RFB 2.0 Feedback (Updated 17 April 2010)

[LukeFF]

Quick question - has something been included in the RFB to fix the 'sub on the rails' issue?

The current environmental mod work fixed it, IIRC.

[T.}{.O.R.]

Is anybody else getting lower FPS in conning tower when surfaced (radars are active)?

[Wilcke]

Is anybody else getting lower FPS in conning tower when surfaced (radars are active)?

I am actually get pretty slow FPS, at the CT on the surface with a Tambor in 01/42, no radars. I am running the scene.dat file that Hitman released for the Fog Fix.

I have to try this sans the Fog Fix.

I was puzzled by this slow down as OM + OMEGU and TMO run very smootly and this is new to RFB since it ran well prior. I have been out of the heavy playing loop for a bit but will run another patrol sans the Fog Fix scene.dat.

[Teddy Bär]

My frame rate is shockingly low 19 with 8x AA (16 samples) & 16x AF

I had a poor showing of 30fps with 4x AA (8 samples) & 8x AF

I run in window mode 1920 x 1200 and everything maxed out. Seems that something is amiss.

My computer specs are...
Intel Core2 Quad Q9650 @ 3.7Ghz
8Gb Corsair TWIN2X4096-8500C5D
ASUS Rampage Formula Motherboard
Sapphire Radeon HD5870 1GB
Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB WD3000GLFS
Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 Soundcard
Corsair HX1000W 1000W Power Supply
CoolerMaster Cosmos S

[LukeFF]

My frame rate is shockingly low 19 with 8x AA (16 samples) & 16x AF

I had a poor showing of 30fps with 4x AA (8 samples) & 8x AF

I run in window mode 1920 x 1200 and everything maxed out. Seems that something is amiss.

Where are you getting the lowest frame rates?

[Teddy Bär]

My frame rate is shockingly low 19 with 8x AA (16 samples) & 16x AF

I had a poor showing of 30fps with 4x AA (8 samples) & 8x AF

I run in window mode 1920 x 1200 and everything maxed out. Seems that something is amiss.

Where are you getting the lowest frame rates?

I get the same on the bridge/external view, command room and other I recall it being 100+.

Cannot add much more as I just installed SH3 & 4 today because of the SH5 talk. Was surprised to see the crew can only see 12k!

[LukeFF]

First post updated with new information. The big thing that needs to be tested here is the visual sensors mod work by Hitman. Please be sure to read his readme file before testing out these new changes.

[Teddy Bär]

First post updated with new information. The big thing that needs to be tested here is the visual sensors mod work by Hitman. Please be sure to read his readme file before testing out these new changes.

Did a 5 minutes test and on a perfect day they saw the aircraft carrier at approx 18k, obviously a very limited test, good start though.

[T.}{.O.R.]

I downloaded the patch and tested it, here are my observations from what I was able to see in this short testing:

1. The new engine sound is bloody awesome. The best one I've heard so far.
   
   
2. Sound operator seems to report stuff now, but I will need to test this in campaign. Same goes for the torpedo changes introduced. Although, as far as torpedoes go - I had another circular run on submarine school mission. *thumbs up* so far...
   EDIT: Sunk Medium Old Tanker with 3 fish (no duds), second one was critical hit! Finally! She went down in 2 minutes. I have a feeling that this could be a real breath of fresh air - making RFB the supermod with the best sinking model out there.
   
   
3. May I request that you add the second part of the Vickers03's control room mod? PORPIOSE control room is missing from what I was able to see...
   
   
4. About visual sensors mod work by Hitman - I have been testing all his beta versions, and I have to say that I liked the most - latest beta before he released it. I just run Shinano mission again and my crew was blind, couldn't spot it until I was some 6800 yards away - and that was the closest DD. The same goes for the 'Sink the Kongo' single mission. I have tired lowering my gamma settings to 50% but I can only go so far before my eyes fall out. Daytime spotting is spot on, however.
   EDIT1: I managed to tone down my monitor (in-game gamma) settings to a desired level by calibrating them in single missions until I could see stuff at the same time my watch crew was able to spot them at night. Hats off to Hitman.
   EDIT2: I just tested played last single mission on the list - and the crew spotting is even worse than before. Year is '45, and I closed in on the convoy. At 5NM I was able to spot merchants on the horizon, with relatively low gamma settings. Crew spotted merchants first - at 3000+ yards. I will post this info in the RFB thread, for Hitman to see.
   EDIT3: I posted a detailed report on my testing with screenshots, on SubSim forums.

Now I have a couple of questions (as usual):

• Before I installed the patch I reinstalled the game and applied this on a clean SH4 install. In doing so I took Balao class for a short drive, and found out that it pitches much nicer in stock version - the bow is almost first to brake the water, compared to RFB2.0 where CT is always first to surface. I am guessing that this goes for all submarines but I didn't bother testing it more. Is there anything that can be done about this?
  
  
• Deck guns / AA guns - why are they always painted in black, no matter which paint scheme is applied to the boat? This is one thing I also noticed in stock game, deck guns / AA guns paint changes according to the paint scheme applied to the boat. Can this be fixed in RFB? In TMO, before Ducimus made it as an upgrade, you could manually enable a mod which would apply the appropriate paint to the deck armament.

And a couple of requests / suggestions if I may:

• Navigation Map Make-Over with Airbases - have you seen this mod? IRC you mentioning that grid patrol zones would be a nice add-on to RFB.
  
  
• A couple of changes to the commands.cfg:
  
  1. BACKSPACE = normal TC
  2. View - 'strafe up' & 'strafe down' re-enabled

[LukeFF]

[*] May I request that you add the second part of the Vickers03's control room mod? PORPIOSE control room is missing from what I was able to see...

He would have to make some tweaks to it in order for it to be compatible with RFB. Once he does that I'll add it to the mod.

• Before I installed the patch I reinstalled the game and applied this on a clean SH4 install. In doing so I took Balao class for a short drive, and found out that it pitches much nicer in stock version - the bow is almost first to brake the water, compared to RFB2.0 where CT is always first to surface. I am guessing that this goes for all submarines but I didn't bother testing it more. Is there anything that can be done about this?

I may go back through and re-edit the submarine behavior, because I have a better idea now of how to tweak these settings. Whether that will change the pitch at which the submarine breaks the surface, though, is another question.

Deck guns / AA guns - why are they always painted in black, no matter which paint scheme is applied to the boat? This is one thing I also noticed in stock game, deck guns / AA guns paint changes according to the paint scheme applied to the boat. Can this be fixed in RFB? In TMO, before Ducimus made it as an upgrade, you could manually enable a mod which would apply the appropriate paint to the deck armament.

I could always make it an upgrade, yes. I'll think about it.

• Navigation Map Make-Over with Airbases - have you seen this mod? IRC you mentioning that grid patrol zones would be a nice add-on to RFB.

No, I've not seen it yet. If it can be made compatible I'd think about adding it.

A couple of changes to the commands.cfg:

1. BACKSPACE = normal TC
2. View - 'strafe up' & 'strafe down' re-enabled

Possibly.