Special Aircraft Service

the SAS Hangar => The Lounge => Topic started by: WxTech on November 17, 2021, 01:22:32 PM

Title: Further evolution of smoke and other effects for soon-to-come v1.3 of my effects pack
Post by: WxTech on November 17, 2021, 01:22:32 PM
Here are a couple views of ground smokes, illustrating the application of a more 'clumpy', organic look suggestive of uneven emission and the effect of turbulence. These are mostly smokes from destroyed fuel trucks, with one larger fuel tank and a plane in the mix.

Since the release of v1.2 of my effects pack, I've been beavering away, with most elements (hundreds of files) having had further tweaking. While most changes will not be obviously different, the further refinement is worthy of a new release (v1.3), which will be soon.

(https://i.imgur.com/mjvw4vm.jpg)
Title: Re: Further evolution of smoke effects
Post by: larschance on November 17, 2021, 04:05:18 PM
Looking good. Thanks for adding so much to the immersion factor. Appreciate the hard work involved in all your mods.
Title: Re: Further evolution of smoke effects
Post by: Andy H on November 17, 2021, 05:37:10 PM
+1.

Don't you ever sleep, Mr Tech?
Title: Re: Further evolution of smoke effects
Post by: waterenjoyer1994 on November 17, 2021, 08:41:14 PM

Nice work, can't wait for the next update. Also the reshade/filters on the screenshots remind me of the newer IL-2's, are they your own settings?

Cheers
Title: Re: Further evolution of smoke effects
Post by: WxTech on November 17, 2021, 08:47:18 PM
I've incorporated the Flak illumination mod (as offered a some time back by Mike) in my effects pack already from the start. I just found a logic error I had introduced in the code while I was incorporating further refinements. One would probably not notice the deficiency right away, perhaps not at all, but I feel much better for having fixed it.

With this flak lighting addition to Explosions.class, I did a few things differently. One is to not have the small calibre stuff (in the Zenitka folders "Germ_20mm" and USSR_25mm") induce any lighting at all. The main reason is that even when setting the intensity quite low and making it effective over a short distance, bursts in or even near clouds cause the clouds to light up like a crazy lightning thunderstorm. And I mean the entire cloud texture element, even if very large. (If the lighting could be confined locally, to just the part of the texture near the light source, that might be OK.) And so it's only the bigger flak for which I've made the illumination active. Another change is to keep the illumination more restricted, so that the landscape/waterscape below, and the clouds above, should not be illuminated to a degree that's horrible.

Here's a couple of perspectives of a nearby burst (the flash texture and the illumination last only 0.06 seconds), from the outside of the plane and inside. It's really neat to see the flashing going on while flying through a dense barrage!


(https://i.imgur.com/YkH6Wr9.jpg)
Title: Re: Further evolution of smoke effects
Post by: WxTech on November 17, 2021, 08:50:39 PM

Nice work, can't wait for the next update. Also the reshade/filters on the screenshots remind me of the newer IL-2's, are they your own settings?

Cheers

Just two of the included effects in Reshade, used 'out of the box', with no tweaking. They are:

  prod80_02_Bloom  (The most important, which provides the whiter, lighter horizon haze)

  pd80_02_Bonus_LUT_pack  (gives a warm color cast)