SHIV - Graphical Features; What would you like? [Archive]

Sulikate

10-13-06, 01:56 PM

Ahoy!

This thread is the place to post your wishes on the new graphical features to be implemented in SHIV. I know that many don't think graphics are the most important part of the game (like me, but they are important of course), but it would be very interesting to point some of the following things:

- Models; ships, ports, aircrafts...
- Effects; explosions, sprays, HDR, Bloom, reflection, refractons ...
- Textures; bump mapping, higher-res (if so, point the expecific place)...
- Physics; waves, shells, gun recoil, inertia...
- Tecnologies; shaders (2.0 and 3.0)...
- Options; more in-game tweaking options (very important to me)...

Safe-Keeper

10-13-06, 03:38 PM

Make it look good and I'm happy.

Waterfalls, rainbows, and snow are top of my list as of now. Imagine hunting Japanese in a record-strenght blizzard off of Alaska. Watchmen trying to stay on-board, crew below-deck getting sea-sick and telling you to dive or face a mutiny, Dinsdale busy building a snowman on the forward deck...

Ah, Winter Wonderland, er, Water:up:.

Paajtor

10-13-06, 05:56 PM

When being on the bridge myself, I want to see my character struggling to stay on his feet during heavy winds.
Using binoculars becomes visibly difficult.
And not only my own avatar, but also the rest of the watch-crew.
Splashes of sea-water spray the lenses, blurring your vision from time to time.

I want to see rain falling from clouds far away, like curtains.
I want to see a rainbow every now and then.
I want to see the milky-way on clear moonless nights.
I want to see algae glow in the dark, when a wave breaks.
I want to see St.Elmo's Fire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo%27s_Fire)....:lol:

I want to see fog accurately modelled, and hear how it effects the way sound behaves.

Hylander_1314

10-13-06, 06:07 PM

Real fog.

Sulikate

10-13-06, 06:16 PM

I would personaly be glad to have better textures for the boats, better water/waves simulation and effects (for example, PT Boats Knights of the Sea's water engine). Better underwater atmosphere is also very important.

mookiemookie

10-13-06, 07:27 PM

Real fog, better animations on the crew models (couple examples: maybe the watch crew jumping down the hatch when you order a dive instead of just disappearing and the game cutting to the command room when you give the order to go down, or maybe have them reacting to high ocean waves in heavy seas, stuff like that), and definately physics! If I put a torpedo in a Maru's bow, I want to see a hole where it hit! I don't particularly care for SH3's "paste a burn mark decal on the place your torpedo hit" way of visibly showing damage. I want something I can see! :up:

Schultzy

10-13-06, 08:59 PM

I want to see rain falling from clouds far away, like curtains.

Precisely.

I want to see weather fronts moving in. I want to almost be able to smell that the weather is changing! :yep:

JU_88

10-14-06, 04:57 AM

1) NO more Titanium submarines.
Visible damage to sub exterior! if I ram or get rammed, I would like the sub to visibly reflect this with totally smashed up bow. Some dents and textured holes would be nice when attacked by shells and DC.

2) More cinematic chaos in the control room during a DC attack, its way to calm in SH3.

3) Better animated watch crew, they should hold on tight in rough seas instead of having their feet welded to the deck, they should take cover from attacks, duck from bow spray and smoke ciggarettes :up:

4) Ships with lights, flares and much larger smoke stacks please!:D we should se smoke before we see the ship on the horizon.

5) Aircraft need to be much better looking, but from what ive seen of the trailer I think the devs got this one covered.

6) Better fog and rain would be nice too, both need to be more dense, fog should be complex fog (using particals like clouds.)

7) The Sub should ride the waves reather than travel through them like SH3... if this effect is at all possibe - that is.

8) Much more floating/ burning debris on the surface after a ship has sunk, I mean like 10 time more than SH3, but maybe with an option to disable it for lower end PCs.

9) Better ports and and coast lines, some rock formations are much needed!

10) No more death screen, we want to see our sub explode/implode/sink/ break up in to peices.

11) EASTER ISLAND!!!!
http://www.sacredsites.com/americas/chile/images/Easter_Island_04_V.jpg

Thats about it :up:

squigian

10-15-06, 07:42 AM

Some eye candy underwater. Coral reefs, kelp forests, shoals of fish, rock formations etc. Not so much as a rock underwater in the Atlantic, apparently.

Driftwood

10-15-06, 08:01 AM

Use the same physics that GRAW (a Ubisoft title) does. Then I'll definitely have a reason to get one of those PhysX cards! :rock:

DaMaGe007

10-15-06, 09:08 AM

Scuba Divers....Ahead Flank ....Thump...thump...

TDK1044

10-15-06, 11:19 AM

I just want so see improvements in the overall look of the game (water, sub, ships, damage etc) and be able to run the game on a decent mid range video card without having to spend $400 on a high end card in order to enjoy the game.

Dantenoc

10-15-06, 03:34 PM

Improve the overall graphics, but do it with functionality in mind. If something looks pretty but does nothing, you'll look at it a couple of times and never pay it any mind after that. On the other hand, if something looks pretty, and is functional... that's a winner :yep:

Safe-Keeper

10-15-06, 04:53 PM

1) NO more Titanium submarines.
Visible damage to sub exterior! if I ram or get rammed, I would like the sub to visibly reflect this with totally smashed up bow. Some dents and textured holes would be nice when attacked by shells and DC.Huge FPS drain. Remember that Silent Hunter is a sub sim with thousands of ships in the sea around the world. But then again, if a ship can break in two, I suppose a sub can change its model from "intact" to "flattened bow" or "flattened bow and aft portion".

2) More cinematic chaos in the control room during a DC attack, its way to calm in SH3.One word: Sound effects. They'd do so much.

3) Better animated watch crew, they should hold on tight in rough seas instead of having their feet welded to the deck, they should take cover from attacks, duck from bow spray and smoke ciggarettes :up: Actually not a bad idea.

4) Ships with lights, flares and much larger smoke stacks please!:D we should se smoke before we see the ship on the horizon.

7) The Sub should ride the waves reather than travel through them like SH3... if this effect is at all possibe - that is.That'd be really nice.

8) Much more floating/ burning debris on the surface after a ship has sunk, I mean like 10 time more than SH3, but maybe with an option to disable it for lower end PCs.Overall, there should be far more graphic options than in Silent Hunter III.

9) Better ports and and coast lines, some rock formations are much needed!There's a photo out there of a PC screen running SH4, and it shows a rather beautiful palm tree forest. So I think that one's covered:up:!

10) No more death screen, we want to see our sub explode/implode/sink/ break up in to peices.Cutscenes, cutscenes, cutscenes, cutscenes, and more cutscenes. 'Nuff said.

11) EASTER ISLAND!!!!Landmarks and eye-candy in general!!!!!!

Paajtor

10-15-06, 05:44 PM

[quote] 11) EASTER ISLAND!!!!Landmarks and eye-candy in general!!!!!! ...and an EASTER-EGG ISLAND!!! since we're talking about a game....put in some easter eggs! :lol::D

Sulikate

10-17-06, 07:50 PM

I think it is very important for us to have some decent graphical options in the menu. In SHIII they are quite useless and wouldn't allow much tweaking for better perfomance x graphics balance.

MobyGrape

10-18-06, 12:35 AM

Wide screen support..with proper aspect, or better yet, wide screen and multiple monitor support.. track Ir with 6 way functions:p

_Seth_

10-18-06, 01:21 AM

bookworm_020

10-18-06, 01:27 AM

I think it was stated in an interview with the dev team they do read this forum....

I hope I've been nice or I'll find a lump of coal in the SHIV box when it comes out:cry:

TDK1044

10-18-06, 06:25 AM

This is not intended to kill the entusiasm, but do you guys think that the SHIV dev. team read the posts here on subsim? Or other similar sites? Is there any possibilities that our cry for better looking sims wil be heard..? (I personally hope so)!:hmm:

The Lead Game Designer on SH4 is a genuine fan of submarine simulations and he certainly does monitor this forum from time to time. Out of respect for his privacy, I won't give out his username, but trust me when I tell you that he's very aware of the opinions and ideas expressed here.

