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[2022.1] Realistic VIIC Exterior & Camouflage Skins

IMPORTANT: Clear your Cache & Data Sheets before running this update for the first time - and read everything below!

WHAT DOES THIS MOD DO?
It's an extensive, detailed exterior re-skin of the game's hull & conning towers (currently only default Turm & Turm I). The new textures have been carefully drawn, painted and weathered based on research of technical plans, photos & accurate scale model parts. The positions and sizes of some deck details have been improvised to suit the UBOAT Type VIIC model.

This version also includes camouflage skins and a deck gun mount cover which you can use to remove the deck gun and cover its mounting. These features are available as upgrades you can buy from the warehouse in port.

WHAT DOESN'T THIS MOD DO?
It doesn't change any 3D models. Several of these need modifications to make them more historically accurate.

MODIFIED TEXTURES & DETAILS INCLUDED IN THIS VERSION:
Please read the notes on the slide images above.

COMPATIBILITY
- Doesn't require you to start a new career.
- It replaces vanilla hull and conning tower textures so isn't compatible with other skin mods.
- Fully compatible with the Emblems Expanded mod!

KNOWN ISSUES
- In wet weather, the snorkel cover may render in a lighter colour.
- Incorrect texture scaling on some sections of the jumping wires.
(these are bugs which also occur with the vanilla game textures)

TROUBLESHOOTING
If you can't see the new textures, exit the game and delete your Cache & Data Sheets files (C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\LocalLow\Deep Water Studio\UBOAT\) then load your saved game.

WHY ARE THE NEW UPGRADES 'BETA' FEATURES?
These kind of upgrade mods haven't been done before. If you want to try them, I recommend you create a new test career and see how well they work for you before trying them in your main career.

HOW TO INSTALL A SKIN
There are two skins included which you can see in the slide images above. I will add more in future updates.

To install one, visit the Warehouse > choose 'I want to upgrade' > click the 'Decoration' button in your boat's control room:

Choose the 'Atlantic' or 'Arctic' camouflage > click 'Buy'.

To remove a skin, use the same method, but click 'Remove' instead of 'Buy'. You don't need to remove a skin to install a different one.

EMBLEMS
The camouflage will paint over any emblem on your conning tower. You'll need to add it again. The easiest way is to use the Emblems Expanded mod. Or you can re-paint a vanilla emblem using a console command - open the console (instructions here) then enter: (other vanilla Badge names can be found in the game's Entities data sheet > Equipment > lines 327-332)

HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
4GB graphics card minimum.

IMPORTANT NOTES
There are several large texture files which need to load when installing a skin. Don't be alarmed if any or all of the following happen whilst installing:
- At the start of the rendering process, the screen may go black for a few seconds.
- The conning tower may turn black for a minute or so before the camouflage renders.
- The hull skin may take a minute or so longer to render than the conning tower.

If any of these happen, be patient! It should load eventually.

On my low-end PC (Pentium i5, 24GB RAM, GTX1650 4GB, SSD drive) the skin normally fully renders after about 1-2 minutes. Then I can play the game normally. If you have a more powerful PC, the skin may render very quickly. Please let me know.

PERFORMANCE NOTES FROM MY TESTS
- When I load a saved game which already has a skin equipped, it sometimes appears instantly, sometimes takes a minute or so.
- If you upgrade the conning tower, the skin will need to reload the conning tower texture. The skins do not work on Turm II or Turm IV (yet).
- If you remove a skin, you may need to save your game and reload it to see the default Realistic VIIC Exterior skin.

TROUBLESHOOTING
If you experience problems with the skin not fully rendering:
- Save your game, quit, then reload the save (you shouldn't need to install the skin again).
- Avoid installing the skin upgrade in ports which have a U-boat bunker because they seem to use a lot of system resources.
- If you're still having problems, reload your saved game, sail to an empty area, open the console (instructions here) then enter this text exactly (case sensitive): or:
This will remove the deck gun and add a wooden cover over the hole to help make your boat look more like a late war VIIC. It's an alternative to the vanilla 'Removed Deck Gun'. It supposedly gives your boat a small bonus to submerged speed, but like the vanilla one, this bonus doesn't seem to work.

I also tried to remove the deck gun foot grips. This is difficult because they're part of the conning tower model (I wish the devs would make them part of the deck gun model). I found a method to hide the foot grips but it's not reliable. I will try to make it work.

HOW TO INSTALL THE DECK GUN MOUNT COVER
Go to the Warehouse > choose 'I want to upgrade' > click the 'Deck Gun' button on your boat:

Choose the 'Deck Gun Mount Cover' > click 'Buy'.

You can re-install the Deck Gun if you want to.

My aims for creating this mod:
1. Since I started playing UBOAT, I've wanted to give the hull and conning tower decks a historically accurate wooden deck with the correct layout and sizes of hatch covers and slotted holes, metal hatch covers, etc.
2. Whilst researching VIIC exterior fittings, materials, finishes and colours, I discovered many other details I wanted to fix.

WHY ARE THE UPWARD-FACING SURFACES PAINTED BLACK?
Kriegsmarine regulations for the exterior painting of U-boats stated that horizontal surfaces which can be seen from above should be coloured black to reduce the possibility of the boat being spotted from the air when submerged. The largest area to be coloured this way was the wooden decking, which was treated with a very dark coloured carbolineum wood preserver. This became a few shades lighter over time due to weathering.

Other horizontal surfaces such as the bow & stern metal plates, metal access hatches, magnetic compass housing, spray deflector, conning tower fittings, parts of the deck gun, etc. were painted black. These details can be seen in many historical photos of WW2 U-boats.

The US Navy had similar colour regulations for its WW2 submarines.

PLANNED FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS & ADDITIONS:
- Add replacement textures and skins for Turm II & IV.
- Create a mid-late war planked hull deck.
- Research the layout and details of the sides of the hull and make any possible improvements.
- Re-skin AA guns and other upgrade items such as snorkel, radar detectors, etc.
- Make the spotlight equipment item re-appear when switched on.
- If I can learn how to get replacement 3D models into the game, make various fixes to the 3D models.

Feel free to offer constructive feedback and suggestions.

Thanks to Space_Ghost for helping to test the mod.
Special thanks to Mario for guidance on creating bump maps, and to Link for guidance on creating equipment prefabs.

Copyright 2022 Jim (VG).