Headlights don't always come on.

[legacy-Sett]

I don't know if others have experienced this but I noticed that the headlights on vehicles don't come on all the time.

I've looked though the code and I can't find any thing that would prevent them from coming on.

It seem almost random. I initially though that the Svehicle had to be in a dark area for them to come on but it's just random.

I need my light to come on ALL the time.

Anyone have any ideas?

[legacy-Bonehed316]

Your LevelInfo for your map has a few variables for this, which maybe what is stopping them from working.

var(Headlights) bool bUseHeadlights;
var(Headlights) float HeadlightScaling;

[Hsoolien]

I'd think it's what Bonehad said.

[Dicky B]

But.. Wouldn't it be cool if the headlights *did* come on and go off automagically, depending on the light level?

[Hsoolien]

You know that would be cool... And i think very doable as well....

[Dicky B]

Originally posted by Hsoolien
You know that would be cool... And i think very doable as well....

If you figure out how to get the actual light level for where you are, let me know. Old quake2 mod I did waaaaay back I'd like to do again, but depends on that and changing level light dynamically.

Dicky B (it was humans vs vampires, and a lot depended on the light, obviously..)

[edit] Actually, I don't want to work on that, because I have too much on my plate right now. But here's the whole thing, laid out, if anyone else wanted to stab at it.

Two teams, one human, one vampire.
<basic layout>
Start of map, everyone human. First one killed is first vampire.
Every time a vampire kills a human, the human respawns vampire.
When the last human is killed, everyone respawn, last human killed is first vampire.
If there are no vampires, Human TD is on again, first one killed is first vampire.
<details>
Vampires have no weapons (just a bite attack, or something equally Hard To Do)
Vampires move very fast, take no falling damage, and jump Really High.
In total dark (light like <5 or so, maybe), vampires regenerate.
In near total dark (>5, <24 or something), if a vampire doesn't move in 5 seconds, he becomes invisible. Stays that way if he doesn't move real fast (like crouch-walking would be fine).. Emits an audible evil chuckle every so often (for fun).
In half light, vampire becomes transparent, yet visible.
In light above half-light, vampire takes damage.
Vampires heal by eating corpse skulls (just the kill doesn't do it, have to feed, y'know)
Vampires had enhanced darkvision, too.

Humans get whatever technology you want. Weapons, grappling hooks (that was in the Q2 version). They have health spawns and everything, just like regular. No Team Damage unless no vampires.
Humans also had flashlights (no damage to vampires from them, to avoid sploitation, just not bright enough for that, and no UV).

The dynamic daylight in parts of the map was essential, as it allowed for kind of shift-of-advantage power plays, and timed attacks. Things like that. The human base was usually well lit, so as to avoid spawn raping. Vampire base (underground, exits through main cave/tomb entrance, and also superjumping out of open graves. Hard for a human to survive down there very long with near-invisible and invisible vampires.

<end details>

I sort of did this same thing with Unreal Safari, but not really.

[/edit]

[Hsoolien]

There are two ways I can think of:

Complex, really detailed/intesive


Simply check al lights in a level and us a math routine based on their brighntess/radius/distance form you to determine if your in a bright spot or not... ( you could pre build the decay for all lights in prebegin play, then all your cehcing is the decay over distance)

Easy rewuires mapper suport:

A volume that is placed in dark spots (maybe one for bright spots?), turns on/off headlights as needed

[legacy-Sett]

Originally posted by Bonehed316
Your LevelInfo for your map has a few variables for this, which maybe what is stopping them from working.

var(Headlights) bool bUseHeadlights;
var(Headlights) float HeadlightScaling;

Ya I checked those, they are ok.

Interesting dicussion guys keep it going...

This engine does not have dynamic lighting but future ver. will. I would be nice If you had a street lamp that could be placed into a map and depending on how much light was hitting it it would turn on just like a real streetlamp. The controling Actor could spawn a light cone Smesh and a light actor as needed.

[legacy-CaTdAeMoN]

I have seen a mod that had dynamic lighting :bored: Cant remember what it was called though :noob:

[Hsoolien]

It exists, it's just backward to access and not very good (goes through geometry in odd ways)

[legacy-Sett]

A posible sovle:

I noticed that if you Svehicle spawns in an area that does not have a sunlight actor in it then the lights tend to come on more.