Coastal Rescue UK Mod [Alpha Released]

[DylanPong94]

It didn't sound mean

Are all st johns medic trained the same as normal paramedics?

Well, those who wants to be part of the ambulance crew have to pass certain exam, like basic ambulance care course, in order to sit for basic ambulance care course you have to passed advanced first aid course, and in order to sit for advanced first aid course you at least have to renew your basic first aid course for at least 3times (means taking 1 basic first aid courses for 3year). St. John Ambulance have their own paramedic too (i mean those who passed as a EMT-P and work for St. John Ambulance.)

[Forensics]

^OK thanks, BTW don't double post.

No, the RNLI don't operate their inshore lifeboats like that. This will be working in an original method for this kind of boat.

I saw a inshore lifeboat on a trailer being towed by a 4x4 the other day so i am a little confused.

I emailed the RNLI asking if they still use 4x4 and trailers move there inshore lifeboats.

I just got an email back:

Thank you for your email.

Yes, that method of transport is still very much used at a handful of lifeboat stations.

Very best wishes

Adrian Boyd

So I'm confused

[festival]

What are you confused about, we arent using a trailer in this mod.

[Forensics]

OK

I was only confused because one expert said they did and one expert said they didn't, that's all.

[festival]

one expert said that it was used at a handful of stations. i would assume that in dosedmonkeys experience they dont do that where in his area. the circumstances in which they are used for transport werent clear, it is possible that they are transported to aras that dont have their own lifeboat, who knows. Does it matter mate?

[Forensics]

Does it matter mate?

No, not really.

I presume your referring to me in your signature so for being a nitpicker.

[festival]

that was work, form of harmless stress release having it in sig lol

[Dosedmonkey]

So RNLI rarely transport their vehicles, on our map we have a inshore boat shed that runs straight into the harbour. Its more common for the fire brigade and police to take their inshore boats to locations remote from the RNLI bases, the only commonly used transport is the tractor for large tidal change locations.

I never seen the hovercraft one, but i've never seen the RNLI hovercraft in real life either, so don't know much about it to be honest.

Can people post any pics they have of modern UK St. Johns units please, as everything I've seen is like 20 years old. In no state to go to emergencies, but saying this in my area they just use NHS response vehicles.

[DylanPong94]

Can people post any pics they have of modern UK St. Johns units please, as everything I've seen is like 20 years old. In no state to go to emergencies, but saying this in my area they just use NHS response vehicles.

They use Renault ambulances..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/old_motors/3665912312/

but im not sure why some have white hoods and some have yellow hoods.

[Dosedmonkey]

The yellow is something UK ambulances have started doing the last ten years to make them more reconisable in traffic, so people get out their way quicker, I guess its cheaper just to re-spray the hood, as thats the bit you see in a rear view mirror.

[festival]

i never understood that - doesnt anyone notice big blue flashing lights and loud sirens anymore?

[Dosedmonkey]

Yeah but you also want to quickly identify which vehicle its coming from, so a white ambulance looks far too much like a white transit van from a distance and could cause confusion I guess, especailly in a situation where your using your mirrors on a motorway for example. This is why they still now developing new sirens, for better directional and vibration awareness.

[Forensics]

St Johns land-rovers.

While finding that i saw that the RAF have a Pinzgauer ambulance.

[randomperson139]

While finding that i saw that the RAF have a Pinzgauer ambulance.

I saw one of those when I was flying at RAF Church Fenton.

Are you going to include St. Johns units then?

[JPH]

The comments are really helpful (I know that Dosed takes your suggestions on board).

The hovercraft carrier is really interesting, as Weymouth doesnt has its own Hovercraft the carrier could be a viable way of getting it there.

Well done Dosed and the team for all your hard work.

Info on the Hovercraft Truck:

HV52 VPC This blue RNLI Iveco flat-bed truck is being used to deliver the hovercraft to the beach. It is fitted with blue flashing lights, which the law allows for lifeboat launching vehicles.

So you wouldn't be able to use blue lights to transport the unit from Poole to Weymouth... Just from station to coast.

[Forensics]

Glad I'm helping the mod a tiny bit

And yes well done all of the CR mod team

[Guest yuriclone]

Hey all

I'm new to posting here, but I've been very interested in this mod and have been looking in since the beginning. I have a couple of things I want to say, to put my oar in:

Firstly, great job so far! This is looking brilliant in almost all respects - although there're a couple of points I think could be improved to make it more realistic - if thats the direction the modders want to go.

I've noticed a couple of problems in all the grouped shots of vehicles. The fire appliances all have the standard FD-XX numbers in white on their roof. In my experience, none of the appliances I've worked with (demobbed / reserve ones but still fire engines!) have them, and I don't believe this is any difference these days! They're a common occurence in the US, but not so in the UK, since we don't generally use helicopters for unit recognition at incidents. Also, the numbers are supposed to be unique to the unit - but in game if you request two pump units, they both spawn with the same skin, which is the same number.

Also - something I don't think people have noticed is a problem with the traffic police's uniforms. In the recent shot which includes traffic police, I noticed that whilst in the hi-visibility jacket, the police officer had a black flat hat, not a white one. Having a white hat is literally the only perk of being in traffic police (according to an old school friend), so for realism it should be changed if possible. If you want confirmation of how it looks, watch that "Traffic Cops" show on Dave, which is on 5 times a night!

Also - doctors on call in the UK actually can drive using green lights (check the highway code!) which essentially offer the same privileges as the usual "blues and twos" but are used solely for doctors, as no previous driver training is necessary. Privilege of the MB BCh letters after your name I suppose!

Secondly, there's been a bit of debate about St Johns Ambulance in the game. In my view, they should not be included. My reasons are as follows -

(1) They do a useful job in the community, at fetes, non league football matches etc, but this is not a game about community healthcare provision. They're there to provide first aid cover at events, but if anything serious was to happen at these events, the first thing they would do is to call the genuine NHS people. Think about it in legal terms, if an open fracture of the femur occurs, all a St Johns ambulance person can do is prevent bleeding as best as possible on the outside of clothing and support it. A (registered) ambulance technician will be able to remove clothing in order to better see the injury and use things like pnuematic splints in order to support it, and will be able to administer entonox for pain relief. A trained paramedic will be able to administer IV fluids and much stronger pain relief such as morphine. So in summary the St Johns person would at best be able to triage casualties in game, and thats effectively it if realism is to be adhered to. (I'd like to say at this point Im not just an outsider with little knowledge of this subject - I have a sister who is a trained paramedic, a brother who is a community responder and I am a third year medical student. So I do know about it!)

(2) This game is all about emergencies, and St Johns do not normally deal with emergencies. They are only called to provide medical cover as a strictly last resort option, when medical services from neighbouring areas / districts are unavailable to cover, and in extreme civil contingencies (bombs, earthquakes etc etc). But rest assured, they are almost never called on (at least not in my area). The NHS has to have a list of backups, so that if (for example) there was a gas explosion at the ambulance depot and all ambulances were destroyed, they could still provide a service. The list includes nearby military formations, fire & rescue units and st johns, the local TA and cadets, but I don't think the modders will want the hassle of including all of these? Whilst this game does test some civil contingencies, its still not right to have every agency included on call. I mean, in a forest fire they might call in the forrestry comission, but the game devs are (in my opinion, quite rightly) unlikely to include every single emergency agency for every contingency.

(3) This is so much extra work, when the first release of the mod isn't even out yet, to have to reskin a load of models and include them specifically to provide a non-emergency service. IMHO.

(4) Not only is there St Johns Ambulance, but in many areas there is also St Andrew's Ambulance, and what about the Red Cross/Crescent? All of these can provide some semblance of medical cover, but IMHO this isn't the point of the game. this is about EMERGENCY care - and at the end of the day the only people on call 24/7 365 days a year are the 5 emergency services - Ambulance / Fire / Police / Coastguard / Mountain & Fell Rescue.

(5) In order to legally drive under blue lights on the road in the UK, you must first take and pass the police advanced drivers course (external info - the institute of advanced motorists), and I do not believe St Johns ambulance adhere to this. Therefore, they will not be able to drive in the UK under blues and twos - although their vehicles may have them fitted.

Thanks to all who read this, I understand it is nitpicking(!) but hopefully it is also useful and informative, and not too much of a rant. And yes, St Johns do do a lot of good, helpful work, but I just don't think they would fulfill a useful purpose in the game.

EDIT - not posted links to outside info - if you're desperate to confirm it find it yourself, I don't wanna upset anyone by posting dead / wrong links.

EDIT 2 - apologies about spelling / punctuation mistakes. I am writing this after quite a long placement working in an A&E Dept...so I think I can be forgiven for mistakes!

[Forensics]

to the forum.

If you did the thing with different roof numbers you would have to have a new unit for every number. Which would mean lots more units in the mod. Which would increase loading time.

Yes, traffic police often do have whit hats:

I agree with you about the St Johns ambulance

There are many more emergency services

E.G.

mine rescue

RAF

RNLI

cave rescue

blood service

bomb disposal

goes on forever...

[Guest yuriclone]

Thanks very much! Hopefully it doesn't seem like too much of a tirade against them. But its not the place for them IMHO.

[Forensics]

Thanks very much! Hopefully it doesn't seem like too much of a tirade against them. But its not the place for them IMHO.

I'm sure they won't mind too much.

I don't mind too much if the colour of hat of a policeman is black in the mod and white in real life. Same with unit numbers. Obviously detail matters but little things like this don't affect the over all gameplay. So i don't mind too much about it.

[Guest yuriclone]

No, good point - the modders might want to look at it a little way down the line, but it won't kill the thing if they don't change it right away. Just one more thing to be put on the list!

[Dosedmonkey]

Yuri, you saved me a lot of typing, I completely agree with your statement about St. Johns, they did have mass casualty units, but the most recent I've seen is late 1980s early 1990s build, so obviously was never used. The best example of this perhaps is the last London bombings, where only NHS ambulances appeared on scene as far as I've ever noticed.

We are planning to add another ambulance and paramedic rapid response car yet.

I think with the hat, if I made the visor black, the tops black, and the top white, the viser turns white. Character models are a little screwed up in EM4 as Zmodeler does not import them properly, so its impossible to UVMap them again as far as I'm aware.

[Forensics]

OK

Thanks Dosed

[Guest yuriclone]

Ok, thanks for the heads-up dosed monkey

[theocd]

Woah woah woah,

Sorry to shoot you down Yuri but you say driving on Greens give 'blues and twos' privelages? A green light is used by a doctor on call who may not break the speed limit or anything else, the light is purely there do display to other drivers that they mish to pull over or be more lenient about letting the vehicle pass than if it was a normal car.

Some doctors like to livery their vehicles but it is perfectly acceptable to have a magnetic one or no light at all. It is optional and gives no privelages, just a warning.

Hope that helps,

The OC-D