Can This Be A Work Around For The 8 KM Visibility?

[oRGy]

I knew that clever modders would get the visual range fixed. :|\

Any screenshots that show it off though Ortega?

[Lanzfeld]

So is this mod complete and what does it do exactly?

(Dont have time to read all those pages. )

[sergbuto]

Originally Posted by Manuel Ortega

According to your advances with 3d ships, what format have the 3d models in sh3? I can identify them as triplets of bytes (X, Y and Z coords).
Do they follow any starting header in the beginning of the 3d data?

yes, they have a header. Luckely, I do not need to decribe it here because lurbz has already done that in the other thread http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopi...40399&start=50.

As to 3D format, it seems it is not exactly 3DS or MAX due to faces being written in somewhat different manner/order. I think lurbz has found a good alternative by associating it with the Wavefront format. It is kind of a hex reminder of that format without vertex normals. It should not be very difficult to make a 3D importer for someone, who knows C#, based on a 3D exporter source code by lurbz.

[Manuel Ortega]

Thanks Serg!!
I didn't know about the DATnavigator tool. It is real amazing, has helped me a lot.
This is the situation now:
- Cloud sphere resized to 20 km radius (for testing)
- Sky sphere pending to resize, but finally located

Now I have to go to work. This evening I will make all the changes and will put some screenshots to show the advances.

[CCIP]

Very interesting!

Tell us what you get. This might just be what we need...

[Gammel]

Hi Manuel,

how about quitting your job and concentrate on modding?
Just kidding, sorry. Have you made any progress with your mod?
For me, the visibility issue is on of the worst things in stock sh3.
It's just like the wrong diving depths with early game versions or even worse.

Just imagine what fixing would mean to gameplay...
Thank you for all the work you´ve done so far and please keep us updated about any progress you made.

[Manuel Ortega]

Originally Posted by Gammel

Hi Manuel,
how about quitting your job and concentrate on modding?

If you all pay for the mod...
Yes, there are some problems again (a lot of values to tweak now):
- Cloud sphere seems to turn invisible at about 12 km. I'm looking for changing that distance.
- Definitively SH3 render is not capable of handle rendering 3d at such distances. This is probably the reason of the stock 8km limitation. With the limit at 20km there is a fps drop in the game engine, mainly when at port and with cities nearby. With a little of luck, this could be due to water reflection. If so, it can be tweaked to reduce the resolution of water reflections at very far distances (with any quality loss).

A couple of images showing current advances:

This ship is at 14.3 km (well, only smoke is visible at that distance)
http://www.mp-labs.com/sh2mods/ship14km.jpg

Two aircrafts at about 7.2 km
http://www.mp-labs.com/sh2mods/planes7km.jpg

[Duke of Earl]

Either one of those visuals is quite acceptable with me... much better than the current visual distances..

Are those images with or without fog?

Are there any known side effects on other in-game graphics with these tweaks?... other than the fps slowdown?...

Cordialement, Duke of Earl

[Manuel Ortega]

No fog at the moment. I will add a light fog at the horizon to smooth the ocean-sky transition. I haven't experienced anything else but fps slowdown.

[perdu]

nice job manuel,
how far can we see aircrafts WITHOUT binoculars?

[oRGy]

Manuel;

Sounds like fps drop near land and ports is due to the extra amount of terrain being rendered rather than water reflections. If you're tripling the view distance, then the extra amount of triangles rendered will be a multiple of that.

In the open sea, since the non-detailed sea seems to be a flat plane, this isn't so much of an issue.

Slowdown is worth it though to get a realistic view distance. I'm not too worried about frame rates at the moment since I have a GeForce 6600...

[Gammel]

Any chance of a pre-alpha release? :P

[Manuel Ortega]

Originally Posted by perdu

nice job manuel,
how far can we see aircrafts WITHOUT binoculars?

Well, the same that you see them with the default values. If I remember, in the game with no mods you start to see the planes as small pixels. It's impossible to see them with a size of less than a pixel. This mod would enhace far distance, not near sight.

Originally Posted by oRGy

Sounds like fps drop near land and ports is due to the extra amount of terrain being rendered rather than water reflections

Yes, I know. To make real time reflections in game, the entire world must be rendered twice. Usually, a screen of 256x256 pixels is drawn and used like a texture in the reflecting surface. In SH3, with more water, more surfaces to fill with reflections. The fact is that the default dynamic ocean didn't reach the horizon (it stops at about half the way and from there a single plane works as ocean), and when I increase the ocean size, fps start to decrease, without increasing the visibility yet...

Originally Posted by Gammel

Any chance of a pre-alpha release?

Don't know. Not now, that's for sure. It's a (by far) unfinished product.

[Immacolata]

Originally Posted by Manuel Ortega

Yes, I know. To make real time reflections in game, the entire world must be rendered twice. Usually, a screen of 256x256 pixels is drawn and used like a texture in the reflecting surface. In SH3, with more water, more surfaces to fill with reflections. The fact is that the default dynamic ocean didn't reach the horizon (it stops at about half the way and from there a single plane works as ocean), and when I increase the ocean size, fps start to decrease, without increasing the visibility yet...

Keeping default ocean render distance and expanding horizon is not possible? Or was that what gave you the annoying z-buffer conflicts?

[Manuel Ortega]

It is posible, but the difference between the ocean and the fake ocean is very noticeable. Before it was disguised with the fog, but now it has to start far away.
Z-buffer conflicts with ocean are history now.