The thing with the disappearing smoke...


If I make the ScalableParticleEffect-LifeScale into a large value such as 10 or 15, then the column will be enormously tall. That's what we want, yes, but then the whole smoke column disappears when I use freecam to look up a few degrees. Same thing also happens with periscope. If I look back down again, then the smoke reappears. This is not a good effect...


But the problem goes away if I make the ScalableParticleEffect-LifeScale into a lower value such as 4 or 5. The smoke won't be as high, but at least it won't flicker on and off. And I think it is reasonably high enough, by my estimation, it is still 100 meters tall. Stock smoke by comparison is only 25 meters tall.


Iambecomelife, do you have any pictures of your smoke?
What's the fps like?
What do you think about it?

Checkpoint time... Here's what I have so far.

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/1637/15cj.jpg
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/5974/23zq.jpg


PROS
-Thick billowing smoke columns that reach up to 100-150 meters.
-Should not disappear if you look up at the smoke (although it does happen at times; not sure how to fix this).
-VERY FPS FRIENDLY. On my system, I can zoom into the smoke with no lag.

CONS
-Small amount of graphic flicker (not sure how to fix this).
-Disappears sometimes when you look up at it (minor annoyance).
-Smoke residue does not hang around after the ship sinks (at first, I made the residue possible but the smoke started to flicker/disappear).



So far, I've only tested it with three ships on screen at once (2 tankers and a DD). I'm not sure how it would handle in a convoy. Anyways, I need people with different system specs to test my settings. Or you can modify it and report on how it could be improved.


BETA SMOKE TEST: http://rapidshare.de/files/8846419/M...BETA2.rar.html

Remember, it's just a BETA. Download is recommended only for experienced modders (i.e. newbies need not apply...)

I put it through a bit of a stress test - looked good, helped FPS - a definite improvement over the default smoke!

I did wish it could be bigger and stay longer though (this especially irritates me - the game's smoke just goes away too fast). Wishful thinking? :hmm:

BUT

Weird thing is that, running my stress test where I put a German task force next to a British convoy, the game went CTD at some random point with ships exploding all around :stare:

I'm not sure if it's related to the smoke. Maybe I just overdid it.

Be sure to check though - I really do hope it's not related to the smoke.

LOL, good testing CCIP...

But I think the CTD was smoke related... Maybe you can try the same test again, but with default smoke? That'll give us a definate answer.

Myself, I had a CTD after I also altered the funnel smoke, and a few ships were fighting on the surface.



I have a bad feeling that SH3 is not meant to render such a high amount of particles... :cry:

I have two theories about the myserious CTD:


1) CTD would have happened regardless of smoke. Two opposing convoys that meet in the sea are sure to be a system-killer.

2) CTD happened because there were too many particles for SH3 to render at one time. Try changing black_smoke#1,2,3 - MaxParticles to something smaller. I set it to 90000, and this is most likely the reason. Of course, if you set it smaller, I think the smoke plume will also be smaller. Either that or it will begin to flicker with a smaller value.


I'll be home to test my theories later on... Unless someone wants to do it for me??? :hmm: :yep: :yep: :yep:

Marvelous looking smoke, marhkimov :up: :up: :up:

Wow, can't wait to try this! Thanks for your efforts on this.

TT

Has anyone found out how to make improvements to the smoke? I'm not sure how to make it better.

How can we make it higher without over-stressing SH3?

I am using Pascal's smoke textures and they looks fine.

Did you tryied how they looks with the changes you made on the smoke FX effects ?

Waiting for your job, it looks wonderful ! May be you can try with difertent smoke textures.

:up:

I made a different, grayer texture... SUPER FPS FRIENDLY! Personally, I don't like it because you can see how low quality it is. That's actually one of the reasons that I was able to increase the smoke height: by reducing smoke quality.

Anyways, here are some shots. I don't like it, but some others might:


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...c/4497807b.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...c/3472bb19.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...c/3e82bbe7.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...c/401cbfc6.jpg

I found that it would go higher if I increased the Velocity value for each of the 3 black_smoke's. However, it starts to look unrealistic if the velocity is too fast (obviously smoke is better if it kind of lingers and doesn't rise like a rocket).

Each of the 3 black_smoke's also have a "Life" value. I seem to rememeber increasing them too.

Not sure if these will help any. Maybe changing in conjunction with the Scalable "LifeScale" and/or FastParticleGenerator "LifeTime" will do it.

Haven't looked, but are you setting NoDeleteChildren =1? That will defintely keep the particles on screen longer. It can effect FPS though.

TT

I tested the NoDeleteChildren value, but it doesn't seem to do anything... But I'll try it again.

I have already made black_smoke#3 my fastest rising smoke. I still don't think it goes high enough.


Yes, I tested it. Increasing these values will make the smoke fly if you want it to. But if the smoke becomes too high, then it disappears when you look up at it, and I don't think it's an issue with my graphics card because I have a Radeon...

Can't decide if I like the "oil-ier" darker smoke better or the lighter one.

By the way, nice smoke drift in that first shot.

TT

I reduced all of the black_smoke "MaxParticles" from 90000 to 1000, and I don't think we'll see anymore CTDs. Also, the smoke is still high enough. I think 90000 was just overkill...

Sounds good. I think the height was good. I think I like the darker version after all. More oil in it. Is that a 32x32 image??

TT

Yeah, its a 32x32 image... Needless to say, it will be possible to zoom right into the smoke and still retain over 100fps (well, at least for me ;) )

And as long as the smoke texture is small enough, anyone can use whatever TGA graphic they choose. Everyone has their own personal tastes. :yep: