[WIP] enhanced funnel smoke

Originally I was just going to mod the warships to have lighter funnel smoke, but iambecomelife had mentioned something about having the older coalburner merchants having thicker smoke, soooo . . .

This is what the three types of funnel smoke look like at a distance:



These are close-ups; first is a warship:



Next is a more modern merchant:



Finally the older coal-burners:



These may, or may not, be final versions, based upon your feedback. This is your chance Kaleuns.

I've spent hours digging up photos of WWII merchants and warships, comparing their funnel smokes and trying to create something that --if it doesn't exactly match, at least comes close. One thing I did notice was that it seemed as if when the merchants were actually cruising at speed they gave off little to no smoke . . . which surprised me. I'm hoping our resident historical experts might be able to enlighten me here.

Once I've finalized the smokes, next I'll be incorporating them into the appropriate ships. Which will also be 'fun'. Deciding which are warships is a piece of cake, but I'm not sure what criteria to use to sort merchants into the older, smokier kinds versus more modern, less smoky. Again, I'll appreciate any advice here!

Albrecht

[Ivan Putski]

Looks pretty good Albrecht, I remember seeing a lot of those old coal burners, be a nice addition, as there were plenty of them around. Puts

[Wolfehunter]

Damb great work dude. Is it possible to add multiple dark greys and browns to the smoke? Or is that alot of work?

[HundertzehnGustav]

:hmm:

[mengle]

Originally Posted by Mikhayl

Looking good, man you're really an addict Just a thought, I don't know how it was in real life, but maybe it would be cool to have the smoke particles last longer to let them climb higher in the sky. That would make a nice effect when you track a convoy over the horizon.

i agrea with that, but i like the 3 also
you are making great mods you know

Originally Posted by Mikhayl

Looking good, man you're really an addict Just a thought, I don't know how it was in real life, but maybe it would be cool to have the smoke particles last longer to let them climb higher in the sky. That would make a nice effect when you track a convoy over the horizon.

LOL!!!!!

I've been trying!!

I just can't figure out how. Trying to increase the life results in cyclic puffs instead of a single non-stop stream. I have a bald spot from pulling out my hair trying to figure out how to increase the overall lifetime. Help?

@Wolfehunter: Given my limited knowledge of things I'd have to say yes, it is possible. I'm just not sure how to do that. I think what's needed is to create additional smoke materials then intermingle them with the original smoke materials. I think. I'm also not sure what that'd look like either. If I had a color shot of their real funnel smokes that'd help. I'm prolly going to leave it just as it is unless the general consensus is that, yes, black/brown/dark grey smoke would be nifty.

[Wolfehunter]

Originally Posted by Albrecht Von Hesse

@Wolfehunter: Given my limited knowledge of things I'd have to say yes, it is possible. I'm just not sure how to do that. I think what's needed is to create additional smoke materials then intermingle them with the original smoke materials. I think. I'm also not sure what that'd look like either. If I had a color shot of their real funnel smokes that'd help. I'm prolly going to leave it just as it is unless the general consensus is that, yes, black/brown/dark grey smoke would be nifty.

Thats cool I understand.. One more thing if its not impossible but most probable and if its with-in your abilities is :hmm: to prevent the smoke from randomly disapearing and have it flow away into the sky. I know RB was looking at that in the passed but he's on extended shoreleave.

Thanks AVH.

[ichso]

The screenshots look quite good

Another question I have is whether the effective range at which those ships can be spotted needs to be further adjusted then too.

Because you would expect an old freighter with a large stack of smoke on top to be seen much earlier than a DD which produces way less funnel smoke.

Or is this feature already included somewhere else ? GWX for example ? :hmm:

[Jimbuna]

Looks very promising Albrecht

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Albrecht Von Hesse

Originally I was just going to mod the warships to have lighter funnel smoke, but iambecomelife had mentioned something about having the older coalburner merchants having thicker smoke, soooo . . .

This is what the three types of funnel smoke look like at a distance:



These are close-ups; first is a warship:



Next is a more modern merchant:



Finally the older coal-burners:



These may, or may not, be final versions, based upon your feedback. This is your chance Kaleuns.

I've spent hours digging up photos of WWII merchants and warships, comparing their funnel smokes and trying to create something that --if it doesn't exactly match, at least comes close. One thing I did notice was that it seemed as if when the merchants were actually cruising at speed they gave off little to no smoke . . . which surprised me. I'm hoping our resident historical experts might be able to enlighten me here.

Once I've finalized the smokes, next I'll be incorporating them into the appropriate ships. Which will also be 'fun'. Deciding which are warships is a piece of cake, but I'm not sure what criteria to use to sort merchants into the older, smokier kinds versus more modern, less smoky. Again, I'll appreciate any advice here!

Albrecht

There's one pretty good rule of thumb - tall, thin funnels were used on old coal burners. The tall stack was needed to keep soot and cinders away from the decks. Diesel-driven ships and some of the more modern steamers (constructed circa 1935-1945) could get away with having shorter stacks. In general, this also makes smokestacks an excellent way to identify when a ship was built. There were a few companies that liked the "retro" look and kept tall stacks on modern vessels, but this was so rare I wouldn't worry about it.




Steam Tanker - Built in 1922



Motor Tanker - Built 1942

For the default ships I would suggest:

MODERN/LESS SMOKE - Liberty Ship, Victory Ship, C-3 Cargo, NKLS, Troopship, T-2, T-3, Small Merchant, Small Tanker

OLD/MORE SMOKE - Coastal Merchant, AMC

Although the Liberty and Victory were steamers, and could possibly go either way.

[Letum]

There are one or two coal burning destroyers in ganme, right?
Clemsen class?

[Hitman]

This is a great leap forward

One thing I did notice was that it seemed as if when the merchants were actually cruising at speed they gave off little to no smoke

Only coal steamers had noticeable smoke plumes, and by day (When most pictures were taken) sometimes convoys reduced speed to make themselves less visible. I have readed however lots of reports from Kaleuns mentioning the very visible smoke plumes over the horizon, so they were certainly a danger for the convoys.

Also, once the steam has reached enough pressure, it gets released with every piston push together with the normal smoke of burning coal through the funnel, thus making it a bit clearer, light grey. Steam ships make therefore more smoke when heating up the steam than once having reached operational pressure.

[msalama]

Man. You ROCK. First the enchanced ASW - which I use and enjoy immensely - and now this... among the other things you're working on ATM, that is

Now where's that fanclub at??? Gotta join up.

[ozzysoldier]

nice one

I've added browns and greys to the coal-burners. It's not terribly noticible but it's there. Is this what you were looking for?



@iambecomelife: Thanks!! That's the sort of info I was needing. That'll be a great way to sort them out: by funnel/stack height. Now I just have to create a monster convoy of one-of-each and look through them. --wry grin--

@Letum: Good question. If there are any warships that should have the darker smokes please let me know and I'll make sure they have them.

Thanks everyone, for your kind words and encouragement!