[TEC] Adding/Importing new units / SH5 Damage/collision models

[TheDarkWraith]

This will document how to add/import new units to SH5. It will also document the damage/collision models present in SH5. I'm pretty certain this will get stickied as the information it contains is needed for ship builders/new unit builders/unit importers for SH5 :cool:

Let's open up the NLL ship in the goblin editor (it's .GR2 file, .sim and .zon files):
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4045

Now I need to discuss the damage/collision models used in SH5. SH5 has two damage/collision models. One is for damage/collision with other units and the terrain. The other is for damage/collision with shells/torpedoes/DCs.

The damage/collision model for units and terrain can be seen by showing the damage for each hull part/part of the ship. Here we'll look at hull02 of the NLL ship. We view the sphere's for collision testing by selecting a hull part or another part of the ship (any part except the root of the tree which is NLL in this case) and right clicking and selecting Edit Damage:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4046

Notice all the sphere's. These sphere's denote areas that can be collided with. Now when a collision happens with a sphere the game engine then looks to see if any boxes are located in that area and calculates which boxes are affected by the collision. Now you may be asking how do I see the boxes? It's easy. If you right click on the topmost object (NLL in this case) and select Edit Damage you'll see all the boxes for the unit:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4047

Now when a collision happens with another unit/terrain the game engine looks to see which sphere's are affected and then looks to see which boxes are affected to calculate damage/flooding.

So one might be asking what are these boxes for? These boxes denote the compartments on the ship. Each box has a Type value which is drawn from the Zones.cfg file. This type value then tells the game engine how the compartment behaves flooding wise via the entries in the Zones.cfg file. It also tells the game engine which effects to play when the damage to that compartment exceeds certain defined values.

One thing to note is that boxes CANNOT be used for collision detection. They are for damage/flooding model only.

Now we need to talk about the other damage/collision model used in SH5. This model is used for collision detection of shells/torpedoes/DCs with units. This model, to me, seems to be very CPU intensive. This model exists, I'm almost 100% certain, because of the granny way of doing things. Instead of using sphere's for collision detection the game engine uses a 3D model. See why I say CPU intensive? It appears that the game engine uses the resulting bounding box from the 3D model as a first test for collision detection with shells/torpedoes. If that test passes then it goes down to a face level to see where the collision happened. How this is better than the sphere way is beyond me :shifty: Once the face(s) have been determined then the game engine looks at which boxes are effected some how. I haven't quite figured out how it does this but I do know this is how it's done. Once the box(es) are determined then it goes about calculating the damage to the resulting boxes from the MinEF and MaxEF and MinRadius and MaxRadius of the shell/torpedo/DC.

Now you can probably see why the magnetic detonators don't work in SH5. As the granny way of doing things needs to see a collision happen and by nature magnetic detonators never collide with anything nothing ever happens! The torpedo just sails on underneath the unit :nope:

So how do we see this 3D model that is used for collision detection with shells/torpedoes/DCs? Once again it's quite easy. First let me bring to your attention an entry found in EVERY unit in SH5. This entry is viewable in Goblin editor and it starts with this 'DMG_col_x' where x is the name of the unit/part. This entry is always in bold and in an italics font. Now something special about this entry is that it's hidden (not viewable - hence the bold text and italicized text). Another thing that is interesting about this entry is that it contains a very simplified 3D model of the unit/part it represents (to minimize CPU time calculating which face(s) was/were intersected).

Now from above we looked at hull02 of the NLL ship. You saw the 3D model that is rendered in game. Now we're going to hide the actual 3D model used in game by right clicking on NLL_Hull02 and selecting Toggle Hide/View. Thus you should see the below:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4048


Notice that hull02 is not viewable anymore. Now let's view the 3D model used for collision detection with shells/torpedoes/DCs by right clicking on DMG_col_NLL02 located under NLL_Hull02 and selecting Toggle Hide/View. You should see the below:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4049

Notice the very simplified 3D model used for Hull02 in this case.

And that is the two damage/collision models used in SH5.

Using this information one can import/make new units for SH5 using .dat files. My next post in this thread will be about importing a unit from SH3 and porting it over to SH5.


See here for a tutorial from Rongel on how to take a unit from SH4 and place into SH5: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=1666222&postcount=432

:|\\

[TheDarkWraith]

Awsome... so you just show us how to do and we need somebody to import the ships and to put in the campaigns?

It's a little more involved than simply taking a unit from SH3/4 and putting it into SH5. Wait for my next post on importing a unit from SH3 to see how it's done correctly :yep:

[urfisch]

great stuff!!!

[aergistal]

Now you can probably see why the magnetic detonators don't work in SH5. As the granny way of doing things needs to see a collision happen and by nature magnetic detonators never collide with anything nothing ever happens! The torpedo just sails on underneath the unit :nope

Couldn't they have just used another set of bounding-spheres for magnetic detonation? With a probability of detonation on hit.

So this doesn't only not work, but it's not implemented at all?

[TheDarkWraith]

Couldn't they have just used another set of bounding-spheres for magnetic detonation? With a probability of detonation on hit.

So this doesn't only not work, but it's not implemented at all?

If you go back and re-read what I posted you'll see that bounding-sphere's are NOT used in collision detection with shells/torpedoes/DCs. An actual 3D model is used for this collision detection. So as the magnetic detonator never collides with the 3D model it never triggers :nope:

[jwilliams]

Can a transparent model be added to the torpedo? after say 500 meters a 1 meter tube model is redered around the torpedo that is transparent to account for the magetics.:06:

[TheDarkWraith]

Can a transparent model be added to the torpedo? after say 500 meters a 1 meter tube model is redered around the torpedo that is transparent to account for the magetics.:06:

I think the easier solution is to add to the DMG_col_x model of the ship. I'll post about that here soon after I finish my importing an SH3 unit into SH5.

[aergistal]

If you go back and re-read what I posted you'll see that bounding-sphere's are NOT used in collision detection with shells/torpedoes/DCs. An actual 3D model is used for this collision detection. So as the magnetic detonator never collides with the 3D model it never triggers :nope:
And what I said was that they should've used bounding-spheres to simulate the ship's magnetic field.
So it basically needs a hack of some sort to make it work...

[TheDarkWraith]

Now we'll import a unit from SH3 into SH5. The unit we will import is NPT_Br. What I'm about to tell you applies ONLY to single hull ships (applies to airplanes as well)!!

Copy the whole NPT_Br folder from Silent Hunter III\data\Sea to your Silent Hunter 5\data\Sea folder.

Open up the Silent Hunter 5\data\Sea\NPT_Br folder. There are some files that are not used by SH5 and thus we need to delete them. Delete the following files:
- NPT_Br_en.txt and
- NPT_Br_ge.txt

Now convert the NPT_PatrolBoat_shp.tga file into a .dds file using a convert program (I use Photoshop CS4).

Now open up the NPT_PatrolBoat_sil.tga file with an image editor. Once again I use Photoshop CS4. Add an alpha channel to the image. Make the alpha channel mirror the image in the non-alpha channels. Save as .dds file using DXT5 format with interpolated alpha. All of this is very important is you wish to have the unit display in the stock ship recognition manual and in my SOAN.

Open up the NPT_Br.cfg file. Edit it to make it look like the below:

[Unit]
ClassName=PTElco
3DModelFileName=data/Sea/NPT_Br/NPT_Br
UnitType=0
MaxSpeed=44
Length=24.7
Width=6.6
Mast=5
Draft=1.2
Displacement=35
RenownAwarded=35
CrewComplement=3
SurvivalRate=70
SurvivalPercentage=40
RecManualCategory=EscortShip
BowShape=Raked

;*********** THE END **************

Now the above highlighted in yellow is very important! The path is the path to the unit and the file is the main (no parent) Type 4/100 node of the unit.

Save the file and close it.

Now open up the NPT_Br.eqp file and make it look like the below:

[Equipment 1]
NodeName=A01
LinkName=20mmSingle_PT
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19451231

[Equipment 2]
NodeName=A02
LinkName=20mmSingle_PT
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19451231

[Equipment 3]
NodeName=A03
LinkName=20mmGBSingle
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19451231

[Equipment 4]
NodeName=L01
LinkName=NULL;REF_small01
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19451231

I will provide a link to the SH3 gun files at the end of this post. Save the file and close it.

The .zon file is compatible with SH5 so nothing to edit there (you have to ensure that all the zone types have compatible entries in SH5's Zones.cfg file!). The .sns file contains entries that SH5 has for sensors so nothing to edit there either. The .dsd, .sim, and .val files are compatible also so nothing to edit there either. All that is left to do is edit the NPT_Br.dat file to give it a collision model for shells/torpedoes/DCs.

What you have to do is add another Type 4/100 node with the parent as NPT_Br (ID of 0x8D1E68F58AFDFFFF). The 3D model for this Type 4/100 node will be the same as the 3D model of NPT_Br (ID of 0x4A6B640E3041299F). One could make a simplified 3D model of the ship and use that 3D model in place of the actual 3D model like I did here. The X,Y,Z,Pitch,Yaw, and Roll for this Type 4/100 will all be 0x0. There will be NO texture for this Type 4/100 node. This Type 4/100 Node will NOT be visible either! This Type 4/100 node will be named 'DMG_col_NPT_Br'. It HAS to be this name!! This type 4/100 Node will provide the unit with the ability to take damage/collision from shells/torpedoes/DCs.
Now delete every instance of SHD_, DynamicShadow, and reflect_ (and their child nodes!) as they are not supported in SH5. If you try and leave water reflections you will get strange artifacts on the horizon from them.

Now the last thing we have to do in the .dat file for this unit is adjust the textures so that the disable z-buffer write + enable alpha blend is NOT enabled. I use hex editor to make these adjustments. The value for this will be 0x1C850000 vice 0x1D850000. ALL textures have to have this disabled!

Now we have a functional unit that will be rendered in SH5. It will take damage from shells/torpedoes/DCs and from collisions with other units. This is just the basic needed to get a unit into SH5.

What needs to be done next is tweaking the ship wake (actually redoing the shipwake with the new controllers from SH5), adjusting the bow splash and other tweaking.

Now to have the unit be able to be used in SH5 you have to create roster entries for it. I'll include files for this at the end of this post.

Like I said this is the BARE minimum to get a unit into SH5. This just gets a new unit into SH5.

Here is everything needed to get this new unit into the game. It includes a single mission to see it also. Unzip straight to MODS folder. You can use this for reference on importing/making your own single hull units into SH5. This applies to airplanes as well!

http://www.gamefront.com/files/20231194/TDW_NPT_Br_For_SH5_7z

Once I figure out how to import multi-hull units into SH5 I will make another post. Until then I'm hoping to see some new single hull units and aircraft from you all!!

[iambecomelife]

I have been thinking about a workaround for the inability to create units that break up:

Why not designate the ship's bow as, for instance, a mast or ventilation duct in the S3ditor zones property tree? While modding SH3 I designated pieces of deck cargo as "masts", with no ill effect.

For instance, masts are designated as "type 15"; just create half a ship as the parent object and then import the bow, designating it "type 15" in the editor and maneuvering it into the right place.

This would have the added benefit of making it possible for a ship to lose its bow without being destroyed, as was the case on certain occasions (see, for instance, the attack on "Esso Nashville" in 1942):

http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/1461.html

[TheDarkWraith]

One step closer to importing units with multiple hulls. Recognize this beauty? It's SH3's NKC3 :DL
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4050

And here it is being torpedoed!
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4051

It was destroyed by torpedoes and sunk without CTD or any problems. The only problem was the hull didn't split into two pieces like it should. One step closer.........More work to do :yep:

[stoianm]

nice... the ships design imported from sh3.... can be improuved to look a bit closer to sh5 ships graphics?

[TheDarkWraith]

nice... the ships design imported from sh3.... can be improuved to look a bit closer to sh5 ships graphics?

yes they can. Since these ships are using .dat files one can export the 3D models out of them, fix them up, then import them back into the .dat files. Very easy to do :up:

And it looks like we won't be able to have multiple hulled ships splitting in two when they are killed. This isn't really a game killer though. At least we can get multi-hulled units into SH5 now! :D

[stoianm]

yes they can. Since these ships are using .dat files one can export the 3D models out of them, fix them up, then import them back into the .dat files. Very easy to do :up:

And it looks like we won't be able to have multiple hulled ships splitting in two when they are killed. This isn't really a game killer though. At least we can get multi-hulled units into SH5 now! :D
in this case i say is really awsome.... i was afraid that we will get stuck with that old grafic for ships

[Jester_UK]

This is fantastic news!! :)

I've always felt that the lack of variety amongst the merchants was SH5's biggest flaw.

Great work TDW!!

[TheDarkWraith]

This is fantastic news!! :)

I've always felt that the lack of variety amongst the merchants was SH5's biggest flaw.

Great work TDW!!

I'm showing people how to add/import units into SH5. Now whether people actually use the information I provide to add/import new units is something to wait and see :hmmm:

[stoianm]

I'm showing people how to add/import units into SH5. Now whether people actually use the information I provide to add/import new units is something to wait and see :hmmm:
He he... be sure that somebody will start to work soon on this:yep:

[TheDarkWraith]

Here is SH3's NKC3 for SH5. Unzip straight to MODS folder.

http://www.gamefront.com/files/20231996/TDW_NKC3_For_SH5_7z

Follow the 'blueprint' in the .dat file to add/import multi-hull units into SH5.


Now realize there is more work to do on these. All that I've done is merely show you how to import new units into SH5. We need to fix the damage decals, wakes, bow waves, and that's what comes to mind so far. The wakes are easy to fix because we use the new SH5 controllers for shipwakes.

If we can find a way to get reflections for them that would be awesome :yep:

The more people working/playing around with these the better :up:

[Jester_UK]

I'm showing people how to add/import units into SH5. Now whether people actually use the information I provide to add/import new units is something to wait and see :hmmm:

Sometimes the most important thing one man can do for another is give him the tools and knowledge he needs to complete his goals.

Seems to me that you're doing just that.

As someone who has no modding or artistic skills, I am very grateful for all the hard work you and the other modders have done on this sim, and look forward to a very bright future for it.

[James Cook]

As someone who has no modding or artistic skills, I am very grateful for all the hard work you and the other modders have done on this sim, and look forward to a very bright future for it.

:sign_yeah: :salute:!!!!

[gap]

The more people working/playing around with these the better :up:

Hi TDW,
thank you for your terrific news, and for all the information that you share with us!

I am currently involved in a project with stoianm. It is a major rework of SH5 climate settings to recreate a more complex and dinamic regional and seasonal climatic pattern that should reproduce the real thing as close as possible in SH5 world. It is still experimental (the ability of SH5 engine to handle several new climatzones obtained by combining different factors, is something that has to be tested yet) but I hope that in a few days we will know wether it going to be possible or not.

Sticking again to the topic of this thread, once we finish with the above mentioned project, I will be more than happy to give a go to the importing of new ships for SH5, according to your instructions.
Take in mind anyway that I'm moving my first steps in Silent Hunter editing, so it could require a rather big amount of time (and assistance by you) until the first results.
I hope in the meanwhile more skilled modders will undertake this task and join their efforts. If so, I'll be even happier to give my modest contribution.

Anyhow, by looking to the orizon I see that happy times are prepairing for SH5. Credits given to you and to the other great modders in this forum, of course!

[TheDarkWraith]

Sticking again to the topic of this thread, once we finish with the above mentioned project, I will be more than happy to give a go to the importing of new ships for SH5, according to your instructions.
Take in mind anyway that I'm moving my first steps in Silent Hunter editing, so it could require a rather big amount of time (and assistance by you) until the first results.

We need shipbuilders in SH5 so I'll help you however I can. The best thing to remember is there is NO stupid question :yep:
Also remember that my method of importing units from SH3/4 isn't perfect. It's functional. The units have no reflections, cast no shadows, and the damage decals aren't displaying correctly. Shipwakes have to be redone because the SH3/4 way of ship wakes looks horrible in SH5. SH5 gave us new controllers to use for shipwakes that is a 1000% improvement AND causes 3D waves also :D
I continue to keep trying to resolve the issues I mentioned. The more people also trying to resolve these issues the better. Every discovery, no matter how small it is, can be the light that someone needs to figure out the problem at hand :up:

[urfisch]

havent read the whole thread in detail...but what does this great invention mean for new playable uboat units?

does it mean something?

[TheDarkWraith]

havent read the whole thread in detail...but what does this great invention mean for new playable uboat units?

does it mean something?

I don't see why not. If you follow what I've posted you should be able to add a new playable/AI sub allbeit with more detailed work.

[THE_MASK]

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/5286/newshipb.jpg (http://img689.imageshack.us/i/newshipb.jpg/)

[stoianm]

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/5286/newshipb.jpg (http://img689.imageshack.us/i/newshipb.jpg/)
:yep::) - i knew you will do this today - you were online and you were to quiet:)

[TheDarkWraith]

That looks like SH3's NKC3 :DL Did you add it to the campaign or just using the single mission I included?
Did you notice how horrible the ship's wake looks? While we can use SH3/4's ship wake as stock I don't like the wake. Much much better results are made using the new controllers in SH5.
Noticing any anomolies or anything bad with the unit? Everything should be 100% functional damage wise with the unit except for the fact that it won't split into two pieces when destroyed.

[TheBeast]

havent read the whole thread in detail...but what does this great invention mean for new playable uboat units?

does it mean something?
I think that the interior may need to be imported as well. Not sure the GR2 Interior will load for DAT format Submarine.
Also, not sure GR2 Interior will fit inside the DAT format Model. In DAT format the interior is loaded when you enter the interior. In GR2 the Exterior and Interior Models load at same time. This is why you can get more lag spike when standing with Deck Watch. Now you have Interior, Exterior and Environment all at same time.

[TheDarkWraith]

First attempt at making new AI subs for SH5. This is SH3's 9C IXD2 (and it is configured as an AI sub):
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4052

Not bad :cool: Has some work to be done on it still but for first try I'd say it's outstanding :D

@ TheBeast: ;)

These are not the easiest to port over either. They take a lot of work to make them show in game but it can be done!

[TheBeast]

@ TheBeast: ;)

These are not the easiest to port over either. They take a lot of work to make them show in game but it can be done!

Yes I know this for certain.

I see that the Conning Tower Exterior is invisable. I think this is because of Sub Emblem being called out in 3D Model Materials list and properties for that material enables Alpha Channel Blend.
Try removing that and Conning Tower will display.

Also, the IXD2 model from SH4 is much better Model then SHIII Model to use for import. Far more detail...

[Zedi]

...

Also, the IXD2 model from SH4 is much better Model then SHIII Model to use for import. Far more detail...

I also think that we should import from SH4, not SH3. Ships details and textures in SH3 are extremely ugly and would not fit into SH5. SH4 graphic details and models are pretty close to SH5.

[TheDarkWraith]

I see that the Conning Tower Exterior is invisable. I think this is because of Sub Emblem being called out in 3D Model Materials list and properties for that material enables Alpha Channel Blend.
Try removing that and Conning Tower will display.

Also, the IXD2 model from SH4 is much better Model then SHIII Model to use for import. Far more detail...

Was not the problem. Problem was invalid texture reference in Type 4/100 node for the Turm. This is a problem in stock SH3 also.

I also think that we should import from SH4, not SH3. Ships details and textures in SH3 are extremely ugly and would not fit into SH5. SH4 graphic details and models are pretty close to SH5.

Right now I'm playing and learning what works/doesn't work and what can be done/can't be done. I have to understand how it works and why before I can make new ones/fix old ones.

SH3 IXD2 coming along nicely now. None of the guns are showing because I haven't brought over the guns from SH3 yet for it. Periscopes have been set correctly now. Just have to add radio rod and rotating DF antenna to it:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4053

[reaper7]

I also think that we should import from SH4, not SH3. Ships details and textures in SH3 are extremely ugly and would not fit into SH5. SH4 graphic details and models are pretty close to SH5.

Thats about to change :D We are starting to work on redoing all the stock SH3 models to begin with with texture detail (Even both hull sides) not seen yet in the silent hunter series.
These will be available to the public after the launch of our Mod for sh3 - U-boot-HAHD

Check out the Fletcher (First one thats redone with our new method)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUq1LGHyAjA&feature=player_embedded

Or Images here:
http://www.u-boot-hahd.com/ubootwebsite/wp-content/plugins/dm-albums/dm-albums.php?currdir=/wp-content/uploads/dm-albums/Ships/&byfile=yes&file=Fletcher_0016_Layer%204.jpg

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac68/Hans_Witteman/DD_Fletcherclass.jpg

[Zedi]

I already saw that Reaper, very impressive project... hats off.
But I have the same feeling regarding the details and textures, but in a reverse way.. those stuff not fit into SH3. Overall, SH3 graphics is just very - very ancient and outdated, even obsolete. These beauties you guys work on would fit much more better into SH5 or maybe SH4 :O:

[reaper7]

I already saw that Reaper, very impressive project... hats off.
But I have the same feeling regarding the details and textures, but in a reverse way.. those stuff not fit into SH3. Overall, SH3 graphics is just very - very ancient and outdated, even obsolete. These beauties you guys work on would fit much more better into SH5 or maybe SH4 :O:

SH3 is still very capable of great detail and Textures - once done right, stock models and textures just did not have the attention to detail that they deserved by the Devs. But don't worry these will be available to you guys to Import into SH5 :up:

These are what I wanted to achieve for SH5 when I started on the Ship reskin Mod for SH5 which I gave up on due to the GR2 format. But now we can kill two birds with one stone :).

[Zedi]

Great news Reaper. :salute:

Wish you guys can import some working merchants as right now Im working on enchanting the stock SH5 campaign and I could add these babies into the generic traffic.

[iambecomelife]

Great news Reaper. :salute:

Wish you guys can import some working merchants as right now Im working on enchanting the stock SH5 campaign and I could add these babies into the generic traffic.

I'm on it!

[TheDarkWraith]

I'm on it!

Excellent! :yeah:

If you need any help/assistance feel free to ask :up:

[marleymen]

I'm on it!

I had a dream ... and it´s becoming a reality.

:arrgh!: SH5 Merchant Fleet Mod :arrgh!:

[urfisch]

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4053


:o

:()1:

[Madox58]

This will document how to add/import new units to SH5. It will also document the damage/collision models present in SH5. I'm pretty certain this will get stickied as the information it contains is needed for ship builders/new unit builders/unit importers for SH5 :cool:

Let's open up the NLL ship in the goblin editor (it's .GR2 file, .sim and .zon files):
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4045

Now I need to discuss the damage/collision models used in SH5. SH5 has two damage/collision models. One is for damage/collision with other units and the terrain. The other is for damage/collision with shells/torpedoes/DCs.

The damage/collision model for units and terrain can be seen by showing the damage for each hull part/part of the ship. Here we'll look at hull02 of the NLL ship. We view the sphere's for collision testing by selecting a hull part or another part of the ship (any part except the root of the tree which is NLL in this case) and right clicking and selecting Edit Damage:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4046

Notice all the sphere's. These sphere's denote areas that can be collided with. Now when a collision happens with a sphere the game engine then looks to see if any boxes are located in that area and calculates which boxes are affected by the collision. Now you may be asking how do I see the boxes? It's easy. If you right click on the topmost object (NLL in this case) and select Edit Damage you'll see all the boxes for the unit:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4047

Now when a collision happens with another unit/terrain the game engine looks to see which sphere's are affected and then looks to see which boxes are affected to calculate damage/flooding.

So one might be asking what are these boxes for? These boxes denote the compartments on the ship. Each box has a Type value which is drawn from the Zones.cfg file. This type value then tells the game engine how the compartment behaves flooding wise via the entries in the Zones.cfg file. It also tells the game engine which effects to play when the damage to that compartment exceeds certain defined values.

One thing to note is that boxes CANNOT be used for collision detection. They are for damage/flooding model only.

Now we need to talk about the other damage/collision model used in SH5. This model is used for collision detection of shells/torpedoes/DCs with units. This model, to me, seems to be very CPU intensive. This model exists, I'm almost 100% certain, because of the granny way of doing things. Instead of using sphere's for collision detection the game engine uses a 3D model. See why I say CPU intensive? It appears that the game engine uses the resulting bounding box from the 3D model as a first test for collision detection with shells/torpedoes. If that test passes then it goes down to a face level to see where the collision happened. How this is better than the sphere way is beyond me :shifty: Once the face(s) have been determined then the game engine looks at which boxes are effected some how. I haven't quite figured out how it does this but I do know this is how it's done. Once the box(es) are determined then it goes about calculating the damage to the resulting boxes from the MinEF and MaxEF and MinRadius and MaxRadius of the shell/torpedo/DC.

Now you can probably see why the magnetic detonators don't work in SH5. As the granny way of doing things needs to see a collision happen and by nature magnetic detonators never collide with anything nothing ever happens! The torpedo just sails on underneath the unit :nope:

So how do we see this 3D model that is used for collision detection with shells/torpedoes/DCs? Once again it's quite easy. First let me bring to your attention an entry found in EVERY unit in SH5. This entry is viewable in Goblin editor and it starts with this 'DMG_col_x' where x is the name of the unit/part. This entry is always in bold and in an italics font. Now something special about this entry is that it's hidden (not viewable - hence the bold text and italicized text). Another thing that is interesting about this entry is that it contains a very simplified 3D model of the unit/part it represents (to minimize CPU time calculating which face(s) was/were intersected).

Now from above we looked at hull02 of the NLL ship. You saw the 3D model that is rendered in game. Now we're going to hide the actual 3D model used in game by right clicking on NLL_Hull02 and selecting Toggle Hide/View. Thus you should see the below:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4048


Notice that hull02 is not viewable anymore. Now let's view the 3D model used for collision detection with shells/torpedoes/DCs by right clicking on DMG_col_NLL02 located under NLL_Hull02 and selecting Toggle Hide/View. You should see the below:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4049

Notice the very simplified 3D model used for Hull02 in this case.

And that is the two damage/collision models used in SH5.

Using this information one can import/make new units for SH5 using .dat files. My next post in this thread will be about importing a unit from SH3 and porting it over to SH5.

:|\\
FINALLY!
:up:
:03:

[Reece]

FINALLY!
:up:
:03:
Yeh he's damned good!:yeah:

The following formula applies: SH5 + TDW = Awesome

[sirbum69]

Silent hunter 5...--Battle of TheDarkWraith--

Coming to PC soon, with no Internet required

:rock::rock:

[stoianm]

Silent hunter 5...--Battle of TheDarkWraith--

Coming to PC soon, with no Internet required

:rock::rock:
I will tell you a secret... TDW is not a person ...is a computer ..:DL

[Stormfly]

I will tell you a secret... TDW is not a person ...is a computer ..:DL

lets hope then that we wont end up with "Skynet" then :O:

[sirbum69]

funny my wife works for a place called Cray computers that make super computers used all over the world...I think if i remember right she was talking the other day about one they had rolled off the floor about 2 years ago....The name was ummm hmmm TheDarkWraith i believe:yeah::haha::har:

[iambecomelife]

I just tried importing a SH3 unit and it's crashing the game. I don't know what the problem could be; I added the node in the dat file, added the ship to the British roster, & checked the eqp file for any SH3 weapons. Everything seems to be OK but it won't work. In either Museum or missions.

I'll give it another go, I think.

[TheDarkWraith]

I just tried importing a SH3 unit and it's crashing the game. I don't know what the problem could be; I added the node in the dat file, added the ship to the British roster, & checked the eqp file for any SH3 weapons. Everything seems to be OK but it won't work. In either Museum or missions.

I'll give it another go, I think.

If you want you can send me the work and I'll look it over :up:

[Stormfly]

I just tried importing a SH3 unit and it's crashing the game. I don't know what the problem could be; I added the node in the dat file, added the ship to the British roster, & checked the eqp file for any SH3 weapons. Everything seems to be OK but it won't work. In either Museum or missions.

I'll give it another go, I think.

does that mean your thinking about importing the Merchant Fleet Mod into SH5 ? :o :D

[iambecomelife]

If you want you can send me the work and I'll look it over :up:



http://www.gamefront.com/files/20253714/Ross-McKnight+Tanker.rar

[TheDarkWraith]

http://www.gamefront.com/files/20253714/Ross-McKnight+Tanker.rar

I see many problems. First of which is your telling the game to reference the 3D model T08B but that doesn't exist in the .dat file. I'll correct the errors and send it back to you :up: It will take some time.

[iambecomelife]

I see many problems. First of which is your telling the game to reference the 3D model T08B but that doesn't exist in the .dat file. I'll correct the errors and send it back to you :up: It will take some time.

I see. Thank you. I am also working on my end; I just renamed the 3d model in the dat file to T08B and deleted all of the SHD entries I could find but it is still crashing. I will keep trying.

If you get it working before I do, could you please let me know what was done wrong for future reference? Thanks; I'd appreciate it.

[marleymen]

I´m crossing fingers and praying IABL.

[TheDarkWraith]

I see. Thank you. I am also working on my end; I just renamed the 3d model in the dat file to T08B and deleted all of the SHD entries I could find but it is still crashing. I will keep trying.

If you get it working before I do, could you please let me know what was done wrong for future reference? Thanks; I'd appreciate it.

This is obviously an SH4 ship as from the Cfg#TXR nodes. I have changed everything needed to make it render in SH5 but there is still a problem in the _B (back portion of the ship). This one has been a learning experience for me as I never converted an SH4 ship (until now!). Once I narrow down the problem in the back portion of the ship it will quit causing CTDs. I'm slowly narrowing down the problem node(s)....

Had to rename everything correctly (all the NLL_ and _NLL had to be changed to T08B_ and _T08B respectively)

Had to remove all of the following nodes (and their child nodes):
- DynamicShadow
- any nodes with _SHD or _reflect

Converted the cfg#TXR_ nodes to actual type 2/0 nodes (to be safe - not sure if SH5 supports this or not)

Basically all the changes were made because that is what I know works in SH5

EDIT:

two nodes are causing the CTD:

- T08B_B_Cabina
- T08B_B_catarg02

Now to figure out why....

EDIT2:

figured out why. Those two nodes had 'blank' 3D models for them. I removed the 3D model references (and the blank 3D model nodes) and the texture references and so far so good :up:

[TheDarkWraith]

And here is the ship in game:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4110

And it's damage/collision model is working. Also appears in rec-manual and SOAN:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4109

There is still work to do on it but the author can do that. What's left to do:
- improve the bow and stern sprays
- redo the shipwake(s) to use the new SH5 controllers
- verify all the zone numbers referenced in the .zon file exist in SH5's \data\Zones.cfg file
- any other particle generators redo to make to SH5 spec (optional)

I'll send this to the original author now :yeah:

[stoianm]

nice:)

[Stormfly]

How lovely !

http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac68/Hans_Witteman/Kaleun_Applaud-1.gif

[Zedi]

Isnt this the Cimmaron tanker? Anyway, looking good. :yeah:

[TheDarkWraith]

Isnt this the Cimmaron tanker? Anyway, looking good. :yeah:

I think iambecomelife is just trying to learn how to import SH3/4 units into SH5. His picking was a good choice because it had many errors/problems that had me scratching my head for a little while (I learned from this example as I never converted an SH4 ship [appears to be] to SH5 - I've only done SH3 ships). I sent him the revised files so he can learn from it and hopefully give us more ships :yeah:

He has the hitpoints set WAY too high for this unit. Took all my torpedoes and many shells to finally sink it :o

[iambecomelife]

Thanks so much! Sorry about all the mistakes - I guess I will have to be more precise when creating new ships, because SH5 seems pretty sensitive to taking shortcuts with the .dat files.

I am creating some new merchants and will hopefully have pix to share soon.http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g169/aukevisser/uk/1a980730.jpg

@Zedi: This is actually not the Cimmaron; it is based on the MV "Victor Ross" (seen here, sunk 1940), MV "Geo W. McKnight", and a number of sister ships and near sister ships, which were designed in the 1930's for use by Standard Oil (Esso) and its subsidiaries.

http://www.aukevisser.nl/german/id82.htm

[TheDarkWraith]

Thanks so much! Sorry about all the mistakes - I guess I will have to be more precise when creating new ships, because SH5 seems pretty sensitive to taking shortcuts with the .dat files.

SH5 is very picky on some things and not picky at all on others. It's a big learning process still on using .dat files for the ships :up:

I made changes to your files to what I know works in SH5. Some of the changes I made may not be necessary. You can experiment and post results here :up:

Realize that there is still more work needed to get these .dat files working correctly. You'll notice that the damage decals aren't displaying correctly. I haven't figured out yet how to make them display correctly :damn:

Changing the wake to use the new SH5 controllers is relatively easy to do also (not to mention looks 1000% better!) :yep:

The more people we have experimenting with adding new units the more we will learn from it.

[Zedi]

Can anyone here practice with the dolphins (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom//showpost.php?p=1649329&postcount=2310) too? I was really surprised to see that I can use the SH3 mod (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom//downloads.php?do=file&id=787) without any modification.

Problems: texture and splash is wrong, they dont follow waypoints and they are not visible under water, you can spot them only when they jump or with external cam.

[TheDarkWraith]

Can anyone here practice with the dolphins (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom//showpost.php?p=1649329&postcount=2310) too? I was really surprised to see that I can use the SH3 mod (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom//downloads.php?do=file&id=787) without any modification.

Problems: texture and splash is wrong, they dont follow waypoints and they are not visible under water, you can spot them only when they jump or with external cam.

Sure. I'll take a look at it :up: Send me what you have on it currently.

[Zedi]

You got PM, thanks.

[TheDarkWraith]

Can anyone here practice with the dolphins (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom//showpost.php?p=1649329&postcount=2310) too? I was really surprised to see that I can use the SH3 mod (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom//downloads.php?do=file&id=787) without any modification.

Problems: texture and splash is wrong, they dont follow waypoints and they are not visible under water, you can spot them only when they jump or with external cam.

Well first what you sent was a total mess :nope: I know you didn't do it but the original authors should be ashamed of themselves :shifty: The only good thing from it was the 3D animation of the dolphin.

I got it sorted out and it follows waypoints and works like it should :up:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4111

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4112

I have some work to do on it. I need to redo the wake it leaves and also have to redo the FPGs as I don't like them.

I need sound files for this (underwater and above water sounds)!

:|\\

[Zedi]

Awesome.

Sounds here:
dolphins (underwater) (http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/sound-library/audio/dolphinsunderwater.wav)
dolphins (http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/sound-library/audio/dolphins.wav)

Taken from ANIMAL SOUNDS LIBRARY (http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/sound-library/). Not sure about the copyright tho...

[TheDarkWraith]

Awesome.

Sounds here:
dolphins (underwater) (http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/sound-library/audio/dolphinsunderwater.wav)
dolphins (http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/sound-library/audio/dolphins.wav)

Taken from ANIMAL SOUNDS LIBRARY (http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/sound-library/). Not sure about the copyright tho...

You should see it animated and moving under the water :D :rock:

[stoianm]

You should see it animated and moving under the water :D :rock:
ups... i spent 2 ours making a movie with the ugly dolphin animation - bad animation... and you pop up the new changes:DL... can you send me in PM pls... i am the movie maker:DL

[TheDarkWraith]

ups... i spent 2 ours making a movie with the ugly dolphin animation - bad animation... and you pop up the new changes:DL... can you send me in PM pls... i am the movie maker:DL

Sure after I fix the remaining things that need fixing. Zedi is wanting it also so I'm trying to fix these things now :up:

[stoianm]

Sure after I fix the remaining things that need fixing. Zedi is wanting it also so I'm trying to fix these things now :up:
he he.. i was sure that you will fix this... i spoked in the movie about that... i will post the ugly animation... and after that we can see beter the new improved things:rock:

[TheDarkWraith]

wow I'm going old school :o Using an application I wrote years ago for SH3 to export keyframes from animations. I extracted all the keyframes from the dolphin animation (there's 41 of them) and am moving them up on the Y axis some so the dolphin doesn't appear so underwater all the time. I want it just breaking the surface for the majority of the time :D

[stoianm]

wow I'm going old school :o Using an application I wrote years ago for SH3 to export keyframes from animations. I extracted all the keyframes from the dolphin animation (there's 41 of them) and am moving them up on the Y axis some so the dolphin doesn't appear so underwater all the time. I want it just breaking the surface for the majority of the time :D:rock:... do you think that we can use the same dat file and change the textures only for adding sharks and whales?

[TheDarkWraith]

Wings3D is really pissing me off :stare: The keyframes are 288 vertices yet Wings3D imports 290 somehow and exports 290 which totally screws everything up :damn:

[marleymen]

You should see it animated and moving under the water :D :rock:

Make a video for us. Don´t take Flipper for yourself !!

:arrgh!::rotfl2:

[TheDarkWraith]

Make a video for us. Don´t take Flipper for yourself !!

:arrgh!::rotfl2:

The advantages to being a programmer is that you can write software on the fly for whatever need you have. Since Wings3D was screwing with the vertices import I wrote a little app that read the keyframe .obj files and adjusted all the vertice's Y up some. Problem solved :D

I'll make a video here soon :up:

[stoianm]

Make a video for us. Don´t take Flipper for yourself !!

:arrgh!::rotfl2:
here is the movie with the dolphins... but is the version unworked by tdw... he has something else in his computer:DL:

DOLPHINS-MINES-ET-SUBNETS-SOON-IN-SH5-MOVIE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65ud1-86q-s)

[TheDarkWraith]

got the keyframe animations where I want them now on Y axis :rock:

[stoianm]

got the keyframe animations where I want them now on Y axis :rock:
http://www.24flotilla.com/foro/images/smilies/adoracion.gifhttp://www.24flotilla.com/foro/images/smilies/adoracion.gifhttp://www.24flotilla.com/foro/images/smilies/adoracion.gifhttp://www.24flotilla.com/foro/images/smilies/adoracion.gifhttp://www.24flotilla.com/foro/images/smilies/adoracion.gifhttp://www.24flotilla.com/foro/images/smilies/adoracion.gifhttp://www.24flotilla.com/foro/images/smilies/adoracion.gifhttp://www.24flotilla.com/foro/images/smilies/adoracion.gif

[iambecomelife]

Work in progress... Need to zone it and add crewmembers, destructible parts, & more. The C-3 blows up nicely in SH5, with its components breaking off, so I guess this will do the same. Hope for some ingame shots later.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d54/iambecomelife/Salland-v1.jpg

[TheDarkWraith]

Excellent :rock:

[TheDarkWraith]

Was struggling for many hours trying to add sound to the dolphin. After finally making a new node just for the sound it worked. So note: if the main node of the unit has an animation attached to it you cannot try placing any kind of sounds there. Another SH5 quirk :shifty:

[TheDarkWraith]

Make a video for us. Don´t take Flipper for yourself !!

:arrgh!::rotfl2:

Here's Flipper being, well, Flipper :cool:

http://www.gamefront.com/files/20258441/SH5_Dolphins_wmv

:|\\

I want to try and make new keyframes for this to add to it. I'd like to have the dolphin jumping out of the water and spinning in the air like they do in real life (or at least spinning in the water)

[wokelly]

Man you guys are incredible. I don't know what drives you guys to put in so many hours to improve the game, but the results are amazing. You guys are incredible modders, thank you for improving the quality of this game.

:salute::salute::salute::salute::salute::salute::s alute::salute::salute::salute::salute::salute::sal ute:

[ddrgn]

Here's Flipper being, well, Flipper :cool:

http://www.gamefront.com/files/20258441/SH5_Dolphins_wmv

:|\\

I want to try and make new keyframes for this to add to it. I'd like to have the dolphin jumping out of the water and spinning in the air like they do in real life (or at least spinning in the water)


The dolphin looks excellent!!!! Nice work TDW :) This may be your best work yet! LOL :cool:

[Zedi]

Yeah, excellent work with the dolphins! Wonder where should I place them now in the campaign, any thoughts?

Wish we could have some new ships too, so I can place them in the dynamic campaign engine.. that would be really awesome! I think I will wait a bit longer with the new campaign mod, at least until we have few new ships for the roster :P This rulez!

[stoianm]

Yeah, excellent work with the dolphins! Wonder where should I place them now in the campaign, any thoughts?

Wish we could have some new ships too, so I can place them in the dynamic campaign engine.. that would be really awesome! I think I will wait a bit longer with the new campaign mod, at least until we have few new ships for the roster :P This rulez!
i think will be good if you will put more of them around the ports areas... i mean the base ports in game... like this we will have better chances to spot them...
do you think is posible to use the same .dat and .sim files and to change textures to put sharcks and whales?... maybe tdw can change a bit the animation for them?... and to have all of this in game.. dolphins, sharks and whales:DL... will be cool

[Sepp von Ch.]

Work in progress... Need to zone it and add crewmembers, destructible parts, & more. The C-3 blows up nicely in SH5, with its components breaking off, so I guess this will do the same. Hope for some ingame shots later.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d54/iambecomelife/Salland-v1.jpg

Great C3 iambecomelife!:rock: I really like your skins! It would be wonderful to sink in SH5 the large tanker (10.000GRT) of Oil company Esso:arrgh!:

I watch every new progress, each your and TDW´s image with new merchant ships and tankers for SH5:yep:
Pershaps the new ships for SH5 coming soon, although I know, how much work is on this (I hope) forthcoming modhttp://i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac68/Hans_Witteman/Kaleun_Applaud-1.gif

It´s great, that all your ships, they need to sinkhttp://i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac68/Hans_Witteman/Kaleun_Los.gif, can be found in my favorite book:http://s3.postimage.org/30td88f2c/56194712_b.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/30td88f2c/)

[TheDarkWraith]

Yeah, excellent work with the dolphins! Wonder where should I place them now in the campaign, any thoughts?

Wish we could have some new ships too, so I can place them in the dynamic campaign engine.. that would be really awesome! I think I will wait a bit longer with the new campaign mod, at least until we have few new ships for the roster :P This rulez!

Dolphins now give a hydrophone contact line on the maps but you will never see a ship icon (square box) for them ever on the maps. They will show as a Merchant type. On the hydrophone you will be able to hear them but no type will be displayed on the hydrophone (won't say Warship, Merchant, etc. - it will be blank). The hydrophone operator will detect them as a Merchant type. :rock:

[TheDarkWraith]

SH4 PT Boat (much better looking than SH3 one :yeah:):
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4122

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4123

I'm getting good at this. First actual SH4 unit I converted. Took less than 30 minutes to do :rock: Stock wakes don't even look half bad. Still have to use SH5 wake controllers though :yep:

[Zedi]

Now this baby looks much more natural than that ancient boat from SH3, this will fit in SH5 perfectly, yay!

These imported ships can be skinned?

[TheDarkWraith]

Now this baby looks much more natural than that ancient boat from SH3, this will fit in SH5 perfectly, yay!

These imported ships can be skinned?

Yes they can. There is one problem currently with the SH5 Unified Render Controller that is used. When you damage the unit the texture goes bonkers :o You'll see when you damage one.

[Zedi]

I had my doubts that these ships will work in the campaign, but here they are. Just had the first encounter with them, easy targets. And yea.. the texture on damage is wrong. Also their normal texture needs a lot of adjustments, right now they are white and bright, but the model is much more better that the ones from SH3. But they are alive and kicking. Awesome work TDW!

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/01.jpg?t=1303673163

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/02-1.jpg?t=1303673164

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/03.jpg?t=1303673165

[TheDarkWraith]

I had my doubts that these ships will work in the campaign, but here they are. Just had the first encounter with them, easy targets.

Won't be easy targets with v0.0.32 of IRAI ;)

[stoianm]

Won't be easy targets with v0.0.32 of IRAI ;)
With the deck gun we can easy to shoot them... with the torpedo almoust imposible... the ship change the direction often... they are evils:timeout:... incredible speed:o

[TheDarkWraith]

With the deck gun we can easy to shoot them... with the torpedo almoust imposible... the ship change the direction often... they are evils:timeout:... incredible speed:o

They will be even worse with v0.0.32 of IRAI. At close ranges they will constantly zig-zag. Very, very hard to hit with deck gun zig-zagging with that speed of theirs :D

[stoianm]

They will be even worse with v0.0.32 of IRAI. At close ranges they will constantly zig-zag. Very, very hard to hit with deck gun zig-zagging with that speed of theirs :D
This is a good ideea only if they will defend hatbors... the harbors must be very hard to sneak inside... i think zedi must to use them only near enemy harbors:hmmm:

[Zedi]

They are designed for harbor defense.
Will they use torpedoes too? If so, that can make them very dangerous to every enemy that will get in their range.

[TheDarkWraith]

They are designed for harbor defense.
Will they use torpedoes too? If so, that can make them very dangerous to every enemy that will get in their range.

I've been working on implementing that for some time. Just not quite there yet :damn: Originally it was going to be for the torpedo launchers on the ships but it will also work for the PT boats provided I get it working correctly.

[TheDarkWraith]

And yea.. the texture on damage is wrong. Also their normal texture needs a lot of adjustments, right now they are white and bright, but the model is much more better that the ones from SH3.

In the hopes that maybe someone can spot something to help fix this problem and work on this PT Boat to continue improving it, here it is:
https://rapidshare.com/files/459003783/TDW_SH4_PT_Boat_For_SH5.7z

[Zedi]

Uhm.. why is the alpha channel so different from the real texture.... :06: The texture file seem to be a complete mess.

[TheDarkWraith]

Uhm.. why is the alpha channel so different from the real texture.... :06: The texture file seem to be a complete mess.

which one? You must be talking about the _Txx and _Nxx and _Oxx files for the SH4 PT boat. Good question....I just took them from SH4....

Now which leads me to what are these files for? Where are they supposed to be located? I never messed with SH4.

[Zedi]

NPT_O01.dds The alpha channel is very different from the actual texture file, I think its a remain from the sh4 texturing style. I dont know how can I make a new alpha channel for this, I never understood the SH5 texture maps, they are so weird with all those little stuff in it. These stuff are generated directly by 3Max as I don see it possible to make something like this manually.

[TheDarkWraith]

NPT_O01.dds The alpha channel is very different from the actual texture file, I think its a remain from the sh4 texturing style. I dont know how can I make a new alpha channel for this, I never understood the SH5 texture maps, they are so weird with all those little stuff in it. These stuff are generated directly by 3Max as I don see it possible to make something like this manually.

I checked many ships in SH4 and they are all like this :o I guess it's supposed to be this way? :hmmm:

You have to remember that this ship, SH4 PT Boat, is using the Unified Render Controller. This controller came about in SH4. I know NOTHING about it or how/why it works....This controller is responsible for the rendering in game of the unit.

[Zedi]

You folks take a good look at this little boat. Because his name is death&terror. This little guy will suck out the blood from anybody who will dare to mess with the port defense very soon. He passed all tests, and she is the most clever AI so far. Of course, with the help of next version of IRAI. Evil stuff, made by TDW :up:

[stoianm]

You folks take a good look at this little boat. Because his name is death&terror. This little guy will suck out the blood from anybody who will dare to mess with the port defense very soon. He passed all tests, and she is the most clever AI so far. Of course, with the help of next version of IRAI. Evil stuff, made by TDW :up:
I know how to beat this little ''evil boat''... she stand not a single chance against my tactics skills:D

[Zedi]

No way, Im telling you. This guys is also pervert, he fight dirty.. once he spotted you, just reload or exit game. Really, this guys is deadly.

[stoianm]

No way, Im telling you. This guys is also pervert, he fight dirty.. once he spotted you, just reload or exit game. Really, this guys is deadly.
The game has a bug.... if you put tdc off... you lock the ship... you unlock the ship... you folow only with the scope and you shoot when you want... all the time is 100% acurate... i tested this on those ships:DL... it is a game bug... because of the auto tcd:haha:

[TheDarkWraith]

The game has a bug.... if you put tdc off... you lock the ship... you unlock the ship... you folow only with the scope and you shoot when you want... all the time is 100% acurate... i tested this on those ships:DL... it is a game bug... because of the auto tcd:haha:

I just sent out a revised IRAI v0.0.32. Even with this bug you mention the AI will be much harder to hit - they will use zig-zagging (warships and escorts, HK groups, and non-HK groups) while coming to get you :D

[stoianm]

I just sent out a revised IRAI v0.0.32. Even with this bug you mention the AI will be much harder to hit - they will use zig-zagging (warships and escorts, HK groups, and non-HK groups) while coming to get you :D
:timeout:

[TheDarkWraith]

:timeout:

Yes, evil :sunny: But I couldn't figure out how to do it correctly until now :yep:

[Zedi]

Yes, evil :sunny: But I couldn't figure out how to do it correctly until now :yep:

This is actually correct. Warships should dodge torpedoes because their speed. And the "bug" mentioned by Stoian will not work on the boats. First of all you will need to set ur torpedo at 0 meters to hit the boat, secondly .. at 42 knts that boat will just fly all over you, you will have to be really fast to keep her in your aim.

This guy is serious business and I advice to retreat when you spot one of these boats around you. If he spot you, he will trigger the whole allied flotilla in the area, there is just no way to escape. Things will change dramatically very soon in the SH5 campaign.

Im very sad about her textures, wish we could have a tutorial about the SH5 skins and how we can mod it. Reaper did a great job on skining few merchants.. but I have my doubts that there is a way to make a new alpha channel for these skins. And this boat badly need a new skin as right now looks very ugly, even if the model is very good.

[stoianm]

This is actually correct. Warships should dodge torpedoes because their speed. And the "bug" mentioned by Stoian will not work on the boats. First of all you will need to set ur torpedo at 0 meters to hit the boat, secondly .. at 42 knts that boat will just fly all over you, you will have to be really fast to keep her in your aim.

This guy is serious business and I advice to retreat when you spot one of these boats around you. If he spot you, he will trigger the whole allied flotilla in the area, there is just no way to escape. Things will change dramatically very soon in the SH5 campaign.

Im very sad about her textures, wish we could have a tutorial about the SH5 skins and how we can mod it. Reaper did a great job on skining few merchants.. but I have my doubts that there is a way to make a new alpha channel for these skins. And this boat badly need a new skin as right now looks very ugly, even if the model is very good.
Yep... you are right... is to fast...and i agree.. is very ugly... look more like cartoons... i hope somebody can fix the texture

[jwilliams]

Things will change dramatically very soon in the SH5 campaign.

:yeah::yeah::yeah:

I have been waiting for this day for over a year. Thanks to you, TDW and many other modders SH5 is really starting to shine. :sunny:

I look forward to the release of your campaign mod.



Im very sad about her textures, wish we could have a tutorial about the SH5 skins and how we can mod it. Reaper did a great job on skining few merchants.. but I have my doubts that there is a way to make a new alpha channel for these skins. And this boat badly need a new skin as right now looks very ugly, even if the model is very good.

I agree about the textures. But I think that its more important to get these extra ships into SH5. Texture Repaints can always be added at a later date.

Keep up the good work.

And thank for making SH5 campaign more realistic.
:salute:

[Zedi]

Bam-Bam-Bam

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/x.jpg?t=1303755370

I cannot upload a better quality screenie due to size limit, but trust me, it looks MUCH more better in reality! I have no clue of what Im doing nor any experience in this field, but seems like things are shaping up slowly. Added a normal map and the ships now already have reflection, also brighter and darker sides.. and most important thing.. textures. The are now colored in blue just to figure out what part need to be worked out. But its working, I can make these babies shine!

Now I would love to know 2 things:
TDW, the textures for the gun and lights where are stored? Are these textures from the common database, same on every SH5 ship? Or they are simply just missing?

Can anybody give me a colored pic about these boats to have a clue how they should look like? Screens from SH4 will do it.

[Sepp von Ch.]

Bam-Bam-Bam



Can anybody give me a colored pic about these boats to have a clue how they should look like? Screens from SH4 will do it.


Some camouflages (source- Osprey: New Vanguard 074-British Motor Torpedo Boat 1939-45; Squadron Signal: Vosper Mtbs):

http://s1.postimage.org/rfl0ojb8/image.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/rfl0ojb8/)
http://s1.postimage.org/rfrmtxac/image.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/rfrmtxac/)
http://s1.postimage.org/rg37lcqs/image.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/rg37lcqs/)
http://s1.postimage.org/rg9tqqpw/image.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/rg9tqqpw/)
http://s1.postimage.org/rgd4tfpg/image.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/rgd4tfpg/)
http://s1.postimage.org/rggfw4p0/image.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/rggfw4p0/)
http://s1.postimage.org/rgn21io4/image.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/rgn21io4/)
http://s1.postimage.org/rgto6wn8/image.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/rgto6wn8/)
http://s1.postimage.org/rh1xvn44/image.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/rh1xvn44/)
http://s1.postimage.org/rh8k1138/image.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/rh8k1138/)

[Zedi]

Thanks! So the default color is also gray. I saw few in military green, black and even blue as I did my test textures but they seems to be custom made colors.

I think we have enough gray ships in SH5, so this will have to be a bit different. Will see what I will figure out, still a long way to go until I will have a good texture file, Im still learning how to do this. I think I will try with green as these guys are lurking mostly along the coast, so they will be harder to spot.

[Sepp von Ch.]

I think we have enough gray ships in SH5, so this will have to be a bit different.

I agree Zedi.

This look very good:

http://s3.postimage.org/dl06e5c4/image.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/dl06e5c4/)

[Trevally.]

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/9881/img0023nmq.jpg

Something like this with two colours would look good:up:

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/3172/62020447j.jpg

[THE_MASK]

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/1445/evaly.jpg (http://img64.imageshack.us/i/evaly.jpg/)

[Zedi]

You guys gave me an idea. I will only fix the textures and make the boat to have a SH5-ish look, to fit in the stock fleet. Then everybody can work out skins for these ships, same way as the moders do in SH3. It easy to skin it, so everybody will be able to contribute, like Sobers already did :up:

So here is the stock look, with a camo similar to one of those from Josef von Posorschitz official PTB pictures. It also has reflections from water and enviro lights, everything looks ok. I will need to adjust it just a bit more with textures taken from the SH5 ships, then its ready for release.

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/SH5Img2011-04-26_013117.jpg?t=1303771410

With a bit of luck, TDW may be succeed on importing the first merchant ship from SH4, so I hope that we may have a new merchant fleet soon... at least few more ships.

[TheDarkWraith]

Some new merchant ships should be ready in about a day or two. Had to travel to CO today so didn't get much time to work on anything. Now I'm going to look over this Destroyer problem you reported. I need to see what the AI is doing ingame to figure out if I made the problem or if it's a game bug or something.

[TheDarkWraith]

I cannot upload a better quality screenie due to size limit, but trust me, it looks MUCH more better in reality! I have no clue of what Im doing nor any experience in this field, but seems like things are shaping up slowly. Added a normal map and the ships now already have reflection, also brighter and darker sides.. and most important thing.. textures. The are now colored in blue just to figure out what part need to be worked out. But its working, I can make these babies shine!

Now I would love to know 2 things:
TDW, the textures for the gun and lights where are stored? Are these textures from the common database, same on every SH5 ship? Or they are simply just missing?

The textures for the guns and light are not missing - they are embedded in the guns files.

Can you explain about this normal map, and what about the reflections? You see reflections on water now? Where did you put this normal map?

[Zedi]

The textures for the guns and light are not missing - they are embedded in the guns files.

Can you explain about this normal map, and what about the reflections? You see reflections on water now? Where did you put this normal map?

Sorry for the confusion, I was talking about the water reflections on the boat hull. The boat have no shadow or its own reflection on the water yet and thats not something it can be fixed by working on textures.

So there is nothing we can do with the guns texture? Can you change the texture path for them, so we can use external textures?

[Stormfly]

very good news guy`s :rock:

[Sepp von Ch.]

Some new merchant ships should be ready in about a day or two. Had to travel to CO today so didn't get much time to work on anything. Now I'm going to look over this Destroyer problem you reported. I need to see what the AI is doing ingame to figure out if I made the problem or if it's a game bug or something.

You´re kidding TDW, right? Or... seriously will be joined new merchant ships with perfect damage model in SH5 from you tomorrow or the day after?:o

It would be wonderful!:sunny: What type of merchants? Among them is even a large tanker?:ahoy:

[Zedi]

No, he is not joking. Thats why I set my campaign mod with mines &stuff as WIP. Im waiting for TDW to import some fresh meat from SH4, so I can place them in the campaign engine. The small boat was only a test, a successful one.

He gave us the howto, so if more people could help him we could change very rapidly the whole merchant fleet in SH5.

[iambecomelife]

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d54/iambecomelife/MWSnap2011-04-2619_20_21.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d54/iambecomelife/MWSnap2011-04-2619_20_35.jpg

:sunny: Built it from scratch & got it working with no major problems. One strange thing is that I have to adjust fr_ratio in the .sim file to about .46; otherwise the ship sails with its stern awash. No biggie, though - for older ships with the default value of 0.5, this can easily be adjusted in S3ditor.

Does anyone know if it's possible to create multiple skin units in SH5? At the moment I have to have the skin embedded in the DAT, otherwise the texture shows up blank. It's a little inconvenient for there to be just one skin per ship.

Thanks.

[TheDarkWraith]

:sunny: Built it from scratch & got it working with no major problems. One strange thing is that I have to adjust fr_ratio in the .sim file to about .46; otherwise the ship sails with its stern awash. No biggie, though - for older ships with the default value of 0.5, this can easily be adjusted in S3ditor.

Does anyone know if it's possible to create multiple skin units in SH5? At the moment I have to have the skin embedded in the DAT, otherwise the texture shows up blank. It's a little inconvenient for there to be just one skin per ship.

Thanks.

Excellent :yeah:

Noticed the same thing about the fr_ratio on the ships I've done. The subs sail bow awash instead of stern awash like the ships.

I've been trying to figure out how the game would pick from mutiple skins. Have you tried using the _Txx extension?
Why do you have to have the skin embedded in the DAT? You don't have to. You can declare the name for the skin in the DAT in the type 2/0 node. Remove the Type 3/0 for this Type 2/0 and put the skin in \data\Textures\TNormal\tex :up:

[Zedi]

This ship is from SH4 or 3? It looks pretty similar to a Hog Island and the modeling is pretty primitive with low count polygons
And why she has only wood textures? Even the rudder is covered with wood...

Is not criticism, but Im a bit worried about how this ship will look like into a generic SH5 convoy.

[Stormfly]

low poly also means good performance, if you look on some of the vanilla SH5 ships, you see high poly count is not a guarantee for good quality...

...compare those SH5 merchants with the "merchant fleet mod", you see most of this SH3 modded low poly ships look more realistic, by having a better performance at the same time...

but there are also exceptions, like most of the warships, especialy the SH5 battleships are good looking or the SH5 "Armed Travler".

[iambecomelife]

This ship is from SH4 or 3? It looks pretty similar to a Hog Island and the modeling is pretty primitive with low count polygons
And why she has only wood textures? Even the rudder is covered with wood...

Is not criticism, but Im a bit worried about how this ship will look like into a generic SH5 convoy.

It's not a Hog Islander; this ship is much smaller and does not look much like one. it is also not very low poly; it is simply a hull with little slope to its cross section; that's how many old fashioned merchant ships were designed.

Hog islanders as built would never have had two lifeboats or the ventilator arrangements of this ship. The bridge looks nothing like a Hog Islander's. There is no wheelhouse above the second bridge wing level (this was added to most Hog Islanders during the interwar years).

Also, the length of the bow and stern islands is totally different from a Hog Islander's.

In addition the hatch arrangements, deckhouses, and cranes are completely different.

Not sure why you said it has wooden textures on the rudder (what feature are you identifying as the rudder, by the way?) The rudder is barely visible in the second shot, but it is covered with a red metal texture.

"the modeling is pretty primitive "

I actually designed all the ventilators, cranes, and deck cargo to be high poly and destructible. Cargo crates and fixtures will catch fire and can be blown off if you hit them with enough deck gun fire. Unlike SH4, where many such parts were integral parts of the ship model, and thus indestructible.

[Zedi]

So how old is this ship? Is from ww1 or earlier? Can you give me a link or real photos where I can see how it looks like for real?

[iambecomelife]

So how old is this ship? Is from ww1 or earlier? Can you give me a link or real photos where I can see how it looks like for real?

No, I can't. It is a generic old fashioned vessel from the WWI era. There was a ship by this name sunk in WWI but no photo was available.

[wamphyri]

Good work TDC. You've figured out some of the stuff that was stumping us when a few of us were playing around with this. Getting the damage model to work is sweet.

The one thing I do remember is about the textures. It seems that when using DAT files SH5 won't render the specular or diffuse maps that are part of the dat files and part of sh4's rendering engine. That's why the ships all seems to be one "brightness" in sh5. In sh4 the engine would use these maps and it really makes a difference when they are used. If you were to remove them and go back into sh4 I believe they give you the same look that you get in sh5.

I hope this makes sense. If I had more time in my days I'd put more time into this. Maybe I'll be able to, life likes to toss me around the spinner all the time.

And for a good example what i mean with the textures here's the Yamamoto in SH5 I did months ago. It doesn't look the same in sh5 than in sh4 because of the specular/diffuse maps not being used. I don't have a sh4 screenie but you all get the idea.

http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss284/Mythandar-eve/SH5Img2010-03-28_011659.jpg

It doesn't have guns but meh. That's small potatoes to add

[Zedi]

Good work TDC. You've figured out some of the stuff that was stumping us when a few of us were playing around with this. Getting the damage model to work is sweet.

The one thing I do remember is about the textures. It seems that when using DAT files SH5 won't render the specular or diffuse maps that are part of the dat files and part of sh4's rendering engine. That's why the ships all seems to be one "brightness" in sh5. In sh4 the engine would use these maps and it really makes a difference when they are used. If you were to remove them and go back into sh4 I believe they give you the same look that you get in sh5.

I hope this makes sense. If I had more time in my days I'd put more time into this. Maybe I'll be able to, life likes to toss me around the spinner all the time.

And for a good example what i mean with the textures here's the Yamamoto in SH5 I did months ago. It doesn't look the same in sh5 than in sh4 because of the specular/diffuse maps not being used. I don't have a sh4 screenie but you all get the idea.

...

It doesn't have guns but meh. That's small potatoes to add

Even the normal map is corrupt at import, but that can be fixed. Also the textures can be fixed, here is a ingame shoot of the PTB final version

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/z.jpg?t=1303816124

Only thing missing is the ship shadow and reflection on water. But overall, the boat looks like a SH5 stock boat.

Wish you guys can import merchants, not ships that already exist in the game or warships that have no place in Atlantic, like the Yamato. Its a time consuming process, so better dont waste time with ships that is no use in SH5.

[iambecomelife]

Even the normal map is corrupt at import, but that can be fixed. Also the textures can be fixed, here is a ingame shoot of the PTB final version



Only thing missing is the ship shadow and reflection on water. But overall, the boat looks like a SH5 stock boat.

Wish you guys can import merchants, not ships that already exist in the game or warships that have no place in Atlantic, like the Yamato. Its a time consuming process, so better dont waste time with ships that is no use in SH5.

I agree that it is best to focus on ships that would have been encountered frequently by U-Boat captains, like merchants and maybe trawlers. I may adapt my Merchant Fleet Mod ships for SH5 but I am undecided; their detail level isn't quite satisfactory to me. It might be better just to build a new series of merchant vessels from scratch.

[Zedi]

I never player SH4, but from screens I saw that the game have a lot of merchant ships, just perfect to import them in SH5. Is the best option as those ships have pretty high polygon models. I take over the re-texturing job, thats not a problem.

Maybe we should make a list of targets then decide which one to import. But as I said, I dont have SH4 so I cannot suggest any ship. And no warships, we have more than a lot in SH5. Maybe some american u-boats, but that should be low priority as now the main problem is the merchant fleet.

And yes, small merchants are welcome. Actually those ships should be priority no1. Because the problem in SH5 is that the merchants ships are all big ones. Is the reason why we all have ridiculous tonnages compared to what was in reality. Just a single Liberty will give you around 7k tons, which was only a dream tonnage for every u-boat captain. So we need a lot of small merchants, the 2-3k ones, that way we can make the SH5 campaign much more close to reality.

[Rongel]

I have SH 4, but I don't have a clue what ship should be added. I think most of the merchants are Japanese, so that won't help much. But I could try this if somebody can point out a good ship to import. Here is my list of SH 4 ships:

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/rognels/sh4_ships.jpg
http://s1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/rognels/?action=view&current=sh4_ships.jpg

[Zedi]

EDIT:

I found a online version fo the SH4 ships (http://silenthunter4.uk.ubi.com/ships.php). Here are the best candidates, they r looking just perfect!

http://silenthunter4.uk.ubi.com/images/ships/ship_850_tyoheimaru.jpg
http://silenthunter4.uk.ubi.com/images/ships/ship_850_kinposanmaru.jpg
http://silenthunter4.uk.ubi.com/images/ships/ship_850_kasagisan.jpg
http://silenthunter4.uk.ubi.com/images/ships/ship_850_heitomaru.jpg
http://silenthunter4.uk.ubi.com/images/ships/ship_850_harunamaru.jpg
http://silenthunter4.uk.ubi.com/images/ships/ship_850_akitamaru.jpg
http://silenthunter4.uk.ubi.com/images/ships/ship_850_biyomaru.jpg

[Rongel]

Just read again TDW's instructions and my heart missed a beat... I'm not sure if I have skills and time enough. Can I just send the ship files to a willing modder, Zedi maybe? Or is it against law? :06:

I found also the Small Old Split Freighter, Kasakisan Maru! The same ship is also in British merchant fleet, it's just named as Small Split Freighter. The naming seems to be really complicated so it took some time to find the match from the files.

[TheDarkWraith]

Just read again TDW's instructions and my heart missed a beat... I'm not sure if I have skills and time enough. Can I just send the ship files to a willing modder, Zedi maybe? Or is it against law? :06:

You should try importing a ship yourself. It's really not that hard. If you need help along the way just ask :up: Once you finish or get to a point that you need help you can always PM me and send me the work you have done to date and I'll look it over. After you do your first one the rest will be easy :yep:

[Zedi]

Btw.. these are only the jap merchants but I suppose there was also an american fleet in SH4. No clue how they look like, but they can be also a good candidates for SH5. Hell, if we can manage to import these guys.. we will never get tired to sink stuff :P

[Rongel]

Btw.. these are only the jap merchants but I suppose there was also an american fleet in SH4. No clue how they look like, but they can be also a good candidates for SH5. Hell, if we can manage to import these guys.. we will never get tired to sink stuff :P American merchants are Victory Cargo, Libery Cargo, Coastal Composite Freighter and Small Split Freighter and T3 Tanker. That's all. And the game uses same ships for different countries. Like almost every country has the Small Split Freighter that it looks exactly like the Japanese "Kasagisan Maru". Same textures and all.

Ok, I'll try to import this Kasagisan Maru, but it will take some time and results are not guaranteed...:dead:

[Zedi]

...
Ok, I'll try to import this Kasagisan Maru, but it will take some time and results are not guaranteed...:dead:

As in every new stuff, the first steps are hard until u catch the rhythm. Then everything start to go smooth. If you get stuck, ask TDW. Good luck!

[Sepp von Ch.]

To ZEDI: I thought of what has been written, that TDW prepare mod with new ships from SH4 with perfect damage modl and publish it in these days. I understood it wrong?

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=1650908&postcount=122

[Zedi]

Is true, he will try to import some stuff, but he has also his own personal life. Is the reason why he gave us the knowhow, so anyone can jump in and help. He already did way to much to improve this game.

C'mon people, this is not rocket science.. here is the chance to be the hero who enhanced the SH5 merchant fleet and gave the community some new stuff to sink :P

[Rongel]

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/rognels/Kasagisan_Maru.jpg

Sneak preview! Well I really haven't done much yet, just copied the SH 4 ship to SH 5 and fiddled with rosters, it was a suprise that it shows in game already. It doesn't take any damage yet, and the textures are static, no shadows and ugly wake... Maybe Zedi or TDW could make a small tutorial how to make the textures dynamic? I didn't see any info about that yet.:sunny:

[Zedi]

Dude... awesome! :yeah:

I take over the texture reworking, TDW can help with the damage controllers. But take a look on the topic about how to play with the damage controllers first.

Awesome job, yay!! :up: Moar plz :P

You should have the honor to give a name to these ships which will be displayed in the rec manual ... ditto.

[BigBANGtheory]

one small step for modders, another giant leap for SH5 players :rock:

thank you fr all your efforts

[Sepp von Ch.]

Uekel created in March a mod and imported merchants from SH4. The problem is the lack of perfect damage model (by certain ships the torpedoes passing "through" the ships) and the ships can not be destroyed by the deck gun:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=181902


http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=183101

Screenshots:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/album.php?albumid=473

[Zedi]

How come none here knew about the mod, beats me. Thanks for the heads up Josef.

