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AmbientLight TGA

shelobs lair

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#1 Fudge

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Posted 28 November 2017 - 12:42 PM

Hello guys,

Just wandered if anybody has ever managed to replicate the ambient light effects that EA applied to Shelob's Lair? I know about 7 years ago, Deezire (who apparently had a non-public version of Worldbuilder) said the following:

"EA applied the TSShelobsLairGoodDM.tga macrotexture to the map and the public version of Worldbuilder does not allow you to edit macrotextures or the cloud plane. The ambientlightmap.tga is simply overlayed to create the lighting to reduce processor cycles, this is a feature you can apply to any map as long as your texture has that name and is included in the map's folder. "

 

So is it possible and has anybody done it? Also does anybody have this guy's email because it would be interesting to have a look at the private version of worldbuilder.

Cheers!

 



#2 MattTheLegoman

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Posted 30 November 2017 - 03:47 AM

Here are the steps to change the cloud texture into an ambient lighting texture.
  • In Worldbuilder click Edit, Edit Map Settings, and set Compression to No compression
  • In Notepad or Notepad++ edit the map and click Search, Find, and search for .tga, you will find both TSNoiseUrb.tga and TSCloudMed.tga if you are editing a default map. Noise is for the macrotexture.
  • Replace the cloud texture with you ambient lighting texture. The filename must be the same length as the filename already there. TSCloudMed is 10 letters long
  • In your mod, the file can be a compressed dds file, and it must be added to the asset.dat like normal textures
  • Add the following code to your map.ini
Weather
	CloudTextureSize = X:1000 Y:1000
	CloudOffsetPerSecond = X:-0 Y:-0
End
  • CloudTextureSize is the "size in world units that one repetition of the cloud texture spans", this should be the size of your map, or otherwise aligned to where you want the ambient lighting texture to be placed and repeated
  • CloudOffsetPerSecond is the "offset in texture units that the cloud texture moves per second", you will want your ambient lighting texture to not move so set it at 0.
I have yet to figure out how exactly the ambient lighting texture will colour the terrain and objects on the map. I'll have to get back to you on that.
Unfortunately, in Worldbuilder the cloud ignores the map.ini settings and will whizz through the map, so I recommend turning off clouds while editing your map.
I must say that I'd love an unleashed Worldbuilder!

Edited by MattTheLegoman, 30 November 2017 - 10:13 AM.

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There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning. - Louis L'Amour

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#3 Fudge

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Posted 30 November 2017 - 10:57 AM

Amazing! How the hell did you work this out Matt!

So why is it that we replace the cloud texture with a lighting effect, and why do we not fiddle with the noise.tga? Let me know what how you get on! 



#4 MattTheLegoman

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Posted 30 November 2017 - 11:10 AM

At least to the game's physics, clouds are a form of ambient lighting. I looked at it very closely and the cloud/ambient lighting colours everything under it, it is like a blend layer in Photoshop.

Macrotextures, which you can edit the same way, are only overlayed on the terrain textures. I'm currently testing how I could put an accurate flow map onto a map.

Remember that all worlds draw to an end and that noble death is a treasure which no one is too poor to buy. - C.S. Lewis

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning. - Louis L'Amour

What will matter then will be people. If relationships will matter most then, shouldn't they matter most now? - Max Lucado





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