WhiteBoySamurai

I'm really interested in getting Atlantic & Pacific Fleet for PC, but I don't use Steam. Are they available anywhere else? Would it be possible to buy the Android version on Amazon and run it through an emulator?

2 days ago, started basic skin:

Today, finished. Just one week after laying down the hull.

I'll try to get the entire pack done by sometime this weekend.

By the way, the US transferred eight LST-1s to South Korea where they were in commission as the Un Bong class from 1955 to 2006. Wasn't someone working on one of those? We could have amphibious task forces for the ROK if so.

More work on the Ulsan class. Flight I with 30mm guns first:

I know these aren't very exciting, since you can't land on them and they don't contribute much in terms of air defense. But I want to have as many modern ROKN ships as possible for the Korean terrain and campaigns.

While working on these ships, I got fed up with my old Mk32 torpedo launchers. I rebuilt and retextured them.

If only I had time to go back and retrofit all my older models with the better components I've been building.

"Hey there, friend. Looks like you're having some engine trouble. Do you think it could have something to do with the 30mm cannon rounds I hit you with?"

DD-112 Makinami performs an interception drill against anti-ship missile targets with ESSM.

Missile cam.

Two targets destroyed by a single shot.

The Ulsan class is coming along steadily. 

Also, I haven't done any JMSDF escorts in a long time and felt inspiration calling, so I decided to start an Abukuma class. 

The overly-complicated mast will probably take longer than building and texturing the rest of the ship.

They did the unveiling at Nagoya Aerospace Systems Works, less than an hour from where I live. (But I couldn't get in because I don't have a press pass...)

I really like the 3D TVC paddles. A similar design was also used on the X-31 and F-18 HARV super-maneuverability demonstrators. This tells us something about the capabilities they intend for the final product to have.

You're very welcome!

The corvette pack is being uploaded now.

I'm going to keep focusing on the Far East and Pacific, since Angelp has been doing a good job with European boats. I'll be working on more Korean ships (North and South), at least one modern Russian ship, and a couple of very big Japanese vessels.

.and for pilots who don't have a weapons grade machine and an entire weekend to spare on pre-flight cockpit prep, 2 fits the bill---not too easy, not to diff, just right...

My thoughts exactly. This is why I don't see myself giving up this game any time soon.

Also, Strike Fighters is my substitute for plastic models. With a click of my mouse I have a huge collection of toys to play with, and they take up no space in my house. 

Sorry for the radio silence. Travelling, family stuff, and work have been getting in the way.

Here are some screenshots of the South Korean corvettes. All of the Pohang series are pretty much done. I still need to finish the earlier Donghae, and then I'll upload the pack.

The Flight III/IV versions with 2x 76mm and 4x 40mm have quite a big broadside for such cute little ships.

Emerson Electric "Emerlec-30" mount for Oerlikon 30mm/75 KCB cannons on the Donghae and Pohang class corvettes?

 

30MM_L75_KCB + Sounds & Gunner Templet.7z

Yep, that's the one. Thanks.

I'm planning on releasing the Donghae, Pohang, and Ulsan classes in one pack. I'll follow that with each of the three "KDX" destroyers, and some NK boats and mini-subs for targets.

Sorry I was away and couldn't address the recent questions.

The ship's decals and "skins" are set up in such a way that the main texture setting, "USNgrey," will automatically apply the proper decals when the game engine assigns the ship to a task force. This is how the stock ships work. But in addition to that, there is a texture folder for each ship of the class, with a fixed decal assigned. This is so that if you set up a single mission without a task force and want a specific number ship, you can do so simply by selecting the matching texture name. Almost all of my major vessels are set up this way. You might never use that little feature, but it's there.

Oh, and please use the included decals for the deck instead of stock ones. I made them semi-translucent and faded so that the creases of the deck planks are visible underneath.

Speaking of skins, Sokol is working on historical camo for the ship. He's got a screenshot up in the support topic thread in case you missed it.

With regards to the decal.inis, I remember reading that normal maps count as a decal level, so I wasn't sure if setting them to 0 would work. To be honest, I just copied those settings from my other ships which I knew for a fact work properly.

Unrelated note: Here's a gun for a Korean corvette I'm working on.

It's also used on quite a lot of smaller cold-war-era ships and lower-budget modern navies.

BMP is frankly the worst format, it takes more space on disk and it takes longer to load (because nowadays it's faster to decompress a JPG/DDS than read a BMP, this hasn't always been the case).

Would it be possible to get some data to back that up, please? I've been under the impression that the time/processing power to decompress a JPG negated any advantage of smaller file size.

I've experimented with DDS textures for smaller ground objects before, using DXT1 compression, but I'm wondering if there are more optimal settings for this sim. What's the best compression scheme to mimimize loss of quality?

Also, is there any advantage to using a non-compressed DDS compared to a BMP? Should I generate mipmaps, or does the game auto-generate them?

Thanks so much, everyone. Knowing that so many people enjoying my work really makes my day brighter.

I'm going to be out of town on business for the rest of the week, but I'll pick up my virtual welding torch again as soon as I get back. I'm focusing heavily on Asia, starting with cold war and modern Korean ships.

Man, I would even pay you for the late 1970`s Essen, less armament to code and usefull for Vietnam era. 

 

Damn lets start a crowdfunding for WBS!

Most or all of the late 70's Essex units were the SCB-125 version, which is a stock model. I may do some SCBs at some point in the future, but I'd like to get back to smaller ships for a while.

I really appreciate the thought of crowdfunding. On one hand, I want to say "I don't need your money, I'm doing this for love!" But it would be nice to have some new software. For example, I ran into a problem when trying to bake the textures for the Essex: Max 2009 kept crashing on me because it ran out of memory. According to what I've read, newer versions of Max take full advantage of 64-bit OS and can use all 8+ GB of RAM, so they don't have this problem. *shrug* But while I might decide to accept donations someday, I'll never charge you guys for access to my models.

Anyway, the long hull Essex is done and being uploaded now. 

I want to take a moment to explain my thought process, because this is a big departure from my previous models.

I said "yes" to this project 3 years ago. Can you believe it? There was a lot of procrastination, scrapping and restarting, and nearly giving up at several points. I experimented with new texture patterns, new brushes, new ways of building objects. And I had to put a lot of thought into "what do the CombatAce members want from this model?"

The trend I've been seeing, from the requests I get and the screenshot thread, is that folks want carriers, and they want stuff in super-high detail for photo ops. Other kinds of ships get little or no representation in screencaps. So I went balls-out with this boat. The result is the most insanely detailed model I could possibly manage:

• 100,000 polygons (2x my Ticonderoga cruiser)
• 4096x4096 + 2048x2048 main textures (more than double any of my previous models)

I'm aware that some of you have Essex class (probably short hull) ships from other sources. How does mine compare to Yankee Air Payware?

• Designed specifically for SF2
• Both WW2 and Korean War variants included in one package
• Far more detail at similar poly count
• Distance LODs, custom collision LOD
• Bump mapping; will add specular mapping if enough people request it
• Templates available on request if anyone wants to do measure/splinter camo schemes
• Full names list and decals for entire line of ships instead of one ship with number painted onto the texture
• Parked aircraft generation
• FREE

And if you angle the camera just right, you can watch aircraft take off from the bridge.

So anyway, I'm sorry this ship took so long to finish. I hope you all enjoy it.

Soon.

Testing out decals using stock cvn numbers for now.

20mm Oerlikons have been added, but not enabled. There are 48 mounts around the ship, and they contribute a total of 12000 polygons on the close-in LOD. That's about as many triangles as one of my modern frigates.

No, they can be located in any game folder if you have all the titles merged.

Here are the requirements for auto-generated task forces in summary:

1. The terrains need to have the "NavalMap=TRUE" line set in the .ini

2. There must be a water map with properly placed zones for friendly and enemy surface groups

3. The nations you want to spawn ships must be set as FriendlyNation001= and EnemyNation001= in the nations.ini file

4. Those nations must have capital ships and escorts available

The game will attempt to build task forces around one or more capital ships, i.e. aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, and transports. If no aircraft carriers are available, it will check for battleships. If no battleships are available, it will check for cruisers. If all ship types are available, the game may create up to three groups centered around a carrier, battleship, and transport. The battleship's surface group will typically be forward relative to the carrier's position, and the amphibious group will be behind the carrier group.

The game will attempt to spawn at least the minimum number of escorts for each surface group. Destroyers and frigates are always escorts, but battleships and cruisers will also be assigned as escorts if available.

When using the mission editor or creating a custom campaign, however, you can create any sort of fleets you like in any formation you prefer. However, I'm pretty sure that only one carrier can be active per group, and it has to be the flagship of the group for carrier ops to work correctly. Other carriers should have their own task forces.

Samurai, any chance of seeing this in the future...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Garrett_County_(LST-786)

Sorry, I doubt it. I've got way too many models in the pipe as it stands.

Acesfakia did a couple of LSTs which are of the same design lineage, I think:

http://combatace.com/files/file/15123-landingshiptank-mk-i/

http://combatace.com/files/file/15226-lst-mkii-2/

Currently testing out parked aircraft on the Essex. I wish the Hellcat had folding wings.

The 40mm guns are halfway done. I could definitely use your help with the 20mm guns once I place them all.

Got it, thanks for the photos.

Main battery, catapults, and wires are now operational.

...The bullet holes? Uh, I neglected to remove all the enemy aircraft in the test mission and ran afoul of some Zeroes.

The AI has no trouble landing either.

Finishing the textures and installing the AAA guns will take a lot of work, but I'll try to at least get the WW2 version done before the end of September.

It'll happen one day!

Actually I'll be building the Hyuga next after the Essex, and eventually the Izumo.

I'm finally doing initial in-game tests. No major issues so far.

Finishing the painting and entering the data for dozens and dozens of guns will take quite a while. I'm shooting for mid/late September. 

A couple more questions:

-How many arresting wires? Some drawings seem to show a ton of them, at least on the early versions.

-Can I get some clarification on the search radars? The references I've been using show an SK-2 radar:

That's already complete.  But, other sources say the ship (or at least some variants) had a rectangular SK radar:

Or some combination of both. ...Which means I will have to build an entirely new set.