[WIP] Real Navigation - maps with lighthouses

[sublynx]

I'm playing with the idea of starting simulating real navigation the easy way - deleting the sub picture from the map and then centering the map view to to get an approximate fix of the location of the boat every time that the sun or the stars are seen (a pity that the sunsets and the sun rises are modeled wrongly in the game).

I thought that to try that I would probably need a map of the Brest area which is my current port. I started toying with the idea of making coastal maps based on the game map, and lighthouses added from SH3MissionEditor, and a couple of names for important islands and peninsulas from Google Maps.

This is an example of what I got after an hour of tinkering.



I guess I'll try this, and if I like it I might make some more maps like these. I might then release a lighthouse map mod for those people who like to have a go at manual navigation. Not the whole coasts, but the most important port areas.

(Another way to do this would be editing the game map directly. Adding the lighthouses to that map. But I hate editing that map, because I get the colours all wrong in that and the map is so big that is quite a workload for my old computer.)

[Tycho]

Originally Posted by sublynx

I'm playing with the idea of starting simulating real navigation the easy way - deleting the sub picture from the map and then centering the map view to to get an approximate fix of the location of the boat every time that the sun or the stars are seen.

Liked the idea, will think about, for my future patrols.

[LGN1]

Nice work, sublynx!

You could also mark the lighthouses on the map via neutral bases, e.g., Spanish ones. IIRC, GWX has used this method to show the Moltenort(?) memorial....

Cheers, LGN1

[sublynx]

Adding some of the neutral refueling places is a fun idea! First I need to get my weather fixed though.

[makman94]

very nice idea Sublynx !

coast navigation is a really superb addition to game and very enjoyable doing it
i am really fun of any real navigation ,but once i had discovered some time ago -with the help of Don1reed that celestial navigation is NOT working in sh3 ( here are my findings on the theme: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...1&postcount=57 ) , i find your idea really really superb!

how, will it look ? the user will be able to see the spots in real time in the ingame map (at every zoom level) or will it be something else ?

[sublynx]

Thanks for the headsup makman94 I didn't know that celestial navigation is not working as it should.

At the moment I'm planning on making coastal maps as slide down charts, the same scale that is shown on the idea picture. I think it might be possible to add the lighthouses to the world maps (the RAW files) with a little bit of cutting and pasting between Sh3MissionEditor and the RAW files, but I have an old laptop that hates doing anything to those huge files, and will have to wait for a new computer to have a go at that.

Anyways this idea is going to be on hold for quite some time, as time is limited.

[JeromeHeretic]

Look to this thread: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=193974

Problem is, that i don't know how to paint lighthouses to the map.
In my project is about 2000 lighthouses and lightships around whole world, so some map addons in chart view is unusable. I need somehow paint marks for lighthouses to .raw map file, but i don't know how.

[Fahnenbohn]

Hey Sublynx !

Have you finished your mod with lighthouses ? Is it possible now to sail without your U-Boot's mark on the nav map ??

F.

[sublynx]

Lately my interests have been in other games so I haven't done any modding lately.

Taking your u-boat off the navigation map is very easy though. You just find the tga picture that represents your boat, open it with a picture editor and change it to transparent.