[TEC] Observation scope
 

Ive been hearing that US subs suffered from attack scopes with poor light gathering ability, but the larger head on the observation scope did not suffer this problem. Is it possible to change the scope texture for each individually?

For example, 2RTR's Scope mod (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=112033) is what I would expect from the attack scope as it definetly seems darker than the default scope texture. If the observation scope was lighter then there might actually be a use for it..

The problem is that the game uses the same graphical overlay for the scope ( I have actually not found ONE! good reason for using that observation scope yet!). Now that's a challenge, how would one force the game to use another .DDS for that :hmm:

EDIT:
Checked around a bit, the only thing i find that the Observation Scope uses extra is the "RedMask.dds"

Did some testing. Even when changing the "RedMask" there is no visible changes between the 2 scopes.

It's interesting to note that in the attack periscope, when using the stadimeter to drag the image down for ranging, the night vision improves quite a bit. There must me an overlay that effects this, but hopefully it's not used for both scopes.

Could be that "RedMask" but in the "menu_1024_768" i can only find that tied to the Observation Scope...When I tested this ( I basically clogged the RedMask with black) I could not see any difference at night (with Moon Light) or day against the sun. Maybe i missed something...perhaps someone else could try?

Hmm maybe try white? I dont know to be honest.

Thanks for the effort capncox

Great idea Kataki. It's actually a very easy to change.
Both this are taken in the same game. First is the Observation periscope and the 2nd is the Attack Periscope. Doesn't really fit together, but you get the point.

Observation Periscope(Graphic:OAK) - Attack Periscope(Graphic: 2RTR)
http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/1...rvationwl8.jpghttp://img470.imageshack.us/img470/291/attackiv0.jpg

Observations Periscope Code:

[G2B I136]
Name=BackgroundWithWhole
Type=1030;Static bmp
ItemID=0x2B000001
ParentID=0x2B000000
Pos=0,0,1024,768
Zone= 0 768 1024 768 5 1 0x2B000000 0.5 -0.5 0x2B000001 -0.5 0.5 0 0
Color=0xFFFFFFFF
Materials=1
Display=2;Linear
Mat 0=data/menu/gui/layout/periscope_mask_1024.tga
Crop 0=0,0.125,1,0.75
MatFlags=0x9
TexFmt=0x0

Change to whatever graphic you'd like.

Attack Periscope Code:
[G26 I137]
Name=BackgroundWithWhole
Type=1030;Static bmp
ItemID=0x26000001
ParentID=0x26000000
Pos=0,0,1024,768
Zone= 0 768 1024 768 5 1 0x26000000 0.5 -0.5 0x26000001 -0.5 0.5 0 0
Color=0xFFFFFFFF
Materials=1
Display=2;Linear
Mat 0=data/menu/gui/layout/periscope_mask_1024.tga
Crop 0=0,0.125,1,0.75
MatFlags=0x9
TexFmt=0x0

Change to whatever graphic you'd like.

As default both use the same .dds file(periscope_mask_1024.dds), changing this single line for either obs scope or attack scope will change graphic for that periscope.

Not just US; it was the same for the Germans.

Good Stuff Chrall! I'll Give that a try, thanks!

Btw for anyone who doesnt know where that text is located; its in C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter 4 Wolves of the Pacific\Data\Menu\menu_1024_768.ini

And thanks for the clarification steve.

Heh, It worked! Finally a use for the OBS scope.

Hmmm - I must be missing something here - I tried opening up the existing periscope_mask_1024.tga file in paintshop pro and just reducing the brightness by about 30% and then saving it back down as darker_periscope_mask_1024.tga and then modifying the attack scope section of the .ini file to point to that new darker file. However, in game the attack scope graphics (lines/crosshairs) were all screwed up and there was a circle inside a circle in the scope view.

Is there some kind of trick about changing or saving down the .tga file that I'm missing here? I think it would be great for the attack scope to be a little darker than the obs scope, and it seems to be doable based on the posts above, but obviously something is going wrong here :cry:



[Edit] Well, I tried just changing the "color" line in the .ini file to a light gray* but it changed the whole screen so that the portion outside the scope circle just got semi-transparent, so obviously that's not the answer. I also tried saving the darker file down as "uncompressed" .tga (Paintshop Pro had defaulted to "compressed" and I hadn't noticed the first time around), but that didn't make any difference either. Any ideas?

*yet another thing I don't understand - all the hex codes I could find for colors show only 6 digits/places (such as FFFFFF), but the color line in the .ini file says "Color=0xFFFFFFFF", with 8 digits/places - what's with that?

I never messed with the actual periscope texture, I just dloaded 2RTR's awesome scope texture for the attack scope (it is darker, has a slight blur, and has wear and tear on the scope) and used the default for the OBS scope as it is larger and clear.

So I renamed the orginal, obs_periscope_mask.dds (I used the DDS, I dont see a .tga for it..hmm either way it works) and changed the

[G2B I136]
Name=BackgroundWithWhole
Type=1030;Static bmp
ItemID=0x2B000001
ParentID=0x2B000000
Pos=0,0,1024,768
Zone= 0 768 1024 768 5 1 0x2B000000 0.5 -0.5 0x2B000001 -0.5 0.5 0 0
Color=0xFFFFFFFF
Materials=1
Display=2;Linear
Mat 0=data/menu/gui/layout/periscope_mask_1024.tga < to obs_periscope_mask_1024.tga (again I dont know why it works when I changed the DDS obs_periscope mask not a TGA version.)
Crop 0=0,0.125,1,0.75
MatFlags=0x9
TexFmt=0x0

Now Id like to change the Zoom levels of the OBS scope to allow it to zoom in farther, as is it seems to zoom in less than the attack scope.. at least the way I am using it.

Edit:Figured it out :)

Thanks - that did the trick - worked like a charm - looks great in game - can't wait to actually try it with some real targets.

However, the obs scope is supposed to zoom in less than the attack scope - the trade off for the obs scope compared to the attack scope was higher light entry for better low-light visibility (plus, the ability to tilt higher for aircraft spotting) but lower magnification - if you jack up the zoom level of the obs scope you kinda defeat the purpose of darkening up the attack scope to make them different

Correct. Obs scope was a larger scope, with greater field of view and better in low light conditions. The trade off for this though is a less powerful zoom. Represents actual performance....for the most part.

Heh thanks for the clarification. And again, thank you Chrall :D Its really nice having the second option so I dont have to cheat and turn off post processing and turn up the gamma at night to see through a scope.

Heh thanks for the clarification.

Edit: If you are trying to edit the cross hair, it is in the DDS file as the alpha channel. I still don't have all this figured out yet but its fun getting it to work.

Heh I am just tickled with the results :D

Attack Scope:
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/4...ckscopeqe0.jpg

Observation scope (Combined KOLLMORGEN TELEMETER scope by Captain Cox and the 2RTR scope)
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/7...onscopebb9.jpg

Here there are at night, which they are actually a little brighter in game.

Attack
http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/3198/attacknwn3.jpg

Observation
http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/2039/obsnup0.jpg




I'll probably go back and make the backgrounds/everything else besides the picture the same but for now I like the difference between the two.

ER double post 0_o