GWX3G - Is it normal to experience this level of darkness?I mean ZERO visibility!

[Paul Riley]

I know this has been explained before,and I know the nights are meant to be darker in GWX3G,but is it normal to be that dark you cant even see any of your watch crew?,I mean I cant see ANYTHING,vis is zero!.All I can see is the lightning strikes.Weather is overcast mind you,and rain looks imminent.Starts getting noticably lighter about 04:00 (northern Europe)

This has forced me to submerge to avoid any collisions (again,I have been told the Watch Officer should do his job and warn me),then to surface again due to dangerously shallow water (NW tip of Germany,just south of Norway),10km off the coast.

The same goes for underwater,its totally black.I would have liked to have at least SOME visibility,like in stock SH3,but I appreciate what the GWX team have tried to do here,and that is make things much harder and more demanding about decision making.

Thanks for any info here

NOTE: Initially I was thinking a conflict with my AGP card (Sapphire ATI X800 Pro 256MB),but its looking doubtful.Latest drivers are installed.

[Paul Riley]

I know UBoats carried lights in order to communicate with other UBoats or friendly/neutral ships,but could they have used them as sort of navigational/safety aid?,during such dark nights?

Probably not,as their location would then be discovered.Still...

[KeptinCranky]

I used to have an ATI x800 card, and yes the nights were very very dark, exactly as you described in fact, this works as intended (sort of) but does make things fiendishly difficult at times.

I didn't really find a solution except tweak the brightness and gamma a little, eventually i switched to an Nvidia (temporarily) and the problem went away.

Now that I have an ati 4870 I also don't have the extremely dark nights anymore,

sorry mate, but I don;t think there's an easy fix

[mookiemookie]

It can get pretty dark in GWX, but that's pretty close to what it's like being on a boat in the middle of the ocean on a moonless night.

You may want to fiddle with the contrast/brightness settings on your video card and monitor to see if that helps. If not, I do recall some mods being made that lightened things up, but those were for GWX 2.1 and I'm not sure if they're compatible with 3.0.

As far as making underwater visibility better, if you really want to, you can adjust the water clarity in SH3 Commander's options screen under "gameplay settings"

Good luck.

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by Paul Riley

I know UBoats carried lights in order to communicate with other UBoats or friendly/neutral ships,but could they have used them as sort of navigational/safety aid?,during such dark nights?

Probably not,as their location would then be discovered.Still...

Doubtful. I've heard that crews of merchant ships were not allowed to smoke on deck at night for fear of the lit cherry on their cigarette betraying their position. A U-boat, or merchant ship for that matter, using their navigational lights would have been like saying "Here I am! Come torpedo me!"

[Paul Riley]

Yes,just as I thought

[lafeeverted]

the only way i could fix the night visibility issue was to disable the 16k Atmosphere mod, you could try that as well.

[sharkbit]

Originally Posted by KeptinCranky

I used to have an ATI x800 card, and yes the nights were very very dark, exactly as you described in fact, this works as intended (sort of) but does make things fiendishly difficult at times.

I didn't really find a solution except tweak the brightness and gamma a little, eventually i switched to an Nvidia (temporarily) and the problem went away.

Now that I have an ati 4870 I also don't have the extremely dark nights anymore,

sorry mate, but I don;t think there's an easy fix

On my previous computer, I had an ATI card and the nights were very dark, but I felt it was realistic. I could start making shapes of my targets out at a couple thousand meters although identifying flags could be a problem. I tweeked the brightness and it was pretty bearable.

My new rig has a NVIDIA card and it is not near as dark. Sometimes I think it may be too light now. I don't have to touch my nose to the screen to see anything now, especially when trying to identify flags.

[Jimbuna]

Try putting the SS back into the ammo CFG and have your crew fire one every couple of minutes

[Paul Riley]

i'm hoping its not related to ATI cards,I mean sometimes it is impossible to make anything out,even with my face close to the monitor.

I tried disabling the 16k atmosphere and reverted back,the graphics were awful without it,cameras were all screwed,the sky and sea looked terrible with no detail,and it looked TOO bright also,not as moody looking.

I guess it is normal after all,and I will get used to it.

[Paul Riley]

All in all,no further problems yet,no more CTDs,no corrupt saves (apart from missing save,putting an x cured that),no graphical problems (other than this issue,which seems normal),and just a few performance issues when close to ports,which everyone will probably experience.

[Jimbuna]

What monitor are you using Paul?

Personally speaking mine is a 22" flatscreen and whilst it's dark, it's never pitch black

http://www.new-monitors.co.uk/fulldetail.asp?ID=253

[RoaldLarsen]

A couple of thoughts about visibility at night:

1) The amount of available light on a clear moonless night is a couple of orders of magnitude greater than on a completely overcast night. The amount of available light on a clear night with a full moon is at least a couple of more orders of magnitude greater. It is possible to see a large ship at a few hundred metres in starlight, but not in overcast conditions, partly because of the starlight illuminating the target but also because the target will block out stars near the horizon and will therefore appear as a shadow. Too many people in various threads have treated the issue of moon / no moon as the only significant factor in whether things should be visible. Overcast / no overcast is also signifcant.

2) Lights on your own boat make it harder for you to see things far away, not easier, because they have a much greater effect on your pupil than on illuminating a target.

[Paul Riley]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

What monitor are you using Paul?

Personally speaking mine is a 22" flatscreen and whilst it's dark, it's never pitch black

http://www.new-monitors.co.uk/fulldetail.asp?ID=253

Good question jim,

While I built a good PC about 8yrs ago (with numerous upgrades over the years),I still have my old 17" 'Tiny' CRT monitor (getting a 19-20" Viewsonic LCD in the near future).Its not a bad monitor,brightness and contrast have been tweaked to optimal levels,and colour temp is also set to optimal levels.Some monitors are darker than others,and unless this is normal behaviour in the game,it could be the case with my monitor,yet in all my other games (I have well over 100) brightness is at the correct level.
The way I configure my contrast and brightness is to -

1. Contrast
Adjust contrast to maximum,then find an object or screen that should be white in the game,a sheet of paper is ideal.Then lower contrast until the object isnt as glaring but still produces the correct 'white' ,and not washed out white/grey effect.White should be white,and not a blinding white.
Result = contrast set at 90%

2. Brightness
I find an area dominated by shadows,if possible.Then,lower brightness until you can see no detail at all in the shadow,and the shadow is a black mass.Then,raise brightness slightly each time until detail JUST becomes visible,but only just.This is the correct method for tweaking your brightness.
Result = brightness set at 89%

So,I know my monitor is tweaked to optimal levels.I must also mention as Roald mentioned,there are no stars AT ALL on this particular night,so actually,it may be normal to experience no illumination whatsoever.Its very cloudy,and the clouds have just broke too.

NOTE: Tiny went bankrupt a few years ago.I am not surprised,their PCs were s**t,forcing me to learn how to build and repair my own,and for a living.

Thanks.

[onelifecrisis]

Paul, you may be interested in this.