[REQ] Greenboard

[DedEye]

I don't know if this is possible (I snooped around and have acquired a whole new respect for modders) but I was wondering if it is somehow possible to have a "greenboard" on the christmas tree when submerged. As it is now, it's always red lights.

[perisher]

The Hydraulic Manifold controls beneath the Christmas Tree have all the levers identical, yet the Main Induction lever had a different shaped handle to all the rest. This was introduced after the Squalus disaster to avoid possible confusion between the Main Induction Valve and any other lever.

However, I doubt that can be modded, or can it?

[CaptainCox]

You got a pic of that lever? And a ingame shot for comparison.

[perisher]

I'll try and find one.

It's one of the levers in the lower row under the Christmas Tree. Usually it had a rounded end, while the others were just straight levers. It was believed that the Squalus disaster was caused by the Chief of the Boat accidentally re-opening the Main induction as the boat dived. To prevent this happening again the handle shape was altered and a second valve was fitted that could be manually operated by the engine room crew.

It's no big deal, but I thought if someone was going to tackle the Christmas Tree lights they might be able to fix this too.

[CaptainCox]

Looked around a bit in the files. All that stuff in the Interior is 3D models with light maps, so its a bit of a hassle to start tweaking that for a lever. As for the lights...could not locate that so far, could be or most likely is located in some ".dat" file and that's also a jungle...

[DedEye]

Thanks CC, thank you as well for the mods that you've already released :up:

[Prof]

The green lights on the Christmas Tree do work, they're just not very bright. Have a look at the CT when you dive...when you go under, the red lights go out and the green lights come on. Trouble is, the 'off' red lights look brighter than the 'on' green lights.
Another issue seems to be that the lights don't change until you're actually underwater...I would have thought that you'd want a green board before actually going under.

[Chock]

That may be Run Silent, Run Deep rearing its head again!

As I seem to recall, in that movie they were opening the valves on the dive command rather than waiting for a green board in order to speed up the dive time to less than 30-odd seconds.

So you could view it as an homage, or a mistake :D

Must admit. I do wish some of the whistles and bells in the 3D interior were more than simply eye-candy.

[perisher]

I would have thought that you'd want a green board before actually going under.

You surely would, or, in the case of a crash dive, just the one red for the conning tower hatch, as you start the dive.

[DedEye]

...when you go under, the red lights go out and the green lights come on. Trouble is, the 'off' red lights look brighter than the 'on' green lights.

:hmm: Hmmm....my experience is different than yours. If I stand in the control room when I dive and watch the tree, the red lights come on once I'm under water; the green lights are off at all times. I'm using a Gato class boat right now.

There are other incongruencies as well. The stern dive plane indicator is backwards, and either the indicator movements themselves are backwards, or the gauge markings are, as the indicators will go to "Rise" when diving, and vice versa. People have mentioned the flickering lights on the fire control panels in the conning tower previously.

All of these issues are obviously not necessary for game play, but they tend to be immersion killers for me.

Btw, yes I have the DvD in the drive ;) and I noticed these issues prior to installing any mods.

[perisher]

In order to increase the dive angle the diving officer would order Rise on the after planes while setting Dive on the bow planes. So in a crash dive both planes would be put to Dive until the stern was under water. Then they would be shifted to Rise in order to tip the stern up and then put to Neutral until it was time to level off.

[Coolhand01]

DedEye said.....
:hmm: Hmmm....my experience is different than yours. If I stand in the control room when I dive and watch the tree, the red lights come on once I'm under water; the green lights are off at all times. I'm using a Gato class boat right now.


I'm getting the same thing and I'm in a Balao.....CH

[panthercules]

Has anybody been able to come up with a solution to this? I haven't actually stood in the control room and watched while diving, but while underwater it seems like the green lights are on but the red ones are just too bright when off - I was hoping that I could figure out how to open and edit some of the graphic files, but I was never that good with the .tga files and I'm still totally bedeviled by the new format (D/L'ed and hoped to use a plug-in for Paintshop Pro that's supposed to be able to deal with the new files, but it came with no instructions and I can't even get it installed :oops: )

If the tree is working and just doesn't look like it, can anybody just tone down/darken up the color of the red lights so they will actually look off when they're off?

[CaptainCox]

Well...I was fiddling with a "table sea chart mod" some days ago. basically trying to put more charts on the table in the control room. In the texture that holds the "wood" for the tables (there are 5 different ones) the RED/GREEN lights are also included.