[Rongel]

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/rognels/SH5Img2011-04-28_234041.jpg

Finally managed to sink the bastard! TDW's tutorial is very good when you know what you are doing, trial and error for me :DL. Again, the textures went all crazy when it got damaged. Any clues???

There is something fishy here, this import adds infact two ships, they have little bit different textures. You can see them both in Museum. I guess I should hand this over soon to better hands, but it would be nice to know how to fix the textures!

Getting to this point is now really easy, and I'm a total novice what comes to modding. So I can help too if somebody wants to give it a go!

[stoianm]

How come none here knew about the mod, beats me. Thanks for the heads up Josef.
MiTon told me about it few weeks ago but i forgot to tell you:damn:

[stoianm]

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/rognels/SH5Img2011-04-28_234041.jpg

Finally managed to sink the bastard! TDW's tutorial is very good when you know what you are doing, trial and error for me :DL. Again, the textures went all crazy when it got damaged. Any clues???

There is something fishy here, this import adds infact two ships, they have little bit different textures. You can see them both in Museum. I guess I should hand this over soon to better hands, but it would be nice to know how to fix the textures!

Getting to this point is now really easy, and I'm a total novice what comes to modding. So I can help too if somebody wants to give it a go!
Very cool Rongel:up:... and this texture is like from a SF movie... you should keep the screenshoots... like precious pictures:)

[Trevally.]

[QUOTE=Rongel;1652783]
Finally managed to sink the bastard! TDW's tutorial is very good when you know what you are doing, trial and error for me :DL. [QUOTE]

Good job Rongel:yeah:

[TheDarkWraith]

Finally managed to sink the bastard! TDW's tutorial is very good when you know what you are doing, trial and error for me :DL. Again, the textures went all crazy when it got damaged. Any clues???

Getting to this point is now really easy, and I'm a total novice what comes to modding. So I can help too if somebody wants to give it a go!

The texture problem when damaged is a known problem that I haven't found a solution for yet.

Good job on your first import :yeah: See it's not really that hard to do :up:

[iambecomelife]

Merchant ship "Salland" available for download:

http://www.gamefront.com/files/20275...RCHANT-v1.1.7z (http://www.gamefront.com/files/20275137/SALLAND-TYPE+MERCHANT-v1.1.7z)

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d54/iambecomelife/Untitled-26-4.jpg

[Zedi]

TDW helped me to extract a fishing boat from Uekel's mod. And this guy texture when hit by torpedo is just perfect:

So here is the "before":

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/SH%20ships/1.jpg?t=1304061257

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/SH%20ships/3.jpg?t=1304061614

I will be very busy this weekend :D

[Sepp von Ch.]

TDW helped me to extract a fishing boat from Uekel's mod. And this guy texture when hit by torpedo is just perfect:

So here is the "before":

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/SH%20ships/1.jpg?t=1304061257

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/SH%20ships/3.jpg?t=1304061614

I will be very busy this weekend :D


Splendid! I can´t wait! Would be possible a large (10.000 GRT) tanker?:arrgh!:

[Zedi]

Splendid! I can´t wait! Would be possible a large (10.000 GRT) tanker?:arrgh!:

I wanna try and take over more ships from Uekel's mod as they are already extracted from SH4, all credits given. Soon, the SH5 convoys will look very different. But this will take some time as there is still much more work to do.

[Sepp von Ch.]

Soon, the SH5 convoys will look very different.

:sunny:

[Rongel]

I wanna try and take over more ships from Uekel's mod as they are already extracted from SH4, all credits given. Soon, the SH5 convoys will look very different. But this will take some time as there is still much more work to do. Zedi, if you manage to find out what is causing the damaged texture mess up, please let us know! TDW made a nice tutorial, but it could be improved further, how to get dynamic (bright/dark side) textures, how to get nice SH 5 wake and bow water spray... It seems that a modding bug has bit me and now I need to know more...

[Zedi]

Something must be related with the import process, the ship you see posted by me before has the damage textures working ok. But the ship is extracted by Uekel, not me. Im working on that ship textures right now, Im curious to see how the damage will look like when I will apply a new texture. I will send you by PM the files so you can compare it with your work.

Maybe that ugly texture is embedded in the .dat file, try to take a closer look into Goblin editor, really dunno what to say as I did not imported any ship so far.. im working only the textures on the ships you guys manage to import.

[Zedi]

TDW helped me to extract a fishing boat from Uekel's mod. And this guy texture when hit by torpedo is just perfect:

So here is the "before":
http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/SH%20ships/1.jpg?t=1304061257

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/SH%20ships/7.jpg?t=1304083197


.. and here is "after":

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/SH%20ships/4.jpg?t=1304082898

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/SH%20ships/5.jpg?t=1304082899

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/SH%20ships/6.jpg?t=1304082900

Another ship joined the SH5 merchant fleet :salute:

[Sepp von Ch.]

:o:o:o
:up:

Damage model of this merchant is ok Zedi?

Great job!:yeah:

[Zedi]

Yes, see the pic posted before redoing the texture. Its the same now. I still have some little issues with the texture transparency on the hull, hope that TDW can help with those. But overall is done and is looking great.

Next, I try to reskin the SH3 ship done by Iambecomelife. That one will be a very hard task as everything in that model is very old. It will be a real challenge. Until then hope that Rongel will sort out his ship, so I can retexture his one too. A lot of work... a lot.

[uekel]

.... I´m pleasured that my mod to use is for something ....

[TheDarkWraith]

I've got a foggy clue as to why the ship's texture goes bonkers when the ship takes damage. I don't yet fully understand the why part but I have at least narrowed it down some :yep:

[Zedi]

What is strange is that Uekel ships show the right damage texture, but others reported thet they are unable to even sink the ship. Anyway, Rongel said that he found the source of the problem with the wrong damage texture, something about embed ships targa image to dat-file... I better let him clear this up.

[Rongel]

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/rognels/SH5Img2011-05-01_112338.jpg

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/rognels/SH5Img2011-05-01_112856-1.jpg

Yes, it seems that I managed to get rid of the damaged texture problem! The ship takes damage from deck gun and torpedoes and I've even seen deck gun make small holes to hull below water.

Okay, let's see if I can explain this, i'm a bit hangoverish... :-? There was a two or three materials (type 2/0)set in S3d but they seemed to be empty. I followed what iambecomelife did with Salland-ship (thanks!) and gave the textures a name and then embedded a targa image below that. And it did the trick!

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/rognels/sh3d.jpg

So the ship needs still following things: crew, Sh5 wakes, water reflections, maybe the normal map thingies. And I'm not sure if it's working properly, at this point it looks good though. Phew!

[Zedi]

lol.. great work Rongel and I love the drawing, damn funny.:up:
You guys should personalize these merchants by giving them a name.

[Trevally.]

@Rongel, Zedi, Uekel and anyone else working on this.

:woot:Well done - looks fantastic:woot:

:yeah:

[Rongel]

I think I should give my ship to TDW if he has the time to look it over. He can spot if there is something wrong or stupid in the dat-file. One weird thing that I spotted is that the "damage holes" in the structure are only visible underwater... I managed to add crew to the ship too, following Sallands good example.

I would really like if we could make a tutorial how to import ships from SH 4 that shows every aspect of the process. There are many more ships available and it's pretty easy to get them to Sh 5 if you have instructions, but it needs more people. :DL Did you Zedi manage to put the SH 5 wakes to the boats? And what about the dark/bright side textures? I have added normal map to the boat but I think it's not working right.

[Zedi]

Uekel managed to bring in a dozens of ships already, but there is also need to work out various issues with the damage, wake &stuff. With his permission we try to fix them and include the ships into the campaign, I already asked TDW to help.

Regarding the new ships, I can help only with the textures and then include the new ships in the upcoming campaign mod generic traffic along with the mines and stuff. So, ask TDW to help you out.. he is very busy these days, but he is the master in importing ships.

[pascal4541]

:haha: a very pretty picture Rongel...
nice work guys :up:

[Budds]

Wow....

Now I really feel Thick !!!!
I have been trying to get a simple boat from Sh4 into Sh5, and have had limited success.
But the washed out texture thing, and the crazy damage texture thing still haunt me !

While I tried Rongel's procedure, I must be missing something simple as I still have issues.

Anywyas.....
Glad to see you others making progress on this issue..... GREAT STUFF Gents !

:salute:

[Rongel]

Wow....

Now I really feel Thick !!!!
I have been trying to get a simple boat from Sh4 into Sh5, and have had limited success.
But the washed out texture thing, and the crazy damage texture thing still haunt me !

While I tried Rongel's procedure, I must be missing something simple as I still have issues.

Anywyas.....
Glad to see you others making progress on this issue..... GREAT STUFF Gents !Hi! The reason you have issues is probably because it seems i was wrong.... :oops: I'm a novice what comes to modding, and don't know what I'm doing most of the time :DL. The embedded targa pictures won't fix the texture bug. I give you example of my ship so I hope you can follow it:

There is a 4/100 node called NMFMSSS that is my ship. Now it's divided to two parts, bow and stern and they intersect in the middle. They are 4/100 nodes too and are named NMFMSSS_B and NMFMSSS_F. At first I put the DMG_col-node to these parts: DMG_col_ NMFMSSS_B and DMG_col_NMFMSSS_F. But this caused the damaged texture bug. What I did was to erase them both and just put DMG_col_NMFMSSS which represents the whole ship. And now it works! The bad thing is that now the damage modelling isn't detailed, the ship only has one part that can be damaged basically. It seems that the ship will sink really peacefully, because the flooding is levelled. I'm quite sure we can somehow fix this, but now it's the only way that I know to get the textures working. So basically my ship has limited damage modelling, but it's working otherwise fine.

If TDW comes around here, I hope you can give me some pointers how to add SH 5 contollers to my ship. It would be nice to have more detailed wake and other effects.

[Budds]

Hey Bro......

You got it working better than me, so :salute: !
I am new to this as well....
But figured if I could at least help, maybe we get the Fleet Larger Faster.

This is what I want mine to look like :
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=1653001&postcount=159

This is what I get :
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=1652783&postcount=153

I guess the first couple tries ALWAYS makes my head hurt...Lol.
Hoping to get it sorted, and possibly help others intrested in this project build an "Expansion Fleet".

No Japan ?
Might be helpful to Open horizons if it could be added ?
Just thinking out loud......

Thanks for any advice............
:rock:

[TheDarkWraith]

I have another way to fix the damage texture problem. It works and will show holes under the water from damage. Right now I'm playing with shaders trying to get the holes visible above water also.
I didn't have to imbed any images in the .dat file. The dat file can use cfg#TXR_ nodes to define the textures.
Here's the problem with the DMG_col_ nodes: the 3D model specified can ONLY have one map (NO multiple maps). So what I did was extract the 3D model of the _B or _F node I was wanting, opened it up in Wings3D, re-uv mapped it to use one texture, exported it to .obj file, re-imported back into DMG_col_ node. Now the map specified for the 3D model of this DMG_col_ node has to be a 'blank' 2/0 node with opacity set to 0x00 (you can use the DMG_ node's map and set it's opacity to 0x00). Works perfectly!

@Budds: I'm working on the same ship you are. Damage texture problem is fixed with the above.

EDIT:

some FYI: the texture being displayed for the damage bug is data\Misc\dmg_new01.dds

[Budds]

Nice TDW !

While I wish I "REALLY" understood your fix.... I only slightly grasp it.
Did I mention I'm new to this...hehe....

I'm still trying to get firm handle on the rough Import !
I guess the straight import, without edit of textures, will leave the undamaged skin washed out looking ?

Thanks for your efforts.........
:yep:

[TheDarkWraith]

Once I fully understand everything about using .dat files I'll redo my tutorial on it. I'm about 80% there of fully understanding what's going on now :D

Here is damage just from deck gun. The cool thing is 'splash damage' is added by the game engine. There's one shot where I hit the hull but the game engine took the splash damage back to the super structure :rock:

Now if I can find the shader responsible for showing these only underwater and make it show above water also we'll be golden!
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4151

[Zedi]

Awesome! Thanks TDW for you help!

Guys, this is the list of ships I selected from Uekel mod and asked his permission to use them in the new campaign mod. Asked TDW to help fixing these ships and then I will retexture them and add it into the campaign.

NF_boat
NKLCS_Nagara
NKLSS_Hakusika
NKMCS_Akita
NKMCS_Heito
NKMCS_Zinbu
NKMSS_Biyo
NKMSS_Kinposan
NKMSS_WarMelody
NKPMCS_Express
NKSSS_Kasagisan
NLTSf
NMFMPC
NOL_Nippon
NOM_Buzyun
NOM_Paula
NRC_
NSD
Schute_M2

Also there is the 1 more ship from Rongel and the one from Iambecomelife. So there is a pretty big list of imported ships, also a LOT of work to make them float.

[TheDarkWraith]

The _Ox files still need to be worked on for the above ship. The weird texture/light problem you were having was because of the _Ox .dds file. I removed it and used the one from stock SH4 and the weird problem was gone.

[Rongel]

Once I fully understand everything about using .dat files I'll redo my tutorial on it. I'm about 80% there of fully understanding what's going on now :DGreat! I managed to get also same results (holes underwater) just by adding the DMG_col to the whole ships node, but I guess that limits the damage modelling by eliminating different compartments. I guess I'll wait for your new tutorial, uv-mapping and wings 3d is unknow world to me, don't wan't to go there without a guide!

[TheDarkWraith]

Great! I managed to get also same results (holes underwater) just by adding the DMG_col to the whole ships node, but I guess that limits the damage modelling by eliminating different compartments. I guess I'll wait for your new tutorial, uv-mapping and wings 3d is unknow world to me, don't wan't to go there without a guide!

If you've found another way to do it may I look at your files? I'd like to see what you did :yep: If there's an easier way to do this I'm all for it :up:

[Zedi]

What about the ship reflection on water? Any chance to solve that?

[Rongel]

If you've found another way to do it may I look at your files? I'd like to see what you did :yep: If there's an easier way to do this I'm all for it :up:Sure! I'll post a link here soon, I'll put it available to everyone, for educating purposes. I'll just have to test it again, to see that it's the most working version. I believe it's working because the dmg_col_ node is dealing with the whole ships 3d model. Okay, I'll go test it now, and post it soon!

[TheDarkWraith]

Sure! I'll post a link here soon, I'll put it available to everyone, for educating purposes. I'll just have to test it again, to see that it's the most working version. I believe it's working because the dmg_col_ node is dealing with the whole ships 3d model. Okay, I'll go test it now, and post it soon!

I just noticed that the method I posted a couple of posts above doesn't create any holes in the ship with torpedo impacts. How does your method react to torpedo impacts :06:

[Rongel]

Ok, here is Kasagisan Small Old Split Freighter. I hope the package is allright, didn't have time to double check it. Should work! And this is work in process version, please remember! :yeah:

Link (http://www.gamefront.com/files/20288242/Kasagisan.7z)


Deck gun hits show underwater:
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/rognels/SH5Img2011-05-01_230832.jpg

EDIT:

I just noticed that the method I posted a couple of posts above doesn't create any holes in the ship with torpedo impacts. How does your method react to torpedo impacts :06:

Just tested this and it works, made two great big holes to the hull, but again you can see them only underwater.

[TheDarkWraith]

I just noticed that the method I posted a couple of posts above doesn't create any holes in the ship with torpedo impacts. How does your method react to torpedo impacts :06:

Well the above was because of playing with the shaders. It works :oops: Nice big hole with splash damage to surroundings with torpedo impact. Now to check out Rongel's method :yep:

[TheDarkWraith]

Ok, here is Kasagisan Small Old Split Freighter. I hope the package is allright, didn't have time to double check it. Should work! And this is work in process version, please remember! :yeah:

Just tested this and it works, made two great big holes to the hull, but again you can see them only underwater.

I think you found the right combination of everything :yeah::rock: The great thing is the _B and _F parts of the ship have an 'internal' damage model that shows when the holes are created on the outside of the ship (you can see inside the ship via this hole to the internal damage 3D model). I couldn't get that model to show with my method :DL

Yeah baby we are rockin' and rollin' now :rock::rock:

I made a few changes and I'll send the revised package to you.

By embedding the images into the .dat file you've also fixed some of the problems I was having with the _Ox renderings :rock:

Now it's time to update how to import new units into SH5 from SH4. We shouldn't mess with SH3 ships anymore as only the SH4 ships have these 'internal' 3D damage models I was speaking about above.

[stoianm]

:cool:

[Rongel]

Thanks! Nice to hear you like, TDW! :DL

I'm a bit concerned that does the damage system work now like it should. I have seen how my ship sinks levelled if you know what I mean, the boat stays horizontally straight. Did I take out the different compartments and made it just one bulk? Like one hull only? Phew, well I'm so tired right now that I can't write good english anymore, I'm signing out for the day. Hope the ship will be improved further! Adios!

[TheDarkWraith]

Thanks! Nice to hear you like, TDW! :DL

I'm a bit concerned that does the damage system work now like it should. I have seen how my ship sinks levelled if you know what I mean, the boat stays horizontally straight. Did I take out the different compartments and made it just one bulk? Like one hull only? Phew, well I'm so tired right now that I can't write good english anymore, I'm signing out for the day. Hope the ship will be improved further! Adios!

You didn't mess anything up with the damage system. The DMG_col_ node defines the 3D model that the game engine uses to determine collision of it and shells/torpedoes/DCs. By attaching it to the main node and using the main node's model (with no maps) you gave the game engine everything it needs to check for collisions :up:

Now once the collision happens the game engine looks for all the sphere's affected (it pulls all these spheres from every part of the ship). Once the sphere's are determined it then looks to see which boxes were affected based on the spheres affected.

Now the reason why your ship sinks the way it does is because of the zones attached to the boxes. By adjusting what zone number goes with which box you can achieve the flooding model wanted.

Here is a pic of the internal damage 3D model I was speaking about earlier. This is Rongel's ship that just took a torpedo impact on the side. Things to note: you can see inside the ship because of the _B and _F's DMG_ node's 3D models. Splash damage was applied to the super structure.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4152

The only changes I made to your files was the ship's .cfg file. I added the ShowInRecManual entry, told it what class of ship it was for the rec manual, commented out all the 2D compartment entries (not needed), removed all the .tga files from the \sea folder, and removed the \data\Textures folder as it's not needed:

RecManualCategory=Freighter
ShowInRecognitionManual=Yes

;[2DCompartments]
;UnitPos=95,0,326,27
;NbOfComp=4
;Name1=Propulsion
;Area1=103,0,30,18
;Name2=Keel
;Area2=166,0,187,10
;Name3=Engines Room
;Area3=214,13,71,18
;Name4=Fuel Bunkers
;Area4=287,13,30,18

Can I send this to Zedi so he can add this ship to the campaign?

[Rongel]

You didn't mess anything up with the damage system. The DMG_col_ node defines the 3D model that the game engine uses to determine collision of it and shells/torpedoes/DCs. By attaching it to the main node and using the main node's model (with no maps) you gave the game engine everything it needs to check for collisions :up:
Okay, one message more! If this is really true, then :woot: and :sunny: .

Can I send this to Zedi so he can add this ship to the campaign? You can send it, but what about the fine tuning of the zones attached to the boxes? Can we still improve this even if it's already in the campaign without needing to restart the campaign? I would also like to have the SH 5 wake. If it's possible (well I guess it is) then send away! :DL

In regarding the recent discussions, I have to say that this has been a great example of a good team work! TDW made a tutorial for all and I studied Iambecomelife's Salland-ship and got my ideas from it and then TDW fine tuned my ship further and now Zedi is going to put it to campaign! Great work all!

[7thSeal]

In regarding the recent discussions, I have to say that this has been a great example of a good team work! TDW made a tutorial for all and I studied Iambecomelife's Salland-ship and got my ideas from it and then TDW fine tuned my ship further and now Zedi is going to put it to campaign! Great work all!

Amen!

About the only thing I do well is roast my own coffee and I do a damn good job of it after modding my roaster according to others ideas. I'll be more than welcomed to share if others are struggling. Another example...:DL

[Stormfly]

good work guys :up:

but no SH3 Merchant Fleet Ships because of the interrior 3D damage model ? :timeout:

[Zedi]

Yeah guys, please take your time and work this out in every detail. Would be nice if you guys can work out all the ships, including those from Uekel. Im very busy now by adding every major historical convoy to the campaign and that will take a while, so there is no rush.

Btw, if is possible, please split these ships for every nation. I wanna make the convoys very historically accurate, so I need ships from every nation. At least 1 cargo and tanker for every nation. Ah.. and before I place them into the campaign, I need to divert them into my paint shop first :P

Awesome job, you guys rock :rock:

[Sailor Steve]

Yeah guys, please take your time and work this out in every detail. Would be nice if you guys can work out all the ships, including those from Uekel. Im very busy now by adding every major historical convoy to the campaign and that will take a while, so there is no rush.
Though this is a noble idea, I see a couple of potential problems. Are you leaving the convoys randomized, or will they be scripted with the actual ships? Will you even have the specific individual convoys or will all the 'HX' convoys be represented by a route with the actual convoys randomized? The reason I ask is that if every specific convoy is placed on the map, players will be able to look them up and track them from start to finish, which ends up being less realistic rather than more.

Ducimus faced a similar problem in his work on SH4. Which is more realistic - having things exactly as they were, which gives the player information he wouldn't have had in real life, or making things worse than they really were, which makes the player realistically cautious?

Btw, if is possible, please split these ships for every nation. I wanna make the convoys very historically accurate, so I need ships from every nation. At least 1 cargo and tanker for every nation. Ah.. and before I place them into the campaign, I need to divert them into my paint shop first :P
Not every nation had every kind of ship. Estonia, for example, had only twenty-three ships in her merchant fleet, and the very newest of them was built back in 1918. I can help provide a lot of the information on individual ships based on the research I've done for my SH3 Ship Names mod, but as I said I believe there's a possibility that the more detailed you make it the less realistic it becomes, since hindsight gives us information no one could possibly have had at the time.

[TheDarkWraith]

My understanding of using .dat files is coming along nicely :rock:
Here I fixed the damage texture problem with the NPT Patrol boat:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4153

Notice the damage to the ship. Now if I can only get this to show above water also we'll really be doing good.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4154

Single hull ships are a little more difficult to do than multi-hull ships :D

@Zedi: I now know how to use the _Txx, _Nxx, and Oxx nodes (thanks to Rongel supplying the missing pieces to the puzzle :rock:)! The texture on the NPT boat is the stock SH4 texture!

[TheDarkWraith]

Here is Rongel's ship with SH5Wake controllers and FoamWave controllers added (look at the waves the ship is causing in the water :D). The ship is at max speed of 12.5 knots:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4156

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4155

It's a nice looking ship also :up:

:rock::|\\

[THE_MASK]

Full steam ahead .

[TheDarkWraith]

And NPT's wakes redone using new SH5 controllers (moving at max speed of 44 knots):
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4158

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4157

[Zedi]

Cant wait to have these babies into my paintshop, then put then on water.. yay!

Though this is a noble idea, I see a couple of potential problems...
Steve, I will answer in my topic just to avoid being offtopic here.

[TheDarkWraith]

Cant wait to have these babies into my paintshop, then put then on water.. yay!


Steve, I will answer in my topic just to avoid being offtopic here.

you'll have them very soon :up:

[TheDarkWraith]

good work guys :up:

but no SH3 Merchant Fleet Ships because of the interrior 3D damage model ? :timeout:

We can use SH3 ships. I'd just prefer not to because they look like crap (too low poly count) and they are missing items that SH4 ships have (the unified render controller which lets you specify normal _Nxx, occulsion _Oxx, and texture maps _Txx and also missing the interior 3D damage models (the DMG_xx nodes in the SH4 .dat files)

[TheDarkWraith]

What about the ship reflection on water? Any chance to solve that?

Haven't found a way to make it work yet.
There's also one other strange thing when using .dat files. If you look at the ship you'll notice that you can't see anything below the water (looks like SH3 rendering). GR2 files allow the ship to be seen below the water when viewed above water. Can't quite figure out how to fix that either :hmmm: But those two things are minor compared to getting new ships into the game :up:

[Zedi]

Was the same in SH4? Because if so, we may never get this to work.
And I agree with the SH3 ships. The low polygons makes them to look extremely ugly in SH5. If we import stuff, we should do it only from SH4.

[PL_Andrev]

If enemy PT boats try to hit our surfaced uboat by their torpedoes this game will be completely brilliant...
:salute:

[urfisch]

very nice progress!!

[Rongel]

Nice process indeed! Thanks for the tune up TDW! The wake looks quite nice. I found one issue with your version of the ship, and it's the textures. For some reason my version had higher quality in ships textures, kind of smoother. Is your textures packed in some way, or is my eysight pulling tricks on me?

I really hope that we can get the damages to show up normally, and not only in underwater, but I have no idea what is causing it. And if you have time, TDW, could you give little bit more detailed instructions how to get the damage modelling to work, I mean the zones and the boxes. I found them in Goblin editor, but I'm not sure how to proceed.

I don't know how much time I can spend modding this week, but I would also like to try to add SH 5 crew on deck. Also I'm wondering why other ships have really high contrast on light/dark sides of the ship, but here i can't really see it even if the sun is shining at at perfect angle 90 degrees.

[Zedi]

Dont bother with the textures, thats my job. I will update the textures of these ships and also add normal map that will make them to have contrast and reflection from water and lights, like I did with this one:

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/SH%20ships/6.jpg?t=1304333514

[Rongel]

Dont bother with the textures, thats my job. I will update the textures of these ships and also add normal map that will make them to have contrast and reflection from water and lights, like I did with this one:No, i'm not stepping to your field, just curious what caused this change. My ship also has a normal map, but I'm sure you can improve it!

[Zedi]

No, i'm not stepping to your field, just curious what caused this change. My ship also has a normal map, but I'm sure you can improve it!

No, the normal map is not good and it has to be remade anyway after the new texture is applied. But if you can improve the conclusion map and anything else, that would be good, thats not something I can do.

[TheDarkWraith]

And if you have time, TDW, could you give little bit more detailed instructions how to get the damage modelling to work, I mean the zones and the boxes. I found them in Goblin editor, but I'm not sure how to proceed.

If you open up the \data\Zones.cfg file you'll see all the zones defined for the units damage/flooding model. My FX_Update has new zones for better flooding/damage model so I would suggest using it (the mod has to be enabled before starting Goblin Editor as it reads this file on startup).

By changing the Type value for the box you can give it a different zone and thus different flooding/damage characteristics.

By right clicking on a node and selecting 'Show Damage' you'll be able to see the spheres and boxes.

[TheDarkWraith]

Here is SH4's NKMCS_Akita:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4159

The texture and normal map needs some serious work :o

[TheDarkWraith]

Figured out how to make the DMG_ nodes use _Txx, Oxx, and Nxx maps:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4160

That looks incredible :rock: Now if we can only make it be visible above water also :shifty:

[Rongel]

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/rognels/SH5Img2011-05-02_190830.jpg

Do you see those little guys hovering there? They are Sh 5 ship crew, fully animated and working! Just need to place them in right places (which will be somewhat painstaking!). The trick is to add a 4/100 node with a link, something like this for example "LNK@1x10_version02#01". You can see those links using Goblin editor and checking stock SH 5 ships. Have to test this more, fingers crossed! :DL

[TheDarkWraith]

Do you see those little guys hovering there? They are Sh 5 ship crew, fully animated and working! Just need to place them in right places (which will be somewhat painstaking!). The trick is to add a 4/100 node with a link, something like this for example "LNK@1x10_version02#01". You can see those links using Goblin editor and checking stock SH 5 ships. Have to test this more, fingers crossed! :DL

You have places already defined for those guys! They are the Pxx nodes :yep: Simply edit the .eqp file for the ship and add the name of 'those little guys' after LinkName=

You have 7 character placements already defined:

[Equipment 7]
NodeName=P01
LinkName=NULL;char_CIVSailor
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19451231

[Equipment 8]
NodeName=P02
LinkName=NULL;char_CIVSailor
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19451231

[Equipment 9]
NodeName=P03
LinkName=NULL;char_CIVSailor
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19451231

[Equipment 10]
NodeName=P04
LinkName=NULL;char2_CIVSailors
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19451231

[Equipment 11]
NodeName=P05
LinkName=NULL;char2_CIVSailors
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19451231

[Equipment 12]
NodeName=P06
LinkName=NULL;char_CIVSailor
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19451231

[Equipment 13]
NodeName=P07
LinkName=NULL;char_CIVSailor
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19451231

[Rongel]

You have places already defined for those guys! They are the Pxx nodes :yep: Simply edit the .eqp file for the ship and add the name of 'those little guys' after LinkName=

You have 7 character placements already defined:True! I tried to put people to all seven nodes, but only some of them showed up, so it seems we need to still manually adjust them. But yes, this should help!

[TheDarkWraith]

True! I tried to put people to all seven nodes, but only some of them showed up, so it seems we need to still manually adjust them. But yes, this should help!

Which ones have you gotten to work?

LNK@1x20x10_version01#01 gives the following characters (and I could not add them via eqp file, I had to add them via 4/100 node):

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4162

we should figure out which ones are single characters :yep:

[TheDarkWraith]

Ah, figured out where these 'characters' are derived from.

LNK@1x20x10_version01#01 breaks down to:

LNK@x where x is the .GR2 filename from \data\Library\Patch_x

what I can't figure out is what/where the #01 comes from/means :hmmm:

[Rongel]

we should figure out which ones are single characters :yep:You can view the characters in Goblin editor, they are GR 2 files, and the just merge the chr.file. Somehow it seems that I've had more succes with groups. But for example "1x1_version01" is a single character.

EDIT

In library/ Patch so and so...

[Rongel]

I'm just going crazy looking for a reflection or a ships bottom through the sea! :damn: How can it be that everything looks allright under the sea? I looked again at SH 4 and yes, it has transparent water, you can see ships through the water. I guess this is now the only problem with these imported ships! Are there any clues why this is happening, is it something that can't be fixed or some stupid detail that we have missed?

Stock ships have numerous entries called Reflect_***, any idea what they mean? I have tried adding those, but no effect....

[TheDarkWraith]

Stock ships have numerous entries called Reflect_***, any idea what they mean? I have tried adding those, but no effect....

Reflect_ nodes define the 3D model and maps to use for reflections. You'll notice that the WaterReflection controller is attached to those also. You don't have to use Reflect_ as the name. These nodes are usually used to define a simpler version of the 3D model to render for reflections. In SH3 I attached WaterReflection controllers straight to the Type 4/100 nodes that defined the objects to get the best (highest) resolution reflections :up: I haven't been able to get this to work in SH5 yet :damn:

[TheDarkWraith]

Thanks to Rongel's discovery we can get rid of the ghost units in SH5 now :rock: Here the PT boat finally has a crew:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4164

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4163

Should be able to add crew to AI subs now :D

[stoianm]

fantastic:)

[Sepp von Ch.]

Should be able to add crew to AI subs now :D

Superbly!:rock:

[Zedi]

After hours of work I just have to give up on a very annoying bug with this textures. Applied the new skins, but the hull area of the ships is half transparent and in certain angles there is another texture shown. There should be no rust on the hull, but somewhere that area is set to be transparent.. maybe to let the rust texture to pass.. or something. Not to mention that there should be no rust, at least I let none on my tga. Im too tired to think about it now, need a break.

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/SH%20ships/11.jpg?t=1304372964

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/SH%20ships/12.jpg?t=1304372965

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/SH%20ships/13.jpg?t=1304372966

PS This is a very similar bug to the one with the 7a con tower where you can see the crew shadow through the texture/metal. Actually is the same bug, material transparency set too low.

[sentenc3]

Should be able to add crew to AI subs now :D
:yeah::yeah::yeah::yeah:

[TheDarkWraith]

7A AI sub new crew person:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4165

He's not positioned correctly yet but we can add crew to the AI subs :rock:

[stoianm]

7A AI sub new crew person:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4165

He's not positioned correctly yet but we can add crew to the AI subs :rock:
:rock::rock::rock:

[Gammelpreusse]

omg....does this mean Type IX?

[Budds]

Still getting the strange damage grafx when my imports get hit.
I know I must be missing something simple !
How to escape the dmg_new01.dds and see the "Holes below waterline" ?

Any Thoughts appreciated.........
:hmmm:

[TheDarkWraith]

Still getting the strange damage grafx when my imports get hit.
I know I must be missing something simple !
How to escape the dmg_new01.dds and see the "Holes below waterline" ?

Any Thoughts appreciated.........
:hmmm:

It's a little complicated. If you send me your files I'll look it over :up:

[TheDarkWraith]

7A AI sub has full crew now :D
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4166

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=487&pictureid=4167

:rock::|\\

[TheBeast]

Very nice work.:rock:

[TheBeast]

After hours of work I just have to give up on a very annoying bug with this textures. Applied the new skins, but the hull area of the ships is half transparent and in certain angles there is another texture shown. There should be no rust on the hull, but somewhere that area is set to be transparent.. maybe to let the rust texture to pass.. or something. Not to mention that there should be no rust, at least I let none on my tga. Im too tired to think about it now, need a break.

PS This is a very similar bug to the one with the 7a con tower where you can see the crew shadow through the texture/metal. Actually is the same bug, material transparency set too low.

Is this caused by the Shadow Maps for that model?

[Rongel]

After hours of work I just have to give up on a very annoying bug with this textures. Applied the new skins, but the hull area of the ships is half transparent and in certain angles there is another texture shown. There should be no rust on the hull, but somewhere that area is set to be transparent.. maybe to let the rust texture to pass.. or something. Not to mention that there should be no rust, at least I let none on my tga. Im too tired to think about it now, need a break.


Is that my ship! looks good anyway. I think it's the ambient occlusion map that is showing in your picture:


http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/rognels/sh4.jpg

This was taken when I edited Sh 4 ship, for some reason, if I enable this occlusion map in my import, all I see is black. You could send the ship to me and I'll take a look at it.

Still getting the strange damage grafx when my imports get hit.
I know I must be missing something simple !
How to escape the dmg_new01.dds and see the "Holes below waterline" ?

Any Thoughts appreciated.........

I can check your ship too if you still have the problem.

7A AI sub has full crew now

Yeay! What about when the boat dives, do they dissappear or is it a underwater crew?

[Zedi]

Is this caused by the Shadow Maps for that model?

I would bet my money on the occlusion map.
But I have no xp in working with 3D model, so Im sailing in the dark here.

Its very hard and frustrating to work on these things without any tutorial nor knowhow. And loading countless time the game just to test a minor change makes me sick already :/

[Zedi]

Is that my ship! looks good anyway. I think it's the ambient occlusion map that is showing in your picture:


....

This was taken when I edited Sh 4 ship, for some reason, if I enable this occlusion map in my import, all I see is black. You could send the ship to me and I'll take a look at it.

I can check your ship too if you still have the problem.

Somehow I had a feeling that I need to check the previous page after posting, happy I did that. I will send you my work so you can take a look and see if you can fix something. The reworked tga is embeded along with the new normal map.

I have similar results (black ship) when I embed a dds file. Somehow there is no way to embed anything else than tga. And thats sux because the quality is not the same.

[Zedi]

If anyone can help explain wtf is wrong with this ship texture, please do. Im out of ideas.

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff366/Zhedi/SH5/SH%20ships/9.jpg?t=1304412169

[Rongel]

Thanks Zedi for the new skin, got it working finally, my bad... Really nice looking boat! This screenie looks awesome, but the I guess the ambient occlusion is somehow distorted, the sun light goes directly to the opposite side of the boat! The surface where sun shines is not illuminated...

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/rognels/SH5Img2011-05-03_143730.jpg

[TheDarkWraith]

invert the occlusion dds :06:

[TheDarkWraith]

Somehow I had a feeling that I need to check the previous page after posting, happy I did that. I will send you my work so you can take a look and see if you can fix something. The reworked tga is embeded along with the new normal map.

I have similar results (black ship) when I embed a dds file. Somehow there is no way to embed anything else than tga. And thats sux because the quality is not the same.

The Unified Render controller has a hard time with embedded dds files. They have to be tga type. We have to embed TGA files to get over the damage texture bug.
The embedded tga file should be overridden by any .dds files specified in the roster entries. Are you seeing this not happening? If so, try placing the .dds files in \data\Textures\TNormal\tex and see what happens.

[Rongel]

If anyone can help explain wtf is wrong with this ship texture, please do. Im out of ideas.I think Zedi, I fixed your ship, NMFMPC! At least took away the crazy textures. I think that the error was in the modified occlusion map alpha channel. I used a version that I downloaded here some time ago and it's embedded occlusion map's alpha channel was different than in SH 4. :yeah: Have to test more, but now I'm off to a victory cigarrette.

EDIT:

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/rognels/SH5Img2011-05-03_180729.jpg

As you can see, there is occlusion "glow", but nothing too crazy. Now the next step would be to get some textures to the ships guns and the light thing at the top of the ship.

[TheDarkWraith]

I think Zedi, I fixed your ship, NMFMPC! At least took away the crazy textures. I think that the error was in the modified occlusion map alpha channel. I used a version that I downloaded here some time ago and it's embedded occlusion map's alpha channel was different than in SH 4. :yeah: Have to test more, but now I'm off to a victory cigarrette.

EDIT:
As you can see, there is occlusion "glow", but nothing too crazy. Now the next step would be to get some textures to the ships guns and the light thing at the top of the ship.

excellent work Rongel :yeah: Now as I don't fully understand these occlusion and normal maps purposes, can you explain? Also can you tell us what you changed to get Zedi's ship fixed? I've noticed that many of the ship's from SH4 have an occlusion map (the _Oxx files) whose alpha channel doesn't match the RGB channels. Any thoughts as to why :06:

As far fixing the guns and the spotlight that is going to be some major work. The problem is all the guns and spotlights from SH3/4 have to be edited and have images embedded and entries made for their _Oxx and _Nxx entries. Or we can substitute SH5 guns for them....

[Rongel]

excellent work Rongel :yeah: Now as I don't fully understand these occlusion and normal maps purposes, can you explain? Also can you tell us what you changed to get Zedi's ship fixed? I've noticed that many of the ship's from SH4 have an occlusion map (the _Oxx files) whose alpha channel doesn't match the RGB channels. Any thoughts as to why :06:Explaining what i did might be even more complicated than fixing it! Let's try... The occlusion map and it's alpha channel are indeed totally different looking, but it's not a corrupt or anything like it. So it seems we must leave it alone. There was nothing wrong with the two textures that Zedi sent me, the base texture, and the normal map. I used in this ship a dat-file that I downloaded here earlier and I could see it's occlusion map's alpha channel was different than in SH 4, it was edited. I just changed it back. Still, it didn't change in the game or in S3 editor. It seemed that the game sniffed the old dds files I had in the ships folder, so I simply deleted them, so that it must use the embedded files.

One weird thing I noticed is that the spotlight and guns cast shadows. I tried to use the shcontroller "VisibleUnderWater" to the whole ship and it vanished from the game. You could see it only underwater. Weird thing was that now the spotlight and the gun were rendered and had textures!

Okay one issue more. We can see water reflections in the ships structure near the water (when we aren't underwater). But why only in one side??? Stock ships have this effect on both sides.:06:

[TheDarkWraith]

Explaining what i did might be even more complicated than fixing it! Let's try... The occlusion map and it's alpha channel are indeed totally different looking, but it's not a corrupt or anything like it. So it seems we must leave it alone. There was nothing wrong with the two textures that Zedi sent me, the base texture, and the normal map. I used in this ship a dat-file that I downloaded here earlier and I could see it's occlusion map's alpha channel was different than in SH 4, it was edited. I just changed it back. Still, it didn't change in the game or in S3 editor. It seemed that the game sniffed the old dds files I had in the ships folder, so I simply deleted them, so that it must use the embedded files.

One weird thing I noticed is that the spotlight and guns cast shadows. I tried to use the shcontroller "VisibleUnderWater" to the whole ship and it vanished from the game. You could see it only underwater. Weird thing was that now the spotlight and the gun were rendered and had textures!

Okay one issue more. We can see water reflections in the ships structure near the water (when we aren't underwater). But why only in one side??? Stock ships have this effect on both sides.:06:

Can you send me the files you speak about above regarding the occlusion maps? I'd like to see what you're talking about.

The spotlight and guns will cast shadows because they are being pulled from a gr2 file (they are SH5 guns and spotlight). Only items taken from GR2 files will cast shadows :nope: This is that whole granny thing which is a total PITA!!

Now the likely reason why when the ship 'vanished' and all of a sudden the guns and spotlight rendered is because there are two ways the game engine can render items: the granny way and the old way. It can't do both on one object. Since we asked the game engine to render the ship using .dat files (the old way) it rendered everything that way, including the gr2 stuff. Now since the old way couldn't read the textures from the gr2 file (:06:) they show up as dark. This is my hypothesis.

Can you show a screenshot of these water reflections you speak about? I want to ensure what you're conveying and my understanding of what you're conveying are the same.

[Rongel]

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/rognels/SH5Img2011-05-03_190537.jpg


http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n527/rognels/SH5Img2011-05-03_190515-1.jpg

Hope you can spot them, they show better in motion.

EDIT:

ARGH MY AVATAR

EDIT 2:

I'll send you soon the files!