It turns out to not be that hard to do once I took the time to figure out the 5 step process. Now I have a whole new list of aircraft to upgrade to 2017 standards.
This can be implemented progressively once the first 4 steps are completed. Like adding contrails and dynamic reticles to the effects section of your aircraft xdp files, you can turn on the +clight.dds image effect whenever you have time to make the edit, and your other aircraft will remain unaffected until you're ready to do them.
US Army, Major, Ret.
Service To The Line,
On The Line,
On Time
US Army Ordnance Corps.
5 step process?
Cato said "Carthaginem esse delendam"
I say "Carthago iam diu deleta,sed enim Bellum Alium adhuc aedificandum est"
1. Create a small 1 pixel (white) file called light_uv.DDS.
2. In the TextureMagic.ini add an entry to define the Cockpit light and you can set that to look like the dim UV black-light sheen by using:
light_uv.dds=Spot|130026|2.0||||30|30
3. Create a light file for each gauge texture to designate what you want to glow when the cockpit light turns on. For example, a_gauges_1.dds needs a file called a_gauges_1.+clight.dds
4. In effects.xml you'll need to add:
<cockpit_light_uv ClassName="Shockwave" PullOnGround="0" CountCycles="1" Pulse="0" InitialDelay="0" Duration="99999" FadeInTime="0" FadeOutTime="0" Pause="0" PosX="0" PosY="0" PosZ="0" InitialSize="0.0001" FinalSize="0.0001" Texture="light_uv.DDS" BlendMode="QuadSprite"/>
5. In the aircraft xpd you'll need something like: (the position will need adjustment for each specific cockpit to illuminate the dash panel)
<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="cockpit_light_uv" PosX="-0.475" PosZ="0.0" PosY="0.5" Pitch="110" Heading="20" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>
<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="cockpit_light_uv" PosX="0.475" PosZ="0.0" PosY="0.5" Pitch="110" Heading="-20" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>
US Army, Major, Ret.
Service To The Line,
On The Line,
On Time
US Army Ordnance Corps.
As requested, here is the file I used in the city lights test I posted in the screenshots. This was borrowed from the 1940 ETO Assets folder, and I turned a full brightness light on in every window for maximum effect. Real city lights would probably need an edit to randomize things a bit more (bright/dim, on/off, colors, etc.) to look realistic. In most cases, wartime black-out rules would argue against using this in the game anyway.
Thinking about runway lights, I also did run a test with doing this using +clight to see if the city lights might turn on and off using the L keyboard command, but they just stayed off. Assigning +nlight to the appropriate texture file would work for lighting airfields, but it looks like it they would have to stay on all night.
I thought that WOFF may already be using this functionality, but I couldn't find any dds files using the xxx.+nlight.dds functionality in my install.
ETO Building Light Test.zip
Last edited by MajorMagee; March 27th, 2017 at 04:16.
US Army, Major, Ret.
Service To The Line,
On The Line,
On Time
US Army Ordnance Corps.
1. Step 5. is there a file somewhere which would indicate the cockpit position?
2. Runway lights. Yes ideally in fact one wants a spawn that only torns them on when one id approaching to land.
Cato said "Carthaginem esse delendam"
I say "Carthago iam diu deleta,sed enim Bellum Alium adhuc aedificandum est"
5. Nope, trial and error. The joys of working with xdps!
I've been experimenting with using +nlight on the main texture to simulate the EL running light strips seen on modern military aircraft, and it seems to work pretty well. The only thing you can't do is turn them on and off.
US Army, Major, Ret.
Service To The Line,
On The Line,
On Time
US Army Ordnance Corps.
As I continue to work on setting up each aircraft I've decided that the glowing green effect needed to be a bit brighter than what I started with. My current standard is RGB 15, 79, 15. I then use a Gaussian Blur set a 0.8 pixels to slightly soften the edges into the black background.Originally Posted by MajorMagee
In comparing this new UV & Green lighting effect versus the original bright red cockpit light, I'm finding that my ability to spot targets outside the cockpit is much better.
US Army, Major, Ret.
Service To The Line,
On The Line,
On Time
US Army Ordnance Corps.
some pics? Are you setting up any ac in particular?
Cato said "Carthaginem esse delendam"
I say "Carthago iam diu deleta,sed enim Bellum Alium adhuc aedificandum est"
I started with upgrading everything I have in DPC Korea. It goes pretty quickly once you have the texture files created since many aircraft share the same gauge file sets.
For aircraft where I've already figured out the dynamic reticle positioning, finding the location for the uv light is pretty easy. Just place the z position a little more negative (aft) than the reticle and you're there. The UV Light effect follows the same rules as the dynamic reticle in that if you try to place it too far distant from the eye view point in the cockpit, the effect won't activate.
Night pictures posted here never look quite the same as they do in game since they don't fill the whole screen. The white surrounding space makes it hard for your eyes to see details in the dark picture. Using the alternate style with the dark grey background helps when viewing pictures, but makes reading the text a problem. (The style selector is at the bottom left of the webpage - SOH is Black on White, CombatFS is White on Grey)
Last edited by MajorMagee; April 5th, 2017 at 18:56.
US Army, Major, Ret.
Service To The Line,
On The Line,
On Time
US Army Ordnance Corps.
Here's the DPC F-86 as an example.
US Army, Major, Ret.
Service To The Line,
On The Line,
On Time
US Army Ordnance Corps.
If one downloads the pic one can get a good realistic view. Looks great!
Cato said "Carthaginem esse delendam"
I say "Carthago iam diu deleta,sed enim Bellum Alium adhuc aedificandum est"
I decided to put a package together for whoever might want to implement this for their own installs. It will be located here once it's been reviewed and approved for publication.
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...3&linkid=22572
I you do not have AnKor's February 2017 shaders successfully running this Mod will not work.
I tried to make the install process as simple as possible (5 steps), but included all the technical tips I could in the instruction sheet (Clight_List.txt). Since it has no effect on the game if you are not running AnKor's shaders, I would hope that this capability could be incorporated into any future aircraft projects by their development teams prior to their release.
Like the Dynamic Reticle implementation, it takes a bit of time to customize it to the hundreds of different aircraft cockpits that are out there, but it is well worth the effort to upgrade to this new standard. Feel free to ask for help with finding the proper aircraft xpd values, but if I do not happen to have the specific model you're working on I won't be able to do much more that give you encouragement.
US Army, Major, Ret.
Service To The Line,
On The Line,
On Time
US Army Ordnance Corps.
Thanks for your work. Plenty to keep us busy. May I suggest that if anyone does specific ac or gauges (set) that they post them here and upload if others want them.
Cato said "Carthaginem esse delendam"
I say "Carthago iam diu deleta,sed enim Bellum Alium adhuc aedificandum est"
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