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3D animated waves not altered by bathymetry?

spatialpro

spatialpro

SOH-CM-2025
I'm using v3.4 with water settings at ultra, so I have 3D animated waves. I also have bathymetry on. I'm flying over an area off the east coast of the USA, all of which is covered by NOAA's U.S. Coastal Relief Model (CRM), which comes as default with P3D. I know this to be an area where the bathymetry changes quite a bit. Therefore I'd expect the waves to be rendered differently in the shallow vs. deep water. Instead I get the usual repeating waves in every direction I look:


31404837956_eeb931cd09_o.jpg



Am I doing something wrong?


Do others see the same?
 
Bathymetry will not impact the shape of the waves at all.
That setting will only allow the simulator to render the underwater scenery, with some water transparency (and a high FPS cost).
I wouldn't expect the waves to look different in shape. The color might vary, yes, but not the shape.
 
If you have your water set to Ultra then the water at higher altitudes will be too uniform in appearance. Set to High and the wave patterns will be more realistic. Products like Rex Texture Direct or Essentials Plus Overdrive may give a more random appearance also!
 
Interesting

I'm not expecting the shape to change (i.e. the waveform), only the amplitude, as illustrated by Rob Ainscough here:


I'm expecting to see the same differences with bathymetry across the sea surface, as water depth changes (which is what Lockheed Martin say P3D is designed to do), but I don't.

Also, just to be clear, my screenshot was taken at a relatively high altitude (500-1000ft AMSL) to illustrate the point, but I see same thing at zero feet in a helicopter on in a boat.

Any thoughts?
 
I'm not sure I really understand your expectations, so don't get upset if my comments are off-topic or anything like that :very_drunk:
The amplitude of the waves, from what I understood, depends mainly of the strength of the wind in the local weather.
And regarding the effects of the bathymetry on the water depending on the depth, I can't comment because I have never (well, only once, and not in the right place) used that option...
 
I happen to agree :) The dominant factor IRL is the wind (plus the fetch). In P3D the wind does indeed change the wave amplitude and form, but LM have also programmed in water depth as a control for amplitude, as seen in Rob's video. Now, without any bathymetric information (or if you have bathymetry switched off in the sim) the waves repeat, as in my screenshot, which looks very unnatural. By adding detailed bathymetry, and switching ON bathymetry in the sim (with ULTRA water settings), the otherwise regular wave pattern should I believe become disrupted and irregular and therefore appear some natural. However, that is not what I get. I'm try to reach out to any other simmers out there who fly with bathymetry ON (with ULTRA water settings) over areas where there is bathymetric data in the sim (the coastal US is the best example) to ask if they see the same as me, or whether I'm doing something wrong...
 
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