Cloud distortion fix ready

[Seeadler]

*removed*

[Schultzy]

Wow, that is superb work!

Great work! :yep:

[Soviet_Warlord]

Yes, now we have got to get to work converting the cloud and moon mods lol.

EDIT: oh wait it only edits the scene file yay! I guess that means it works with sky mods :up:

[jaxa]

What about Ail's Sky Mod? It would be interesting to fix this mod, but I don't know what happened with Ailantd.

[Seeadler]

What about Ail's Sky Mod?
Skymods which only replace the nori00.tga/nori01.tga don't need an unpdate, they will work with the fix.

Only mods which use an own modified scene.dat needs to be updated!!!
f.e.
- RuB 1.44
- AIL HI RES MOON MOD

[Kpt. Lehmann]

...And Captain America's scene .dat medium-murky water mod that I use mixed with Kriller's watermod.

Now all I have to do is learn hexadecimal and hex-editing.

Grrrrrrr. :damn:

This looks like an AWESOME mod though Seeadler. :up:

Good job.

[Darkseed]

Damn, I use both RuB and AIL's moon mod. Just have to wait for them to be updated then, really nice work getting this annoying thing fixed though! You've earned yourself a case of becks bier. :up:

[Sansal]

Great work Seeadler :up:

I hate this distorsion.

[Marhkimov]

You guys can utilize CH3Cmdr to change the murkiness of scene.dat.

And if you are savvy enough, you can pack the new moon textures into the new scene file too... Ya' just gotta' know how... :up:

And the big plus is that all of this can be done without hex editing!

[Seeadler]

And the big plus is that all of this can be done without hex editing!
That's why I made the fix upon the default scene.dat because every user preferred another option in the scene.dat :)

Beside this fixed default scene.dat I personally use one with an self edited moon texture. The tools to include TGA's in a dat file without hex-editing are available in the community.

[Marhkimov]

BTW, great job Seeadler! :up:



The only (very minor) downside is that a few mods will have to be redone. For instance, rulle34's 16km visability mod will have to incorporate your new scene file.

Available here:
http://rapidshare.de/files/6207495/16_km_visibility_mod_RWR_Moon_fix_Clear_water.rar. html (http://rapidshare.de/files/6207495/16_km_visibility_mod_RWR_Moon_fix_Clear_water.rar. html)


@ Seeadler, would you be willing to make another version of your scene file so that it is compatible to rulle34's? I don't know if anyone else is willing to do it... maybe I should talk to rulle34? Well, since you guys can hex edit and I can't..... yeah.... :lol:

[Flakwalker]

Great!

[Seeadler]

@ Seeadler, would you be willing to make another version of your scene file so that it is compatible to rulle34's?
Sorry no, I would not like to intervene the work of others, they know better what must be made.
Afterwards nobody don't know exactly from whom which version is released and what is included.

I provide only the basis for further works.

[Marhkimov]

fair enough

[The Avon Lady]

I am finding with this mod that instead of the distortion above, I'm now seeing bands, escpecially above the horizon and especially in clear weather.

Anyone else notice? :-?

[Marhkimov]

I am finding with this mod that instead of the distortion above, I'm now seeing bands, escpecially above the horizon and especially in clear weather.

Anyone else notice? :-?

You could be noticing a placebo effect.. Maybe it was always like that, but you just never really noticed it until now.

[Seeadler]

Anyone else notice? :-?
Could be graphic card dependent because of the different range table emulation capabilities in every card.

I have only test this fix on a GF6800Ultra (no other cards available here :-? )

[The Avon Lady]

Anyone else notice? :-?
Could be graphic card dependent because of the different range table emulation capabilities in every card.

I have only test this fix on a GF6800Ultra (no other cards available here :-? )
I knew I wasn't a hypochondriac! :nope:

[Trefoil]

The Avon Lady wrote -

I am finding with this mod that instead of the distortion above, I'm now seeing bands, escpecially above the horizon and especially in clear weather.

Anyone else notice?

I notice from your FAQ that you play SH3 at 1920x1200 resolution - Is this possibly connected?

I used to play at 1600x1200, but this caused graphics glitches with some other mods that I was using. eg. irishred's Radiomod had missing lines of text.

[Marhkimov]

@ The Avon Lady

sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you were a hypochondriac.


me, I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, and I see it too.


I'm guessing you mean this?...
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a172/hockeemaster/SH3%20misc/ae26abff.jpg

same shot but edited (brightness -25, contrast +60):
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a172/hockeemaster/SH3%20misc/dcdcbd56.jpg

[Seeadler]

me, I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, and I see it too.

Ahh, now I know what you talk about but it has nothing to do with the cloud fix here, see also this thread at the end
http://subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=43743&start=25

It's an error in other dat files and on my TODO list of bugfixing :smug:

[Marhkimov]

@ Seeadler

Yeah, the problem is not because of your scene.dat. My sky was already like that before you fixed it. Don't worry, it's not your fault. :up:

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
So has this been fixed yet? Have you fixed it yet? Has anyone fixed it yet?



These are the two tga files that I extracted from my own SkyColors_Atl.dat (RUb1.44.7z):

Sky_atl1
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a172/hockeemaster/SH3%20misc/dd5fd52a.jpg

reflex_atlantic
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a172/hockeemaster/SH3%20misc/94a276e9.jpg


It looks as though the texturing in 'reflex_atlantic' is pixelated and very grainy. Is that our problem? If it is, which box(es) do we fix?

'Sky_atl1' also looks to be highly pixelated...

[Dibo]

Hi Seeadler,

thanks for your work and it was an amusing feeling, if one looks upward to the sky...

[Seeadler]

It looks as though the texturing in 'reflex_atlantic' is pixelated and very grainy. Is that our problem?
That was also my first shot, but the problem must be still more deeply. With the textures alone it is not fixed, there must be still another missing thing, the second or third component which cause this error. :ahoy:

[Marhkimov]

At first I attempted to edit them by blurring the individual boxes. I was able to make it look much smoother, but it was still very pixelated when i zoomed in 600% or 700%.


Now, you might call me a dummy and say, "Obviously it is pixelated at 600% or 700% zoom! What do you expect?!"

But I believe that is our problem... The sky in SH3 is huge, yet Ubi decided to devote a 128x128 box towards sky texturing... That is a big discrepancy...


Solution, shouldn't we just enlarge those tga's?

[oRGy]

The texturing is pixelated because the size of the texture is quite small considering its covering the entirety of the sky.

I suppose someone good with photoshop could do a larger version of those files with less pixelation, and dump them into /textures/tnormal/tex.

[Marhkimov]

I'm already on it, will post pictures during my tests...


Just call me Marhkimov the Textureman! :up: :up: :up:

[oRGy]

Sure thing, Markhimov the Textureman. ;)

[Seeadler]

But I believe that is our problem... The sky in SH3 is huge, yet Ubi decided to devote a 128x128 box towards sky texturing... That is a big discrepancy...
If that should be the reason, that could be changed e.g. the texture in 256x256 tiles or greater and an adapted texture mapping like in this cloud fix.

This is the momentary texture mapping of the sky
http://foto.arcor-online.net/palb/alben/91/3063991/1152_3863313732376463.jpg

[Marhkimov]

Right now, I have edited each square to be 512x512

Meaning that 'reflex_atlantic' and 'Sky_atl1' will be 2048x1024.

Will the whole sky dome have to be re-done in order to accomodate the bigger textures?



As for me, I'm heading off right now to see if the textures, by themselves, will work.

[Seeadler]

Meaning that 'reflex_atlantic' and 'Sky_atl1' will be 2048x1024.
Will the whole sky dome have to be re-done in order to accomodate the bigger textures?
Yes ...start your game with the 2048x1024 textures, I think it will look like the top of the sky is touching your head. Is an optical deception :arrgh!:

[Beery]

Damn, I use both RuB and AIL's moon mod. Just have to wait for them to be updated then, really nice work getting this annoying thing fixed though! You've earned yourself a case of becks bier. :up:

In RUb the only change in the scene.dat file is the underwater fog (water density) value. If you use SH3 Commander this value is adjustable anyway, so to get the RUb setting back just set the water density value to 4.

[Marhkimov]

I have done it! NO MORE PIXELATED SKY!




Though in it's wake, I have created a NEW problem!!! :yep: :lol:



look at this unpixelated but ugly sky:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a172/hockeemaster/SH3%20misc/0b3808ae.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a172/hockeemaster/SH3%20misc/9aa5c79d.jpg


Yeah, Seeadler, you are right. The sky texture mapping will have to be fixed as well...

So, if you can edit the 'sky texture mapping' to accommodate my 2048x1024 sky templates, we should be all set... What do you think?


Wouldya? Couldya? Willya? :yep: :yep: :yep:

[Beery]

A bugfix for the distortion above in the clouds...

Great work!

Can we add this to the RUb mod?

[Seeadler]

Can we add this to the RUb mod?
yes, no problem

[Marhkimov]

@ Seeadler

So, will it be possible for you to edit the 'sky texture mapping' to accommodate 2048x1024 sky templates?


I'll do the texturing if you do the modelling or hex editing. :yep: :yep: :yep:

[Seeadler]

So, will it be possible for you to edit the 'sky texture mapping' to accommodate 2048x1024 sky templates?
I´m on a business trip starting from sunday but end of next week I can give it a try

[Marhkimov]

Since Seeadler won't be able to do it for a while, is there anyone else out there who can help me? All you have to do is edit 'SkyColors_Atl.dat' so that it will work with 2048x1024 tga's... I realize that I could wait for Seeadler, but I'm so impatient. Our skies need to be fixed, NOW!

PM me if you're willing and able to help! :yep:



BTW, Seeadler, may I ask what tool you are using to edit these meshes? :hmm:

[Beery]

Since Seeadler won't be able to do it for a while, is there anyone else out there who can help me? All you have to do is edit 'SkyColors_Atl.dat' so that it will work with 2048x1024 tga's... I realize that I could wait for Seeadler, but I'm so impatient. Our skies need to be fixed, NOW!

I thought SkyColors_Atl.dat was just a compressed version of two tga files. If it's only that file that needed to be adjusted, wouldn't it just be a matter of exporting and editing the tga file in question and then re-compressing it?

[Marhkimov]

I might have been mistaken... Testing it again...

[Beery]

Probably, what needs to be changed is the file that tells SH3 what size the SkyColors_Atl.dat file is supposed to be. I'm not sure what file that is, or if there even is such a piece of code that controls that.

There is a file that controls such things - the data\Menu\menu_1024_768.ini file. But I'm not sure if this particular control is in there.

[Marhkimov]

Unless you want to sail in the twilight zone, you can't simply enlarge the files.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a172/hockeemaster/SH3%20misc/357727ed.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a172/hockeemaster/SH3%20misc/f868d7a3.jpg

(I'm guessing) someone has to edit each of the sky color DAT's, otherwise it won't work.

So who's gonna do it??? :hmm:

[Beery]

Each skyColor file only applies to one area. If we change the size of all three I'm almost certain they still won't work. The problem is not the bitmaps themselves or the dat file they're in. The thing we need to find is the file that controls what size the game will allow them to be recognized as. This file will probably be a cfg file, but it could be any file type, and it could be anywhere. I've looked in all the obvious places but I can't see it anywhere. Once we find it, it's just a matter of changing the values to 1024x2048, then the game will recognize larger files and we'll be able to make the SkyColors files larger.

[Marhkimov]

I'm confident that those config settings you speak of are within the DAT files themselves. It might either take some hex editing (for which I am not qualified) or some kind of texture mapping (Seeadler seems to know).

Oh well, I guess we can just wait for Seeadler if no one else can figure this out...

[Beery]

I'm confident that those config settings you speak of are within the DAT files themselves....

I'll check into it. If they're obvious I'll find 'em.

[Seeadler]

Here is an illustration on how it works in the SH3 3D Engine
http://foto.arcor-online.net/palb/alben/91/3063991/1152_3236366532366266.jpg
The game world has two huge 3D domes (half of a sphere), there is a little gap
between the outer and inner dome. On the inner dome the cloud textures (nori00.tga and nori01.tga)
are mapped and on the outer dome the 128x128 textures tiles from the DATs in the \data\env\ folder.
These tiles are together blended, dependent on the time of day. The uvw map who tells the 3D engine
how to display the textures on these domes is stored in the 3D model of a dome.


may I ask what tool you are using to edit these meshes?
3DSMax v5.1

[Darkseed]

I have those bands in the sky too, i'd guess they are caused by the same thing as the pixelated spots in the night sky as discussed at the end of this (http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=43743&start=25) thread.

[Seeadler]

I had today the time to make a few tests. It does not seem to be necessary to adapt the mapping for the skydome if the textures are at 2048x1024.

If you create a user mission and set clouds to none, it will look fine. It is the clouddome who is in a kind of relationship with the size of the textures for the above skydome :hmm:

[Marhkimov]

I had today the time to make a few tests. It does not seem to be necessary to adapt the mapping for the skydome if the textures are at 2048x1024.

If you create a user mission and set clouds to none, it will look fine. It is the clouddome who is in a kind of relationship with the size of the textures for the above skydome :hmm:

So are you saying that you were succesfully able to use a 2048x1024 sky texture?

That's strange because when i tried using the large textures, it didn't turn out so well (see the screenshots from my previous posts).

Where am I going wrong?

[Flakwalker]

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a172/hockeemaster/SH3%20misc/f868d7a3.jpg

I like this effect :lol:

I wonder if posible add the moon as a source of light at night

[Marhkimov]

Seeadler, about your sky dome fix...

I attempted to import your sky dome model into the 16km visability fix, but things are not so smooth. Someone helped me out with this, but basically what we did was export the model from your scene.dat into the 16km scene.dat.

The problem is my men can still see ships up to 16km, but those ships aren't drawn in until 9.5km.

I'm guessing your dome model cuts off the visibility at 10km. I know you don't like meddling with other people's projects, but a model has to be made that is compatible with 16km, and you're the only one who knows how to do that...

[Pablo]

Seeadler,

Perhaps if you told us how you did it (i.e., which values need to be modified in which files) the conversions might proceed more quickly, with credit to you for discovering how to do it.

Pablo

[Marhkimov]

Yeah, what Pablo said...


Right after I began using the altered version of your 'scene' file, I thought that everything was working correctly, but then I noticed that ships were invisible from beyond 10km.

Seeadler, I'm going to take a wild guess that this is a really simple problem for you to fix... but what will be simple for you won't be simple for everyone else...

[Reece]

Marhkimov, I noticed you mentioned: "same shot but edited (brightness -25, contrast +60):" Which file & line is this edited?
Many Thanks.
Reece.

[Seeadler]

Seeadler,
Perhaps if you told us how you did it (i.e., which values need to be modified in which files)
I modified no values, as already said before it is the original scene.dat file only with adjusted uvw map for the cloud.obj. The steps are described here:

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:)

I don't know who made the 16km visibility mod and which values are changed but exactly these things must be re-done with the fixed scene.dat. If the 16km modder should have changed the diameter of the Cloud.obj in his mod, then again the uvw map of the Cloud.obj from his scene.dat must be adjusted and not the one in this fix. The change can be made from everyone who knows how to unwrapp a 3D model, it should be done with all usual 3D Modellers.

I have this week unfortunately only my notebook with me and could not make this change until I get home on Friday.

[Marhkimov]

rulle34 made the 16km visibility mod, but I don't think even he knows how to do 3d modelling..

My predicament is... if I don't ask you to help us, then no one will ever figure out how to fix it...


And I do hope that someone can fix the clouds for the 16km mod. :yep:

[Seeadler]

rulle34 made the 16km visibility mod...
.. if I don't ask you to help us, then no one will ever figure out how to fix it...
And I don't know how to fix it as long as Rulle34 don't tell us what he has changed in the scene.dat ;)

[Marhkimov]

oh boy.. we're in for a long ride... ;)

[oRGy]

It was Manuel Ortega who did all the 3d work for the 16km visibility.

He changed a lot of things, though, including the spheres for the clouds and the sky, fog, etc.

[Marhkimov]

I'll PM him to see what I can find out.

[Seeadler]

Ok here is an attempt. I loaded the Clouds.obj from the fixed scene.dat into MS Excel and rised the values. Now the clouds hemisphere should have to be twice as large and should permit a range of 16km. The Clouds.obj must be imported into the scene.dat from the 16km vis mod.

Give it a try, ...I did not test it, have no 3DMax and SH3 here :cool:

Clouds.obj (http://www.freeuploader.com/download_viewer.php/e5e4ddc30f3b21d110f234ae50f5f762.html)

[Manuel Ortega]

Damn, Frank! You did again! Great fix.

I don't remember if I resized the dome exactly to double size. I will try that clouds.obj in my mod. If it works I will upload it.

