German Helgoland & Bismarck v2.0

These are essentially updates to two of Snafusmith's excellent models, the German Dreadnought SMS Helgoland and the Battleship DKM Bismarck... both of which were superbly done, my main "issue" with either was that (fine as they were), both were very, very dimly lit and too dark (IMHO) to see any of their fine detail in-game (of which there was plenty of detail to see).

With the good help of the Coyote, and some reskining work of my own, these two fine ships get a second-wind and a new look for Civ4 modders to enjoy.

The WWI Dreadnought SMS Helgoland enjoys a well-lit ship, with a new wood deck, more appropriate then the original dark wood deck.

The WWII Battleship DKM Bismarck enjoys a well-lit ship, new firing animations to reflect all four main turrets firing, a new wood deck, repainted red lower hull and better defined swastikas on the bow and stern (also, correctly facing swastikas... some previous skins were reversed).

Thanks again to Snafusmith for the excellent models to begin with and to the Coyote for giving better lighting to these ships (and the new firing animation)... I did what I could with some new wood decks and a little detail work on the Bismarck.

All needed files for both ships are included with the download.

Download Here


SMS Helgoland (left) and DKM Bismarck (right) sport their new in-game look



Battle of the Dreadnoughts as the SMS Helgoland fires on the Russian Borodino



Battle of the Denmark Straights as the DKM Bismarck pummels the hapless Prince of Wales

Good work, Wolf, these changes were really needed!

I like the new Bismarck, Snafu had released a lighter wooden deck skin for the Helgoland already. I now darkened that lighter skin to use with your new version as I like its wood texture better

The gun barrels on the Helgoland might need to be darker (and maybe bigger) Those you have now are probably accurate, but hearly invisible.

Otherwise great work on both.

nice additions. Uhm- may one ask where the models are from? Asking since I am always looking for nice models for conversion purposes

Yeah !

Added in TR asap.

Thx Wolfschanze.

W.i.n.t.e.r said:

nice additions. Uhm- may one ask where the models are from? Asking since I am always looking for nice models for conversion purposes

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Where they're from? Well, as I said before from "Snafusmith"! Both were available in the main Civ4 download database in stand-alone, and both can be found in many different mods (of course they're also both in my Wolfshanze Mod, see my sig-line)... but back to the original point, in stand-alone format, Snafusmith had both available in the download database... he's the original author.

Refar said:

The gun barrels on the Helgoland might need to be darker (and maybe bigger) Those you have now are probably accurate, but hearly invisible.

Otherwise great work on both.

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It's an interesting point of discussion... thing-is, Snafu did an excellent job on the model... it IS to-scale... one has to remember the Helgoland carried 12-inch (305mm) guns while the Bismarck carried 15-inch (380mm) guns, so that's why one is more prominent then the other.

Not sure what the proper corrective action would be (if there is one) since the model is to scale.

mamba said:

I like the new Bismarck, Snafu had released a lighter wooden deck skin for the Helgoland already. I now darkened that lighter skin to use with your new version as I like its wood texture better

Spoiler :

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Actually Mamba, the Wolfshanze previously released a lighter wood deck for the Helgoland already! You probably got that from an earlier version of the Wolfshanze Mod!

That was the first thing I did when Snafu released the Helgoland with a very dark-brown (almost monotone) deck. The screenshot you have is the deck Matt and I worked on to lighten what we could with the Helgoland.

I was never totally satisfied with that solution however, as I thought the wood deck was too pronounced in that version, so I redid a new wood deck that's a little better for the scale of the Helgoland, smaller planks then my earlier reskin, but still larger planks then the default Snafu deck (call it a happy medium).

Still, the lighting is much better in both of these models, so you can try various skins for either if you want a different deck or look... the original Bismarck skin from Snafu looks good too, but the swastikas are a little faded, and I thought the wood deck was too light with the lighting corrected.

Hope folks enjoy... I'm happy with how these two turned-out.

They look good Wolfschanze, it is actually what I tried to do with my version, to make it look more sharp and less dark/blurry. It is good to hear the animation now works completely, that is really an improvement. The deck looks a lot more wooded than mine, which is good Good work also on the Helgoland.

On a small sidenote: did you include a version without the swastika? Otherwise I think I'll make one since I think it didn't have them on when it was at sea and I use it as the austrian battleship as well. With swastikas it looks kind of funny

One other small question, is it possible to remove teamcoloring from a model (for example the f16 that came with the game) and how do you do this?

Berenthor said:

On a small sidenote: did you include a version without the swastika? Otherwise I think I'll make one since I think it didn't have them on when it was at sea and I use it as the austrian battleship as well. With swastikas it looks kind of funny

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I would whole-heartedly argue that point with you... she went down with her swastikas on... in fact, the Bismarck is still displaying her swastikas in 2008. She went down with her colors flying.



You're just confused... her sea trials were done with the camouflage scheme... the camouflage was removed before Operation Rheinübung. The swastikas were never removed, nor would they have been... it was part of the aerial identification system. My version is the Bismarck on commissioning for service. If you want the paint scheme as she sank, you would remove the camouflage stripes, not the swastikas.


P.S.
In general though, the problem with snafus model were a lot more with the NIF lighting then his DDS skin. The Helgoland actually uses the same wood deck if you need a copy of the wood deck for further alterations.

Berenthor said:

One other small question, is it possible to remove teamcoloring from a model (for example the f16 that came with the game) and how do you do this?

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Easier then you think. Teamcoloring is done by use of a transparency in the skin with the teamcolor "underneath" that transparency... simply paint-over the transparent part in the DDS file, and nobody will ever see the teamcolor underneath.

Not related the the Bismark, but as i see your screenshots... You might have some on the Borodino. Unless there were more than one (Speaking in types), which is a bit unlikely in the same time period (Late XIX / early XX century, Russian-Japanese war).


There are more pictures...
http://www.cnw.mk.ua/weapons/navy/prebb/ru_borod.htm

Refar said:

Not related the the Bismark, but as i see your screenshots... You might have some on the Borodino. Unless there were more than one (Speaking in types), which is a bit unlikely in the same time period (Late XIX / early XX century, Russian-Japanese war).

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Sorry Refar, but I wouldn't make a hobby of challenging my knowledge of military naval history.

The Borodino class battlecruisers were indeed WWI designs, though never completed, the model in the screenshot is indeed the Borodino true to what I refer to, not to the Pre-Dreadnought, but rather to the WWI Battlecruiser design Borodino.

Pull-it up in Nifviewer and compare it to the line drawings if you like... it's the BC Borodino.

Sorry for the poor image quality here, but I wanted you to know I took the time to pull a book out of my personal library and scan it just for you, since the internet is a little less handy for rare nuggets of naval knowledge then my home library!

I can see without nifviewer that it is the same ship or aе least very close. So there were two of those indeed. The interesting part is "never completed" Interestin Choice. But i guess with the revolution and all there might be not many actually completed alternatives around that time.

Both models look great, some fine re-skinning and the new annimations for Bismarck will certainly improve the look of the game. Have you included these new versions in 3.8 of the Wolfhanze mod?

With Bismarck's swastikas, she certainly did go down with them as well as the hull camoflage. Both were painted over while Bismarck was at Bergen, just before the breakout. I recall reading in Ballard that the paint used at bergen wasn't as good as what was what was used in the shipyards, so over the years on the bottom the swastikas and camoflage have become visible again. Also, Tirpitz wore the same camoflage scheme with the swastikas and carmine coloured turret tops fore aerial recognition during her workups in the baltic.

Cheers

IagoAlberto said:

Have you included these new versions in 2.8 of the Wolfhanze mod?

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Nope... both of these have become available after the release of v2.8 of the Wolfshanze Mod... but rest-assured, both (along with the new USS South Carolina) will be in v2.81 of the Wolfshanze Mod (already being used on my system... though I won't release it to the public till I've accumulated enough new stuff to warrant another release).

Refar said:

I can see without nifviewer that it is the same ship or aе least very close. So there were two of those indeed. The interesting part is "never completed" Interestin Choice. But i guess with the revolution and all there might be not many actually completed alternatives around that time.

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The Russian Revolution and ensuing Civil War pretty much ruined all things relating to the Russian Navy. The Borodinos probably would have been completed (in-fact, the Izmail was nearly complete) if not for the fact of the Revolution breaking-out.

As for "what to model" with Russia for Civ4 purposes... the Borodino was indeed an interesting choice. Andreas made the model before he fell in love with the fairer side of our species and forgot all things PC-gaming related, so we'll never know for-sure his reasonings of modeling the Borodino.

General Matt modeled the Gangut-class in WWII style (after inter-war modifications)... there were actually only two classes of Dreadnoughts completed by the Russians in WWI, the Gangut-class and the Imperatritsa Mariya-class... both of which looked nearly identical to one-another. Maybe Andreas modeled the Borodino because he liked the sleeker look... who knows?

In any case, it's a good choice for Civ4 (even I probably wouldn't have thought of using a design that didn't complete), as it keeps you from having a "WWI Gangut" and a "WWII Gangut" as your ship choices for Dreadnoughts and Battleships respectively.

All things being fair, the Borodino makes a fine filler for a WWI Russian Dreadnought... it's a very good model too!