following this one very closely........can't wait even for a beta LOL if ya need anyone to help test and provide feedback be it in general or on specific issues just let me know. I'd be glad to help. :arrgh!:

I really appreciate ya'lls hard work!!!

wel if there is so few bugs, aiting will be hard for thoses who follow the topic

all depend of the numbrer of frustated guy you want lol

Well, I got to try it out - my impressions...

Looks good. The fog-less horizon seems odd after you've played the default game for a while, but it kinda looks more realistic. Though the game's resolution shows there, and the horizon can get pretty jaggy sometimes - if only the AA worked properly with the game...

Yea, there's an FPS loss. But for doubling visibility, it's not a big price to pay. Still rather manageable, even with the bigger Improved Convoys in sight.

One comment: is it possible for you to make it compatible with RUb's sky colors? (these make for dark water at night)

Testing more last night, I noticed my crew was spotting at 17 km at night! But it is a game engine tweak, not your visibility mod that is causing it.

Go ahead and release a beta. The more people can test it, the better. It is difficult to describe the RWR problems, except that if it s within the 17.5 km max visual range, it will not report. That is the way the game engine logic is set up.

I think alot of these things can be worked out through the Sensors.dat file. Just a whole lot of testing.

Right now you know about the 'Long distance Spotting at Night'. I can confirm this while testing last night.

I am next testing for spotting ships in a heavy or medium fog, and if the RWR works when visual is impossible. THe game's model of what a RWR does is wrong. It is only when your Visual distance is increased this goofy behaviour shows up.

I think maybe the first thing is to make 'Long Range Spotting at Night' fixed. I am playing around with the Sensor.cfg light levels too.

In the stock game, the watch crew was very good at spotting almost to around 6 km at night even though it was pitch dark! It was a problem from the start. It is just still there.

The light level modifier only adjust a factor in determining time to detect (sensitivity * range * factors). Beyond that value, detection time is doubled. I think the default values for senstivity for the watch crew is way too good. With a five man watch crew, that is alot of visual spotting. Nerfing this to make it work better, then I think the Moddified and Stock RWR radar warnings will work again more often. I do hope they work in heavy fog.

Manuel, what program or tool did you use to modify the 3D model data in scene.dat?

Can we please see some screenshots of the new horizon?

Sure thing, Beery:

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/8340/hor14cu.th.jpghttp://img148.imageshack.us/img148/650/hor33vf.th.jpghttp://img148.imageshack.us/img148/688/hor45he.th.jpg
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/7631/hor52et.th.jpghttp://img148.imageshack.us/img148/9094/hor67xq.th.jpghttp://img148.imageshack.us/img148/5043/hor70ah.th.jpg
(this is the huge Happy Times convoy, except the last screenshot - thus the lower FPS).

Ok, thats enough, im a patient person but...

If you don´t release it now i´ll torture my birds.
Try to mention those little innocent creatures...
You have 5 minutes.

With the current beta version of Manuel's mod and the stock game my crew can detect ships only within 8000 m even during day time and at good weather.

Are you saying the mod has no effect on your system?

I am saying that I can see ships at ~18000m but not my crew till the ships are at about 8000m.

Here is last version:
http://www.mp-labs.com/sh3mods/visibility_mod_v091.zip
I will make it a little more 'public' once the problems are gone.

I must say that I'm able to see far ships (~17000 m) and my crew too, at least on surface. At periscope depth, it takes a little time to my crew to see a so far ship.

Serbuto, make sure your Sensors.dat file has your Visual MaxRange set to 17.5 km and PreciseRange set to 17.0 km.

That is the changes made in Manuel's Visibility mod. You must increase your visual distance beyond 8 km in that file.

--------------------
Spotting at night by crew is same as daytime. It would seem these setting in Sensors.CFG has no effect in game which affects your crew. Here is changes made by the beta mod. I tried alot of combos, it is as if the game ignores these values. As for the enemy AI Sim.CFG the modifiers seem to work.

