I will probably add in more key frames so that the waves slow down after hitting the shore and then receed, possibly double up the textures so there is a separate texture for incoming and receeding waves. I may also make it so the shoreline objects animations occur half a second after the wave ones so they line up better with the timing of the waves hitting the shore. Really this was just a proof of concept I did over a weekend because I was playing Solstheim on my xbox one, saw the dragon born waves, and was like.... oooooh jelly. So you can expect future versions to upgrade the animations / timings of things.
That said, due to the way Skyrim handles transparency there is a limit to how well the fade out of the textures can look. For example, part of the way the waves work by having the uv move whilst an opacity threshold set with key frames. The issue with the opacity threshold is its essentially just on or off. Whilst the textures themselves blend, and the threshold changes with the animation to reveal more or less, once that threshold is met the texture is no longer visible. This is why the foam at the end off the wave is highly visible as it fades out. Whilst foam at the end of the wave should be visible the effect would be nicer if there was some blending as opposed to highly visible elements just disappearing.
Hence why I may need to double up textures at the very least so that the wave switches to a separate alpha map. If there was a way to introduce multiple blending thresholds so that there was an absolute limit, and a threshold for when blending begins and have both of these adjustable with keyframes, it would make things much easier.
It's already great to have more action in a dull aspect of the Skyrim landscape. Any way you can overcome the limitations of the engine will make it even better. Your efforts are greatly appreciated!
I just wanted to mention how immersive your mod makes the Giant's Coast feel. I have installed another mod called 'Northern Towns - Weistone and Amon SSE', and in combination it appears as if the waves crash into and cascade over the harbourside boardwalks of Weistone in an incredible way. Thank you.
Love this mod, I just wish there was more of a pause between waves rolling in. It looks kind of weird how they constantly roll in, which makes it looks more fake.
Just want to say thank you for a beautiful mod. First time on the north shore since I installed, and the waves look absolutely beautiful. My only wish would be to extend it to all the coasts, and include Solstheim. Great work, and endorsed.
Just a heads up for people. This doesn't carry over certain region data added by the fishing Creation, and even some from Dawnguard. I don't know much about regions, so I'm not sure how it'll affect the game.
I couldn't believe how "wrong" Skyrim's shoreline looked without the old wave mods I had. This mod really dresses up the shoreline and makes the ocean seem like a REAL ocean! Someday someone's going to figure out a way to make some heavy surf that lives up to the Sea of Ghosts' reputation, but until then, I am grateful for this pretty mod!
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I may also make it so the shoreline objects animations occur half a second after the wave ones so they line up better with the timing of the waves hitting the shore.
Really this was just a proof of concept I did over a weekend because I was playing Solstheim on my xbox one, saw the dragon born waves, and was like.... oooooh jelly.
So you can expect future versions to upgrade the animations / timings of things.
That said, due to the way Skyrim handles transparency there is a limit to how well the fade out of the textures can look.
For example, part of the way the waves work by having the uv move whilst an opacity threshold set with key frames.
The issue with the opacity threshold is its essentially just on or off. Whilst the textures themselves blend, and the threshold changes with the animation to reveal more or less,
once that threshold is met the texture is no longer visible. This is why the foam at the end off the wave is highly visible as it fades out.
Whilst foam at the end of the wave should be visible the effect would be nicer if there was some blending as opposed to highly visible elements just disappearing.
Hence why I may need to double up textures at the very least so that the wave switches to a separate alpha map.
If there was a way to introduce multiple blending thresholds so that there was an absolute limit, and a threshold for when blending begins and have both of these adjustable with keyframes, it would make things much easier.
Just dropped today