[WIP] ShipReskin and Rec Man V3.0

[reaper7]

Hi you may have seen my Reskin posts in other threads, I have decided to reskin many of the Merchant ships that are available in the stock game.
Also in conjunction with that I shall redo my Rec Manual to include images of the ships as photos instead of the stock Technical Drawing style.

The Clones are being converted into master models, so there correct info will show in the Rec manual.

Here is the Liberty Clone (The NKL - Large Steamer)

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff240/reaper7_bucket/PHCC/Silent%20Hunter%205/Ship1.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff240/reaper7_bucket/PHCC/Silent%20Hunter%205/Ship-Ingame.jpg



And it in the Rec man
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff240/reaper7_bucket/Ship%20Reskin/LargeSteamerRecMan.jpg


Here is the Liberty Clone (NKL_WarSupplies - Large Steamer Warsupplies)

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff240/reaper7_bucket/Ship%20Reskin/LargeSteamerWarSupplies.jpg

And it in the Rec Man
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff240/reaper7_bucket/Ship%20Reskin/LargeSteamerWarSuppliesRecMan.jpg


Here is the Original reskinned Liberty Master (NLL - Liberty)

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff240/reaper7_bucket/Ship%20Reskin/T92.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff240/reaper7_bucket/Ship%20Reskin/NLL.jpg


Here is the Liberty Warsupplies Clone (NLL - Liberty Warsupplies)

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff240/reaper7_bucket/Ship%20Reskin/T93.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff240/reaper7_bucket/Ship%20Reskin/NLL-Warsupplies.jpg


As it stands I wanted to re-create the clones into new Ship Model names and to assign different skins to the same model to have a random skin assignment.
But alas it does not seem possible at this time due to the model format.

This may open up in time with Privateers excellent work in that area.
But for now at least each ship type and there clones will at least be able to sport a different skin.
So we seas will not be full of the same dull Grey model across all the master and clone ships. :yeah:

[reaper7]

Beta Test Release
Ok Guys, I need some testing done.
I've uploaded the Liberty Master ans Clones as above into a beta mod.
I don't have time to test properly in-game (Only using created missions).



Can you test that these are:
Rendering in Campaign
I cannot find how the game references the Winter skins, so I just created them using the same naming system. Can you see if these ever show up in-game and not the stock Grey/snow skin.
In instances where there are different models of the Liberty on-screen, are they showing the correct skins?
I'll wait for feedback on the above, before going any further with the mod. Don't want to do lots of work if its of no use :D.

Any feedback including pics and time/dates of visual sightings would be great.
Thanks Guys. :up:

Here is link: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...o=file&id=2791 (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=2791)

[SashaKA001]

Reserved

and when will have at least a beta version, thanks. :ping:

[eon850aye]

:rock:Excellent stuff Reaper :salute:
Can't wait to try this one.
I especially like the idea of the photos in the recognition manual.

[Sepp von Ch.]

Reskin of the merchant ships is really great idea reaper! Thank you! Can't wait to this mod!


Please do two separate mods for merchant skins-mod and recognition manual. I like more a realistic recognition manual - U-Bootwaffe use the "Weyers flottentaschenbuch"
http://s2.postimage.org/bkPKS.jpg (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=TsbkPKS)

http://s2.postimage.org/bm_WJ.jpg (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=Tsbm_WJ)


I use currently your good "NewUIs_TDC_4_2_0_ERM_Reaper7_NightVision". Looks more realistic than this recognition manual with photos.

[reaper7]

Got the other NLL Clones converted to Master and reskinned.
Also reskined the original Nll model.

Here is the Original NLL (Liberty) reskinned.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff240/reaper7_bucket/Ship%20Reskin/NLL.jpg

And it warsupplies Clone thats converted and reskinned.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff240/reaper7_bucket/Ship%20Reskin/NLL-Warsupplies.jpg




Now just to prove to myself there wouldn't be an issue of the game replaceing the same skin on all the models, I created a mission with all 4 types.

And the results:

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff240/reaper7_bucket/Ship%20Reskin/NLLs_and_NKLs.jpg

So now when mod is released all 4 ships will have a totally new and unique look from each other compared to them all sharing the same grab grey skin. :yeah:

[Sepp von Ch.]

Well done Reaper!:yeah:


All ships in the convoy will have "only" these 4 skins? Or will the ships in the convoy as well as those with grey skins? It would be better.

[reaper7]

Well done Reaper!:yeah:


All ships in the convoy will have "only" these 4 skins? Or will the ships in the convoy as well as those with grey skins? It would be better.





As of now they only way I can get them to work is to give each model its own skin.
Untill we can figure out how to get skins to work random like they do for SH4, its the only way :wah:.
As it stands stock uses the same grey skin for all 4 of the above:
NLL
NLL Warsupplies
NKL
NKL Warsupplies
These are all the same Liberty class Ship ingame, so in stock SH5 they all looked the same (Well the warships used a light mask to give them a kind of camo look).
In order to have a grey version I would have to make one of the above grey, thats no problem - I can leave one to use the stock skin.

There are other Merchant Ship Types that I have to reskin so there will be plenty of colour in the sea's by the time I'm done.
And I can leve some as is so that its not all colour. :)

I can do some test also to see if Skins can be assigned in other ways.

ie: Country, Date etc. :)

[Sepp von Ch.]

Great! Can't really wait to this mod!:up:

[Ragtag]

Sweet, this game is really shaping up thanks to you modders :D

[SteelViking]

Hey reaper, I just got back from my weekend vacation, and I can't tell you how excited I was when I saw that you released a re-skin mod. Looks pretty awesome my friend, keep up the good work.:yeah:

[The General]

Fantastic stuff Reaper7, thank you :up:

In the stock game, camo skins, winter skins etc would not load properly most of the time (for both sub and merchies), have you managed to fix this?

[reaper7]

Hey reaper, I just got back from my weekend vacation, and I can't tell you how excited I was when I saw that you released a re-skin mod. Looks pretty awesome my friend, keep up the good work.:yeah:

Thanks SteelViking, I've made a push to at least get something working and released. At least untill I can figure out the random skins issue. :DL

Fantastic stuff Reaper7, thank you :up:

In the stock game, camo skins, winter skins etc would not load properly most of the time (for both sub and merchies), have you managed to fix this?

Ya the stock game doesn't actually reskin the model it uses the same texture on all model and just places a shadow map over the clone models to give it a camo look (Diff shades of black) :nope:.
What I'm doing is giving each model its own proper texture so how they are in the pics above is how they look ingame.
Also the textures are applied to the model like wallpaper strips rather than one complete texture, this means I can't do curves or realistic camo effects (Like the triangular ones that ran the lenght of the ship) as the texture is repeated along the length of the ship.
Unfortunatly when the devs went with GR2 files compared to the DAT files of sh3/4 they changed how things work.
The old method of getting skins to be applied randomly does not appear to work anymore :wah:.

So for now this is the best I can do, untill the issue has been figured out at least. If anyone has any ideas to get skins applied randomly to the same ship class at the same time - please let me know :up:.

[The General]

Ya the stock game doesn't actually reskin the model it uses the same texture on all model and just places a shadow map over the clone models to give it a camo look (Diff shades of black) :nope:.That explains alot! In the image below there was a huge amount of flicker where the icicles would compete for space with the surface of the model (you can see a chunk missing on the bow).

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/7268/sh5img20100907132228.png (http://img716.imageshack.us/i/sh5img20100907132228.png/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[reaper7]

That explains alot! In the image below there was a huge amount of flicker where the icicles would compete for space with the surface of the model (you can see a chunk missing on the bow).

Ah, sorry I was a little misleading there :oops:. The game does actually reskin the winter model - its the same texture with blobs of snow added.
I haven't worked out where the game changes this yet.
The icicles are seperate to the textures and hence the flicker when the game renders them. These I belive are dds images rendered on the ship.
But the camo in your pic above is just shadow rendered over the texture to give a darker shade of green.

[reaper7]

Ok Guys, I need some testing done.
I've uploaded the Liberty Master ans Clones as above into a beta mod.
I don't have time to test properly in-game (Only using created missions).



Can you test that these are:
Rendering in Campaign
I cannot find how the game references the Winter skins, so I just created them using the same naming system. Can you see if these ever show up in-game and not the stock Grey/snow skin.
In instances where there are different models of the Liberty on-screen, are they showing the correct skins?
I'll wait for feedback on the above, before going any further with the mod. Don't want to do lots of work if its of no use :D.

Any feedback including pics and time/dates of visual sightings would be great.
Thanks Guys. :up:

Here is link: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=2791

[MLF]

Liked the picture of the Bank Line boat in Capetown. Took me back a few years!

Its not a Liberty Ship though.

MLF

[reaper7]

Liked the picture of the Bank Line boat in Capetown. Took me back a few years!

Its not a Liberty Ship though.

MLF

Yup, but I liked the colour scheme :D.
Not going for 100% realism in the reskin, can't anyway due to the way we have to apply texture to GR2 models :nope:.
Dat textures was a lot easier could do proper texture reproduction in that format.
Maybe in time we'll be able to apply the textures the way we want. ;)

[MLF]

For some reason, after 5 years, I hated the colour scheme.:damn:

Anyhow, keep up the the good work, Reaper:up:

MLF

[reaper7]

For some reason, after 5 years, I hated the colour scheme.:damn:

Anyhow, keep up the the good work, Reaper:up:

MLF

:haha: You won't mind sinking them then. :har:

[MLF]

:haha: You won't mind sinking them then. :har:

:har::haha::yeah:

[Abd_von_Mumit]

Tested it, installed mid patrol and it works like charm. Managed to see 2 ships so far: modded Liberty with checkered water line, and unmodded 4k tons type A freighter.

The only thing I don't like about your test mod is that it changes/adds some of my Recognition manual pages (to real-like looking photos). However the Liberty page was not changed (maybe a second one was added that I missed), which puzzled me a bit (thought you would alter only those pages that apply to modded ships).

Good job.

[The General]

No Winter-skin showing up mid patrol. Will try back at base....

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/4497/sh5img20100908151500.jpg (http://img825.imageshack.us/i/sh5img20100908151500.jpg/)

[reaper7]

Tested it, installed mid patrol and it works like charm. Managed to see 2 ships so far: modded Liberty with checkered water line, and unmodded 4k tons type A freighter.

The only thing I don't like about your test mod is that it changes/adds some of my Recognition manual pages (to real-like looking photos). However the Liberty page was not changed (maybe a second one was added that I missed), which puzzled me a bit (thought you would alter only those pages that apply to modded ships).

Good job.

Only did 2 of the 4 Rec Man pages, so thats fine. Only left them in to see if the original are prefered. :up:
Will not have the REC MAN comdined with the ship reskin mod at release.
Will keep them seperate so only whats wanted need be downloaded. :)

No Winter-skin showing up mid patrol. Will try back at base....

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/4497/sh5img20100908151500.jpg (http://img825.imageshack.us/i/sh5img20100908151500.jpg/)


Darn, I was afraid they wouldn't show. Unlike the Hull and deck skins they are not referenced in the GR2 files.
I wonder how the game is calling them :06:.
That white looks a bit to bright at night, may need to adjust that. Only looked at them in mission during the daytime :).

[The General]

Icicles only seem to appear on the C-1B Meduim Type merchants during the Winter months. Other ships only have the winter hull skins. As it stands, the Liberty Cargo is the most common vessel you encounter in the Campaign and they never had icicles.

That white looks a bit to bright at night, may need to adjust that. Only looked at them in mission during the daytime :). Woah there! I enhanced that screenshot with Photoshop. It does not acurately reflect the colours in the game. As far as I am concerned they are fantastic :up:

By-the-way, The same texture appears for every ship of that type in the Column. As you see in the screenshot above, each Liberty Cargo in this particular Column, has the white Superstructure with the Tri-Colour Hull. In reality I think they'd be completely random.

[The General]

This image shows two files for Merchants side by side. The Folder for the C1-B (on the right) has 18 entries, the other only 17. I'm guessing the missing file is the icicles? :hmmm:

IMAGE REMOVED

[The General]

The missing file appears to be:

NKMCS_C1B_AO03.dds :DL

[reaper7]

The missing file appears to be:

NKMCS_C1B_AO03.dds :DL

That is one of the Shadow masks I was refering to earlier, the type that gives the camo effect.

Good to know that the colours are ok, thought I may have made it to reflective. No way of yet to make skins random, the sh3/4 method no longer appears to work :wah:. Looks like the devs redone how shins are used from the old way using dat files to the new type gr2.
So for now its one skin per ship type, but still better than one skin between 4 ship types. For now untill workarounds can be found. ;)

[Sepp von Ch.]

Any news reaper?

[reaper7]

Ok, started to rethink this one in order to get the random skins working.

I have a solution but it will a lot more work to skin the models.
The current method of editing the Hull texture works be tiling the models like wallpaper so only basic texturing can be applied.

The stock method of re skinning is to place a shadow map offer the texture to create a darker colour over the original - ok for camo effect etc.

So I tried an experiment and it works:
By converting the Hull texture to an overall white texture (I did a light Grey for the test), it will allow the Shadow mask to retain its full colour.
Now the shadow mask can be repainted how ever we like.
So curved lines, camo etc can be created and will now retain its full colour.
So now white can be created in the texture. Stock hulls prevented this - everything was a mix of the shadow colours with the blues and Grey's etc of the hull.

Now this is a slow process as the Shadow mask has to be worked out what applies to where on the model.
As can be seen in the following pic - its not straight forward - The hull is not on e perfect straight section, but is made up from a few pieces.


http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff240/reaper7_bucket/Ship%20Reskin/AGCC2Appalachian.jpg


This process will have to be done for each ship type also.

But once done it should be a relatively easy task to create a more textures, allowing multiple skins to be created for each ship type.
Also diff skins can be assigned via the roster for diff countries etc.

May need some help with skins though, any volunteers? :D

EDIT: Just tried this in user made mission. And once more all ships rendered with the same skin.
It didn't pick skins at random even though there were 3 variants. Will have to do some more testing.

[NONONO]

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff240/reaper7_bucket/Ship%20Reskin/LargeSteamerRecMan.jpgreaper7 (http://174.123.69.202/~subsimc/radioroom/../../%7Esubsimc/radioroom/member.php?u=232693) Please make and release this skins-mod recognition manual
for you mod Enhanced Recognition manual and mod NewUIs_TDC__ERM_Reaper7_NightVision.

[Madox58]

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/7268/sh5img20100907132228.png (http://img716.imageshack.us/i/sh5img20100907132228.png/)


Where are the 3D objects for Ice-sickles that hang off the cranes comeing from?
:hmmm:

I'm thinking they are placed much like the crew you see on deck.
Those I know how to find so maybe I'll look closer sooner or later.

[TheDarkWraith]

Where are the 3D objects for Ice-sickles that hang off the cranes comeing from?
:hmmm:

I'm thinking they are placed much like the crew you see on deck.
Those I know how to find so maybe I'll look closer sooner or later.

they are in the .gr2 files. At least that's where I've seen them while mapping the (GR2) files out.

[Madox58]

Yes, the LNX at 1x20x10 kind of stuff is.
That's how you place Deck things like Crew.
But no 3D object for the Ice-sickles to appear on is in the GR2 file.

[Sepp von Ch.]

Any news in merchant ship reskin mod please?

[reaper7]

Sorry Joseph, this has come to a dead-end I'm afraid.
Untill someone can figure out how to get random skins working, a reskin mod is of the cards.

As it currently stangd sh3/4 methods no longer work to get random skind working.
This is most likely due to the use of hardcoding in the GR2 files.

While I can replace the original skin in the GR2 file via Hex Editing, further skins created and implemented:

A. By the use of the cfg file to call the skins or
B. The use of shadow masks to create the skin
No longer appear randomly on ships of the same class.
What ever skin is first called is applied to all ships of the same class
:damn:.

Pity as I was really looking forward to doing this Mod, and have now lost Interest in SH5 due to all the road blocks it curtails. So much for SH5 Being more modder friendly. :nope:

[EgoApocalypse]

Sorry Joseph, this has come to a dead-end I'm afraid.
Untill someone can figure out how to get random skins working, a reskin mod is of the cards.

As it currently stangd sh3/4 methods no longer work to get random skind working.
This is most likely due to the use of hardcoding in the GR2 files.

While I can replace the original skin in the GR2 file via Hex Editing, further skins created and implemented:

A. By the use of the cfg file to call the skins or
B. The use of shadow masks to create the skin

No longer appear randomly on ships of the same class.
What ever skin is first called is applied to all ships of the same class
:damn:.

Pity as I was really looking forward to doing this Mod, and have now lost Interest in SH5 due to all the road blocks it curtails. So much for SH5 Being more modder friendly. :nope:

BAGHHH!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Reaper.

I Only discoverd this mod now. Dam I was getting excited as I read along.
If there was a breakthrough and random skin generation was possible would you finish the mod off?

Looks great. Amazing job. I love when the ships are brought to life.:salute:

Ego.