[Req] Darker ship smoke

[Egan]

Would anyone be able to tweak the smoke coming out of the ships stack so that it is darker and generally more visable?

I find that most of the time I can't see it at all and it detracts from the immersions somewhat.

I'd do it myself but I know nothing about graphics editing.

I hope this is possible!

[ReallyDedPoet]

This would be nice, and to correct the speed of the stuff as well. I am sure it can be done

There was some nice mods done with this in SH3, should be the same for SH4.

RDP

[U-Bones]

Originally Posted by reallydedpoet

This would be nice, and to correct the speed of the stuff as well. I am sure it can be done

There was some nice mods done with this in SH3, should be the same for SH4.

RDP

Actually the stack smoke is ok for speed, its the damage smoke that needs a speed adjustment.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Originally Posted by U-Bones

Actually the stack smoke is ok for speed, its the damage smoke that needs a speed adjustment.

Don't you find though that in calmer weather it is still billowing out to fast.

RDP

[U-Bones]

Originally Posted by reallydedpoet

Don't you find though that in calmer weather it is still billowing out to fast.

RDP

Not really, it is more a function of engine production than weather. Have you ever watched a locomotive or other large engine blow smoke ? My sense is that stack smoke practically ignores wind, but looks ok in lighter winds.

Damage smoke on the other hand follows an imaginary wind and never looks real... Horizontal smoke should equate to whitecaps and high seas. You can not have a calm sea in high wind, not on this planet anyway.

[Scoochy]

I have been looking through the particle.dat files for this exact thing. Found an area that pertains to Black_Smoke and such, but have yet to understand the hex values attached to it. Only thing I have managed to do was freeze up my game after torpedo impact, so at least I know I'm on the right course.

There are quite a few variable that can be adjusted like how much comes out, wind coef, general velocity, weight, opacity....plent of stuff. Just not sure which bits to change, and as to what they represent. Here's screenshot of what I am seeing....

[ReallyDedPoet]

Good work Scoochy , keep it up

RDP

[Observer]

You mean like this? (Though it's still a bit too dark in my opinion)

[Observer]

This is a bit better.



Here is the file:
http://www.speedyshare.com/230706818.html

[panthercules]

Well, you might want to be careful how far you go with this. I had this same reaction when I first loaded up SH4 - the smoke seemed pretty anemic - but after some research I began to think maybe it was pretty spot on, at least as to the more modern warship/naval auxilliaries at normal steaming speeds - see thread here for a discussion of this issue and some photos and screen shots:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=110821

I suspect that more/darker smoke would be seen at flank speeds or with older merchants in particular, but I haven't seen any of those things in game yet (just doing sub school practice and bug-hunting so far) so I don't know how the game handles those.

[Scoochy]

Concur about the funnel smoke. These aren't freight trains

Still working on the fire smoke, try to slow that suff down a bit.

[Observer]

It's a five second adjustment.

The problem is you can't easily make differences between the old coal burners and the ships burning av gas/diesel fuel without creating a new funnel smoke node (easy) and changing the opacity of the smoke between the two in the particles.dat (also easy). The new node (call it the coal smoke node) would then has to be assigned to all of the coal burning ship (i.e. the freight train above) dat files. It's a pain because it's tedious, time consuming and I'm not 100% sure it can be done correctly at this point.

The other smoke could be just a touch darker than the current version...remember the call "Smoke on the horizon!". You can't do that now with the current smoke.

By the way, the I don't think the funnel smoke differentiates between the speed of the ship (i.e. faster = darker), but I'd have to go back and check the particles.dat to be sure.

[CaptainCox]

Actually...how would one create a "second funnel node" ? over at the SH3 Workshop "privateer" is working on a "Diesel Exhaust Mod" looks very very sweet so far!
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=112123


Question is also how to adjust this so its only visible during full speed ahead and revving up the engine...

[Observer]

Originally Posted by CaptainCox

Actually...how would one create a "second funnel node" ? over at the SH3 Workshop "privateer" is working on a "Diesel Exhaust Mod" looks very very sweet so far!
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=112123


Question is also how to adjust this so its only visible during full speed ahead and revving up the engine...

The same way we created extra visual sensors for the NYGM Tonnage War Mod in SH3, and the same way I've created extra sensors for SH4, including a "Blind AI" sensor for testing because the visual sensor still works even if you NULL the setting in the SNS file. Regarding the extra node, I just have to check to see if all the pieces parts line up for the extra node. I'm not sure if/how well it will work, and I haven't spent any time on it other than to take the 5 seconds necessary to adjust the smoke opacity show in the shots above.

[CaptainCox]

Wow, OK your way beyond me so far. If you come up with something let us know, cause this "Diesel Exhaust" Mod does look the stuff.