Who Broke The Deck Gun?!

[Commander Gizmo]

I have noticed on many occasions that my deck gun seems to have it's aim a bit off. Usually this is just a little bit off on the horizontal axis, though it can at times be so bad that the targeting reticule does not even cover the actual location the shell will hit. Rather than fire at the point to which my targeting HUD is pointing, it fires at a spot up to 800m offset. This doesn't apply when firing without zooming. It also appears to change quite a bit between shots at times and when rotating the gun.

Can someone clue me in as to what causes this in game and how to fix it? Several searches turned up little useful information.

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Are you using GWX?

If so are you using any other mods placed on top of GWX?

[Mopy]

This happens to me as well. Stock GWX3, no other mods. I asked a few months back and got no replies. I remember it happening in stock SH3 though, so maybe it's leftover from that.

It's fine at the start of a mission, but the more I use it, the more it skews and skews left/right to the point where my shots aren't even hitting at 700m at the first zoom level. It seems to get worse the more I use the gun within that mission. I have a feeling it may be to do with when the gun gets 'stuck' while you're rotating.

Either way, my solution is just to use it until it breaks, then fire without the zoom. Not useful for long range, but still.

[Commander Gizmo]

I find the same solution, which sucks. I am running GWX, and I have plenty of other mods installed. However, this happened with just GWX installed, vanilla SH3 and WSM, which has other guns/ships entirely. I have noticed that it seems to be lessened by rotating the gun directly over the bow and gets worse sometimes if the gun is rotated fully port or starboard. Therefore I think it might be an issue with a setting somewhere for adjusting the zoomed angle vs the actual rotation of the gun.

Any suggestions along that route perhaps?

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Okay guys. Some Silent Hunter history for you both.

With un-modded/stock SH3... ALL deck guns and ship-mounted guns were what we used to refer to as "laser-guided." (as were the depth charges)

NONE of the above weapons should strike their target with pinpoint accuracy with each firing as they did more often than not.

ALL GUNS IN GWX (both player-operated and AI-operated) have had the "laser guidance" INTENTIONALLY REMOVED... in both the horizontal and vertical (deflection and azimuth) axis'.

Furthermore, even with this arrangement, they are far more accurate than they should be when directly manned by the player. You should let your crew do the shooting with both deck guns and AA to achieve an effect which is closer to what it was in reality.

Also, the state of the environment will influence the accuracy of said fires. (sea state etc.)

Accuracy DOES NOT cumulatively degrade as you continue to fire. There is a minimum and maximum margin in the code.

These matters along with depth charge accuracy and sensor modifications were among the most rigorously tested during development of GWX.

Some rounds will hit and some rounds will miss. The best way to increase accuracy is to GET CLOSER TO YOUR TARGET before opening fire.

If you feel that perfect accuracy "sucks"... then good. All it means is that I did my job well.

Deck guns on U-boats were never intended to be a primary armament as it is. They were meant to finish off wounded prey.

Solution: Hold fire until you are within 1000 meters of the target. Shooting at a speck on the horizon doesn't work anymore and will only cause you to waste ammo.

[Lt.Fillipidis]

Actually this isnt quite what Cmdr Gizmo said.
I experienced the same thing too.
Sometimes the shell goes WAY over to the left/right from where we aimed.
And after that, the same. Again and again and again until i zoom out.
One thing i noticed though is that when this happens, the deck gun barrel seems to lean inner or outer of the center of the aiming lens.
As far as i know, the barrel and the lens were fixed so increasing or decreasing the angle between them isnt right.

[Commander Gizmo]

I appreciate the history lesson, I assure you. However, what you describe is known to me and not the issue I am describing.

The problem is that the gun simply fires off of the axis every time. I can still hit the target as accurately as I want simply by moving the center of the zoomed view over by the amount the gun has been offset. The only time the offset changes is when zooming in or out. Therefore, if I stay in the zoomed view, I can hit a target with all the accuracy I want so long as I remember which notch of the horizontal aiming lines represents the actual position of the gun. This is not dependent on distance except that the higher zoom level does not always have enough view to even cover the actual firing position of the gun.

Further, I have noticed this to be up to 30 degrees (estimated by eye) from the center of the zoom view to the actual firing direction of the gun (at a range of 4-5km that can be as much as 800 meters it seems). This is so bad that if I fire a shell from the gun without zooming and then immediately zoom in, I cannot see the target at all!

The amount of offset seems to change each time the gun is manned or the zoom is changed. It also appears to change as the gun is rotated (which I hold as the most likely source of the issue to begin with), resulting in a greater offset the closer to 90 degrees from the bow/stern line.

[Letum]

Yes, I have had this issue too.
it's not an issue about accuracy, but one of offset.

Interestingly, it seams to be worse at some gun azimuths than others.

Defiantly not what you are talking about Lehmann.

[SeaWolf U-57]

Yes I have seen this too I don't think anyone can claim credit for this no matter how hard they try ..Its nothing to do with the game as We say it should be Gang.
it also happens if you are depth Charged or have a slight collision also after air attack.
its like the sight is off-set.
It also happens in stock.
its best just to let the gun crew take over as they still shot ok.

Edit.. its a bit like when you look through the Binoculars and then return to normal veiw the Horizon is also off-set

[Iranon]

I'm getting the same issue from time to time, and I don't think it's related to an intentional reduction of deck gun accuracy because that would be... incredibly badly done, especially by the high standards of GWX.

Shots go off in the horizontal axis by far too much for an intended accuracy decrease especially at short range; it seems to have something to do with the offset rather than the angle. It's is also far too consistent/reproducable; as has been said you can still hit accurately if you take into account by how much the gun is off. The only thing this could model accurately is a broken/misaligned gun; not even operator error makes sense as the crew should either do this all the time or never.

There is some odd behaviour in the vertical axis that may or may not be intentional... sometimes the gunner apparently attempts to shoot down the moon, even in perfectly calm water.
This is slightly less jarring because that could be explained away by wave action (although it seems to be completely independent of the boat movement modeled in-game) and because it's not consistent - you can't simply fire at half the distance and rely on this error.

In either case, the current situation is that most shots are very accurate (not an expert, but more so than I would expect) and a few are so wide that I'm surprised I haven't shot my own conning tower off yet.

[Mopy]

Originally Posted by Kpt. Lehmann

things

I'm not criticising the job you did with anything - it's a stock issue, not a GWX specific problem, and it's very different from what you describe.

[Freiwillige]

Yes if you are in rough sea's (As rough as you can and still man deck gun) or if your decks awash and you are rotating your gun to the target. Then when ever a wave washes over the bow the gun stops for X amount of seconds than continues till aimed at target.

Now here is the underlying issue. The gun stops do to the wave issue but the sight keeps calculating the turn as if it was separate.

So if the gun stops .5 seconds the sight is off .5 seconds to the right. And remains that way till next patrol.

Its hard to explain but it is as I said. Ive tested it. Best bet is to let the crew man the gun if the waves are choppy.

[JScones]

Add another one to the list of people who have experienced this. I must admit, I never really thought about it and just assumed it was me. At least I know better now.

@Freiwillige, your explanation is easily understood here....and very plausible too.

[Commander Gizmo]

Freiwillige, at first I thought the same as you. However, playing WSM where my guns are always available I have had this happen as well. My entire gun crew is fully decorated with medals and never gets tired so there is no reason for the gun to ever experience the event you describe. Thus, I wonder if it has more to do with rotating the view faster than the gun can move, which happens frequently.

Also, there is some odd behavior where certain azimuths are more offset than others as was previously mentioned. I have found no consistency with this as to which direction pointing the gun will get you the best results.

Another part of the puzzle is that simply going to the bridge (or other view) and back to the gun as fast as possible or with hours in between both result in a different offset.

[Weiss Pinguin]

I have to say, I don't think I've ever experienced this. Then again I've rarely manned the guns in marginal weather, and I usually let the AI crew man the cannons. (There's just something godlike about sitting in the conning tower pretending to direct your guncrew )


I know that's not very helpful, but I just thought it was really interesting that so many others had seen this and I hadn't. If you let the guncrew work the cannon, do they still fire far left/right of the target?