[REL] Kosh 9km Visibility Mod

[Probex]

FFT cranked up visual fog factor to 0.5 from stock 1. This means that you can visually detect the enemies at 14km or more! However, with the umodded game range limitations you (yourself, live person) can only see them when they are around 8km away.
(This is for YOUR sub though, not for the enemies)

9km mod, gives you an extra 1km (actually a bit more because of stock fog gradation).


For the enemies, FFT increased (in sim.cfg)

[Visual]
Light factor=1.75 from 1
Enemy surface factor=150 from 400
Enemy speed factor=9 from 15 knots

This may mean:
a) Perhaps enemies can see you better in poorer lighting conditions
b) Enemy distance is not as much of a factor in detecting you visually
c) Enemy ship's speed plays less of a role in their visual spotting.



So basically, you would have been detected by the Destroyer anyway with FFT, but perhaps you would not have been able to see him turn towards you until he was a bit closer steaming at full speed, without the 9km mod.

I have altered Sensors.cfg in order to decrease your crew's ability to see inside the fog.
FFT has it at 0.5, I put it to 0.95 (to match the new extra visibility), and the stock was at 1.



For testing, create a local Lan game and load the LAST of the coop missions (Convoy in Surigao Strait). Weather is clear. You will start seeing merchant ships coming into view out of the fog at 9km (almost immediately after being rendered by the game engine).

[U-Bones]

Originally Posted by Probex

FFT cranked up visual fog factor to 0.5 from stock 1. This means that you can visually detect the enemies at 14km or more! However, with the umodded game range limitations you (yourself, live person) can only see them when they are around 8km away.
(This is for YOUR sub though, not for the enemies)

9km mod, gives you an extra 1km (actually a bit more because of stock fog gradation).


For the enemies, FFT increased (in sim.cfg)

[Visual]
Light factor=1.75 from 1
Enemy surface factor=150 from 400
Enemy speed factor=9 from 15 knots

This may mean:
a) Perhaps enemies can see you better in poorer lighting consditions
b) Enemy distance is not as much of a factor in detecting you visually
c) Enemy ship's speed plays less of a role in their visual spotting.



So basically, you would have been detected by the Destroyer anyway with FFT, but perhaps you would not have been able to see him turn towards you until he was a bit closer steaming at full speed, without the 9km mod.

I have altered Sensors.cfg in order to decrease your crew's ability to see inside the fog.
FFT has it at 0.5, I put it to 0.95 (to match the new extra visibility), and the stock was at 1.



For testing, create a local Lan game and load the LAST of the coop missions (Convoy in Surigao Strait). Weather is clear. You will start seeing merchant ships coming into view out of the fog at 9km (almost immediately after being rendered by the game engine).

Ok good point, a lot of what I thought was local detection was probably long range and I missed the course change.

I -do- like being able to see what my crew sees instead of taking their word for it I will play with this clean tonight.

[panthercules]

I'm playing my first career patrol with RFB, and I have already noticed a couple of situations (mostly at night I think) where my crew are seeing ships that I cannot see myself, so this sounds like it would be worth a try. Just a question or 2 - (1) I think RFB modified this same file, so I guess I'd need to know exactly what changes need to be made to the file for this mod?; and (2) is this something that I could safely activate mid-patrol or will I need to wait till I get back to port to do this?

Thanks for taking a whack at this - I always used the 16km mods for SH3 and I was hoping we'd get something similar for SH4 pretty soon - this sounds like a good start anyway

[Probex]

Please re-download the mod!
Version Apr28,07

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...019#post517019





I fixed my error that caused the land textures not to render.


S!

[Probex]

Originally Posted by panthercules

I'm playing my first career patrol with RFB, and I have already noticed a couple of situations (mostly at night I think) where my crew are seeing ships that I cannot see myself, so this sounds like it would be worth a try. Just a question or 2 - (1) I think RFB modified this same file, so I guess I'd need to know exactly what changes need to be made to the file for this mod?; and (2) is this something that I could safely activate mid-patrol or will I need to wait till I get back to port to do this?

Thanks for taking a whack at this - I always used the 16km mods for SH3 and I was hoping we'd get something similar for SH4 pretty soon - this sounds like a good start anyway

In order:

1. RFB and FTT may not be using the same numbers since they are different mods.
The files you need to take a look at are sensors.cfg and sim.cfg.
These files are in the game directory\Data\Cfg and can be edited with notepad.

Uninstall the mods with JSGME first (in the EXACT OPPOSITE order of installation), then open a cfg in the game directory and then open the same cfg located in the particular Mod's directory. This way you can compare the stock cfg to the one that comes with the Mod side by side.

It is possible that RFB made changes to the sensors.dat and .sim located in the Library directory. In this case you may need to become familiar with the Minitweaker in order to take a look inside those. But, I think that as far as your crew seeing too far, the cfg files should be all you need to fix it.

2. This particular kind of change you could do in mid patrol without any problem. I do it all the time.
Changes that will cause an issue are such things as: crew changes, enemy shipping density changes, etc. In other words, mods that require a restart of a mission to put the new changes in place. If you change the traffic layer for example in mid patrol, then your saved game is trying to load ships and info that are no longer there.



I hope this helps.

[Probex]

Bump for my own mod, but it really does improve things.





`

[Probex]

Yet another totally selfish mod promotion before this thread drops down too much



S!

[panthercules]

Originally Posted by Probex

It is possible that RFB made changes to the sensors.dat and .sim located in the Library directory. In this case you may need to become familiar with the Minitweaker in order to take a look inside those. But, I think that as far as your crew seeing too far, the cfg files should be all you need to fix it.

I'm not sure exactly what you meant by that - my crew aren't really seeing too far, so by "my crew seeing too far" are you really talking about the fact that "I'm not seeing far enough"? (which I assume was the point of your mod, i.e., to let the player see further). So, are you saying that the changes in the .cfg file(s) are all I would need to be able to start seeing the ships at 9Km? If so, why did you have to mess with the .dat or .sim files that you mentioned?

I haven't really figured out how to use the minitweaker thing for SH4 (did eventually figure out how to do that a little in SH3) yet, so I'd just as soon avoid it for a while longer if I can, but I'm not sure what you're saying about whether I'll really be able to use this mod with RFB without having to dig around in those .dat or .sim files.

This sounds like a really promising start toward some more rational visibility limits than they seem to have given us with SH4. I was really disappointed, after all the work that went into modding a longer visibility distance in SH3, that the devs weren't able to deliver more than the same old 8Km limit in SH4.

Keep up the good work

[Ducimus]

>>FFT cranked up visual fog factor to 0.5 from stock 1. This means that you can visually detect the enemies at 14km or more!

When i upped visual detection for the watch crew, i got very blatant and heavy handed because it drove me nuts when i could see ships clearly, yet the watchcrew sat there dumb as doornails. Admitdly this is one aspect ive been working on the last couple of days trying to tone it down to more beleiveable levels.


RE, FTT's sim.cfg visual settings: (old version cited btw)

light factor 1.75 means they see LESS in the dark.

Enemy surface factor means how much surface area of your sub the AI can see. (basically the smaller the number the farther away they can see you)

Speed factor of 9 essentualy means you have to be traveling faster at or faster then 9 kts to produce the type of movment the AI will notice.


>>So basically, you would have been detected by the Destroyer anyway with FFT, but perhaps you would not have been able to see him turn towards you until he was a bit closer steaming at full speed, without the 9km mod.
>>

Somethings not right here in that visual detection right now with the stock scene.dat sucks ass. Even with the visual adustments ive made. I find it weird how when you change the scene.dat, now all of a sudden the AI is super human.

[Probex]

Thanks for your explanations, Ducimus. I was wondering about those parameters. It's just so weird the way the DEVs named all those things.

I poked around the scene.dat, but I simply can't find a way to make the game engine start rendering objects further. It is obvious that they are created further, but the visual rendering distance seems to be at 9km, or 10000 yards.

Any ideas?




S!

[donut]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

Somethings not right here in that visual detection right now with the stock scene.dat sucks ass. Even with the visual adjustments Ive made. I find it weird how when you change the scene.dat, now all of a sudden the AI is super human.

I have felt that The AI. is Almighty/to strong,or difficult since SHIV Beta was received,& although I loved SHI,This could be the kiss of death for SHIV. Sorry to sound fatal,but it is my love for the Pacific Theater Subsim Ops.that urges this Post.
I am thinking,perhaps the AI. code rewriting,has influenced game play to an AI. control freak. Surely, if true,This will turn people off. Others have said,"This game does just what it wants".
Ducimus,Your FtT.,is the best effort/patch, so far. IMHO.
No one seems to be talking about the next patch from UBI.,wondering if/when? :hmm: No rant here I'm just begging for a profitable/positive solution. I also see promise,of what might be the best PC game,in the world.

Originally Posted by Probex

For the enemies, FFT increased (in sim.cfg)

[Visual]
Light factor=1.75 from 1
Enemy surface factor=150 from 400
Enemy speed factor=9 from 15 knots

This may mean:
a) Perhaps enemies can see you better in poorer lighting conditions
b) Enemy distance is not as much of a factor in detecting you visually
c) Enemy ship's speed plays less of a role in their visual spotting.

After days of testing and tweaking sim.cfg, I am 100% sure that "Enemy speed factor" sets how YOUR speed affects enemy visual detection.

One quick example:
Light factor=2.25
Enemy surface factor=35
Enemy speed factor=8
With these settings, If I am doing 0kts and showing my side to enemy, my crew will spot enemy at cca. 8km and enemy will spot me at cca. 5.5 km and open fire.
With these settings, If I am doing 20kts and showing my side to enemy, my crew will spot enemy at cca. 8km and enemy will spot me at cca. 8km and open fire.

Light factor=2.25
Enemy surface factor=35
Enemy speed factor=20
With these settings, If I am doing 0kts and showing my side to enemy, my crew will spot enemy at cca. 8km and enemy will spot me at cca. 5.5 km and open fire.
With these settings, If I am doing 20kts and showing my side to enemy, my crew will spot enemy at cca. 8km and enemy will spot me at cca. 6.5km and open fire.

[Jace11]

Ohh I can see far... too far... further than japanese radar can see... with my mark one eyeball.

Thanks TB and Obs

24k is too far for me, I reckon ZMax of 1500 is right for me. Just gotta adjust sensors now..

[Ducimus]

After days of testing and tweaking sim.cfg, I am 100% sure that "Enemy speed factor" sets how YOUR speed affects enemy visual detection.

WHere AI visual is concerned, yup.

[Jace11]

trying to rescale the sensors.cfg file for the sub. being small I think I live with the AI detecting the sub visually at 8km MAX instead of 10 in clear conditions, but from the bridge I can spot ships at 10km as they come through the fog barrier (Zmax 1250), now I have managed to get my crew to spot them too, just testing weather conditions, sea states etc day/night etc so they dont slip through and see me first. Very tricky though.

;Visual.
Visual range factor=0.25 ;[>=0]
Visual fog factor=1 ;[>=0]
Visual light factor=0.6 ;[>=0]
Visual waves factor=0.4 ;[>=0]
Visual speed factor=0 ;[>=0]
Visual aspect=0.2 ;[>=0]
Visual enemy speed=0.2 ;[>=0]
Visual noise factor=0 ;[>=0]
Visual sensor height factor=0.4 ;[>=0]
Visual already tracking modifier=600 ;[detection probability modifier], most accurate, once a contact is detected it will lose it very hard
Visual decay time=200 ;[>0] already tracking bonus decay, in seconds
Visual uses crew efficiency=false ;[true or false]


These are my current settings for a Zmax of 1250, wave states dont affect my vision much so I have reduced wave effects on visuals. Range down too, gotta check light /dark and fog. Volumetric fog is a problem. I found aspect to be set too high too. 0.9??? A shadow is a shadow, I can see it if its thin or wide..