Help with turm/hull/deck textures

[frau kaleun]

Hi all,

The skin I use for my Type VII boats is a really dark paint job, which I love, but I've had to do some tinkering with all the extra textures that get added by various mods (like New U-boat Guns and Super Turms) in order to "paint" everything to match (more or less). Doing okay so far, but I cannot seem to find the file I need to tinker with in order to repaint the still-too-light circled areas in the pic below:

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/5406/sh3img25102011215457113.jpg

This is the first VIIC I've looked at while trying things out - the VIIB is fine. I've been through the .dat files in data\Objects and data\Submarine for the Type VIIC boats... all the embedded .tga files I find I've already taken care of or they are (as far as I can tell) being correctly overwritten by the textures in the skin mod. So I don't know where else to look. Would really appreciate it if anybody can point me to the right file(s) or texture(s) that will take care of the two remaining troublesome spots.

Thanks!

[Sailor Steve]

No clue. You've gone far beyond what I've been brave enough to attempt.

[U570]

I'm not sure if will help, but try tinkering the files in Silent 3ditor.Might work, might not...

[Fish In The Water]

I only have a passing familiarity with the Super Turms mods, (installed one once for testing but then removed prior to dissecting), so I'm just going out on a limb here with a wild idea.

Judging by the screen you posted I'm just wondering if Super Turms might be calling another texture such as 'ENG_Floor Plate.tga from the '...data\Textures\TNormal\tex' folder?

Probably incorrect, but that'd be my best guess from this distance. :sunny:

[clouclou]

Looking for may be in the "Objects"
Clouclou

[Kafka BC]

Try looking in the data\Textures\TNormal\tex folder for Turm7c deck textures. If there are any there, they will get used instead of the ones in the .dat files.

Failing that, I would look at the files in the involved mods. It could be that they have added new or extra textures, or renamed some. I can't check because I don't have the mods you mentioned.

[SeaWolf U-57]

Yes the area's you are showing are controlled by a file in the
data\Textures\TNormal\tex and is named Turm7c_1_deck there may be three of these
files the middle number will show 1,2 or 3

You could always look at diffreant skins and find a deck you like and just change the three files


Hope this helps :up:

[frau kaleun]

Basically what I've done is export the new textures from the .dat files, fiddle with them to make them darker to match the ones in my preferred skin, then import the darker versions back in.

AFAIK the only files SuperTurms adds to data\Textures are the new ones for the Crew On Deck feature, nothing for the boats themselves - they all seem to be embedded in the .dat files. But I'll check again just to be sure. There doesn't seem to be anything in the .dat files that refers to a .tga I haven't already investigated but I'm kind of at the point where I'm gonna have to go through every .tga in the game just to find it. :damn:

[SeaWolf U-57]

Or just make a little mod that adds the turm deck you want
this would be easer

[SquareSteelBar]

Check the data\Textures\TNormal\tex folder for Turm7c_X_deck.tga [or similar] files. If so the game preferably uses these files. Delete them or replace them by the dat embedded tgas.

[frau kaleun]

Or just make a little mod that adds the turm deck you want
this would be easer


What I'm doing is adding the stuff to the existing skin mod that is needed to repaint the entire fully modded boat in the desired darker colors. Whether that means just making darker textures for the data\Textures folders, or embedding them in the existing .dat files and loading the new .dat files with the rest of the skin, I don't really care; neither option is a problem.

It's tracking down all the textures I need to redo that is giving me headaches. I think I finally have them all, and then I load up the game, and some little part of the boat still has the stock paint job, lol.


Check the data\Textures\TNormal\tex folder for Turm7c_X_deck.tga [or similar] files. If so the game preferably uses these files. Delete them or replace them by the dat embedded tgas.


Yeah, that's probably gonna be my next stop, I'll probably just make the skin mod overwrite them and see what happens.

[Fish In The Water]

Check the data\Textures\TNormal\tex folder for Turm7c_X_deck.tga [or similar] files. If so the game preferably uses these files. Delete them or replace them by the dat embedded tgas.

Sounds about right. Good place to start in any event. :yep:

[Hans Witteman]

Hi Frau,

Just open the desire file in s3D editor and select the object you want to re paint and look at the texture name in editor you cannot go wrong this way.

Most of the time all sub object have same texture from the hull and can be easily identify on the UVW preview in s3d editor.

Hope this help.

Best regards Hans

[frau kaleun]

Thanks, Hans, it does. I was sitting here thinking that I had to find a texture file for something in the control room once and thought I remembered finding it by looking at the 3D model preview but I wasn't sure.

I don't know why that didn't occur to me when I was actually sitting with the file open in front of me... oh that's right, that would've been too convenient! :damn: :O:

[Hans Witteman]

Hi frau,

Glad to see you made it sometime texture are re use in many place in the game i saw even gun texture related to hull of other sub.

Best regards Hans

[frau kaleun]

Found the one on the deck, it's actually a coiled rope. Not sure about painting rope. :hmmm:

OTOH maybe my kaleun is a bit on the obsessive-compulsive side. :haha:

[Fish In The Water]

Well it would make for a lovely accessory if the colors match :03:, but it's generally acceptable (in RL at least), for the rope to make a statement all on its own. :D

[frau kaleun]

Well it would make for a lovely accessory if the colors match :03:, but it's generally acceptable (in RL at least), for the rope to make a statement all on its own. :D

I wouldn't really be painting it a different color, just making the entire texture darker - so it would still be in the same color family, just a darker shade so it's not standing out so much.

[Madox58]

Seems to me it would wash off the deck...
:hmmm:

That must be some 'stiff rope'.
:haha:

[frau kaleun]

Well, it does disappear when the boat submerges... probably we just have an infinite supply of rope on board and somebody puts a new coil out on deck every time we surface. :haha:

[Madox58]

Hitler.........
NO!! NO MORE TORPEDOS!!
They must carry the ROPE!!

Donitz.......
But Torpedos sink the ships! What good is Rope???

Hitler.............
It Just looks so nice on deck when you surface Donitz!
Surely you noticed the way the sun glints off the wet coils and offers a professional image of the Hunters from below?

Donitz..............
I do think the Coffee Shops in Denmark is a place you should avoid visiting
Mein Fuhrer.

Hitler.........
Coff... COFFF!!
THAT WILL BE ALL!!!
And call my pilot please.
I must inspect Denmark for these...these...?
Coffe Shops as you call them?

[Fish In The Water]

Well, it does disappear when the boat submerges... probably we just have an infinite supply of rope on board and somebody puts a new coil out on deck every time we surface. :haha:

I wonder if they have a guy on board whose only job is rope wrangling? If so, it would certainly make for an easy job evaluation. Just so long as the rope shows up each time we surface then we know Helmut is on the ball. :D :O:

[frau kaleun]

Okay, original problem I posted about has been solved to my satisfaction.

So now I'm up to testing the looks of the VIIC/41 with all my mods installed. Got a question about the deck gun on this baby - when I load a new career where I'm starting out in this type boat, the boat doesn't come already equipped with a deck gun. But without a deck gun, the deck just forward of the tower still has the "hole" for it, like so:

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/2129/sh3img29102011225249517.jpg

I can add a deck gun if I want to, but I'm not sure I want or need one given that this boat isn't available to me until so late in the war that having one seems pointless (late 1943 seems about the earliest Commander will let me me start in the VIIC/41). Although it's not like I would *mind* having one if there's a way to make the game just give it to me automatically at the start of a career, like it does with the VIIB/VIIC.

I've done some tinkering but I still can't get rid of the deck gun "hole," not sure if it's something that needs to be changed in a .dat file or if reworking a skin would take care of it. And I can't get the deck gun to come standard with the boat either. I don't know which would be easier (or even possible) to accomplish, but I'm not getting anywhere so far so HALP! :O:

[Fish In The Water]

And I can't get the deck gun to come standard with the boat either. I don't know which would be easier (or even possible) to accomplish, but I'm not getting anywhere so far so HALP! :O:

The reason it doesn't come with a deck gun is because the basic.cfg file has it disabled. If you scroll down to this section you'll see the setting (in red) below:

[SUBMARINE_AMMO4];VIIC/41
Type=1
Version=2
ForeTubes=4
AftTubes=1
ForeResIntern=4
ForeResExtern=1
ForeResExtra=2
AftResIntern=1
AftResExtern=1
ShellSlots=10
NbYears=4
Renown=5
SNK_MASK=NSS_Uboattype7_SNK_mask

Year0=1942
ForeTube00=3 ;T1
ForeTube01=3
ForeTube02=1
ForeTube03=3
ForeResIntern00=2
ForeResIntern01=1
ForeResIntern02=2
ForeResIntern03=0
ForeResExtern00=0
ForeResExtra00=0
ForeResExtra01=0
AftTubes00=2
AftResIntern00=2
AftResExtern00=0
Z01_00=6 ; VIIC/2
M01_00=-1
A01_00=6
A02_00=6
SuperCharger_00=1260; GWX V2.1: was -1, so this boat now has GW turbos by default
Snorkel_00=-1
Batteries_00=1265
AftBatteries_00=1265
Hydrophone_00=1270
Sonar_00=-1
Radar_00=-1
RadarWarningReceiver_00=-1
Decoy_Launcher_00=-1
SonarCoatings_00=-1
RadarCoatings_00=-1
Renown0=3000

To activate a deck gun, simply scroll further down in basic.cfg and find the M01 section.

[M01]
DaysSpent=2
NbGuns=2
Idx0=0
Dummy0=105mm_UDeck_Gun_High
Idx1=1
Dummy1=88mm_UDeck_Gun_High

Once there choose which gun you prefer and then change the value in the line highlighted in red above from -1 to either 0 or 1. That should do the trick, have fun and happy shooting! :sunny:

[frau kaleun]

Fish, that was the first thing I tried - I modded in a basic.cfg file with all the M01_xx values changed from -1 to 0 in the [SUBMARINE_AMMO4];VIIC/41 chunk. I started a new career with that boat and got no deck gun unless I went into the upgrade screen in base and added it manually.

Altho now that I think about it, I changed it to 0 because I didn't really care which gun, I just wanted to see if it gave me one automatically. But 0 seems to be for the 105mm, which IIRC isn't available in the upgrades screen for the VIIC/41 so maybe it's not available for that boat either way and that's why it didn't work? :hmmm:

I'll try again with 1 instead of 0 and see what happens.


I also started a career in a VIIC41 in an unmodded GWX installation. Starts without the deck gun but the "hole" in the deck isn't there so it's definitely something in my skins or one of the modded files that causes it. I just don't know what.

Edit: Now this is weird, I just went back and looked at the careers I started initially in a 7C/41 and it looks like I somehow ended up in a 7C instead. I may be back to square one.

Edit2: It's definitely something in SuperTurms v6 that's doing it. Without the mod, the deck is fine without the deck gun. With the mod, the hole where the deck gun should be fitted is still there even though the game doesn't automatically give you one for the 7C41. Well, it's easy enough to see which files SuperTurms changes, but anybody got a clue as to where I should start?

[frau kaleun]

Ooookay...

looking at the NSS_Uboat7c.dat and NSS_Uboat7c41.dat files in SuperTurms v6 - the 7c looks like this:

http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/7186/st7cdat.jpg


and the 7c41 looks like this:

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/2221/st7c41dat.jpg


but when I'm in what Commander and the game show as a 7C41 with STv6 enabled (and no other mods), the deck looks like what you see in the 7c .dat file, not the 7c41 .dat file. Meaning it still looks like a deck that is supposed to have a deck gun fitted by default.

I'm thinking this has something to do with the Turm7c_x_deck.tga files that are embedded in the mod's .dat files for the different turms. :hmmm:

[SeaWolf U-57]

Surely the basic file controls the deck gun placement
no matter what skin or turm you use :hmmm:

Did you remember to remove the minus sign as well as changing
the number

[frau kaleun]

I'm more concerned with the anomaly in the 7c .dat file, which definitely has something to do with Ambient Occlusion because when you look at the Model Preview everything is fine until you enable Ambient Occlusion map and then you see the black "holes" where the turm and deck gun would sit on the deck.

This is not the case in the original GWX3 7c .dat file. I don't know if it's intentional for some reason in Aces' mod, but it does seem to be the source of the issue I'm having. It didn't show up on the earlier type 7 boats because they're automatically fitted with a deck gun on the start dates I was using. The /41 isn't, and you end up seeing no decking where there should be decking.

This is now looking similar to the issue with the maps/charts on the chart table in the Type 2 interior, which can be solved by adding the same Ambient Occlusion texture map to the second Materials entries for the two tga files involved.

There are also two entries each for the 7c hull and deck .tga files, the first two have a child chunk for the AO texture map but the second two don't. Still tinkering but haven't figured anything out yet.

[SeaWolf U-57]

So what is it you want to do add the deck gun or change the skin file ??????

[frau kaleun]

So what is it you want to do add the deck gun or change the skin file ??????

As I initially stated:

I've done some tinkering but I still can't get rid of the deck gun "hole," not sure if it's something that needs to be changed in a .dat file or if reworking a skin would take care of it.

As noted above I already know the "culprit" is something in SuperTurms v6, which means it's not a third party skin issue.

Adding a deck gun only covers up the fact that part of the decking on (at least some of) the type 7 boats doesn't display properly, which appears to be the real issue here.

[Fish In The Water]

I'm thinking this has something to do with the Turm7c_x_deck.tga files that are embedded in the mod's .dat files for the different turms. :hmmm:

That would be my guess as well, so I think you're headed in the right direction.

There are also two entries each for the 7c hull and deck .tga files, the first two have a child chunk for the AO texture map but the second two don't. Still tinkering but haven't figured anything out yet.

I'd like to help more, but as I stated previously I've never dissected Super Turms. (Although, thanks to your thread, I have incorporated the .dat files into a mutant mod with good results. :up: So I am slowly working on getting up to speed :03:).

Keep at it. I know your perseverance serves you well and I have no doubt you'll discover the solution! :yeah:

[frau kaleun]

There was a .tga file used for the 7c deck light map (LM?) that didn't appear anywhere in the Textures folders, either of GWX or any of Aces' mods. It was just embedded in the 7c .dat file. Anyway I exported it and tinkered with it a bit, and imported it back in. That resulted in the decking under the (potential) deck gun being displayed properly with the AO map enabled in the model preview. I'm about to stick it in the game and see what happens.

Edit: SUCCESS!!! :rock: :D

Now it won't matter whether or not the game fits a 7C with a gun or not, or whether I add or remove one or not. No doubt I will lose the shadow effect on the deck of having one if I actually do have one, but that's a small price to pay IMO.

[Fish In The Water]

Edit: SUCCESS!!! :rock: :D


:woot:

Congrats. I never doubted it for a moment... :03: