Don't want to make waves

[teecee]

Not really..I do.

 

over time, with all the addons I have added, I have "lost" my waves.. I don't really want the default (I have Prepar3d V2.4) because they were intermittent and not very good, but I just wondered if anyone had found a decent wavemaker for the sim? Teecee.

[jaydor]

Teecee, stop rockin the boat and you want make waves..       

[spud]

Striking Software has FS Water Configuator which is freeware and works very well with FSX

[teecee]

"Teecee, stop rockin the boat and you want make waves..        :D"

 

What's this?? Welsh humour?? Only jokin' Jaydor..Good one.. Teecee.

 

Spud..I have WC from back in the FSx days, but I use Prepar3d V2.4 and I don't think it will work in that..Will take a look though.. thanks for the tip..Teecee.

[cloudbase]

Is there a way to change wave textures automatically based on wind speed, so in calm weather the waves are calm and in windy weather you get whitecaps.

[shipdriver]

Is there a way to change wave textures automatically based on wind speed, so in calm weather the waves are calm and in windy weather you get whitecaps.

Yes, DX10 default wave animation. P3D is supposed to be wind-dependent as well, but maybe it is just very subtle. Then again, P3D water needs A LOT of work (detached terrain reflections, less-than-stellar waves, unrealistic cloud reflections, useless 3D wave gimmick, terrible 'fresnel' effect). Water is the one area where DX10 really beats P3D. In fact, with the recent cloud.fx fix, water is the main issue left for me.

And no, FSWC is only for DX9, although there is a very limited FSWC Lite which can work in DX10 and I hear they are working on a new version with DX10 support. If one has the DX10 Fixer, one has a control panel for the water constants file anyway, so a DX10 FSWC has much less value added compared to DX9 since FSWC is largely a GUI for modifying the water constants file.

[Ripcord]

Now HERE is a guy (above) that knows a little something about making real waves. : )

Seriously, though... there is a water detail setting of some sort in P3D. I have not gotten into it that far, I wonder if there is a certain setting that has be set for the waves to really do their thing?

[DylanM]

Not really..I do.

 

over time, with all the addons I have added, I have "lost" my waves.. I don't really want the default (I have Prepar3d V2.4) because they were intermittent and not very good, but I just wondered if anyone had found a decent wavemaker for the sim? Teecee.

Teecee, I assume you've already got the settings (mesh, water effects, etc) in 2.4 set as recommended (posted in another thread around here somewhere)? This is what I get, and am fairly satisfied (with REX4 textures):

 

 

 

[Christopher Low]

Screenshots are all very well, but they fail to show that the water textures are totally static at anything above a thousand feet altitude. We need animated white caps and subtle motion and texturing, even in relatively calm conditions. The human eye can detect subtle variations in colouration, texture and movement in the real world, so simply displaying a "smooth as glass" plain sheet when the weather is calm (or a static texture to "represent" waves) is not good enough. It needs to be exaggerated a bit for effect.

[dominique]

Yes, DX10 default wave animation. P3D is supposed to be wind-dependent as well, but maybe it is just very subtle. Then again, P3D water needs A LOT of work (detached terrain reflections, less-than-stellar waves, unrealistic cloud reflections, useless 3D wave gimmick, terrible 'fresnel' effect). Water is the one area where DX10 really beats P3D. In fact, with the recent cloud.fx fix, water is the main issue left for me.

And no, FSWC is only for DX9, although there is a very limited FSWC Lite which can work in DX10 and I hear they are working on a new version with DX10 support. If one has the DX10 Fixer, one has a control panel for the water constants file anyway, so a DX10 FSWC has much less value added compared to DX9 since FSWC is largely a GUI for modifying the water constants file.

Hi Rob

 

Any cloud reflection is unrealistic in my book and they are as awful in P3D as in DX10 FSX. You can easily get rid of them anyway in display/scenery settings menu.

