[WIP] Officer's Quarters Interior Project

Captain America · 08-20-09, 01:22 AM

OFFICERS’ COUNTRY

Edit: UPDATED 6/11/10

I’ve always wanted to model the interior of a submarine but the lack of time and motivation has always prevented me. Recently, I was inspired by the excellent work done by Ducimus and Vickers03 in merging the uboat RR with the US subs for TMO 1.8. I started messing around with their work with the intentions of only tweaking a couple of areas. Well….one thing led to another and I ended up making a new interior from scratch.

This project is a learning process. There are many areas that are unfamiliar territory for me. Therefore I am going to need all the help I can get. That is the reason for this work-in-progress thread; to collect as much feedback and technical data as possible to aid the creation process. The success/completion of this mod greatly depends on this.

If anyone has any photos/drawings or technical information regarding the Officer’s Quarters compartment on a Gato, Balao or
Tench class submarine please do not hesitate to share.

Note: Due to all the work done by Ducimus, Vickers03 and the community in general, this interior will be built upon the latest version of TMO.

------------------------------
About the Interior:
------------------------------
The goal is to create the entire Officers’ Quarters compartment a.k.a. Officers’ Country. Due to the lack of a definitive source, all interior geometry is based on various sources of the Balao submarine interior.

My primary source is the USS Ling since I have physical access to her. I have personally visited the Ling on many occasions and was able to take a good amount of photos to help.

USS Ling:
http://www.njnm.com/

My other two secondary sources are the USS Pampanito and USS Cod. Both subs have been restored and are in excellent
condition. The Pampanito has a very complete high quality virtual tour of the interior and has proven very useful to the
project.

USS Pampanito:
http://www.maritime.org/tour/ct.php?pano=fl <--Virtual Tour

USS Cod:
http://www.usscod.org/tour.html
http://www.pbase.com/pixelpusher2/cod&page=all
http://peanutbutterandpickles.blogsp...24-part-2.html

Thanks to Nuc who provided the links, I am using a slightly modified version of SS 381’s blueprints for the layout and scale.

During my research I found that there are many variations between the officers’ quarters compartments even though they are all in the same class (Balao). The different configurations depended on manufacturer and construction date. Couple this with the fact that many of the subs on display today have undergone several modifications/restorations since WWII which make it hard to ascertain what is “original” and what is “new”.

Due to the above, I am not modeling the interior to specifically match any one source. I have decided to use “a little bit of each” to create something in the “likeness” of the real thing.

------------------------------
Performance:
------------------------------
A beautiful interior does no good if it makes the game lag. I was told that sh4 is not optimized like sh5 to have fully rendered interiors so we have to be very careful not to go overboard with complex geometry. Things get even more taxing once we throw in animations, clickable objects and extra textures to the mix. Even sh5 uses low polys in many areas; it’s the lightmap/shadows that help hide this and make everything look more realistic.

I want to point out that I am being very conscious about performance while modeling the interior. I am using low polys
wherever possible and only saving the higher polys for areas where the player’s most attention would be. I have set a quota on the amount of triangles/faces for the interior based on my observations of what the developers used for the existing compartments. Some compromises have to be made in the eye candy department, especially if I or anyone else plans on adding additional compartments in the future.

------------------------------
Compartment Layout:
------------------------------

Most rooms will be fully rendered with some exceptions undecided as of yet. To help with performance, some of the undecided rooms may end up not being modeled at all or with some very simple geometry just in case the player wanders in.

• Captain’s Stateroom –Full Detail
• Chief Petty Officers Stateroom -undecided
• Junior Officers Stateroom #1 -undecided
• Junior Officers Stateroom #2 -undecided
• Wardroom –Full Detail
• Yeoman’s Office –Full Detail
• Officer’s Galley/Pantry –Full Detail
• Store Room -Not Modeled

------------------------------
Renders:
------------------------------
Note the following renders are a work-in-progress; there is a lot of work to be done yet.

Captain's State Room 6/11/10

Comparison #1

Comparison #2

Comparison #3

Misc. Renders:

More renders comming soon....

Captain America · 08-20-09, 01:22 AM

reserved for future use...

vickers03 · 08-20-09, 01:40 AM

wow this really looks like something!

miner1436 · 08-20-09, 02:17 AM

Wow, this will really add to the immersion, very nice.

razark · 08-20-09, 08:38 AM

Wow. Nice to see someone working on this. I'm looking forwardto seeing a complete version.

keltos01 · 08-20-09, 08:50 AM

very nice indeed

so if you progress from stern to bow, next is the torpedo room

keltos

ETR3(SS) · 08-20-09, 08:54 AM

Outstanding! Just pick another color other than sea foam green, reminds me of the engine room on my boat.

Capt.Warner · 08-20-09, 03:23 PM

Nice

Bartolomeus · 08-20-09, 04:10 PM

Looks very good! Great work!

