A10C-II HUD Brightness fix... IC Safe

[Taz1004]

I was flying F16C and realized it didn't have the problem A10C-II had even when flying into the Sun.  All shots below are taken under same setting.  View in full size.

Then I realized it's not just the HUD but everything was darker in F16C and everything was yellowish in A10C-II.  So I made A10C-II canopy glass darker and removed the yellow tint.

And the HUD popped.  Again, both shots are under same environment and lighting.  View in full size.

With the help of @pieroboy99, I was able to package this into Cockpit Mod so it is now IC safe.

 

DOWNLOAD

HUD Fix Only  has above fix with darker canopy glass and glass reflection removed.  If you want the reflections, you need to revise the description.lua file and delete the lines with "glass_Reflect".

HUD Fix with Optimization  is same as above with optimized normal and roughmet files as discussed here.  You should not see change in quality as Diffuse textures are not touched.  But should save you some VRAM.  Whether you'll benefit from this optimization or not probably will depend on your setup.

Install:  Choose a version to download.  Extract "Liveries" folder into your \SavedGames\DCS\  Then choose the cockpit version from Options - Special

 

 

Below is for Old A10C Warthog only.  For A10C-II Tank Killer, use the versions above.

Legacy A10C HUD Fix Only (2.5.6)

Legacy A10C HUD Fix Only (2.7)

Edited December 9, 2021 by Taz1004

[MAXsenna]

You never stops to amaze me Taz.
I know nothing about Lua, but I would love have this in Saved Games, and as a selectable cockpit under the specials menu. Should pass the IC tests then, right?
Cheers!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

[wowbagger]

Nice work!

 

The yellowish tint is there by design - I think it's an electro-magentic coating to try to reduce radar reflections from the canopy area. But I have always found it really distracting in game. Granted it seems less noticeable in the II than in the I, at least to me.

 

I have never liked the A-10 HUD. It always feels too small and misaligned for a proper head position (my opinion).

 

Your changes though definitely look great in the screen shots. 

 

[LeCuvier]

Very helpful. No more squinting, trying to read washed-out HUD indications. I was a bit worried that the darker tint of the HUD might make ground attack with Gun and Rockets more difficult, but it turned out to be ok (although I would prefer less tint). Night operation is ok too, just have to turn down intensity.

It does fail IC in MP, but that's not an issue for me. Unfortunately, I do not understand how to make it work in Saved Games. That would eliminate the need to manage the mod in OvGME.

[Taz1004]

14 hours ago, LeCuvier said:

Very helpful. No more squinting, trying to read washed-out HUD indications. I was a bit worried that the darker tint of the HUD might make ground attack with Gun and Rockets more difficult, but it turned out to be ok (although I would prefer less tint). Night operation is ok too, just have to turn down intensity.

It does fail IC in MP, but that's not an issue for me. Unfortunately, I do not understand how to make it work in Saved Games. That would eliminate the need to manage the mod in OvGME.

 

Well, I tried to package into a new cockpit mod but A10C-II seems to work differently than other modules.  And I can't figure out how to make it work in /SavedGames/Liveries/

Maybe someone will figure it out.

[LeCuvier]

1 hour ago, Taz1004 said:

 

Well, I tried to package into a new cockpit mod but A10C-II seems to work differently than other modules.  And I can't figure out how to make it work in /SavedGames/Liveries/

Maybe someone will figure it out.

That's one of the things I don't like in DCS World: Every developer seems to program their module differently; no enforcement of programing guidelines. So a solution that works fine in some modules will not work in certain other modules. This must be a nightmare for software maintenance and support...

[wowbagger]

This is soooo very true. Can't understand why there isn't a more rigidly enforced standardization for things that all modules share. 

 

Recently, when asked why their module didn't recognize the show pilot in cockpit options setting, the Community Manager for that developer responded with "Well we dont make the other modules, were a different 3rd Party Developer trying different things all the time and experimenting with new features."

 

I couldn't believe they were actually serious. 

[Taz1004]

Was able to package it into cockpit mod so it should be IC safe now.  First time making cockpit mod so please let me know of any bugs.

Also included version with optimization.

Edited January 3, 2021 by Taz1004

[pieroboy99]

I use your optimized one, and it works flawlessly, with in app choice config for the A10C II via DCS "Spécial" tab.

Like a pro  !

[LeCuvier]

I wish I understood what changes you made to "a10c_cpt_fn_20_glass_Diffuse.dds". I opened original and modified file with Photoshop ( I do have the DDS plugin) but didn't see any difference.

The other thing I can't figure out is, in the description.lua, where do you find the names in the first column and the numeric values in the second one?

[Taz1004]

11 minutes ago, LeCuvier said:

I wish I understood what changes you made to "a10c_cpt_fn_20_glass_Diffuse.dds". I opened original and modified file with Photoshop ( I do have the DDS plugin) but didn't see any difference.

The other thing I can't figure out is, in the description.lua, where do you find the names in the first column and the numeric values in the second one?

 

I just made it darker and reduced saturation.  If you're not seeing any difference, my only guess is because either you didn't save it in correct format or didn't save it in right place.

You have to extract the description.lua from the EDM file using ModelViewer2.exe.  This didn't work for A10C-II which was what I was having trouble with.  pieroboy99 helped me realize I can extract it from older one and reverse engineer it.

