[WIP] High Resolution Interface

[makman94]

i have to tell you Reaper7 that i really like what i see so far !! i am 'following' your thread and i am convinced by now that here is getting build one of the mods that will live as long as sh5 live

congratulations

[reaper7]

Originally Posted by makman94

i have to tell you Reaper7 that i really like what i see so far !! i am 'following' your thread and i am convinced by now that here is getting build one of the mods that will live as long as sh5 live

congratulations

Cheers makman94, I just hope I can learn all I need to in order to finish this.
I have just finised converting all the photoshop PSD graphice to the silent hunter 5 .dds format.
I spent a day messing aroung with the dds converter as I wasn't happy with the standard DXT3 compression that SH5 worked with and to my surprise I managed th Import in to SH5 a much better format (Appears to be Lossless) of 8.8.8.8f compared to the DXT3 (Compression Losses).
The side effect is the 8.8.8.8f are even larger in file size than the original PSD files. But it means I can use the DXT3 format for stuff like backgrounds, Needles and switches. And use the better format for Dials and most importantly for the glass.
This gives a better trancperency effect as there more alpha steps from transparent to solid compared to the 4 steps in DXT3.
Hope that makes sence, if not just trust me it looks better. .

Anyway I've started to import into the Editor, so its a start in the right direction.

First stepd in the Editor:


Edit just to show the difference between saving in the standard DXT3 (on the left) and the 8.8.8.8f (on the Right) format.



Notice the better transition between the transperancy steps.

[reaper7]

Latest Update:

Ok I've got the 2 panels imported into the Menu Editor. Now its on to the Torpedo firing panel, then the Scope.

Still don't like the glass effect though, I may have anothe shot at it agin after release. Photshope Transperancy is so much easier to get righ compared to the Alpha channel.

Anyway here's the latest shot:


As you can see you won't be playing this at standard 1024x768 resolution.
Unless you wanna' take pot shots, not much room for the scope.
Should be good at 1080P or similar.

[reboot]

Originally Posted by reaper7

Edit just to show the difference between saving in the standard DXT3 (on the left) and the 8.8.8.8f (on the Right) format.



Notice the better transition between the transperancy steps.

Not to go off topic, but would this work with the sky gradients as well?
In vanilla the sky has those ugly bands.

[reaper7]

Originally Posted by reboot

Not to go off topic, but would this work with the sky gradients as well?
In vanilla the sky has those ugly bands.

I would imagine so. Where are the sky texture located. I'll try it out.

[urfisch]

must be tgas in the "scene.dat"...or in the dats of the "env" folder...

[D.Kruger]

I think it is better to make a big periscope ...



or ?

[reaper7]

Had a look around for a graphics file but couldn't find anything, it should end with .dds or .tga.
All I could find were .cfg files that referencd top and bottom sky colours.

Originally Posted by D.Kruger

I think it is better to make a big periscope ...

With the current size of the Panels, in order to have the Perisope that big you would need to be running with a resolution of around 2500x1200 at a guess.

[urfisch]

hmmm...normally the sky gradient was a tga file...512x512 px...

[reaper7]

Originally Posted by urfisch

hmmm...normally the sky gradient was a tga file...512x512 px...

Maybe its still there somewhere, if ya find it let us know and I'll try creating a better alpha channel.

[reboot]

Originally Posted by reaper7

Maybe its still there somewhere, if ya find it let us know and I'll try creating a better alpha channel.

Is it the file referenced in this post?
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=165752

[reaper7]

Originally Posted by reboot

Is it the file referenced in this post?
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=165752

Ok here's the texture files from the folder as listed in the Thread. First is the SH5 .DDS file that the sim may be using. I would take it the the first 2 boxes are for Night and Day as these are the alpha layers. The rest are for the different sky textures placed over the alphas.
They are Dark blue and light blue in colour, but the Alpha layer is switched on hence the red colour.

Here you can see the terrible banding effect in the Day time Alpha.



Heres the Sh3/4 type .TGA (Which is 4 times larger in file size but has less compresion). As you can see there it is a hell of alot better regarding the banding.



Now its being posted on that thread that the Sim may not be using these files. And any results for replacing the better one for the more compressed version is a placebo effect. That may be true, then again untill someone can confirm that is not the case.

Anyway back to the above, I guess the TGA version could be worked on to improve the Alpha channel. This could then be saved in the 8.8.8.8 format .dds file for better results.
That is if we can improve the Alpha and get smoother results.

I am currently working on this in regards to the glass effect in my Mod above as I want to recreate the same effect I'm getting with the glass in Photoshop to be the same that I get with the alpha channel in the Editor.
Once I get that figured out the same could be done here.

[reaper7]

@Reboot

Hi I had another look at them files and did up a quick fix to the graphics.

Here's the original:


As you can see the alpha would not be the main problem of the banding, but the sky texture themselves. The transistion between some of them go in jumps eg dark blue then medium blue the light blue.

So I redid a quick replacement to improve the jumps between bands.
Here's the result:


But I have noway to test this at the moment, away from home for a couple of days.
And because of DRM can't get into SH5 to test

Have uploaded the replacement file here if you can test for me and give me feedback on results. If Ok I'll release officialy after tweaking abit.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...o=file&id=1695


EDIT: Hi Reboot going over that thread it looks like this will have no efect as they files are not used to render the sky scenes.

[reboot]

Originally Posted by reaper7

@Reboot

EDIT: Hi Reboot going over that thread it looks like this will have no efect as they files are not used to render the sky scenes.

Just tried it and no difference
Oh well, it was worth a shot. Thanks.

[astradeus]

Originally Posted by reaper7

@Reboot

Hi I had another look at them files and did up a quick fix to the graphics.

Here's the original:


As you can see the alpha would not be the main problem of the banding, but the sky texture themselves. The transistion between some of them go in jumps eg dark blue then medium blue the light blue.

So I redid a quick replacement to improve the jumps between bands.
Here's the result:


But I have noway to test this at the moment, away from home for a couple of days.
And because of DRM can't get into SH5 to test

Have uploaded the replacement file here if you can test for me and give me feedback on results. If Ok I'll release officialy after tweaking abit.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...o=file&id=1695


EDIT: Hi Reboot going over that thread it looks like this will have no efect as they files are not used to render the sky scenes.

I myself called test these textures and made changes on it but I think what has not used anything in SH5. I think being a little twisted, which are a residue of old games bind to property rights to pass SH, like many other textures present in the files of SH5. I think we should change the config files in this Silent Hunter 5 / data / Env to FIND the solution to the problem.