CFS3
Thanks for checking in AnKor and for all your work. Looking forward to hearing more about the other upcoming features!Originally Posted by AnKor
Thanks for checking in AnKor and for all your work. Looking forward to hearing more about the other upcoming features!
Hi Gecko,
I'm really new to CFS3 and I've managed to get ETO, MAW and Korea (KTCS) up and running with Ankor's Self Shadowing mod and SweetFX. But when I installed your Environment v2.0 mods in all three only ETO would run with both your mod and Ankor's. MAW and Korea CTD just a few seconds after the splash screen. When I uninstall Ankor's mod then your environment mod works. Since both can co-exist in ETO I'm thinking there is some kind of conflict that I hopefully can fix in Korea and MAW. Also, I backed out SweetFX and left Ankor's mod in and still got the CTD in Korea and MAW when I installed your mod, so I'm pretty sure it is Ankor's mod that won't get along with your Environment V2.0, but strange they get along in ETO.
Any ideas? I'm no expert at this stuff, but I'm a retired programmer in other languages and usually pretty good at tweaking things if instructions are provided.
Thanks for your help!
Edit: Well, I got a little further with ETO but had a CTD when I clicked on "Fly" so I guess there is a compatibility problem between Ankor's mod and CFS3 Environment v2.0? Looks like it would be a great mod to have running. Please let me know if there is something I can do to get both running at the same time. Thanks!
Last edited by Kodiak; September 12th, 2014 at 23:11. Reason: Update on ETO
The two mods are not compatible. I recommend that you uninstall mine and install Ankor's mod and keep an eye out for when he updates it, he is still adding some great new features. There are some parts from my package that you can still use which aren't superseded by Ankor's work.
You can install the suneffect.xml and the textures from the effects/skybox and effects/weather folders as well as the .xmls in the weather folder from my Envirnment 2.0 and these will not conflict with Ankor's work. These will give you the dark nights and improved sun and reflections and a variety of new weather conditions to fly in. I would uninstall the rest so you can enjoy Ankor's work.
Thanks for this info, Gecko.
In particular I was after the dark nights and I liked your blended skyline also, so will adjust as you suggest and give things a try.
In case this has not been cited yet, with the mod, searchlights don't seem to work properly. Try the Operation Chastise mission and you'll see what I mean. Is this Ankor's mod or a compatibility issue with the new environments again like the water was?
It has to do with compatibility with Ankor's work, they aren't supported right now, hopefully at some point though.
Hopefully
Is there any way I can see those searchlights in CFS3? I suppose they aren't present in the stock version but added by some expansion?
I know there are searchlights in WOFF, but I don't know whether they are the same or custom made ones.
Here is the original searchlight for CFS3: http://www.mrjmaint.com/RegsHanger/G...for%20CFS3.php
It functions exactly the same as the ones in WOFF. The beams are really just semi transparent material, the same as glass (though these are set to not use the environment map) with really high specular properties. Both these and the WOFF searchlights make use of a texture on the beam, in another version available with the MAW expansion the beams are untextured material. I can send these to you if you need them.
As I understand I also need a custom mission to see them work, but don't bother with it now if it is difficult to get, I'm still too focused on new features for the next version. After it is released for WOFF I'll try to devote some time to fix remaining CFS3 issues.
I can fix up a couple things pretty quick so you can get a look at them, but no worries on the timing, the next release sounds like it will be fantastic.
Hi folks. Been experimenting with Ankors newest shaders effects in BOB and they look amazing and clear up issues regarding distorted props ect however I have noticed one big problem. A band of distortion exists on the horizon and any aircraft will temporarily disappear or part there of, if flying through this "band". Is this happening only in BOB or is it a problem in any other theaters? Does anyone else experience this problem? This is the only theater I've tried in with. Is there a fix coming? Just thought I'd bring it too your attention.
It has to do with your config settings. IIRC I think you have to turn off dual pass render and the band will go away.
Having trouble with this A/C :I_16_type12. When I switch on the Ankor mod I get
When I sould be getting
That's odd. And that's the problem with supporting CFS3 - so many mods, tweaks, and different ways models are made. Even WOFF has some problems with aircraft model consistency which prevent me from better tuning of some effects.
As I said I need to finish a few things for WOFF 2.0 release which is getting closer and then I'll try to fix CFS3 issues. By the way, you can see some V2.0 screenshots here: http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4018110/
I cannot guarantee that those shadows will work flawlessly with CFS3 as they use some WOFF specific features (devs added some code to tell my dll which season and weather it is), but in general it works here too - I test with stock CFS3 a lot while writing code because it is simply quicker to launch than WOFF.
There's a bit more than terrain and cloud shadows by the way, one small but nice feature wasn't shown yet
And yes, "Dual Pass Render" must be turned off for my shaders to work properly, it causes that weird band at horizon.
AnKor,
Now that you've gone pro with WOFF will that bring an end to your efforts here?
US Army, Major, Ret.
Service To The Line,
On The Line,
On Time
US Army Ordnance Corps.
Hi!
No, I still have plans for CFS3 features and to make a separate release of my mod.
I just need some rest and I also want to wait a bit to make sure there is no unexpected bugs in the version released with WOFF 2.0.
Thanks! Let us know what we can do to help.
US Army, Major, Ret.
Service To The Line,
On The Line,
On Time
US Army Ordnance Corps.
That's good news Ankor and your work is very much appreciated! You definitely deserve a break after all you've done for us. :0)No, I still have plans for CFS3 features and to make a separate release of my mod.
I just need some rest and I also want to wait a bit to make sure there is no unexpected bugs in the version released with WOFF 2.0.
Just a thought while I'm here.....can this mod be carried over to other older sims too? Thinking specifically of Shockwaves Battle of Britain II or is there just too much work involved?
Cheers
Clive
CFS3 Battle of Britain Website: https://cfs3bob.wixsite.com/cfs3-bob
CFS3 ACC Member & ETO Expansion Group
Hi! Thanks
As for other sims - no, shadow and other effects require a lot of code which is very specific to the game. In fact, we are very lucky that CFS3 graphics engine is so simple and straightforward that it is possible to add all these features.
Some people asked me about IL2 1946, I looked into it out of curiosity and while I managed to run it with DirectX 9 wrapper (although with limited settings) it seems to be impossible to add anything interesting there -- the engine is very different and thoroughly optimized so all those tricks I use for CFS3 just won't work.
Bump..
Hi!
I'm very busy with my RL work until the New Year, but then I'm planning to release a standalone version of the latest shaders.
Besides what is already available in WOFF 2.0 I plan to add two new features.
- Reflector sights.
You will be able to add it to any suitable aircraft by editing .xdp and placing a sprite effect with specifically named texture in front of the gunsight. "Original" static gunsight has to be hidden somehow though.
Then my shaders will take care of moving the reticle as needed.
- Normal maps and material maps.
CFS3 uses *_s.dds textures to allow fine grained control of aircraft shininess, and I plan to add support for supplying normals, self illumination and/or shininess in additional texture which will be picked up by my shaders.
Normal maps should allow to have proper bump mapping instead of current approximation (which causes roundels to be embossed). And self illumination should obviously improve cockpit instruments.
Of course I will need to discuss details of these features with modders and WOFF devs. I'm just too busy currently.
Last edited by AnKor; December 11th, 2014 at 04:08.
These will be very nice indedd !
2015 will be a terrific year for on going CFS3.
Bump
I've modified all of my m3d files to eliminate some of what I see as the shader compatibility issues between Win 7 with SpecularEnabled in the Shaders.xml file, and AnKor's mod. This involves hex editing the specular factor to lower values, and turning off the reflective texture where needed.
The latest update of ETO to 1.5 undid a lot of my previous work, so I've been spending the Holidays going back and re-implementing these fixes. It only takes a minute to make the change, but for 650+ aircraft in each of my different installs it represents a lot of work. Here's and example of what it looks like:
The top two shows my modifications with AnKor's mod turned on, and then with it off.
The bottom two are the stock versions from ETO 1.5 with AnKor's Mod turned on and then with it off.
I'm shooting for a natural looking sheen on the skin with relatively narrow specular highlights, versus the broad areas of very light reflections.
This happens to some of the cockpit files as well.
How I've been making theses changes is pretty well documented here (entry #58): http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...dge-base/page3 If you have questions, feel free to ask me for help.
US Army, Major, Ret.
Service To The Line,
On The Line,
On Time
US Army Ordnance Corps.
Members who have read this thread: 102
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks