Here is the new package. Please follow strictly my instructions at post #394 to rebuild your terrain with my changes

https://www.mediafire.com/?vq414s3rvs09i4l

The island now shows up both on the navigation map and in the 3D world. I wish I could post some screenies, but Ctrl F11 didn't work for me (probably because my unusual installation of the game). There are some flickerings around the island borders, especially when it is seen from the top. Maybe increasing a bit its height asl would help. :hmm2:

Let me know your impressions :salute:

Working for me too ! :yeah:

Yes, 'flickerings' are normal, and due to the movement of the sea waves. But I agree we could increase the height of the island on some precise parts, to look more than a sandbank, even if the island is very flat.

http://www.mairie-iledesein.com/imag...avion_1024.png

Well, I think the shape can be improved. Here is my work about drawing the island for SH3, layer are separated, but you can place them on top of each other in photoshop or paint.net :

your proposition :

http://i.imgur.com/F9ZNo4n.png

the island (from http://map.openseamap.org/) with a little horizontal expansion to align both lighthouses on those from SH3 (placed with real coordinates) :

http://i.imgur.com/PUqbRyZ.png

And my proposition :

http://i.imgur.com/8LtxMKX.png

Other proposition based on the photo i've posted :

- light + dark brown shape is the same shape as my previous proposition (dark brown = increased altitude)
- light yellow now represents "sandbank"

http://i.imgur.com/zb5aGLy.png

Does this mean that I should try SB World mod?

:Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

Nice picture!

Unfortunately, scaled to its correct size the island only covers two pixels of the SHIII height map lol. If you want, we can increase its general height by one or two levels of grey, but I am afraid we lack the resolution needed to raise or lower spefic areas of it :yep:

I guess that Sein's outline may vary considerably from low to high tide due to the low profile of the island. The current shape was painted over openseamap's aerial photo overlay.

Here is a satellite view available on Google Maps that comes close to the one I used as template:

https://www.google.it/maps/vt/data=X...u0VxNoFoPgeVD8

And here is my drawing in original size:

http://i.imgur.com/y2M4D7c.png

After drawing the island, I scaled it down by matching openseamap's coordinate grids on the template picture, with their equivalent position on SHIII's land mask. Everything was calculated/drawn to the nearest tenth of minute, that's why the lighthouses are perfectly aligned with their real positions on the island. Sure, the island looks squeezed vertically, but that's because of the well known SH world's distorsion.
We can add/remove a pixel here and there but, as far as the game is concerned, my proposition is essentially correct and your ones distorted. :03:

Below a comparison of the island masks we have proposed so far: the current layout (top left), a new proposal by me (top right), your first drawing (bottom left), and your modified proposal with "sand banks":

http://i.imgur.com/CrHqaKh.jpg

Oh my bad, I forgot that the height map has a much lower resolution than the land/sea mask. :wah:

By the way, this is strange : look at the Helgoland island, and you will see that the height map is relatively precise :



Yes, sure. On your satellite view, you took into account submerged parts to draw your island. :03:

Mine can't be distord. If I'm correct, the vertical scale in SH3 is correct, whereas the horizontal one is not, depending of latitude (it's worse when you come close to the poles). So, I took the real map and resized it in order to fit the SH3 scale, keeping the right proportions. Now, we only have to adjust the horizontal side, and I did it by aligning the lighthouses of the map with the lighthouses on the SH3 map (which have exact coordinates, to the nearest tenth of second :D).

Moreover, I think my last proposition is more looking natural as your last proposition.

Exactly five times smaller :yep:

Once we find an agreement on the land mask of Sein (hopefully :haha:), we will see if we can improve its heightmap too :)

You are right, I probably took into account the very shallow waters around the island, but if I were to follow only the emerged profile, due to the low resolution of the terrain mask and to the impossibility of using smooth edges, the island in game would be smaller than it is in reality.

A visual example of that follows.



Not only it can... it is :D

You said you based the proportions of your island drawing drawing on the following picture below that you have (not enough) expanded horizontally, don't you?

http://i.imgur.com/PUqbRyZ.png

Well, for the island to be in scale with the coordinate system used in game, the grid on the map you use as template should be square, not rectangular. If you follow the correct method (I invite you to give it a try!), the result wont be too dissimilar from what I already got :yep:

That's another proof of what I am saying: if it looks 'natural', it can't be right... Not in this crazy game :haha:

Changing of topic... when you finish drawing that island in a proper way, what do you think about tweaking a bit the light flash effect, so that it resambles more the light of a carbide lamp?

Here's a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqXnBXmPQ3U

Imo, the outer border of the light should be red-violet towards its outer border, not blue as it is now. What do you think? :hmm2:

EDIT: found a decent picture

http://www.harrisproductsgroup.com/~...air-vs-oxy.jpg

The flame looks bluer near the center of combustion, and it becomes red-violet as it moves away from the center. After all, the current effect color might be compatible with the blue seen in the picture above :hmm2:

:yeah:

This one :D (something between your two versions) :

http://i.imgur.com/STbVDww.png

OK. :up:

Nice effect. But my halo is white, not blue. I guess this is the blue sky that you see, because the halo is a bit transparent.

I like it, but I had to change a bit the port area, otherwise the local lighthouse would have been in the water... unless we want to create a simple port model for the island, of course :03:

http://i.imgur.com/DXviwUN.jpg

In the meanwhile I had been working on something similar, but smaller:

http://i.imgur.com/XVFnp4b.jpg

I like more your version, but I thought I would share that layout too, in case you want to take inspiration from it for some last minute changes (before I create the new mask/elevation files) :up:

Could you give it reddish hue, but very faint, so to obtain some shades of violet where the flare colour melts with the sky colour? Just for trying how it looks:O:

P.S: I have removed the RayTracedHalo controller from the light effect (seemingly without any loss of quality), and replaced it with the WaterReflection controller. Light reflections on the water look so cool :sunny:

Are you ready to create a simple 3D model of the Sein island, instead of adding squares to the terrain and having something which looks like nothing ? :D

Come on Kendras... If people can enjoy sinking ships with this level of detail...

...why should you mind sailing around an island like this?

:rotfl2:

I guess that means 'no' ?

:k_rofl:

In this case, why building so nice lighthouses, with such an ugly island ? :hmmm:

Come on Kendras, I like well done stuff too, but let's be realistic: who will notice if the shape of a small and totally flat island which we will hardly spot through the binoculars, is not so exciting? Put some houses around it, a couple of jetties, a dock, two or three fishing trawlers anchored along the dock, two well modelled lighthouses and little more, and Sein will look as good or as bad as the rest of SHIII.

If on the contrary we decide to model it as a 3D mesh, what will come next? The Orkneys? What about the Norwegian Fjords? And why not Helgoland, the Azores, or the Canary Islands? And I don't want to imagine what will happen when it will be the time of the Greek Islands :doh: :O:

I don't want to sound too categoric: if need be, I am okay to quickly model some rocks which are not even the size of a single pixel on the SHIII terrain map, but anything bigger than that should be made of the same matter as the rest of SHIII's land IMHO :)

Yes, why not ? :O:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...79#post2490379

These new small islands 3D models have the same role as the new lighthouses : improve the aspect of the world with more realistic objects. But ... as this thread is not dedicated to the reworking of islands, let's give up. :salute:

You will come again to this one day ! :()1:

Now, as we are working on the terrain, we have to find a solution to extract height maps from google earth, in order to correct the sea depth ... :hmmm:

About new halo effect, don't you have a more explicit picture ? Is it the kind of halo when can see from lighthouses ?

:k_rofl:

You are a natural born poker player obviously: I make my bet and rather than calling it or folding, you make an higher bid :03:

Let's do a deal: poor as it might look, we paint that island on the terrain map. You decide the layout you like the most, and we both make our best to make it look as nice as possible by placing already existing models or some purposedly made docks and jetties on top and around it. Something simple but nice. At the end, if you still are not satisfied, and when we are at good point with the mod, I will see what I can do in Wings, but believe me, making it to look good and natural according to your standars, is something that has the potential of driving me insane. I know that already :D :haha:

I think the less ugly version is yours + one square :

http://i.imgur.com/4IVu4wQ.png

I'm not interested to add a harbour. But why not a little village.

:hmmm: You're talking about that ? : http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...98#post2463298

You know, I think the best way to add better looking halos (with different colors, etc.) is too create new halos for Materials.dat

I've found interesting maps :

I thought you were sponsoring the below version, but that's okay :up:



Not really an harbor, but a sheltered natural inlet with a few structures. See the picture below:

http://i.imgur.com/aw2O7RF.jpg

Red: quays/seawalls
Blue: jetties
Yellow: Men-Brial lighthouse
Black: warehouses

That's an example :D

Can you please look into it? Isn't there a 'Color' section among the properties of the ParticleGenerator controller?

As I said yesterday, I have managed making the light effect on our lighthouse to have water reflections (RayTracedHalo controller replaced with WaterReflection controller), but I have noticed a weird glitch: when seen from a distance, the smooth borders of the light particle become partly opaque, and I see a semi-transparent square with the light flash painted on it, where I should se a totally smooth transition from full light to the sky color. I will investigate if this error is caused by my changes but I doubt that. It might also be my NVidia gfx card, or some graphic setting, but I was also wondering if the FastParticleGenerator wouldn't be more appropriate for our quick flashing light :hmmm:

Very nice (!) but we need to clean them up and to resize them to the same scale and lat/long proportions as SHIII :yep:

On a side note: you cannot imagine how much progress I made with our current model, and guess what? Don't ask me how, the specular mask doensn't cause any longer black textures, though it still seems to do nothing. More on that later :salute: