Yes, but the halo will disappear at medium distance, so you won't be able to spot it from your submarine... :doh:

No, for 2 reasons : 1/ i can't do that, 2/ if i assign 2 different materials to the object in S3D, they should be both used ? ...

Yes, it does.

It was the correct order.

Well, I think it is a matter of finding the right size for an aptimal balance between light arcs and their visible range. By the way, those are the interantional rules on light visibility:

http://navruleshandbook.com/Rule22.html

That's the likely reason for your night lights not working. Stop asking yourself impertinent questions (lol) and strictly follow my instructions :O:

PS: If S3D asks you whether you want to import one of the subsets separately, or raather collapse collapse the two of them in one object, choose the latter option :03:

Hi mates!
While waiting for this gorgeous lights work, i'm reworking a little some details.
Here are first funnel horns pipes (2 with Y shape, not 2 vertical):

http://www.sterling.rmplc.co.uk/visions/funnel2.jpg
https://image.ibb.co/kzRZtw/SH3_Img_..._11_58_395.png
Best regards,
Vd

I always wanted to add working hornpipes to ships ! Do you think about a trigger that could be used to launch the visual and sound effect ? :hmmm:

Someone had the good idea to launch the effect when the rudder was turning, but how can you link rudder's position to the effect ? :hmmm:

So, in wings, I have duplicated the material and changed its name.

Now in game, the lantern is bright green during night :up:, but it is white during day :-? ...

I honestly don't know this, but should be gorgeous!
Btw, voilà a "definitive" version:

https://image.ibb.co/npWWQb/SH3_Img_..._26_52_695.jpg

Best regards,
Vd

Very nice ! :up:

@gap : I don't manage to make the light city work properly. So, I send you the files : there is a single mission ("QM") which starts before night, so you can use Time Compression and see difference between day and night.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/3jctm...-%20QM%20v1.7z

https://pp.userapi.com/c639727/v6397...LGtxvgdsyI.jpg
What do these "nlusM" files mean?

Oh, I forgot to delete them...

Check the lateral lanterns (green and red) models, and try to find what's wrong . :D

I have tried to fix them, but still no joy. By the way: I have placed one of the stock houses on top of the Queen Mary (through placement node), Its windows are lit up at night, so the idea is still valid: we just need to discover what is wrong with our implementation of it :hmm2:

Hi!
Maybe you can clone the house object, re-model him like portholes (with same materials but different textures?) creating a new library object... so we will maybe have enlighted nightime portholes like a library part we can link as equipment in timeline...

Best regards,
Vd

That's exactly the point: I can change names, textures, etc, but when I replace the stock house model with a similar mesh, the light effect becomes broken. :hmmm:

I must be doing something wrong. Still investigating :salute:

Hi!
Small alternative idea!
Why don't create a new sound for queen mary only, adding a "Ship.Queen.Mary._mix" after "Ship.Passenger Ship._mix" into data->sound-> sh3.sdl? In my idea this definition should link to a new file (Queen Mary_mix, in sh3->sound directory) that should include original Passenger Ship_mix trace repeated for 10 minutes. After 8 minutes (for example, or when you want) QM's hornpipes' sound should be added to this trace.
After that, from NPPQ_.dsd, index 13 soundsource should be changed to "Ship.Queen.Mary._mix", and every 10 minutes we should be able to hear the horns' sound.
Is this possible?
Is this stupid?

Best regards,
Vd

I think the rudder-triggered horn was just a never realized idea. :hmmm:

What is surely possible. is doing a ship to send horn/siren distress signals when she spots an enemy (through a virtual gun muzzle flash effect) and/or when she is damaged (through damage box effects) :yep:
Not stupid, but I would find the same sound looping every 10 minutes quite depressing and a bit unrealistic. After all, due to their speed, the Queen Mary and her sister ship the Queen Elizabeth were often travelling out of convoy and without escort screen. Why should they use so often their horns while sailing on a straight line, in the middle of the ocean and with no other ships around, if not for casting the attenction of any passing by attacker? :O:

P.S: I have finally managed getting night lights to work properly!
More on them later :yeah:

And also you won't hear the horn, because you stop hearing ship's sound from only a few km ...

Good news ! Without drawbacks ? :O:

Well, if the sound was set appropriately, it could be heard as far as the game 3D rendering radius :yep:

Yes and no. For textures not requiring an opacity mask, it works like a charm. I couldn't manage setting the effect to work with alpha channels though.
As for the specular map of the La Plate lighthouse, grey tones in the alpha channel are readeither as black (fully trensparent) or white (fully opaque), thus killing the smooth transition effect of light halos.

There must be somewhere in SHIII materials/textures maps, a flag not known to Skwas while he was working on S3d, that tells the game wether to use alpha channels as B/W (1 bit) bitmaps, or as greyscale (8 bit) images. As I said in one of my previous posts, S3d can read/write these unknown adress(es), but it doesn't display them among the other parameters and properties available for editing. The workaround I used for the specular mask, was replacing the old material with one copied from a stock file, where it was used for a similar purpose. Unfortunately, I couldn't find so far a texture map chunk connected with a greyscale alpha channel. That means that I need to discover where is the flag that I need to change, and tweak using an hex editor :doh:

Not if the horn's sound is read on the ship's sound, else you will hear the ship's sound from 30 km ! So, the horn's sound must be separated from the ship's sound.

I see, same solution as for La Plate texture (the tower was black) ! :up:

So, we couldn't switch on/off our lighthouses' light halo depending on day/night period ? :wah:

Wow, you know how to use these things ? Else, ask Jeff Grooves. :yep:

Okay :up:

Yep, unfortunately it doesn't apply in this case, because among stock files I couldn't find any example of a "texture map" (type 13/0) controller with an embedded opacity mask. The latter type of controller got the usual "Disable z-buffer + enable alpha blend" checkbox though (its name is S3d is actually misleading: it should be rather called "enable alpha test"), so I suspect that also the hidden (and actual) alpha blend flag must be there, though we cannot see/edit it :hmmm:

Maybe if I manage solving the opacity issue...

Not exactly. I can perform basic tweaks, preferably under the directions of someone who knows hex editing stuff better than me, but I am a curious guy, I like to learn, and I know how to find information on the web :03:

I wish Jeff was around. Unfortunately he has been unusually silent during the last months; I hope everything is well with him.

There are several other "old school hardcore" SHIII modders who might help us on this topic, including Anvar, but none of them has ever shown interest in our mods since when I have started cooperating with you, VonDos, MLF, LGN1, the_frog, etc.

Another modder who could offer us a valid support, is Rosomaha (Russian programmers always rock!). The last year he released in the SH5 modding section an upgrade package for S3D that makes Skwas tool fully compatible with SH5, besides adding several other improvements to it. He, like Jeff, could probably integrate the missing options in S3d. I will drop a PM to him, but unfortunately he too hasn't been active since the month of August.

In absence of better options, I will start digging inot hex editor myself, but let me know if in the meanwhile you can think of someone else who might help us :salute: