questions about Comanche 4

[Baldo_the_Don]

I added some stuff to the .zip I attached in my last reply.

I edit a lot of .wav files. I'm uniquely unqualified for the work with my hearing like it is, but I keep trying. I mostly don't hate the new sounds I've worked up, and some sounds I love.

The new 20mlp1.wav I edited is just good, it's better than the original, I like it a lot, but I don't love it. I've never had the chance to hear a 20mm cannon firing, but I assume it's not as rattly as it is in the game.

I hope you try it. Tell me what you think.

[epikur]

thank you, I will test the sound it in the game when I am at the C4 computer again. I opened it as sound file and it sound good .

About the DDS: do you edit the DDS directly in a graphics editor, or do you save a TGA and then convert it to DDS? If conversion: which settings, or is it ok, as long as C4 displays it somehow correctly during a mission?

[Baldo_the_Don]

I convert .tgas with the DDS utilities from nVIDIA. I'm pretty sure I downloaded them from the nVIDIA website, but it might be from NovaHQ, I forget.

I use a .bat file to make it work, and for most things NovaLogic, I have dxt5 compression tags, some with the nomipmap tag, and a few lines have u8888 compression, I'd have to check my notes to see what's up with that (probably for the modding I did on the BF2 demo).

[~BLÃÐE~]

Grab the BFC Tool from the BHD Mod Tools, use it to Decompress the .dds files so Photoshop or what ever will read them.
https://novahq.net/files.php?ID=325

[epikur]

I tested it in C4, Baldo, and it worked and sounds really good! But well, somehow I also liked the original sound, I have to admit .

Thank you, Blade, actually I can open them already, either as DDS or TGA.
I am just not sure whether the DDS converter is ok for my idea changing DDS files (well probably only one file...) in C4, and if I can do anything wrong in the options here attached? Or if anything is important in terms of (perhaps) stability or performance of C4. You see, I know next to nothing about developing.

[Baldo_the_Don]

Originally Posted by epikur

I tested it in C4, Baldo, and it worked and sounds really good! But well, somehow I also liked the original sound, I have to admit .

I think the original 20mlp1.wav is a distorted mess. The first edit I attempted was slightly less noisy between each round, with a bit of boost on each round. I like it better that the original, but it's still suboptimal.

I've made a second edit (https://novahq.net/forum/attachment....7&d=1731255709). I'm not sure it's perfect, but it's a major improvement.

According to the Wikipedia page for the RAH-66, the Comanche carries the XM301 20mm rotary cannon which has a fire rate of 750 or 1500 rpm, and a muzzle velocity of 1030 m/s.

In C4, the fire rate on the 20mm (which I confirmed with a stopwatch and math) is 450 rpm, and the velocity is 300 m/s. (Two of the modifications I made in my C4B mod is a fire rate of 720 rpm {the way timing works in C4, 750 rpm is not possible, 720 is the closest possible, and the next higher is 900, so...} and a velocity of 1000 m/s on the 20mm.)

The latest 20mlp2.wav I made is a 2940 sample section from the G501SH.wav (which has a sample rate of 22050 samples a second, like all .wavs in C4), I boosted the EQ 6 db at 300 Hz, copy-pasted that into the project 12 times for a 1.6 second loop of 450 rpm fire.

The timing is perfect. The tone? Well, I don't hate it.

If you try it, tell me your opinion.

[epikur]

well I am far away from being an expert in those details .
Perhaps (probably) I am more focused on the visual appearance of the cannon than the sound, although it is also important, of course. But I am not so much against the original sound because I perhaps like a bit that it's distorted, don't know. I guess after playing some missions with the new sound and the old sound I will know.

[Baldo_the_Don]

You're being reasonable and patient, and I'm grateful.

I also feel like attaching a comparison image:







The top shows the original C4 tracer, the bottom is my edit.

What I really like about the new sound is that it's slowed and syncronized to the fire rate. I feel like hearing the cannon fire twenty rounds a second when it's only actually firing seven and a half rounds a second gives the feeling more damage should be happening than there is.

So I guess you can say I consider the new sound a well-deployed anti-frustration measure. Because of the fun!

[epikur]

Yes, and I find it really nice that in those older games you can change those things. I will try this sound, or perhaps I even make an own one . The visual of the cannon is good, but I also like the one I made in more yellow with a very little of red. Could be thinner perhaps, but I did not like the green cannon. The green is still sometimes coming through as it is probably coded that way that it depends on transparency and light (darker = greener).

I also tried the mentioned converter in all options (see my screenshot of the possible settings). I did not see any difference about the DXT versions or with dithering. But I had to let checked the mipmaps as otherwise there are little artefacts. I think I am using now the nvidia DXT3 with mipmaps. Good solution from the software probably?

