Darkness of level

CovenantSpy · Post by **CovenantSpy** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 8:07 pm

I have done a search n how to change how dark it is on the level, but all I seem to be able to do is change how much fog there is not change the actual lighting of the map. Here is a image of where I am making the changes. Am I in the wrong spot or am I changing the wrong thing...Please help me. Sorry if this has been asked allready.

Sorry if the image is too large.

Hunter_Killers · Post by **Hunter_Killers** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 9:12 pm

Most likely need Photoshop to edit them but you edit the bitmaps in HMT under levels\test\<mapname\<mapname> to what ever you want just make sure to save them as 5:6:5 RGB (16 bit) and don't edit the yellow and red checkered part, i find using fog for darkness can do some weird things being used alone but if you get it right with the bitmaps it can look real nice.

Ang88 · Post by **Ang88** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 2:50 pm

changing bitmaps and fog are the only thing we can do right now, we can't actually change the lighting, because it is part of the bsp which we can't edit yet, if you would like to figure this out for us, go ahead

Pwn4g3 · Post by **Pwn4g3** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 6:29 pm

Only thing you can do is change the brightness of the textures of the walls etc, change the sky rgb colour, and maybe the sun, to a bluey moon colour.

05H3T5KY · Post by **05H3T5KY** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 6:49 pm

Ang88--> Yes, we can. The lights are actually bitmaps that are layered onto the BSP, not a part of the BSP itself. I discovered which bitmaps to edit and how to edit them (Hunter_Killers has the right idea) here:

http://www.halomods.com/forums/viewtopi ... 3&start=40

My tutorial is the second post on that page...just be sure to change the fog color to black (leaving the densities alone) after finishing that tutorial, and everything'll be perfectly dark, and the flashlights and headlights on the vehicles will still work perfectly as well..........enjoy guys.

CovenantSpy · Post by **CovenantSpy** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 8:22 pm

Anyway I'm still a little confused. I think you can change the darness because I have seen many mods where they are darker. I dont really understand what you guys are talking about with all this BSp junk. SO please but it in a form that i will understand.

05H3T5KY · Post by **05H3T5KY** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 9:31 am

CovenantSpy-->Yes, it is very possible to change the darkness. However, the majority of the mods you saw where it looked darker were probably done the "cheater's" way. This way is by darkening all of the bitmaps that are displayed on the level (rocks, vehicles, MC, grass, etc.) using photoshop. The problem with doing it this way is that it will LOOK dark, but light sources will not show up very well (I.E: Headlights, flashlights, and beacons won't cast light much if at all, due to the way the lighting in HALO works)

However, there is a more advanced way to achieve the night-time effect and have it be completely realistic. Ang88 believed that the actual lighting was encoded into the BSP as an element (The BSP is the actual level's model, texture maps, surfaces, collision model, and a few other things all compressed into one "file" so to speak).

This, while it may be true on some other games, is not true in HALO. The lighting in HALO .map files is created by ARGB (Alpha-Red-Green-Blue) bitmaps. These bitmaps are layered over the entire level to lighten and darken areas of the map (I.E: The huge cliff shadows in Blood Gulch are made by having a darker ARGB bitmap applied over those areas. When an object such as the hog enters this shadow, it too has the same ARGB bitmap applied to it, therefore making it become darker). So shadowed or dark areas have darker ARGB bitmaps applied over them and lighter areas (such as those in direct "sunlight") have lighter ARGB bitmaps applied over them.

So, by correctly darkening certain ARGB bitmaps and re-injecting them, you can effectively make the entire level's lighting a lot lower, creating a night-time level. The only thing that may be needed after doing this is to change the fog's color to black, or it will show up all too well and crap up the level's visuals. By darkening a map this way, you allow the headlights, flashlights, and other light sources still work correctly. This is because THEIR light is also controlled by ARGB bitmaps, and if you do not darken them, they will still correctly lighten the textures they are applied to, retaining their correct effect.

*whew*....hope this explained it well enough for you...I don't know if you'll understand all of it, but I tried my best...now I'm off to continue on my latest night-mod.

CovenantSpy · Post by **CovenantSpy** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 10:34 am

Wow thanks man I think I understand now thanks a lot.

gecko753 · Post by **gecko753** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 11:28 am

something ive found about the fog values...

Color Values - in case you dont know, the range for these values is 0-1...so for red, you say R=1, G=0, B=0... easy

Max. Thickness - never make it 1 or higher.. from what ive done, 1 is the max, and at the distance specified in solid distance, it will hide the bsp map.. meaning in the distance you will not see the wall.. it will be blank and you will see the sky. what i do is set max thickness to 0.9999 so it gets close, but never has that prob

Start Distance - make this pretty small, like 0.1. this just makes it seem more realistic.. cuz fog usually doesnt start far away, its all around you

Solid Distance - depending on how much fog you want, adjust this. on a map like blood gulch, i usually have this at about 50-60.. then on something like death island something like 70-80. it all depends on how big the map is and how far you want to see

Hunter_Killers · Post by **Hunter_Killers** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 11:36 am

05H3T5KY wrote:CovenantSpy-->Yes, it is very possible to change the darkness. However, the majority of the mods you saw where it looked darker were probably done the "cheater's" way. This way is by darkening all of the bitmaps that are displayed on the level (rocks, vehicles, MC, grass, etc.) using photoshop. The problem with doing it this way is that it will LOOK dark, but light sources will not show up very well (I.E: Headlights, flashlights, and beacons won't cast light much if at all, due to the way the lighting in HALO works)

Umm, when i did it the way you call the "cheater's" way, projected lights worked perfectly like the flashlight, etc... and thats how i'm lighting up parts of the one i'm doing.

Just note some of the "lights" in halo don't actually give off light.

HunterXI · Post by **HunterXI** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 11:36 am

we should put this info into a new, correct sticky.

05H3T5KY · Post by **05H3T5KY** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 6:20 pm

CovenantSpy--> No problem man.

gecko753--> Yes, I too have noticed these things...but I usually don't change the densities, only the color of the fog (usually to black to complete the night effect, but sometimes to different colors to see how funky they look in-game.

) Good job though spending the time to find the exact particulars of each option.

Hunter_Killers--> Well, I guess you didn't go to an extreme with darkening them that way then...I know from experience that if you darken them A LOT through photoshop (like 200-300% darker), when the headlights or flashlights' ARGB textures are layered onto them, they do not show up well at all, if at all. Sorry, I should have clarified that a little more.

Also, the only "lights" in HALO that don't actually give off light (to my knowledge) are tiny detail lights like the LEDs on the MC's suit, the sun in the sky, and the tail-lights on the hog (the sun and the taillights only look like they do b/c of the light "flare" that is shown when they are looked at)

Hope this helped clarify things a little bit.

Hunter_Killers · Post by **Hunter_Killers** » Mon Apr 12, 2004 1:30 pm

I'm talking about pure 0,0,0 black that the lights worked on too, although it was absolute hell trying to find what your looking for.