Hard Light Productions Forums
Hosted Projects - FS2 Required => Blue Planet => Topic started by: Insomniac34 on August 10, 2010, 05:31:02 pm
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Hey guys! Kudos on the campaign, as a lurker I have been following the development of War i Heaven for over a year now, and was super pumped to get it working.
After upgrading from my ancient 3.6.10 MVPs, I finally got 3.6.12 up and working. Then i got my 3.6.12 Inferno SS build working. Then I made sure to get the AoA Directors Cut MVs working. And, finally I got War in Heaven's VPs up and working.
My problem, however, is as follows: The campaign and game itself is working fine. I am on the 3rd mission of WiH, and the gameplay has been smooth, and I am impressed by the attention to detail. BUT THE DETAIL IS NOTICEABLY LOWER then it was in my old 3.6.10 version of Blue Planet/FS2. The 2 biggest things i've noticed in the campaign and my FREDed test missions was the Deimos looks like hell from far away, its a big gray block, and the Beam Cannons on new generation corvettes (think Belophoron and Chimera) are just white. Not shiny blue awesomeness like in AoA, they are a dull white.
I would take a screenshot, but they arent working in FS. I think I am somehow missing an advanced detail pack or something, yet I have the Adv_Visuals VPs for both BP1 and BP2.
PLEASE help me, as I want to enjoy the same models that made me drop my jaws in AoA!!!
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Make sure your detail level is high enough, first. :nervous:
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Screenshots please, with comparisons if possible. All you have to do is 'print screen', then go to the 'screenshots' folder in your FS2 directory.
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LOL yes I have all settings in the launcher and in FS2 set to High....the screenshots in the Screenshots folder are all .tgas and viewed through QuickTime WTF...hopefully this shows up:
This is how my Chimera looks:
(http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/6679/chimerafu.jpg) (http://img31.imageshack.us/i/chimerafu.jpg/)
and I recall it's beam turrets being MUCH bluer and "shinier" before. Overall, i notice a lower level of detail then i did in AoA.
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Im having trouble finding a good comparison pic of one of these corvettes...
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...hmmm that seriously does look off.
I swear the textures didn't look like that before, its like they got darker and more red.
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I can't really think why it looks so...meh. If it means anything, the highest graphical setting in the Launcher is "high", not "highest", but im not sure highest ever WAS an option. If you can think of any suggestions or any info that would help determine why this looks as it does, please let me know. WiH is clearly a game best enjoyed beautifully.
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First, that's not a shot from WiH. Take a screenie from the Techroom or the F3 lab.
Also, post an fs2_open.log
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I think he used WiH as the mod and just placed it in FRED for ease of viewing...
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Yes, but after placing some background elements. I want to know if the model looks correct when viewed with neutral lighting, which you can find in the F3 lab or the techroom. If there's a red sun in the mission background, I would expect the hull to get a slightly reddish tint.
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Did you look at game detail settings in the Options menu in-game? If it isn't maxed out already, do so and see if that fixes anything.
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Everything ingame is maxed.
Here is a pic of what my Chimera used to look like in the original AoA release with the 3.6.10 builds...
(http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/1571/chimpic.jpg) (http://img844.imageshack.us/i/chimpic.jpg/)
and here is it's current ugly version in FRED as per the developer's request:
(http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/7901/chimpic2.jpg) (http://img814.imageshack.us/i/chimpic2.jpg/)
how do I post a FS2 Open log???
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Oh damn those beam cannons did look more badass.
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You know I think you might be right.
See the thing is many of the StratComm ships got LODs and other work from Esarai at one point. Something may have changed in there. I'll ask about.
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I'll claim at least partial responsability. The new beam cannon textures (included in the AoA DC and of course, because of that, WiH), and I'll admit, in some ways, they do look better ... at least if you don't look too closely. Here's a comparison of their respective glowmaps:
(http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj251/blowfishpro/My_Stuff/comparison.jpg)
As you can see, the glowmap is brighter in some areas, particularly near the center. This may be part of the problem. Although...
(http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj251/blowfishpro/chimerabeams.png)
Note, Insomniac, that your screenshot of the old maps is the only one which is mostly dark, whereas the first screenshot has a lot of light reflecting on the maps. The new maps don't look nearly as bad when there isn't a lot of light on them, so I'm wondering if the shine map isn't to blame as well.
Also, no more FRED screenshots, please. The lack of lighting causes the textures to look washed out, and while it does show the issue somewhat, it doesn't represent how the maps will really look in-game. And Insomniac, would it kill ya to use lvlshot? :doubt:
I'll work on fixing these if people tell me what specifically looks bad, under what conditions it looks bad, and what changes you would like to see made.
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Understood about the FRED Screenshots, I only posted it because I was asked to. I am not familiar with this lvlshot :wtf:. As far as critiquing it, no offense, but I think it looks significantly worse then it used to. I was amazed at how crystalline the beam projection structure looked in AoA, I thought they were beautiful and spoke to the focused energy nature of the weapons. They don't have that same look any more and IMO their looks took a fall because of that.
Anyways, I appreciate the quick responses...I had no idea I was gonna be critiquing the developer's work when I posted this :lol:, I was sure something was wrong.
If anyone has ANY graphical improvements they recommend to help improve that shot, please let me know. Should I post my FS2 Open log? Is there any way to extract the old ship textures from my old BP folder (which I still have) and merge it with the WiH folder?
thanks!
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Another problem I am having (didn't wana create a new thread) is that in FRED, none of the SOL planets are available. I just see the FS2 nebula and planets, but no Earth, mars, Jupiter, etc...
AND, there are no new generation GTVA vessels (Titan, Raynor, Chimera) for viewing in the tech room. Is there any way to activate them for viewing?
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Another problem I am having (didn't wana create a new thread) is that in FRED, none of the SOL planets are available. I just see the FS2 nebula and planets, but no Earth, mars, Jupiter, etc...
AND, there are no new generation GTVA vessels (Titan, Raynor, Chimera) for viewing in the tech room. Is there any way to activate them for viewing?
That's because they're skyboxes. You need to input the model names into the skybox field. They are:
default starfield - htsb.pof
Europa - europa.pof
Moon - lunabox.pof
Mars - marsbox.pof
Neptune - neptune-htsb.pof
Saturn - saturn-htsb.pof
Sol - sunbox.pof
And Earth is in the AoA modpack, I think it's earthbox
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earthskybox.pof
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The new maps don't look nearly as bad when there isn't a lot of light on them, so I'm wondering if the shine map isn't to blame as well.
I'll work on fixing these if people tell me what specifically looks bad, under what conditions it looks bad, and what changes you would like to see made.
I think it's the shinemap. Make the shinemap completely black (so you don't get weird glare or whatever).
Also, the old texture was more blue, this one is more purple.
Maybe then it'd look better?
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lvlshot = thumbnail (thumb) on pretty much every other forum ... :P
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It works like this:
[lvlshot]http://www.mywebsite.com/images/myimage.png[/lvlshot]
Scales down images so that they fit within the forum layout.
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Alright, will do from now on. Not on many forums as you can see :D.
Anyways, does somebody know how to add the GTD Raynor, GTD Titan, GTCv Chimera, etc... to my tech database?? I wana read about them.
Thanks!
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ctrl + shift + s in the tech room.
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It works like this:
[lvlshot]http://www.mywebsite.com/images/myimage.png[/lvlshot]
Scales down images so that they fit within the forum layout.
Note, however, that if the image is smaller than the forum width, it will actually scale it up. So don't go using lvlshot on a tiny image.
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unless you want to make a smiley XBOXHUEG
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[shiva]We do.[/shiva]