[Baldo_the_Don]

Yellow [255][255][0] actually looks greenish. Amber [255][192][0] looks more yellow than yellow. My GPU and monitor are probably garbage.

If you do make your own 20mlp1.wav, maybe share it? I might like it better, too.

If DXT3 compression works, then it works. I'm not even sure how I settled on DXT5. Probably read it somewhere.

Dithering is helpful on low contrast textures. If a wide enough texture goes from black to dark gray, there's often a visible division between the shades. Stripey, you know? Dithering randomly sprinkles slightly off-shade pixels on and around the stripe edges and smooths the transitions. Reduces the stripey-ness. It's a neat trick.

I like nice fat tracers, though. 'Cause I'm not only slightly hearing impaired, I'm farsighted, too.

Edit: How about this:







Top shows the original tracer1.dds, the bottom has the one I just whipped up.

I made the tip of the tracer [255][160][255], which is very pink, the tail is [255][160][0], which is very amber. The low green values are counteracted by the tinting of the tracer1.3di, and I think it works.

However...

I've yet to see how this new tracer skin looks coming red out of an enemy cannon.

[epikur]

thank you for the more yellow idea, looks good and works!
Why should it be different when coming from an enemy?
If you like bolder cannons, perhaps you try the one I uploaded, because it is bold, but also yellow (somehow even in the tga?).

[Baldo_the_Don]

Originally Posted by epikur

Why should it be different when coming from an enemy?

If you look in the ammo.def, most friendly kinetic energy weapons (KE means bullets) fire ammo that has type_id 4406, and in the items.def, item id 104406 is the "Tracer1g Green colored tracer" using the tracer1g.3di.

Most enemy KE weapons fire ammo with type_id 4405. Item 104405 is the "Tracer1r Red colored tracer" which uses the the tracer1r.3di.

These two .3dis use the same tracer1.dds, but one tints that skin green, the other tints it red, so enemy tracers will be really red using the amber tracer1.dds.

It'll probably be fine.

[epikur]

Well I still have another question , this time more technical.
Until now I used only Reshade to play Comanche in Win 11, but I thought I could also use dgvoodoo perhaps as I tried in the past once, but had a problem (see below). The antialiasing is much better (at least in my setting) in dgvoodoo.

how do you play C4, with dgvoodoo?

I see a green grid (squares) all over the map (hills and so on), when using dgvoodoo, but not when using reshade, is there any reason for the grid or did you not see it?

(or is there any hidden antialiasing setting which is better than the normal one?)

[Baldo_the_Don]

My system is Windows 10. I don't have any special programs for running C4. Compatibility settings are for Windows 95 and 'run as admin.' I run C4 with in-game antialiasing deactivated, but using the nVIDIA control panel, I give it 16x anisotropic filtering, 4x AA, ignoring all program controlled AA settings, and 4x AA on transparent textures.

I am using really old drivers 'cause one of my favorite games is MechCommander 2, and the version of the drivers I'm using was the last one that made that game look nice, and not like it was rendered in Windows Paint.

I have issues with the gamma not adjusting sometimes, but all the older NL games seem to do that.

You've seen the screenshots, the game looks okay.

I do have dgvoodoo for playing Mechwarrior 3, and almost it works okay, but the performance is mostly depressing.

[epikur]

thank you, good to know how you are playing it.
I just use Reshade because of the Zoom option and wide screen, and I used dgvoodoo in the past some times, and I use it now for World Racing 2 again and thought perhaps it is nice for AA in C4 as well. And actually now I have got it working, did not know I have to first "install" dgvoodoo, then reshade but for a DX10 game.

Only: the green grid issue remains . I have found out that the green grid (all over the map at the ground) is only present when I choose an AA option in dgvoodoo, it is linked directly to that.

Unfortunately I am not a developer and know nothing about all this. But could there be any reason for a green grid on any map in relation to AA?

---
I tested all possible combinations in dgvoodoo now.
The green grid (also mentioned by some Steam user without solution) appears only if I choose a MSAA in DX section of dgvoodoo. The grid disappears though (with MSAA activated still) when I choose in addition the mipmapping in dgvoodoo from "app driven" to another value like auto-gen, but then the quality is bad, like in the shadows.

I would have liked to give the dgvoodoo a change as the MSAA seems to work really nice. The best solution would be to let the mipmapping in app driven, activate the dgvoodoo and find out why C4 creats a green grid then .

After all, if I won't find out, I will play as before, of course, which is also fine. But I still think it is an interesting effect to get a green grid if I choose MSAA .

---
ok: I think it it related to the line RTTexturesForceScaleAndMSAA in the dgvoodoo.conf (I know nothing about this), is I set it to false, the green grid is gone, while the quality seems still ok. Will have to test a while.