[WIP] Lighthouses mod

[Anvar1061]

Hello,

I need the int_halo.tga texture with a transparent background instead of black. Could you create it for me please, gap ? It's located in Materials.dat, at the end of the list.

PS : @ Anvar1061 : your post is empty.

[Anvar1061]

Originally Posted by Kendras

PS : @ Anvar1061 : your post is empty.

But in this way?

Originally Posted by Anvar1061

But in this way?

OK now !

[gap]

Originally Posted by Kendras

I need the int_halo.tga texture with a transparent background instead of black. Could you create it for me please, gap ? It's located in Materials.dat, at the end of the list.

Hi Kendras, unlike gif and png, the tga format doesn't allow transparecy to be applied straight to the RGB channel. Transparency information can be stored in the alpha channel though. If that is what you meant, please download the following texture:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/7u9pp...h/int_halo.tga

For your information, that's what I did:
- took the SH5 version of the texture which is identical to the one used in SHIII, but bigger (256x256 instead of 128x128 pixels);
- added an alpha channel to it;
- copied the RGB channel in the alpha channel;
- made the RGB channel solid white;
- saved as a RLE-compressed 32-bit tga.

If need be, you can resize the texture to its original size, restore the original RGB texture (copying it from the alpha channel) or save as uncopressed tga. Let me know if it helps

@ Anvar1061

Any remark?

[Anvar1061]

What is any remerak?

[gap]

Originally Posted by Anvar1061

What is any remerak?

Oh sorry, I meant "any remark?", my bad for the mistyping

[Anvar1061]

I get CTD at 85% of the load of a single mission with all the fixes of the required my GWX Rus files. In NYGM this lighthouse only works in 1940!

[gap]

Thank you for your reports Anvar, they are of great help

As far as I know, before you joined our little team, our lighthouse had only been tested over SHIII + GWX Gold (me), and WAC (Kendras). MLF has also been helping us with alpha-testing, but I ignore his mod loadout.
More extensive tests to ensure compatibility with the most common megamods will be carried out during the beta-testing stage.

Originally Posted by Anvar1061

I get CTD at 85% of the load of a single mission with all the fixes of the required my GWX Rus files.

This CTD might be caused by the lighthouse having been set as type 407 (Naval Base) starting from alpha v12. I am not sure yet that this is the best unit type we can use for our lighthouses; we might switch to another unit type in one of the next versions, but if we kept it, it would enable our lighthouses having their names printed on the navigation map, similar to ports.

Getting back to the crash you have repoted, your Russian-localized version of GWX might not like the map label currently set for our lighthouse. Please open Lighthouses.mis with a text editor, and try replacing the orange text in the following line with any cyrillic text migh be fit:

Name=  La Plate VQ(9)10s19m8M

Let me know if that solves the problem

Originally Posted by Anvar1061

In NYGM this lighthouse only works in 1940!

To be honest, all my tests have been carried out using the date chosen by Kendras for his testing mission (March 1, 1940). The date-triggered CTD you are reporting might be caused by some lighthouse equipments -which, on turn, have other configurable equipments linked to them- being removed from the model starting from June 25, 1940.

If that was true, the CTD migh not be megamod-related, and it might happen when the game tries placing an equipment on top of another equipment which is no longer in place. If that was the case, a possible fix could be "switching off" "child equipments" as well as their "parent equipments".

I will investigate on the issue and I will keep you informed on my findings

Originally Posted by gap

Thank you for your reports Anvar, they are of great help

Yes, thank you Anvar.

Originally Posted by gap

As far as I know, before you joined our little team, our lighthouse had only been tested over SHIII + GWX Gold (me), and WAC (Kendras). MLF has also been helping us with alpha-testing, but I ignore his mod loadout.

Correction : I'm testing with vanilla game, but modded with WAC 4.1 terrain and WAC 4.1 locations.

Originally Posted by gap

This CTD might be caused by the lighthouse having been set as type 407 (Naval Base) starting from alpha v12. I am not sure yet that this is the best unit type we can use for our lighthouses; we might switch to another unit type in one of the next versions, but if we kept it, it would enable our lighthouses having their names printed on the navigation map, similar to ports.

I think it's a very good idea, and it does not cause any problem.

The CTD is probably due to the Locations.cfg file in Terrain folder. You have to install manually the new locations in your own Locations.cfg file (ignore the Brest_U_Bunker new entry) from line ; LIGHTHOUSES, and correct the numbers in each [Location ---] .

Originally Posted by gap

To be honest, all my tests have been carried out using the date chosen by Kendras for his testing mission (March 1, 1940). The date-triggered CTD you are reporting might be caused by some lighthouse equipments -which, on turn, have other configurable equipments linked to them- being removed from the model starting from June 25, 1940.

