Release: Enviroment Colors 1.0

[WernerSobe]

well ive tried to get smarter about how to make the light coming from the right direction.

ive figured out:

1. there is no enviromental lunar light in envcolors***.dat so the only way to make the light match with the bitmap would be to match the moon bitmap to the light.

2. The position of the moon seems to be handeled in envsim.act which is a hardcoded file. It is almost impossible to find the right formulas and variables. Maybe someone can help with this.

3. Ive found a way to make the moonlight reflect in a "string" at the horizon just like the sun reflects from the surface at sunset. Still testing maybe in next version.


If we cant match the bitmap with the light. My idea was to make the moon reflect from the surface and get rid of the moon bitmap in the sky. This way we would have beautiful moonlight but no "real" moon. Does the comunity want it?

[Anvart]

Originally Posted by panthercules

So - Anvart - I thought at first that you had just created your great looking screenshots in photoshop or something to illustrate what it would look like if the light were actually coming from the moon - are you saying above that you have actually figured out how to fix it in the game so that the "fake moonlight" really does work in terms of coming from the place/direction of where the moon graphic is located in the game? That would be sooooo cooooool

Sounds like between the efforts of the two of you there may be something really special lurking here - can't wait to see the end result

Yes. It to make very simply and I here have made many hints how to make it.

[WernerSobe]

i think you mean skycolors_***.dat where you can texture the light on the horizon.

if so it does not effect the direction of light. its just another fake.

however if youve found a way to synchronize the direction of light with the moon bitmap share it please.

[WernerSobe]

update to 2.0 beta. if you like 1.3 you will love 2.0b

http://web1.h7426.serverkompetenz.ne...vColors20b.zip

moon reflection effect added. check this out.





ive decided to remove the moon bitmap for now. As soon as i find the way to synchronize it with the light direction ill push out another update.

for more changes in 2.0 beta see the readme.

[kapitanfred]

Great job on 1.3 Will test 2.0b out.

[panthercules]

Originally Posted by WernerSobe

If we cant match the bitmap with the light. My idea was to make the moon reflect from the surface and get rid of the moon bitmap in the sky. This way we would have beautiful moonlight but no "real" moon. Does the comunity want it?

I can't speak for the community, but from personal perspective I am not particularly thrilled about having the moon light/reflection effects without the moon image itself - that would be a bit too jarring for me - I think my immersion factor/feeling would be better with the lighting effects you showed earlier in this thread even if the lighted surfaces/angles don't exactly match up with the moon's apparent position in the sky (with the "old" moon reflections rather than your new streak-reflection, which I would like a lot if it synched up with the moon image but not if it doesn't). I think in the heat of battle in the game I would be much less inclined to really notice that the lighting surfaces/angles are wrong than I would that the light effects were there but the moon itself was gone.

I think this latest direction (having the effects with no moon image) is actually a giant step backwards and is sort of the ultimate/worst case of the original "problem" of having the apparent light source direction be "off" from the supposed light source (the moon image).

It sounds like Anvart thinks there is a solution to actually map the light source to the moon image's location (although I'm not sure why he's being so coy about just dropping hints about it rather than simply sharing the "secret" :hmm: ), so I hope you can keep at this till everything falls into place - this is such a cool idea and I think it's great you've made the progress you have so far

[WernerSobe]

well the old moonlight is still present. Ive just adjusted it so it reflects more from objects and less from the waves.

Anyway, even if we can match the image to the light direction there will still be another major problem that definetely cannot be solved.

1. The moonlight (and its reflection) will always be present at night, even then when the moon has dawn and not visible by nature.

2. there is no way to match the moon phases with the intensity of light.

The major problem is because there is only one environmental light source and thats the sun. The game can not just render the light effects, reflections and halo for the sun, it can also differintiate whether the sun is visible and how high it is over the horizon. While the moon is just a simple bitmap on the sky. There is no light from the moon, no shadow no reflection and the game doesnt care where it is on the sky.

Thats the reason for all the problems, so ive decided to remove the moon image from the sky. As you said, during a battle, who cares wheres the moon as long you see its light.

This mod was never planed to end up as a moonlight mod. Ive discovered the moonlight effect by coincidence. I knew it would be impossible to mod real moonlight with everything around it working properly. The idea was that its better to have a fake moonlight effect then none light at night at all.

[bigboywooly]

Is yours different then to Sergbuto's moon reflection mod ?
http://web.telia.com/~u18230645/

[WernerSobe]

yes. actualy i didnt know about this mod. But the method is the same.

You can match the reflection to the moon its quite simple. But it will show the reflection even when the moon is gone. Thats one of the reasons why i have removed the moon image.

[panthercules]

Wow - I'm totally confused now that I've thought about this some more - if the game's "sun" object is actually the light source for the "fake moonlight" effect and the game is tracking where the "sun" is located relative to the horizon and all, then since the sun is (or should be anyway) below the horizon at night where in the heck is the fake moonlight actually "coming from"?

Also, although the stock game may not care where the moon image is in some respects (in terms of not using it as a true light source), it obviously is keeping track of it and changing it (the moon image's location) for other purposes (making it rise and set and progress over time etc.), and Sergbuto's moon reflection mod seems to be able to "read" or use these moon image location changes in order to generate those moon reflections (which are really nice, BTW) - so, shouldn't there be some way to use/read those same moon image position changes to trigger/dictate where a real light source would be located?

Anvart seems to be saying he's figured out how to do this, and his screenshots do look impressive. I wish I knew something about this stuff so maybe I could figure out these clues/hints he's dropping, but it sure would be easier if he'd just either release a working version if he has one or explain the method so some of the other folks around here could take a whack at it.

I guess I'm just getting impatient - this looks so cool and so promising that I can't stand the waiting and the suspense. As I've moved into late 1942 it's getting to be so that night time is the only time I can be on the surface much any more, so I'd love to be able to see some great moonlight effects out there - bring it on!

[sergbuto]

Originally Posted by WernerSobe

yes. actualy i didnt know about this mod. But the method is the same.

You can match the reflection to the moon its quite simple. But it will show the reflection even when the moon is gone. Thats one of the reasons why i have removed the moon image.

No. In the mod, reflections appear when the moon is there. When the moon is gone, reflections are also gone.

[WernerSobe]

realy? thats new to me. Then you must have used another method. Im gonna analyze your mod maybe im gonna figure out things. tnx

[kapitanfred]

Well, I'm using v2.0b and found that the moon still appeared and the new reflections also. However. the reflections were coming from a different position to where the Moon was

[Anvart]

Originally Posted by sergbuto

No. In the mod, reflections appear when the moon is there. When the moon is gone, reflections are also gone.

In yours Mod we have reflection of real object (Moon) in water, and in Werner's 2.0
Mod we have reflection of sky texture (with Moon "path" or "string") in water (files SkyColors...dat). The truth I yet did not see his 2.0 Mod.

[Anvart]

Originally Posted by bigboywooly

Is yours different then to Sergbuto's moon reflection mod ?
http://web.telia.com/~u18230645/

Bigboy why you show low height moon?
Show high height moon and its reflection in water.
:rotfl: