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[gunny0134]

Currently, maciek1460 is releasing many ships that have been missing in the Ships section.

I want to enrich the chimney smoke of these merchant ships.

This issue has already been discussed once.
  - https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,44084.msg494419.html#msg494419

But I was not successful with that method.

I am using WxTech's Effects 1.5 ver. The effect files mentioned by western0221 are all in WxTech's Effects folder.

So, how can I see the chimney smoke of merchant ships that are richer and longer lasting ?

Thank you.

[Dimlee]

I may sound like the Capt. Obvious, but the colour, amount and thickness of smoke depended on the type of fuel, engine regimes and conditions of the engine/boiler systems.
So, the same ship could produce huge black clouds in 1912 while running on coal, more greyish/whitish in 1920 after switching to oil. After that, darker smoke when running on heavy fuel, lighter with diesel... Huge black clouds when the engineers did something wrong down there...
However, if it's about merchant ships of WWI and 1920-early 1930s, then yes, more "black" is justified.

[WxTech]

Here's the contents I currently have for this effect, found in:

Effects/Smokes/SmokePipeShip.eff

Code: [Select]

[ClassInfo] 
  ClassName TParticlesSystemParams
[General]
  MatName ..\Materials\ShipPipeSmoke.mat
  Color0 0.47 0.5 0.53 0.1  //<---------------------- look here
  Color1 0.47 0.5 0.53 0.0
  nParticles 66  //90
  FinishTime -1
  MaxR 0
  PhiN 0
  PsiN 1.5  //2
  LiveTime 22  //30
  EmitVelocity 2 6
  EmitFrq 3
  EmitTheta 15 30
  GasResist 0.02
  VertAccel 0.02
  Wind 5
  Size 10 39  //10 50
  Rnd 0.667  //0.5

I've added a line pointing to the element which controls the opacity, or density of the smoke particles. Currently it's 0.1, which is 10% opaque. If you changed that 0.1 to 1.0, the smoke would be VERY dense indeed. Try out different values until you get what you like.

The first three numbers for Color0 and Color1 are the RGB (red, green, blue) values. Note how they increase from red=0.47 to blue=0.53. This gives the smoke a bluish hue. If you like a neutral grey, make all three numbers the same. If you like reddish, reverse the red and blue values.

If the tone is too light or too dark, subtract or add the same offset to all three values. For instance, to make the smoke a somewhat darker tone (and higher opacity), you might try
  Color0 0.37 0.4 0.43 0.25
  Color1 0.37 0.4 0.43 0.0

Note that Color0 is given to the effect particles when first created, and Color1 is their state at the moment of disappearance. Observe that the opacity for Color1 is 0.0, meaning fully transparent. If it were made non-zero, the smoke would not fade out smoothly, but instead would suddenly wink out.

----------------------

To make the smoke last longer and make a longer stream, increase LiveTime, nParticles and Size (2nd value.) You'll note that I formerly had a longer trail, and kept those old values, disabled via "//" characters. To save verbiage, below is a starting point already established, using my old values and making the smoke a bit darker and opaque.

If you want to go even farther, note these points:
-- If you increase LiveTime you must also increase nParticles. nParticles must be no less than LiveTime * EmitFreq, else you will have a break, or gap every LiveTime interval (unless that's what you want.) That's why we have LiveTime 30 * EmitFreq 3 = 90.
-- Size is the starting and ending size of the particles. When smoke lasts longer it becomes more dispersed, and so the ending size should increase accordingly. For instance, if LiveTime was increased from 30 to 60, Size 10 50 could be changed to Size 10 100.
-- PsiN is the fractional rotation imparted to a particle from creation to disappearance. During the LiveTime of 30 seconds, a smoke particle is rotated 2 times (720 degrees.) If you doubled LiveTime from 30 to 60, PsiN could be doubled from 2 to 4, although a bit less is better because a large particle rotating at the same speed as a smaller one can look odd.

