[REL] Ui-Boat V5.xx

[reaper7]

A couple of more In Progress shots, showing the Obs Scope.



Also have got the Left TDC PAnel done.
Here the obs and attack scope showing them Left TDC Panel and Torpedo Panel. In game resolution is 1440X900 to show scaling compared to original Ui at 1080P.

[nodlew]

Looks great, R7. Now I can open the Torpedo selection panel and still read the scope bearing. The work on the RAOBF Markings.dds looks perfect. I like your mod so much I found some freeware on the net (Paint.NET) and learned some enough about editing .dds files to make my own RAOBF markings file so I could play using your mod in the interim while awaiting your reworking of it. Here's my homemade scope RAOBF graticules...



Turns out, making those things, even something as basic as that, is a lot of work, although it gets easier the more you know how to do it, how to use the programs, etc.

I kept your mast height markings--just painted over them, so the scope markings to the left would line up, and tweaked the cameras.cam file to make everything as close as I could get. Works pretty good. Yours looks much better.

Looking foreward to trying the new and improved version. I fervently hope that the Obs. periscope bug (raising when not in use) has been fixed. You didn't mention anything about that. As things stand, I still just ignore the Obs. Periscope to circumvent the problem.

I see new buttons related to the Stadimeter--look foreward to trying them out.

Another thing I did, which you might consider--I like the look of your ERM for TDW's UI better than the one you included in your own mod. So I transferred and renamed the dds files to get the same look...



Purely aesthetic choice, but this one looks very elegant and I prefer it. It would be simple to include this look as an optional mod for those who don't know how do it manually.

One question--why did you choose increments of 1.6666 kts (5/3) on the Target Speed Dial in the TDC as opposed to say...1kt? It makes inputting the targets speed a matter of guesswork. I suppose I could put the precise value in using the XO's Dialog Box, but I like using the tdc dials, but I have to refer to the XO's box to make sure it displays the correct speed, and even then, I know I'm some fraction of a kt off. Is the dial more historically correct as it is? Then why did the Germans make things hard for themselves? That last question was rhetorical. What is logical for German engineers might differ in myriad ways from what is logical to me.

Do we now have a Return to Course button?. If not, I can just use advanced shift keys.
I made a 360deg bearing plotter for your mod. You might include one--as is, the map tools make it labor intensive to know the relative and true bearing of the target--my bearing plotter solves the issue. I made mine 512 x 512 and only 1000m in diameter. It's not much good for plotting intercept ranges, but it doesn't overflow my screen at the two highest zoom levels either. All I want it for is true bearing to the target. I can use the ruler for range.

Here's a question--isn't the radar antenna extensible? So shouldn't there be a crew command button to extend/retract it? XO's station? He extends and retracts everything else.

Anyway, that's enough questions, etc. for now. Again, looking foreward to the new version.
Love the mod.


PS. How do I make a Scope Graticule dds file that will light-up (become luminescent) when the lights come on at night? By making the color white, my dds lit up for the obs periscope, but the attack scope markings stayed black.

PPS:

I have just gotten to this stage so have only tried it on this 1 target so far - But if it works for 1 it should work for all

Well, maybe, maybe not. I was seeing some discrepancies. It could be something I was doing wrong. I had a Hog's Island reading perfectly by the RAOBF at 1200m at 90deg, but my Large Steamer at 2000m at 90deg was showing a little off--and with the RAOBF, a little off in terms of graticules turns into big differences in terms of AOB readings. The difference between 70 AOB and 90 AOB is a smidge. It's hard to know where the error comes from. Are the models perfectly proportioned and do they exactly correspond to the maual data? How accurately did I place the ship in the editor (not a precise tool by any stretch)? A fudge of one pixel using the Stadimeter can give errors in the tens of meters, like 50m difference--more depending on range. The scales on the RAOBF itself are anything but precise. Where exactly is 147 on the dial? This is less science than Art.

I told you I was obsessive.

[wetwarev7]

I would just like to say one thing.

Wow

[reaper7]

Originally Posted by nodlew

Looks great, R7. Now I can open the Torpedo selection panel and still read the scope bearing. The work on the RAOBF Markings.dds looks perfect. I like your mod so much I found some freeware on the net (Paint.NET) and learned some enough about editing .dds files to make my own RAOBF markings file so I could play using your mod in the interim while awaiting your reworking of it. Here's my homemade scope RAOBF graticules...

Nicely made, better be carefull or you'll catch the Modding Bug .


Looking foreward to trying the new and improved version. I fervently hope that the Obs. periscope bug (raising when not in use) has been fixed. You didn't mention anything about that. As things stand, I still just ignore the Obs. Periscope to circumvent the problem.

Hopefully its fixed, I haven't been able to reproduce it since I made my current fixes.

I see new buttons related to the Stadimeter--look foreward to trying them out.

Latest button is a 'Stadimeter' button to go with the 'send range to TDC', now you don't even need to open the XO Rec Man .

Another thing I did, which you might consider--I like the look of your ERM for TDW's UI better than the one you included in your own mod. So I transferred and renamed the dds files to get the same look...

I have been making some small change to my Rec Man, the XO pic is now gone (Its been converted into the Open button).
So when you open the Rec Man there is a large Turn TDC on selection that has to be activated to use the Manual.
Gets around the Noob shoot by numbers.

One question--why did you choose increments of 1.6666 kts (5/3) on the Target Speed Dial in the TDC as opposed to say...1kt? It makes inputting the targets speed a matter of guesswork. I suppose I could put the precise value in using the XO's Dialog Box, but I like using the tdc dials, but I have to refer to the XO's box to make sure it displays the correct speed, and even then, I know I'm some fraction of a kt off. Is the dial more historically correct as it is? Then why did the Germans make things hard for themselves? That last question was rhetorical. What is logical for German engineers might differ in myriad ways from what is logical to me.

I'm afraid that has to do with the game engine. All dials are 360 degrees and the Target speed goes from 0 to 55 in 350 degrees.
This is the way its been since SH3. Hence the drag issue when using the mouse.

Do we now have a Return to Course button?. If not, I can just use advanced shift keys.

Will be including it in next release, hopefully soon.

I made a 360deg bearing plotter for your mod. You might include one--as is, the map tools make it labor intensive to know the relative and true bearing of the target--my bearing plotter solves the issue. I made mine 512 x 512 and only 1000m in diameter. It's not much good for plotting intercept ranges, but it doesn't overflow my screen at the two highest zoom levels either. All I want it for is true bearing to the target. I can use the ruler for range.

Sure, PM me for send details. Thanks

Here's a question--isn't the radar antenna extensible? So shouldn't there be a crew command button to extend/retract it? XO's station? He extends and retracts everything else.

Not sure is there a Command for this, will have a look.
If there is I can add an order for this to the XO orders.

Anyway, that's enough questions, etc. for now. Again, looking foreward to the new version.
Love the mod.


PS. How do I make a Scope Graticule dds file that will light-up (become luminescent) when the lights come on at night? By making the color white, my dds lit up for the obs periscope, but the attack scope markings stayed black.

I'm afraid the Devs messed up on this. You can only use the SH4 trick to get night graticules with the Attack scope.
I have the attack scope working this way, while the Obs I had to script.

PPS:

Well, maybe, maybe not. I was seeing some discrepancies. It could be something I was doing wrong. I had a Hog's Island reading perfectly by the RAOBF at 1200m at 90deg, but my Large Steamer at 2000m at 90deg was showing a little off--and with the RAOBF, a little off in terms of graticules turns into big differences in terms of AOB readings. The difference between 70 AOB and 90 AOB is a smidge. It's hard to know where the error comes from. Are the models perfectly proportioned and do they exactly correspond to the maual data? How accurately did I place the ship in the editor (not a precise tool by any stretch)? A fudge of one pixel using the Stadimeter can give errors in the tens of meters, like 50m difference--more depending on range. The scales on the RAOBF itself are anything but precise. Where exactly is 147 on the dial? This is less science than Art.

That I can't answer, its possible the data in the config does not match the actual model. Which like you point out can have errors for the RAOBF.
But then again the real thing had this sort of errors too regarding accuracy (Due to the RAOBF being a linear scale rule and exact figures for ships not at hand), so it makes this more accurate for use

I told you I was obsessive.

Originally Posted by wetwarev7

I would just like to say one thing.

Wow

Cheers wetwarev7, next release will be even better

[nodlew]

I made a 360deg bearing plotter for your mod. You might include one--as is, the map tools make it labor intensive to know the relative and true bearing of the target--my bearing plotter solves the issue. I made mine 512 x 512 and only 1000m in diameter. It's not much good for plotting intercept ranges, but it doesn't overflow my screen at the two highest zoom levels either. All I want it for is true bearing to the target. I can use the ruler for range.

Sure, PM me for send details. Thanks

Actually the one I am using is just a scaled down version of the one made by Gisement available in the Downloads section, which I couldn't offer to you without his permission, and I would need to fix the inaccurate range numbers that are still displayed on it, maybe tweak its size to make it just right. I meant that you should maybe include one, didn't mean that the one I am using was the one you should include.

However, I am willing to take a stab at making one. If I make one that I think won't be an embarrassment to us both, I'd be glad to donate it.

I'll get back to you on that.

Happy to hear about the OBS Scope.

edit: Made one out of internet scraps. Needs a little tweaking (I'd like the #s to be clearer, and to have the star points perfectly aligned), but it's yours when it's ready. Two pics at the two highest nav map zooms follow.

[PL_Andrev]

For me this "compass" has to small quality.

[reaper7]

Nice looking compass Nodlew, It could be used with an outer bearing dial.
I may knock one up in AutoCad for my next release if I get some time.


Got the Right TDC Panel done, now for the control dials.
Once again screenshot is at 1440x900, must say I'm pleasantly surprised by the scaling - not as bad a hit on the graphics definition as I expected.
Must take a look at them in 1080P see if I'm getting the 1:1 scaling.




EDIT:
Just had a thought, I think I'll leave these as the default Periscopes as there modeled of the stock periscopes.
And redo a set of addon periscopes to match SteelViking Periscope textures in his excellent Interior V1.1 Mod.
That way it will pull these 2 mods together even nicer .


EDIT2:
Finished the Control Dials,

[SteelViking]

Originally Posted by reaper7

EDIT:
Just had a thought, I think I'll leave these as the default Periscopes as there modeled of the stock periscopes.
And redo a set of addon periscopes to match SteelViking Periscope textures in his excellent Interior V1.1 Mod.
That way it will pull these 2 mods together even nicer .

Hey, thanks reaper7, that would be really cool.

A tip about that bearing overlay, an easy way to clean it up would be to scale the image up to twice the original size using cubic interpolation, and then maybe apply an unsharp mask. You could also apply a de-interlacing filter on the star to make it look nicer.

Reaper I love your mod but is there anyway to take the binos and UZO background back to the original?
Also is it possible to get rid of the red pointer that appears when using the speed dial?
Lastly is there anyway to produce higher definition dials for the 3 bottom left ones?
Also is there a reason why the obs scope rises after i use the binos?
Sorry if you're offended bay these requests as I understand the work you put into them.

[reaper7]

Originally Posted by Barso

Reaper I love your mod but is there anyway to take the binos and UZO background back to the original?
Also is it possible to get rid of the red pointer that appears when using the speed dial?
Lastly is there anyway to produce higher definition dials for the 3 bottom left ones?
Also is there a reason why the obs scope rises after i use the binos?
Sorry if you're offended bay these requests as I understand the work you put into them.

Yes you could overwrite the images in the mod folder with the original ones if wanted. As long as there the same name.
There is also SteelViking vesion available to download from Post 2 of this thread (Addon's).
The next release will have the UZO and binocs cropped more, so you get more viewfinder real-estate.

Really you dont like the Speed handle. I must say it was one of my proudest moments getting it to work .
If you want it gone easiest way would be to make the alpha fully transparent that way the image will be invisible.

That is about as high a resolution that you'll get for dials that size. Only way to get better is to make the dials way bigger too.
Latest version will scale the dials to desktop resolutions - so you could play at 3840x2160 to get better dials size.
Current dials are using 250x250 pixels so even at 1080P you only get 4 dial-faces high at 1:1 ratio.
And the biggest culprit is SH5 with its use of crappy compression dds format. Lots of lose's in the image quality. SH4 used better TGA Format.

Hopefully obs Issue is sorted in next release.

Hope that helps.

Thanks, understandable.
Also when I enter binos view on the bridge the compass doesn't move as I look sideways.

[SteelViking]

Originally Posted by reaper7

And the biggest culprit is SH5 with its use of crappy compression dds format. Lots of lose's in the image quality. SH4 used better TGA Format.

GIMP has an option to save without using compression. That is what I always do to avoid compressional damage(and it is one of the reasons that my downloads are as big as they are). You could switch to it. Just a suggestion, if you are getting a lot of distortion.

Edit: Saving without compression is actually a trick I learned from Conus00 by the way.

[nodlew]

For me this "compass" has to small quality.

Antar--do you mean it's too small? Or its volume of quality is too small (an eccentric way of saying it's a piece of crap)? If you mean the former, well I want mine to be small. You can make yours whatever size you like. If you mean the latter, I agree. So I made another one...

A tip about that bearing overlay, an easy way to clean it up would be to scale the image up to twice the original size using cubic interpolation, and then maybe apply an unsharp mask. You could also apply a de-interlacing filter on the star to make it look nicer.

Thanks for the tip, Viking. I'm still learning what gadgets do what, and finding out what will shrink and expand and what will not. I've been modding .dds files for two days now. I don't know it all by any means. I did discover the Magic Wand button in Paint.net--now that thing comes in handy.

[M1Thompson]

very cool mod. when you release the next version will you make it so the ob scope dosent go up every time you go to a new screen?
thanks

[nodlew]

I fervently hope that the Obs. periscope bug (raising when not in use) has been fixed. You didn't mention anything about that. As things stand, I still just ignore the Obs. Periscope to circumvent the problem.

Hopefully its fixed, I haven't been able to reproduce it since I made my current fixes.

The man believes the problem to be fixed. If you read through R7's posts above (or below, depending on how the page loads) you will see info on fixes/changes.