Easy question - has anyone done maps in near-darkness, and if so what can you suggest as alternatives to lights (since there are only two of them allowed)? I have a map that would be best if I could have it in darkness but with strategically placed lights - but the light limit means I have two bases that are lit the way I want them, and a whole lot of terrain in between that is too dark to even navigate. I've tried embedding mancannons in the walls (provides some immediate glow but not much ambient lighting) and using certain colored pieces (the small antenna and the edges of the Y-shaped platform for instance) but nothing I've used so far has really done what I want, which is a little more area luminescence. Any advice? If I'm already aware of all the options, I may have to ditch the darkness.
Sadly you're gonna have to ditch the darkness. I wanted to have 3 lights on one of my maps but I can't because of the stupid 2 light limit!
Somebody's eventually going to find a way to glitch that, right..? That is probably my biggest complaint with the new forge. I understand all the other limitations they've put in and why they are there, but limiting us to two lights is just no good. If I could have two extras it would totally make my map. Dangit.
I might be all wrong and I have not tested this what so ever but from what your saying the first thing that came to mind is kill balls dosent that give off a glow?
To my surprise, not really. They glow when you look at them but they have basically no ambient light - put a kill ball against a wall and look once inch to the left or right, and it will not be lit up whatsoever. Plus I don't think you can embed a kill ball (the core doesn't phase), unless they just have a different default physics setting for some reason. I have a few things I want to try tonight - moving my lights slightly (the map isn't all that big so two lights ought to cover a lot of it, if properly placed); embedding lots of pieces that have glow-in-the-dark edges; and embedding some mancannons in strategic places. I really think this map would benefit from eerie, low lighting, so hopefully I can find a way to make it work.
agree with all this, i'm making a multiteam grifball map and i wanted the corners to be lit... blue, red, green, orange.... sadly, not possible. ah well
Whoa whoa whoa. Don't listen to those guys. There are a few ways to get more light in your map. If you place a glass window over a lighting fixture (part of an object that lights up when you get close to it) it will create a large glowing orb. Find which objects give off the biggest glow and place glass over them to magnify it. I was able to duplicate a light the other day so I had three on the map, but it disappeared after a few minutes. I'm still working with it, but I'll let you know if I can make it permanent
Thanks for the suggestion, I will definitely try that. If you do figure out how to do that permanently, let me know! That would solve my problem very easily - and I'm sure lots of other people would be grateful for the tip too.
If you can actually get the map to be dark, the railing puts out some light, but it only comes out white.
Interestingly this is only activated when a player is nearby, so the walkway will light up just in front of the player. I think it is still activated by players with active camo.
The same goes for those small corner things, you know, the ones with the corner missing? I can't recall the name right now, but it has the same effect.
Just an idea but what about timed explosions? Like using two landmines that'll set each other off and light up an area for a moment. I think it could add some pretty interesting effects if you can pull it off.
That just makes a loud noise and some slight explosions. No light. The glass idea seems cool. Walls/walkways/railings/etc have lights. The item limits are kind annoying, especially when trying to make an infection map based in a city with lamp posts all in the streets, but you can't do that, can you.
i found that some things have lights on them...i think 45* turn under platfors did <---not sure. but if you find some that do have lights on the just sink them into the ground i think the light will still show through...ill have to test this but like i said when i was messing around in the cave area i thought i did this to create an ambient light source
One problem for all of you who use the decorative and wall pieces with lights. It only shows for single screen play. Because of the way they set it up, the game reduces in quality in steps for each player added on a box. If there is a second player on the same screen, most lighting effects from objects are removed.
I think I'm stymied, unless someone finds a way to glitch in more actual lights. I've tried all sorts of other options and they just don't give the kind of illumination needed. I also did a test with some embedded stuff that has neon edges - like the "strut" under decorative - and found I could make it clear where a path was, but still the player would only see the walls as pure blackness. So unless I want to turn parts of my map into corridors of neon, I'm out of luck. Boo! Luckily I ran a small playtest on the map in regular light and it was still fun. Not as spooky as I wanted, but I think the design works well anyway.
i don't know how well it works in really dark maps but i was playing who used receiver node to simulate a light he set a sender node out side his map totally inaccessible and setup the senders on the same channel then hung them upside down in a hallway