Decks Awash toot (TEC)

[Sniper297]

A do it yourself tutorial for people who don't normally hack files, involves only two CFG files which can be opened and edited with notepad, no programming skills needed. Two items;

Not uploading this as a mod since Commands.cfg is altered with several existing mods, do it yourself means you can change any version of SH4 or any mod for it.

2, Decks Awash was an actual tactic used by actual WWII sub skippers, I'm not remotely interested in flawed theories using half understood science stated as gospel fact (a theory is not a fact until proven) by self appointed experts who think that a fleet sub could ever be unstable. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, most college kids are educated beyond their intelligence and assume they know it all after reading a couple of science books. Don't take everything you read on the internet for gospel.

Difference when you're trying to sneak up on someone without submerging all the way:



Sargo class fully surfaced;



Flooded down to 25 foot depth, "decks awash".



Why the hack? The crew at the diving controls acknowledge an order to submerge to 25 feet if you set that on the depth dial, but then don't execute the order. Dive below 35 feet and then order them back up to 25 and they'll wobble up and down near 25 for awhile then say "20 feet, close enough - or maybe 19 is better" (scurvy dogs!). With the snorkel depth command activated they will hit and hold a 25 foot depth.

So, to start, those who don't know about file extensions:

http://www.trainsim.com/vbts/showthr...er-for-dummies


\Data\Cfg\Commands.cfg

Open that file with notepad.
CTRL F opens a search window, type

195

That will jump to this datablock;

[Cmd195]
Name=Snorkel_depth
Ctxt=1
Str=1033
;Key0=0xBA,C,"Comma"

In C code the apostrophe means "comment", with that at the beginning of the line it tells the program to ignore this line. So remove that, or just copy and paste this text to overwrite the 195 datablock;

[Cmd195]
Name=Snorkel_depth
Ctxt=1
Str=1033
Key0=0xBA,c,"CTRL semicolon"

Capital C replaced with lowercase makes it so the actual key is CTRL ; instead of just ; so you don't accidentally rise to decks awash when you meant to fire a torpedo or set rudder amidships. If you don't make k3yb0Rd m!$taK3$ you could leave the C alone and just press ; instead of CTRL ; . Save, exit.

Next file;

\Data\Submarine\NSS_Subtype\NSS_Subtype.cfg (for "Subtype" use the type of sub you want to mod, for example if you want to set the depth for a Gato don't use the s18 folder and .cfg)

Open that .cfg file in notepad, small file so just scroll down to;

[Properties]
PeriscopeDepth=16.7;meters
SnorkelDepth=8.5;meters
CrashDepth=40;meters
MaxDepth=100;meters
SurfaceDepth=5.061;meters
TorpLaunchMaxDepth=30;meters
StormConditions=9,0.1;max wind speed [m/s], max rain intensity [0,1]

Default for that is 15, since US subs didn't have snorkels until the war was over we don't need an actual snorkel depth (probably why it was disabled in the original command.cfg). Metric conversion is all off, possibly they used some weird French Fortnight conversion or subtracted the price of a Romanian postage stamp. But 8.5 will give you 25 foot depth, 9.4 a 29 foot depth. 30 feet or deeper will switch from diesel to battery power, so if you're trying to sneak into a harbor or something where you need to go a long way don't make it more than 9.4.

Save, exit, launch game and try it out. Use whatever sub you edited, if you changed NSS_Porpoise.cfg a Balao won't work, you'd have to edit NSS_Balao.cfg. Or edit all of them.

Known issues, in real life a sub running flooded down deeper than 25 ft in reasonably calm waters could shut the main induction and draw air through the conning tower hatch to keep the diesels supplied with air. This would also keep the crew supplied with air, but this game for some reason considers anything deeper than 22 feet to be "submerged" for the crew air supply (CO2 buildup). The battery draw doesn't start until 30 feet, so if you're at 29 feet the diesels run so no battery discharge, but no fresh air for the crew. Dunno how to fix that, so just be aware that if you set time compression on without fully surfacing the battery won't discharge but the crew will suffocate after 48 hours.

Yes, I did that yesterday, running at all ahead full through a convoy flooded down to decks awash, then headed for home forgetting to surface and killed TM2 Kublinsky. For some reason there's no court martial for that.