Edited January 3, 2021 by Taz1004

[LeCuvier]

34 minutes ago, Taz1004 said:

 

I just made it darker and reduced saturation.  If you're not seeing any difference, my only guess is because either you didn't save it in correct format or didn't save it in right place.

You have to extract the description.lua from the EDM file using ModelViewer2.exe.  This didn't work for A10C-II which was what I was having trouble with.  pieroboy99 helped me realize I can extract it from older one and reverse engineer it.

 

What I meant to say: I did not see a difference in Photoshop. I did install your mod under Saved Games and in the sim I certainly see a difference.

My only problem is with the darker HUD when I go for ground targets with the gun, in places where the ground has a darkish color. The targets are then hard to see (especially for my old eyes). And thanks for the info re ModelViewer! When I feel courageous enough I will try to get a slightly more transparent HUD without losing the visibility of the indications.

[LeCuvier]

When I open "a10c_cpt_fn_20_glass_Diffuse.dds" in Photoshop, all I see is a black square. I wouldn't even know where the HUD is in there.

[Taz1004]

17 hours ago, LeCuvier said:

What I meant to say: I did not see a difference in Photoshop. I did install your mod under Saved Games and in the sim I certainly see a difference.

My only problem is with the darker HUD when I go for ground targets with the gun, in places where the ground has a darkish color. The targets are then hard to see (especially for my old eyes). And thanks for the info re ModelViewer! When I feel courageous enough I will try to get a slightly more transparent HUD without losing the visibility of the indications.

 

You will see something if you flatten the layer.  And it should open as transparent image, not black square.  You may have incorrect transparency setting in Photoshop.

You can find the HUD location from other files like roughmet and normal maps.

This canopy is not as dark as F16C.  You can fine tweak it but if you brighten it, then you'll lose HUD.  It's double edge sword.  I suggest increasing gamma.

Edited January 4, 2021 by Taz1004

[Sr.]

Very nice!!

 

Even flying into the sun.

 

 

[LeCuvier]

@Taz1004: I finally managed to open the .dds file (after installing a new plug-in from NVIDIA) and see something useful. I selected to open with "Open with Alpha as channel" and "Open MIPMAPS". I selected the rectangle in the bottom left and reduced brightness.

With -50 it got about as dark as your mod. That's too dark for me. I will use -30 or -35. On my rig, that's dark enough to make the indications more visible, and I can still see ground targets on a dark surface. Besides, I can still increase HUD intensity when the daylight is too bad.

I believe that the individual hardware configurations and user settings can cause signicant variation in what's the best brightness adjustment for somebody.

Thanks for your help!

Edited January 4, 2021 by LeCuvier

[Caldera]

Taz,

 

This is my second attempt at a MOD.  The first one was SRS everything went smoothly, but it used an installer.  I see the line DCS-SRS (among others) in the SPECIAL tab, but I do not see anything about your mod in this tab.  I must have extracted to the wrong folder.

 

The folder I extracted to:

C:\Users\%username%\Saved Games\DCS

So now the path looks like:

C:\Users\%username%\Saved Games\DCS\Taz1004_A10C_II_Cockpit_Optimized

 

The Tax1004_A10C*** folder has folders contained with in exactly as it was extracted.  Is this correct?

 

I would really like to try your mod.  Struggling at times to see the HUD.

 

Caldera

[Taz1004]

46 minutes ago, Caldera said:

Taz,

 

This is my second attempt at a MOD.  The first one was SRS everything went smoothly, but it used an installer.  I see the line DCS-SRS (among others) in the SPECIAL tab, but I do not see anything about your mod in this tab.  I must have extracted to the wrong folder.

 

The folder I extracted to:

C:\Users\%username%\Saved Games\DCS

So now the path looks like:

C:\Users\%username%\Saved Games\DCS\Taz1004_A10C_II_Cockpit_Optimized

 

The Tax1004_A10C*** folder has folders contained with in exactly as it was extracted.  Is this correct?

 

I would really like to try your mod.  Struggling at times to see the HUD.

 

Caldera

 

No, you should've extracted the folder inside that "Taz1004_A10C_II_Cockpit_Optimized".  Liveries.

Zip file is packaged that way for OvGME format.

 

Should look like

C:\Users\%username%\Saved Games\DCS\Liveries\A-10C-2020-CPT\Taz1004 Custom Aged\

and

C:\Users\%username%\Saved Games\DCS\Liveries\A-10C-2020-CPT\Taz1004 Custom New\

Edited January 6, 2021 by Taz1004

[Caldera]

Is OvGME an app?

 

Caldera

[Taz1004]

It's a mod manager.

[Caldera]

I got it working, looks great.  Thanks Again!

 

Edit:  Now I can play and I don't feel like my nose is shoved up against the HUD panel just to be able to read it.

 

Caldera

Edited January 6, 2021 by Caldera

[dporter22]

Not sure it's working for me.  Still looks washed out and still can't see the HUD.

 

 

[Taz1004]

29 minutes ago, dporter22 said:

Not sure it's working for me.  Still looks washed out and still can't see the HUD.

 

 

 

That's A10C cockpit.  This mod is for A10C-II.

[atrcaptainjohn]

Taz, is there a way to get this to work on the basic A-10C?  I got it working on the II, but would also like to have it on the original for some training campaigns.  Thanks!

[Taz1004]

4 hours ago, atrcaptainjohn said:

Taz, is there a way to get this to work on the basic A-10C?  I got it working on the II, but would also like to have it on the original for some training campaigns.  Thanks!

 

Included in the first post.