If that was true, the CTD migh not be megamod-related, and it might happen when the game tries placing an equipment on top of another equipment which is no longer in place. If that was the case, a possible fix could be "switching off" "child equipments" as well as their "parent equipments".

I've tried to launch the mission in 1945, and no CTD occured.

Results from my testings on V12 :

- textures are shown correctly, but I don't see any difference with and without specular map controller.

- else, all is working fine !


Here are the modifications I've made :

 

LLH_LaPlate folder :

- added (with correct name "LLH_LaPlate_shp.tga") the icon shown on the navigation map (else there is an error message, see picture)

- LLH_LaPlate.dat : modified values of specular strenght for textures (in order that metal looks more bright), added the placement nodes for foam particles.

Library folder :

- Lighthouse_FX.dat : modified the light halo (smaller, and shorter light signals, same frequency 10 seconds)

- particles.dat : added 2 nodes for foam particles (splash effect) with sound, controlled by the height of the waves

- particles.dsd : added 2 nodes for the sound of the splash effect

- Materials.dat : new texture for water splash effect

Sound folder :

- added a new sound (which could be improved) : wave_crash.wav
- added a new line in Sh3.sdl for this new sound.

Roster folder :

- added the German folder
- corrected name (from "La Plate" to " La Plate VQ(9)10s19m8M") on the line "DisplayName=" in .cfg files.

Terrain folder :

- added the locations for all the most important lighthouses of the French Atlantic coast.
- 2 icons : Lighthouse.tga for medium lighthouses (height around 30 meters), and Tall_Lighthouse.tga for high lighthouses (around 60 meters).

D/L link : http://www.mediafire.com/file/vely5j...2_-_Patch_1.7z


Note 1 : This is a "patch", so it contains only the corrected files.

Note 2 : the foam effect and its sound might be buggy sometimes. It may come from the particles time settings, or from my old computer with very low graphics specs, so I let you test by yourself. The wind speed must be 15 m/s.

[gap]

@ Kendras

Have you seen my post #485?

Originally Posted by Kendras

Correction : I'm testing with vanilla game, but modded with WAC 4.1 terrain and WAC 4.1 locations.

Originally Posted by Kendras

I think it's a very good idea, and it does not cause any problem.

lighthouse text labels are much more smooth now, yet I can see some unwanted effects too: they are visible at lower zoom levels, meaning that the map will look a bit messy when there will be many lighthouses around the coasts, and no matter how hard I tried finding an paragraph end marker which works for those labels, I couldn't find any: Lighthouse names and their shortened characteristics must be on the same line.

A question: do enemy units still attack our lighthouse set as naval bases?

Originally Posted by Kendras

The CTD is probably due to the Locations.cfg file in Terrain folder. You have to install manually the new locations in your own Locations.cfg file (ignore the Brest_U_Bunker new entry) from line ; LIGHTHOUSES, and correct the numbers in each [Location ---] .

I don't think so. I am testing over GWX, and the Locations.cfg file included in the last beta (which I took from you, with some basic modifications), doesn't cause any crash. I must be something text-related

Originally Posted by Kendras

I've tried to launch the mission in 1945, and no CTD occured.

Tested with v12?

Originally Posted by gap

Have you seen my post #485?

Oh yes, sorry. So, this was exactly what I was searching for, but it didn't help to sort out the idea I was following. Thank you anyway. These .tga with colored background are something very strange to me. The same thing happens with trees' textures. And in game the background is transparent...

Originally Posted by gap

Tested with v12?

Yes.

[gap]

Originally Posted by Kendras

Results from my testings on V12 :

- textures are shown correctly, but I don't see any difference with and without specular map controller.

The effect can be subtle: make main texture's RGB channel solid gray to see what a difference the specular mask makes. Contrast/luminosity/gamma of the alpha channel might require to be tweaked separately for each material, and material's "Specular strength" attribute raised a bit for the effect to become more obvious

Originally Posted by Kendras

- else, all is working fine !

Originally Posted by Kendras

Here are the modifications I've made...

Good

Testing your patch right away

[gap]

Originally Posted by Kendras

Oh yes, sorry. So, this was exactly what I was searching for, but it didn't help to sort out the idea I was following. Thank you anyway.

My pleasure

Originally Posted by Kendras

These .tga with colored background are something very strange to me. The same thing happens with trees' textures. And in game the background is transparent...

Tree materials are hardcoded; it is possible that they have been coded so that their texture's background color is transparent in game. Other textures require (semi-)transparent areas to be painted as grey/black in their alpha channel, and the "enable alpha blend" flag of their material to be enabled. Texture particles seem to be the exception to that rule, as their transparency mask is often painted on the RGB channel rather than on the alpha channel