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

They are called :
Gato_Int_02.dds
Sclass_Int_02.dds
Common_Int_02.dds
Porp_Int_02.dds
Salmon_Int_02.dds

And found in:
C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter 4 Wolves of the Pacific\Data\Textures\TNormal\tex

The reason why I never finished it was that the "veneer" in the wood is also used for the "edge" running around the table, so if you place charts on it, you will see stripes of map running along the edges of the table. This "texture grab" seems to run straight down the middle of the table.

I managed to get the "Main" control table clean, but in many subs there are 2 more tables (fore and aft in the control room) and I never could get a clean edge on them.

Like this.

MAIN TABLE (not the final one)
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/MAINTABLE.jpg


FORRAD TABLE
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/FORRADTABLE.jpg

AFT TABLE
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/AFTTABLE.jpg

MORE GREEN INDICATORS (but not perfect yet)
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/XMASGREEN.jpg

To do the opposite and tone down the red would also work. Talking about work...have to dash. Might give this a proper go later but ;)

Actually...I never did the "checker" trick on this one...would be the best to find the zone used for that edge.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=532322&postcount=4
Will have a look later.

Have to add that those are "poroper REAL WWII US naval charts" ;)

[panthercules]

Awesome looking work on those chart tables - eagerly awaiting the next great "chart and tree mod" from the Cap'n :rock:

[CaptainCox]

Well...had a quick look now after work...and it don't look good. Those "veneer" strips are taken right across the table like I suspected. I might at least get a clean main map table but the fore and aft will be dam hard if not impossible to get clean. Another way would be a 3D solution, basically cloning "copying" the "one" map on the table allready (as it is a 3D object with a texture on) looked a bit for it but so far nada.

[DedEye]

You rock CC :rock: :up:

[Ducimus]

@captain cox.

So if i have this correct, if you want this:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/XMASGREEN.jpg

All you have to do is color in the lights to a brighter color here?
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/CaptainCox/TABLEWOOD.jpg

Or is the lighting effect a function of some code rather then artistic tinting? Im refering to the gato CR, as the lights there arent on at all.

[panthercules]

I wonder how much this varies by boat type. In my salmon class, I finally remembered to stand in the control room while we were diving, and saw the green lights come on (unfortunately, they don't come on at the beginning, or a few at a time - they all flick on at the same time as the boat passes through 40 feet). I assume there's not anything that we can do about the timing issue since that's likely hard coded behavior. However, in my Salmon, the "problem" is not that the green lights aren't bright enough when they're on - it's that the red lights aren't dark enough when they're off. So I guess the first thing to try for the Salmon would be to darken up the reds rather than brighten up the greens. Unfortunately, I still don't have anything that can deal with these new .dds files so I'll have to rely on begging the Cap'n or some other graphics wizard to do this for us :yep:

[CaptainCox]

I think it pretty much can be controlled from that .dds. The trick is really in the Alpha channel for the brightness. I will also tweak that map table and at least release a clean main map table. Like I said, to have em all clean due to that side frame is almost impossible because of the "texture grab" running trough the middle.

[DedEye]

I was clearly getting red lights on as I dove.

On the surface:

http://www3.telus.net/public/dedeye/images/preonsurf.jpg

After diving:
http://www3.telus.net/public/dedeye/images/preondive.jpg

Once CC pointed me at those files, I tried reversing the colours. Actually I tried a number of different combos including the alpha channel.

The best I can come up with is the following:

On the surface:
http://www3.telus.net/public/dedeye/images/postonsurf.jpg

At depth:
http://www3.telus.net/public/dedeye/images/postondive.jpg


If you'd like to see what I've done or use the files I've modified you can get them here: http://hosted.filefront.com/rlw27

[Canonicus]

Very nice work, Dedeye....

Just need to let you know that there's a conflict with Captain Cox's Map Table Mod.


I can run either mod seperately ......
I'd love to have both...

[DedEye]

Very nice work, Dedeye....

Just need to let you know that there's a conflict with Captain Cox's Map Table Mod.


I can run either mod seperately ......
I'd love to have both...

Yes that's why I posted my findings here instead of a new thread or "releasing" it as a "mod" per se; I'm hoping he'll incorporate it into his current work, or at the very least find it useful. If not, then people at least know how I came about doing it.

I provide the files to save people the tedium of modifying the textures if they want to check it out :)