[WIP] Officer's Quarters Interior Project

[virtualpender]

That kind of attention to detail is why this mod is going to be so amazing.

[keltos01]

keltos

love the attention to details !

[Captain America]

Unfortunately, I have run into some problems…

Last week I decided to give modeling a break and do some tests importing the meshes into the interior .dat file to check if everything looks as it should. As a quick test, I exported just the empty compartment with lightmap. The mesh and texture (diffuse map) looked as they should…but the lightmap on the other hand is proving to be very problematic.

Here’s a screenshot of the empty officer’s quarters compartment imported into S3D with the lightmap off:



Now with the lightmap on:



Look how horrible that is!

I have spent the last 7 days trying to fix this problem. I have tried every possible method and combination of creating lightmaps to no avail. I am at a point where I have exhausted all my means for solving this. If anyone has any input please share since this prevents any further progress on the project until solved.

For those interested, here is some information and observations to help rule out the problem:

- For this test all I did was place one omni light in the empty OQ compartment. I rendered to texture with automatic unwrap set to uv channel 2 and output settings set to lightingmap; Target map slot left empty since this is not necessary. Take note that I have also tried manually creating the uvmap (#2) for the lightmap, only to get the same messed up results.

- Everything in S3D is setup properly. I’ve added the proper material entries for both the diffuse and lightmap textures. I also made sure that the lightmap has no alpha channel in it.

Now the weird part:

As another test I took the empty control room compartment created by the devs since it is very similar to the one I created for the OQ compartment. For consistency I deleted all existing uv map channels and material information from the mesh. I then added my new material, re-uvmapped the mesh and applied the lighting methods mentioned in the previous test. When imported into S3D the lightmap rendered correctly!?



This proves that I’m not doing anything wrong with the way I am creating the lightmaps. Logic says then it has to do with my model. But how could there be anything wrong with my model? I’ve checked it a hundred times…I can’t see what the difference is between my model vs the one created by the devs that results in the lightmap getting messed up.

[AVGWarhawk]

Alright men, CA needs everyone's thinking cap on! What is the story behind the ills of the lightmap?

[Hitman]

Since the empty control room model from the Devs is almost identical to the one you did for the officer's quarters, I would consider further eliminating the unused polygons, and then resizing it to match the dimensions you need. If you learn in the process what was wrong with yours, the better so, if not, you will anyway have already the compartment you needed.

[Ducimus]

Bumping for great justice!

Originally Posted by Hitman

Since the empty control room model from the Devs is almost identical to the one you did for the officer's quarters, I would consider further eliminating the unused polygons, and then resizing it to match the dimensions you need. If you learn in the process what was wrong with yours, the better so, if not, you will anyway have already the compartment you needed.

That's an interesting idea. One idea hit me the other day. It deals with models, or possible cause for the problem, not sure. I noticed the crew models from the 1.5 dat file also render a little wierd. Similar effect to posted sceenshots, but in a smaller scale so it doesnt look as bad. Point being, i wonder if it's something to do with how the model is compiled or processed? I have no knowledge of 3d modeling other then how to place them. Just offering what insight i can.

[Captain America]

@Hitman- Thank you for your suggestion. It’s a good idea but unfortunately it will not work for us. To modify the original control room mesh in order to accommodate both compartments would mean new uvmaps and new lightmaps which would totally mess up the existing lighting and shadows already implemented. Even if this wasn’t an issue I would still have problems because just about all of the models in my project were created from scratch.

@Ducimus- The crew model issue with marine.dat was a good suggestion so I checked it out with the hopes of maybe uncovering my problem. Unfortunately after further inspection it appears to be a different problem. I believe that anomaly you are seeing on the crew model is an issue with the bump map not displaying properly.

Out of curiosity I opened up both versions (1.4 & 1.5) of marine.dat in S3D. Like LukeFF stated, this problem only occurs with the short sleeve shirt (bust_m01). In S3D they appeared identical…the node structure and info inside matched. I even exported both models into 3ds max and found zero differences between the meshes and material info.

Once I cracked open the hex editor though it was a different story. When you compare both .dat files there are indeed differences. Here’s a screenshot highlighting the differences when comparing both files of the node-bust_m01:


The green color text depicts the additional info. The red color text depicts the differences between the two.

You’ll see that the 1.4 version has some extra info in there. It contains text that refers to 2 map #’s, texture names and the word bump. This is not my area of expertise but I’ll guess and say that it has to do with extra model/material info pertaining to the bump map?

Just to make sure I exported both models from S3D and then opened up the files in a hex editor. They were identical…is it safe to assume that S3D is not looking at this “extra data” ? I also found a huge chuck of data just before the bust_m01 node. I leave it up to skwas or others more knowledgeable in this area to decipher it.

Anyway, for fun I took the extra data from the 1.4 file and transferred it to the 1.5 one and guess what….it fixed the problem. For those interested I took a screenshot showing the offset locations and the data transferred:



And here's a before and after shot:



Well look at that...the failure of one mod leads to success in another.

Ducimus, you should be happy now since I know you hated this issue with a passion.

Here's a link to the vanilla version (1.5) of marine.dat with the fix included. If you need me to apply the changes to another file just let me know.

Download Link:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?k3utmjnzdzm

[Hitman]

@Hitman- Thank you for your suggestion. It’s a good idea but unfortunately it will not work for us. To modify the original control room mesh in order to accommodate both compartments would mean new uvmaps and new lightmaps which would totally mess up the existing lighting and shadows already implemented. Even if this wasn’t an issue I would still have problems because just about all of the models in my project were created from scratch.

That's sad. I would then suggest to simply let the light map out and give the proper light effect to the texture, making ut much darker. It will never be as good as having a light map, but could save the project at least. I would hate to see it stopped just because of the light maps , I can live better with officer quarters that lack light maps, that without officer's quarters at all

[Radio]

When using the Marine.dat file from above^the eyeless crew bug returns

[vickers03]

ca, thanks for your hard work.
i never noticed there was something wrong

if only we could fix the ghost effect in fog,
i thought of something like inserting a second 3d model
of the sailor with no texturing options "into" the main
sailor so that it provides some kind of background
..

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by Captain America

@Ducimus- The crew model issue with marine.dat was a good suggestion so I checked it out with the hopes of maybe uncovering my problem. Unfortunately after further inspection it appears to be a different problem.

Bummer. I was kinda hoping the behavior was similar, just on a different scale. Looking for patterns of behavior is usually my methodology for finding/squashing bugs or for tuning things like the AI's sensors. Seeing a pattern, is from my own experience, getting on the road to finding a fix. At any rate, sorry the suggestion wasn't what was needed. It is cool you found what was wrong with the marine.dat file though. I'd have never have figured that one out. I was thinking about completely exporting the 1.4 version of the 3d models and importing them into the 1.5 version, replacing the existing models. Dunno if that would have worked or not.

Originally Posted by Captain America

. If you need me to apply the changes to another file just let me know.

yeah i might, but i don't want to bother you with small stuff. I have a completely different marine.dat file with various changes. I'll try changing the 3d model to the 1.4 version, if that doesn't work, ill send you the file if you really want it.

[Captain America]

Originally Posted by Hitman

That's sad. I would then suggest to simply let the light map out and give the proper light effect to the texture, making ut much darker. It will never be as good as having a light map, but could save the project at least.

The way the models are mapped to the textures would prevent this as well. See, the meshes do not have their own unique texture space. If they did, the game would require many separate textures to accommodate all of the models. Instead, multiple models share one texture. Each texture set holds many meshes and they all overlap each other. So there is no way to single out a specific mesh and apply the effect you mentioned above.

I agree with you, it would be a waste to dump this now because of the lightmaps...however, it would be a big injustice to cheese out on the most important part of the interior. You can make the best looking models but they'll still look like crap without a proper lightmap. If anyone needs proof of this just open up any interior in S3D and toggle on and off the lightmap texture in the 3D viewer.....major difference.

I have to be honest, this project has one foot in the grave right now and the other on a banana peel...but I haven't given up just yet. I'm just running low on options now. I've tried just about everything. I'm even thinking about trying witchcraft next. It really saddens me because I have spent countless hours on this project. I only wish I would have attempted the lightmaps at the beginning of this project before modeling so much of the interior.

What makes me keep trying is that I know there is a solution to this. If you look at the "torpedo room" thread over in the ATO forum you'll see around page 4 or 5 that Tomi had the similar problems like I am having...so there must be a way.

Originally Posted by Radio

When using the Marine.dat file from above^the eyeless crew bug returns

The file is for vanilla 1.5….it will have to be incorporated into the file that has the eye fix.

Originally Posted by vickers03

if only we could fix the ghost effect in fog,
i thought of something like inserting a second 3d model
of the sailor with no texturing options "into" the main
sailor so that it provides some kind of background
..

Yeah that bug is really annoying. I remember for SH3 Anvart mentioned a solution where you would add the RayTracedHalo (Halo=False) node to the model so the lights wouldn’t shine through them. Unfortunately this doesn’t work in SH4. If someone could solve this one it would be great, but from what I have read throughout the forums it seems like we are stuck with it.

Originally Posted by Ducimus

yeah i might, but i don't want to bother you with small stuff. I have a completely different marine.dat file with various changes. I'll try changing the 3d model to the 1.4 version, if that doesn't work, ill send you the file if you really want it.

I don’t think that will work because that data had to be extracted from the dat file with a hex editor; when you export the model and material from S3D that data is not present. It’s not a bother for me to do it…it literally takes 30 secs. to make the swap. Send me the file when you have a chance.

[skwasjer]

CA, could you send me the OBJ/UVW files? I don't have time for the next 2 days but I will try to have a look at it asap.

[RICH12ACE]

will this mod come out this year? we have to have it!

[donut]

If Skwasjer, can do miracle