orsin

it is not going to be any easy journey down this road.

For someone who has explored the raw code, you will quickly noticed most of the DLLs and EXEs are shelled. and they are shelled using a propriatary program probably held by 3W...

A video showing improved dogfight AI for modern era planes, new chaff/flare effect and overall effect/texture resolution balance of the WOI Plus 3 mod.

Test of improved dogfight AI

a video to show

- aircraft fire and explosion effect,

- new tracer effect,

- view point mod,

- Kamchatka crash issue fix,

- Dogfight AI adjustment

and overall data overhaul and texture resolution alignment (that we aligned thousands to make them on the similar crisp/blur level) For Strike Fighters 2.

This mod is yet to be released. This video is recorded in the "auto play" mode with no player involved.

a video to show

- new flak effect,

- new chaff effect,

- new flare drag effect,

- ground gun precision effect,

- aircraft fire and explosion effect,

- ship countermeasure effect,

- city night light effect,

- new tracer effect,

- view point mod,

- Kamchatka crash issue fix,

and overall data overhaul and texture resolution alignment (that we aligned thousands to make them on the similar crisp/blur level) For Strike Fighters 2.

This mod is yet to be released. This video is recorded in the "auto play" mode with no player involved.

File is now released for download. It only took me about 15 min to add lights to the entire Kamchatka terrain so it should be simple enough for anyone to do for any other terrain.

2 minutes ago, simonmiller416 said:

It's good to see progress, but is it possible to expand the light source, I think the real city lights should be a large area.
Although I know it's just a proof-of-concept stage.

see my post above which links to an older post.

6 hours ago, EricJ said:

I mean the second shot (from the top) looks interesting but I don't see any lights in the rest of the shots.

zoom it in.

The 1st and the 2nd shots are to show the lighting looks unobvious during day time. 

Proof of Concept. Any Good?

every 20-30 lights are clustered as 1 x 30KB object that spans across some 200 meters. Easy to drop on map with no performance hit.

Well, better ask for a project that is open source and provides compatibility to the huge library of lod files here, than dreaming TW will invest in something that will never reward them. 

20 hours ago, Sundowner said:

Interesting choice of words  regarding how people make their models, I seriously think its about time you start to make some "real" models yourself instead of just moaning about not having the means to hack/pirate other folks work.

This place seems to be rife with folks that just want the quick fix solution nowadays.....the real mod makers are getting fewer and fewer or just going "underground" so to speak.

This will be the last post in this discussion from me.

Before this discussion close and leading to a separate tool that achieve these functions. I would like to clarify the intent - it is to provide limited, and easier way to mod objects after seeing too many authors left their models behind for good or bad, and try to allow more consistent way of modding to make model live longer. Regardless how capable one can be, even Sundowner e.g., we all have limited time and it is impractical for anyone to recreate a model from scratch when there are just a few aspects that need to improve from the existing. Calling a desire to improve as hacking is an overreaction...

And the calls for the easier ways, are for the reason that INI edits being inconsistent in approach, error-prone,  and sets barrier for new members to do the 3 most frequent tasks below. It is also hard to track every INI to get idea of how the previous contributor mod one way or the other, from authors to successors.

1. move nodes around

2. hide nodes

3. make nodes spin

If we want to be a healthy community, we should at least think whether people are just asking things for genuine need and good intent, before going down the avenue of conspiracy. The latter is not a constructive approach and is not likely to get us anywhere. No matter how you consider me well versed in wording what I am telling.

Here are the real example of what I experience in LOD of scenario 2,3,4, which correspond to my request 2,3,4 since #1 is already there. Just to show where my requests are from

2. Is it possible to include a function in this Lod Viewer, such that node names can be changed/renamed? There has been a number of older models which were created without care, and model elements are using repetitive names (e.g. 5 different elements all use lazy names such as Object 01) which confuses the engine and limit possibility for modding.

Right now change of node name can be achieved using manual process in HEX editors for some models, but it is a difficult job when there are 50-60 items of a few repetitive name and you are trying to tell which one is which. It is also hard to handle in HEX editor as sometimes different model utilises different encoding. It will make life a lot easier.

Not necessarily a example for repetitive naming of nodes in one object although that still happen so often. Anyways, without renaming, how are these black block nodes in the model ever going to be called??

3. is it possible to add a function, such that an x, y, or z axis based, invisible parent with definable base point can be added to a node? We are not technically adding mesh here, but adding flexibility for existing items in the model to rotate on x,y or z axis

Example - 1 layer of parenting node is never gonna work for Kashtan. Gun and Missile pitch angle will interfere with each other and gun is shotting at the sky all the time. 

4. Is it possible to include a function to delete a node? This is much needed when modding stand in cockpits or variant of aircraft which we need to hide things. Right now people can add new items to an existing aircraft model using the Fake Pilot method, but it is very, very restrictive to remove anything from the existing model of an aircraft, e.g. low polygon/ugly items.

Yes I realise this one is a little dangerous, but people need it and many have been doing it using workarounds for years when creating stand in cockpits. Instead of deleting people move elements away, but still it creates problems in different scenarios to cockpits, and like said it is much harder to do it to aircraft models.

Example - These models fixed in the deck would have stayed there forever, and we'd never use random generated parked aircraft by SF2NA. if it wasn't Fubar512 did another release that deleted these. Removing node is a capability needed.

8 hours ago, Jimbib said:

Second post in this thread shows how to remove a mesh from an aircraft with an .ini edit, just remember that all linked meshes will disappear with it.

 

this is good thinking. However i am not sure if hidden nodes count polygons. For example, the new MIG-25 model has a landing gear system pipeline which itself counts for 1.5MB of size of LOD. It is causing a frame rate drop which i will definitely want to remove. I am not sure if the destroyed node method resolve an issue like this. Likely not.

8 hours ago, Soulfreak said:

as the name says lod-viewer

So it is a viewer, not an editor!!!

It is a tool to make skinning / modding easier.

It is not for editing or reworking someones models.

Just my 2 cents.

Like said, I am asking for function for things people already are doing. It maybe a different and easier way, but there is no fundamental difference.

@mue

Hi Mue,

I have a few requests.

1. Is it possible to add a function, such that when an element is selected in the model, the viewer shows the X Y Z axis and the base point of the individual element? This is very needed for cockpit modding to do stand-in models. It will make life a lot easier.

2. Is it possible to include a function in this Lod Viewer, such that node names can be changed/renamed? There has been a number of older models which were created without care, and model elements are using repetitive names (e.g. 5 different elements all use lazy names such as Object 01) which confuses the engine and limit possibility for modding.

Right now change of node name can be achieved using manual process in HEX editors for some models, but it is a difficult job when there are 50-60 items of a few repetitive name and you are trying to tell which one is which. It is also hard to handle in HEX editor as sometimes different model utilises different encoding. It will make life a lot easier.

3. is it possible to add a function, such that an x, y, or z axis based, invisible parent with definable base point can be added to a node? We are not technically adding mesh here, but adding flexibility for existing items in the model to rotate on x,y or z axis

4. Is it possible to include a function to delete a node? This is much needed when modding stand in cockpits or variant of aircraft which we need to hide things. Right now people can add new items to an existing aircraft model using the Fake Pilot method, but it is very, very restrictive to remove anything from the existing model of an aircraft, e.g. low polygon/ugly items.

Yes I realise this one is a little dangerous, but people need it and many have been doing it using workarounds for years when creating stand in cockpits. Instead of deleting people move elements away, but still it creates problems in different scenarios to cockpits, and like said it is much harder to do it to aircraft models.

3 hours ago, Menrva said:

Clever. I never thought of doing that, but after all it's a LOD like everything else. Even for terrain objects the same thing applies, if we want shadows for the 300 custom ground objects, 300 such .ini files are required to be added.

The only major issue about shadow casting is that it would require cockpit 3d models without holes in them. Unfortunately many third-party and even stock cockpit 3d models feature holes, either to the front or back of the cockpit. For proper shadow casting those holes would need to be fixed, but we cannot edit LODs.

not really a difficult thing with windows powershell script. consider only variable is the file name.

maybe we can do a script to allow auto generation of all at once

Ship Countermeasure Effects........

2 hours ago, Menrva said:

I remember YEYEYE had a personal website, I recall I downloaded incomplete Su-47 and X-32 models for Strike Fighters from it. I don't recall anything about a Su-24 cockpit, I'm surprised it found its way somehow without a public release.

If the plane and cockpit can be released with due credits to the authors, I'd be happy to include this new Su-24 in the ODS 30AE mod as a flyable aircraft.

this has been there for a while almost 6-7 years in my faint memory. Anyways i have lod + max.

this may be the lod from the whatif section su-24, check it out, it is not the same as the cold war section.

Cockpit is from the full Su-24 pit set from YEYEYE.

Back 7 years i have already experimented night lights using fake object and a floodlight source. The result was captured in my other post back then.

The key issue with that approach is the game engine is not designed to handle long term constant light. so when the fight breaks out, light sources such as AAA and missile etc will compete the limited light sources allowed by the engine. The result, is that cities will "black out" when you fight. So the outcome was not that great.

If we have options to build non-daylight-sensitive TODs, they can be deployed easily. Otherwise it can be a row of non-daylight-sensitive LODs. And we don't necessarily need flood light but just light points. Again flood light will compete with weapon light source. By using a semi-transparent polygon it can potentially emulate flood light without generating a light source.

The reason to make a light array in the form of road cross is that it can then be universally applied to cities without creating 1 model per city. When we have more buildings just put more of these "cross lights" in it

I am thinking of a city night light solution. I would like to check if anyone tried this before, and what was the result

The idea is to use a semi-transparent low polygon box that provides a layer of orange colour near the ground. And set the element to be rendered disregarding light levels. Just like the light on carrier deck.

Each single element will cover a small area. Every 30/50  elements can be grouped to be 1 model to be placed to cover the entire road cross/block to simplify the planning. And they can be made destroya ble.

Anyone?