Judith on 7/7/2010 at 18:41
Hello,
I've been trying to create a script or effect which could change ambient brightness value during the game. I need it to alternate between indoor and outdoor locations in my daylight mission (values of 8 and 64 accordingly). I couldn't find a proper script, there are settings for fog only. I tried alternative methods, like screen tinting, but it does not produce the desired effect (looks like contrast shift at best). I didn't find any reference to AB in global variables either. I know the best thing would be to use script Actions in Properties group, but they refer to linkable objects, and LevelInfo is definitely not anything placeable or linkable within ActorClass browser (invalid destination message pops up when I try to link LevelInfo with any class within the browser).
Since I'm running out of ideas I thought you could have something on your mind, any help would be appreciated ;)
jtr7 on 7/7/2010 at 20:33
The Cradle has an effect of "breathing" lighting, where the light increases and decreases gently as if the place is breathing. It might be the light objects themselves, but maybe it's ambience? I don't know if that can offer a clue or if it's a waste of time.
Judith on 7/7/2010 at 21:15
You probably mean light pulse parameter. I was thinking about attaching a light to Garrett too, and it worked but maximum radius is too small - 255 points in outdoor locations like this one is not enough (few thousand UUs width and breadth):
(
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/6217/t3mainreleaseversion201.jpg)
Then I got the idea that I could actually change the property value without using links, switching to the flags instead: one script for changing flag value in the level, the other in LevelInfo. The problem is, there is no AmbientBrighntess property on the list :(
Beleg Cúthalion on 7/7/2010 at 21:48
I guess you already arrived at the point where you think a value of 64 is appropriate...? It looked strange for me at 20 already, so I wonder what else you did. The few daylight experiments I did involved different fake sunlights and less intensive "diffusion" lights to avoid harsh shadows.
The Cradle alters fog range and color, screen tinting and a hell of other things (I never figured out how they disabled mines thrown in world mode, though), but no ambient brightness. One crazy idea... no, forget it, adding script to the level properties themselves crashes T3Ed. :p
Judith on 8/7/2010 at 06:48
Yup 64 seems to be fine, higher values tend to wash out textures too much and the bloom goes crazy. Actually I managed to create outdoor environments without using any lights so far - just ambient brightness, some AO decals, fog planes and other FX meshes, also subtle black DistanceFog to accentuate depth and variety in terrains full of white snow surfaces.
I guess this setup works pretty well due to specific the texture color range (black and white levels 8-224) and is flexible enough for user adjustment with Brightness option in game menu.
Anywhoo, this is for outdoors, but I'd like to have some separate indoor locations (think Morrowind-like teleports) as well, with typical lightning.