Better Smoke V22 for DCS 2.9

[TonyRS]

Seems to be the place for experts on smoke
I find coloured smoke, from aircraft ‘smoke pods, to be disappointingly weak. Colours seem to turn white rather too quickly, somewhat spoiling the effect.
Is there any way to increase the intensity of these colour and have the smoke stream maintain its colour for longer before decaying to white?
Cheers!

[Blinde]

Working with the new update?

[dlder]

Does anyone know of any updated comparison screenshots or videos?

A lot of the Better-Smoke files were updated by ED in the recent patches. That doesn't mean that the official DCS looks as good or better then DCS with this mod, but it does bring up th question: is this mod still needed?

 

[Zyll]

These screenshots taken on DCS 2.9.7 have the better smoke mod:

 

And these ones are the original smoke:

Edited September 4, 2024 by Zyll

[Esac_mirmidon]

@Taz1004

So with the new DCS version from today, it seems your Better Smoke V22 mod makes the game crash when looking at the explosions of any kind of ground ordinance. 

If you could be so kind to take a look. I can provide you with crash logs if needed. The crash was tested with latest Nvidia drivers 566.03 and is a dx11backend.dll crash from the logs

Thanks in advance

Edited October 30, 2024 by Esac_mirmidon

[MAXsenna]

@Taz1004
So with the new DCS version from today, it seems your Better Smoke V22 mod makes the game crash when looking at the explosions of any kind of ground ordinance. 
If you could be so kind to take a look. I can provide you with crash logs if needed. The crash was tested with latest Nvidia drivers 566.03 and is a dx11backend.dll crash from the logs
Thanks in advance

Aaahhh! Had crashes too, and only after I blew something up!
Thanks for the pointer. I'll test!

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[YoYo]

@Taz1004

The same, mod broke DCS now. I have to turn it off :(, pity ...

@Esac_mirmidon But it could be a problem, see this:

Edited October 30, 2024 by YoYo

[Esac_mirmidon]

I hope Taz will take a look at this issue, the mod is awesome.

[Mistermann]

I just hope Taz is okay and just taking a break from DCS and not something worse.  Being away from the forum for 7 months, for a guy like Taz, is a long time.

[Fungible]

in case Taz sees this, the part that is breaking the mod most likely is the ship wake memory leak fix ED integrated in the game that started messing stuff up

wouldn't explain why explosions are messed up though, but I've never really looked at the mod files before so.....

 

Edited October 30, 2024 by Fungible

[VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants]

17 hours ago, Mistermann said:

I just hope Taz is okay and just taking a break from DCS and not something worse.  Being away from the forum for 7 months, for a guy like Taz, is a long time.

This is a bit worrisome. I know people come and go but Taz has done many great works for the community.

[YoYo]

The default smokes are worse, smaller and above all too short. It's a shame Taz is no longer with us, we need to say goodbye to this mod for good, unless someone figures out where the problem is and what to change.

[MAXsenna]

The default smokes are worse, smaller and above all too short. It's a shame Taz is no longer with us, we need to say goodbye to this mod for good, unless someone figures out where the problem is and what to change.

Yeah. I just removed it, and it's not the same. ED implement some of Taz' other tweaks, and I wish they would implement this one too.

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[YoYo]

New patch for DCS:

Maybe this?

• Fixed: Crash instigated by invalid zip file used in mods

[VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants]

Off-topic, still waiting this new hot fix to show up.

[slughead]

That probably won't "fix" it. It will just stop DCS from crashing. If you want it to have any effect, the mod still needs to be fixed.

4 minutes ago, VR Flight Guy in PJ Pants said:

Off-topic, still waiting this new hot fix to show up.

It's now available. I just updated.

Edited November 2, 2024 by slughead

[YoYo]

Unfortunately that's not it, still CTD, too bad ... 

[Esac_mirmidon]

I was looking into the mod files searching for changes, and trying to adapt to the new files that have changed with the updates. There are several changes so far, but its beyond my knowledge to edit all files to the new DCS standard. Some are easy to adapt, but the ones with .fx subfix are a little complicated and everytime i try to edit them im running into shaders errors loading DCS.

Now my brain is exhausted, but i will try later.

[OSIW]

Thanks for trying.

[Esac_mirmidon]

Well, so far so good i was able to edit the mod an make it work with  some issues:

1.- I wasnt able to reproduce all the effects from the original mod because shaders errors at loading.

2.- Because of that the Catapult Steam effect SHOULD not be exactly the same as before. Tested and working well but maybe is not the same.

3.- I wasnt able to make the explosions smoke last longer, even editing the World.lua where the times should be expanded. I cant find where to edit that parameter to make the smoke last longer as before. But the effects, color, lod distance are working as expected.

4.- No crashes on my end on any explosion of any ordinance ( cluster bombs, CBU, Mk series )

5.- Water Explosions working with the different tone.

6.- is VERY POSSIBLE that i´ve made some mistakes on some files so DONT EXPECT TO BE AS THE ORIGINAL MOD with everything.

7.- OVGME ready. Just delete _EDITED from the zip file name, if OVGME doesnt recognize it.

If anyone with a wider knowledge can be able to search and try to fix the smoke time, the rest is working as far as i know.

DISCLAIMER: This mod was created by Taz1004. All credits go for him. If someone thinks i should not edit his mod i will remove the link. They are just stock files from DCS edited but i dont want any credit about the mod. This is Taz1004 work.

 

Taz1004_Better_Smoke_v22_EDITED.zip

Edited November 2, 2024 by Esac_mirmidon

[Esac_mirmidon]

I was trying all morning to adjust the smoke duration, no luck. This is one of the key features for me so im sorry to disappoint people hoping for a better outcome.

[YoYo]

9 minutes ago, Esac_mirmidon said:

I was trying all morning to adjust the smoke duration, no luck. This is one of the key features for me so im sorry to disappoint people hoping for a better outcome.

Thanks for trying. For now, we have to live with what we have, and maybe Taz will come back here someday .. 

[OSIW]

Todays hotfix patchnotes sound like the original mod might work again. Can`t try myself right now though.

[Esac_mirmidon]

Worth a try but seems related to something else, not this kind of mods

Edited November 5, 2024 by Esac_mirmidon

[MAXsenna]

1 hour ago, OSIW said:

Todays hotfix patchnotes sound like the original mod might work again. Can`t try myself right now though.

Gonna test!

No go, crashes 2.9.9.2474

Edited November 5, 2024 by MAXsenna