[REL] Smaller Sea Plants 1.0

[CaptainCox]

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/SUBSIGUScopy.png
SMALLER SEA PLANTS 1.0
MADE BY
CAPTAIN COX

Was fiddling with the "sea plants" trying to do a tweakfile.
The problem is that the code in the "undersea.dat" is so cluttered with
stuff its hard to identify what holds the sizes, same goes for the
"Rocks" in that file. So i did it the dirty way, using a graphic tweak.

STOCK

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/PLANTSTOCK.jpg

SMALLER

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/PLANTSMALL.jpg

Tried to tweak the Rocks but so far no go. Will do some more work in the hex editor.


Comes in two sizes, Small and Medium.

Install:
Simply use with JSGME
If you don't have it get it here:
http://www.users.on.net/~jscones/software/products.html (http://www.users.on.net/~jscones/software/products.html)

Enjoy!

The Subsim download section!

Rocks: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...do=file&id=540 (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=540)
Plants: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...do=file&id=538 (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=538)

[BBury]

Yes! Very cool CaptainCox! Just what I've been waiting for. :up:

[GuillermoZS]

Cool! Thanks :up:

[TheBrauerHour]

Thank you for doing this!! Now I am no longer in a midget sub, lol

[XanderF]

Hmm...I dunno, ocean plants in the South Pacific get pretty massive.

I'll grant that the original might be a tad too large in spots, but the new one is FAR too small. More like land plants, really.

[Ark]

Great! :D

No more SHIV:Wolves of the Jurassic Ocean

[CaptainCox]

Hmm...I dunno, ocean plants in the South Pacific get pretty massive.

I'll grant that the original might be a tad too large in spots, but the new one is FAR too small. More like land plants, really.I think you are talking about Kelp...And Kelp don't look like that, whatever... The plants I sized to are about 1-2m, maybe 5-6m (medium)...stock...more like

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/PLANTSTOCK-1.jpg

For me it was more important to see the bottom clearly and have some plants rather then chasing something that is basically impossible to get right as there is no"FIXED" size for plants, as plant life varies all over...from small to big what have you.

Actually if some one finds some "GOOD" "CLEAN" pics of pacific sea plants, please post, as its not that hard to put in game. Currently we are limited to 1 sort of plant (the game resize it to look random)

[DiveMonkey]

CaptainCox, Do you take request?




Could the icons be made to about 75% of their current size
Or 25% smaller?...Data\Terrain\LocationMaps\ O_BaseStop.dds...to...O_Target_G.dds

Thanks for the new plants :up:

PS. I tried reducing them but couldnt get em to save as DDS.

[akdavis]

Hmm...I dunno, ocean plants in the South Pacific get pretty massive.

I'll grant that the original might be a tad too large in spots, but the new one is FAR too small. More like land plants, really.

There are no massive ocean plants in the South Pacific. In fact, there a few plants at all at 100 ft. The plants in the game are pure fantasy. The only place there should be "sea grass" is sandly flats less than 20 ft. deep.

[Der Graf Von Rudklide]

Again - Superb work Thanx :up:

[CaptainCox]

Was playing around with this for a bit...you can basically do what you want. But the way these textures are applied makes them look very 2d if you have a compact object, that's why the stock plants are sort a leafing out to hide that.

Anyhow just a test here.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/plants.jpg

[ReallyDedPoet]

Nice work:up:

RDP

[Iron Budokan]

That looks much, much better, thank you!

[U-Bones]

Major improvement, Thanks !

[Julius Caesar]

nice! wasnt expecting this mod...

[CaptainCox]

CaptainCox, Do you take request?
Could the icons be made to about 75% of their current size
Or 25% smaller?...Data\Terrain\LocationMaps\ O_BaseStop.dds...to...O_Target_G.dds

Thanks for the new plants :up:

PS. I tried reducing them but couldn't get em to save as DDS. The stuff I sent you did not have the MIP maps included :P anyway I think this is controlled by a "Zone" line somewhere, as I tested with MIP maps and could not really see any difference. Maybe because I only resized them to 75%...could try like 20% or something just to see if one can see any effect

[Redwine]

Nice ! :up: Many thanks ! :up:

No more "sequoia" algae ! :p

[sqk7744]

Bravo!

[kakemann]

Great work again! :up:

[DiveMonkey]

CaptainCox, Do you take request?
Could the icons be made to about 75% of their current size
Or 25% smaller?...Data\Terrain\LocationMaps\ O_BaseStop.dds...to...O_Target_G.dds

Thanks for the new plants :up:

PS. I tried reducing them but couldn't get em to save as DDS. The stuff I sent you did not have the MIP maps included :P anyway I think this is controlled by a "Zone" line somewhere, as I tested with MIP maps and could not really see any difference. Maybe because I only resized them to 75%...could try like 20% or something just to see if one can see any effect

Np, Captain :up:
thought I'd ask while you were resizing plants.
Thanks again for all the mods\artwork, it really adds to the game.

[Alex]

@ CC : Is it possible to have MANY sizes of plants ? Just wondering, cause it would be cool... Same for the rocks... :lol:

But it's already a nice job you did reducing the size of plants ! Thanks ! :up:

[CaptainCox]

Well I guess there is as there are 13 different sizes of the "one plant" and fourteen rock sizes all controlled by the "undersea.dat". As i said earlier, the "undersea.dat" is very cluttered with code, there is no clear indication as to where the sizes are like with torpedoes or the cameras etc. I guess someone more experienced "hex" guy could look at it it, I will as well, but its really trial and error.

Just to give you an example of the code.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/rockhex1.jpg

As a comparison, another block of code for another rock.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/rockhex2.jpg

[Alex]

its really trial and error.

I see... :huh:
We need a very skilled hex editor, then. :-?

But apart from the fact that many sizes of plants would be nice to have, let me tell you one more time that your work looks better than the original version. Congrats, and thanks ! :rock:

[dean_acheson]

Thanks very much Capt. Cox, this was something that really bothered me, now it looks great!

[U-Bones]

There is not a lot to go on in that code block. I am sitting here trying to guess how many time you changed a bit and reloaded a mission...

VERY hard job, nice work !

[CaptainCox]

I know, its sort of a Gordian knot...I can't think of anywhere else that holds this stuff, especially the sizes for the rocks.

[WilhelmTell]

Thank you so much for this mod. I was waiting for it for such a long time. I even tried to do it by myself with resizing the image, which didn't work.
Again, thank you, Captain Cox !

Regards,
Tell

[W_clear]

Nice work:up: THANKS.

[SimJack]

How about doing away with the rocks? Never seen any like that in the ocean at shallow depths (40 feet or so), whether in the Atlantic, Pacific, or Gulf of Mexico. :huh:

[CaptainCox]

How about doing away with the rocks? Never seen any like that in the ocean at shallow depths (40 feet or so), whether in the Atlantic, Pacific, or Gulf of Mexico. :huh:If you read further up in this thread I explain about the problems to size the rocks, believe me that's something I would do right away if it was that easy. Its all in that "undersea.dat" just have to figure where. Its basically 3D models mapped with 2 different textures. In case of the plants it was easy as I could work on the size only by tweaking the bitmap size. Its a different story with the rocks. I will be fiddling with it now and then, also if some other peeps could chip in on this one, it would be much appreciated.

[SimJack]

How about doing away with the rocks? Never seen any like that in the ocean at shallow depths (40 feet or so), whether in the Atlantic, Pacific, or Gulf of Mexico. :huh:If you read further up in this thread I explain about the problems to size the rocks, believe me that's something I would do right away if it was that easy. Its all in that "undersea.dat" just have to figure where. Its basically 3D models mapped with 2 different textures. In case of the plants it was easy as I could work on the size only by tweaking the bitmap size. Its a different story with the rocks. I will be fiddling with it now and then, also if some other peeps could chip in on this one, it would be much appreciated.



I thought the rocks were in a separate file.........ooops:oops:

[Maltro]

Got it !:up:

[ReallyDedPoet]

This one is nice as well:up:

RDP

[Snacko]

I am having a problem with this mod. I'm using the Mod Enabler tool to add and remove this mod, but I don't see any changes. I verified that the new file was installed correctly by looking at the filesize and date/time. So, it was installed, but the small plants don't seem to show up.

Do I have to be in a certain part of the ocean? Or at certain bottom depths?

Here's what it looks like 'after' I install the Small mod:
http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/671/sh4img262007133117406qq3.th.png (http://img382.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sh4img262007133117406qq3.png) http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/3291/sh4img262007135540265qg0.th.png (http://img107.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sh4img262007135540265qg0.png)

[CaptainCox]

Have you checked that you don't have a file within a file in JSGME. Like when you unzip and it creates a "Main" folder with the same name but the actual file is inside? But if you have checked the size...? plain weird.

And, no its only one type plant in the whole game

[Snacko]

Yea, I'm pretty sure I did it all correctly. I have many mods installed using that tool.

