Ala12Rv-watermanpc

Guys, just wanted to share with you a little mod I have been working for the last few days...the new Timghetta cockpit is amazing but couldnt resist to make a few customizations :D so now that we have Roughmet maps enabled by default I decided to try making some cool things like adding reflections for the gauges glass, more specular weathering here and there, glass material also for the hud, its edges and hud's projector, a cleaner "plastic" texture look for the hud pedestal and color uniformity, glass material for the canopy, reflectivity adjustments etc. I have already submitted the files to the users download so it shuould be available very soon for you guys!!:) Here are some pics: I think it makes the pit to feel more alive imo. Hope you like it folks and again, thanks Timghetta for his great job :thumbup:

Yeah, is a very odd bug I agree...

I have searched in the manual for some detailed info about something I have always have doubts in the m2000...the radar screen when being jammed...I have no much info of what can be done once someone is jamming (the dashed lines and such)...the manual seems to not say anything about this if Im not mistaken so some detailed info on teh symbols, and procedure on this subjet would be very appreciated :)

Glad to read that mate!!, I think the same. :thumbup:

lets see if ED can tell us if this is due to a patch notes error or it is really supposed to be fixed... Cheers!

Thanks for the kind words guys!, they are very appreciated :) No problem with the tastes Esac, I understand ;), just was surprised about how reflectivity was pretty much the same in the viggen while you said there was less in the M2000...btw, I never said that the first attemp was intended to imitate the look of the viggen, just add some scratches to the M2000 canopy, thats why it looks so different. About the "Nice Waterman...and...how you know you should pass the glass of M2KC_3T in white in case of the original gray shaded ?"...I think the original is more blue but I removed it because that way, the opacity doesnt have any texture interfering with the PBR roughmet which I think is much better...also, white color looks much better in more conditions like overcast, which looked odd in blue color...anyway, it doesnt have a very big impact. Well, I had to re do the whole thing again, but I think this is the one I like the most...balanced between scratches amount, size, dispersion, variation, intensity, etc...also refined the very thin weathering line along the edges of the canopy which uses to be there in canopies in general...One more thing these files add is glass material for the nav lights and the police light (the inner glass cover, not the external one) which looks cool :) hope you also like this one and to cover more or less everyones taste. Choose the one you like most ;) About the integrity check, yeah!, is a pity not to be able to play online when using these things :cry:, as you said Mav783, maybe Timghetta has the time to implement more improvements like this one (which surely he will make MUCH better than me). Will upload the pilot, helmet, etc files later through the users files section as they are too big to post here. Bye mates!!:thumbup: M2000 canopy scratches balanced.rar

I have been testing the Viggen specular map and decided to directly use it (adapting to the m2000) in the mirage...the result is this: which is quite close i think: However, I must say that I dont like the viggen effect at all...imho, its waaaay overdone and unrealistic. In real life, canopies use to have (like many other "glass" kind materials) only MICRO-scratches...in the case of the viggen, those scratches seem like done on purpose and most of them are like 40cm long...this is not happening in any viggen picture I have seen but in the case of the M2000 even less as all pictures I could find have a quite polished surface just with some minor MICRO-scratches not visible pretty much at any condition and only when really close to them. So, after and insane amount of time and tries I think that the best I could achieve is a mix of micro scratches with some bigger ones...also, adjusted reflectivity amount. the result is this: It looked quite better in PS, but because I were stupid, I saved without applying some noise filter and after closing the program compression reduced both, resolution and dynamic range so I guess it is what it is :doh:..anyway I think it looks quite nice and close to what you could expect in a m2000 in real life. ts subtle but its there if you zoom in. You have both files to use at your discretion (the viggen like and the more realistic one) Also, I would like to say something about the reflection as Esac mentioned before...if you think the viggen has a "perfect finish" I think that it has pretty much identical reflectivity than the file I made for the m2000: the effect that is usually visible in the mirage 2000 of the "straight lines", depends a lot of the evironement being reflected...once you use PBR materials, is the engine which renders the material according to the real environement so, although it looks like there is some less reflections, now it looks more accurate than before when some effect were pre-baked in textures...however, some discrepancies are expected respect real life of course as real life is much more complex than what PBR rendering can achieve so for instance the reason why the "lines" are missing is because the sky is completelly clear in game, or even with clouds, they are not being reflected right now...only full overcast has an impact in how the glass is rendered and so those "lines" reflection do appear in fact: Also made some Roughmets for the Helmet, visor, and whole pilot body :): I will make a mod with these things, mean while attached are the viggen like files for the canopy (will try to do again the other file to have good quality). Cheers!!:) M2000 canopy viggen style.rar

