[REL] Open Horizons II

[Sartoris]

Thanks for the update! Hope someone can help you with the textures.

[gap]

Originally Posted by Trevally.

Hi guys and sorry for the wait

Most things are finished and I am just waiting for some new stuff to add before release of v2

Gap is working on the whales and I really want to add them to this vesion. So far they look and sound great. the problem is that they are surface units (ships) and Gap is trying to make them dive. This will cause them to destruct so they must be made sub units. I think this is the tricky part and he is having to learn as he goes.

I am slowly making my way toward the completion of this task. I hope that the final results will keep up with the beauty of the model

Originally Posted by Trevally.

Uekel is working on blimps - see here http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...&postcount=964

Soo cool Trevally, I cannot believe it!
A few weeks ago I was just day dreaming about adding blims to the campaign, but I didn't dare to ask you about this possibility

Originally Posted by Trevally.

What we are trying here is to attach these to convoys in the campaign Drumbeat.
Some convoys will have them as support units that will follow the convoy (as an escort) and will drop big bombs on you.
Here the problem is getting the to go slow enough to stay with the convoy. This can be done, but it requires some balancing of the unit. (it may not them be able to gain speed again) - still testing.

For what I know this is exactly how they were used!
Their comparatively slow cruising speeds and their long range made them able to follow convoys from their departure to their arrival, whereas normal aircraft could only escort convoys along short legs of their passages. For some datails on their use during WWII, please have a look a these links:

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/es...WWII/LTA10.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airship#World_War_II
http://bluejacket.com/usn_avi_ww2_blimps.html
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...7223430AA7VEeo

Originally Posted by Trevally.

I am still working on the block ships. Adding a rusty paint job to them is harder than I thought.
In fact if anyone knows how to do this some advice would be great.
I had to make the units land units so they will sit on the bottom and not be removed as ships would be.

Here is a file with the block ships and a test mission to look at them with. So if anyone wants to try this - I would be greatful
Do not worry about how the are sitting just now - I can fine tune that later - getting the rust is where I need the help

Block Ships Download

What's exaclty the problem?
Afaik, SH5 uses occlusion maps for rendering rust on sea units. I've opened the ones coming with your pack, and they got some rust on them, though not too much. I've also opened the dat files, and their unified render controllers are correctly set to use occlusion maps. My sugestion is as follows:

try to increase rust spots in occlusion maps RGB channel, and load your test mission. if you spot any significant change in game, then you are on the right path. If on the contrary you can't see any change, probably there's a problem on how occlusion map is rendered on dat or land units. Another possible reason that is occurring to my mind is that possibly only some "special" colors can be used as rust on occlusion maps. If you can't find any solution, you can aways paint rust on the diffuse map, though this one could be not the best way to do it, and should be considered as the last option. Please don't exitate to get in touch with me if you need any further assistance!

[Tonci87]

Will the player be able to shoot those blimps?

[Maki4444]

Awesome reply, great work all of you guys working on the new version. I think I speak for everyone when I say that you should take as much time as you need to get all of these things right.
It's so much more amazing than anything I imagined. Who knows what the future holds for this sim with such great modders at work.

A big shout-out to Trevally, Gap, Uekel and all others who are working on this mod

[gap]

Originally Posted by Tonci87

Will the player be able to shoot those blimps?

I think USS dirigibles were inflated with helium, an inert gas, rather than with the highly explosive hydrogen. On the other hand, I don't know how many bullets would have been needed for them to deflate and start loosing altitude, but I guess many.

All in all, I think the bigger risk occurred to WWII american blimps was their coating paints taking fire, but it is hard if not impossible that U-boat Flak gun's bullets could have caused such a damage...

EDIT:

from wikipedia:

"Only one airship was ever destroyed by U-boat: on the night of 18/19 July 1943, a K-class airship (K-74) from ZP-21 division was patrolling the coastline near Florida. Using radar, the airship located a surfaced German submarine. The K-74 made her attack run but the U-boat opened fire first. K-74's depth charges did not release as she crossed the U-boat and the K-74 received serious damage, losing gas pressure and an engine but landing in the water without loss of life. The crew was rescued by patrol boats in the morning, but one crewman, Aviation Machinist's Mate Second Class Isadore Stessel, died from a shark attack."

Too bad as far as I know noone managed to make damaged aircraft to loose altitude and sink in water, rather than exploding in a big ball of fire and literally disintegrate in air

[sirjabi]

great mod, great job

Originally Posted by gap

Too bad as far as I know noone managed to make damaged aircraft to loose altitude and sink in water, rather than exploding in a big ball of fire and literally disintegrate in air

The K-Ship built for GWX does not explode into pieces.
It settles into the water and starts to sink.
At one point I had an animation that had the Gas bag collapse as it was decending and sinking.
It was not finished in time for inclusion in GWX.
(Animations were not as easy to do back then)

You can view an AVI of early K-Ship testing for GWX by going to jimbuna's Gamefront downloads.

[gap]

Originally Posted by privateer

The K-Ship built for GWX does not explode into pieces.
It settles into the water and starts to sink.

I hope it can be done the same in SH5

Originally Posted by privateer

At one point I had an animation that had the Gas bag collapse as it was decending and sinking.
It was not finished in time for inclusion in GWX.
(Animations were not as easy to do back then)

Cool!
but how did you connect the animation with the damage taken by the blimp? have you used this workaround, or rather there is a more straightforward method for doing it?

Originally Posted by privateer

You can view an AVI of early K-Ship testing for GWX by going to jimbuna's Gamefront downloads.

I can't find this clip that you're talking about

Originally Posted by gap

I can't find this clip that you're talking about

http://www.gamefront.com/files/21044910/Airship2_avi

As for the animation? No, I did not use that method.
I might just have the early files burned to a DVD somewhere.
I'll have to check.

[gap]

Originally Posted by privateer

http://www.gamefront.com/files/21044910/Airship2_avi

As for the animation? No, I did not use that method.
I might just have the early files burned to a DVD somewhere.
I'll have to check.

Thank you privateer!
watched the video. Hats off to GWX team for the work they have done back in the days.
I only wonder if blimp's fall rate was related on quantity of damage taken by the balloon itself, but even if this factor was not taken into consideration I have to say that their attention to detail is terrific!

and by the way: these odd crafts floating low in the air look just scary!

The fall rate was controlled by the same things as regular Aircraft.
It just looked slower because it was so big and not moving as fast as most aircraft I guess.

The damage zones are smaller and harder to hit, yes.
That was done so it wouldn't make 'balloon popping' very easy.


They will mess up your whole day in GWX!!

[Trevally.]

Thought I would try to learn blender today - first go

Barrage Balloons





Nice easy one to start with

NICE!!

[Maki4444]

Nice baloons

I really don't understand why the U.S. would have choosen these slow and vunerable airships to hunt U-boats. Especially since the Zeppelin failed during the first world war because they proved to be far too vunerable. I know the U.S. blimps weren't filled with explosive gass, but a hole is a hole. Air leaks out and you're over the ocean. Even if you land safely, you can drown.
Just imagine those poor airmen in those death traps :/

I'm gonna feel guilty shooting them down :P

[gap]

Originally Posted by Trevally.

Thought I would try to learn blender today - first go

Barrage Balloons

Well done Trevally!

Originally Posted by Maki4444

Nice baloons

I really don't understand why the U.S. would have choosen these slow and vunerable airships to hunt U-boats. Especially since the Zeppelin failed during the first world war because they proved to be far too vunerable. I know the U.S. blimps weren't filled with explosive gass, but a hole is a hole. Air leaks out and you're over the ocean. Even if you land safely, you can drown.
Just imagine those poor airmen in those death traps :/

I'm gonna feel guilty shooting them down :P

For what I've read so far on this topic, their ability to operate at slow speed and low altitude, coupled with their high range and endurance, was the key factor of their success in anti-submarine warfare, making them more effective than normal aircraft under some conditions.

Due to their limited fire power and weaponry, they had little chances to sink any U-boat, but they were highly effective in sub detection and as deterrent of submarine attacks on Allied shipping.

As a matter of fact, during the whole conflict, U-boat warfare scored just one success against an airship-escorted convoy. It happened on 25 May 1942, when U-593 managed to sink the Panamian motor tanker Persephone, bound from Aruba to New York.

On the other hand, if we have to believe that -as stated by many sources- for the duration of WWII only one K-class blimp was ever lost to enemy action (just by a submarine: see post #1550 in this thread), we have also to admit that they were not as vunerable as we could think at first view.