Matrix Games Forums

I have started to auto fix the games models with their lighting problems.

Night fighting (which would be very confusing in the game as in RL) is now possible:

(From Ben's excellent map)

Pixelated sky is a side effect of the jpg compression

Looks terrifying.

Does the game engine "know" that it's night? I can't remember if there are settings for visibility.

Ben,

In a way yes.

How this works in reality.

At the moment I haven't light corrected the vechiles and men so SOME of them may stand out like a sore thumb in that scene, but I will get around to it.

No let's assume for one minute the vehicles and men are correctly lit.

Set the zfar to the maximum distance you want your guys to be able to see at night (like 100m).

Now play.

You will still be able to see where your guys are on the minimp. You will still be able to select and give orders via the HUD UI. However it will be difficult to see what is going on in the map itself. You will have limited visibility as you would in RL. The computer AI will have perfect vision out to the zfar but not beyond it, so there will be a slight advantage to the computer in these cases.

I think as you said it should provide an interesting experience. Infantry will rule, and lots of close quarter combat as units stumble onto one another in the dark.

Regards

S.

ben I just tested it in game and it all works surprisingly well! checkout this screen shot. These guys are running in an open field and are not getting shot at. If I changed to day light and increased the zfar they come under fire.

The whole visibility thing is limited by zfar. So you could do the same with fog, etc. The night time lighting is just for a nice visual effect. The problem in the past has always been that the object models always lit up like a xmas tree and it distroyed the illusion.Now that is fixed [:D]

Very atmospheric don't you think?

Do you still need the map with all the models on it? I'm about half way through. I'm headed for the carpal tunnel after a left at lunatic junction.

Absolutely yes!

Why?

Because konvix has just *auto* fixed a huge number of issues but won't have got all of them. By having map with everything on it we can play with the lighting before and after to see what things still need fixing.

I know it is a huge job and I appreciate it. Please take your time there is no huge rush.

Regards

S.

Hmm, for night missions, I would add a *little* light so that you can see; remember, your "commander" would have acclimitized night vision...

Ryan,

You can adjust this - raise the altitude in the lighting box.

Rick

Yes the lighting is totally configurable

ORIGINAL: Stridor

Yes the lighting is totally configurable

Since I haven't really gotten involved in MM I feel odd butting in.

But...

Once we're in the night time world is it possible to have searchlights?

And then later war Infrared Uhu (owl) on 251 /20 paired with detectors on panther tanks? (And "251/1 (IR) 'Falke'" had the UhU detector too.)

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Once things can be streamed across map then we can think about visuals for flame throwers. And destroyable objects. Actually we can think about those things now.

(`Like the way I put the 'we' in there? I certainly don't know what I'm talking about. My PII flamm pz simply uses a modified 25 meter HE charge. I'll be uploading that right after my Halbketten this weekend. ...But note those PzII chimeras (PII D, PII J and PII L) and Flammpz II are embarrassing.)

Great to see, this is what we were aiming for but without the fixes in model lighting, wasn't possible. Definite possibilities there.

I'm not clear on how the "particle effects" work, but could something be done to add fog using them? Something like the "smoke" that we have now, but non animated.

Also, the sky-boxes we have are made up from many pieces. Is there a (relatively) painless method of making these so that we can have a few night selections?

ORIGINAL: benpark

I'm not clear on how the "particle effects" work, but could something be done to add fog using them? Something like the "smoke" that we have now, but non animated.

This would be really neat - BUT I can tell when there's smoke on the field - my comp really slows down (mouse almost stops working). I like the affect, but it there were too much, like fog, I suspect my machine would totally grind to a halt.

Though I imagine it would be neat for those with system powerful enough to handle it.

Rick

ORIGINAL: benpark
Also, the sky-boxes we have are made up from many pieces. Is there a (relatively) painless method of making these so that we can have a few night selections?

I was playing around with the East skybox ... adjusting here, adjusting there ... added a moon with a sunburst (in this case a moonburst) ... eh, I'm not an artist [:(]

But ... yeah ... would be great to get some nightboxes done.

It would definately look better if it was a 1024x1024 image ... albeit mem hogger.

EDIT ... The PC engine needs an active, real life light source ... ie a sun X file that has a DDS and is placed relative to the light angle.

ORIGINAL: Stridor

The problem in the past has always been that the object models always lit up like a xmas tree and it distroyed the illusion.

You're not kidding!! [:D]

ORIGINAL: Jason Petho

As close as it gets.