light switch

[WeeBull]

i want a button (func_button or func_invisible_user) which turns a light on and off. i’ve searched for this and i found that it isn’t possible unless you use dlights, so can anyone explain me how to do it with dlights and also, is it possible to target a dlight just like a normal light so it will be a spotlight, and last, how can you change the intensity of a dlight. i tried key: light with a high value but it didn’t seem to work
i know a dlight will give you a drop in fps but i don’t realy care about that atm.
thx in advance

[WeeBull]

anyone?

[Ifurita]

Search for threads authored by me with the key words light and experiement. That’s a map with Dlights.

[WeeBull]

i already did but i couldn’t find an answer to my questions. as far as i’ve seen there are no dlights in the map or did i download the wrong map? i downloaded light_test_0331.pk3

[Ifurita]

Ummm, when lights flicker, they are dynamic.

[WeeBull]

but that wasn’t my question, i want to know how to make a light switch so you can turn the light on and off and i read that was only possible with dlights so then i also want to know if you can target a dlight so it will be a spotlight. my last question was how to change the intensity of a dlight.
but thanks anyway.

[Ifurita]

/shrug

I guess if it had been me, I would have tried chaging the intensity of one of the dlights in the source .map, targetting a info_notnull, then compiling to see if it would work and what it would look like.

[CrazyGuy]

BigBadWolf, the Author of dgdm_underground.pk3 for the Mod, " Degeneration". In that map their IS an light switch. It does work.
I’m not sure how he did it. I only helped test it out the map. Nice map…

His website: http://www.aethergames.com/
Screenshots: http://www.aethergames.com/underground.html

Tram Design Forums: http://www.tramdesign.net/forums/
Link to the topic… http://www.tramdesign.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5448

GL

Edit
Its for RTCW, the Mod.

[nUllSkillZ]

There’s an email address on the webpage.
So you could send an email and ask the mapper.

[WeeBull]

thx for the tips you guys, i emailed him and i hope he answers pretty soon

[WeeBull]

he answered to my email, but he did it on another way then i expected: lightmaps. i found some threads about making light switches with lightmaps but i’ll post what he said anyways, maybe someone else can also use it.

The setup itself is a bit complicated, but the idea is simple. It will be easiest if i just run through how to build it. Start with your room, and any surfaces that will be affected by any of the lights you wish to turn on/off. Copy all of that geometry and move it directly above, under, right or left of the origional, or as close as possible without obscuring any other geometry. Make the selected brushes a script_mover. Create an origin for it and two path_corners, one where the origin is, the other aligned so the script_mover is in perfect alignment of the origional room. Now you must apply the same texture as in the origional room, but using a special shader for them.

This is a shader i built for the script_mover, using an existing texture in the game.

textures/silo_wall/concrete_c07bcmp_offset
{
qer_editorimage textures/miltary_wall/concrete_c07bcmp.tga
surfaceparm nonsolid
surfaceparm nomarks
polygonoffset

{
    map $lightmap
    rgbGen identity
}
{
    map textures/miltary_wall/concrete_c07bcmp.tga
   blendFunc GL_DST_COLOR GL_ZERO
    rgbGen identity
}

}

Notice i used the polygonoffset parameter, this is the most important one of all them. Also surfaceparm nonsolid, nomarks are necessary.

Now once you have all these aligned properly, go ahead and setup your script_mover. For the scripting here is what i have.

//LightSwap Trigger
lightswitch
{
spawn
{
}

trigger toggle
{
    trigger lightmap toggle
}

}

//LightSwap Lightmaps
lightmap
{
spawn
{
accum 1 set 0
wait 500
alertentity lightbulbs //fixing bug…
wait 500
alertentity sparks
alertentity lightbulbs
gotomarker on 9000
}

trigger toggle
{
    //halt
    trigger lightmap off
    wait 5
    trigger lightmap on
}

trigger off
{
    accum 1 abort_if_not_equal 0
    resetscript
    accum 1 set 1
    alertentity lightbulbs
    alertentity corona
    alertentity sparks
    gotomarker off 9000
}

trigger on
{
    accum 1 abort_if_not_equal 1
    resetscript
    accum 1 set 0
    alertentity lightbulbs
    alertentity corona
    gotomarker on 9000
    alertentity sparks
}

}

This works so the light can be toggled on or off and stay that way until the mover is triggered again. some of the other things ive used are corona’s and light models, as well as sparks for a broken light.
If you still have any questions feel free to drop by my forums whitch are dead and ask a question or just email me back. Hope it works out!

[BigBadWolf]

Yeah, this was the best solution i could come up with. Dynamic lights would be ugly as hell and terriably ineffecient.

I have another idea about this way of making lights go on and off whitch requires more entitys but might be worth them. If i ever get to doing it ill post how it looks.