Hi chrysanthos!
You can use the way with "goblin editor", described in Post 1 http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...71&postcount=1.

But, I for myself, prefer s3d (many thanks to skwasjer :salute:) http://s3d.skwas.com/. In this you open the *.dat file.

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/6066/s3damage.jpg


Now you:

1. goto the main node of the unit

2. linked 3D model you dont need in this case, you can close it

3. open the model preview

4. open the *.zon file (let be open in background)

5. for a better vision, you can switch the diffuse map on

6. toggle to the zones editor

7. now you can edit the boxes and spheres (with rightclick on the types you can add a new)

I hope it helps but I dont know why you need it. I have imported some ships http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...o=file&id=3222 and it was rarely nessesary to change the damage zones.

And btw:agreed completely :up:

I remeber wishfully the times I played "TF1942" or "Burning Steel" ...... :wah:

___________

And @ tonschk

The flags are ok, but the dat-ships dont cast shadows:


http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/9...0916220948.jpg

greetings

uekel

Okay, here goes!
http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/...-27_120531.jpg
While trying to find ways to render ships without the "unified controller" which makes flags freeze and guns not to render fully, I made a pretty significant find. If this works, flags will work, even Sh 5 guns will render fully and ships will also look more like SH 5 ships! When I first discovered this I was almost shaking! Ok, enough hype... :D

The secret is the "BumpMap" controller. So at first I deleted the unifiedrenderctrl in S3D, opened Goblin editor, and applied the "BumpMap" from SHcontrollers to the main ship node and merged it to the .val-file. For now I'm using the default values, they seem to be about right. So the basic method is really quite simple. It's more tricky to get all the maps to show, seems to require embedding (currently I'm using basic texture and occlusion map, I don't use Normal map because it was showing in the wrong places, but I think it's fixable). My current S3D setup which seems to work (the interesting stuff is in the materials):

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/...mpsettings.jpg

To get best results, ship's texture color and occlusion maps needs changes. It might be that even ships basic texture colour should be changed to grey. I would really like to sneak peek to SH 5 ship GR2-files and see how it's done, but for now it's impossible...

Ofcourse there might be some nasty suprises ahead (at first when I applied the BumpMap in .sim-file, game crashed every time ship was destroyed, but now it works!). One thing is that I don't know how to apply LOD levels, now the ships are rendered fully as far as you can see them, and it may cause stuttering to lower-end PCs. On the other hand, the current imported ships seem to be quite hard on your computer too.

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/...-27_005829.jpg
Sun/moon position affects the ship's lighting just like with SH 5 ships.

Anyway, I'll look more into this and I hope that others will too mess with BumpMap controller. That way we might get real results sooner! And no promises yet, but this might be the missing link between SH 4 and SH 5!

Excellent news Rongel, quite the clever chap you are with this! Hats off!:salute:

Looking good Rongel :Kaleun_Salivating:

Hmmmm interesting and nice find :yeah:
Be nice for imported units to look a lil like the sh5 ones
Literally hundreds of units available from SH3 and 4
Just what the game needs

Yep, let's hope that the pros win the cons with this method! Not that I have seen really any, but usually there is always somekind of drawback too.

But this isn't really that hard, and I'm not that professional modder, I made my first Silent Hunter mod just 9 months ago! I think it's more about determination and hard work really.

My plan is to make this particular ship ready and close to Sh 5 as possible and if all works, realease it as a new mod. But as this is still in test phase, it's best not to make too big promises! :D

Really great detective work there :yeah:

Okay, next version of OH II full (1.4) will have a new Rongel Small Split Freighter ship that doesn't use the "Unified render controller", it's rendered with SH 5 bump map controller. There are currently some good things about it and there are some bad things that I know off.

Plus :DL

-Flag doesn't cause freezing (flag will only freeze if other ship causes it first)
-Dynamic lighting that looks more like SH 5
-Guns and equiptment are rendered correctly

Minus :nope:

-No caustics
-No bump map (currently I have to choose between occlusion map and bump map)

Can't say yet about performance, didn't notice difference myself. This ship creates also reflections in the water. Uekel figured that one out, I just followed his example, credit goes to Uekel :DL

Please remember that this is basicly a test, somethings may improve further. I hope that the big guys will make it possible to use new GR2 ships in the future, untill then we must accept some compromises.

I've noticed that Weapons do not render correctly on imported ships.
They are using model from SH4_Guns_Radars.dat

SH5 contains all of the Merchant Weapons located in file
data\Library\ShipPart\guns_radars_01.GR2, .SIM, .ZON

To verify if the SH5 Weapons would work, I edited the .eqp file on a boat and used Stock SH5 in game weapons with basically the same result but the Weapons render black, not white as with the SH4 Models.
http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/8...antweapons.jpg
BTW, this model is missing its SHD 3D model completely.

Example .eqp file using SH5 Weapon names.
I have to ask, If we get basically the same results using stock weapons, why are we using up more virtual memory to load more weapons that do not render correctly either?:06::timeout:

We were using SH4's because they were rendering correctly. SH5's would not using the UnifiedRenderController.

SHDs are a thing of the past and do not exist in SH5. Shadows are done through the Granny interface now (GR2 files).

You see shadows from the SH5 guns because they are from a GR2 file.

Hi there :DL, do you think in the future the modders will be able to make the dat-ships cast shadows ?

Yep, when using Unified render contoller, the guns don't render correctly. So we have to decide if we take black SH 5 guns that cast shadows, or SH 4 guns that have texture, but no occlusion/shadow map. We decided that limited SH 4 guns are still better than the other option. The gun shadow is a bit distracting too, if the ship doesn't cast shadow.

If we take out the unified render controller, all guns work but the quality of the ship suffers, we lose caustics and visual damage.

You mentioned that you have white guns, are you using latest ship patches? Guns and searchlights should have a decent texture.

A Shadow Model can easily be added to Models that are missing them. I suspect those that are missing their Shadow Model are SHIII imports?:06:
Can we add Granny Caustic Controller using GoblinEditor?:06:
If so, maybe that is a option...
I am using the Merchant Ships added from the OH II v1.4 MOD.
Are they current?:06::timeout:

I am just thinking about sytem reuirements increasing as the game footprint grows from loading models that really are not required.

Regards!
TheBeast

You're missing the point here. SHDs do not exist in SH5. All shadows are 'made' from the GR2 files. The Granny part of SH5 controls this.

I tried adding Granny caustics controller and couldn't get it to work. I think it actually CTD from it.

Well hopefully, the work you have been doing with 3D Studeo and Reading GR2 files. You will be able to take a existing GR2 Model and replace the internal Gr2 3D Model with a new 3D Model and specify new Textures in the GR2 as well.

Does a 3D Model contain AO, UV Map info?:06: Haven't really dug that deep with Hex Editor yet.