Here is what it looks like installed. Looks correct to me.
http://img459.imageshack.us/img459/8089/installrd7.th.jpg (http://img459.imageshack.us/my.php?image=installrd7.jpg)

[CaptainCox]

Hmmm, the best would be if you actually could see the file in photoshop or something. i am using the Nvidia DDS plugin + the DDS Thumbnail Viewer (handy when doing mods)
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/dds_thumbnail_viewer.html

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/crass.jpg

But as you seem to know what you are doing its utterly weird, never heard of anyone that had this...:huh:

[Snacko]

Sorry, I don't have photoshop.

Well, I'm sure it's my system. When I installed the last game patch, I forgot to un-install all of the mods. So JSGME was saying mods were installed when new files had been patched. I manually edited the JSGME.ini file and !BACKUP folder to set some mods as un-installed. But I should really uninstall everything even the game and start over to make sure everything is incorrect.

If I figure out what's wrong, I'll post it...

Thanks...

[WilhelmTell]

Snacko, did you find out what you did wrong ?
I bet you are playing with low resolution texture settings !? If so you should manually copy the grass04.dds from the mod into your 'Data\Textures\TLowRes\tex' folder.
That should work !

Regards,
Tell

[Snacko]

That's a good point WT. I'll give that a try.

EDIT:
That fixed it WT. Thanks.

I don't remember setting the textures to low. Actually, in the Graphics Options, all I see is an option for 'Texture Quality High'. I didn't have that checked. So, I assume checking that makes it use the TNormal Texture folder?

[WilhelmTell]

Yes, when 'Texture Quality High' is ticked the game accesses to the TNormal\tex folder.
I play with low texture settings as well, only the submarines are in high res (i just renamed the files) and, of course, all the other great texture mods that were recently done.
I have to do that because my old pc doesn't make it when attacking a large 'high-res convoy'. :lol:

Tell

[miner1436]

Is this compatable with patch 1.4?

[rodan54]

I see no reason why it wouldn't be.

[De@dMe@t]

its only a texture so its fine.

[Lionman]

Sorry, I don't have photoshop. Well, I'm sure it's my system. When I installed the last game patch, I forgot to un-install all of the mods. So JSGME was saying mods were installed when new files had been patched. I manually edited the JSGME.ini file and !BACKUP folder to set some mods as un-installed. But I should really uninstall everything even the game and start over to make sure everything is incorrect.
If I figure out what's wrong, I'll post it...Thanks...
[Snacko, are you the same Snacko who recently did an online Joint Ops flying course in 1946? If so HI buddy! I too am a virtual submariner as well. I was the same Lionman who had mighty issues with VISTA Ultimate Edition but that is all sorted now and running fine. If you are not the same Snacko, never mind, as you won't have any idea what I'm on about!]

Re this seabed MOD Capt Cox - thank you for an excellent job, given the problems you list. Your explanations save me asking why there is never any kelp in SH III or coral reefs in SH IV when in reality most northern coastlines have almost universal kelp forests for the first few hundred yards off the beach and much further out in shallow water, whilst most southern coastlines have coral reefs that are alive with flora and fauna, even into deeper drop-offs. I spent a working life underwater and the only places I saw such deserted ocean floors were below 150 meters in the North Sea. Shallower depths were almost always very crowded with life. Indeed I once walked on a small hill the size of a sand dune, made entirely of dead starfish and have seen giant rays in the Indian Ocean with a wingspan of 40 feet!

Also, to take my former hobbyhorse in SH III about the need for seagulls (which they put in) into the subsea realm, there should be shed loads of AI fish subsea, both shoals and individual large predators. Ideally reactive to explosions and vessels. I.e. "killable". This may be dismissed by some as "mere eye candy" but in reality the subsea world is an extremely crowded and busy place and very seldom the semi-deserted landscape shown in our (otherwise super realistic) SH sims. Just a professional observation from an old sat diver. After all our sims are about subsea warfare and realism is our common obsession isn't it!

By the way Sailor Steve, although I was a Londoner for 38 years, I now live in Dartmouth, have gulls on my roof, the Royal Naval College on the hill, can see the harbour from by bedroom window and the ocean is less than 200 yards from my front door. Hadn't realised how much I had missed my beloved ocean until I was breathing that salt air again daily. Don't miss the smoke one jot.

Hell there is even a local who's got plans to renovate a WW2 submarine subsea for scrap salvage from wrecks - who wants my input. Not viable I suspect for more reasons that I have room to enumerate. My point being that I am knee deep in mad mariners again. LOL

:arrgh!:

[Snacko]

Roger that Lionman! Are you still flying?

