can (usually) control their sinking and surfacing. There is only the one player sub, but the airplanes have been known to swarm... lol