Carotio · 08-20-09, 05:23 PM

I'm wishing you the best of enjoyment of work with this project, and should you get stuck somewhere, maybe Tomi who works on the uboat interiors may have some suggestions, one might never know....

Anyway, will look forward to see this ingame some day...

virtualpender · 08-20-09, 08:05 PM

Amazing. This will be so immersive.

Thank you!

Captain America · 08-22-09, 01:02 AM

Thanks to everyone for the very nice comments.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ETR3(SS)

Outstanding! Just pick another color other than sea foam green, reminds me of the engine room on my boat.

I hear you. I think I would commit suicide if I had to stay in that cabin for a long period of time.

The German captains were pimpin it with all that sexy woodwork compared to the boring US subs.

I'm keeping everything consistent so all of the wall coloring will be the same off-white/yellow the game uses.

Today's minor update:

The Yeoman's office needed a typewriter. I couldn't use the one ingame because its an enigma machine and wouldn't fit in the US sub. So I stole the keys from it and made a new housing based on the brand used at that time (Underwood).

Hasn't been textured yet.

I've also added some more objects to the captain's bed...phone and bed light. I plan on making some objects clickable (more on that later).

Captain America · 08-24-09, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carotio

I'm wishing you the best of enjoyment of work with this project, and should you get stuck somewhere, maybe Tomi who works on the uboat interiors may have some suggestions, one might never know....

Anyway, will look forward to see this ingame some day...

Thx for the kind words Carotio.

I just did a search on Tomi's work...omg his work is amazing! I can't believe I missed something like that. He is very talented and boy does he work fast. I'm sure he would definately be the man to talk to regarding the interior. Thanks for the heads up.

EDIT:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubblehead1980

Look forward this is finished and maybe incorporated into TMO

Sorry, I guess I should have clarified this in my first post...This mod is for TMO. The work Ducimus and Vickers03 have done is what inspired me to do this in the first place. So much work/improvements have gone into TMO's .dat file over a long period of time that it would a sin to put this interior into the vanilla version.

I haven't seen LukeFF lately but he knows he's always welcome to use it in RFB and I always offer my help to do so. Besides, it should be easy to just cut and paste the new nodes from the .dat file and place it into a .dat file of choice with S3D.

keltos01 · 08-25-09, 12:00 AM

For the animation, ask Skwasjer

he helped me with our IJN Kaiten screw and detonator animation.

will you be able to actually go in that room or is is to been seen through the open hatch ?

beautiful work, I guess that's how they make SH5

keltos

Bubblehead1980 · 08-22-09, 04:21 PM

Great job so far, keep up the good work.Really would add to SH 4...something UBI should have done to begin with, maybe one day they will do the PTO fleetboats justice.Look forward this is finished and maybe incorporated into TMO

08-20-09, 08:50 AM	#6
keltos01 Silent Hunter Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Milan Italy Posts: 4,999 Downloads: 114 Uploads: 18	very nice indeed so if you progress from stern to bow, next is the torpedo room keltos __________________ "Honorable Builder of Sinking Ships"

08-20-09, 08:54 AM	#7
ETR3(SS) Ocean Warrior Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Between test depth and periscope depth Posts: 3,021 Downloads: 175 Uploads: 16	Outstanding! Just pick another color other than sea foam green, reminds me of the engine room on my boat. __________________ USS Kentucky SSBN 737 (G) Comms Div 2003-2006 Qualified 19 November 03 Yes I was really on a submarine.

08-20-09, 03:23 PM	#8
Capt.Warner Lieutenant Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean Posts: 262 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	Nice __________________

08-20-09, 04:10 PM	#9
Bartolomeus Planesman Join Date: May 2005 Location: Germany Posts: 190 Downloads: 33 Uploads: 0	Looks very good! Great work! __________________

08-20-09, 05:23 PM	#10
Carotio Mr. Bad Wolf Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Aabenraa, Denmark Posts: 1,488 Downloads: 47 Uploads: 0	I'm wishing you the best of enjoyment of work with this project, and should you get stuck somewhere, maybe Tomi who works on the uboat interiors may have some suggestions, one might never know.... Anyway, will look forward to see this ingame some day... __________________ Download my mods from SHMF Follow my photography here taler dansk, speak English, spreche Deutsch, parle français, forstår svenska/norsk, comprendo castellano

08-20-09, 01:22 AM	#1
Captain America Planesman Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: The Good Ole Red White & Blue Posts: 193 Downloads: 167 Uploads: 0	[WIP] Officer's Quarters Interior Project OFFICERS’ COUNTRY Edit: UPDATED 6/11/10 I’ve always wanted to model the interior of a submarine but the lack of time and motivation has always prevented me. Recently, I was inspired by the excellent work done by Ducimus and Vickers03 in merging the uboat RR with the US subs for TMO 1.8. I started messing around with their work with the intentions of only tweaking a couple of areas. Well….one thing led to another and I ended up making a new interior from scratch. This project is a learning process. There are many areas that are unfamiliar territory for me. Therefore I am going to need all the help I can get. That is the reason for this work-in-progress thread; to collect as much feedback and technical data as possible to aid the creation process. The success/completion of this mod greatly depends on this. If anyone has any photos/drawings or technical information regarding the Officer’s Quarters compartment on a Gato, Balao or Tench class submarine please do not hesitate to share. Note: Due to all the work done by Ducimus, Vickers03 and the community in general, this interior will be built upon the latest version of TMO. ------------------------------ About the Interior: ------------------------------ The goal is to create the entire Officers’ Quarters compartment a.k.a. Officers’ Country. Due to the lack of a definitive source, all interior geometry is based on various sources of the Balao submarine interior. My primary source is the USS Ling since I have physical access to her. I have personally visited the Ling on many occasions and was able to take a good amount of photos to help. USS Ling: http://www.njnm.com/ My other two secondary sources are the USS Pampanito and USS Cod. Both subs have been restored and are in excellent condition. The Pampanito has a very complete high quality virtual tour of the interior and has proven very useful to the project. USS Pampanito: http://www.maritime.org/tour/ct.php?pano=fl <--Virtual Tour USS Cod: http://www.usscod.org/tour.html http://www.pbase.com/pixelpusher2/cod&page=all http://peanutbutterandpickles.blogsp...24-part-2.html Thanks to Nuc who provided the links, I am using a slightly modified version of *SS 381’s blueprints for the layout and scale. During my research I found that there are many variations between the officers’ quarters compartments even though they are all in the same class (Balao). The different configurations depended on manufacturer and construction date. Couple this with the fact that many of the subs on display today have undergone several modifications/restorations since WWII which make it hard to ascertain what is “original” and what is “new”. Due to the above, I am not modeling the interior to specifically match any one source. I have decided to use “a little bit of each” to create something in the “likeness” of the real thing. ------------------------------* Performance: ------------------------------ A beautiful interior does no good if it makes the game lag. I was told that sh4 is not optimized like sh5 to have fully rendered interiors so we have to be very careful not to go overboard with complex geometry. Things get even more taxing once we throw in animations, clickable objects and extra textures to the mix. Even sh5 uses low polys in many areas; it’s the lightmap/shadows that help hide this and make everything look more realistic. I want to point out that I am being very conscious about performance while modeling the interior. I am using low polys wherever possible and only saving the higher polys for areas where the player’s most attention would be. I have set a quota on the amount of triangles/faces for the interior based on my observations of what the developers used for the existing compartments. Some compromises have to be made in the eye candy department, especially if I or anyone else plans on adding additional compartments in the future. ------------------------------ Compartment Layout: ------------------------------ Most rooms will be fully rendered with some exceptions undecided as of yet. To help with performance, some of the undecided rooms may end up not being modeled at all or with some very simple geometry just in case the player wanders in. • Captain’s Stateroom –Full Detail • Chief Petty Officers Stateroom -undecided • Junior Officers Stateroom #1 -undecided • Junior Officers Stateroom #2 -undecided • Wardroom –Full Detail • Yeoman’s Office –Full Detail • Officer’s Galley/Pantry –Full Detail • Store Room -Not Modeled ------------------------------ Renders: ------------------------------ Note the following renders are a work-in-progress; there is a lot of work to be done yet. Captain's State Room 6/11/10 Comparison #1 Comparison #2 Comparison #3 Misc. Renders: More renders comming soon.... Last edited by Captain America; 06-11-10 at 03:20 AM. Reason: Update

08-20-09, 01:40 AM	#3
vickers03 Pooped from posting Join Date: May 2007 Location: germany Posts: 999 Downloads: 712 Uploads: 37	wow this really looks like something!

08-20-09, 02:17 AM	#4
miner1436 Grey Wolf Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 808 Downloads: 108 Uploads: 3	Wow, this will really add to the immersion, very nice.

08-20-09, 08:38 AM	#5
razark Ocean Warrior Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 2,731 Downloads: 393 Uploads: 12	Wow. Nice to see someone working on this. I'm looking forwardto seeing a complete version.

08-20-09, 08:05 PM	#11
virtualpender Sonar Guy Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 381 Downloads: 281 Uploads: 0	Amazing. This will be so immersive. Thank you!

08-25-09, 12:00 AM	#14
keltos01 Silent Hunter Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Milan Italy Posts: 4,999 Downloads: 114 Uploads: 18	For the animation, ask Skwasjer he helped me with our IJN Kaiten screw and detonator animation. will you be able to actually go in that room or is is to been seen through the open hatch ? beautiful work, I guess that's how they make SH5 keltos __________________ "Honorable Builder of Sinking Ships"

08-22-09, 04:21 PM	#15
Bubblehead1980 Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Florida USA Posts: 7,104 Downloads: 605 Uploads: 44	Great job so far, keep up the good work.Really would add to SH 4...something UBI should have done to begin with, maybe one day they will do the PTO fleetboats justice.Look forward this is finished and maybe incorporated into TMO