Anyone using the "IronDuke" battleship?

[+quack74 329]

I've finally got the IronDuke and a couple of other ships to appear in FE2. But I have a couple of questions for anyone who might now about it.

 

1. why dont all the big guns fire? Only two turrets fire. The others just move around but mainly away from the targets and never fire.

 

2.. How do the guns work? There are no 13.5IN_MKV guns in my GUNDATA.ini or WEAPONS.ini. So where do the effects come from? I like the secondary effects (hit explosions and smoke) where do they come from? How can I use them elswhere?

 

3. All of my ships are set as "CARGO_SHIP" for ground object type and there are parameters for SHIPPING in the terrain's MOVEMENT.ini but I never see one ship moving along the coast as the parameters dictate. Is FE2 set up for "SHIPPING"? Making the ships static is no problem. I set their position in the terrain's TARGETS.ini. I do notice that there is no "ANTI_SHIP" in any of the aircraft's roles in their DATA.ini's

 

This isnt a really big deal but I would like to place some ships in the channel on the Flanders map for some MFJ Units and bombers.

 

Oh and #4. Why doesnt the IronDuke get destroyed? I bombed the crap out of her with my Gotha and just got some smoke. She didnt sink or burn. And why dont any of the other Gothas in my flight recognize the IronDuke as a ground object? I hit "Attack ground " and they all spread out looking for ground targets. Is it because there is no parameter for "ANTI_SHIP" in FE2?

 

thanks to anyone who wants to respond to this.

[Wrench 9,566]

only 2 turrets are firing, 'cause that's how Hinch set them up. Don't bother trying to get the others to work, cause they won't.

 

you can find the 13.5 MK.V info in several of my WW2 paks, or use this to create the base data ini:

 

[GunData001]

TypeName=13.5IN_MKV

FullName=Vickers 13.5" Mk V

Caliber=343.000000

ROF=2.000000

MuzzleVel=759.000000

AmmoWt=635.000000

WarheadWt=20.200001

Reliability=98.000000

Accuracy=90.000000

AddLight=TRUE

MaxLightRange=4000.000000

FireColor=0.400000,0.360000,0.256000

GunFireEffect=ArtilleryFireEffect

GunFireSound=TankGun

EffectClassName=ArtilleryEffects

EffectTime=1.500000

TracerTexture=

TracerSize=0.000000

TracerDistFactor=0.000000

TracerLength=0.000000

MaxVisibleDist=0.000000

MaxStreakVisibleDist=0.000000

TimeFuzed=FALSE

 

not having FE2 at all, or FE1 installed, I venture some guesses

 

If the dlls are set for it, like S/Wo* and SF2, it should be set as WARSHIP for ALL usage.

Again, i don't know if the dlls are set up for 'anti-ship' missions --- you'll have to inspet the dlls (iirc) with a hex editor, and search/find ship.

 

Without seeing the actual movements ini, there's no way to know of Shipping routes are specificed. They're easy enough to add, though (provided the terrain has enough 'water surface' that dosen't encrouch on The Wall)

However, if NO aircraft has anti-ship specifiecd in it's data ini, is quite possible the gamne engine itself dosent' support it.

One way to test, is take the Desert terrain from SF2, drop it into the FE2 /Terrains in you mods folder, add "Anti_Ship" to a couple of data inis (1 per side), and see if if they generate in single missions.

 

Iron Duke sinks just fine in 1st and NextGen games ... this, again, may be something lacking in FE2s engine.

Only TK can answer taht for sure (and without experimentating ourselves). Would be a pity if it wasnt' supported ... there are a LOT of possibilites there (even with my general lack of WW1 knowledge)

 

wrench

kevin stein

[Wrench 9,566]

OK, I can categoricly say that I cannot get anti-shipping missions to work on several imported terrains, that I KNOW were/are working in SF/Wo* and SF2 (ww2 palestine, canary islands and the stock Desert)

 

Even with edited aircraft data inis, adding the mission statement, and edited loading inis, with known good, working movements inis, I've come to believe that TK has left out the needed coding for antiship missions.

 

on the flip side, one can always populate ports with docked ships, and they should appear as targets for "Bomb Something" missions.

 

One just needs to import the ships (the small cargo ship, trawlers, etc from SF/Wo*/SF2) adjust the start years, add them to the types and place via the targets ini, and will probably work.

 

wrench

kevin stein

[+quack74 329]

I've tried just about everything too. ANTI_SHIP missions are a no go for FE2. But you can create stationary ships in each terrain by creating the particular ship's data in the terrains's_TYPES.ini and by creating it's location in the terrain's_TARGETS.ini. It does work. You can create a stationary ship convoy in the Channel using the Flanders or Cambrai terrains. The battle ship "IronDuke" continuously fires at land targets all over the terrain. Cool effects. But....however, there doesnt seem to be a Sinking_Ship effect anymore either. Bombing the ships doesnt seem to cause any damage and I cant get the rest of my flight to attack ships. Eventhough I have a ship locked on as a primary target. I dont know. Maybe it's not worth it until TW brings back the shipping data. If they do.

[Wrench 9,566]

the effects should be able to be imported for the other games fairly easily (oh! that word!). I"ll ask one of the effects gurus.

 

I also noticed the smokestack effect not working either (as there's generator buildings on the Desert and Canary Islands I've been fiddling with ...and they're stacks aren't working.

 

OTH, one might be able to export ALL the items from FE2 INTO as era specific build of SF2; whcih may defeat some of FE2 purposes (purposi?). All the required dlls seem to be there (as compared to SF2), NavalObject.dll, etc an so forth.

 

Experimentaly, if anyone want to give this a try, create a NEW install of SF2 based off any version, merged or not, rename the exe to "SF2WW1" and run it. Then, DELETE all the aircrft and ground objects, and objectdatacats, copy/paste the SF2 ObjectDatacats, terrain cats, etc, and hope that works.

 

otherwise, it's extract ALL the objects, folderize them and rebuild the entire install from teh bottom up. An awful lot of work, just for ships!

 

wrench

kevin stein