[SensorParameters]
; Sensors Detection Parameters

;Visual.
Visual range factor=0.5 ;[>=0] 0.5
Visual fog factor=0.85 ;[>=0] 1
Visual light factor=1.5 ;[>=0] 0.8
Visual waves factor=0.8 ;[>=0]
Visual speed factor=0 ;[>=0]
Visual aspect=0.9 ;[>=0]
Visual enemy speed=0.2 ;[>=0]
Visual noise factor=0 ;[>=0]
Visual sensor height factor=0.5 ;[>=0]
Visual already tracking modifier=600 ;[detection probability modifier], most accurate, once a contact is detected it will lose it very hard
Visual decay time=200 ;[>0] already tracking bonus decay, in seconds
Visual uses crew efficiency=false ;[true or false]

;Radar.
Radar range factor=1 ;[>=0]
Radar fog factor=0 ;[>=0]
Radar light factor=0 ;[>=0]
Radar waves factor=0 ;[>=0]
Radar speed factor=0 ;[>=0]
Radar aspect=1 ;[>=0]
Radar enemy speed=0 ;[>=0]
Radar noise factor=0 ;[>=0]
Radar sensor height factor=0 ;[>=0]
Radar already tracking modifier=10 ;[detection probability modifier]
Radar decay time=150 ;[>0] already tracking bonus decay, in seconds
Radar uses crew efficiency=false ;[true or false]

Now what difference does checking under Realism setting does 'realistic sensors' do? It was to reduce effeciency and detection by your sub, I suspect via enabling this check box file to use the modifers given in Sensors.CFG. I do not see any difference. I think it is broken somewhere.

This problem has always been around, just at 8 km it is not so noticeable, at plus 17 km it is more pronounced. The watch crew visual range and quick spotting is the same at night and daytime?

Quick detection also occurs no matter if the ship is close, or far away. Only the default fog works since that is tied directly to the game 3D model. Are these modifers even being applied?

Report AC detection while snorkel and scopes ai
 

Jungman and gents:

I modded to allow XXI for May of 43 :<) i am interested in "What ifs" more than historical repeat...

I am getting great results with these mods previously mentioned.
XXI boat at 14 or 15 meters depending on sea state... speed at 5 or 6 knots... both scopes up and on AI... I am North of Great Britain...

crew is visually spotting ac at about 2 km. This includes small ac like Spits, biplane and what looks like dauntless divebombers.... AND :<) many times these planes do not see the snorkel ... and I dive down to 50 meters for safety for a while....

Gents.. thank you ... thank you :<) Oh ya... convoy routes NW of GB ...... two convoys not to far apart.... "with XXI .. happy times"

Looks good to me. What about with fog - how does that look?

Manuel is doing a great job. Luckily, he started it after we knew about this X1 thingie, hehehe :arrgh!:

Jungman,

What is the relationship between the visual MaxRange and PreciseRange? I'm not sure how the AI works, but the PreciseRange seems to be the distance setting to show map contacts and remove the imprecise lines. Have you tried setting the visual PreciseRange to something less, like the original 8 km and see the effect on RWR (adjusted out past the visual PreciseRange of course)?

No, I have not tried that. It does sound interesting. :hmm: I'll give it a go.

Lately, I was trying to understand why the game seems to ignore the modifiers in Sensors.cfg. :-? Relating to seeing long range at night as well as in the day.

I have run some test missions and this is outstanding, changes the whole feel of the sim.

BZ

Leigh

OSC USN Ret

Manuel, when you get this working to your satisfaction I'd love to plug this into the RUb mod if you're willing to give us your permission. It seems you're on the right track, and that the visibility issues are going to get solved very soon, just as you solved similar underwater problems. Thanks for all the work you're putting into this! :up:

Just wondering - do the SkyColors files contain relevant settings for this mod? I've tried using RUb colors and haven't had any problems, but that may be because I haven't tried it with any fog/clouds yet.

If not, again, I hope this can be made compatible with RUb's darker reflections; I would do it myself but I'm not familiar with the SkyColors files at all...