[WIP] Lighthouses mod

Originally Posted by gap

After reading some other posts on the forum, I think that adding the new map channels to our meshes puts us in the right direction, but obviously there is something else we do wrong.

Yes, yes, something else. Maybe the_frog can say more to us.

Originally Posted by gap

... and I feel like we are just one step away from the solution.

It's my opinion too.

Originally Posted by gap

IMO, so far our small team has made an excellent job; let not our recent failures spoil our morale

[gap]

Originally Posted by Kendras

Yes, yes, something else. Maybe the_frog can say more to us.:

Yes, hopefully he will pop up one of the next days and he will give us an insight on the secrets of SHIII's texture mapping, but of course the know-how of all the other SHIII hard-core modders and 3d modellers is most welcomed too

Just an idea : perhaps the 3D model has to be textured twice : one with a diffuse map, and one with the specular map. In S3D, you create 2 materials, one without specular map controller and big opaque tga, and the other with specular map controller and the 512x512 transparent tga.

[gap]

Originally Posted by Kendras

Just an idea : perhaps the 3D model has to be textured twice : one with a diffuse map, and one with the specular map. In S3D, you create 2 materials, one without specular map controller and big opaque tga, and the other with specular map controller and the 512x512 transparent tga.

If you look at SHIII's Bismarck, her main model has three materials linked to it: The first material, named 'normal' is used on the hull, and it has a texture with alpha channel embedded and a SpecularMask controller attached. The second material, named 'complete', is mapped on the decks and it has no alpha channel nor SpecularMask controller; the third material, named '2sided', is used on ladders, railings, etc, it uses the same texture as the 'normal' material and likewise it, it has a SpecularMask controller attached but, as the name says, it has the 'Two sided' flag enabled. So, in total, we have two 'specular' materials linked to the same object, and both have the specular map in the alpha channel of their diffuse texture. Other stock units that I have had a glance into, are not dissimilar from the Bismarck.
What you are suggesting, would probably require the usage of the Texture Map chunk in place of (or together with?) the Specualar Mask controller. This chunk, allows additional texture maps to be linked to the diffuse map. Three texture types can be selected: Ambient Occlusion, Specular, and Normal/Bump. In stock game it seems underused, and it is only employed for the mapping of AO maps or normal maps on a few objects. I couldn't find any example of it being used for specular mapping (neither in stock nor in modded files), but we can try