Well, Im glad you overall liked it, thanks all guys :) About the "reflections" on the canopy, the reason why they look a bit lower is just because I decided to remove the diffuse texture that makes that "lines" reflection effect as I thought if we are now using PBR Roughmets maps is a pity to overlap the real time effects with textures imho...also, it didnt looked good at all at backlight side so I think it looks much better this way...a different thing are the direct light reflections (the sun shining into the glass) which might need some more adjustments...I will try to increase it a bit and see if I can make the scratches to shine a bit more :thumbup: Damn buddy, you got ahead with the helmet's visor :P, I was also working on it...looks great already mate!;) Did you tested the files mate?? because reflections are there!!:)...you need to test it in movement to really know how they look...I think that "loosing reflections" sounds a bit exagerated dont you think?...the only thing missing is the texture with the "pre-baked" lines simulating reflections but as I said, will try to make it better asap. Btw, I have been working also in many other nice things!!, It has been a quite a exhaustive task but Im almost done... will share soon! ;) Cheers!

Just wanted to thank and congrats to Baltic_Dragon and those who worked in the manual for the great job!!!!, I have just have a glimpse of it but it looks clear, detailed, deep, nice and rich, full of images and diagrams to explain procedures, systems or whatever is needed, cant wait to have also the ground radar... THANKS!!:thumbup: Also want to thank for including those great shots of the comunity, including myself, is an honour to be a little part of it :)

Ok, here is the final result and the best i could do being quite a noob :P, I adjusted the glass material and added also a slight weathering to the edges of the whole canopy... tried to do it as subtle as possible but at the same time quite noticeable when looked closely...hope you guys enjoy it :)...also, using roughmet for the canopy is great, no more textures are over the canopy ;) download is attached...it would be great if Tim adds something like this officially ;) Scratched Canopy m2000.rar

@Mav783, we can discuss in this thread about adding some scratches to the canopy :) The reason why it didnt work for you is because now, the M2000 uses the newer "Roughmets" textures so I guess the old "specular maps" are no longer used...so, the canopy still uses the specular tech and thus it didnt react to your changes... To make it work you need to do few things...rename the "M2KC_3T.tga" to "M2KC_3T" and also rename the "M2KC_3Specular" to "M2KC_3T_RoughMet"...now you can use the "M2KC_3T_RoughMet" as a normal roughmet texture and it will work in game... However, to add the scratches you will need to edit also the "M2KC_3T" file to adjust alpha, color and such as it will look odd otherwise...of course, the "M2KC_3T_RoughMet" file must also be edited and is there where we will add the scratches...here is where the "artistic" side takes place :P...you will have to play with channels green and blue to get the glass look, though not sire how the alpha works in the roughmet but I also edited it a bit... After a few tries I got this: As you can see it doesnt look good enough as there are some more tunning to do but its a nice first try I think and probably the first roughtmet canopy to date?¿?:P Will try to adjust it a bit more later, is a quite time consuming task for a total PS noob as me :doh: ...you can try to make yours also...If I get a good enough one I will try to upload it :thumbup: Cheers!!:)

Yeah, I think that would be the last detail remaining in terms of visuals :) Btw, some more things I forgot to mention are: -External fuel tanks (the big ones) have extreme metallic parts that I think are not correct (cant post a pic now and Im not sure whats their name sorry), easy fix but breaks security check. -Nozzle is too dark and shiny. Also easy fix but same as before. As a side note, I wonder if it would be possible to have at some point a full template for the M2000...it would be reeeeeally appreciated guys...the Harrier one is superb so I think the 2000 also deserves one ;) thanks guys for the support!:thumbup:

Well, the normal maps issue is fixed!!, thanks for this. There are few minor issues remaining in some parts: Also, the mismatch between these 2 parts of the lower fuselage is present...is subtle most of the time but at certain angles can be very obvious...couldnt find why is happening as the speculars seem to be correct...also happens with other custom specular maps which look perfect in 2.2 version. Here is a pic of the issue with the default (latest) update of the speculars (roughmets): Also wonder if it would be possible to add roughmets for the pilot's helmet and visor so we can get a reflective material for both... Thanks for the updates!!!:)

This is supposed to be fixed in the last todays patch...however surprisingly the issue is still present, at least for me...anyone else experiencing this also?? thanks!!

Will try to check the exterior canopy textures later and tell you if i could make it work buddy...:thumbup: EDIT: take a look at the "exterior improvements" thread please, there you have my answer.

As Razbam is also working on improved exterior textures/models/speculars I thought it would be nice to have also a proper thread for the disscusion so here it comes...also it will be easier for Timghetta and/or other developers to track issues and such. Cheers!!:thumbup:

Yeah, lets talk here about the cockpit (I also mentioned some issues of the exterior here, sorry) :) I have already made a thread about the exterior improvements :thumbup: thanks a lot!

I guess there are new things, but isnt that the changelog of the last update???

Another issue I identified is that for some reason (roughmets seem to be ok so I dont know if Normal maps are also causing this) there is a mismatch between the roughness/metallicness of the lower part of the fuselage with the rest (only in the belly as far as I can tell)...is noticeable in the official skins, but even more in some custom ones (which worked perfect before)...here is how it looks: About the Nozzle, I found another issue in hte new roughmet file: the resolution of the file is extremely low...before, it was 2048x2048, now its 512x512 which leads to a huge quality loss The problem with the too dark/metalic look is just an adjustment...I fixed myself though the metal ring is in a much bigger file so I cant upload it here but sure Tim will address it asap. Also, tried to decrease the repeated patern and make a less shiny metal (also used old good 2048x2048 texture): Finally, wanted to make you know Tim that there is a missing roughmet for the M2KC_12C.dds file so no speculars for those pieces...just in case you are not awared of it :) Thanks Razbam/Tim for the work!!!:thumbup:

yeah, +1 on this... guess is a WiP thing though it quite ruins the map right now in its state...very cool if they are trying to add some speculars maps to the terrain, would add a lot to the quality, especially for winter/snow seasons...

Great news!! glad to read some more fine tuning is coming, many thanks!:thumbup: About the 3C textures, I have tested with ALL of them, but seems like they are only diffuse color...tried with RGB and Alpha but only could change opacity and color...I think there should be a specular/RoughMet map for giving them reflectivity which seems is not present if Im not mistaken...maybe you can add it at some point if its not possible to achieve glass material with the actual textures. Thanks again Tim!!!:)

Thanks a lot for the hard work mate!!!, looking forward to the patch!:thumbup: Btw, is the cockpit update finished or there is something else being improved?...I ask because I found that with the new PBR cockpit textures, anti-colision strobe is now being reflected in some parts, for instance when looking back, in the metalic parts or in some front instruments when you move the head to the sides...maybe there is some way to fix the strobe's light to enter the cockpit. Also, there is another issue that maybe is ED related but some places where the specular maps have deep black or deep white are flickering once in DCS...for instance the stickers in the ejection seat or the sticker in the left-lateral side of the VTH control panel. Finally, I wanted to ask if there is an actual glass piece modeled on top of every gauge or there is not such a piece modeled?? I ask because I tried to make the glass over the gauges to reflect/shine but couldnt find the proper place in hte textures of such pieces...the only thing I could do was making the own gauges materials to have shine/reflectivity but is not the same effect...also added reflectivity and weathering to the fuel panel, AoA indicator, Artificial horizon ball and aux horizon, RWR, etc. Looks great but seems like there is no an actual glass over these gauges...here are some examples of what I mean: Thanks a lot for the great work guys!!:thumbup:

I was refering to FORESTS as HiJack mentioned...but even cities,while I agree about trees size, I cant see the problem about having many trees...there are MANY trees in cities within the streets, and buildings just like it is now in 2.5, just they are too big imho but thr number shouldnt be an issue...I would even use some more or even much more if performance werent a concern.

Yeah, I already asked in the wish forum for an option to enable/disable them, as well as an increased quality/resolution setting...otherwise, imho they make things worse than better.

Certainly, looking at these screens its obvious that 2.5 (at least for Normandy) is much worse than 2.2...imho latest 2.2 was the pinacle of DCS visuals. 2.2 lighting, water, trees, color, haze, etc. were pretty much perfect!:cry: Maybe its just a temporal thing...