2dfx Light Positioning

[Andrew]

 

2DFX Lights Tutorial

 

 

In this tutorial I hope to show you how to use the 2DFX system to place lights.

 

 

Tools Required[/tr] Notepad On your computer Zmodeler Here

 

 

Many people think that the co-ordinates for a light are relative to the game world. This is wrong, the light posistion is not relative to the game world but to the object that it is on.

For this example I'm going add four lights onto the corner of my hut.

Ensure that you have the object in game and working, If you have an object and would like to get it in game then please follow this tutorial http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=124507&st=0

 

 

First off we need to get the co-ordinates of our object from zmodeler, zmodeler messes the co-ordinates up slightly, X: -29.312 Y: 3.21 Z: -420.123 is what you'd get from zmodeler. But its really, X: 29.312 Y:420.123 Z:-3.21 zmodeler switches the Z and Y around and the X is the opposite of what zmodeler report it as. (Thanks To Deathsquad For The Co-Ordinates in Zmod)

In zmodeler you need to locate on the object where you want the light, so open up zmod and import your object, I'll be using a Top and Side view, to locate where I want them.

 

Click Picture For Bigger Picture This is where you'll find the co-ordinatesI'm only going to do one light as the rest should be basicly the same to doIn a view (I chose top first) hover the mouse over roughly where you'd like the light to be, without moving the mouse look at the co-ordinates at the bottom rightIn my case we are after the X and Z co-ordinates which are

Z = 2.7110 and X = 1.1046 Thats what zmodeler reports they are, we'll wait till we have a full set, Now do the same for another view (I chose left) And zmodeler gives me the Y value to be 2.095, we now have a full set of co-ordinates

Z = 2.7110 Y = 2.095 X = 1.1046 These are correct and don't need fixing, sometimes zmod reports them wrong and sometimes it doesn't.

We are now finished with zmod so you can close that

 

 

We are now into notepad, you need to open up the IDE that the object is in, eg if you had an object called hut in roads.ide then then open roads.ide. 364, 0, 0, 0, 255, 255, 0, 200, 0, "coronastar", "shad_exp", 100, 8, 1, 0, 40, 0, 0, 0, 0 that is a 2dfx light code for a day and night light there are others, if you'd like to know more on these then read this http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=102833 This is the screen you'd be presented with when you've opened your IDE file

ID       X  Y  Z364, 0, 0, 0, 255, 255, 0, 200, 0, "coronastar", "shad_exp", 100, 8, 1, 0, 40, 0, 0, 0, 0,     For this step change the ID number to the ID number of your object, and add the apporiate co-ordinates at the correct part   So it would look something like this   4805 1.1046, 2.095, 2.7110, 255, 255, 0, 200, 0, "coronastar", "shad_exp", 100, 8, 1, 0, 40, 0, 0, 0, 0     And that should be it, save that and test and you should end up with something like this, the color I've given you should be yellow you can change this, read this http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=102833 for more details.

It takes a bit playing around with the co-ordinates to get it perfect

Edited May 29, 2005 by Gangsta Killa

[BenMillard]

Burying your tutorial amongst tables and other formatting crap just makes the topic fifty kilobytes bigger and makes everything twice as unclear. Punctuate your damn sentances too. This really isn't a finished tutorial. Still, as it's a good subject and you have lots of useful info in it, here's the code for my revised version. You need to check links, spelling, punctuation and grammar yourself. You should have sorted that basic stuff out before you posted it.

Edited June 2, 2005 by Cerbera

[Opius]

For f*cks sake Cerb, I swear you're against people helping others.

FORMATTING IS sh*t.

Ignore it. It's the content that counts. I don't care if you could optimize the trigonitrimgram by reusing tables with SQL or some sh*t, I can read every tutorial in this forum fine.

 

Back on topic: Great work! I used to use Webslayers 3DS exporter for my 2dfx, but it's suddenly decided to stop working. This explains the methods really well, and it's even taught ME something.

 

That is all.

[BenMillard]

 

For f*cks sake Cerb, I swear you're against people helping others.

FORMATTING IS sh*t.

Swearing at me after I have taken the time and made the effort to clean up a messy tutorial shows that it is entirely you who is opposing helpful membership of this forum. His topic actually has broken formatting, including tables which can disrupt the topic structure.

 

I have fixed these formatting errors and also supplied a format which is easier to read, easier for him to add updates and which downloads faster. All the changes I've made benefit all those who will use this thread.

Edited June 2, 2005 by Cerbera

[ghost of delete key]

Yikes! meeOW!

 

I really don't see what the problem is... so maybe the formatting suxx0rz...

 

It's really neither here nor there. This is what feedback is for.

 

BTW, you should put the [WIP] tag up for C&C on a WIP paper like this, GK.

This way you'll get more than just Cerbera picking at the carcass, and get a feel for how people respond to your content, layout, decor sensibilities etc.

 

If the public thinks the formatting blows pez, they will say so.

 

Boy, will they say so.

Reference: Cerb's last post.

 

 

 

BTW, I don't think it sucks, but it IS just a bit thick.

 

You don't want to go to Church with THAT much makeup on

 

You may want to try "de-layering" it by 1 or 2 levels.

 

Wicked stuff inside.

It made fine sense to me, and I'm generally senseless, so clean it up a bit so that the Cro-Mags can read it.

 

Looks Good 8/10 huzzah

 

 

 

I have fixed these formatting errors and also supplied a format which is easier to read, easier for him to add updates and which downloads faster. All the changes I've made benefit all those who will use this thread.

 

You can lead a horse to porno, but you can't make him jerk off...

 

I just leave the magazines on the table. They'll check it out when the lights are off.

Edited July 1, 2004 by ghost of delete key

[Gforce]

thanks for the tut gangsta, this is gonna help me out bigtime, and thanks for fixing it Cerb, and thanks to opius for making me aware that there is a tool to help do this........cookies all round

 

edit:@opius where can i find webslayers tool ? i've tried searching the boards here, but can't find it

Edited July 4, 2004 by Gforce

[wijiwang]

any chance a technique like this can be used to place a light on a vehicle?

 

i want to place a green light in the hunter to make it look like the cockpit glows.. just wondering if this is possible WITHOUT hardcoded the .exe

[Andrew]

Not a pray its hardcoded...

[Andrew]

Update: Screenshots are working again, for whatever reason they were linked to localhost.. This tutorial is among a list of others of mine that are going to be updated.

[BenMillard]

I started developing a simple CoronaStudio editor ages ago but never had time to find out exactly what all the parameters did:

large image

 

The tool allows you to type in an absolute position for the coronastar effects and, as long as you entered the absolute position of an existing object, it will automatically calculate the relative position. This is good for people who want to use MooMapper or KEd rather than a full 3D modelling program since you can navigate the entire map at once, selecting items visually rather than scouring the IPL files for the correct instance.

 

If someone knows what all the parameters do, it would be a great help.

[Andrew]

When I do the updates, I'll have a play around with it cerb.