Custom Emergency Light Colors

aeroripper · July 2011

<div class="IPBDescription">Pitch black, green, blue, mustard, violet, blended colors, etc...</div><b><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><span style="color:#FF0000">[UPDATE 8/4/11 - Blended Ambient Colors]</span></span></b>

Been tinkering some more and found a way to change the colors of the powered down, ambient lights in addition to the normal disabled color. Examples:

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/847/blended1.png/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/5306/blended1.th.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a> <b> Gold and Blue Ambient</b>

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/171/blended2.png/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/1914/blended2.th.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a> <b> Dark purple with Bluish Ambient</b>

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/231/blended3.png/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/975/blended3.th.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a> <b> Lime Green with Light Blue Ambient</b>

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/839/3colors2.jpg/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/5601/3colors2.th.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a> <b>Red Primary / Purple / Blue Ambient. 3 colors on this one (using PowerPoint.kDisabledColor3 on color_up color_down IIRC) </b>

1) Go into your PowerPoint_Client.lua again and go to this line (your color may be different, follow the instructions below so you know how it works):

<div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'>PowerPoint.kDisabledColor = Color(109/255, 239/255, 52/220)</div>

2) Now add this new line under it:

<div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'>PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2 = Color(17/255, 148/255, 223/255)</div>

It should now look like this in your file:

<div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'>PowerPoint.kDisabledColor = Color(109/255, 239/255, 52/220)
PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2 = Color(17/255, 148/255, 223/255)</div>

3)Now go down to line 190 and edit the ambient lights to point to your new PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2 line you just created:
<div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'>if renderLight:GetType() == RenderLight.Type_AmbientVolume then
color_right = PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2
color_left = PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2
color_up = PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2
color_down = PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2
color_forward = PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2
color_backward = PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2</div>

4) Now scroll down to line 228 and do the exact same thing again with those since they're identical. Not sure if this is necessary but I did it anyways.

5) That's it. Enter in the color your want for you primary lighting in unpowered rooms, then edit your secondary one you created for the ambient lighting colors.

Technically you could do "PowerPoint.kDisabledColor3" and so on and do a different color for each direction of lighting, but it didn't quite seem to look right, or at all. I found everything looks better using one color for your primary, and one color for your ambient. I played around with having the color_up and color_down colors a 3rd separate color, but it usually clashed a bit.

Maybe some of you guys are more artsy than me and can make 3 colors blend better together than I can.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I got the idea for this from this thread from Feha (to give marines pitch black lighting). I know not everyone loves the red coloring. Note this is a <span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><b>Client Side</b></span> mod only.

<a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=114180&view=findpost&p=1860723" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...t&p=1860723</a>

I was tinkering around and figured out a way to change the emergency lighting to give you whatever color you want. Here is how to do it:

1) Open PowerPoint_Client.lua (don't forget to backup original!) in your natural selection 2\ns2\lua folder. Highly recommend using a program like Notepad++, but any text editor will do.

2) Go to line 9 right at the top. It show show this (this is the line you'll need to edit:

<div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'>PowerPoint.kDisabledColor = Color(1, 0, 0)</div>

This is your standard RGB value with the alpha value. So for example for a yellowish/orangish color I would use 139/255, 69/255, 0/255. so the code would look like this:

<div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'>PowerPoint.kDisabledColor = Color(139/255, 69/255, 0/255)</div>

Any updates to this file (once saved) will instantly be updated in the running game, so trying out other colors is easy.

Useful color chart:

<a href="http://www.procato.com/color+wheel/" target="_blank">http://www.procato.com/color+wheel/</a>

Useful real world RGB colors:

<a href="http://planetpixelemporium.com/tutorialpages/light.html" target="_blank">http://planetpixelemporium.com/tutorialpages/light.html</a>

<b>Examples:</b>

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/708/redll.png/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/7978/redll.th.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a> <b>Default Red</b>

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/810/blackw.png/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/5617/blackw.th.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a> <b>Pitch Black (flashlight required!)</b>

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/195/blueo.png/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/6562/blueo.th.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a> <b>Blue (some blueish black colors look almost like a blacklight)</b>

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/560/mustard.png/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/9446/mustard.th.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a> <b>Mustard</b>

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/718/purpleq.png/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/5313/purpleq.th.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a> <b>Violet</b>

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/853/favoritey.png/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/5033/favoritey.th.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a> <b>This one is my favorite! (255/255, 69/255, 0/255)</b>

twiliteblue · July 2011

How about some more subtle alternatives?

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/585/ns22011072116165105.jpg/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/5200/ns22011072116165105.th.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a> <b>Amber</b>

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/809/ns22011072821303539.jpg/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/208/ns22011072821303539.th.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a> <b>TSA blue?</b>

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/708/ns22011072821284537.jpg/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/5636/ns22011072821284537.th.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a>

or...

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/199/ns22011072821312182.jpg/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/7424/ns22011072821312182.th.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a> <b>White</b> :S

Sewlek · July 2011

wow, white is cool :)

Feha · July 2011

Afaik, the Color(r,g,b,a) is supposed to receive a value ranging from 0-1 (percent). So if you use colors from the normal 0-255, such as [139, 69, 0], you would just have to change it into [139/255, 69/255, 0/255].

I wonder, how would modifying the alpha affect the lighting? ;)

wulf 21 · July 2011

I the numbers in Color() aren't bytes, they represent a fraction between 0 and 1. So if you simply insert the byte values, the Color will be 256 times too bright. You could manually divide every value by 256 or use the utilities in Utility.lua:

"ColorIntToColor(0x8B4500)" or "ColorIntToColor( ColorArrayToInt( {139, 69, 0} ) )" would be the same like "Color (139/255 , 69/255 , 0)"

edit: lol, we had the same idea at the same time and posted it in the same minute. How probable is that?

edit2: changed 256 to 255

Feha · July 2011

Yeah, but I am pretty sure you shouldn't divide by 256, as there is a "0". 0-255 is 256 different values, but you only divide by the max value, not the number of them (as 255 is 100%, but 255/256 would give a value <1).

wulf 21 · July 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Feha @ Jul 28 2011, 03:56 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1864195"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>Yeah, but I am pretty sure you shouldn't divide by 256, as there is a "0". 0-255 is 256 different values, but you only divide by the max value, not the number of them (as 255 is 100%, but 255/256 would give a value <1).</div>

ah, you're correct. the Utility.lua divides by 0xFF (which is the same as 255).

aeroripper · July 2011

Updated original post with Feha's suggestion. Thanks for making it easier!

Going to take a look @ playing with light timings and alternative flash patterns next. Also going to see if its possible to change the powernode "lights off" color from yellow to something else.

@ Twighlight blue, I really like the TSA marine. I used 0/255, 102/255, 187/255 for a bit darker version of that which looks good too. The white reminds me of more "real world" emergency lighting.

Pollux568 · July 2011

Intersting. The red light usually fits, but we can play a bit with other colors. I like the blue ones (TSA/standard blue), they give a good ambiance.

twiliteblue · August 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (aeroripper @ Jul 28 2011, 08:44 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1864240"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>Updated original post with Feha's suggestion. Thanks for making it easier!

Going to take a look @ playing with light timings and alternative flash patterns next. Also going to see if its possible to change the powernode "lights off" color from yellow to something else.

@ Twighlight blue, I really like the TSA marine. I used 0/255, 102/255, 187/255 for a bit darker version of that which looks good too. The white reminds me of more "real world" emergency lighting.</div>

Looks great. I was initially trying to make the lighting colour look really dark, as if the eyes cannot see colour. But it didn't work so well, so I decided to go with the twilight theme. :P

Alternative light cycling pattern would be great. I imagine unpowered room would become terrifying if the light goes out for more than 3 seconds at a time!

Price · August 2011

I know its not but i think its some kind of cheating...i hope it will be later serverside.
I mean come on you see more with some other colors then red.

E.g.:
<img src="http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/7978/redll.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/9446/mustard.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />

aeroripper · August 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>I know its not but i think its some kind of cheating...i hope it will be later serverside.
I mean come on you see more with some other colors then red.</div>

True, but they're currently a plethora of engine commands that give players far more advantage than just customizing the emergency light colors. It would be nice to see server ops be able to do custom colors on holidays and such if the game gets servers to download custom .lua files and other neat effects. Eventually servers should get the ability to force consistency on certain files before being allowed to join ala NS1, if it proves to be a problem.

Quovatis · August 2011

I was wondering how a certain player ALWAYS knew where I was hiding in complete darkness. Not this mod, but the other engine commands. They really need to fix it before it becomes very prevalent.

Pollux568 · August 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Quovatis @ Aug 2 2011, 12:28 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1865616"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>I was wondering how a certain player ALWAYS knew where I was hiding in complete darkness. Not this mod, but the other engine commands. They really need to fix it before it becomes very prevalent.</div>
Maybe it is this small trick : always look at the minimap. The enemies are shown as soon as in the field of view (often before than we see them properly...)

Quovatis · August 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pollux568 @ Aug 2 2011, 09:56 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1865760"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>Maybe it is this small trick : always look at the minimap. The enemies are shown as soon as in the field of view (often before than we see them properly...)</div>

Sure, but the minimap doesn't tell you the location vertically. It's quite obvious when they are using that exploit when the run in and immediately start shooting at you in complete darkness.

Zuriki · August 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Quovatis @ Aug 2 2011, 08:29 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1865801"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>Sure, but the minimap doesn't tell you the location vertically. It's quite obvious when they are using that exploit when the run in and immediately start shooting at you in complete darkness.</div>

Assume either on the floor or right above you. It takes a fraction of a second to decide which and start shooting.

aeroripper · August 2011

Updated first post with method to change ambient lighting as well. This will enable you to blend colors together and create more interesting lighting schemes.

twiliteblue · August 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (aeroripper @ Aug 4 2011, 07:40 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1866547"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>Updated first post with method to change ambient lighting as well. This will enable you to blend colors together and create more interesting lighting schemes.</div>
Those pictures are super funky! Time to raaaaave! I love the red spot light on blue ambience!

whoppaXXL · August 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (twiliteblue @ Aug 4 2011, 08:04 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1866550"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>Those pictures are super funky! Time to raaaaave! I love the red spot light on blue ambience!</div>

lol thought the same, waiting for gorge rave mod

Good work!

luns · August 2011

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/847/blended1.png/" target="_blank">http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/847/blended1.png/</a>

if the darkness somewhat increased just bit more in this, almost to the point flashlight is required. I liked this one the most if lightning can be better adjusted.

I like to add when power node goes down, everything in the room should favor aliens, so darkness, hard to see spots and creepy lightning is needed.

aeroripper · August 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (luns @ Aug 5 2011, 03:24 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1866744"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/847/blended1.png/" target="_blank">http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/847/blended1.png/</a>

if the darkness somewhat increased just bit more in this, almost to the point flashlight is required. I liked this one the most if lightning can be better adjusted.

I like to add when power node goes down, everything in the room should favor aliens, so darkness, hard to see spots and creepy lightning is needed.</div>

How's this?

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/62/skulkchill.png/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/406/skulkchill.th.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a>

It's quite a bit darker but still the golden/blue look. Difficult to see skulks hiding in corners. I can upload the .lua or you can tweak it to your liking (for the secondary set of numbers, keep going higher for more darkness):

<div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'>PowerPoint.kDisabledColor = Color(255/4000, 69/4000, 0/4000)
PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2 = Color(0/2000, 0/2000, 255/2000)</div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Those pictures are super funky! Time to raaaaave!</div>

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/838/comingdown.png/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/8238/comingdown.th.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a>

I'M COMING DOWN!...

twiliteblue · August 2011

Since real ambient lighting is determined by other light emitters (eg console screens, equipment lighting, and natural environment lighting), as well as light reflection. Shouldn't we let mappers set their own ambient lighting instead? (Can we have it Charlie? Pleaaaase!) I think that's why introducing your own ambient lighting colors can make rooms look odd. :P

I also noticed that ambient lighting hasn't been used much in present maps. Surface Access is one of the few locations that use them.

Still, I like to RAAAAAAVE!

Kurrine · August 2011

This edit is nice in the meantime, red light, despite what you've likely heard is a terrible emergency lighting color, it's actually detrimental to night vision rather than good for it (a blueish-green is best in lower levels).

That aside, I'd love to see emergency lighting determined by the mapper rather than one set of values, really. It'd be especially good for a map that's not traditional NS-style and wants to fit to it's own theme.

twiliteblue · August 2011

Time to venture into the dark side. Try negative numbers!

luns · August 2011

<a href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/62/skulkchill.png/" target="_blank">http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/62/skulkchill.png/</a>

this has to be one of the best previews in this page, in my opinion. Thanks for tweaking it, I would probably increase the darkness tad more, it feels like the environment needs to be more spooky looking. Next time I would like to see how aliens look in this environment, how their colors blend into it.

I also agree allowing mappers to choice their own colors would be best idea, but more on official maps it should stay at some default settings maybe.

aeroripper · August 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>this has to be one of the best previews in this page, in my opinion. Thanks for tweaking it, I would probably increase the darkness tad more, it feels like the environment needs to be more spooky looking. Next time I would like to see how aliens look in this environment, how their colors blend into it.</div>

Thanks! Some tips, if you're not already familiar with them:

1) Use "thirdperson 30" to get those faraway shots like I did (or a lower number for closer).
2) r_gui false turns off the gui. Good for seeing the whole picture or taking screenshots.
3) Run NS2 in a window while playing with the colors. I have dual monitors so I just save the values on one, and it updates on the other. Recommend the lua menu mod in this forum since it speeds things up a little.

I'm back to default red lighting for now since I can't decide on the color(s) to use for a long period of time.

Soylent_green · October 2011

This and many other things need to be in a per-map .lua file that is consistency checked. Maps that hope to be official may need to adhere to red emergency lighting and a number of other conventions, but there's no reason custom maps can't be bizzare.

fsfod · October 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Soylent_green @ Oct 24 2011, 11:40 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1881579"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>This and many other things need to be in a per-map .lua file that is consistency checked. Maps that hope to be official may need to adhere to red emergency lighting and a number of other conventions, but there's no reason custom maps can't be bizzare.</div>

Was it really necessary for you to necro this thread to cry about consistency checking

Cabinetduck1147 · October 2015

aeroripper wrote: »

Pitch black, green, blue, mustard, violet, blended colors, etc...

[UPDATE 8/4/11 - Blended Ambient Colors]

Been tinkering some more and found a way to change the colors of the powered down, ambient lights in addition to the normal disabled color. Examples:

Gold and Blue Ambient

Dark purple with Bluish Ambient

Lime Green with Light Blue Ambient

Red Primary / Purple / Blue Ambient. 3 colors on this one (using PowerPoint.kDisabledColor3 on color_up color_down IIRC)

1) Go into your PowerPoint_Client.lua again and go to this line (your color may be different, follow the instructions below so you know how it works):

CODE

PowerPoint.kDisabledColor = Color(109/255, 239/255, 52/220)

2) Now add this new line under it:

CODE

PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2 = Color(17/255, 148/255, 223/255)

It should now look like this in your file:

CODE

PowerPoint.kDisabledColor = Color(109/255, 239/255, 52/220)
PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2 = Color(17/255, 148/255, 223/255)

3)Now go down to line 190 and edit the ambient lights to point to your new PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2 line you just created:
CODE

if renderLight:GetType() == RenderLight.Type_AmbientVolume then
color_right = PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2
color_left = PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2
color_up = PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2
color_down = PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2
color_forward = PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2
color_backward = PowerPoint.kDisabledColor2

4) Now scroll down to line 228 and do the exact same thing again with those since they're identical. Not sure if this is necessary but I did it anyways.

5) That's it. Enter in the color your want for you primary lighting in unpowered rooms, then edit your secondary one you created for the ambient lighting colors.

Technically you could do "PowerPoint.kDisabledColor3" and so on and do a different color for each direction of lighting, but it didn't quite seem to look right, or at all. I found everything looks better using one color for your primary, and one color for your ambient. I played around with having the color_up and color_down colors a 3rd separate color, but it usually clashed a bit.

Maybe some of you guys are more artsy than me and can make 3 colors blend better together than I can.

I got the idea for this from this thread from Feha (to give marines pitch black lighting). I know not everyone loves the red coloring. Note this is a Client Side mod only.

http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...t&p=1860723

I was tinkering around and figured out a way to change the emergency lighting to give you whatever color you want. Here is how to do it:

1) Open PowerPoint_Client.lua (don't forget to backup original!) in your natural selection 2\ns2\lua folder. Highly recommend using a program like Notepad++, but any text editor will do.

2) Go to line 9 right at the top. It show show this (this is the line you'll need to edit:

CODE

PowerPoint.kDisabledColor = Color(1, 0, 0)

This is your standard RGB value with the alpha value. So for example for a yellowish/orangish color I would use 139/255, 69/255, 0/255. so the code would look like this:

CODE

PowerPoint.kDisabledColor = Color(139/255, 69/255, 0/255)

Any updates to this file (once saved) will instantly be updated in the running game, so trying out other colors is easy.

Useful color chart:

http://www.procato.com/color+wheel/

Useful real world RGB colors:

http://planetpixelemporium.com/tutorialpages/light.html

Examples:

Default Red

Pitch Black (flashlight required!)

Blue (some blueish black colors look almost like a blacklight)

Mustard

Violet

This one is my favorite! (255/255, 69/255, 0/255)

I cant find the file 'if renderLight:GetType() == RenderLight.Type_AmbientVolume then' PLZ HELP

GhoulofGSG9 · October 2015

Custom Emergency Light Colors

Comments