[A17] [All Helpful Bots Mods] Realistic Darkness [&Lighter V]

Started by Helpful Bot, August 10, 2016, 03:02:05 AM

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Should eclipses be more of a scary negative event where it becomes the darkest type of event/weather?

Yes, Eclipses should be the darkest event/weather
Yes, eclipses should be slightly darker than night
(This means no change) No, eclipses should be as dark as a normal clear night
No, eclipses should be slightly lighter than a normal clear night
No, eclipses should be only 30% darker than normal DAYlight

Helpful Bot

This mod's motto: In vanilla, lights are for your pawns; in realistic nights, the lights are for you.

4.2 is out for the IFD series; changelog is on the steam page.
UPDATED TO A17! PLEASE NOTE THAT I HAD TO TEMPORARILY REMOVE THE DLL WHICH MEANS ECLIPSES ARE VANILLA. I'm working to re-add them after I finish all my A17 updates. Sorry about that.

One last note on my mods in general before the rest of this specific mod's description. My mods, with the exception of Miscellany, are designed less as utility mods and more as difficulty mods. It is absolutely my intention for my mods to make the game more challenging and harder to manage. Visibility will suck without light sources and exploration at night will become something avoided. Forests will form walls of trees that will trap you as you flee from the strengthened predators that lie within. Moisture pumps will become a common sight as you'll have to drain waterlogged areas before your walls can be raised. Over the three Alphas that these mods have existed I have done my best to cut back on frustration factors but I fundamentally see that some things like marshy areas, while an absolute pain, are still necessary. I personally play with my mods on by default so I hope you guys enjoy these mods as much as I have. If you have enjoyed my mods please consider upvoting them on steam so I can get my shiny gold stars that i'm weirdly happy to have. Thank you guys and cheers!

Tired of not being able to tell whether its day or night because they both look similar? Ever wanted lighting to matter? Well then this is for you.

This mod changes lighting and saturation in Rimworld to be dynamically darker. Also changes colors and saturation of weather patterns and the eclipse event along the same lines.

The lighter version is probably more appropriate for most users. The darker version is purposely targeted at people like myself who not only want the immersion/flavor of true nights but also want to make the game distinctly harder.

SEPTEMBER FIRST REVELATION:
So up until today (2015 or 2016) I've been using a CRT (Cathode ray tube) LCD monitor and just upgraded to a smart LED LCD monitor and sweet baby 5lb 6oz jehova this version is dark at night now; under certain monitor-based picture settings. I strongly suggest those of you out there with full-array LED or plasma screens that are having trouble seeing things to play around with their settings as on my monitor the visibility ranged from absolute night inside of a black hole to reasonably dark and visible.

Important Disclaimers: (+ = Critical)
+This mod does NOT alter your colonists' (or plants) feelings about or perception of darkness and light levels.
+ This mod also does NOT change accuracy calculations relating to darkness or the effective brightness value of a tile.
+ This mod DOES override your vanilla weather definitions (Could not be avoided, this was not elective). Weather effects are the same as vanilla with the exception of accuracy debuffs associated with Foggyrain and gentle snow. Foggy rain is now 0.4 (0.5 vanilla) and gentle snow is now 0.9 (0.8 Vanilla).
At night and especially during weather events, unlit areas will be very difficult to see! This is not a slightly darker mod; with this mod enabled darkness really means darkness.
+ As mentioned later, foggy rain weather makes night extremely dangerous because you WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SEE UNLIT AREAS AT ALL!
As of 14A, fires do NOT produce light. That is just how the game is currently coded and has nothing to do with this mod. You just never realized it before because night wasn't really that dark.
+ The darkness of night is pretty dependent on your monitor. Using this version of my mod; unlit areas at night should be harshly dark to the point that you can see where enemies are but you have difficulty seeing what they're doing or are equipped with. Nor should you be easily able to discern small terrain detail.

Includes:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daylight remains unchanged but weather patterns have a stronger effect on aesthetic (NOT effective) light levels even during daylight hours.
Nights are considerably darker.
Night darkness changes dynamically with weather conditions:
Hard/Gentle snow are the lightest nights
Dry thunderstorms are only slightly darker than clear nights.
Foggy Rain is the darkest.
YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SEE AREAS UNLIT BY TORCHES/LIGHTS DURING THIS WEATHER PATTERN AT NIGHT!
Saturation (color strength) changes more dynamically in response to weather.
Movespeed and ranged accuracy are very close to vanilla values. Hard snow and foggy rain are harshest on accuracy and movement (foggy rain movement is same as rain).
Eclipses are now as dark as clear nights.
Although it uses no content from Viceroy's Darkness Revamp mod, I would like to give him credit because this mod was created during my work to update his to A14. I made creative decisions that would have changed his mod's mechanics so I instead released this as my own.

Issues list:
(As mentioned before) As of 14A, fires do NOT produce light. That is just how the game is currently coded and has nothing to do with this mod. You just never realized it before because night was'nt really that dark.
Toxic fallout uses vanilla light levels. Until I bring toxic fallout events under the umbrella of this mod, just consider the radiation to be so powerful that it lights up the night.
COMPATIBILITY NOTES:
You SHOULD be able to load/unload this mod at will without any ill effects.
This mod overrides 1 definition file and 1 assembly event:
weathers.xml definition file.
Eclipse events in the core game assembly. (Does not touch event handlers; only the specific verse associated with this one event)
This mod has a very small footprint and should be compatible with everything that doesn't touch eclipses or the weather definitions.

DOWNLOAD:
Workshop - http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=740930354
Non-Workshop - See attached file.
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE MOST CURRENT CURRENT COPIES OF ALL MY MODS USE THE "ALL HELPFUL BOTS MODS ZIP" FILE BELOW IN AN ATTACHMENT. Enjoy!

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Elysium

Congrats on the release.  I have not really used it enough to give you any kind of feedback yet but I'm sure that will change within the coming days.

Master Bucketsmith

Holy damn! I was starting on trying to update the old Darkness mod, myself, and now you've come here and finished it! :D
Good job! This saves me a lot of time. :D


kaptain_kavern

Hey I managed to actually play for several hours. And all went fine. Even during eclipses.

Great job, thanks again for the update

Kaaven

Can this mod be loaded into a pre-existing game, or does it needs a fresh start?

Helpful Bot

#6
You can load/unload this mod at any time safely. Only time I can think of that could possibly be problematic is during an eclipse but even then problems would be unexpected.

BaconBits

WOW!!!...Just...WOW!!! This changes the night time feel of the game more than I anticipated or even imagined. I havn't even played a full season yet and I already know that gameplay is going to be more challenging. It will take some time to get used to though, but I like it. Great job!

Btw, it was save game safe for me. I do have a little bit of a lag during an eclipse, but that's either my 5yr old laptop or my 50+ mods. More than likely it's a combination of both.

Anyways, again, Great Job!!

Helpful Bot

I know right? I feel relieved every time I build a path light on an outside road or get wall lights going down in my mine-shafts. Thank you for the post!

BaconBits

Quote from: Willowisp on August 11, 2016, 01:31:45 AM
I know right? I feel relieved every time I build a path light on an outside road or get wall lights going down in my mine-shafts. Thank you for the post!
You're welcome
If you don't feel like running power lines through your mines, you might concider my Wall Torch Mod. Sorry for the shameless plug, but they come in handy for that purpose. You can reinstall them anywhere. I made them for my mines.

Kaaven

Tested it and, indeed, it works well with ongoing games. And man! Does it make the nights/darkness a lot more fun to be afraid of :D

Thanks for that port/remake :D

Parias

This mod is working great so far, thanks! Loaded it into an existing save with no problem, and I'm getting a surprising amount of enjoyment out of how much creepier night time is now.

Helpful Bot

For those who have access to the workshop page I've added a very brief tutorial discussion on modding the night to your own preferences.

panggul_mas

As somebody who worked on Darkness Revamp, I'm excited to see this new version. Thanks for reviving the revival of the revival!

It looks like toxic fallout still overrides the darkness and resets to vanilla, but I guess there's no way around that.

Master Bucketsmith

Man, I've put a bunch of work into some updates and changes to old mods related to lighting. Namely a spotlight and a flare mortar, so far.
I was wondering if anyone else was also working on it or if there was some old code I could get inspiration from, then I found that panggul_mas supposedly worked on flares for the A13 Darkness?
I dunno if you want to update your add-on to A14, but I don't want to step on your toes. :D
I'll still finish my attemp though, because it's good experience for me. :)