Effects/Smokes/SmokePipeShip.eff

Code: [Select]

[ClassInfo] 
  ClassName TParticlesSystemParams
[General]
  MatName ..\Materials\ShipPipeSmoke.mat
  Color0 0.38 0.4 0.42 0.2
  Color1 0.38 0.4 0.42 0.0
  nParticles 90
  FinishTime -1
  MaxR 0
  PhiN 0
  PsiN 2
  LiveTime 30
  EmitVelocity 2 6
  EmitFrq 3
  EmitTheta 15 30
  GasResist 0.02
  VertAccel 0.02
  Wind 5
  Size 10 50
  Rnd 0.667


[Fly!]

https://www.mediafire.com/file/344855onkeu3zqa/SmokePipeShip.7z/file


Here's 1 to try based on Glenn's numbers.

[gunny0134]

My report :
1. Thank you master Glenn for generously transferring valuable knowledge.
2. The smoke.mat file that Fly! uploaded looks more lively.
3. Dimlee's recommendation was fully considered.
4. The difficulty for me was how to express the smoke of a large chimney by a carrier. Expressing the smoke of a merchant ship or warship was not a big problem.
5. So, I chose the middle values, and I made it mix with a little bit of gray
6. Conclusion: There is no correct answer. It is desirable to find one's preferred smoke color by controlling oneself.

[ClassInfo] 
  ClassName TParticlesSystemParams
[General]
   MatName ..\Materials\HumoFuegoMotor.mat
//MatName ..\Materials\ShipPipeSmoke.mat
//MatName ..\Materials\WhiteSmoke.mat
//Color0 0.6 0.64 0.68 0.04
//Color1 0.6 0.64 0.68 0.0   
  Color0 0.3 0.32 0.32 0.2    //adjust alpha to taste
  Color1 0.3 0.32 0.32 0.0   
  nParticles 110    //60
  FinishTime -1
  MaxR 0
  PhiN 0
  PsiN 2.5
  LiveTime 35
  EmitVelocity 2 6     // see note below
  EmitFrq 3     // higher 4 more solid smoke
  EmitTheta 0 0
  GasResist 0.03
  VertAccel 0.02 
  Wind 3      // higher number 4 more dispersal
  Size 10 50
  Rnd 0.5

[WxTech]

The problem is that one effect serves for all ships. I can't recall if it was HSFX or some other modpack which had three different smoke effects, although it would require to add the desired effect for a given ship or type of ship in one or more classes.

The dark smoke is more suggestive of coal boilers, better for early years. In WW2 many ships had evolved past that and so had much subtler smoke. I decided on subtle stack smoke based on numerous pics of warhips in action at the time.

For example, find images iof IJN carriers which direct their smoke down toward the water on the starboard side. All I've seen is a light, comparatively thin smoke.

We really could use a ship property which sets the fuel type, such as coal, diesel, etc. Then a call for a specific stack smoke effect could be made. Although I would imagine that any use of exhaust scrubbers might alter the smoke, such that coal smoke could me made less dense? I have no real.idea of whether or what kind of such equipment might have been in use; I'm no naval expert! 😉

[gunny0134]

I think it is also meaningful for users to feel visual.

In other words, it means the feeling of the users standing in the middle of the heat and smoke of the battlefield.

To connect with this, I think it's better to guarantee basic smokes.

And if I study a little more, I will be able to express the ship smoke of DOF, TGA, and WAW differently as the effects of WxTech.

[maciek1460]

Just for information, the ship in the picture has only one smoke slot/chalk.

[Dimlee]

And if I study a little more, I will be able to express the ship smoke of DOF, TGA, and WAW differently as the effects of WxTech.

Probably, one type of smoke per era is the simplest solution. Something like: DOF - black, TGA - black/grey, WAW and later - grey/white?
Also, earlier eras are more forgiving for the system resources, in my opinion. If black heavy stuff impacts FPS, it will be user (of low-end systems) friendly to keep it in earlier eras.

[gunny0134]

That's right. One of my concerns about smoke is whether it affects FPS.

So far, it doesn't seem to affect FPS even if the smoke concentration is a little thick.

Only one hasn't been tested with a large fleet yet (ex : the Battle of Midway).

[gunny0134]

Just for information, the ship in the picture has only one smoke slot/chalk.

Yeah, so I restored 2 smokehooks again.