Has anyone created SDFs for minor nations?

[paul]

I would like to build out the SDFs for all the minor nations which are not covered under the "Other" nation, and was wondering if I would be the first to do this.  Has anyone else created designs for Spain, South American nations, Scandinavia or the Dutch?  Either the WW1 or the RJW eras.

Paul

[randomizer]

Ships of the Spanish Navy are included in the stock RJW, which also includes a Spanish-American battle generator file (SAW.qbf). Virtually any ship can be created and added to custom (or even stock) scenarios but neither title supports adding new countries in addition to the ten principle naval powers included. Sorry.

[fredsanford]

Aug 23, 2014 8:21:15 GMT -6 randomizer said:

Ships of the Spanish Navy are included in the stock RJW, which also includes a Spanish-American battle generator file (SAW.qbf). Virtually any ship can be created and added to custom (or even stock) scenarios but neither title supports adding new countries in addition to the ten principle naval powers included. Sorry.

But what constitutes a "country" in SAI? Other than the aesthetic stuff like flags and colors, there's country-specific formation code, and the country-specific attributes like damage control, gunnery, smoke floats, etc., right? So would it be reasonable under the current engine to use an existing country as a 'closest available alternative'? For example, using the Turk's Nation.DAT file space, edit in a different name and flag to change it to Chile.

[randomizer]

Yes, you may certainly edit existing countries adding or changing names, flags and characteristics to taste but doing so means that the stock country will disappear. FW changed the format of the Nations.dat file to facilitate this sort of thing an update or two ago. You cannot add new countries, just replace stock countries, which is what I meant.

One user option is to employ a file swapping program like John Scones Generic Mod Enabler (JSGME) available here:

JSGME Link

This works with SAI but using it is not officially supported.  However, it allows you to swap out modified files with basically one-click and make it easy to switch between modded and stock or between mods.  I use JSGME in a number of games and it is easy and effective.

[fredsanford]

Hmmm... so we could do an "SAI-Small Navies Edition" that could include up to 9 new navies (I think the 'unspecified' needs to be around for neutral merchants etc., regardless of others). So...let's see- my list would include (in no particular order):
1. Spain
2. Brazil
3. Argentina
4. Chile
5. Sweden
6. Denmark
7. Norway
8. China
9. Netherlands

Who else would be likely alternate candidates for the "SAI-Even Smaller Navies Edition"?
1. Peru
2. Romania
3. Bulgaria
4. Mexico
5. Siam
6. Belgium
7. Portugal
8. Columbia
9. Venezuela

[randomizer]

If you intend to go down this path I would suggest at some point creating a new and custom Classes.cfg file to include the new countries and ships. The editor reads the Classes.cfg and includes the entries in a drop-down menu when a specific design is selected. This can save time and trouble renaming ships that are included in custom scenarios and campaigns.

Keep the Stock file safe, the game will not run without a valid Classes.cfg living in the Designs folder but you can edit it to add classes and ships provided you preserve the format and punctuation of the original.

Good luck.

[paul]

Oh, I'm happy to stick them all in the 10th country. I'm not that fussed about the flags and stuff, and would primarily use them for scenarios and generators which only cursorily utilise the country data.

[Deleted]

For SAI-TGWAS, I made SDF's for dreadnoughts of Spain, Brazil, and Argentina. Each uses country 10 (unspecified). For ship flags, I put these in the upper left hand corner of the the ship drawing (art). The flags are the same size as other flags used in SAI. I had no problem with the classes, and I use all these ships in custom generators. On my system, there is a generator where Argentina (assisted by Brazil and Spain), fight Great Britain at the Falkland Islands (Malvinas).

Attachment Deleted

[Deleted]

Here is Rivadavia. I am not sure just how accurate it all is. Me thinks I used data from Janes. I have also added a ton of US and Japanese classes to support War Plan Orange in the Pacific. I did not add these classes to Classes.cfg, but they seem to be working just fine. I am using SAI-TGWAS v 1.60.

 

[Deleted]

Here is The Falkland Islands Generator. Note that even though Argentina ships are type 10 (unspecified), you can specify the Argentine flag for the generator. SAW means South Atlantic War. And, note that I am now including WW2 generators for action in the Pacific between the US and Japan. SAI-TGWAS will understate the combat capabilities of ships from the WW2 era, and it will overstate the combat capabilities of ships from the RJW era (see The Tsushima Strait generator).

[Deleted]

Aug 23, 2014 10:57:13 GMT -6 fredsanford said:

Hmmm... so we could do an "SAI-Small Navies Edition" that could include up to 9 new navies (I think the 'unspecified' needs to be around for neutral merchants etc., regardless of others). So...let's see- my list would include (in no particular order):
1. Spain
2. Brazil
3. Argentina
4. Chile
5. Sweden
6. Denmark
7. Norway
8. China
9. Netherlands

Who else would be likely alternate candidates for the "SAI-Even Smaller Navies Edition"?
1. Peru
2. Romania
3. Bulgaria
4. Mexico
5. Siam
6. Belgium
7. Portugal
8. Columbia
9. Venezuela

In my view, a Nations editor needs to be added that would allow users the ability to add the minor navies to the Nations.dat file. Or, the developers could populate Nations.dat with the remaining minor navies (nations).

SAI-TGWAS and ShipDesign2 would need to be modified to allow the minor navies to be recognized and used in the Scenarios and Generators.

In my case, I am OK with what I have now, because I only wanted to add minor navies that had dreadnoughts (Spain, Brazil, Argentina).

And, when using my solution, I did not have to modify any files that came with the original game or the v 1.6 update!

[paul]

Stwa,

Where can I find your files for these ships, including the generators which I presume will have all the individual ships?

I am hoping to have all the nations with dreadnoughts plus those who planned them or who had substantial coastal defence fleets.

Paul

[paul]

I've created most of the useful classes for the Scandinavian countries, excluding most of the TBs and some of the really poor coastal ships.   Its a strange mix.  I've also added a text file with all the specific vessels so that you can use them in a generator.  One or two real life classes got merged as there was very little difference between them.

Scandinavia.zip (17.86 KB)