Modding underwater light/clarity

[Dignan]

Does anyone know how to mod the hdr_underwater.cfg file in data\filters\colorcorrection?

I've done some searches and found some old mods that you can't download anymore but still haven't found a solution to this. I use North Atlantic Green 1.1 but am still dissatisfied with the level of clarity and brightness underwater. I play full realism and don't think you should be able to see too much beyond the bow of your uboat through the periscope when submerged.

The parameters in hdr_underwater are below. Anyone have any idea which settings to lower or higher to make the water more cloudy and darker? Especially at night, the water should be almost black.

[ColorCorrectionFilter]
Gamma=0.7
Brightness=0.7
Saturation=1.0
Contrast=1.0
LevelsInputBlack=0.0
LevelsInputMidtone=0.85
LevelsInputWhite=0.87
LevelsOutputBlack=0.0
LevelsOutputWhite=1.0
ColorBalanceR=0.0
ColorBalanceG=0.6
ColorBalanceB=0.0
ColorBalanceTone=1
HueColor=FFFFFF00
HueOpacity=0.0
PhotoFilterColor=6DA9A200
PhotoFilterIntensity=1.0

[7thSeal]

Don't know about which settings to change but have you tried naights underwater mod? Its affected by depth and night, one of the darkest that I've used. Download is toward the bottom of first post and there is more screenshots on the last page of the thread.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...tures+interior

[volodya61]

try this..
sobers_realistic_underwater_FX2 - http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...o=file&id=2750

[Dignan]

Thanks guys. I have looked at both of those but didn't really take to them. Sober's is good but too blurry when looking through the scope in my book. Naights is also good but if changes fog settings so I didn't want to add something that might interfere with FX update fog settings or even with stock fog settings because they are tied to spotting distances.

I just want to be able to decrease brightness and add a little bit of fuzziness/haze that really cuts out detail on objects more than a boat length away.

[gap]

Originally Posted by Dignan

Does anyone know how to mod the hdr_underwater.cfg file in data\filters\colorcorrection?

Before I start with a detailed description: how familiar are you with image processing? Explaining (and understanding) those settings by making reference to the analogue functions of any good photo editing program, would be a lot easier

[THE_MASK]

Do the underwater values in the scene dat do anything ? S3D tool maybe .

[gap]

Originally Posted by sober

Do the underwater values in the scene dat do anything ? S3D tool maybe .

Possible,

I am inclined to see UpLight and DownLight parameters as the light filtering underwater and reflected by submerged bodies. Easy to test it, by changing their colors. More interesting are imo the Zmin/Zmax fog properties. In stock game and in DynEnv they are both set to 0 (no underwater fog?)

Two other parameters that could modify the underwater visibility individually for each climate zone/cloud coverage/time of the day are UnderwaterUpAlpha and UnderwaterDownAlpha settings (data/Env/EnvColors_*.cfg), but tweaking/testing all of them would be such a PITA

[Dignan]

Originally Posted by gap

Before I start with a detailed description: how familiar are you with image processing? Explaining (and understanding) those settings by making reference to the analogue functions of any good photo editing program, would be a lot easier

Ha! Not very familiar at all so I guess I wouldnt' waste your time explaining it. I did figure out how to make it darker by playing with the gamma and brightness settings. That's pretty obvious. I may try to tinker with the UnderwaterUpAlpha and UnderwaterDownAlpha settings or the scene dat sober mentioned.

I've got it so the water is darker but now I want to make it cloudy. The clear water looks beautiful in the game but it just isn't realistic.

[gap]

Originally Posted by Dignan

Ha! Not very familiar at all so I guess I wouldnt' waste your time explaining it. I did figure out how to make it darker by playing with the gamma and brightness settings. That's pretty obvious.

Since you already figuret out how the gamma/brightness/contrast settings work, I'll try to explain the trickier LevelsInput settings, as they allow for more subtle image control than the previous.

LevelsOutputBlack lets you to set how dark will be the darkest pixel rendered on screen. 0 means black and 1 white. LevelsOutputWhite is the same, but for bright output. In other words, values respectively higher than 0 or lower than 1 reduce the contrast between the darkest and the brightest part of the image, and unsimmetrical settings will also affect its general luminosity.

LevelsInputBlack and LevelsInputWhite are a bit trickier to understand.
In a nutshell, they determine how many pixels of the unfiltered image will have the darkest/brightest outputs after filtering. Another way to see the above settings is as if they were thresholds:
let's give the darkest possible output, as set with LevelsOutputBlack, the value 0, and the brightest one, similarly defined by LevelsOutputWhite, the value 1. Between these two extremes, there are various shades of grey.
LevelsInputBlack is the threshold in the above scale, below which dark greys are rendered as the darkest possible grey in the filtered image. Likewise, LevelsInputWhite is the threshold above which light greys are rendered as the brightest possible grey. Both these settings work to detriment of mid tones, and they have the effect of increasing output contrast. Unsimmetrical settings will also affect its brightness.

Finally, LevelsInputMidtone works in a similar way to gamma, thus affecting mid tones brightness. I believe that a value of 0.5 will make the output brightness to increase linearly between LevelsOutputBlack and LevelsOutputWhite. Values close to 0 will make the brightness function into a concave curve, thus reducing the luminosity. Viceversa, values close to 1 will result in a convex function, and higher luminosity.

Originally Posted by Dignan

I may try to tinker with the UnderwaterUpAlpha and UnderwaterDownAlpha settings or the scene dat sober mentioned.

UnderwaterUpAlpha and UnderwaterDownAlpha are found in envcolors cfg files, and it won't be easy for you editing them, as they are many. You probably meant UpLight, DownLight and Fog parameters.

Please keep us informed if you find anything interesting about them

Originally Posted by Dignan

I've got it so the water is darker but now I want to make it cloudy. The clear water looks beautiful in the game but it just isn't realistic.

I definitely agree with you
I am still not satisfied with the high underwater visibility of DynEnv realistic version. If you manage to increase underwater fog I might be interested into including you settings in it. Or, if you prefer, you could release them as a separate mod. I am sure many would appreciate it

[Dignan]

Originally Posted by gap

Since you already figuret out how the gamma/brightness/contrast settings work, I'll try to explain the trickier LevelsInput settings, as they allow for more subtle image control than the previous.

LevelsOutputBlack lets you to set how dark will be the darkest pixel rendered on screen. 0 means black and 1 white. LevelsOutputWhite is the same, but for bright output. In other words, values respectively higher than 0 or lower than 1 reduce the contrast between the darkest and the brightest part of the image, and unsimmetrical settings will also affect its general luminosity.

LevelsInputBlack and LevelsInputWhite are a bit trickier to understand.
In a nutshell, they determine how many pixels of the unfiltered image will have the darkest/brightest outputs after filtering. Another way to see the above settings is as if they were thresholds:
let's give the darkest possible output, as set with LevelsOutputBlack, the value 0, and the brightest one, similarly defined by LevelsOutputWhite, the value 1. Between these two extremes, there are various shades of grey.
LevelsInputBlack is the threshold in the above scale, below which dark greys are rendered as the darkest possible grey in the filtered image. Likewise, LevelsInputWhite is the threshold above which light greys are rendered as the brightest possible grey. Both these settings work to detriment of mid tones, and they have the effect of increasing output contrast. Unsimmetrical settings will also affect its brightness.

Finally, LevelsInputMidtone works in a similar way to gamma, thus affecting mid tones brightness. I believe that a value of 0.5 will make the output brightness to increase linearly between LevelsOutputBlack and LevelsOutputWhite. Values close to 0 will make the brightness function into a concave curve, thus reducing the luminosity. Viceversa, values close to 1 will result in a convex function, and higher luminosity.



UnderwaterUpAlpha and UnderwaterDownAlpha are found in envcolors cfg files, and it won't be easy for you editing them, as they are many. You probably meant UpLight, DownLight and Fog parameters.

Please keep us informed if you find anything interesting about them



I definitely agree with you
I am still not satisfied with the high underwater visibility of DynEnv realistic version. If you manage to increase underwater fog I might be interested into including you settings in it. Or, if you prefer, you could release them as a separate mod. I am sure many would appreciate it

Thanks Gap. I'll definitely report if I make any good progress

[ReallyDedPoet]

Be interested in seeing how this turns out. In SH3 there is an option in SH3 Commander that does this for you, it is a nice effect

[gap]

Originally Posted by Dignan

Thanks Gap. I'll definitely report if I make any good progress

I hope that my explainations didn't confuse you rather than helping you...

In any case don't esitate getting in touch again in case you need for any clarification

[7thSeal]

Originally Posted by Dignan

Thanks guys. I have looked at both of those but didn't really take to them. Naights is also good but if changes fog settings so I didn't want to add something that might interfere with FX update fog settings or even with stock fog settings because they are tied to spotting distances.

You can open the data folder in the mod and delete the Env folder before enabling the mod. The fog won't be messed with then. The mod is based off of the different water colors found in Dynamic Environment mod so if not using that one then it probably wouldn't be a good option to try.

Anyways, if you come up with one you like post some pics for us to see... I'd be glad to give it a try myself.

[Dignan]

Originally Posted by gap

I hope that my explainations didn't confuse you rather than helping you...

In any case don't esitate getting in touch again in case you need for any clarification

Nah, if anything you pointed me in the right direction of which files to mess with. Now if someone could just make a real life mod that gives me more free time to do all this.

[THE_MASK]

Silent Hunter 5\data\Shaders\HDR\DOF_PS
Try adjusting this .