 

The waves are definitely here with water at ultra and mesh at 1 m. It is  a heave modulated with wind strength and direction. No breakers though which, by the way, are awful in all version of FSX on my computer as they  come up and vanish three or four at a time as the aircraft moves along.. But yes we need some foam caps on top of the stronger heaves  .

 

I don't know what you mean by a terrible Fresnel effect but I get nice twinkling reflections under certain angles like here in Hawaii. Not too bad !

 

 

[shipdriver]

Bonjour, Dominique!

Any cloud reflection is unrealistic in my book and they are as awful in P3D as in DX10 FSX. You can easily get rid of them anyway in display/scenery settings menu.

Of course, but because you can turn something off doesn't make it good.

 

The waves are definitely here with water at ultra and mesh at 1 m. It is  a heave modulated with wind strength and direction. No breakers though which, by the way, are awful in all version of FSX on my computer as they  come up and vanish three or four at a time as the aircraft moves along.. But yes we need some foam caps on top of the stronger heaves  .

The problem is not getting the 3D waves. The 3D waves are the problem. They only work if skimming the surface or on the surface. For flight simulation they are quite useless. Hence my phrase "useless gimmick". In addition, even at such low altitudes, it doesn't look remotely realistic and when a float plane or ship is on the water, its behavior is all wrong. Above a few hundred feet (where most airplanes should be), DX10 default wave animation is the best in the MSFS/ESP/P3D lineage. Unfortunately right now, the most realistic looking settings for water in P3D are to uncheck all reflections and not utilize the "3D waves".

 

I don't know what you mean by a terrible Fresnel effect but I get nice twinkling reflections under certain angles like here in Hawaii. Not too bad !

That is also part of problem. P3D water only looks decent at "certain angles". The Fresnel effect refers to the eyepoint-water angle and how much light is reflected off the water (although in P3D, it appears to be a sun-water surface-eyepoint angle). As you can see in the image below, the water bodies below are black like ink- i.e. no light is escaping as if they are a black hole. FSWC for DX9 and DX10 Fixer allow one to adjust this in FSX because it is a variable in the water constants file. P3D doesn't allow one to adjust it because P3D has a far more simplified water constants file that allows fewer adjustments. This black water effect is exacerbated with darker water textures (and unfortunately ORBX custom water textures are generally darker than default) but using lighter textures only mildly lessens the black water effect. Only in certain circumstances should water be effectively black. Broad daylight is definitely not one of them. I have flown (as a passenger) over the ocean many times in helicopters and I have never looked down and seen black ink-like water.

Here is Pebble Beach is P3D- does this look realistic? Ironically, turning off HDR makes it worse. When this shot was taken, if I look in the other direction, the water looks much better (as long I don't look straight down). I like darker water, but not that dark.

[wombat]

teecee, I have the same problem with waves in P3D v2.4 try this

 

go to Options/Settings/Display under World select Weather/User-defined weather/Customize at the bottom right change wind speed to moderate or heavy then fly very very low.

 

if I want to see waves I have to do that every time I start P3D and only looks any good flying very low

[wombat]

tried to put up a video and could not

[dominique]

Hi Rob

 

The aircraft don't sit so well on P3D waves and stepping on seems impossible, agreed. But does that come from the sim physics or from the aircraft modeling ? I'd say both. No floater has been yet designed for P3D (incl. the AS Twotter). The jury is still out there. In FSX, only A2A, to my knowledge, was able to simulate the step with the Cub, AS couldn't do it for their PBY for instance (with the usual blahblah about FSX limitations). Let' wait a litlle. The new bathymetry and water system may offer us surprising stuff. 

 

When I look straight down, I honestly see some dark blue not an ink black ! Now, I changed the settings of my monitor early on with Prepar3d because I found it too dark with HDR. That might be the reason. I'm presently touring the Mediterranean shores from Spain to Turkey  (la Grande Bleue as we call it in French) and looking at the sea, the suspension of disbelief is good (nice blue hues) considering that P3D does not do better than its predecessors for colouring the water in overcast weather.