Would you like more water transparency?
 

http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/4...encyhz2.th.jpg

This is WIP I think I have found a way to make the water more transparent, but need some help make it work so that you can't see the bottom 200 m down! :o allso right now it's only around the camera the transparency works so don't get your hopes high, im not a coder.. maybe it can't be done :hmm: , but is it a good idea?

Personal opinion; the quality of your work is in the fact that you've managed to create a much more realistic and stunning looking environment than the stock game ever offered. I think if you start to add 'artistic license' to your mod by creating unrealistic, artificial transparency, however pretty it is, the essence of the mod will be lost. :D

The more transparent water in the shallows does look great Kriller but is all the time and effort for this worth the payoff in the end? That is a question you have to answer yourself. Your latest effort I'm testing is just terrific.

You know, I look at the FPS reported, and the hardware configuration of the users, and I'm pretty baffled. Even after my computer upgrade, my FPS rate is nowhere near the ones reported by most users, except maybe RDP.

My rig:

Intel C2D E8200 2.66GHz o/ced to 3 GHz
2x1 GB Kingston DDR2 RAM @ 800MHz (o/ced to 913 along with the CPU)
Asus P5K Mainboard
WD 320GB SATA2 Hard Disk with 16MB buffer
Asus EAH3450 PCI-E 256MB DDR3 graphics card, slightly o/ced, running on either latest Omega or ATI drivers (released May/June, that was the last time I played SH4)
Samsung DFX753 (I think?) 17in CRT monitor
Windoze XP Pro Greek 32-bit

Game settings:

All the bells & whistles, resolution 1024x768 @ 85Hz, NO V-sync (makes for a VERY choppy ride unless FPS is already around 85)

Graphics card settings:

Range from no AA/AF to 8xAA/16xAF, using ATi Tray Tools

I can honestly say, I've never, EVER seen any higher FPS rate than 50-55, either on vanilla game (1.4) or with PE (I was a beta tester of 3, so I've seen quite a few versions of it), and regardless of AA/AF settings. Foggy conditions were extremely taxing, as is the general consensus (dropped to 18-20 FPS with PE3 and 4xAA/8xAF, but still playable), but the most baffling thing, to which a permanent solution was never found, was a random and EXTREME slowdown whenever a ship was hit...and I'm talking about an FPS drop from 30-35 to 6-8! Kriller2 must be groaning as he's reading this, Gods know I nagged his ears off with this problem, and everytime we *thought* we had found a solution, it would randomly reappear! The only short-term solution which worked was disabling Ship 3D Damage whenever it occured, and until the stricken ship had fully disappeared. This glitch happened regardless of mods in use and graphics card settings, and I'm suspecting either a graphics card or driver problem...or even greek Windoze!

Once I'm back home (yup, still using netcafes to get in touch with you guys!) and the obstacle of moving has been overcome, I'm gonna format the hard drive and install English Windoze and, of course, the newest set of drivers available, either ATI or Omega. I really can't wait for PE4, this vacation is starting to bore the hell out of me! :p

Hi AvgHawk,
I think it would be nice if we could make only the shallows have more transparency, but you are right it is alot of work as it would probaly mean alot of work on the way the shaders work, so I have PM'ed Nisgeis what he thinks about it.

btw. thank you for the nice review you gave PE4 some posts back :up: I will look for a new keyboard soon :)

@Dr. Beasts, oh no don't mention the dreaded "¤#"¤" bug with the slowdowns :damn: I had forgot about it!, but still having the problem when a torpedo hits the ship, but it seems pe4 produces a smaller fps hit?, maybe it's because of the lower resolution sky texture.

EDIT: have anyone noticed the above issue testing PE4 btw?

Enjoy the "vacation", we can shift places if you like? you could take my place and I could go to greece ? :rotfl: just kiding, I like the rainy europe :88)

Things like lower-res sky and sea textures (especially foam) do help, but once the performance hit happens, it happens! Quite a mystery, perplexed by the randomness of its occurence.

Hey, I'll take cool weather over this bloody heat anytime! I may be Greek, but I was not built for greek climates! I much prefer the cool temperatures of Scandinavia ;)

I know it must be a lot of work, but in the end if it could be accomplished it would truly be epic. Something like that would take PE to a whole new level. Anyway, keep up the great work! :rock:

Water transparency is interesting, but only if it still have a blue color. White water doesnt look appealing.

We choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

Well, I loaded up SH4 for the first time in a couple of months and I've spent a good few hours tonight looking at the shader that controls the water from above. The transparency is presented as a rendered refracted texture available for use in the pixel shader. There are a few oddities with it though. If the sea is too deep then the game engine doesn't draw the sea floor, so the refracted light appeard as a black section.

The 'depth' of each pixel is really the amount of water between your eye and the sea bed, so that's why you can see your sub from directly above sometimes, but moving to the side makes it disappear. At the moment, the depth you can see your sub from is about 20m, or 60 feet. Kriller would like it so that you can see the sub through 60m, or 180 feet of water.

I think this is possible to alter and I think it would be a good thing, as I always felt that the water was slightly too murky.

The effect works by blending the refracted texture with the water colour texture, so the effect will appear clear with objects just under the surface and will get more and more blue in it the deeper the object goes, as the blending is a linear interpolation between the refracted colour and the surface colour, so yes it will have a blue shift in it, just like real water. Bluer the deeper the object is.

At the moment, I have worked out what everyone does, but it's a matter of what scale things are. I know which variable has the water depth information in, but I don't know what values mean what in it. Is 400 massively large, or laughably small? It's quite hard to test when you can't see what values the variables passed have!

I am hopeful though that I can get it working.

HI Nisgeis, that's fantastic news, I wasn't sure if this would be possible, nice if you can make a thing that have annoyed me for quite some time, a submarine can be seen very deep in the water when looking at it from above, especialy in the pacific if the water is calm you should be able to see a submerged submarine from f.ex. 30 - 60 meter.

I know the feeling when yo know what to do, but can't quite get it right, but keep up the great work! :rock:

Ducimus models this well with Trigger, at least gameplay wise, be nice to see the graphics match this, if they look realistic that is :yep:


RDP

Guys, 60M would be exceptional visibility with an almost completely calm surface, no clouds and fairly deep water as in open ocean. Even a slight wind like a Force 1 (causes small ripples) can reduce visibility by up to 40% from the surface...

I've been a scuba diver for 20+ years and only experienced visibility approaching 60M only a few times from the surface on exceptionally calm days with little plankton bloom. Visibility is even worse as you get closer to the coastal areas due to increased turbidity from along shore currents and sediment run off from land masses.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the visibility model closer to realistic but again, I think you estimate is a little optimistic.

Cheers!

A good challenge is always good for the soul:up: Conquering that challenge is even better!

The ghost crew...a
 

Does anyone know if it's possible to edit the volumetric fogs effects or the shader used?? I'm tired of having a ghost crew, and have 3 weeks vacation so I thought I might play around with it to see if it can be remeded.