Post by PlagueDog on May 3, 2010 15:05:16 GMT -6
Guide: Polishing Maps With Simlights
Given how long Starsiege has been around Simlights are fairly new, at least, since they have been discovered. Despite them being lingering about a few years now they are not seen or used very much. However, they can make maps look good if not great if they are used properly.
To add Simlights as an option to the editor you must open up Registerobjects.cs and add the necessary line. Simlights fit best in the Environment catagory.
Directional Simlights have 10 total fields when creating them with the editor or the newobject function, 3 of which are optional (They are located in brackets)
Point Simlights have 11 total fields when creating them with the editor or the newobject function, 3 of which are optional (They are located in brackets)
For directional lights: Directional intR intG intB dirX dirY dirz [ambR ambG ambB]
For point lights: Point range intR intG intB dirX dirY dirz [ambR ambG ambB]
This is the line I use for loading Simlights into my maps.
The fields are pretty strait forward.
The directional fields may be a bit confusing but they are layed out in 3 separate digits, 0 0 0 meaning the first digit controls negative and postive X, the second controls positive and negative Y, and the last digit controls positive and negative Z. If you know how to use the xyz axis' then you will know how to use this property easily.
The colors are setup as Red Green Blue or RGB - 0 0 0. You can up multiple digits to get different colors.
Position Simlights is the tedious part. They cannot be grabbed and dragged around like traditional objects in Starsiege. This is where Pathmarkers come in handy. Pathmarkers don't have a bunch of crap in their properties just their object name, position and rotation. I place the Pathmarker then copy its location and paste it into the Simlights position. I recommend putting Simlights into their own Simgroups and name them so you can find them.
One of the drawbacks of Simlights is that if you have Pointlights covering a lot of StaticInteriors it will lower your frames per seconds a lot. This tends to happen on small StaticInteriors rather than large StaticInteriors. Note that Software Mode cannot render a Simlights color, only its brightness. Also, Simlights show up best when the map is dark.
Positioning Simlights near each other to get a rainbow effect.
Simlights being used to show fire emitting light.
Given how long Starsiege has been around Simlights are fairly new, at least, since they have been discovered. Despite them being lingering about a few years now they are not seen or used very much. However, they can make maps look good if not great if they are used properly.
To add Simlights as an option to the editor you must open up Registerobjects.cs and add the necessary line. Simlights fit best in the Environment catagory.
Directional Simlights have 10 total fields when creating them with the editor or the newobject function, 3 of which are optional (They are located in brackets)
Point Simlights have 11 total fields when creating them with the editor or the newobject function, 3 of which are optional (They are located in brackets)
For directional lights: Directional intR intG intB dirX dirY dirz [ambR ambG ambB]
For point lights: Point range intR intG intB dirX dirY dirz [ambR ambG ambB]
ME::RegisterObject( Environment, Simlight, ME::CreateObject, Simlight, Simlight, Point, 20, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0 );This is the line I use for loading Simlights into my maps.
The fields are pretty strait forward.
The directional fields may be a bit confusing but they are layed out in 3 separate digits, 0 0 0 meaning the first digit controls negative and postive X, the second controls positive and negative Y, and the last digit controls positive and negative Z. If you know how to use the xyz axis' then you will know how to use this property easily.
The colors are setup as Red Green Blue or RGB - 0 0 0. You can up multiple digits to get different colors.
Position Simlights is the tedious part. They cannot be grabbed and dragged around like traditional objects in Starsiege. This is where Pathmarkers come in handy. Pathmarkers don't have a bunch of crap in their properties just their object name, position and rotation. I place the Pathmarker then copy its location and paste it into the Simlights position. I recommend putting Simlights into their own Simgroups and name them so you can find them.
One of the drawbacks of Simlights is that if you have Pointlights covering a lot of StaticInteriors it will lower your frames per seconds a lot. This tends to happen on small StaticInteriors rather than large StaticInteriors. Note that Software Mode cannot render a Simlights color, only its brightness. Also, Simlights show up best when the map is dark.
Positioning Simlights near each other to get a rainbow effect.
Simlights being used to show fire emitting light.
