[WIP] Real Navigation - maps with lighthouses

[sublynx]

I'm playing with the idea of starting simulating real navigation the easy way - deleting the sub picture from the map and then centering the map view to to get an approximate fix of the location of the boat every time that the sun or the stars are seen (a pity that the sunsets and the sun rises are modeled wrongly in the game).

I thought that to try that I would probably need a map of the Brest area which is my current port. I started toying with the idea of making coastal maps based on the game map, and lighthouses added from SH3MissionEditor, and a couple of names for important islands and peninsulas from Google Maps.

This is an example of what I got after an hour of tinkering.



I guess I'll try this, and if I like it I might make some more maps like these. I might then release a lighthouse map mod for those people who like to have a go at manual navigation. Not the whole coasts, but the most important port areas.

(Another way to do this would be editing the game map directly. Adding the lighthouses to that map. But I hate editing that map, because I get the colours all wrong in that and the map is so big that is quite a workload for my old computer.)

[Tycho]

Originally Posted by sublynx

I'm playing with the idea of starting simulating real navigation the easy way - deleting the sub picture from the map and then centering the map view to to get an approximate fix of the location of the boat every time that the sun or the stars are seen.

Liked the idea, will think about, for my future patrols.

[LGN1]

Nice work, sublynx!

You could also mark the lighthouses on the map via neutral bases, e.g., Spanish ones. IIRC, GWX has used this method to show the Moltenort(?) memorial....

Cheers, LGN1

[sublynx]

Adding some of the neutral refueling places is a fun idea! First I need to get my weather fixed though.

[makman94]

very nice idea Sublynx !

coast navigation is a really superb addition to game and very enjoyable doing it
i am really fun of any real navigation ,but once i had discovered some time ago -with the help of Don1reed that celestial navigation is NOT working in sh3 ( here are my findings on the theme: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...1&postcount=57 ) , i find your idea really really superb!

how, will it look ? the user will be able to see the spots in real time in the ingame map (at every zoom level) or will it be something else ?

[sublynx]

Thanks for the headsup makman94 I didn't know that celestial navigation is not working as it should.

At the moment I'm planning on making coastal maps as slide down charts, the same scale that is shown on the idea picture. I think it might be possible to add the lighthouses to the world maps (the RAW files) with a little bit of cutting and pasting between Sh3MissionEditor and the RAW files, but I have an old laptop that hates doing anything to those huge files, and will have to wait for a new computer to have a go at that.

Anyways this idea is going to be on hold for quite some time, as time is limited.

[sublynx]

It turns out that one can edit the world map pretty easily with SH3MissionEditor.



I did this by adding a "Naval Base" over a lighthouse, then named the naval base a lighthouse.

In the map this would probably cause problems - these lighthouses are now friendly bases which you can probably dock in

I would have to try these to see if the problems can be managed. The lighthouses done like this would be seen in every map zoom level, so it's tempting to see if the mod could be done like this.

Another problem is that naming the lighthouses garbles up the higher zoom levels with text that is too close to each other - "Brest" would be partly covered by the lighthouse names.

[sublynx]

It seems I've been trying to reinvent the wheel: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom//sho...t=83652&page=3

Maybe this mod can be found in Maik's archive.

[LGN1]

Originally Posted by sublynx

...
I did this by adding a "Naval Base" over a lighthouse, then named the naval base a lighthouse.

In the map this would probably cause problems - these lighthouses are now friendly bases which you can probably dock in

I would have to try these to see if the problems can be managed. The lighthouses done like this would be seen in every map zoom level, so it's tempting to see if the mod could be done like this.

Another problem is that naming the lighthouses garbles up the higher zoom levels with text that is too close to each other - "Brest" would be partly covered by the lighthouse names.

Hi sublynx,

that's exactly the idea I mentioned in my post above. If you use a neutral, e.g., Spanish, base you cannot dock there. To shorten the text you could abbreviate 'lighthouse', e.g., by 'LH'.

Using this method in my personal setup, I have marked an 'Entrance Point' for each base on the map. It's the most distant point where the harbor patrol passes. When returning to my home base, I wait there until the harbor patrol passes and follow the ship into the harbor (to spice things up I have put a random mine-field between this point and the bunker This forces me to follow the escort closely (in the shadow) and guarantees a thrilling return to the base. Now the last few km to the base are dangerous as it was historically).

Regards, LGN1

[BigWalleye]

Originally Posted by LGN1

Hi sublynx,

that's exactly the idea I mentioned in my post above. If you use a neutral, e.g., Spanish, base you cannot dock there. To shorten the text you could abbreviate 'lighthouse', e.g., by 'LH'.

Using this method in my personal setup, I have marked an 'Entrance Point' for each base on the map. It's the most distant point where the harbor patrol passes. When returning to my home base, I wait there until the harbor patrol passes and follow the ship into the harbor (to spice things up I have put a random mine-field between this point and the bunker This forces me to follow the escort closely (in the shadow) and guarantees a thrilling return to the base. Now the last few km to the base are dangerous as it was historically).

Regards, LGN1

Sounds cool! How do you generate the random minefield? SH3C?

[sublynx]

Sorry LGN1, it seems I somehow missed your idea, maybe the fact that I had not used Sh3MissionEditor much before, made the solution look too complicated to me.

I'll try to have a look at Sergbuto's lighthouse mod and see if a combi lighthouse / entrance point mod would be possible with relatively little effort.

[makman94]

Originally Posted by sublynx

It turns out that one can edit the world map pretty easily with SH3MissionEditor.



I did this by adding a "Naval Base" over a lighthouse, then named the naval base a lighthouse.

In the map this would probably cause problems - these lighthouses are now friendly bases which you can probably dock in

I would have to try these to see if the problems can be managed. The lighthouses done like this would be seen in every map zoom level, so it's tempting to see if the mod could be done like this.

Another problem is that naming the lighthouses garbles up the higher zoom levels with text that is too close to each other - "Brest" would be partly covered by the lighthouse names.

Yes, thats it !!
if player can see the spots in the ingame map then coastal navigation will be very comfort for the user and will have a lot of fun !

Originally Posted by sublynx

It seems I've been trying to reinvent the wheel: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom//sho...t=83652&page=3

Maybe this mod can be found in Maik's archive.

i have not this mod but i am thinking that there are two things that must be checked in this mod for coastal navigation use:
1. does the spots on the map are exactly on the locations of the lighthouses ?
2. i have the sense that Sergbuto have added some (not many) lighthouses here and there. but if we are talking for 5-10 lighthouses here and there then a greater number of lighthouses must be added

[sublynx]

I had a look at Sergbuto's mod, but I'm not going to start adding the lighthouses in those mods. Too much work for me at the moment, at least.

Instead I just added the lighthouses on the French coast. Almost every port has 3 - 4 lights, but I didn't mark every light in a port, as the ports are lit up anyways. I did add the lighthouses that are not inside the cities.

I also did add the end point of the mine escorts run for Brest, which is my home port right now. I had quick run from Brest too see how it works:



It is promising. Here's the file, in case somebody wants to try this:

http://www.2shared.com/file/a4hEy2AL...M36F_beta.html

This experimental file has only one file: campaign_lnd.mis, and it is a file that is NYGM 3.6F specific. It should work with h.sie v16b and Stiebler 4c as well.

Lighthouses are marked:
/I

and the spot where the mine escort from Brest ends his loop:
o

[álvaro]

@ sublynx: Great, Great work. It´s fantastic....thanks very much.

[LGN1]

Nice work, sublynx!

Now add a mine-field between point "o" and the base and you will have a thrilling start and end of each patrol because you have to cross a mine-field before you can go hunting and before celebrating a safe return.

Regards, LGN1