POTC Sea Colour

[tomdarkwood]

Hello,

Firstly, this is my first post, but I've been following the Build Mods for years, and can't begin to express how impressed I am with the amount of work, dedication, and brilliance that has gone into what you have all created. Bravo a thousand times!

I've been tinkering with the files here and there, on and off, mainly mucking around with textures and things. One thing I really would love to know, however, is where to find the parameters that control the sea colour during the various times of day. I assume it is an RGB numerical kind of thing, possibly in the PROGRAM files, and I figured I should probably ask you guys and girls if you could point me in the right direction. With the brilliant "changing colour near shore" mod already in existence, I assume that it is definitely do-able, I'm just not quite sure where to look. My plan is just to make the sea a bit darker and slightly greener if possible.

Cheers!

 

[morgan terror]

you do know that the sea isn't green in the caribbean, right? still, the designer of the mod you refer to is here on a regular basis. you'll get an answer soon enough.

 

[Armada]

Ahoy and welcome, mate! :gday

This is something I've been considering asking about for a while now, but never got round to it.
What annoys me is the ocean colour at around midday; the blue seems a bit too vibrant, almost cartoon-like, in a way.
It should be easily possible, it's just a matter of finding the files to edit. I'll have a look around, but if you're lucky, an expert might turn up who can help.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Find the "Lagoon color mod" code in PROGRAM\Weather\WhrWeather.c - It was Screwface who wrote this, but I haven't seen him around for a while.

 

[tomdarkwood]

Thanks for the responses mates, it's appreciated.

Exactly, Armada, it's not that the stock blue is "bad" by any means, it's just that it wouldn't take much of a colour/shade shift to make it slightly more visually pleasing and realistic, particularly as you say during the midday kind of time period. In my opinion, it still looks pretty fantastic at stock colour in the evenings generally. Hmm, perhaps Screwface holds the answers, thanks Mr Boelen.

On a side not, its wonderful to finally make your acquaintances, having followed your progresses for so long. I'm slightly starstruck to receive a comment from the legendary Captain Boelen himself!

 

[Armada]

Find the "Lagoon color mod" code in PROGRAM\Weather\WhrWeather.c

This seems to explain how the water colour is set, using 'argb' values (presumably for 'alpha, red, green, blue'), but it doesn't explain where the weather-dependant colours are set.
All we need to do is find a file which sets the water colour for each weather type, and use trial and error until we get the right appearance in-game.

 

[tomdarkwood]

Success!

It's found in PROGRAM > Weather > Init > WhrInitValues.c

Not far down the script is the line: Weathers.Sea.Water.Color = argb(0,30,55,100);

I changed the values to: 0,20,51,66 and am getting close to the look I was going for...

The new colour did not apply itself until after I had entered the World Map once. After a little testing, I also found that the "Lagoon Mod" transition is now an abrupt change back to the original blue before fading gracefully into aqua, so just a little problem there but I'm sure it is an easy fix.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction guys!

 

[morgan terror]

hm. looks good. i like it.

 

[Armada]

Seconded. The sea looks more natural already. Nice work!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Your efforts are most appreciated. Any improvement is welcome in my book.

I had a quick look to see if I could find that water colour reset for the lagoon mod, but no luck on my part so far.
I hope you'll fare better on it.

On a side note, its wonderful to finally make your acquaintances, having followed your progresses for so long. I'm slightly starstruck to receive a comment from the legendary Captain Boelen himself!

LOL! You're quite welcome, mate.

 

[Armada]

I had a quick look to see if I could find that water colour reset for the lagoon mod, but no luck on my part so far.
I hope you'll fare better on it.

That's got me puzzled too. Nothing stands out as being related to resetting the colour to bright blue again.

Anyway, about the realistic water, I've made some small adjustments of my own, building on tomdarkwood's improvements.
I've set the water colour to argb(0,20,51,70), and transparency to 0.1. It's always bugged me how you could see right through the water during the day as if it were a fish tank, and this fixes it.
What do you think:



You can see the effect better if you try it for yourself; it's hard to demonstrate everything in one screenie. :urgh

EDIT: here's another image showing the new sea colour, but this one turned out to be a little more artistic: http://www.moddb.com/mods/new-horizons/images/realistic-sea#imagebox

 

[Hylie Pistof]

I'd like to get the opinions of those who have been there. I spent a year as far south as Martinique, but it was too long ago to trust my memory. The water was very clear and very blue as I recall.


Around here the water changes color by the seasons. To me POTC generally looks very cold and foggy. It's similar to what I see around where I live.

 

[Armada]

That would be interesting, yes. It's hard to know when you've got it right, especially since reference images from the films and the net can vary greatly.
Perhaps I'm not the best person to judge this, especially considering the body of water I'm most acquainted with is the English Channel.
Actually, I think I recall Pieter saying he's been to the Caribbean with the cruise ship he works on...

You have a good point about the foggy atmosphere in some cases. It's certainly misty in the early morning, which is probably the most noticeable instance.
Perhaps it's all the rain that appears which also creates a cold and misty atmosphere. But how should that be changed?
In general, though, the bright blue skies, plus the lagoon mod, seem to be accurate for a Caribbean setting. It's just getting the water colour right during the day which is more difficult.

 

[tomdarkwood]

I like your adjustments Armada! The transparency alteration was a GREAT call. One other thing that I've been tweaking is the highlight colour (blue sky reflection), which at the moment I feel is a little too bright (that is, it is pretty much the same brightness and colour as the sky itself).

I will continue to tweak colours for the different time periods, storms etc.

 

[Thagarr]

Very nice work mates! That's the best looking Caribbean I have seen in either game!

The fog is the one thing that has always bothered me the most, it's not near as noticeable or annoying in POTC, but it is downright frustrating in CoAS! From his own modding efforts, Hook confirmed that the fog is indeed there to cover up some flaws that exist in the Storm engine. I think they mostly have to do with perspective and distance, but I am not sure that is all it hides.

 

[tomdarkwood]

I have some updates to show you guys

BEFORE

AFTER

Still tweaking, I think i've made the sea a few shades too dark, but I am happy with the increased reflectivity etc. So, this is only an alteration for the noon/day time-period in clear weather.

Smooth sailing

EDIT: The second "WhrInitValues.c" attached below is the latest version, couldn't quite figure out how to delete the other one sorry.

 

[Armada]

Very nice work mates! That's the best looking Caribbean I have seen in either game!

The fog is the one thing that has always bothered me the most, it's not near as noticeable or annoying in POTC, but it is downright frustrating in CoAS! From his own modding efforts, Hook confirmed that the fog is indeed there to cover up some flaws that exist in the Storm engine. I think they mostly have to do with perspective and distance, but I am not sure that is all it hides.

Wow, interesting comments there! It's nice to know we can get a realistic appearance without using the newer game engine.

I didn't realise CoAS had such a problem with fogginess, though. It's definitely not a very Caribbean-like effect, that's for sure.

Still tweaking, I think i've made the sea a few shades too dark, but I am happy with the increased reflectivity etc. So, this is only an alteration for the noon/day time-period in clear weather.

I'm liking your refinements, mate! That comparison shows and incredible improvement!
I'd love to see how you adjust the water in the other weathers/times. I was thinking of trying that myself, but I'd rather see what you can come up with now.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

That would be interesting, yes. It's hard to know when you've got it right, especially since reference images from the films and the net can vary greatly.
Perhaps I'm not the best person to judge this, especially considering the body of water I'm most acquainted with is the English Channel.
Actually, I think I recall Pieter saying he's been to the Caribbean with the cruise ship he works on...

Indeed I spent quite some time in the Caribbean, though the thing that always stood out to me is that away from the shallow water, the sea looks the same everywhere.
The only thing that then changes the look of the sea is the cloud coverage and visibility, which are both different in the English Channel, of course.

As for the fog, while it's nice to have for gameplay purposes, the Caribbean isn't generally known to have much fog at all.
It's a different story up here in Canada/New England (PAIN IN THE *** ASS!!!), but the Caribbean is generally either sunny, cloudy or perhaps rainy with the occasional storm.

Note that Screwface did code in monthly weather changes, with rain, storms and fog being more likely during the winter months, for example.

In any case, I welcome these changes very much. Anything that makes the game look different from before is good in my book.
Unless "different" equals "worse", which in this case it clearly doesn't!

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Is this still a Work In Progress? :?

 

[tomdarkwood]

I'm liking your refinements, mate! That comparison shows and incredible improvement!
I'd love to see how you adjust the water in the other weathers/times. I was thinking of trying that myself, but I'd rather see what you can come up with now.

That comparison, to be fair, is at different times of the day, and one has glorious sunshine sparkle and the other doesn't. They are both using ENB series of course.

As for further changes, no matter what I tried in regards to altering the morning and evening colours, I couldn't top the effect and look that already exists in the game, so I am happy to let you continue from my discoveries and create something great.

@ Hylie Pistoff: yeah, it's some what of a work-in-progress but the "WhrInitValues.c" I posted before is what I have decided I am happy with for my own personal use. It's purely a darker daytime blue sea, with slightly more foam (which is a slightly problematic particle effect when you get right down to it), less transparent, and some more reflection but with less of the bright blue sky highlights. Enjoy if you like, or mess around with the file yourself till you get something that appeals. You should know that it is not compatible at this stage with the Lagoon Mod, as in it does not transition between the new colours satisfactorily.