[TEC] Adding/Importing new units / SH5 Damage/collision models

[Zedi]

Originally Posted by TheBeast

...

Also, the IXD2 model from SH4 is much better Model then SHIII Model to use for import. Far more detail...

I also think that we should import from SH4, not SH3. Ships details and textures in SH3 are extremely ugly and would not fit into SH5. SH4 graphic details and models are pretty close to SH5.

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by TheBeast

I see that the Conning Tower Exterior is invisable. I think this is because of Sub Emblem being called out in 3D Model Materials list and properties for that material enables Alpha Channel Blend.
Try removing that and Conning Tower will display.

Also, the IXD2 model from SH4 is much better Model then SHIII Model to use for import. Far more detail...

Was not the problem. Problem was invalid texture reference in Type 4/100 node for the Turm. This is a problem in stock SH3 also.

Originally Posted by Zedi

I also think that we should import from SH4, not SH3. Ships details and textures in SH3 are extremely ugly and would not fit into SH5. SH4 graphic details and models are pretty close to SH5.

Right now I'm playing and learning what works/doesn't work and what can be done/can't be done. I have to understand how it works and why before I can make new ones/fix old ones.

SH3 IXD2 coming along nicely now. None of the guns are showing because I haven't brought over the guns from SH3 yet for it. Periscopes have been set correctly now. Just have to add radio rod and rotating DF antenna to it:

[reaper7]

Originally Posted by Zedi

I also think that we should import from SH4, not SH3. Ships details and textures in SH3 are extremely ugly and would not fit into SH5. SH4 graphic details and models are pretty close to SH5.

Thats about to change We are starting to work on redoing all the stock SH3 models to begin with with texture detail (Even both hull sides) not seen yet in the silent hunter series.
These will be available to the public after the launch of our Mod for sh3 - U-boot-HAHD

Check out the Fletcher (First one thats redone with our new method)


Or Images here:
http://www.u-boot-hahd.com/ubootwebs..._Layer%204.jpg

[Zedi]

I already saw that Reaper, very impressive project... hats off.
But I have the same feeling regarding the details and textures, but in a reverse way.. those stuff not fit into SH3. Overall, SH3 graphics is just very - very ancient and outdated, even obsolete. These beauties you guys work on would fit much more better into SH5 or maybe SH4

[reaper7]

Originally Posted by Zedi

I already saw that Reaper, very impressive project... hats off.
But I have the same feeling regarding the details and textures, but in a reverse way.. those stuff not fit into SH3. Overall, SH3 graphics is just very - very ancient and outdated, even obsolete. These beauties you guys work on would fit much more better into SH5 or maybe SH4

SH3 is still very capable of great detail and Textures - once done right, stock models and textures just did not have the attention to detail that they deserved by the Devs. But don't worry these will be available to you guys to Import into SH5

These are what I wanted to achieve for SH5 when I started on the Ship reskin Mod for SH5 which I gave up on due to the GR2 format. But now we can kill two birds with one stone .

[Zedi]

Great news Reaper.

Wish you guys can import some working merchants as right now Im working on enchanting the stock SH5 campaign and I could add these babies into the generic traffic.

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Zedi

Great news Reaper.

Wish you guys can import some working merchants as right now Im working on enchanting the stock SH5 campaign and I could add these babies into the generic traffic.

I'm on it!

[TheDarkWraith]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

I'm on it!

Excellent!

If you need any help/assistance feel free to ask

[marleymen]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

I'm on it!

I had a dream ... and it´s becoming a reality.

SH5 Merchant Fleet Mod

[urfisch]

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith

This will document how to add/import new units to SH5. It will also document the damage/collision models present in SH5. I'm pretty certain this will get stickied as the information it contains is needed for ship builders/new unit builders/unit importers for SH5

Let's open up the NLL ship in the goblin editor (it's .GR2 file, .sim and .zon files):


Now I need to discuss the damage/collision models used in SH5. SH5 has two damage/collision models. One is for damage/collision with other units and the terrain. The other is for damage/collision with shells/torpedoes/DCs.

The damage/collision model for units and terrain can be seen by showing the damage for each hull part/part of the ship. Here we'll look at hull02 of the NLL ship. We view the sphere's for collision testing by selecting a hull part or another part of the ship (any part except the root of the tree which is NLL in this case) and right clicking and selecting Edit Damage:


Notice all the sphere's. These sphere's denote areas that can be collided with. Now when a collision happens with a sphere the game engine then looks to see if any boxes are located in that area and calculates which boxes are affected by the collision. Now you may be asking how do I see the boxes? It's easy. If you right click on the topmost object (NLL in this case) and select Edit Damage you'll see all the boxes for the unit:


Now when a collision happens with another unit/terrain the game engine looks to see which sphere's are affected and then looks to see which boxes are affected to calculate damage/flooding.

So one might be asking what are these boxes for? These boxes denote the compartments on the ship. Each box has a Type value which is drawn from the Zones.cfg file. This type value then tells the game engine how the compartment behaves flooding wise via the entries in the Zones.cfg file. It also tells the game engine which effects to play when the damage to that compartment exceeds certain defined values.

One thing to note is that boxes CANNOT be used for collision detection. They are for damage/flooding model only.

Now we need to talk about the other damage/collision model used in SH5. This model is used for collision detection of shells/torpedoes/DCs with units. This model, to me, seems to be very CPU intensive. This model exists, I'm almost 100% certain, because of the granny way of doing things. Instead of using sphere's for collision detection the game engine uses a 3D model. See why I say CPU intensive? It appears that the game engine uses the resulting bounding box from the 3D model as a first test for collision detection with shells/torpedoes. If that test passes then it goes down to a face level to see where the collision happened. How this is better than the sphere way is beyond me Once the face(s) have been determined then the game engine looks at which boxes are effected some how. I haven't quite figured out how it does this but I do know this is how it's done. Once the box(es) are determined then it goes about calculating the damage to the resulting boxes from the MinEF and MaxEF and MinRadius and MaxRadius of the shell/torpedo/DC.

Now you can probably see why the magnetic detonators don't work in SH5. As the granny way of doing things needs to see a collision happen and by nature magnetic detonators never collide with anything nothing ever happens! The torpedo just sails on underneath the unit

So how do we see this 3D model that is used for collision detection with shells/torpedoes/DCs? Once again it's quite easy. First let me bring to your attention an entry found in EVERY unit in SH5. This entry is viewable in Goblin editor and it starts with this 'DMG_col_x' where x is the name of the unit/part. This entry is always in bold and in an italics font. Now something special about this entry is that it's hidden (not viewable - hence the bold text and italicized text). Another thing that is interesting about this entry is that it contains a very simplified 3D model of the unit/part it represents (to minimize CPU time calculating which face(s) was/were intersected).

Now from above we looked at hull02 of the NLL ship. You saw the 3D model that is rendered in game. Now we're going to hide the actual 3D model used in game by right clicking on NLL_Hull02 and selecting Toggle Hide/View. Thus you should see the below:



Notice that hull02 is not viewable anymore. Now let's view the 3D model used for collision detection with shells/torpedoes/DCs by right clicking on DMG_col_NLL02 located under NLL_Hull02 and selecting Toggle Hide/View. You should see the below:


Notice the very simplified 3D model used for Hull02 in this case.

And that is the two damage/collision models used in SH5.

Using this information one can import/make new units for SH5 using .dat files. My next post in this thread will be about importing a unit from SH3 and porting it over to SH5.

FINALLY!

[Reece]

Originally Posted by privateer

FINALLY!

Yeh he's damned good!

The following formula applies: SH5 + TDW = Awesome

[sirbum69]

Silent hunter 5...--Battle of TheDarkWraith--

Coming to PC soon, with no Internet required

[stoianm]

Originally Posted by sirbum69

Silent hunter 5...--Battle of TheDarkWraith--

Coming to PC soon, with no Internet required

I will tell you a secret... TDW is not a person ...is a computer ..

[Stormfly]

Originally Posted by stoianm

I will tell you a secret... TDW is not a person ...is a computer ..

lets hope then that we wont end up with "Skynet" then