Possible chance to fix the distortion in skymods

[Seeadler]

Thanks to Sansal's model importer, there is chance to fix the distortion in the sky above. :up:

I have modelled for the atlantic two whole new sky domes, one for the cloud layer and one for the sky color layer (world sky dome). But contrary to the default SH3 domes, I made the texture mapping coords identically for both and now if I look above, the ugly former distortion is gone :D
http://foto.arcor-online.net/palb/alben/91/3063991/1152_3033653633316130.jpg

I will test it the next days with other regions and weather conditions. My actual sky domes needs some adjustments for the horizon zone.

[Syxx_Killer]

That's awesome news! That weird distortion has always bothered me. This tool by Sansal is a miracle. :lol: :rock:

[Gammel]

Very nice! :up:

Will the visibility range be affected by this mod (i hope so) or will it stay at ~8 KM like it is in the stock game?


Impressive to see whats possible to mod now!

edit: like with that reflection bug that is fixed know i asked myself more and more why the developers wasn´t able to fix those issues?
They released 4 patches and had access to the sourcecode, not like our great modders here doing reverse enginering or whatever it´s called. :hmm:

[CWorth]

edit: like with that reflection bug that is fixed know i asked myself more and more why the developers wasn´t able to fix those issues?
They released 4 patches and had access to the sourcecode, not like our great modders here doing reverse enginering or whatever it´s called. :hmm:

The answer lies right here...$$$$$$$$$$$$

No money to be made to do it so they only did a half butted job.Seeing that our modders have fixed many tells me the devs did not care to fix them.

[OneTinSoldier]

Well, part of the problem is something called a BUDGET. Ever heard of that word?

I'm not going to try and say there are some things that could have used attention and attending to that were just as well left in their current stock 1.4b condition. Because I also think it would have been great if they had been fixed! But the dev's were only given some much time, and yes, money, to work on the game/sim.

As I believe a lot of people are already aware of, although some may not be, the game was delayed for six months due to polling of prospective purchasers of the game, and they made it clear that they wanted a dynamic campaign. And they got it. And they did a pretty good job with the dynamic campaign, I cannot say that the dynamic campaign feels like a tacked on afterthought. And there were numerous bugs fixed with the patches that were made too. So it's not like 'they don't care'.

But they were on a budget, which means they only had x amount of dollars which equates to time that could be spent. In a lot of ways I think SHIII is a pretty remakable game/sim. My favorite magazine, Maximum PC, gave it a 9 out 10 rating, and I for one would have to concur with that. And also in a lot of ways, I think we should be grateful for what we got.

It could be worse. They could have made the game more unfriendly to modding. Thanks to the great modders a lot of things have been fixed and made even better.

Speaking for myself, I certainly don't think the dev's did a half arsed job. Could it have been better? Sure. But is it half baked? No, I don't think so! And I think they did care and took a pretty good amount of pride in their work, and it shows.

Regards,

OneTinSoldier

[Col7777]

@Seeadler,

Nice one Frank, do the clouds still move, have you found a way also to add more cloud types, that would be cool too?

[LukeFF]

Awesome!

[Gammel]

The answer lies right here...$$$$$$$$$$$$

I know the problem of limited budged etc. Also i´m very happy to have this game,
it´s the only ww2 subsim on the market today available and it gave me several hours of exiting gameplay so far....
But i guess not fixing those both bugs had nothing to do with limited time or money.
Hey they had time to add those new harbour cranes...


Sorry for becomic off topic, seeadler.

So when is your mod ready for download? ;)
And do you still have your improved harbour project running?

[kriller2]

sounds good! :up: hope you are making progress with the other sky-layers as well.

[jumpy]

Goody :up: I was getting tired of that wormhole following my boat about wherever I sailed. I was beginning to worry that the yankees had perfected their philladelphia experiment thingy for use against the uboat 'menace'. It was either that or I'm some kind of rain god, as everywhere I go the swirly thing, closely followed by loads of rain and bad weather, would follow :lol:

[OneTinSoldier]

Hey Seeadler,

I would like to say that your possible fix looks really cool. The 'wormhole' is indeed a little annoying and in need of a fix!

