The crew on the ships. (MOD Idea)

[Graf von Spee]

It would be great to make a mod that would allow the crew to actually be seen on the ships. (Merchant ships, tankers, etc ..)

Is it even possible?
What do you think? :Kaleun_Salivating:

[Tycho]

Is it even possible?
Yes, it is possible.

[Graf von Spee]

But no one tried to do this?

I think it would be great for immersion, see a bit of life on the ocean.. I miss that in this outstanding game..

[Jeff-Groves]

It's been done on a few Ships in the past.
NCA_Tuscaloosa and NTRW in GWX are 2 that I'm sure of.

NTRW still contains the AN1 node on the bridge. The eqp file has the AN1 node set to NULL.

Tuscaloosa had some problem so the animations were removed.

One of the big reasons they are not there is lack of good animations.

[Graf von Spee]

I am not expert in this area and I know it's a lots of work, but I think if a good 3D animators and people who know how to program, tried together, they would definitely succeed.

I think that such mod, can contribute a lot, especially bring so much realism in the game, maybe people are not aware of how much ..

... Be able to see with the periscope, people who stand or even walk on the deck of a ship is irreplaceable feeling.

[Jeff-Groves]

No programming needed.
You simply add a node that you'd attach an animation to.
NTRW was pre-SH4 so the node was named AN1
SH4 uses P01 and such.

The actual animations are the harder job.
VERY few new animations have ever been done for SH3.
Even though there are very detailed threads on how to do them.

S3D will import them once created.

If you have the Survivors mod installed?
Your seeing about the most animations ever done for SH3 in use in Lord knows how many installs of SH3.

[Graf von Spee]

Is it creating animation essentially demanding? And does SH3 engine allows using the same animations for different ships?

Can animation created for Merchant be used on Tanker ships or Passenger ships etc..?

[Jeff-Groves]

You can use existing animations in SH3 but most just are not what you want.

Those can be modified if you take the time.

No one has done it though.

Back in the early days? Systems could not handle the extra over head.
Now they can but no one bothers to do the work.

[Graf von Spee]

I am aware of that fact, that no one bothers to do such thing, even though they
are pretty much keen for thousands of other "eye candy" mods.

I don`t know nothing about 3d animation and moding, shame...

[Jeff-Groves]

Most people are 'keen' to download what others have done.
Nothing wrong with that at all.

Most people that can do this kind of mod have moved on to other Games or projects.
Or quit modding completely.
Nothing wrong with that also.

I stopped doing SH3 animations to work on the SH4 animations.
The main reason behind that was to export the SH4 animations to use in SH3.
It's still an active project of mine.

[Graf von Spee]

What is your goal with SH 4 animations anyway. Any specific idea?

[VikingGrandad]

I think it would be great for immersion, see a bit of life on the ocean..

It would be extra immersion to see nicely animated sailors walking around the decks of merchant ships while planning an attack. On the other hand, when the torpedo hits and the ship is in flames and listing heavily to one side, and those same animated merchant sailors are casually walking through the flames as if nothing happened - that would be worse for immersion.

[VikingGrandad]

I stopped doing SH3 animations to work on the SH4 animations.
The main reason behind that was to export the SH4 animations to use in SH3.
It's still an active project of mine.

Does this mean, in theory, that you could take the animated crew member models from the SH4 'U-boat Missions' expansion, re-skin them and put them into SH3?

The most dated graphics in SH3 are the U-boat crew models. Replacing them with SH4 models would be amazing!

http://greatgamer.ru/images/screenshots/4833/screenshot_silent_hunter_4_wolves_of_the_pacific__ u_boat_missions_11.jpg

http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/355959-silent-hunter-4-wolves-of-the-pacific-u-boat-missions-windows.jpg

[Jeff-Groves]

There's a whole big thread about changing the crew 3D models.
:haha:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=176928

[Graf von Spee]

It would be extra immersion to see nicely animated sailors walking around the decks of merchant ships while planning an attack. On the other hand, when the torpedo hits and the ship is in flames and listing heavily to one side, and those same animated merchant sailors are casually walking through the flames as if nothing happened - that would be worse for immersion.

Of course, that would be bad, but it would mean that the MOD is not good, and not completed.
My idea was not, people walking on deck like robots ... of course I expected some kind of behavioral change (at least vanishing).
I know it's hard to do, at least to me. But it will be great.

Silent Hunter 3 is better game than Silent Hunter 5, The game should use great potential that she have.

Don`t you think so?

[Jeff-Groves]

It would be extra immersion to see nicely animated sailors walking around the decks of merchant ships while planning an attack. On the other hand, when the torpedo hits and the ship is in flames and listing heavily to one side, and those same animated merchant sailors are casually walking through the flames as if nothing happened - that would be worse for immersion.
That's where a damage zone would need to be created and more animations done of them jumping ship and such.

It's a rabbit hole no one wants to start down into.
:haha:

[Jeff-Groves]

What is your goal with SH 4 animations anyway. Any specific idea?

To mod or add to the existing animations in SH4.
Convert them to SH3 formats to allow others to place them as they wish in SH3.

Do I fully understand the animations in SH4?
YES!
Adjusting them is a bit tricky and I've not created a Tool for others to use.

I do it all with 010 and even then it's a pain to figure out the Quaternions.

And I probably lost everyone at Quaternions.
:haha:

[Fubar2Niner]

Don't you have them with burgers and relish Jeff ;)

[VikingGrandad]

Of course, that would be bad, but it would mean that the MOD is not good, and not completed.
My idea was not, people walking on deck like robots ... of course I expected some kind of behavioral change (at least vanishing).


Indeed, but I presumed it would be impossible to make the crew react to different situations like that - but, as Jeff pointed out:

That's where a damage zone would need to be created and more animations done of them jumping ship and such.

It's a rabbit hole no one wants to start down into.
:haha:

I'm amazed to hear that it's actually possible to do this!! :doh:
(not under-estimating the effort and skill needed to achieve it...)

[Jeff-Groves]

Well.
You can't attach a damage to the animation itself.
You'd need to have an invisible 3D object the animation is attached to.
Then attach the damages to that invisible object.

Now say you have an animation of someone walking the deck.
He's moved several meters into his walk when the damages are taken.
The new animation of him doing whatever is going to appear.
Most probably NOT where he was standing though!

So if the animations are not done carefully with this in mind?

You'll get a Philadelphia displacement effect.
:har:

[VikingGrandad]

Well.
Now say you have an animation of someone walking the deck.
He's moved several meters into his walk when the damages are taken.
The new animation of him doing whatever is going to appear.
Most probably NOT where he was standing though!

So if the animations are not done carefully with this in mind?

You'll get a Philadelphia displacement effect.
:har:

Ah, I see. :hmmm:
But maybe that wouldn't be a big problem if the explosion / fire / smoke obscured the displacement?

[Jeff-Groves]

Ah, I see. :hmmm:
But maybe that wouldn't be a big problem if the explosion / fire / smoke obscured the displacement?


Good point. That would work on a direct hit to one animation placer object or so.
May even be able to get a damaged animation placer to react even though not destroyed.
Been awhile since I played with the zone files.

If it works I can post another 'How to thread' that will go totally ignored and nothing will come of it.
:)