The only real hard part is getting the x,y,z set correctly so that the shell appears at the correct location in regards to the gun's breech. I have to add reflections, waterinteraction (so that a small splash appears when the shell hits the water), and a few other minor things yet plus a little tweaking of the PG. The texture used for the shell needs to be redone - I just made a quick brass look alike in photoshop for it. And this is currently only done for the single 20mm UFlak AA gun.
It's not hard to make this for all other guns but different shell models should be used (37mm, 88mm, 105mm, etc.). What color were the casings? Were they just standard brass color for them all?

Since nobody else directly addressed this, the game is already set up for friendly subs on patrol to send in reports. You will see them as circles on the zoomed-out map (and not the more common square), appearing more frequently as the war goes on (and # of boats on patrol increases).

shell reflections on water and splashes when they hit.....
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...ings_with_.jpg
coming along nicely :|\\

amazing stuff, racer! i still found no time to do the texture...but its in progress! already loaded your files. cant wait to shot down my first fighter with falling shells...great!

what about a sound bound to this? maybe you could make a node, with the event when they hit water or hull. or the more simply way, to rework the flaksound and add some pling pling...after the firesound.

what do you think? and again i have to say youre amazing, racerboy. i really dont know how you do this, but i like it! appreciate that...

:up:

sound can be added. Do you have a soundfile in mind? The sound could start as soon as the shell appears thus simulating the 'ding' of the shell being ejected. If you have a soundfile that has the sound of the breech opening with the 'ding' of the shell that would be awesome.
The sound of the watersplash for the shell can be done also. Just need a soundfile for it.
I was unable to keep the shells from passing through solid objects. I'm still trying to find a solution to this.
Currently shells (and effects) are only done for the 20mm single UFlak and I haven't released any BETA files for the mod yet. It still has location tweaking to be done but the 'ruffing' in is coming along nicely.
It is pretty cool to see the shells flying when you're shooting at airplanes. You can even see the shells being ejected from the AA view (the view with the scope on the AA gun).
Maybe someone knows a better way than I'm currently using to figure out the x,y,z location where the shell should appear. If someone can give me an offset from the end of the barrell to where the shell should appear that would help alot. Currently I have the shell ejecting from the right side of the gun - is that even correct?
From under the water you can 'see' the shells falling from the gun (part of the waterreflection node settings).
I'm liking this mod very much so far. There is a ton of work involved though for each shell/gun but it's worth it.
When the shell impacts the water and the splash happens the shell keeps falling through the water tumbling end over end. I gave it sufficient life so that it reaches a good depth before disappearing.

:rock:

right side is correct!

:up:

in your previous post you mentioned "casings" do you mean the shell magazine? or the shell-hull?

no, still have no sound file, but i can record a "pling"! think the water splash can be found somewhere. regarding your axis-problem, i cant help you. sorry, i wish i could. is the rate of fire already connected to the ejecting?

collision-problem. maybe you write a pm to diving duck. he has done a lot of file-structure research as to our open-hatch mod. the problem seems, the shell object needs a collision model. but i dont know how this is defined inside the *.obj file. maybe we have to add a seperate collision model to the dat especially for the shell. i dont know, how this is made for the other models. sorry.

suggestions anyone?

:hmm:

see above in yellow.

upped the realism a notch by having the shell come to a stop when it hits the water. Then it bobs and tumbles for a second or two (simulating filling with water) until it overcomes it's own bouyancy and then it starts sinking to the bottom, tumbling end-over-end on it's way down. This underwater view shows you can see the shells falling through the air waiting to contact the water. It also shows shells that are bobbing on the surface and some that have started to fall to the bottom. I noticed here that the AA gun is not shown in the reflections.....we'll have to look into this! I'm basing this on GWX 2.1 files also ;)
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...ings_dropp.jpg

How big of an FPS hit it has for example with 3-4 ships firing of their MGs or is this only for the uboat?

right now only for the 20mm UFlak gun. Being that they are individual objects whose poly count is way low it shouldn't have a hit on the FPS. The range that you can see the shells can be adjusted to so that you have to be near to see them (say 20-25m for instance) which will also reduce any FPS hit (if there even is any). The Fog controller can also be used to help out. When I have more guns done and are able to test with mutiple ships firing I'll know then what the FPS hit is. I really don't expect to see much of a hit at all.

I would think that a range of 10 meters is better?
Haveing seen stated weapons in real life?
30 feet before you really notice the extractions.
But you also have the option of LOD.
;)

yes, yes, LOD....I almost forgot about that one! Good call :up:

I was bored tonight and didn't feel like hanging out with the woman so I decided to keep tailoring the GWX 2.1 version of the VIIb and VIIb Turm to how I want it. Having made the Turm and sub body reflections looking the way I wanted I also added a reflection to the rotating antenna. I then added the flags & pennants to it (controllable with the 'x' key). Remembering FlakMonkey's TwistyPeriscopeThingy mod, I also added those to the 7b Turm. Tomorrow I'll add the water drains and exhaust smoke. Shells have been added to the aft AA gun already. What else is there to add besides shells to the deckgun also??
It's funny, I haven't even played a single mission or patrol with 2.1 yet....just been modding it and testing with single missions.
Looks pretty good with the flags & pennants and the twistyperiscopethingies:
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...FP_GWX_2_1.jpg

wow, nice one! looks good...

:up:

next steps should be shells for the 3,7cm and the double barrel 2cm first i think. then maybe for the deckgun also...but could be be hard to make it fall like a real 8,8cm casing as it was not dropped beside, it was ejected at the end of the gun. but i guess it might look really cool to see the casings roll on deck, when firing at a ship...we could also add some tiny little smoke, that comes out of the ejecting hole and top of the shells?! that would be really nice!!!

thought also about a real changing magazine...so the mag is pulled out and a new one is set in...that would be also really cool!

-

i also started to remod the flakguns and gave them more details. the models are already fnished and wait for implementation! same with UZO binoculars...i remodeled them, as the stock ones simply look like ****. and i already have more ideas in mind like:

- open doors to the forward and backward compartments, just for look through
- walking by crewmembers in the control room
- remodel the inner turret with more details, as you hang there most of the time
- give the underwater less opacity
- give the water surface some opacity, like sh4
- more pieces flying through the air, when hitting a ship with the deckgun or a torpedo
- rework the splash of a torpedo hit, as theres first an explosion and short after it the watersplash rising
- waterstreams from the turret
- more particle sources in the main control room, when youve been hit. not just this one water splash out of the pipe on top

:know:

i hold one in my hand and the 2cm casings where quite heavy...so they start sinking very shortly (0,5 sec) after they hit the surface. they do not need to fullfill with water...they only slow down and sink.

its different with 7,62mm casings, they stay a little while on the surface...but also just a second or so.