Cheers,

OneTinSoldier

[Seeadler]

...do the clouds still move
Yes they move, what I changed is the sky dome model. 3DMax has a special Hemisphere model which I used instead of a default sphere. This Hemisphere model use a different uv mapping and poly structure than a default sphere.

have you found a way also to add more cloud types, that would be cool too?
Not yet, my primary target is to fix the wormhole. Artic, Med and Atlantic use seperate sky domes and color domes, that are six models who must be remodelled.

At the moment the fix has a proplem, it produce a distortion on the horizon that looks like a moving fog back :)

[Col7777]

Hi again Frank (Seeadler)

Is the moving fog bank a problem :) seriously though you've done a great job removing the dome.

I think I saw reference in one of the dat files to the cloud types, in there I think it said there are only 2, pity we can't tweak it to accept more, I've tried but I'm not in to Hex editing, if that's all it takes I'm not sure.

I've got a few different textures that I swop from time time when I get fed up of looking at theones I have at the moment.

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Hi again Frank (Seeadler)

Is the moving fog bank a problem :) seriously though you've done a great job removing the dome.

I think I saw reference in one of the dat files to the cloud types, in there I think it said there are only 2, pity we can't tweak it to accept more, I've tried but I'm not in to Hex editing, if that's all it takes I'm not sure.

I've got a few different textures that I swop from time time when I get fed up of looking at theones I have at the moment.

You may have inadvertantly stated the potential solution in the process. :D

A third cloud-layer may eventually be added by an enterprising person who can hex-edit! As long as it can be properly TRIGGERED as an intermediary to go between the current two layers... logically progressing with weather intensity changes...

Hopefully it is just a matter of time before this too is fixed.
(God I wish I understood hexadecimal.)

Great work Col7777! :up:

[Flakwalker]

Nice idea man :up:

[oRGy]

This looks like a great fix!

Would this be compatible with the 16km visibility mod?

[Seeadler]

Would this be compatible with the 16km visibility mod?
It would be not compatible with mods who has altered the
- scene.dat
- EnvColors_Arct.dat
- EnvColors_Atl.dat
- EnvColors_Med.dat
- SkyColors_Arct.dat
- SkyColors_Atl.dat
- SkyColors_Med.dat
i.e. moon mods, water color mods,...
All these mods must be redone with the new dat files :roll:

[oRGy]

Aha!

I see.

It would be great so, if you found the time to release an Improved U-Boat compatible version. ;)

IuB combines the vismod with Beerywater and some minor changes I made myself, e.g. to the moon.

Then again, it should be fairly easy to import the sphere now we have sansals tool, right?

[Seeadler]

Now the first step of this fix works, the wormhole is gone :cool:
But the new skydome needs now a different texture mapping because with the default mapping, the movement of the clouds looks not so good.

I made a tiny video of the current state, it need DivX 6.0
http://rapidshare.de/files/6411131/clouds1.zip.html
http://www.divx.com/

My next step is to experiment with different uvw maps and sky/cloud textures.

[Kpt. Lehmann]

I watched the movie.... Looks like you are on to something GREAT! :up: :up: :up:

I'm looking forward to more of your work.

[Seeadler]

LOL, the solution for this fix was more easier than I estimate before! :lol:

The bug was not in the 3D structure of of the skydome, it was in the texture mapping coordinates. The developers do the unwrap job for the cloud's texture carelessly.

Here is the uvw map of the original cloud dome, in the center you recognizes that the coordinates are disordered and that results in the game in this well known distortion above.
http://foto.arcor-online.net/palb/alben/91/3063991/1152_6230616264316137.jpg

I arranged only these coordinates in the center and brought them into a more ordered coordinate system and now there is no more distortion in the clouds and they move well over the sky.
http://foto.arcor-online.net/palb/alben/91/3063991/1152_3666326462356462.jpg

I release the next days a fixed scene.dat. Modders who use the original scene.dat for their mods can rebuild their mods with it (I don't know what all these mods are :know:)

[Marhkimov]

WOW!!! not only did you fix it, but damn, that looks pretty! :lol:

[Darkseed]

I hope Ailantd will make his skymod compatible with this, even though i'd love to get rid of the distortion I just can't live without the beautiful clouds of his.

By the way, does this get rid of the other glitches in the sky too? Like the one most visible at night where there are slightly lighter irregular spots all over the sky, RuB made it alot more visible too with the bluish night sky.

[Col7777]

@Seeadler,

Frank did you find a way of adding more cloud types while you were experimenting with this mod?
I have a few cloud types already made, I swap them about from time to time but being able to have more would be great.

btw, great job on this mod. :up:

[gorilliamos]

this looks really nice!

[Seeadler]

I hope Ailantd will make his skymod compatible with this
If Ailantd's mod only replaces the nori00.tga/nori01.tga textures as I did it with my skymod, then there is no need to rework the mod, it will work with the new scene.dat

Only mods that has changed some values inside the scene.dat or replaced the textures for moon, sun, fog inside the scene.dat, needs to be redone.


By the way, does this get rid of the other glitches in the sky too?
No the other glitches are related to the global skydomes for Atlantic, Artic and Med. The scene.dat only includes the skydome for the clouds.

[Darkseed]

So as long as the scene.dat is left untouched there will be no compatibility problems?

No the other glitches are related to the global skydomes for Atlantic, Artic and Med. The scene.dat only includes the skydome for the clouds.

Is it possible to get rid of them? I probably find the spotted sky at night to be even more annoying than the wormhole since I rarely look straight up.

[Syxx_Killer]

Is it possible to get rid of them? I probably find the spotted sky at night to be even more annoying than the wormhole since I rarely look straight up.

You mean the stars? :rotfl:

Actually, I'm not sure what other sky bug there is other than the wormhole one. :-?

Will the new sky dome affect the stars at night? Will they be in the wrong positions? Will the moon be affected?

[Darkseed]

No i'm talking about big pixelated irregular spots all over the sky, they are visible at day but mostly at night, especially with RuB that has a blueish night sky. The spots are the same color as the sky but a few shades lighter. Maybe i'm the only one who has this?

[Seeadler]

The spots are the same color as the sky but a few shades lighter. Maybe i'm the only one who has this?
Can you post a screenshot?
I don't have these spots but I don't have RuB installed.

[Kpt. Lehmann]

[quote=Darkseed]Will the new sky dome affect the stars at night? Will they be in the wrong positions? Will the moon be affected?

That is a super-important question. :yep:

[Darkseed]

I think you broke the quote there Lehmann, I wasn't the one who said that. :P

Anyway Seeadler, i've taken 2 screenshots of the glitch i'm talking about but they're dark and it's hard to see anything, I don't have any program with which to make them brighter although I'm sure you do so i'll give them to you anyway. It's much more visible ingame though.

Be warned, I saved these as bmp's in order to not lose any quality so they are about 2 megs each. The first one is a shot of the whole sky and the second is a closeup of one of the big pixels in the sky using the binoculars.

http://web.telia.com/~u50021417/SH3Img@20-10-2005_2.21.0_62.bmp
http://web.telia.com/~u50021417/SH3Img@20-10-2005_2.21.11_218.bmp

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Roger... typo I guess. I was hoping to quote Syxx Killer.

Darkseed, I guess I just don't see what you are seeing in those screenshots. They look pretty normal to me. Maybe the glitches you refer to just didn't carry on the screenies somehow.

Cheers m8!

[Darkseed]

No they definately did, but like I said it's pretty hard to see in the shots since they're so dark. Just brighten them up a bit or look really close and you'll see it.

[Seeadler]

Just brighten them up a bit or look really close and you'll see it.
You talk about this?
http://foto.arcor-online.net/palb/alben/91/3063991/1152_3964356664656336.jpg

It is related to the night texture stored in \data\Env\EnvColors_Atl.dat + SkyColors_Atl.dat and can be fixed by including a new night texture in pure black or dark blue

[Darkseed]

Yep that's what i'm talking about. I had them before I got RuB too but they weren't anywhere near as visible as now. Do you know where I can get a black sky that goes well along with RuB? Or is there any other way I can fix it? Every other RuB-user surely can't have the exact same thing?