-Havermeyer- Posted October 21, 2002 Share Posted October 21, 2002 There was a thread prior to the release of CMBB that applied some faux lighting effects to CMBO armor textures to give them "weight/depth". Where did this idea go, and is anyone contemplating doing something similar for CMBB? As I recall, I liked it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted October 21, 2002 Share Posted October 21, 2002 The field guns in the game use some pretty effective cast shadows. For mods with lighting effects, looks like THE BIG CHEESE is on the right track. I wonder how his mods will look down-rez'd on my old mac G3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Havermeyer- Posted October 22, 2002 Author Share Posted October 22, 2002 Is the BIG CHEESE a member of the mod cult... and criminy this post gets to third page in 3 hours... sheez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchlstrt Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 Yeah, no Mod forum 5uX dO0D!!! (or however you say it in L33t) When you start really getting into it, several factors complicate this issue (as usual). My take on a couple of key ones: The game engine was designed to render 'simple' 3D images efficiently (we're now up to 16-64X original BO size BMPs). This shows itself as 'wierdness' when one uses black or white gradations, which is exactly what one uses to create shading without the sort of 'cardboard cutout' effect George III ran into when he first got onto this idea. And even more importantly... A Game on CM's scale (at this point in the History of Technology) can't really support Dynamic Lighting, & needs to do as much BMP sharing as possible. This means that, beyond a point, the more Dramatic the shading the more confusing & LESS realistic it seems. Still, if you lined up Mods from The Beginning thru Now, you would find that these ideas have been incorporated more & more by Modders. If you could open any turn & switch this element on & off it might be surprising. strt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted October 23, 2002 Share Posted October 23, 2002 A good test is to place a mod onto a huge complex map at night. Nothing messes up a nice mod like down-rezing 3-4 times THEN changing the color balance! If you can live with the result, it's a useable mod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zukkov Posted October 23, 2002 Share Posted October 23, 2002 ok i'll bite. what is dynamic lighting effects? is it just shadows or what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomm Posted October 23, 2002 Share Posted October 23, 2002 Originally posted by zukkov: ok i'll bite. what is dynamic lighting effects? is it just shadows or what?It comes in two flavors: (1) The easy part is to shade surface according to their orientation to the light source. This is straightforward and supported by hardware nowadays. It becomes important when the sun is low or artificial light sources dominate (starshells). (2) The hard part are to cast shadows from one object onto another one (the ground, for example). This is still not state-of-the art. It is also much more expensive than surface shading. CM does at least have a rectangular shadow under vehicles. OFP has nice cast shadows. Regarding (1): I think most results of dynamic lighting can be faked by textures of appropriate shading and comparatively high contrast. Unfortunately, most stock textures do not emphasize contrast between surfaces. Thus, they appear rather flat to me. This is why I liked the work of George III so much! Matter of taste, it seems! Hope this helps ... Thomm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchlstrt Posted October 24, 2002 Share Posted October 24, 2002 I have to say that my tastes run in that direction also. However, as I got into Modding, I became more aware of the sort of things noted above. Check out my 'Grimy JT' in the last CMMOS batch. It's very 'shady', & that's the toned down version. When I was working on it, in a field by itself for quick load times, I had it looking VERY 3d, VERY dramatic, woohoo, I'm GOOD, I'm gonna change EVERYTHING around here. Well, the first problem of course is it doesn't actually spend much time sitting around in a sunny field by itself. Start adding in the other things & I basically spent a lot of time making a Mod that I'm proud of Artistically, but in the end is not actually that Useful (sigh). Regarding Dynamic Lighting, good Modders spend a lot of time making flat planes intersecting at sharp angles appear smooth & rounded. My concern would be that too much DL, at this point in The History of Computer Technology, could actully work against 'realism'. It seems to me the 'Art' is finding ways to push the 3D envelope within the inherent limits of The Game, & I'm very much into pushing this aspect of Modding. strt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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