Day/Night, weather and Time
by Richard Preziosi · in General Discussion · 04/15/2008 (7:07 pm) · 9 replies
Hey, been out of the loop for a good while now. Last time i was around was version 1.4, but enough about that.
I was doing a bit of research on a day/night, weather and time resource in order to add these functions to my game. Throught the search function all I could come upon were resources for 1.3 and things over 4 years old. Hoping that I missed something, or perhaps it was added to the engine in my absence and I just overlooked it. Thanks in advance for any info that anyone may have on these functions.
I was doing a bit of research on a day/night, weather and time resource in order to add these functions to my game. Throught the search function all I could come upon were resources for 1.3 and things over 4 years old. Hoping that I missed something, or perhaps it was added to the engine in my absence and I just overlooked it. Thanks in advance for any info that anyone may have on these functions.
#2
04/16/2008 (12:20 pm)
Thanks for reply. However, in response, does anyone know of, or is it even possible, to have just a straight forward way to do this through scripting, all the ones I found require changing the engine code itself. I have no interest in doing that until I come upon a feature I just cannot do without. Like I said everything I could find was for version 1.3 and most of what it says to alter doesn't even exist anymore or links are broken. As for MMOKit I have no interest in Arcane FX. I appologize for not doing my own work on this, but I really have no clue as how to even go about doing this. Thanks. 
#3
04/16/2008 (12:41 pm)
AFAIK, it would require engine coding, most specifically in terms of the lighting functionality for lightmaps in interiors and on terrain.
#4
04/16/2008 (12:44 pm)
Well let me ask you this then, then that will be it for this subject. I have a much older version of microsoft visual C++. Will that be sufficient for what I am wanting to do? Or should I get a newer tool? Thanks again, been very helpful.
#5
04/16/2008 (7:37 pm)
It depends on the version. You can use the Express versions for free with the engine if your version is not supported. I cannot remember if we still have V6 project files or not in the newest versions. 
#6
As far as day/night goes you can do everything but the lighting and shadowing in script. I would look at the Enviro-Torque resource. Specifically at the Game Manager sections as it deals with time and weather and that is handled through script. You can fake a day/night transition by changing your skybox in script. And you can also play with the animation keys for the fxSunlight object in the editor and simulate a moving sun.
The shadowing and lighting from the Enviro-Torque resource is outdated but can be beat into shape to work with TGE 1.52 and can only be done through source code changes.
04/16/2008 (9:44 pm)
I'm assuming you're talking about TGE 1.52. V6 and V7 project files are included but I use the VS2005 Express project files so I don't know if the older files are fully relevant.As far as day/night goes you can do everything but the lighting and shadowing in script. I would look at the Enviro-Torque resource. Specifically at the Game Manager sections as it deals with time and weather and that is handled through script. You can fake a day/night transition by changing your skybox in script. And you can also play with the animation keys for the fxSunlight object in the editor and simulate a moving sun.
The shadowing and lighting from the Enviro-Torque resource is outdated but can be beat into shape to work with TGE 1.52 and can only be done through source code changes.
#7
04/17/2008 (8:59 am)
Note that it will not change lightmap properties on/in DIF's.
#8
04/17/2008 (9:32 am)
I looked at Enviro-Torque, but after the third thing it asked me to change that wasn't even there anymore in the current torque build, I threw it out. Perhaps I will pick it apart and see what I can get out of it.
#9
04/18/2008 (3:32 pm)
Ok if anyone can get both parts of enviro-torque to work on the basic example game I will pay for you to compile it for me, I cannot seem to do it, My engine always freezes and crashes after i build it and attempt to run it. Haven't had to use any c++ in the past to do what I need and it's definitely not my strong point. So if anyone wants to make some money or just be nice, let me know, I'd greatly appreciate it. 
Associate David Montgomery-Blake
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