Frictional Games Forum (read-only)

Is it possible to get dynamic shadows on scenes where the main source of light for the shadows would be the lantern? It would be really appealing for some blokes with high-end computers.

Edit:
Related
Penumbra to Amnesia shadow rendering regression
http://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-21737.html

(05-25-2013, 05:36 PM)Bucic Wrote: [ -> ]Is it possible to get dynamic shadows on scenes where the main source of light for the shadows would be the lantern? It would be really appealing for some blokes with high-end computers.

Possible yes, but not in HPL2. I think that would be an atmosphere improvement and a good idea for HPL3 future games.

(05-25-2013, 05:42 PM)Googolplex Wrote: [ -> ]Possible yes, but not in HPL2. I think that would be an atmosphere improvement and a good idea for HPL3 future games.

I meant HPL2, so the answer is "NO". I got all excited when I saw


in the game cfg.

(05-25-2013, 06:09 PM)Bucic Wrote: [ -> ]

(05-25-2013, 05:42 PM)Googolplex Wrote: [ -> ]Possible yes, but not in HPL2. I think that would be an atmosphere improvement and a good idea for HPL3 future games.

I meant HPL2, so the answer is "NO". I got all excited when I saw

Code:

<Player_Lantern
.
.
.
CastShadows = "false"
.
.
.
/>

in the game cfg.

It is possible, you could change the point light attached to the lantern to a spotlight that casts shadows You should create a new version of the lantern though - not overwrite the original!

(05-25-2013, 06:35 PM)sonataarctica Wrote: [ -> ]It is possible, you could change the point light attached to the lantern to a spotlight that casts shadows You should create a new version of the lantern though - not overwrite the original!

Wait, wouldn't the original devs do that if it really was possible?

To be clear - I won't try to mod the lantern. I don't feel like getting into the editor and such.

(05-25-2013, 08:35 PM)Bucic Wrote: [ -> ]

(05-25-2013, 06:35 PM)sonataarctica Wrote: [ -> ]It is possible, you could change the point light attached to the lantern to a spotlight that casts shadows You should create a new version of the lantern though - not overwrite the original!

Wait, wouldn't the original devs do that if it really was possible?

To be clear - I won't try to mod the lantern. I don't feel like getting into the editor and such.

I guess it's because spotlights are directional, you can't make one that's 360 degrees that casts shadows, so really you'd only be able to make it cast shadows infront of you which would look a little strange as a lantern would have a radius light, not a spotlight, possibly why they chose not to. This is why the flashlight mod has shadows, it uses a spotlight instead of a pointlight

also dont forget that dynamic shadows hurt performance.

Use a spotlight with shadow casting enabled. No point in having a point light that casts shadows on the lantern -- you can only see the direction you're facing. Shadows anywhere but in front of you won't be visible anyways.

And they probably didn't have shadows cast from the lantern because it would have to be set up differently for folks with different screen resolutions.

In any case, too bad the feature is not there. Such lighting puts everything alive, getting into whole new level of playing tricks with your mind!

As for performance. The FEAR game flies on old GF9600 with this option enabled, so let's not go there, please.

(05-26-2013, 12:11 PM)Bucic Wrote: [ -> ]In any case, too bad the feature is not there. Such lighting puts everything alive, getting into whole new level of playing tricks with your mind!

As for performance. The FEAR game flies on old GF9600 with this option enabled, so let's not go there, please.

Seeing as you obviously have not touched the editor yet you shouldn't speak, this is HPL2, a different engine from FEAR, not build to work with dynamic shadows properly, it also runs OPENGL instead of DirectX, unlike FEAR.

Dynamic shadows in the HPL engine are super heavy to render, however as stated several times before, it is possible to make the lantern dynamic and it's really easy to do so.