Better looking sun,sunrise,sunset for GWX3?

[Paul Riley]

I was wondering,after quite a few months now using GWX3 I have noticed the sun looks a little,dull?,almost too flat and without much brilliance you usually get when the sun is high in the sky,esp in summer.I certainly remember in the stock game that the sun and surrounding area in the sky looked brighter and generally more radiant,with visible camera flares,and the flare effect as the water washed over the scope looked great too.Is there a way to increase its brightness and make the whole sunset/sunrise process a little more picturesque? other than that the new skies esp during storms look spot on!
I really HATE griping about GWX3 as there is not much to gripe about,just a few little issues here and there,hope you understand ;)

[sharkbit]

Try MEP 3(Manos Environment Pro v3). It's an environmental mod. I just installed it last week and I love it. I saw an awesome sunrise yesterday while playing. :yeah:

Sorry-for some reason my copy/paste function is not working and I can't copy/paste the thread link. It is in the download section with the link to the thread.

:)

[sharkbit]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention-
MEP 3 is a 20km mod.
There is a MEP 2.1, also in the downloads section, that is a 16km mod if that is what you prefer.

:)

[Paul Riley]

Thanks for that,i'll go take a look :up:

[Paul Riley]

Just had a look now.Could you provide a quick list of some of the major things it changes?,I have read it alters the bow spray/foam?,and list any potential problems/conflicts one could experience with the mod,that you know of.

Thanks!

[Paul Riley]

A few screenshots of the mod in action would be ideal at this point :D

[sharkbit]

Just had a look now.Could you provide a quick list of some of the major things it changes?,I have read it alters the bow spray/foam?,and list any potential problems/conflicts one could experience with the mod,that you know of.

Thanks!

Pretty much the water, sky and clouds. I've only been playing with it since Saturday, and only a couple of hours at that. It's hard to say exactly but....the scenery just seems more vibrant though.

In that short time, I have had no conflicts. I have GWX3, h. sie's acm-gui reloaded mod, a torpedo damage mod, various sound and campaign mods enabled and I haven't had any issues so far.

Best thing to do is just give it a try and see if you like it and have any problems.

A few screenshots of the mod in action would be ideal at this point :D

I'm at work right now but I'll try to take a few screenies and put them here tomorrow if I can.

:)

[Paul Riley]

I'm at work right now but I'll try to take a few screenies and put them here tomorrow if I can.

:)

That would be great,i'll look forward to them,maybe then I will come to a decision whether I want it or not :up:

[Pisces]

...almost too flat...As in 'shape', or as in 'texture'? If the first, then you're probably using a widescreen fix that stretched the image. Either live with a flat sun, or live with a resolution with 4:3 aspect ratio. If the latter? Didn't they ever tell you to never look directly into the sun. ;)

[Paul Riley]

I have a widescreen monitor yes,and did apply a resolution fix to allow me to play the game in higher res,but the sun doesnt appear stretched,still looks round,just a bit plain without much radiance.Doesnt matter that much anyway.
Yeah,I shouldnt look at it,good advice ;)

[sharkbit]

Paul,
Here are some in game screenies of how MEP 3 looks on my computer. These are completely unedited:


http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa265/DASH7_2007/SUNSET4.jpg

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa265/DASH7_2007/SUNSET3.jpg






http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa265/DASH7_2007/DAYTIME2.jpg

[sharkbit]

A couple more:
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa265/DASH7_2007/DAYTIME3.jpg

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa265/DASH7_2007/DAYTIME1.jpg

[Paul Riley]

I have to say they look fantastic! was this mod installed straight over GWX3? Does it completely redraw everything GWX3 did?.As long as it doesnt change any of the script or other settings in GWX3 then I am getting this!
The sea looks so much richer and actually looks deeper,if you know what I mean,and the sun looks more like what we see in the sky for real.
I will give you a list of mods I currently have activated,and you tell me if I need to disable (to your knowledge) any that may cause problems,ok?
Can you also tell me what graphics card these shots were taken on?,mine is an ATI X800 Pro (256MB) ,it shouldnt have problems rendering these mod effects,I hope.
I suspect the GWX enhanced damage effects and RBs SH4 effects if enabled with this could cause some conflict?,as they basically all do the same thing to a degree,alter certain effects.

GWX 16k atmosphere
GWX enhanced damage effects
GWX lite harbour traffic
GWX officer icons
GWX integrated orders
torpedo damage final
RBs SH4 effects
AIL moon mod
a scope mod that blacks out the metal rim
nav map lights,red ,green,blue

I look forward to your reply.I really LOVE what I have seen so far! I particularly like the diesel smoke trail behind your UBoat! :yeah:

[sharkbit]

Paul,
Install it over GWX. As far as I know, it will not change any non-environmental portion of GWX. By no means am I an expert though.

Disable the GWX 16km atmosphere-MEP3 is a 20km mod. MEP2.1 is the 16km mod. Pick which one you want, but I would think you need to disable the GWX 16km no matter what. I had the unofficial GWX20km mod installed and I disabled it when installing MEP3 and have had no issues. I've always liked the 20km mod.

You may have to disable your moon mod first. MEP may overwrite it. You may be able to insatll that back over the MEP mod, but I'm not sure. I'm not familiar with that mod.
I'm not sure I like the moon in MEP yet, I may have to experiment a little with some other moons. There are a couple of moon mods out there.

I have a few of the same mods running as you do and I have not had any problems.

The diesel smoke is a seperate mod by Rubini(I think :hmmm:).

You might scan through the appropriate thread for any possible issues and ask more detailed questions there or PM makman94 who released the mod.
By no means am I an expert on mods. I'm always afraid of mod soup causing problems too, but I've had some pretty good luck, so far.:sunny:

I wanted to get some submerged shots. It looks really nice underwater as well.

I have a NVIDIA graphics card(a 6600 I think) so things may look slightly different, and maybe waaaay better, than what I'm getting.
Like I said before, the best thing to do is try it out. You can always disable it with JGSME.

Enjoy!
:)

[Paul Riley]

sharkbit,

Have you also editted all the files mentioned in the readme too,such as the sensors.dat etc? ,I personally dont want to touch these but if I have to I will.I simply want to install it and enjoy it.I just dont want to screw anything up as you can imagine.
Another thing that has got me curious is,the author states that the nights are now a bit brighter with the mod?.If that is the case by how much?,I actually like the GWX dark nights,especially during storms.If the nights are not TOO bright then that is acceptable for me.I dont really want to be seeing ships in pitch darkness at ranges barely on the horizon line.
Thanks for your input here :up:

[sharkbit]

I have not edited anything in the files as stated in the read me. I'm like you-I want to install via JSGME and play. I thought I'd play it as is and go from there and have been happy with the results. I don't have that many hours with it installed still, so I haven't seen everything there is to see yet.

I'm not sure about the nights yet. I've only done one night time submerged attack(yesterday and I had a little issue with crash diving while submerged-:doh:). I haven't done any surface attacks at night yet, and probably won't at the point I am in the war-too many radar equipped escorts running around in late 1943,....... with hedgehogs--shudder.

My nights were already fairly light, but I don't think unrealistically so. My old rig had a ATI card and the nights were darker than a well digger's arse. My old, tired eyes had it pretty difficult with my nose pressed up against the monitor to see what I was aiming at. My wife always asked "What are you doing? There's nose prints on the screen!" :D

When I got a new rig last year with a NVIDIA card, the first thing I noticed was how much lighter the nights were. Sometimes I think maybe a little unrealistically bright(still not sure yet), but it is easier on the eyes. :sunny:
I've read somewhere where that is a characteristic of NVIDIA cards.

Hope this helps.
:)

[Paul Riley]

Well,if it works for you and you are happy with it then i'm gonna give it a shot.I MAY (not sure) edit the sensors.dat files as the author states this will allow the watch to spot ships at up to 20km away.Having said that,i'm not even sure if this is even possible in real life as 20km is a bloody long way away!
ATI cards DO tend to render shadows slightly darker in some games,and this can be beneficial where stealth/shadows are important,such as in another favourite game of mine 'thief - deadly shadows' :up:
I'm gonna install this before next patrol!

Thanks for your replies SB,and for mentioning this mod in the first place.

[Paul Riley]

I'm not sure about the nights yet. I've only done one night time My old, tired eyes had it pretty difficult with my nose pressed up against the monitor to see what I was aiming at. My wife always asked "What are you doing? There's nose prints on the screen!" :D




:rotfl2:
Been there done that,minus the wife of course,i'm not married :O:
You should have told her "dear,I am studying the fantastic anatomy of this greenfly on my screen,an absolute marvel of nature!" LOL