_Seth_

10-18-06, 03:05 PM

This is not intended to kill the entusiasm, but do you guys think that the SHIV dev. team read the posts here on subsim? Or other similar sites? Is there any possibilities that our cry for better looking sims wil be heard..? (I personally hope so)!:hmm:
The Lead Game Designer on SH4 is a genuine fan of submarine simulations and he certainly does monitor this forum from time to time. Out of respect for his privacy, I won't give out his username, but trust me when I tell you that he's very aware of the opinions and ideas expressed here.

Sounds good, mate! Keep him secret, or he will be spammed with suggestions!!! :rock:

GakunGak

10-18-06, 03:12 PM

I wan't to see men running when I shout ALARM!!!!
Also I fully support sugestions above!:yep: :yep: :up: :rock: :know: :smug:

The General

10-19-06, 06:41 AM

Yeah, you won't see most of this stuff in SH4, because they've based it on SH3, saving them time and money. You'll have to wait 'til atleast SH5 for all the graphical touches you've asked for. I my opinion, it's looking like P.T.Boats: Knights of the Sea is gonna be a better naval sim than SH4. However, we all better buy SH4, if we ever wanna see a SH5.

Safe-Keeper

10-19-06, 09:45 AM

Yeah, you won't see most of this stuff in SH4If they improve the engine, I don't see why not.

Is X-Wing Alliance better-looking than Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe? Yup.
http://www.games.net/screens/110083/45762-1-2.jpg
http://www.stardestroyer.net/Mike/Software/xwa-screenshot.jpg

Are they different engines?
Surprise, surprise: Nope:o.

X-Wing Alliance runs on an evolved version of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter's engine. The latter runs on an improved version of TIE Fighter's engine, which in turn is an evolved specimen of X-Wing's engine, improved in several ways from Secret Weaponns of the Luftwaffe. In fact, I believe it goes on even farther than that, too!

Same engine≠No new graphics features.

The General

10-19-06, 10:55 AM

Are they different engines?
Surprise, surprise: Nope:o.

X-Wing Alliance runs on an evolved version of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter's engine. The latter runs on an improved version of TIE Fighter's engine, which in turn is an evolved specimen of X-Wing's engine, improved in several ways from Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe. In fact, I believe it goes on even farther than that, too!

Same engine, new graphics features.I find it very hard to believe that the two examples you've given (in the screenshots) are based on the same architecture. You might be right about what you say in the text you've written, but the screenshots don't support what you're saying. Anyway, I'm saying that SH4 isn't gonna give people most of what they've been asking for in this thread. I'm just going by the screenshots and the trailer for SH4. 'In my opinion' they're gonna have to wait 'til at least SH5, which'll probably be built entirely from scratch.

GakunGak

10-19-06, 11:46 AM

And when they do, they will make it soo good that your high performance pc will be in need of upgrade, at least RAM & GPU.....
I can see the headlines: Runs great on AlienWare!:damn: :damn: :damn:

TDK1044

10-19-06, 06:34 PM

I believe that SH4 will give us an overall graphic improvement over SH3 and that the 'under the hood' changes will improve the gameplay. I don't think these changes will be radical. SH5 will entirely depend on sales of SH4.

Sulikate

10-22-06, 07:58 AM

Take a look at this:
GS: Will Silent Hunter 4 feature new technology, or will it improve on the existing game engine used in Silent Hunter III? What sort of new technical features will we see in the game?
DD: SHIV uses an improved version of the GDS engine that was used for the previous game. Like with SH3 and other simulation titles published by Ubisoft, we're aiming for lifelike graphics on par with the latest generation. Graphical improvements have touched water rendering, weather display, and even the terrain in order to have the luxuriant Pacific landscapes shown onscreen.
Under the hood of the game, the mechanics have been boosted too. Missions will have shorter loading times, and generally speaking, the game will give better performance. This, in turn, let us have larger numbers of more-detailed ships with no apparent hit in frame rate.

Sounds good:smug:

VON_CAPO

11-27-06, 03:24 PM

Resolutions of 2560x1600, 1920x1200 and 1680x1050.
With SLI these resolutions should work good. :yep::yep::yep:

GakunGak

11-27-06, 03:29 PM

:up: Resolutions of 2560x1600, 1920x1200 and 1680x1050. :yep::yep::yep:

Wow, easy now.... 1600x1200 max, but, he he, support as SH3 for low-end video cards as FX5200... And 1.3 and 2.0 pixel shader switcher!:up: :rock:
Any official release date, if available?

Sulikate

11-27-06, 03:48 PM

:up: Resolutions of 2560x1600, 1920x1200 and 1680x1050. :yep::yep::yep:
Wow, easy now.... 1600x1200 max, but, he he, support as SH3 for low-end video cards as FX5200... And 1.3 and 2.0 pixel shader switcher!:up: :rock:
Any official release date, if available?
Agreed. And I hope they USE SM 2.0; come on, this is next-gen!

Incubus

11-28-06, 01:31 AM

-Definitely model watch crews emerge from/enter back into the submarine.

-No more lighthouses/similar light effects piercing solid objects

-water droplets visible on periscope/binoculars

-Textured sea floor. In Das Boot the sub was saved when it smacked into a hill of sand underwater, preventing it from going any deeper and getting crushed. Underwater mountains and stuff would be nice- some of the areas of the pacific (like the marianas) have EXTRME changes in depth.

GakunGak

11-28-06, 03:45 AM

Imagine you complete every objective in the game and decide to go home...
On the way back you bump into a mountain at 70 meters depth....:hmm:
Anyhow, I just hope that the game won't be late for release.....:know:
And bugs-free as much as possible....:rotfl:

Sulikate

12-03-06, 07:20 PM

Hey guys, take a look at this list of graphical improvements the Devs just announced

(see the Aces of the Deep and Marine Sims preview)
www.aotd-flottille.de/phpkit/include.php?path=content/content.php&contentid=358

Some of the best:

-Animated crew members basing on „skeletons“.
-Moving objects in the interior: if you raise the periscope you also see it in the interior.
-Nautical chart in high resolution, displaying depths and shallows (no metric values, just visual).
-Higher amount of polygons of the water, resulting in a much more detailed and living surface (see dev-video part 2).
-Self-generating clounds, continously changing during the day and weather conditions.
-High-detailed ship models with high resolution textures, bumpmapping and new shaders. (shader 2.0:up:)
-Standard resolution 1024 x 768, higher resolutions are freely selectable, additionally a widescreen option has been implemented.
-Water and waves are now much more detailed and extravagant.
-Ships now have bullet holes (see screenshots). The damage model has been extended in a way that smaller ships need holes at the water line in only two sections for flooding and sinking.

:arrgh!:

THE_MASK

12-03-06, 07:24 PM

DX10:rock:

Sulikate

12-03-06, 07:29 PM

I'm so happy they've implemented shader 2.0. Finally we will have some decent water physics and effects: Next-gen is here!

Sulikate

12-04-06, 09:16 AM

Something I just noticed while watching the second Dev diary: the light coming from the lighthouses still goes trough the sub... I hope they fix it.

The General

12-04-06, 09:45 AM

I ask, and have been asking, for only one graphical feature:

A SLIGHTLY TRANSPARENT WATER SURFACE, i.e: a sub running just under the surface is visible if directly overhead (weather permitting). And vice-versa you can see surface craft immiedietly above, if your looking up from just beneath the surface.

The current system is a non-transparent surface and the extensive use of bitmaps to represent reflections. It looks very good, but is not the real thing. I wonder why they chose this way to do it, any ideas?

The General

12-04-06, 09:52 AM

_Seth_

12-04-06, 10:04 AM

HanSolo78

12-04-06, 10:04 AM

Something I just noticed while watching the second Dev diary: the light coming from the lighthouses still goes trough the sub... I hope they fix it.What second Dev Diary? There's only been one to my knowledge.

The second is available here:

http://www.marinesims.de/site/silent-hunter-4/sh4-7.html

I think all of the screenshots are kind of photoshop artwork.
The video displays much fewer graphical details and these screenshots are kind
of misleading! I hope the final game offers such graphics as displayed at the shots.
Then I´ll buy the game!!!

