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Experimenting with lightmaps

Nick

Iron Tower Studio
Developer
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Messages
317
Location
Over the hills and far away
EvoG said:
If you're continuing to test, might I suggest...

Combining Skylight with the TargetDirect was the first thing we did, but later we decided to refuse from that idea.
1) Windows and doors are usually animated, so you can open/close them. Lightmap is static, so when you close the door, the patch of the light is still visible on the floor. Looks kinda stupid.
2) Skylight-ed lightmaps can be used both for night and day time. In the case of directional light and light bleeding, we will have to export two different DTS objects - same geometry, different textures. Rendering two sets of lighmaps and re-exporting models takes time, I'm not sure we have it.

That's my opinion. However, if you have more convincing arguments, I would be glad to listen to any good advice.

EDIT: more comments.

Anaglyph said:
I agree with Hazelnut though that the tops of the walls are a bit distracting now...
Will be fixed.

Indoor dynamic shadows have a good chance to be fixed too, right now I'm waiting for an email from Lighting Pack developer.
 

mytgroo

Scholar
Joined
Jul 6, 2006
Messages
373
Location
Land of Dreams
Yes, it must be dog poo, it is a tribal custom among dingo warriors. I like the lighting, it looks a whole lot better than the older pictures.
 

Nael

Arcane
Joined
Dec 12, 2005
Messages
11,384
Location
Indy
It still looks too bright to me *shrug*. What do I care though? It's got mudcrabs!
 

Ivy Mike

Scholar
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
495
Location
Ground Zero
Very, very nice. I'd be perfectly happy if you guys put the graphics tweaking on hold at this level. Judging by this room alone the world seems more alive and vivid now, compared to the screenshots you released earlier. Besides, is that an improved interface I see? Anyho, how's the game coming along? Am I looking at another six monts of waiting or what?
 

obediah

Erudite
Joined
Jan 31, 2005
Messages
5,051
Ivy Mike said:
Am I looking at another six monts of waiting or what?

My guess is roughly 4-6 months because that has consistently been VD's estimate for the past 18 months :lol:
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
Because you fuckers have been impossibly hard to please for the last 18 months:

I don't like the interface, I don't like the dialogue screen setup - make it bigger, make it smaller, make it transparent, add a background, move the gold to the left, no, to the right, no, back to the left; OMG! Teh game has no shadows - fix it immediately;, it doesn't look lively / Roman / fantasy / post-apocalyptic enough; you call THIS writing - I wrote a better Sailor Moon fan fiction story in 3rd grade, I can only read something written by a certified writer with at least 2 published books; it's not atmospheric enough - why can't you, lazy fucker, make AoD look like Gothic 3? Hmm?

I blame myself, of course, as I should have stuck with the plan and released a Spiderweb-looking game, but ... too late for that. Anyway, I found a great editor who will help me polish the text. So far it took about a week to do 3 quests and add several character descriptions, so yeah, 4-6 months sounds about right. :lol:
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
aweigh said:
Vault Dweller said:

But won't it all be worth it in the end when AoD gets compared to Oblivion by the game sites??
It won't. Games like that never do, and I don't have a problem with that. I don't care about Oblivion (well, it's a shame that Bethesda butchered the series, but that's a different story), and I'm not trying to prove anything to Bethesda. All I want is to make a good game that would sell enough to allow me to keep my team and maybe get a few more talented folks.
 

Atrokkus

Erudite
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
3,089
Location
Borat's Fantasy Land
Yay! the interiors look fantastic now!

I would love to see how it would work on characters as I can't yet see much of a difference. What of the exteriors, by the way?
 

Nick

Iron Tower Studio
Developer
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Messages
317
Location
Over the hills and far away
Vault Dweller said:
The link doesn't work for me.
It's definitely something wrong with it, but I understand what he means - a simple gradient circle under the character's legs, that simulates the shadow. Example: Gothic1 and Gothic2, IIRC. However, there may be a conflict with real dynamic shadow, when character walks outdoors.
Anyway, we still hope to get some help from LP dev. We'll try to use that chance first.
 

DarkSign

Erudite
Joined
Jul 24, 2004
Messages
3,910
Location
Shepardizing caselaw with the F5 button.
Flashback said:
DarkSign said:
Here's a video of dynamic shadows working on an object indoors:
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/aaroncliffor ... hysics.wmv

It's actually a physics demo for a wasteland car, but it shows the dynamic lighting working. (hint: look under the car)

That's TSE, not TGE.

DarkSign said:
Many thanks.

Yes, I know. But it's working in both. I work with the developers of the Dream Project who are using it daily and have assured me it's working. Of course the developer of the LK trumps everyone else, but other people have interior dynamic shadows working.
 

The_Pope

Scholar
Joined
Nov 15, 2005
Messages
844
Vault Dweller said:
Because you fuckers have been impossibly hard to please for the last 18 months:

I don't like the interface, I don't like the dialogue screen setup - make it bigger, make it smaller, make it transparent, add a background, move the gold to the left, no, to the right, no, back to the left; OMG! Teh game has no shadows - fix it immediately;, it doesn't look lively / Roman / fantasy / post-apocalyptic enough; you call THIS writing - I wrote a better Sailor Moon fan fiction story in 3rd grade, I can only read something written by a certified writer with at least 2 published books; it's not atmospheric enough - why can't you, lazy fucker, make AoD look like Gothic 3? Hmm?

I blame myself, of course, as I should have stuck with the plan and released a Spiderweb-looking game, but ... too late for that. Anyway, I found a great editor who will help me polish the text. So far it took about a week to do 3 quests and add several character descriptions, so yeah, 4-6 months sounds about right. :lol:

It has made it a better game. Isn't that the point?
 

crufty

Arcane
Joined
Jun 29, 2004
Messages
6,383
Location
Glassworks
Flashback said:
Anyway, we still hope to get some help from LP dev. We'll try to use that chance first.

Fixed the link--that's exactly what I mean. Definitely go after the low hanging fruit, if the interior lighting package can be coaxed into doing it, all the better! :)
 

John Yossarian

Magister
Joined
May 8, 2006
Messages
1,000
Location
Pianosa
I can see all the screenies except for the one you actually linked.

Edit: Oh shit I forgot to say something that's actually on topic. Looking much better, I couldn't care less if you added shadows or changed anything else about the graphics, its definately good enough for me. One thing though, for some reason the people in this screen look like they're floating to me. Maybe it's the camera, or just because it's a screenshot, or I'm probably tired. It's weird, I didn't notice it this morning but it's the first thing I noticed tonight. Meh, either way there's nothing you can do about it. Keep up the good work (preferably in balance and quests rather than graphics :wink: ).
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
John Yossarian said:
Vault Dweller said:
Because you fuckers have been impossibly hard to please for the last 18 months:

I don't like the interface,...
Rough day at work?
I said it with love. I actually do like most changes you guys have forced us to do, including how the game looks now. Changes do take time though.

The_Pope said:
It has made it a better game. Isn't that the point?
Yep.

John Yossarian said:
Keep up the good work
:salute:
 

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