[WIP]K1 The Night and Day Mod

[Hassat Hunter 571]

Hmm. Been on here and LF for 6 months now and I still have no idea what 'IIRC' means...

If I Recall Correctly

[Fair Strides 509]

If I Recall Correctly

 

Ah. Hindsight's 20/20 isn't it? Now it seems obvious. Thanks for the trivial knowledge, HH.

[Malkior 476]

Update:

 

I'm just writing to let everyone know that the mod is not dead.

 

Fairstrides is currently stuck offline and I'm without a means to play, let alone mod the game as a whole until I can buy a new card for my PC. Once I have the graphics card installed and working again, I will be working on the mod some more; making more skyboxes and refining animation timing. We already have a good test subject with the Dantooine skybox which has three transitions and a reasonable means to time each transitional change. Hopefully I can start to include more planets or proceed toward the full 24 frames for Dantooine soon.

 

So, yeah, once I've got my PC back in working condition hopefully within the next few weeks, progress should be soon after. Features will have to be left at a minimum until Fairstrides is able to get online, (as I can't code...well) or if someone else in the community can help get all of the coding set up for more complicated things than animated textures (like setting up the slides so that they all start at the same time regardless of location, changing background music according to times of the day, and/or other advanced things like changing weather and moving the confounded sun away during the night cycle.)

[Malkior 476]

Been making some good progress on the mod. FairStrides is unfortunately without internet until further notice, so as it stands, we'll need some coding and scripting to get the .tga's to time properly and/or allow more advanced features such as dynamic time progression in cells and time-based sound effects.

 

-Bead-V, at this point, we need code that makes the areas store what frame was last played before and start it when the area loads. (It was discussed a few posts up) I am totally without a clue as to how to do this, or even if it's possible, but it's the next big thing that needs to be done, and I would really appreciate any assistance if you can do it.-

 

I am still working as hard as I can on the texture generation as of late, but I have a small problem that requires the input of the community; Are the texture dimensions 3072x2048 too large for the game engine to handle? My computer seems to be having difficulty processing it, but I need to know to be sure.

 

Basically if this is the case, I'll have to downgrade from 24 hours (24 frames) to 12. (or lower if need be :|)

 

 

I have progress screenshots, but the DS image uploader doesn't seem to be working for me. They are instead posted on the LF thread until I can get image uploading to work for me (Does error code #10779 that keeps popping up when I try to upload them to my gallery mean this?)

 

Anyway, here's the link to the screenshots Lucasforums Post

 

Unfortunately I can only make textures, so I really need help to make this mod actually happen. (Well, it could just be animated textures, but I know it has the potential to be so much more if someone with the knowledge could lend me a hand. Heck, we could probably even make a weather system; you never know... )

[Rtas Vadum 17]

I am still working as hard as I can on the texture generation as of late, but I have a small problem that requires the input of the community; Are the texture dimensions 3072x2048 too large for the game engine to handle? My computer seems to be having difficulty processing it, but I need to know to be sure.

 

The texture size, both height and width, must be divisible by 2. Which means that textures can be anything from 64x64, to 2048x2048(it can be higher, it's just not advisable). For the skyboxes, I wouldn't go past 2048x2048, since even that might be pushing it a bit.

[Malkior 476]

Will it be compatible with all those restorations and the Dantooine Tension mod?

 

I know the textures have no effect on other mods; (it will replace any textures and .txi files with the same name, but nothing crashworthy)

but I'll try to make sure the code and/or scripting is compatible if that's doable.

[Malkior 476]

The texture size, both height and width, must be divisible by 2. Which means that textures can be anything from 64x64, to 2048x2048(it can be higher, it's just not advisable). For the skyboxes, I wouldn't go past 2048x2048, since even that might be pushing it a bit.

 

Thank You very much!

 

Okay, then 16 frames is the magical amount? (2048x2048 at full detail)

[Rtas Vadum 17]

Thank You very much!

 

Okay, then 16 frames is the magical amount? (2048x2048 at full detail)

 

Well, if you mean having a single frame be 2048x2048, and with that many, likely a bad idea. The size for that is 32768x32768, which I suppose might work, but it is something I don't think should be tried.

 

It does seem like the game will only consider the size defined by the txi, since it technically isn't displaying the full texture. Still, going too high might cause a problem.

[Canderis 180]

The textures are optimal at powers of 2. Use 4096*2048 instead.

[Malkior 476]

Well, if you mean having a single frame be 2048x2048, and with that many, likely a bad idea. The size for that is 32768x32768, which I suppose might work, but it is something I don't think should be tried.

 

It does seem like the game will only consider the size defined by the txi, since it technically isn't displaying the full texture. Still, going too high might cause a problem.

 

No, I'm talking the entire image tile.

 

The images are all 512 px on their own, but it seems to cause a slowdown (or heat-up in my comp's case) with the full 24. I don't know how the engine handles textures, but the full 24 frames isn't divisible by two, so I'm having to consider more options. Basically what I'm getting at is whether having 24 full slides is causing the slowdown, or if it is just because 3072x2048 isn't divisible by 2.

 

The textures are optimal at powers of 2. Use 4096*2048 instead.

 

Do you mean, if I add more slides, it will perform better since it's divisible by two? I have no idea of how the engine processes textures.

[Canderis 180]

Probably.

[Fallen Guardian 27]

I know the textures have no effect on other mods; (it will replace any textures and .txi files with the same name, but nothing crashworthy)

but I'll try to make sure the code and/or scripting is compatible if that's doable.

