[WIP] PPI Interface

[Anvart]

It's Hitman's thread ...
His WIP for AScope and PPI interface ...

[LukeFF]

Originally Posted by Anvart

.

!

Is this something you intend to release?

[Nisgeis]

Sorry Anvart, but what exactly is that showing? The bottom right screenshot has the smiley face radar contacts - is that the change? High res smiley contacts? Is there meant to be a before and after sequence? As none of the screenshots match with the mod in this thread, it's hard to see what your post means.

I know a picture is worth a thousand words, but I am about 4,000 words short of what you are trying to show here - I'm assuming it's related to the mod this thread is about in some way?

[Anvart]

Originally Posted by LukeFF

!

Is this something you intend to release?

This example i made for my friend ...
and these pictures for him only ...
He will understand all without words ...

[Anvart]

Originally Posted by Nisgeis

Sorry Anvart, but what exactly is that showing? The bottom right screenshot has the smiley face radar contacts - is that the change? High res smiley contacts? Is there meant to be a before and after sequence? As none of the screenshots match with the mod in this thread, it's hard to see what your post means.

I know a picture is worth a thousand words, but I am about 4,000 words short of what you are trying to show here - I'm assuming it's related to the mod this thread is about in some way?

I do not understand about what you speak ...
or about your mod (Nisgeis_Bearing_Line_only) repeating works of others modders ...?
or may be you are colour-blind person ...

[Nisgeis]

Originally Posted by Anvart

I do not understand about what you speak ...
or about your mod (Nisgeis_Bearing_Line_only) repeating works of others modders ...?

Which mod are you saying that I repeated? There were a whole raft of mods for 1.3, but then something changed in 1.4 which made them not work anymore. I did a new version from scratch for 1.4 as people were asking for one. There weren't any other bearing line mods for 1.4 that I am aware of, hence why I made one as that's what people wanted. Now, if you did your own version for 1.4 and didn't realease it, then I can't really see how I am repeating something that hasn't been released.

[Hitman]

Sorry Anvart, but what exactly is that showing? The bottom right screenshot has the smiley face radar contacts - is that the change? High res smiley contacts? Is there meant to be a before and after sequence? As none of the screenshots match with the mod in this thread, it's hard to see what your post means.

I know a picture is worth a thousand words, but I am about 4,000 words short of what you are trying to show here - I'm assuming it's related to the mod this thread is about in some way?

I asked Anvart to help me with a mod I'm working on, to combine your range indicator with the Hi-res PPI display and then add a more historically accurate shader colour (orange-red instead of green). Anvart posted the pics to show progress/alternatives of shader with a hi-res background instead of the original one in 512x512, so the new thing in them is actually the new alternative shaders. The numbers get smaller and the colour is now much better to historic standards, plus the new shader allows me to hide now this little numbers with a mask while the old one didn't

We are currently having a problem to put a hi-res single background in the A-Scope, instead of the current one, which is repeated 4 times. If someone has an idea how to do it, fire away

[Hitman]

EDITED:

Pics of WIP -->Please note that many things will still change!

Original hardcoded numbers in bith hidden below a mask.

Variant #1: Classic SJ display, bearing lines, no range lines, numbers on the outside. Replica of the one found at USS Cobia:




Variant #2: Late War SJ display, bearing lines, range lines, numbers on the outside. Replica of the one found at USS Batfish (But without true bearings compass):

[Nisgeis]

Originally Posted by Hitman

I asked Anvart to help me with a mod I'm working on, to combine your range indicator with the Hi-res PPI display and then add a more historically accurate shader colour (orange-red instead of green).

It's orangey red in stock 1.5.

Originally Posted by Hitman

We are currently having a problem to put a hi-res single background in the A-Scope, instead of the current one, which is repeated 4 times. If someone has an idea how to do it, fire away

Do you mean the green background for the A-Scope? It's a shared texture between the two scopes, unless you've removed it from the PPI shader, which it looks like from the pics. The file radar.dds is responsible for the background and is designed as a quarter, which is rotated about the bottom right corner to fill in the remaining three sections of the screen.

To create a 1024x1024 version, create a 512x512 texture and for example, circular gradient fill from the bottom right corner outwards to give you a quarter section.

EDIT: Or, you could create a 1024x1024 texture and divide the texels in two in the shader. This would cause more overhead though, as the game would be passing a 2048x2048 texture and I can't remember off the top of my head which sampler the range info and line gets passed in. If it's not passed in the same sampler as the background you should be OK to do it that way if you specifically need the different quadrants to look different.

[Hitman]

It's orangey red in stock 1.5.

Yes, but not in the hi res mod, and the shader didn't admit the effects I wanted to put on it (mask)

Do you mean the green background for the A-Scope? It's a shared texture between the two scopes, unless you've removed it from the PPI shader, which it looks like from the pics. The file radar.dds is responsible for the background and is designed as a quarter, which is rotated about the bottom right corner to fill in the remaining three sections of the screen.

To create a 1024x1024 version, create a 512x512 texture and for example, circular gradient fill from the bottom right corner outwards to give you a quarter section.

EDIT: Or, you could create a 1024x1024 texture and divide the texels in two in the shader. This would cause more overhead though, as the game would be passing a 2048x2048 texture and I can't remember off the top of my head which sampler the range info and line gets passed in. If it's not passed in the same sampler as the background you should be OK to do it that way if you specifically need the different quadrants to look different.

The problem is I want a single texture because I want to add in a precision scale for range, so that long ranges can be readed in gross (10ks) from the scale and in fine detail from your range indicator. A repeated texture doesn't work for me, as I can't use it for adding a single scale. If you have any ideas or suggestions to solve that, I'd be glad to take them

[Nisgeis]

Originally Posted by Hitman

Yes, but not in the hi res mod, and the shader didn't admit the effects I wanted to put on it (mask)

The 'high res' part of the mod is just setting the resolution value in the .sim of the interior, e.g. \data\Interior\NSS_Porpoise\NSS_Porpoise_CT.sim. Change RadarView.Tex_Dim to be higher than 256 and the radar screen will render to that resolution. It's a simple change that can be made with S3D, or a change that can be made by a simple person not using S3D. It's independant of the colour of the screen, which is altered by the shaders - the two are mutually exclusive.

Originally Posted by Hitman

The problem is I want a single texture because I want to add in a precision scale for range, so that long ranges can be readed in gross (10ks) from the scale and in fine detail from your range indicator. A repeated texture doesn't work for me, as I can't use it for adding a single scale. If you have any ideas or suggestions to solve that, I'd be glad to take them

In the EDIT part which you quoted is the answer if you want the quadrants to be different. Unfortunately, I'm very busy at the moment and don't have very much free time, which is why I didn't have time to give complete instructions. Anvart, if he is as good as he likes to make out, should be able to follow my instructions. I'm surprised he was unable to come up with this himself, but perhaps now a solution has been offered, he will in fact have come up with it well over a year ago. (That's my homage to Anvart's style). An homage means I respect his style.

Now, I only said what I said based on the last time I looked at the shader code, which was last year, so I wasn't sure of the facts, but as I have been under the direction of Dr. Stella Artois this evening, I found myself with some free time, where I could not conduct other useful business. I had a quick run through the files and came up with this:



Now, you can clearly see the affect of the four cans of Stella that I'd already consumed when I started the project, so excuse the homage to Wallace and Gromitt, whose style I also respect, but in a much more real way.

So there you go, that's the result of one hours drunk modding. I do hope this doesn't drive a dark knife into the cold heart of modders everywhere.

Should we really be hijacking this thread? After all, this is a thread for a completed mod by Demonizer, yet it's now being used as a WIP thread... A little modding etiquette wouldn't go amiss eh?

[Hitman]

Should we really be hijacking this thread? After all, this is a thread for a completed mod by Demonizer, yet it's now being used as a WIP thread... A little modding etiquette wouldn't go amiss eh?

Fair enoutgh, I'll ask the moderators to split threads

[Hitman]

Cool, many thanks for splitting it guys

[LukeFF]

That is really looking good, Hitman! I would love to add it to RFB if/when you guys complete it.

In regards to the shared texture issue, there is a very easy fix. Open up the SIM file for each sub interior (Gato_CT, Porpoise_CT, Salmon_CT, and Sclass_CR), and scroll down to the RadarView section. You'll see a parameter called Tga_file; this is what controls what graphic is used for each radar display. If you're really enterprising and want to expand this mod to the U-boats, you could finally rid them of the files they share with the American scopes.

[Hitman]

That is really looking good, Hitman! I would love to add it to RFB if/when you guys complete it.

Sure, all the mods I do strive for realism and replicating the real thing look and functionality, so it is a honour if your team accepts them as good enough for RFB

If you're really enterprising and want to expand this mod to the U-boats, you could finally rid them of the files they share with the American scopes.

Yes I know this could be done, but honestly I don't use the U-Boats part of the game at all. For U-Boats I prefer to play NYGM or GWX in SH3, as the flexibility of that game allows me to use different menu and screen layouts (F.e. all TDC in the periscope and UZO views) I like more, and graphics are just a secondary consideration for me.

Cheers