The DangerDogz finally went to a Switcher and Mod package a few weeks ago. IL2 is a whole new game, and yesterday I spent about 4 hours making a dogfight mission on the new and beautiful Slovakia map with lot's of trains, tanks, and other stuff.

V382FS_Snacko

[Snacko]

PS: Lionman,

Checkout the 3 missions I made for SHIV. You can get them here. (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=116879) I have not played SH4 for a long time, maybe a year. Have fun..

Snack

[Sailor Steve]

By the way Sailor Steve, although I was a Londoner for 38 years, I now live in Dartmouth, have gulls on my roof, the Royal Naval College on the hill, can see the harbour from by bedroom window and the ocean is less than 200 yards from my front door. Hadn't realised how much I had missed my beloved ocean until I was breathing that salt air again daily. Don't miss the smoke one jot.

Hell there is even a local who's got plans to renovate a WW2 submarine subsea for scrap salvage from wrecks - who wants my input. Not viable I suspect for more reasons that I have room to enumerate. My point being that I am knee deep in mad mariners again. LOL

:arrgh!:
Hey Lionman! I still have the picture you sent me of you in front of your ship in drydock!:rock:

Yeah, I've lived in the mountains for a lot of years now. Sometimes when the salt air blows off the Lake I get a little homesick; but I love these hills too.

Good to hear from you again.

[Lionman]

Roger that Lionman! Are you still flying?

The DangerDogz finally went to a Switcher and Mod package a few weeks ago. IL2 is a whole new game, and yesterday I spent about 4 hours making a dogfight mission on the new and beautiful Slovakia map with lot's of trains, tanks, and other stuff.

V382FS_Snacko
Roger Snacko I'm still flying but my VISTA Ultimate Edition finally fcrashed permanently and I had to reformat and re-install all my software, which as you know takes ages. So I haven't been flying again yet online as I am still tweaking and installing and getting thigns to run (at last) that have never run properly before. It turned out that my OX core was corrupt, preventing DVD backup burning, IE working, Windows Explorer working, or VISTA operating as it should. I was actually a miracle that I got through that course at all with controls that randomly reversed or malfunctioned. I had NEVER made that many crash landings in 20 years of sim flying and it made me seem like a klutz which was very very galling and the reasons just made me sound like a lamer's excuses!

But NOW my VISTA Ultimate Edition (after 2 weeks online with an excellent microsoft tech support guy) is running perfectly and (gasp) I even like it! I also have my 3 screen MATROX TripleHead2Go running at long last and FSX looks awesome. But I still haven't got Track IR 4 Pro running right with a MATROX surround display although I am sure that I will in time. Neither SH III or SH IV run in surround yet either but I am patient and will manage that too eventually. The big prize will getting LOMAC, IL2 1946, SH III & SH IV running across triple screen surround with correct perspective and proportions plus Track IR Pro 4 and with LOMAC controlled via my HOTAS Cougar.

What is the switcher and MOD package combo you are using that makes 1946 a "whole new game"? Sounds most interesting.


V314IJ_Lionman

[Lionman]

Ditto Steve.

:D

[Snacko]

I just sent you an email answering your questions about the IL2 Mod Switcher package.

Snack

[ivank]

version 1.5?

[LukeFF]

version 1.5?

What about it? Install it and see if it works.

[Webster]

since you guys brought this thread back from the dead i thought i would mention that capt. cox's smaller sea plants mod works just fine for version 1.5
(don't know if it still works for v1.4 but it should)

[Lionman]

I just sent you an email answering your questions about the IL2 Mod Switcher package.

Snack
Thanks Snacko. Been out most of the last 24 hours but I'll check it out tommorow buddy.

[vinniczech]

Nice!! :up: Previous plants was really big as T-rex:D

[Ivan Putski]

Thank you Capt. Cox, really tidey`s up the sea floor. Puts:up:

[Dr.Silversides]

Is the download link to this thread dead because of gamefront?? Any way to still get this mod?!?!
Thanks!

[Jan Kyster]

Here's one way... :woot:

/edit:

The Subsim download section!

Rocks: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=540
Plants: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=538

[Dr.Silversides]

Haha thanks. Where'd you get that?! Don't tell me it was from the original thread!

[Jan Kyster]

Actually I did! http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z15/subject_rod/smilies/rolleyes.gif

Downloaded May 17. 2007, but if I'd searched I could have redirected you to the Subsim download section...

Rocks: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=540
Plants: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=538

[Webster]

when neal created a download section here i uploaded what i had to subsim and a few other people did as well so we were able to save some of his work although sadly some of his mods were lost.

i edited the first post with changes to the new links