Leo...did you get your changes to show up in the game, not just in the test mission?...
I ask because i hav'nt seen it, and I've started new careers several times, ( more like a couple of dozen times), doing testing to try to get the lightning to make an appearance.

so far..its a no show.

Any ideas?

actualy I have been trying hard to make it look right
 

and sound right first havn't worried about the campaign yet. But I don't see why it wouldn't work in all parts of the game because my changes show up instantly for my new LBO work so it should for the lightning as well.

If you have a save game that is in the middle of a storm it does act a little screwy and you have to run for a couple of hours until the game gives you a weather report that says light or heavy percipitation because at first when you go to a saved game it dosn't seem to achnoledge it.

But I just posted a new pic on what the lightning looks like so far.

The only thing that is a pain now is doing a still capture. I got the lightning down to such a realistic flash and randomization position that it took me almost a half hour to capture those last 2 photo's.

The depthbias seems to control the objects apearing through another object at the same place at the same time so I am slowly lowering it to get a good blend C.C.

okay Captain Cox I got this as realistic as possable
 

I have put over 72 hours total into this and I am getting burnt out.

The lightning is as realistic as possable in thunder match and randomization of strikes and change of apearance and locations and rotations of the bolts and changes to the branches and have it show up both day and night through any lighting and fog effect. The only thing I could not solve is it showing up through the sub or anything else other than water. But if people are looking that hard to find the flaws and capture the lightning bolts in a still shot to see what is wrong with it then no one will apreaciate the work we all did.

I sent you a P.M. with all the files and work and it includes the barker funell smoke for the ships and the 9km viewing distance and under water 30m view and better fire and explosion effects.

Have fun buddy. I need to try and finish the ocean effects and start playing the game before I forget why I am doing this LOL!!!!!

All of this is appreciated lads :yep: Thanks a million:up:


RDP

Great effort by all concerned:up:

@Leo, we are just on our way here, will check this out 1st thing when back tonight! Thanks for all the input and work.:sunny:

oooo St. Vitas dance :cool:

yeah, what he said:rock:

Why don`t you make a downloadable mod?

Like the title says, it's Work In Progress.

WIP= Work In Progress. Take your time lads. Afinished product is well worth the wait. Now git! :yep:

I would like leovampire to add this to hes next installment of LBO. I think its the only way as its one of the topnotch need to have mods out!...and it includes the scene.dat, which this mod needs.

Would that be ok Leo?. I know you are busy busy with LBO and stuff so...
I will look in to tweaking it further, maybe have some other peeps test it etc.

Also @kapitan_zur_see, would you like to tweak the texture further or?

I will also be honest and say I will check this in the morn 1st thing as i am dead after a 5h drive and 2h traffic jam...IN CONSTANT RAIN! :p

We did not go to Munich after all, we went to Verdun ;) Brilliant! bloody brilliant!!!
Fort Douaumont was the highlight this summer I tell you. And yea i am a sad historic buff that rather lingers in WWI bunkers then laying on the beach ;)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...x/P1010031.jpg
One of the many gun/cannon turrets up top side



http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...x/P1010027.jpg
Corridors for miles! (here my son is contemplating history ;) )



http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...x/P1010022.jpg

The fort from the outside (this fort took some heavy artillery hits, I tell ya!

Off to Laboe next weekend to check out the U-995 (VIIC) ;)

I am almost done with the final revision of LBO
 

Captain Cox and I plan on giving you the scene file for it before it is posted. But right now 2 people other than you are testing what I did so far for LBO and the lightning with the strickt understanding that it stays with them until you and I say differn't.

But the texture work that kapitan_zur_see did is already top notch and works very well with the modifcations to the scene, particle and materials files unless you want to change the color but even that can be done by the materials file without changing the actual image's as you pointed out in that P.M. you sent me showing the HEX code for color.

I got rid of the strainge halo effect of close lightning strikes and left it for the one's further away to make it look like the fog is enhancing the glow of the strike. And left the light blueish color for the close up strikes seeing electricity usualy does ark in a bluish color then for the distant striks made them more whitish do to the fog effect again. I based this on pictures I saw on the internet from all the storm chaser web site's in the U.S.

The rest of the changes I made I just experimented with until I found a good work around for differn't sounding thunder claps for the differn't lightning bolts and distance of the strike. Then the roations and changes between how fast the bolt actualy travels changes from time to time between the strikes as well as the branch children looking like they change between strike's when actualy it is the rotation and movment of the bolt it's self. That hardest part come's in when you get the timming of the bolt's where or near where they should be you have to wait for the next bolt and it happens fast enough where it is hard to tell what happens to make changes now.

C.C. the first lifetime numbers matches up the thunder and bolt together so if you lower that too much then the thunder only occurs at the split second the bolt starts and then end's yes the quick flash can be cool but the thunder gets all screwed up.

thank you guys ;)

Yep, working on a new texture set is already on my "top ten things to do next in my life" lol :know: Anyway, making something better is tailored to tweaking of files so leo could you please pm me your tweaked files so i can start something based on that? i'm definitevely no good at hex editing :hmm: Guess i'll have to stick with After Effects for that one! Good thing is, there was a close thunderstorm right "above" my house yesterday so i just had the oppurtunity to take some reference photos with my camera. Might help :cool:

Anyway, i got to play with that TGA size value in materials.dat. Hope it does give the ability to use Bigger tga files cause for now, game engine just resize them down automatically. This could give me a HELL lots of room for improvement...

I don't think there's much that can be done about it. The sunlight appears through the objects as well. Really IMHO what you guys have achieved outweighs this minor issue :up:

@CaptainCox
At a 30 min. walk from my place you can find this atlantikwallmuseum;) http://users.pandora.be/alex.deseyne/

At about 30 min.drive from my place you can find this trenches of death
http://groups.msn.com/TheWesternFrontWW1/diksmuide.msnw

There is even a russian sub somewhere at a 45 min. drive ....
http://seafront.be/

Whenever you need a little break from modding and stretch your legs ....and recharge your battery...:lol:

GREAT WORK GUY'S :up:

WOW!!! Fantastic work folks!! Please keep it up!! It looks great :up:

The only thing I would add is in reference to the "can't see the lightning in fog and heavy rain, " In my experience. On the water in heavy rain and fog. One doesn't normally see lightning bolts anyway. Especially at night. Only thing you see is an ominous light show that illumiates the fog an rain uniformally around the unseen bolt with less intensity the further from the origin. Close bolts light up the fog all around you, but if you actually are close enough to see the bolt, it may be too late for you :lol:

Not sure if that type of effect is modeled in the engine or even possible to simulate?? And also aggree that the lightning should follow the storm, not the boat. Probably "working as intended"?? hehe

The work you guys have done is already light years ahead of the baseline. Very nice job!!

BTW CC, if you haven't already, and get the chance. The U-boat memorial outside Kiel is absolutely worth visiting. A memory I will never forget.

mmm :hmm: i think i've finally found a way to increase lightnings resolution, so i'm now working on a new texture set. I'll show you guys how things are evolving. I'm about to post some screenies. :up:

kapitan_zur_see
 

I sent you all the files in a P.M. per your request.

good news!
 

thank you leo ;) i just happened to tweak them myself to some extent in order to work in the meantime. But i'm glad to have yours now.
BTW, just wanted to thank LeoVampire who is now actively working on this mod

And yep... GREAT NEWS!!! :up:
I found the way to make some High-Res textures and to make them appears ingame as such :rock:
I'm so happy with that! So, i just made a new (still to be improved, you might even see some glitches) texture set on the fly (done in some purplish colour to introduce some difference). I'd be more than happy to read your comments about it :ping:

Here's some screenies:

Okay, just to make the comparison, my first attempt:

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/5...est2jw8.th.jpg As you can see, its very much low-res...:down:

And now, the new set:

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/705...res8ny3.th.jpg http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/4...res1gy1.th.jpg http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/7...res3na4.th.jpg http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/6...res4ir0.th.jpg http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/4...res6fx5.th.jpg

... See next post ...