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Lexx_Luthor

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Everything posted by Lexx_Luthor

  1. Those aircraft are not classical heavy metal, should they shine like that? Server:: The two observations seem contradictory yet both are correct. This is because computer monitors cannot even start to model the brightness depth of the real world. When direct sunlight or its mirror or "metal" reflection is present, we are trying to deal with something having far greater brightness intensity than anything else in view (with one exception). So you have to choose between... (1) Long distance image modelling which attempts to capture what you see at combat distances, and... (2) Closeup static cameo screenshots popular in the gaming review rags and on combat flight The Sims webboards. I generally choose (1), but try to get (2) when both are possible. For long distance visibility of shine, reduce sky and terrain brightness. Then aircraft stand out like sparks in the distance when they directly reflect sunlight, as they should. This is for classical metal, not flat paints (???). The only thing relevant to simming I can think of that competes with, in fact far exceeds, the brightness intensity of direct sunlight and its mirror reflection is nucular fireball pulse. --- um...thinking again...welding arcs have high brightness intensity also. But that may be more relevant to an aircraft manufacturing simulator.
  2. This is a good start for metal skins...but may depend on Environment file settings. [TextureSet] : : Specular=1 Glossiness=0.1 Reflection=1 0 < Glossiness < 0.1 can yield even more intense shine, especially for long distance viewing, but I think closeup cameo suffers. 0.1 is a balance for me. The direct reflection of sunlight, depending on fuselage--wing-sun-viewer angles, works perfectly. The distance potentially set to each aircraft LOD's is infinite in aircraftX.ini, but in practice is limited by computer monitor resolution. TK has confirmed that aircraft of apparent size smaller than one pixel are not drawn. Zooming in field of view can correct for this however. Close up cameo... About 2 kilometers... More theory and labwork at the ThudWire link below, especially down page 2 for long distance viewing with respect to bank angles and sun angles. No outside "bloom," just TKstuff ~> http://bbs.thirdwire.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p...p;sk=t&sd=a
  3. If ya'll are looking for terrain/object brightening, take a deep peek in the Enviro file. For metal shine, skins are best tweaked in the skin folder TextureSet file. Afterburners are best brightened in their own ini files. This way, you can brighten these things alone, leaving other things untouched. Enviro sun variables can brighten skins also, and terrain, sky, and everything else too.
  4. Gunrunner:: The best modders conduct XtremE limiting experiments and break their games to see what works and what fails. Downloadabout one of my Specialty Moldings if you wish to see the result of game breaking experiments.

  5. cirrus + stratus mixture

    Lexx_Luthor posted a gallery image in Member's Albums

    From the album Siberian Sky

    cirrus + stratus mixture
  6. I dunno. Basher's "contrail" in that pic is showing up rather low,about 11k feet. Maybe the contrails are set too low. They replace the exhaust smoke above the defined contrail level.
  7. Got it. Tanks!

  8. Version

    541 downloads

    This mod is an extension of my original cirrus tests from 2006 and produces multiple large layers of flat clouds at varying high altitudes, scattered across a map, and that can move with the wind defined in mission file. There are two methods of cirrus creation: (1) A terrain target object that generates cirrus effects. This was derived from the stock power plant generator and the smokestack effect. This may be more suitable for the campaigns. Once installed in a terrain, it will be used automatically in all missions. (2) A moving ship, with beginning and final waypoints, that generates cirrus effects during ship motion. This was derived from the stock Tanker ship and the ship movement effect. This method is useful in hand made missions, and I hope to extend this to large scale moving weather systems. The cirrus are most brilliant with the Siberian Sun mod where the deep blue sky offers great contrast with the white ice crystal cirrus, and the large sunglare causes the cirrus to shine bright around the sun. I will explore this in detail, probably on page 7 of this ThirdWire thread ~> http://bbs.thirdwire.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4964 ....this is version 1.0 until I discover one of my standard mistakes in installation or content.... ========================================================== Original test cirrus mod from April 2006 here ~> http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...p;showfile=2471
  9. File Name: *update 2.0* Siberian Sky -- Aurora for Missions or Terrains File Submitter: Lexx_Luthor File Submitted: 01 May 2008 File Category: Environmental Mods Updated aurora 2.0 completely replacing previous versions, hopefully with better instructions and a deeper understanding of how these effects work. There are now two methods of aurora creation: (1) A terrain target object that generates aurora effects. This was derived from the stock power plant generator and the smokestack effect. (2) A moving ship that generates aurora effects during ship motion. This was derived from the stock Tanker ship and the ship movement effect. The aurora are vertical hanging sheets -- vertical sprites -- at roughly correct height and colours, and these can be changed easily. Red only and green only also look great. The aurora images or "particles" fade into and out of view in about 20 seconds -- speed up game time to see a most pretty thing. This effect was made for my new 6000km strategic map, but can be used in any standard size map. Other aurora ideas will be covered at the ThirdWire thread below... page 6 ~> http://bbs.thirdwire.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p...=a&start=40 Click here to download this file
  10. Ah, there is a way using ship generators to start and stop aurora generation at least for hand made missions, or until we can find a way to create 3rd Party dynamic campaign generators. here ~> http://bbs.thirdwire.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p...64&start=46
  11. No thanks. The Pop up ads take too long to load.
  12. I REMEMBER THAT. :blink: One of the first things I did in the sim was find how to turn that off. I think its...in Enviro file...set SunAngle=1.0