[Manuel Ortega]

Done!

Here is my Visibility Mod with fixed clouds dome by Seeadler:

http://www.mp-labs.com/sh3mods/visibility_mod_v092.zip

There are 2 directories on it:
- One with the word 'fog'. This is the version with realistic visibility while underwater.
- The other with the words 'nofog'. This is the version with game default underwater fog.

Both of them have the cloud texture coordinates fixed.

Thanks again, Seeadler.

[Hartmann]

I have this mod installed over rub

16_km_visibility_mod_RWR_Moon_fix_Clear_water

could work the new mod with the other ¿¿


thanks

Edited... now i are a medic :nope: :nope:

[Marhkimov]

@ Manuel

The scene.dat from the directory called 'VisibilityMod_092fog_by_M_Ortega' does not appear to work. When I installed it, I was limited me to approx. 8km of visability. I checked when the file was last updated, and it was on Oct. 20.

On the other hand, the scene.dat from 'VisibilityMod_092nofog_by_M_Ortega' says it was edited on Oct. 24.

I'm guessing you misplaced the correct file...

[Manuel Ortega]

Ooops!
You are right, wrong scene file. Fixed now, please download again.

Thanks for the warning, and sorry for the mistake. :oops:

@Hartmann, I don't know if it could work. Please ask Rulle, the compiler of that mod if it is possible. I only can offer support for the graphics issues (basically what my mod is).

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Is the correct download "v092" ???

[Manuel Ortega]

Yes.
http://www.mp-labs.com/sh3mods/visibility_mod_v092.zip
(Visibility mod with Seeadler's fixed cloud sphere)

[Kpt. Lehmann]

[quote="Manuel Ortega"]Yes.
http://www.mp-labs.com/sh3mods/visibility_mod_v092.zip
(Visibility mod with Seeadler's fixed cloud sphere)[/quote

Thank you Mr. Ortega, does this mod also include Marhkimov's water reflectivity fix/reduction of sun glare???

In a perfect world this would include the visibility mod and include the cloud fix and Marhkimov's reduced sun glare...

...Is this the case? I am sorry to be a pest... but it needs to be defined clearly as a potential problem or problem fix. :huh:

[Marhkimov]

Ya know what I think??

We all have to get our files together and release as one big Environmental and Atmospheric Pack...

There are just so many incompatibility problems, mostly due to the fact that no one knows much about other people's mod, myself included...



What does everyone think? Seeadler? Manuel Ortega? Me? LOL...

[kriller2]

wow! this mod is awesome :up: combined with the visibility mod it makes a whole new gaming experience, you can now see how the clouds is following the shape of the earth and when you look up there is no distortion in the clouds! :rock: , see screenshots:

http://home.tiscali.dk/roesdahl/sh3/s1.jpg
http://home.tiscali.dk/roesdahl/sh3/s2.jpg
looking up:
http://home.tiscali.dk/roesdahl/sh3/s3.jpg

[Hartmann]

wow !! nice screenshots. :up:

I think the same, is time to do a Big pack with all enviroment inprovements. :up:

[Kpt. Lehmann]

If everyone would just read this thread... you can have it ALL!!!!!

http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=44617

Cloudfix... Visibility mod... reduced sun reflection on water...

PLEASE READ!!! :yep: :yep: :yep: Especially you SeeAdler sir :yep: :yep: :yep:

[PoseidonsDreiZack]

@ Manuel Ortega:

I wanted to install your Mod via JSGME but the scene.dat and camera.dat crossed by other Mods.

Possible to add an report of changed files?!

By the way: what program do you use to extract the DAT file?

[Redwine]

It looks wonderful, many thanks Frank...... :up: :up:

[Manuel Ortega]

@ Manuel Ortega:

I wanted to install your Mod via JSGME but the scene.dat and camera.dat crossed by other Mods.

Possible to add an report of changed files?!

By the way: what program do you use to extract the DAT file?

Please, browse the directories included in the zip of my mod. You will have all the files modified and, obviously, necessary.

About the DAT files, I did not use any program to extract the data on them. All was done by hex editing, including mesh modifications (old skool way, I know :P ). Now you can use the fabulous Sansal's Pack3D tool (http://subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=43777) to extract and import models.

[BigDuke66]

@Seeadler
Where can I download your normal fix?
The old link dosen't seem to work.