SH4 vs the real sky

Rockin Robbins · 11-13-15, 02:22 PM

You've seen the sky in Silent Hunter 4. We have guys doing celestial navigation while playing the game using an astronomy program for star positions.

Let's put you on the deck of a submarine off the coast of Florida just about now at 9:30 PM or so local time (Zulu -4). Now I want you to look north, point your cell phone camera up about 40º and take a photo as I have.

And here's my new cell phone photo from last night of the Cassiopeia area. (don't try this with your new iPhone. It can't cut the cheeze) Can you find the constellation Cassiopeia in this Milky Way mess of stars? How about Cepheus? The stars in the top of the Northern Cross of Cygnus?

This is a fricking huge area of sky (field is over 70º wide!) from the top of Cygnus at upper left to Cepheus, Cassiopeia, a chunk of Perseus...yikes! Imagine seeing this with your naked eye. You could from the deck of a submarine in the Pacific ocean. It's tough to navigate while you are freaking out from all these stars.

Our vantage point is about 3/5 of the way out from the center of the galaxy, looking outward at the galactic disk between us and intergalactic space outside the rim of our galaxy. This is the direction that we see the fewest stars. Wait until I can take a picture toward the CENTER of our galaxy and we'll see how good you are at picking out constellations then.

cloadmcally · 11-13-15, 03:01 PM

Well RR, I agree with you but sh4 is a simulative videogame, and beeing a simulator means that it tries to reproduce reality as realisticly as possible, and while I think that it would be a really cool mod, I'm afraid the game might explode, maybe I'm wrong though!
Anyways it's a good thing that you brought up this topic, we could really discuss a lot of things with that base!

Cload

Captain Dave · 11-13-15, 07:21 PM

I always did think the developers skimped on the stars in SH4. I'd like to see 10 times more, but haven't tried to increase them yet. I'm still trying to get rid of a blotchy sky at night.

Rockin Robbins · 11-13-15, 08:48 PM

One problem is that with the resolution available to them it is absolutely impossible to do justice to the subject. My original photo is 5312x2988 resolution. They were working with 1024x768 or not much better.

I just thought it would be fun to show what the sky really looks like. Many have never seen it. Even photographers take photos of tiny parts of the sky. This is 70º wide of stuff the naked eye could see if....

The best way to explain it is that your fist is 10º wide at arm's length. This is seven fists wide in the sky--a major swath.

Captain Dave · 11-13-15, 10:59 PM

Camping in the mountains of Utah, I always liked watching all the satellites and shooting stars. Even seeing the cloud of stars in the Milky Way arm was amazing.

Rockin Robbins · 11-14-15, 04:40 PM

Okay here's a side by side, actually one above the other comparison. The view from the bridge is not as wide as the field of view in my cell phone so they are not identical in field. I did put Cassiopeia in the upper left corner of both shots.

Becha can't guess which is which!

11-13-15, 02:22 PM	#1
Rockin Robbins Navy Seal Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: DeLand, FL Posts: 8,900 Downloads: 135 Uploads: 52	SH4 vs the real sky You've seen the sky in Silent Hunter 4. We have guys doing celestial navigation while playing the game using an astronomy program for star positions. Let's put you on the deck of a submarine off the coast of Florida just about now at 9:30 PM or so local time (Zulu -4). Now I want you to look north, point your cell phone camera up about 40º and take a photo as I have. And here's my new cell phone photo from last night of the Cassiopeia area. (don't try this with your new iPhone. It can't cut the cheeze) Can you find the constellation Cassiopeia in this Milky Way mess of stars? How about Cepheus? The stars in the top of the Northern Cross of Cygnus? This is a fricking huge area of sky (field is over 70º wide!) from the top of Cygnus at upper left to Cepheus, Cassiopeia, a chunk of Perseus...yikes! Imagine seeing this with your naked eye. You could from the deck of a submarine in the Pacific ocean. It's tough to navigate while you are freaking out from all these stars. Our vantage point is about 3/5 of the way out from the center of the galaxy, looking outward at the galactic disk between us and intergalactic space outside the rim of our galaxy. This is the direction that we see the fewest stars. Wait until I can take a picture toward the CENTER of our galaxy and we'll see how good you are at picking out constellations then. __________________ Sub Skipper's Bag of Tricks, Slightly Subnuclear Mk 14 & Cutie, Slightly Subnuclear Deck Gun, EZPlot 2.0, TMOPlot, TMOKeys, SH4CMS Last edited by Rockin Robbins; 11-13-15 at 02:32 PM.

11-13-15, 03:01 PM	#2
cloadmcally A-ganger Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Milano, Italy Posts: 71 Downloads: 54 Uploads: 0	Well RR, I agree with you but sh4 is a simulative videogame, and beeing a simulator means that it tries to reproduce reality as realisticly as possible, and while I think that it would be a really cool mod, I'm afraid the game might explode, maybe I'm wrong though! Anyways it's a good thing that you brought up this topic, we could really discuss a lot of things with that base! Cload __________________ Uss Trout (ss 243) Last edited by cloadmcally; 11-14-15 at 05:07 AM.

11-13-15, 08:48 PM	#4
Rockin Robbins Navy Seal Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: DeLand, FL Posts: 8,900 Downloads: 135 Uploads: 52	One problem is that with the resolution available to them it is absolutely impossible to do justice to the subject. My original photo is 5312x2988 resolution. They were working with 1024x768 or not much better. I just thought it would be fun to show what the sky really looks like. Many have never seen it. Even photographers take photos of tiny parts of the sky. This is 70º wide of stuff the naked eye could see if.... The best way to explain it is that your fist is 10º wide at arm's length. This is seven fists wide in the sky--a major swath. __________________ Sub Skipper's Bag of Tricks, Slightly Subnuclear Mk 14 & Cutie, Slightly Subnuclear Deck Gun, EZPlot 2.0, TMOPlot, TMOKeys, SH4CMS Last edited by Rockin Robbins; 11-13-15 at 09:06 PM.

11-14-15, 04:40 PM	#6
Rockin Robbins Navy Seal Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: DeLand, FL Posts: 8,900 Downloads: 135 Uploads: 52	Okay here's a side by side, actually one above the other comparison. The view from the bridge is not as wide as the field of view in my cell phone so they are not identical in field. I did put Cassiopeia in the upper left corner of both shots. Becha can't guess which is which! __________________ Sub Skipper's Bag of Tricks, Slightly Subnuclear Mk 14 & Cutie, Slightly Subnuclear Deck Gun, EZPlot 2.0, TMOPlot, TMOKeys, SH4CMS

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11-13-15, 07:21 PM	#3
Captain Dave Officer Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Herriman, Utah Posts: 247 Downloads: 398 Uploads: 3	I always did think the developers skimped on the stars in SH4. I'd like to see 10 times more, but haven't tried to increase them yet. I'm still trying to get rid of a blotchy sky at night.

11-13-15, 10:59 PM	#5
Captain Dave Officer Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Herriman, Utah Posts: 247 Downloads: 398 Uploads: 3	Camping in the mountains of Utah, I always liked watching all the satellites and shooting stars. Even seeing the cloud of stars in the Milky Way arm was amazing.