[REL] The Little Ships of SH5 - Coaster Pack

[kapuhy]

Originally Posted by vdr1981

I need a small advice Kapuhy.
Do you know will any of of ship/effects functionality will be lost if I change "unknown" class settings to "none" in fx files?

I'm asking this because I've noticed that the only way to add new version of Rosomaha's C3 ship to TWoS is to do previously mentioned tweak in your new small ships files...

I didn't try to do that, but only thing I imagine might be affected is SH5-style fireworks.

As far as I understand them (someone correct me on this if I got it wrong) fx files are responsible for SH5 fires/explosions. Each hull part has one huge SH5 style damage zone, nodes in FX gr2 file govern where an effect will play and I guess what kind of effect will play is decided by whatever follows "ObjectCtrlsRef@" in text fx file.

Since I relased the pack before I learned how to move the fx bones (the trick, it appears, was to change one line in Shipname.1st file...), I disabled most of the SH5 effects anyway, except for those that coincidentally were in right places despite hull shape change. Only exception is Large Fishing Trawler - since in this case ship shape didn't change much I kept most effects from original.

From my tests before, ships will function just fine even if you outright delete all fx related stuff - including breaking up, that is not dependant on fx file as well. They will just have less fires and explosions while sinking.

[Ashikaga]

Wow, beautiful mod. Will install it as soon as I upgrade but first want to finish this game on 2.2.7 which runs fairly stable on my rig. (Hate that I should start a fully new campaign when upgrading since I like the one I am doing now due to non savegame compatibility issues).

And, since it looks like you are a great 3d designer, could uou perhaps work on a playable type IX for in the game (with type VII interior would be fine) only downside would be the lacknof one torpedo tube astern since that is not hardcoded in the game afaik. Vecko do you know if I am correct?

I would LOVE a playable type IX in the game.

OLtzS Ashikaga.

[vdr1981]

Originally Posted by Ashikaga

Wow, beautiful mod. Will install it as soon as I upgrade but first want to finish this game on 2.2.9 which runs fairly stable on my rig. (Hate that I should start a fully new campaign when upgrading since I like the one I am doing now due to non savegame compatibility issues).

You can upgrade from 2.2.9 to 2.2.20 but you can't from 2.2.8 to 2.2.20. I thought that my note on the update download page was clear enough.

And, since it looks like you are a great 3d designer, could uou perhaps work on a playable type IX for in the game (with type VII interior would be fine) only downside would be the lacknof one torpedo tube astern since that is not hardcoded in the game afaik. Vecko do you know if I am correct?

I would LOVE a playable type IX in the game.

OLtzS Ashikaga.

Hardly...We all do but only few people here realizes how much of a undertake that would be. I stopped dreaming about this long time ago...

[Ashikaga]

Originally Posted by vdr1981

You can upgrade from 2.2.9 to 2.2.20 but you can't from 2.2.8 to 2.2.20. I thought that my note on the update download page was clear enough.

Hardly...We all do but only few people here realizes how much of a undertake that would be. I stopped dreaming about this long time ago...

Ad 1:
Sorry Vecko, still on 2.2.7, just checked.

Ad 2: Having dabbled in Blender, Maya 6.5 and 3dSmax I know full well how incredibly time consuming it is and how difficult. Hell I still cannot make a simple shape, texture it and lightmap it let alone attach attributes to it hahaha.

Also tried Zbrush. I think 3d designing is not for me.

I do print 3d items though on a resin printer. Still thinking of one day converting a game 3d file to a printable " stl file hahaha.

OLtzS Ashikaga

[kapuhy]

Originally Posted by Ashikaga

great 3d designer

I absolutely need to put this in my resume

More seriously - thank you for your kind words, but firstly I'm just an amateur playing around with Blender in his free time, and secondly, playable IX in this game would be a huge undertaking for any single modder. If this was a question of "hey, we have a dedicated team working on this project and looking for people to help" I'd volunteer in an instant, but doing it on my own is well outside realm of possibility.

Originally Posted by vdr1981

The biggest draw back with the type 104 (coastal vessels) is the lack of sonarman's ability to report them. These sound contacts are completely ignored by the game. I tried to add new category reserved only for somewhat bigger coastal ships in order to separate them from simple fishing boats, but the game wont let me do it... It seems that these stuff are hard codded by the game...

That's a bummer... sadly, I lack the knowledge of campaign files to offer suggestions. Perhaps it would be possible to "free" one of unit types by assigning all its units to similar type (for example, merge "super battleships" with "battleships") and then use freed up type for new units?

[Ashikaga]

Originally Posted by kapuhy

I absolutely need to put this in my resume

More seriously - thank you for your kind words, but firstly I'm just an amateur playing around with Blender in his free time, and secondly, playable IX in this game would be a huge undertaking for any single modder. If this was a question of "hey, we have a dedicated team working on this project and looking for people to help" I'd volunteer in an instant, but doing it on my own is well outside realm of possibility.

Someone was working on a Type IX once :

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho...d.php?t=233811

Maybe he has some files you could use, saves a lot of work, or if he is still active you might combine forces.



OLtzS Ashikaga

[vdr1981]

Originally Posted by Ashikaga

Someone was working on a Type IX once :

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho...d.php?t=233811

Maybe he has some files you could use, saves a lot of work, or if he is still active you might combine forces.



OLtzS Ashikaga

I'm afraid that mkiii's project is abandoned. He isn't visited the forums for several years now...

[skin-nl]

Great work kapuhy

[kapuhy]

So, I had a long break in this project caused by working on aircraft pack, but now with work on planes being almost complete, I resumed working on remaining "little ships" and I have a bit of progress to report (though no new ships for upload yet):

Coastal Ferry - based on MV Lochiel from 1939 - finished most of diffuse textures with just some details remaining, then I'll add interior, AO map and she'll be ready for import:





I started modeling a new warship as well - YMS-class minesweeper. Only halfway through modeling (not to speak of texture or import) so this one won't be ready soon, but I'll be getting there

[AMZ]

Great job Kapuhy



And all in the GR2 format.

What a mastery, great Master !

Originally Posted by kapuhy

Since I relased the pack before I learned how to move the fx bones (the trick, it appears, was to change one line in Shipname.1st file...), I disabled most of the SH5 effects anyway, except for those that coincidentally were in right places despite hull shape change. Only exception is Large Fishing Trawler - since in this case ship shape didn't change much I kept most effects from original.

That interests me, please, can you just expand , with a few screenshots.


Thank you

[kapuhy]

Originally Posted by AMZ

That interests me, please, can you just expand , with a few screenshots.

No need for screenshots really, it was a simple mistake I made.

Let's say you want to make a new ship and you call it MyShip. It's folder inside \data\sea will be called MyShip, and it will contain, among other files following .gr2 files:

MyShip.gr2 - main model gr2 file
MyShip_LOD.gr2 - LOD model, simplified, for long distances
MyShip_FX.gr2 - FX file - it doesn't contain any meshes, just bones that determine where SH5 effects will be placed (explosions, fires and such).

The problem I had was that no matter how I moved bones in MyShip_FX.gr2 file, fires and explosions were being played in wrong places. Why?

It turned out I forgot to update a small text file that is also in each ship folder, in our case it would be called MyShip.lst. This file consists of a single line that is a path to FX file responsible for the effects. Because path didn't point to my modified FX file, but to FX file of stock game ship that I used as template, all changes I made to effect placement were ignored by the game.

[AMZ]

Thank you for the answer Kapuhy.

I understand that you have also created your FX effect.
this is great.

Without wanting to bother you, in another thread I will wish to share with you my difficulties for the realization of a lighthouse with long range light ...


and congratulations

[kapuhy]

Another ship in progress. If it looks weirdly familiar, that's because I reused texture and a lot of small details from raised quarterdeck steamer, which simplified the work a lot.



It's based on Kyle Rhea coastal steamer: