Map Lighting
The map lighting system is one of the best features of A2. And one of the few where problems are caused by the user or map maker rather than the game. As most of you are aware of, I like making maps. According to all of you who've downloaded them, my maps are pretty good. I'll concede you may have a point, but like most modders, all I can see in my public releases are the flaws and mistakes and things I left undone or did poorly. But we come to bury Caesar, not praise him. Onwards to the lighting setups I use. The way I use it, Lighting is broken into three areas: Ambient, Upward Directional, and Downward Directional. One can have as many Directional lights as one desires. Several of the Stock maps come with three or more. However, every single visible pixel must e processed through every light source on the map and this can cause lag.
"Lag is BAD and must be avoided." -CABAL, attributed
Ambient lighting is the easiest to set. It is part of the map properties. Simply click on the Ambient button in the lower left corner of the Map Properties window. This brings up the RGB panel. The light can be set by using the Lightness, Hue, and Saturation values or the more common RGB values. There is no way to set the lighting by using a hexadecimal value. These can be difficult to work with any way due to unfamiliarity with the values themselves. When you are done editing the light values, click on the Okay button and this returns you to the Map Properties window. Directional Lights are Map Object and can be placed and edited using the Map Objects menu. They can be set for Roll, Pitch and Yaw. They also have a color button for setting the color. Clicking on this button will open an RGB Panel which is identical to the one for Ambient lighting and functions the same way.
Ambient lighting provides a uniform light throughout the map. The Directional lights provide highlights and shadow. By adjusting the pitch and Yaw of the Directional Lights, it is possible to light a map showing early dawn, high noon or evening twilight without changing the colors of the lights. The first thing I do when lighting a map is think about what kind of mood I am trying to set. An example of this is my seven player map, 'Disquietude'. I was deliberately attempting to establish a sense of unease within the player by using the color red as the dominating shade of the map. According to my LAN group, I did too good a job. One of the maps I worked the longest on to get just right and no one plays it willingly because it sets them on edge to do so. Ah well, live and learn I suppose.
For those of you who have the Map Editor Tutorial and have seen or used the settings therein, these are fine but they tend towards being overly bright and harsh, emphasizing colors associated with factions and they also tend to wash out shadows. Shadows and darkened areas on and around an object are what fools the eye and brain into perceiving a two dimensional object as a three dimensional one. Shadows give an object mass or, 'gravitas', if you prefer. The lighting settings for the three player factions in the SP Campaign are a good place to start however. But if they are adjusted downwards by 15-20%, the lighting now brings out all of the amazing details in something like Dan1025's Intrepid class or Aad Moerman's Klinks or Majestic's Maquis. Ah, the Maquis! Maj did a great job on those did he not? Beautiful little ships which you ought to go and put into your install right this instant!
Go on. I'll wait. And when you're done with all the, 'Oooh!' and 'Aaaah!', we'll pick up right here where we left off.
I remember saying "low power" and "unable to comply, construction in progress" a lot (stupid Nod generals), but not that.
When I refine them I will certainly upload them here. I am focusing on 3 player maps as there are far too few of them. Often I play with three players whether it's two AI's or two other players online.
