[REL] Moon light mod v1

[Rubini]

Hi guys,

This one was a very old research, thanks to Anvart for some inputs and directions as you can see in this thread:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=181965

This mod adds a real moon light into the game. The main feature of this mod is that now the night "main light" is aligned with the moon, what is much more immersive.

Limitations?

-Oh yes, some and important ones:

1. The moon light is an "all or nothing" type of thing on the game (SH3 serious engine limitation). I mean, the moon light will be always into the night. Sh3 draws the moon all nights just "blocking" it with alpha channel when we have a no moon sky. So, as the light is attached to the moon object it will be always there. But see below some tricks that makes the whole thing works...

2. No moon light shadows as this is a feature (shadows) never implemented correctly and was totally dropped out by the devs after the last 1.4 patch. Indeed, you will see only an "ambient oclusion" type of effect.

How this mod solved some of these limitations?

- Well, sh3 have only three main environmental node lights (all them on scene.dat): sun light, sun reflection light and ambient light. I added a new enviromental light attached to moon object and made it similar and discrete as a night ambient light. So you will don´t notice it so much but now when you see the moon you will notice that the main night light is correctly sync with the moon path&direction.

Options?

- Yes. The mod is made from only one file and is compatible with any sh3 installation. I added the new light node to the scene.sim file (IIRC a file never modded before) and it have two variations: the one ready "out of the box" is a more strong moon light, the other one is much less powered (just rename them accordingly). The mod is adjusted out of the box for a medium/very darker environment - so the moon light is not that strong.

The first file (ready out of the box) is also adjustable to have yet more or less light power. If you want it, (it´s not necessary to the mod works), just open the scene.sim with S3D and changes the Moon light node "Attenuation" propertie up to have more moon light or down to have less moon light.

Notice that you must have to find a equilibrium between the moon light power and your environments lights/colors at deep night to the whole thing makes sense. This is absolutelly recomendable!

Last words:

- There is 3 types of lights for any light node on sh3: ambient, directional and omni lights. Obviously i tried all them. The directional, altrough a more intuitive choice, have more side effects than the others, that is why i ended with the omni light (out of the box) and the discrete ambient light ( on the optional file).

This is a WIP and not yet extensivelly tested. Please post feedbacks!


Ahoy!

Rubini.

(pictures made with a bit more strong version to show the effects)








Link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?vgbvayzz2rmmwpf

[VONHARRIS]

Looks good to me.
I will use it in my mod soup.

[Rhodes]

Same here!

[Echolot]

Thank you, Rubini.

[rowi58]

Thanks Rubini,

very good mod. Just tested it - you can keep your scene.dat and Moon.tga. Just wonderful.

Greetings
rowi58

[sublynx]

202.) In view of the fact that paint, especially on the wet submarine, is liable to reflect the light (shine), care must be taken not to show the enemy the moon-lit side. If the circumstances make this unavoidable, the tapering silhouette should be turned toward him as soon as possible.

203.) Take care that the submarine does not appear in the track of the moon on the water; i.e., in the line between the moon and the target.

204.) Favorable conditions of attack, enabling the submarine to remain unseen:

a) Attack the enemy when he can be seen against the light horizon, or against the moon, and move toward him from the direction of the dark horizon, or the dark portion of the sea. In this case, the submarine itself is invisible even at the shortest distances from the enemy.

Thanks Rubini for giving these procedures from U-boat Commander's Handbook more weight

Now it's easier to plan one's attack as if one needed to take consideration of the light from the moon as well.

To me this mod is not just eye candy!

[Hitman]

This just rocks

Will the increased light level have an effect on the enemy visual sensor?

Added to links thread

[irish1958]

Can this be activated in patrol or only in port?
This looks great. I am itching to try it.

[Dani]

@Rubini

I like how the night is looking in these pictures.
Is this Env mod your creation? Is it a 16 km atmosphere?
Would you consider to upload it?

[Rubini]

Thanks guys to try this mod!

I just played a 2 months patrol since yesterday and i can say that it´s great and works as intend. I will try below to comment some of the above posted questions.

1. I didin´t test if this small amount of light added on the night will affect or not the sensors. This issue was always asked and digged by a lot of modders that worked with sensors and env lights (myself included) and I guess that great amount of lights changes can affect the sensors but small ones like this one will be not noticed by the player.

2. The env on the pictures are self adjusted and isn´t for download anywhere. Sorry! Perhaps in some future if i have time, ok?

3. For ppl with not so dark night env i suggest the mod as it is out of the box. For really dark nights env i suggest to shift to the optional file (the moon light will then cast as an ambient light only). On the pictures I used a medium dark env with a bit more strong light than the one inside the mod.

4. Yes, the mod can be enable imediatelly, no need to start new patrol.

5. If you are not satisfyed with the results after enable the mod, you always can adjust yours ambient lights at deep night (envcolors.dat) to more or less dark colors accordingly until find a good result for your taste. Also the moon light with Omni light type can be adjusted as described on the first post.

6. And yes, now to see better the flags at deep night sometimes is necessary to manobrate the uboat to a better position.

[desertstriker]

looks great

[sublynx]

Originally Posted by Hitman

Will the increased light level have an effect on the enemy visual sensor?

This is one question I wouldn't want to have answered. The thing is that playing a simulation is a question of imagination. Even if does not really affect the AI sensors one can play as if it would. To me SH3 is a way of getting some knowledge and feeling about what kind of estimations and calculations a real U-boat commander would have considered while patrolling. The more there is uncertainty the more there are surprises. SH3 at its greatest lulls one into a false sense of security and then BAM! the game changes and suddenly one gets sunk in a "this has always been safe" situation

Rubini thank you for the mod

Originally Posted by Rubini

1. The moon light is an "all or nothing" type of thing on the game (SH3 serious engine limitation). I mean, the moon light will be always into the night.

Does this means moonlight will be also present at cloudy night ?

[Rubini]

Originally Posted by sailor_X

Rubini thank you for the mod



Does this means moonlight will be also present at cloudy night ?

Yes, but in a less amount. This is the main issue with the mod (sh3 engine limitation). Anyhow, if you look at night env with attention you will notice that even in vanilla or modded envs we always have at least one light at deep night: ambient light. What I made on the mod is to add one more "ambient light" that is attached to the moon. So if you adjust your env correctly you will not be bored by this "always" there moon light. (just not use a so much powerfull moon light and you will not notice this added light)

At first, at my game, i made the deep night´s ambient light very dark and then the moon light took it´s "place". But late i noticed that this isn´t really necessary, we can have both without issues.

Ok, I will try and see how it looks to me