[WIP] Lighthouses mod

[gap]

Originally Posted by Kendras

I don't understand why it's not working. What am I supposed to see ? Can you show me the island you created ?

In SH3 Terrain Extractor, after repacking the SHIII terrain with my changes, this is what I see:



If you have followed my instructions to the letter, you should at least see the island in Mission Editor.

In game, it is possible that I made the island too low (used the '48' grey value as height, i.e. the first value used for land). Who knows, the island might be semi-submerged...

Originally Posted by Kendras

and yes, still black ...

Okay, this should exclude file complexity, big texture size and non-embedded textures as a cause for the black reflection map. I will make one last attempt with the SpecularMaks controller currently implemented, by reducing the number of materials from two to one. If that doesn't work either, I will switch to the other method: TextureMap chunck embedded to the texture and set to 'specular', and specular map stored in a separate tga file, as you have suggested.


On as side note: guess WHAAAT? I have discovered that I can run the game from my installation on the external hard drive!
Everything seems to work fine. I can even load and play other single missions, but when I run our test mission, the game CTD's

Originally Posted by gap

In SH3 Terrain Extractor, after repacking the SHIII terrain with my changes, this is what I see:

If you have followed my instructions to the letter, you should at least see the island in Mission Editor.

In ME, i don't see any island. The repack process is not working. I will try now with the GWX terrain.

Originally Posted by gap

Everything seems to work fine. I can even load and play other single missions, but when I run our test mission, the game CTD's

The beacon is german in the mission. So you have to add the german folder of the land unit in the roster folder.

As expected, no new island even with GWX terrain ...

Using SH3Repacker.exe leads to no solution ....

So the software is broken, or I don't have the good method (readme not enough clear) ....

[gap]

Originally Posted by Kendras

In ME, i don't see any island. The repack process is not working. I will try now with the GWX terrain.

Originally Posted by Kendras

As expected, no new island even with GWX terrain ...

Using SH3Repacker.exe leads to no solution ....

So the software is broken, or I don't have the good method (readme not enough clear) ....

It is obvious that your terrain files weren't updated with my tweaks
Since the repacking program worked for me, it should for you too

Again:

• open the package Île de Sein.7z and unzip the folder named Repacked_W005N049 anywhere on your HD;
  
  
• put a copy of SH3Repacker.exe in the same Repacked_W005N049 folder. The folder structure should look like this:
  
  
   

  
• Run the program and click on the 'Repack' button;
  
  
• You will be prompted to choose the location of Terraindata.BFI on your hard disk. Do it and confirm!
  
  
   

  
  
  The correct path should be: Ubisoft\SilentHunterIII\data\Terrain\Data, but if you have istalled your game into the Programs (x86) folder, the repacking might not work. If that is the case you better create a copy of TerrainData.BFD and TerrainData.BFI on your desktop or anywhere you prefer, and point the repacker to that location
• After that, the repacking process should start, and the progress bar fill. TerrainData.BFD and TerrainData.BFI will be updated (make it sure through the 'last modified' file property once the repacking is finished), and backup copies of the original files will be created in the same folder. That's it

Originally Posted by Kendras

The beacon is german in the mission. So you have to add the german folder of the land unit in the roster folder.

With your new folder (Repacked_W005N049), the error message now is a bit different :





Maybe it comes from the fact that you modified height values in the 'forbidden' border of the square ?

[gap]

Originally Posted by Kendras

With your new folder (Repacked_W005N049), the error message now is a bit different :





Maybe it comes from the fact that you modified height values in the 'forbidden' border of the square ?

No, I didn't get any error message while repacking my terrain tweaks, anyway I think there is a something wrong with them: every time I enable them and I run the test mission, the game crashes. I will investigate later on what might cause that.

If you want to test yourself here are my repacked terrain files: (replace the files in your Terrain/Data folder with them):

https://www.mediafire.com/?35jkhbf2244ljvv



BTW of mission....

Originally Posted by Kendras

The beacon is german in the mission. So you have to add the german folder of the land unit in the roster folder.

The lighthouse was set as French, but there was an unit type mismatch: in my files La Plate is set as environmental (type 408), but in your tests mission had it as artillery (type 403). I matched the unit types and removed missing locations from Terrain.cfg and now the mission works.

Is there any special reason for you to change lighthouses' unit type? Should I switch to that type in my copy of the mod?

Originally Posted by gap

I think there is a something wrong in my terrain tweaks: every time I enable them and I run the test mission, the game crashes. I will check later what's wrong with it

Maybe it comes from the fact that you modified height values in the 'forbidden' border of the square ?

Originally Posted by gap

there was an unit type mismatch: in my files La Plate is set as environmental (type 408), but in your tests mission had it as artillery (type 403). I matched the unit types and removed missing locations from Terrain.cfg and now the mission works.

Is there any special reason for you to change lighthouses' unit type? Should I switch to that type in my copy of the mod?

Oh yes, sorry, I forgot about that.

I set it as artillery type, because the unit was not attacked by Nelson during my test mission to see if the unit could be destroyed. But it didn't solve the problem. So I added the .sim file, and it solved it. Then, I forgot to write the original value of 408 for the unit's type. Sorry about that.

[gap]

Originally Posted by Kendras

Maybe it comes from the fact that you modified height values in the 'forbidden' border of the square ?

That's a bit strange actually. The island I have added is close to the bottom border of the square it belongs to, that's true, but when a square is extracted, what we get is not simply the 1-deg/120-km/120-pixel wide height map of that square + 3 pixels on each side from the height maps of the surrounding squares, as I had initially understood. What we get is instead a 366 sq. pixel map, containing height data of nine squares (the central square being the one we are interested in) + (again) 3 pixels on each side from the second nearest squares. For that reason, the Ile se Sein is not actually close to any border, at least not in the raw file I have edited

Originally Posted by Kendras

Oh yes, sorry, I forgot about that.

I set it as artillery type, because the unit was not attacked by Nelson during my test mission to see if the unit could be destroyed. But it didn't solve the problem. So I added the .sim file, and it solved it. Then, I forgot to write the original value of 408 for the unit's type. Sorry about that.

No problem, I would have done the same, and probably you are right in thinking that a normal unit wouldn't attack an 'environmental' unit, even if that was in the roster of an enemy country

I can see your island in Terrain Extractor, but ME crashes. Could you send me the tga of the nine squares with the new island please ?

[gap]

Originally Posted by Kendras

I can see your island in Terrain Extractor, but ME crashes. Could you send me the tga of the nine squares with the new island please ?

Okay, don't ask me why, but after repacking my raw maps and rebuilding the SHIII terrain, everything finally works fine

I will upload the new files in a matter of minutes for you to test

[gap]

Originally Posted by gap

Okay, don't ask me why, but after repacking my raw maps and rebuilding the SHIII terrain, everything finally works fine

I will upload the new files in a matter of minutes for you to test

Here is the new package. Please follow strictly my instructions at post #394 to rebuild your terrain with my changes

https://www.mediafire.com/?vq414s3rvs09i4l

The island now shows up both on the navigation map and in the 3D world. I wish I could post some screenies, but Ctrl F11 didn't work for me (probably because my unusual installation of the game). There are some flickerings around the island borders, especially when it is seen from the top. Maybe increasing a bit its height asl would help.

Let me know your impressions

Originally Posted by gap

Here is the new package. Please follow strictly my instructions at post #394 to rebuild your terrain with my changes

https://www.mediafire.com/?vq414s3rvs09i4l

The island now shows up both on the navigation map and in the 3D world.

Working for me too !

Originally Posted by gap

There are some flickerings around the island borders, especially when it is seen from the top. Maybe increasing a bit its height asl would help.

Yes, 'flickerings' are normal, and due to the movement of the sea waves. But I agree we could increase the height of the island on some precise parts, to look more than a sandbank, even if the island is very flat.

Originally Posted by gap

Let me know your impressions

Well, I think the shape can be improved. Here is my work about drawing the island for SH3, layer are separated, but you can place them on top of each other in photoshop or paint.net :

your proposition :



the island (from http://map.openseamap.org/) with a little horizontal expansion to align both lighthouses on those from SH3 (placed with real coordinates) :



And my proposition :

Other proposition based on the photo i've posted :

- light + dark brown shape is the same shape as my previous proposition (dark brown = increased altitude)
- light yellow now represents "sandbank"

[Anvar1061]

Originally Posted by Kendras

So here in WAC 4.1 :

 

And here in SBM 2 :

 

Does this mean that I should try SB World mod?

[gap]

Originally Posted by Kendras

Working for me too !

Originally Posted by Kendras

Yes, 'flickerings' are normal, and due to the movement of the sea waves. But I agree we could increase the height of the island on some precise parts, to look more than a sandbank, even if the island is very flat.

Nice picture!

Unfortunately, scaled to its correct size the island only covers two pixels of the SHIII height map lol. If you want, we can increase its general height by one or two levels of grey, but I am afraid we lack the resolution needed to raise or lower spefic areas of it

Originally Posted by Kendras

Well, I think the shape can be improved...

I guess that Sein's outline may vary considerably from low to high tide due to the low profile of the island. The current shape was painted over openseamap's aerial photo overlay.

Here is a satellite view available on Google Maps that comes close to the one I used as template:



And here is my drawing in original size:



After drawing the island, I scaled it down by matching openseamap's coordinate grids on the template picture, with their equivalent position on SHIII's land mask. Everything was calculated/drawn to the nearest tenth of minute, that's why the lighthouses are perfectly aligned with their real positions on the island. Sure, the island looks squeezed vertically, but that's because of the well known SH world's distorsion.
We can add/remove a pixel here and there but, as far as the game is concerned, my proposition is essentially correct and your ones distorted.

Below a comparison of the island masks we have proposed so far: the current layout (top left), a new proposal by me (top right), your first drawing (bottom left), and your modified proposal with "sand banks":