  13. Sorry!

    Lexx_Luthor replied to Basher11's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 1 Series - General Discussion

    Start modding, and all will be forgiven. :yes:
  14. mmm, thinking more, the "bloom" (?) here is I think caused by the massive sunglare used by the Siberian Sun. Now it works fantastic, but its well off the deep end of the sim. I don't have a sunset pic suitable now, with sun on the horizon, but only these. The concept works with the sun on the horizon, and the low-on-the-horizon sun "bloom" can be intensified with the Enviro file's Suncolor and Radiance variables which control the sun-side sky colour near sunrise/sunset. I think intensifying these would aid a "bloom" caused by a hazy tga file. A solid uniform tga (or bmp works okay also) covering the map at high altitude, with no "holes" like the space between the clouds in these examples, might do the trick. It might not. Alot of this depends on the size and brightness gradient around the sun, which was something I tweaked to obtain the large sunglare in the Siberian Sun mod which creates a very large glare centered on a tiny hard sun.
  15. Thanks! There is a way, possibly in-game. If I understand correctly, the grafix brightness "bloom" is like overexposure, or massive scattering perhaps. I get that flying beneath my cirrus cloud layers which use BlendOp=BLEND_INV_SRC_ALPHA_ADD_SRC ( ) Just a guess ~> a uniform tga (or bmp) file, 1000km in size, can be positioned at very high altitude. This causes the sun to "bloom," and would have no effect on terrain below if its high enough you can't fly above it. Below is the Siberian sun, which without the cirrus tga layer should be a tiny hard disc. However, the "bloom" (?) around the sun in this screenshot is correct for sun shining through high altitude ice crystal cirrostratus.
  16. If anybody got this working, they failed to follow instructions. I uploaded a fix...I think...and new stuff. Not so bad an error with the Instruction file, but the "add to" file...I don't know why but for some reason, I mixed up the terrain DATA, TYPES, and TARGET files, and other confusing things. I'm sorry about the Slop.
  17. And then when I uploaded the 1.1 fix with the "new stuff" ... in my rush I forgot to use the file with the "new stuff." The 1.11 has it all I think.
  18. mmm, you could poast the relevant sections of your tex and data files. I have not yet worked with tga terrain tiles, so I'm a bit of stepping out of bounds here.
  19. I havent't explored this yet, but I think from what JSF poasted, ObjectiveID is the mission file flight number of the aircraft flights in question. I assume this means the AI will agressively engage the specified enemy flight. If this is the case, it will be very useful. For example, I would want Su-11s to target a B-58, leaving MiG-21Fs or Su-7s (pre-B, non-suffix) to target escorting flights of F-105s or F-101s.
  20. Yep, seems like missing transition tiles at first glance. OR maybe there's a mismatch between water= setting and missing tga or bmp file.
  21. For even faster takeoffs, you can line the aircraft up one behind the other. Its not the best looking solution, but given game limitations, it works, and its trivially simple.
  22. Brain, is that 1000km? The EAWEuro terrain is 1500km, although alot of it was left unused.

  23. MIG 25 Question

    Lexx_Luthor replied to snapper 21's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 1 Series - General Discussion

    For 5300L tank, I use the smaller internal pod from Pasko's B-58. Its about the right size and shape. Only the recons carried tanks I think. I don't know about the bombers. I figure if the Soviets went through the same thing the Luftwaffe did with the 8th Air Force, but with SAC instead, they might eventually add a 5300L tank to MiG-25P interceptors. -P tanks would offer greater intercept radius when operating out of, say, fewer and more widely seperated airbases if a campaign results in SAC destroying PVO airfields faster than PVO can rebuild them. In the Weapons folder, make a copy of the *smaller* B-58 pod BA53-Y1_Pod_B58 LOD file and re-name it Tank5300_MiG25. The new LOD file still uses the B-58_pods bmp for skin. It all works out. Here's my MiG-25 DATA...I have not tweaked the numbers right yet, that comes when I start developing consistent FMs for all the SAC and PVO aircraft the Siberian Sky tale needs between 1947 and 1967. [CenterlineStation] SystemType=WEAPON_STATION StationID=5 StationGroupID=3 StationType=EXTERNAL AttachmentPosition= 0.0,0.0,0.0 AttachmentAngles=0.0,0.0,0.0 EjectVelocity=0.0,0.0,-4.0 LoadLimit=2000 AllowedWeaponClass=FT AttachmentType=SOVIET ModelNodeName=CenterHP01 NoJettisionTank=FALSE PylonMass=86.18 PylonDragArea=0.02 FuelTankName=Tank5300_MiG25

  24. From the album Siberian Sky

    MiG-25P with Pasko's smaller B-58 pod for 5300L tank
  25. Right, you can't see it in the daytime. That's why it needs to be turned off at sunrise. Maybe at very high altitudes, it would be visible in daytime. That's a rationalization I'm tempted to consider. Is it working for you?
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