[WIP] Fairmile B Motor Launch

[kapuhy]

Thanks gap!

I didn't know of this and initially placed the ensign simply on the mast head (which caused problems because Fairmile's yardarm is rather close to the mast head and flag reached below it), but after your post I checked the photos from WW2 and they all show ensign flying from the gaff as you told. I'll be correcting this in my model, and incidentally it solves the issue of flag size as well, because between the gaff and the deck I have enough space to hoist three flags if I wanted

In the meantime hit another obstacle - I can't find where the game stores models and data for weapons. Ship .dat and .eqp files contain references to various weapons and I can place them on ship by copying those references from existing units - but where are weapon models themselves and is it possible to edit/add new ones?

For historically accurate equipement on Fairmile, I need four kinds of weapons:
- Hotchkiss QF 3pdr (45mm) (initially mounted as main gun on foredeck)
- 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns (those replaced 3pdr later on, and additional one was mounted on aft deck)
- .303 Lewis machine guns
- this kind of crude DC racks:


EDIT: Just found the weapons. data/Library folder

[Seaowl]

Very cool model of the Fairmile, kapuhy!




Small units like Subchasers, Tugs, Trawlers are always a great addition!

If there are questions to GR2 editor: within the next days I will try to sum up my

experiences so far with transferring obj. models from blender to GR2 editor.

But a lot of things are nebulous to me....

[gap]

Originally Posted by kapuhy

Thanks gap!

My pleasure kapuhy, while you update your model you might find the followin articles on flag etiquette useful:

https://www.marineinsight.com/guidel...ag-etiquettes/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariti...Flag_etiquette

Originally Posted by kapuhy

For historically accurate equipement on Fairmile, I need four kinds of weapons:
- Hotchkiss QF 3pdr (45mm) (initially mounted as main gun on foredeck)
- 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns (those replaced 3pdr later on, and additional one was mounted on aft deck)
- .303 Lewis machine guns
- this kind of crude DC racks:

The 20 mm Oerlikon and the depth charge ramps should be easy to find among stock SHIII/IV/5 and custom-made library armaments. Moreover, I have nicely detailed models of the most common US and British depth charges that I will be happy to share with you if you like. Here is myy rendition of the British Type "D" Mk III DC:



On the other hand, I am sure that the Hotchkiss 3-pounder and the Lewis MG are not among the stock armaments, and I doubt that you will find them in any SH mod. I have a nice model of a lewis gun on my HD, my own work; I can similarly send it your way, but you would have to decimate its polygons, as it is a bit too detailed for use as an AI gun, and you would need to model a pedestal for it:

Originally Posted by kapuhy

EDIT: Just found the weapons. data/Library folder

I am afraid that by relying on the dat format you won't be able to use GR2 armaments directly on your unit, unless you give up the unified render controller and the connected texture maps: granny equipments look entirely black when placed on dat units with the aforementioned controller

[kapuhy]

That's a lovely depth charge, I'd love to use it if you allow it. As for MG you're right, such a small weapon, if it is to be included, should have very simple model. Perhaps the best option would be to use yours for reference to make a extremely low poly version?

Originally Posted by gap

I am afraid that by relying on the dat format you won't be able to use GR2 armaments directly on your unit, unless you give up the unified render controller and the connected texture maps: granny equipments look entirely black when placed on dat units with the aforementioned controller

Wartime expediency - with what I've already learned about .dat format I think I'll be able to have the boat seaworthy within a few days and when .dat version is out there protecting the convoys my R&D dept. can switch to figuring out .gr2 format in order to eventually sink U-Boats in style.

By the way, where are .gr2 weapons? Only files whose names suggest weapon models fail to open properly in TDW's editor (meaning, they do open but there seems to be no model to see in preview window...)

[kapuhy]

When I wrote last post I hoped to finish it in a few days... and then got distracted by other things for months. Still, now that I have some time again, I dug the files out in order to finish it.

I still have to make some final improvements to the model and then texture it (which might take a while since I'm pretty much a noob at UV mapping) but I did a test import into game and it worked pretty well in most regards: it shows up in game, sails, fights, explodes and sinks no problem. Because of lack of Hotchkiss 3pdr I used single 2pdr on front deck and Oerlikons for AA mounts.

Now one thing I couldn't figure out is how to make a working ASW weapon. I made a W01 (asw) slot where Fairmile historically mounted an Y-gun and as far as I can tell, I configured everything identical as it is in Japanese Akizuki and Sub Chaser dat-format ships, yet those ships show up in game with ASW weapons while my Fairmile has an empty spot there.

I got Y-gun to show up when I put it in M01 (main armament) node but it refused to fire. Anything I try to assign to W01 node just doesn't show up.

EDIT: Done some more experiments with W01 slot. Well... any ASW weapon I put there works now... with exception of Y-Gun. Sigh.

SH5 with TWoS has 4 Y-Guns in game files: two .gr2 (YGun, YGun_Mk9), which show black on a .dat ship (don't mind the ship ugly texture for now, it's a placeholder)



An SH4 version which shows up like this and refuses to fire:



And SH3 version which doesn't show up at all.

I have no idea why SH3 K-Gun and DC rack work in SH5 and Y-gun doesn't. Tested it with other ships (like Japanese destroyers) and results are the same.

[kapuhy]

Update: I'm mostly done with main texture - here's how it looks in S3D:



Having trouble with lightmap though, I can't get the hang of how to make specular mask properly and in game ship becomes whiter than KKK member walking out of laundry.

[gap]

Originally Posted by kapuhy

Update: I'm mostly done with main texture - here's how it looks in S3D:

Simply amazing, I can't wait to see her in game!

Originally Posted by kapuhy

Having trouble with lightmap though, I can't get the hang of how to make specular mask properly and in game ship becomes whiter than KKK member walking out of laundry.

That's ugly lol

Are you relying on the dat format? And if yes, have you added your lightmap using the unified render controller?

[kapuhy]

Originally Posted by gap

Are you relying on the dat format? And if yes, have you added your lightmap using the unified render controller?

Yes, it's in dat format. When I get it into relasable state in dat, then I'll see if I can port it into gr2.

As for the second question - lacking any experience with dat file structure, I approached it by using one of existing ships as template, and then changing node after node to fit my model. So my method of adding lightmap was "replace original O01.dds file with my own". I think the problem is in how I made the file, not how it was added though - in other words, I don't know what to put in alpha layer for the ship to look "natural".