Sulikate

12-04-06, 10:41 AM

Safe-Keeper

12-04-06, 11:17 AM

A SLIGHTLY TRANSPARENT WATER SURFACE
It'd be so awesome to use the external cam and watch a destroyer depth charge a sub from above, then. Watching the depth charges hit the surface, sink, blow up, and rock the sub.

GakunGak

12-04-06, 02:28 PM

I would also like to see sub breaking into pieces from DC/crush depth....
Men down on deck...
Very nice thing with moving periscope at the dev video....:rock:
But I wonder what they are going to think of next...:hmm:
Maybe fishing from the deck?:up:

The General

12-04-06, 03:26 PM

Wow, thanks guys for pointing me in the right direction for that second diary. :up: Dunno why they haven't posted it on the official sight. :hmm:

The water and sky in SH4 looks incredible!:sunny:

MobyGrape

12-04-06, 04:13 PM

Thank you..WIDESCREEN:The minimum resolution of this spectacle will be 1024 x 768. Players can change it according to the abilities of their graphics cards. Sadly that nobody could tell us the maximum resolution at that time. Widescreen users will have the possibility to experience SH 4 in widescreen.

Incubus

12-04-06, 04:15 PM

Dynamic flooding/rolling:

1.) Flooding is worse in rough weather than in calm weather.

2.) Certain maneuvers can offset flooding. Maybe the option to tweak ballast tanks to keep the boat level (hate hate HATE when I get flooding in the torpedo room, causing my boat to go bow down making it VERY hard to pull out of the uncontrolled dive- would be neat if you could pump all ballast aft to compensate.

3.) Ships in SHIII don't capsize nearly as much as I'd think they would from port or starboard torpedo hits. I'd like to see more rollovers.

Damage control:

Right now, there are two extremes to damage: Malfunctions, which affect performance of a component, but can be fixed in <1 hour, and totally destroyed components. I'd like a broader range of damage, maybe the diesels get banged up and it takes a day and a half to fix, while you are practically helpless in the open ocean. Or maybe you can use renown/usable displacement to carry spare parts, which get CONSUMED as you make repairs.

Furthermore, I don't see how some damage is even repairable. How exactly is a damage control team fixing the rudders/screws from INSIDE the sub?! That sounds like something that would need to be done in dry-dock.

Sulikate

12-29-06, 01:13 PM

Some new stuff here. Looks like they are hearing us :D:

Q: Realjambo: I'd be interested to know what the minimum specs for my PC would have to be to run SH4 smoothly.
A: The minimum requirements to run SH4 would be: 2GHz processor (Pentium IV or equivalent AMD Athlon), 1GB of RAM, DirectX 9 video card with Pixel Shader v2.0, Vertex Shader v2.0 with 128MB of RAM, DirectX compatible sound card and around 5.5-6GB of space on your HDD. The game options will allow you to activate or deactivate different visual aspects that can increase or decrease performance. Of course, in the minimum requirements PC you will run with most options OFF. A recommended system will have: 3GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, DirectX 9 video card with PS 3.0, VS 3.0 and 256MB of RAM.

Sounds great:arrgh!:

GakunGak

12-29-06, 04:38 PM

Imagine Grey Wolf mod for SH4....
Man, that is gonna be awesome!!!!!:rock:

VON_CAPO

12-29-06, 05:06 PM

It would be really nice a ocean surface like this

http://img453.imageshack.us/img453/7522/flakboatrm7.th.jpg (http://img453.imageshack.us/my.php?image=flakboatrm7.jpg)

This is not a photograph, but synthetic. :smug:

GakunGak

12-29-06, 05:13 PM

I will use this pic to add white trail on the water for torpedo....:|\\

VON_CAPO

12-29-06, 06:23 PM

DX10:rock: There is a problem, DirectX 10 will not be compatible with XP.

Furthermore, the new Vista is a ticking bomb for anyone concerned about privacy and self determination. (Micro$oft, RIAA and Hollywood will have control over what to install and play, not the user).
For many of us, a computer with a watchdog inside is inadmissible. :shifty:

Take a look to the following "treacherous computing" ---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_computing
See also "Can you trust your computer?" ---> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html

EDIT: Please, this is just a commentary. The purpose is not to hijack the thread.

GakunGak

12-29-06, 07:13 PM

Very nice linx....
But will SH4 be optimized for Vista?:huh:

Chaotic42

12-31-06, 02:15 AM

:up: Resolutions of 2560x1600, 1920x1200 and 1680x1050. :yep::yep::yep:
Wow, easy now.... 1600x1200 max, but, he he, support as SH3 for low-end video cards as FX5200... And 1.3 and 2.0 pixel shader switcher!:up: :rock:
Any official release date, if available?

If SH4 doesn't support resolution changing and widescreen resolutions, I'm going to be extremely disappointed.

GakunGak

12-31-06, 02:24 AM

Now that I have X1600Pro, I dare them to throw anything they have at me.
Including Bulava at the stern/aft tube which is jammed and 'bout to explode.
For me it's just to make this game bugs-free as much as possible, no matter if release delayed, just to work with it's full potential.
I don't want with 2+ hours of playing to be brought back to desktop or, say, another sub torpedo me just when I'm about to sink some jap masterpiece.
Just a joke.... I wanted wolfpack and to be able to comunicate with them..... I guess I gotta wait for SH5 & nukes....:doh:

rodan54

12-31-06, 03:04 AM

Chaotic42

12-31-06, 03:11 AM

From Marinesims/Acesofthedeep Interview. :up:

"The minimum resolution of this spectacle will be 1024 x 768. Players can change it according to the abilities of their graphics cards. Sadly that nobody could tell us the maximum resolution at that time. Widescreen users will have the possibility to experience SH 4 in widescreen."

That's excellent. I've been waiting for a game to come out that I care about, and SH4 might be it. Of course, I don't think that any sub game will top Silent Service II for me.

Sulikate

12-31-06, 08:32 AM

ober lt lare

12-31-06, 10:41 AM

i want to see more alarms for the game like battle stations torpedo and battle stations gun action and buttons to actually manually activate the collision alarm and general alarm

ober lt lare

Iron Budokan

12-31-06, 12:44 PM

I love what I'm hearing so far. But I'm nervous about what we're being promised by the devs and what will actually be delivered...if you know what I mean.

Don't mean to be a wet blanket, though. So far this looks super and I'm really eager to get my hot little hands on it.

Schatten

12-31-06, 02:33 PM

Graphically? Why there must be more Amish crewmen of course...

:lol:

Chaotic42

01-01-07, 11:51 AM

Graphically? Why there must be more Amish crewmen of course...

:lol:

With plenty of dolphins pulling the sub. Though the big reflective triangle on the back might be a bit of a giveaway.

Iron Budokan

01-02-07, 03:02 PM

I want a poster of Betty Grable showing her legs on my locker door.

Sailor Steve

01-03-07, 11:16 AM

I'm sure that can be arranged. Given the existence of posters in SHIII, I'm sure SH4 will have them as well. And where there's a poster, Betty Grable can't be far behind.

HundertzehnGustav

01-03-07, 11:28 AM

smoke moving with the actual wind direction
MEN-i dont want to attack a ship i want to attack a MANNED ship. watch crews gunners, people moving.
liferafts when a ship goes down... with MEN rowing

GakunGak

01-03-07, 01:17 PM

I want a poster of Betty Grable showing her legs on my locker door.
Yeah, and instead of looking for possible ships to sink, you look at her legs....:rotfl:
And man, she is a babe....:rock:
Now i had some thought from Tom Clancy, for keeping crew morale high...
You go to periscope depth, extend your periscope and locate a deserted ship....
Just about when you are to fire your torpedoes, you spot some women in their abth suits wander around deck... Crew install a camera on the top of the periscope and camera starts rolling....:|\\
Nice glitch that would be....
Anyhow, implementing SP 2.0 was good enough, but dev's improved their weather system and sea.... Keep it up, dev's!:up:
The thing I would personally like is that when you order something, say depth, I would like to hear more response to the order and confirming current status....
Like, go to certain depth and XO goes thru that boring procedure of what the crew must do... And yeah, if the crew has low experience, i want some minor errors to occur, like i order 120 feet, the sub goes to 135 and so on...:hmm: