Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Wishlist => Topic started by: Captain Virgil Hilts on August 30, 2008, 08:50:40 AM

Title: decent water texture and color
Post by: Captain Virgil Hilts on August 30, 2008, 08:50:40 AM
The texture and color of the water is just, well, terrible. It offers NOTHING in the way of depth perception. It's often way too dark, it does not change color or brightness depending on your distance from it, nor does it have enough texture for you to see how close you are to it. The "waves" appear to be the same size if you are at 10 feet as they do if you are at 10,000 feet. The water always appears as if it were intended to simulate the depth perception issues you'd have with water under low light conditions, such as early dawn, late dusk, or even night.
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: mike254 on August 30, 2008, 11:00:38 AM
I agree, the water we have now is horrible, it doesnt resemble water at all. I don't know if you remember this but we used to have animated water. It looked awsome! It actually looked like water, the sun reflected off it, it looked like it was moving and it wasn't this dark blue color we have now. It was an option in graphic detail that you could check off. After the graphics update (the same update that the sherman was put into the game) the option was no longer there, and we were stuck with the "water" we have now. HTC never said why they removed it and I have mentioned this in a few posts. I have no idea why they got rid of it, if it lowered frame rates you always had the option to turn it off. HT please put animated water back in the game! :pray
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Denholm on August 30, 2008, 11:17:56 AM
I got my new video card two days after the game update which eliminated the animated water. I never got to see it. :(

Please bring it back. :)
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Hap on August 30, 2008, 11:22:12 AM
Animated water was bad too.  Once they get it right, it'll be sweet.
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Spikes on August 30, 2008, 01:39:59 PM
It'd be nice to see waves crashing up on the beach once in a blue moon...
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: 007Rusty on August 30, 2008, 01:44:24 PM
who cares what the water looks like , last time I checked this was a flying sim..  :D
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: titanic3 on August 30, 2008, 01:46:01 PM
Beach party!!!!!  :lol

Sure, bring the water back. :aok
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Yossarian on August 30, 2008, 01:58:47 PM
Better water = good.   :aok

<S>

Yossarian
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: uberslet on August 30, 2008, 02:09:59 PM
i like this idea, i think itd be neat for more realistice water
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Spikes on August 30, 2008, 02:20:08 PM
who cares what the water looks like , last time I checked this was a flying sim..  :D
Because it ain't no flight sim if you keep crashing into the unknown sea.
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: USRanger on August 30, 2008, 03:03:41 PM
Been working on a lil' something:

(http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/5934/waterrh3ap3.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: uberslet on August 30, 2008, 03:06:30 PM
looks sexy ranger
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Saxman on August 30, 2008, 04:50:07 PM
Any way you can take a snap with the grid on? Be interested in knowing the scale of the waves.
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: glock89 on August 30, 2008, 05:49:59 PM
looks sexy ranger
:aok
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: USRanger on August 30, 2008, 06:59:13 PM
I sure will Sax.  That pic was taken from an alt of about 200 ft. or so.  Give me til tomorrow.  I'll show a pic w/ grid and one or two with a plane.
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Captain Virgil Hilts on September 06, 2008, 07:31:34 AM
Ranger, have you had time to do those shots?
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Odisseo on September 06, 2008, 11:05:53 AM

When I was flying in WB I asked why they didnt improved and updated the grafic aspect, the reply has been "peaple don't buy our game, they just pay to play it. Too hight res = less players who can have a good and updated PC".

Ofcourse, if such update is "checkable" and can turned off, count me in! It's ages i'm thinking that AH ground textures have a lack of details
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Denholm on September 06, 2008, 11:40:23 AM
The question I have for Ranger:

The light reflecting, is it from the game engine or from the actual texture? :cool:
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Getback on September 06, 2008, 11:52:15 AM
Amen to that!
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: USRanger on September 06, 2008, 12:01:01 PM
Crap.  I've been slacking.  I'll get the texture into a working map today and post some pics this evening, plus one with the grid for Sax.  I didn't forget, just had a crazy busy week. <S>
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Denholm on September 06, 2008, 12:19:03 PM
So, the reflection of light in the picture. From the texture or AH's lighting system?
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Captain Virgil Hilts on September 06, 2008, 01:27:40 PM
Crap.  I've been slacking.  I'll get the texture into a working map today and post some pics this evening, plus one with the grid for Sax.  I didn't forget, just had a crazy busy week. <S>

Hey, thanks for the effort. It's a favor to the rest of us, it's not like we're paying you.
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: USRanger on September 06, 2008, 02:37:11 PM
Some shots:

(http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/9687/wa1dl5.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/5345/wa2rm0.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/8468/wa3kr4.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/5975/wa4jy0.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/6571/wa5et1.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Speed55 on September 06, 2008, 02:45:18 PM
That looks awesome man!   :O
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: mensa180 on September 06, 2008, 02:46:20 PM
It looks like the water is too "big".  Is there a way to make it smaller?

Thanks for the effort in the first place, though!
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Motherland on September 06, 2008, 02:47:46 PM
It looks like the water is too "big".  Is there a way to make it smaller?

Thanks for the effort in the first place, though!
That's what I was thinking... the reflection spots look like they should be several inches wide, but they're as big as the wingspan of an N1KJ2 :uhoh
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: USRanger on September 06, 2008, 03:01:25 PM
I agree about the reflections & probably would remove them altogether.  I'd also do some blurring to make the colors blend better.  Saxman,  I didn't get a shot with the grid, but if you look at the pic from in-cockpit, that was at an alt of about 50 ft.  I think that one shows best the wave "height".  Though this texture is far from ready,  I just wanted to show what type of water we could have, with no fps loss that I've ever found.
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: USRanger on September 06, 2008, 03:07:39 PM
Here's a pic with a different texture.  It's a little more extreme, but I like it better than flat blue water.

(http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/1063/vevbb1mq9.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: croduh on September 06, 2008, 03:12:05 PM
I have been messing a lot with water textures.I think HTC was aiming at cold North Atlantic (greener) waters , rather than pacific or med - type waters.

This is my vision of water textures:

(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z144/croduh/newwatrer.jpg?t=1220731794)

Oh and, Ranger you are using way way old jungle tree pack, they have shadows now ;)
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: USRanger on September 06, 2008, 03:18:45 PM
CC Croduh :aok  That pic is a couple years old.  Where can I get em?

Btw, I love the color of the water in that pic you posted.  Beautiful.
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Saxman on September 06, 2008, 04:38:41 PM
Here's a pic with a different texture.  It's a little more extreme, but I like it better than flat blue water.

(http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/1063/vevbb1mq9.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

MMMmmmm. Pacificy. :D

We seriously NEED a PTO object set for the mains. The Eurocentricness of the current maps is boring.
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Bruv119 on September 07, 2008, 10:30:33 AM
that looks like a vast improvement ranger  :aok

hopefully HTC can incorporate something like that.
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: P1Tiger on September 07, 2008, 12:19:40 PM
and the shore's its odd driving along them and seeing a block of water and the a block of sand next to it, over and over again
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: SectorNine50 on September 08, 2008, 05:21:47 AM
Ranger, is there a way to raise the resolution of that texture?  So that in the one "square" of water, there are more pixels?  It seems to me that the image is too stretched, and it makes it look of lesser quality (Not saying it is, it looks good!  But the resolution could use some work IMHO).
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: USRanger on September 08, 2008, 03:50:48 PM
Yep.  It must be a 1024x1024 .bmp, so I'll shrink it down to 64x64, then copy & paste it over & over onto a 1024 background, until it is full.  This will give us the same basic texture but at a much more realistic size wave-wise (and probably crisper).
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: glock89 on September 08, 2008, 03:55:06 PM
I have been messing a lot with water textures.I think HTC was aiming at cold North Atlantic (greener) waters , rather than pacific or med - type waters.

This is my vision of water textures:

(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z144/croduh/newwatrer.jpg?t=1220731794)

Oh and, Ranger you are using way way old jungle tree pack, they have shadows now ;)
Now that water.  :aok
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Spikes on September 08, 2008, 06:07:56 PM
If we can get this with no FPS loss, why the heck we waitin'?!
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: SectorNine50 on September 09, 2008, 01:49:37 AM
If we can get this with no FPS loss, why the heck we waitin'?!
Because you keep distracting everyone with your picture... :confused:
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Kev367th on September 09, 2008, 02:01:18 AM
I agree, the water we have now is horrible, it doesnt resemble water at all. I don't know if you remember this but we used to have animated water. It looked awsome! It actually looked like water, the sun reflected off it, it looked like it was moving and it wasn't this dark blue color we have now. It was an option in graphic detail that you could check off. After the graphics update (the same update that the sherman was put into the game) the option was no longer there, and we were stuck with the "water" we have now. HTC never said why they removed it and I have mentioned this in a few posts. I have no idea why they got rid of it, if it lowered frame rates you always had the option to turn it off. HT please put animated water back in the game! :pray

Didn't like the old animated water.
Looked more like ripples in a pond, and I totally lost depth perception with it turned on.
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Odisseo on September 09, 2008, 03:02:31 AM


What miss, imho wich would give a better depth perception and ofcourse a nice look, are diffrent blue colours
(http://www.bb-giannienelsa.it/images/Spiagge2.jpg)
(http://www.tonisfriends.com/images/mare.jpg)
(http://www.inizioweb.net/sfondi/spiagge_04.jpg)
(http://www.inizioweb.net/sfondi/spiagge_02.jpg)

And what would be nice to see too... (imagine the nice fights over the sea long those stone walls!)
(http://www.bb-giannienelsa.it/images/Falesie1.jpg)
(http://villaacquamarina.com/paesaggi/foto-scogliera-gondola.jpg)
(http://www.arctictravel.it/scienza/info/scogliera_islandese.jpg)

Greetz!
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: 1pLUs44 on September 09, 2008, 07:31:45 AM
guys, just be glad it's nothing like WarBirds' water. Even if I'm just about completely out of ammo and on the deck, I'll shoot the water to test my distance from it. Only game that actually has good water is FA3, and it has crappy everything else.
Title: Re: decent water texture and color
Post by: Denholm on September 09, 2008, 10:39:33 AM
Odisseo, water tiles can only have one color. To do what you mentioned (different colors) would require a separate water object, which the game engine would see as a solid as opposed to a liquid. As for the cliffs, we can't get that type of an effect in the TE. So we would have to build it custom, which has been done before in some of XJazz's terrains. However this type of terrain will only be accepted into the SEA.