 

Certain modules of mine in Dantooine Tension seem like they'd be compatible, because they rely on the vanilla model. All my custom modules should work too, but they won't cycle through Night/Day without a proper patch/some edits, which I wouldn't be too sure how to go about. The Ebon Hawk script HH posted back in July looks as though it relies on room animations. Now having never worked with room animations I don't know if they need to be defined in the area model or if they are present in all models and just need a reference from a script.

[The.Frosty.One 4]

Did this die? Please tell me this is still going strong!!!

[Sith Holocron 2,477]

The thread is two years old. Please don't raise threads from the dead.

[Jorak Uln 458]

The thread is two years old. Please don't raise threads from the dead.

normally i would agree - but this mod is just too awesome to give it up... It might be also a sign that the author currently works on it and was just to lazy to make up a new thread?

[Sith Holocron 2,477]

normally i would agree - but this mod is just too awesome to give it up... 

Then you PM them.

[Jorak Uln 458]

Then you PM them.

Curiously a few month ago i indeed sent a PM to FairStrides  about that mod  - and he said there were too many unexpected difficulties to overcome - maybe with the finish of K1R he finally found time for it...

Anyway, thread relevant formalities are not my responsibility so its best if you guys PM each other..

[Malkior 476]

normally i would agree - but this mod is just too awesome to give it up... It might be also a sign that the author currently works on it and was just to lazy to make up a new thread?

I'll tell him you said that... '-'

 

Seriously though, the scripting alone would require a tech guru the likes of which are virtually unseen. I'd talk to FS if interested, but essentially, the biggest hurdle we have to pass is getting a reliable method to actually make the frames change and to ensure the timing is independent of each time an area is loaded. (This is so that the skies don't change back to the default time of day every time an area is loaded) We also noticed that the frames were changing at different intervals for each side of the sky, so that has to be addressed as well. If someone can do that, we can move forward with it. I also drafted up an entire day/night for Dantooine, so experimentation can proceed once the timing is properly done.

 

I'm not sure how Fair Strides feels about someone helping with the project, but I personally don't even know where to begin on the timing/coding portion.

 

Edit___

 

I see Jorak Uln has my back.. Anyway that's the gist of it.

[Fair Strides 509]

Well...

 

Believe it or not, I've kept almost all the files throughout several re-installations of XP.

 

I can still do the mod. I have many ideas on how to do it, though the only limitation is the mdl format. I do intend to do it, so don't worry, guys.

 

I'll first do it for Dantooine, as Malkior already has the files done.

[Malkior 476]

Awesome! Well, I guess you can disregard my previous statement.

 

I'll be busy getting my computer ready. Still have to acquire a new OS disk (since I don't have my original disk), and then I'll be ready to work on more slides

[Hassat Hunter 571]

I don't know about needing a scripting guru for it... wouldn't a global be enough?

 

As the time progresses the same script that changes the time setting will also update the global, global is read upon map/save-game load and thus loads the correct background to play?

 

I suppose the big question is... how do you model the .mdl and .mdx'es, and what's the current method of progressing time code-wise...

[Fair Strides 509]

I don't know about needing a scripting guru for it... wouldn't a global be enough?

 

As the time progresses the same script that changes the time setting will also update the global, global is read upon map/save-game load and thus loads the correct background to play?

 

I suppose the big question is... how do you model the .mdl and .mdx'es, and what's the current method of progressing time code-wise...

 

I'm glad you asked, HH. I'm thinking of making 23 placeable models, each within the size of the original skybox. As time progresses, I'll spawn another hour and delete the previous hour.

 

As far as the models themselves go, I'll be making each one a little smaller than the previous, to avoid clipping.

 

Now to address how the time thing goes.

 

In the module.ifo file, there are four fields of note: Mod_StartHour, Mod_StartDay, Mod_StartYear, and Mod_MinPerHour.

 

The first three are pretty obvious. The last is simply the number of Real-World minutes equals an Hour in-game. By default, the game modules operate on a 2 minute scale, meaning two real minutes is an hour in-game.

 

There's also a few functions of note: GetTimeHour, GetTimeMinute, and GetTimeSecond, and SetTime.

 

These return integers, which I can then convert to strings, add together, and set as a global string for the planet in general. I'll edit the OnExit script for each planet's module to set the global string. I can then add to the OnEnter script to get the last planetary time and set the current time to that, as I think the Mod_Start time is used upon load.

 

In this way, I should be able to do it, and I'll be adding up to 8 global strings, depending on Sleheyron's completion.

[Hassat Hunter 571]

Sounds like a good way to do it... what would be the problem with it then that it doesn't work?

Not quite sure why you need a global for all different planets though, wouldn't just the one work, and be reset on the Hawk when leaving the planet (to prevent going in and out to heal resetting the timing)?

[Fair Strides 509]

Sounds like a good way to do it... what would be the problem with it then that it doesn't work?

Not quite sure why you need a global for all different planets though, wouldn't just the one work, and be reset on the Hawk when leaving the planet (to prevent going in and out to heal resetting the timing)?

 

Simple: I haven't done it yet. This is all just theory. I haven't started on any of this yet.

 

As to the different time thing on planets, I was thinking that different planets might have different "cycles". And when you go on the Ebon Hawk, I was planning on advancing the time by two hours.

[Hassat Hunter 571]

Still would allow a single global if it's wiped clean upon traveling to another planet, as I don't recall a method to leave a planet otherwise.