Category:Editing Lighting Effects

NOTE: Much of information on this page is from around 1999. Some may be outdated, and some may be incorrect -- this page exists to get you started with the Level Editing and may not currently cover some of the additional features available in Mapster32.

Map Name: TUTORIAL.MAP (ROOM 2-B)

Blinking lights can add a great mood and sense of environment in any user level. This effect makes lights blink randomly.

STEP 1: Create a light sector. This sector can either be in a wall, or a ceiling light sector, but it needs to be a sector. Take a look at the tutorial map to see examples of both types of lighting.

STEP 2: Place one sector effector sprite in each sector you want to light up. Give these sprites a lotag value of 4, and a unique hitag value. The hitag value is the flash randomizing number, so use any value you want.

STEP 3: Set the shade of the walls, floor, and ceiling near your light to the shade value you want it to be when the lights are off. Then, set the shade of the sector effector sprites to the shade value you want it to be when the lights are on. You set the shade value by pressing the [']+[S] key on the desired wall, ceiling, or floor in 3D mode. You are finished - Look at the tutorial map if you don't quite understand.

NOTE 1: You can make colored blinking lights as well. Simply give the sector effector sprites a palette value equal to the color that you want the light to be when flashing. Both the sectors and the sector effector sprites can have different palette values.

NOTE 2: This effect can *not* be used with the light switch effect.

NOTE 3: To prevent one side of a red line in 2D mode (a 2 sided wall) from being affected by the light effect, give the side of the wall you want to not be affected a wall hitag value of 1.

Map Name: TUTORIAL.MAP (ROOM 2-C)

This effect allows you to cause a light to flash randomly once it is broken by the player (by the player shooting the light).

STEP 1: Create a light sector. This sector can either be in a wall, or a ceiling light sector, but it needs to be a sector. Take a look at the tutorial map to see examples of both types of lighting. If you are constructing a light in a wall, make sure that you lower the ceiling of the light sector to the floor, placing the light texture on the wall face that appears once you lower the sector ceiling to the floor.

NOTE 1: The light texture that you use, should be breakable (i.e. - when you shoot the light, the light texture should change to the corresponding broken light texture).

STEP 2: If you are creating a ceiling light, give the light sector a unique sector hitag value. If you are creating a wall light, give the red wall that separates the light sector from the wall sector a unique wall lotag value.

STEP 3: Place one sector effector sprite in each sector you want to light up. Give these sprites a lotag value of 3. If you are creating a wall light, give the sector effector sprite a hitag value equal to the wall's lotag value. If you are creating a ceiling light, give the sector effector sprite a hitag value equal to the light sector's hitag value.

STEP 4: Set the shade of the walls, floor, and ceiling near your light to the shade value you want it to be when the lights are off. Then, set the shade of the sector effector sprites to the shade value you want it to be when the lights are on. You set the shade value by pressing the [']+[S] key on the desired wall, ceiling, or floor in 3D mode. You are finished - Look at the tutorial map if you don't quite understand.

NOTE 2: You can make colored blinking lights as well. Simply give the sector effector sprites a palette value equal to the color that you want the light to be when flashing. Both the sectors and the sector effector sprites can have different palette values.

NOTE 3: This effect *can* be used with the light switch effect.

NOTE 4: To prevent one side of a red line in 2D mode (a 2 sided wall) from being affected by the light effect, give the side of the wall you want to not be affected a wall hitag value of 1.

Map Name: TUTORIAL.MAP (ROOM 2-D)

This effect allows rooms to light up when a door is opened (assuming that light would come in the door).

STEP 1: Construct the door and the sectors that you wish to light up.

STEP 2: Place one sector effector sprite in the door and in each sector that you want to light up.

STEP 3: Change the shade of each sector effector to the shade you want the sector it is located in to be when the door is open. Do this by moving the mouse over the sprite, and press the [']+[S] keys in 3D mode.

STEP 4: Change the shade of each wall, ceiling, and floor of the sectors you want to light up to the value you want them to be when the door is closed.

STEP 5: Give each sector effector sprite a lotag value of 8 and the same, unique hitag value. You are now finished - Take a look at the tutorial map if you don't quite understand.

Map Name: TUTORIAL.MAP (ROOM 2-E)

This effect allows you to create a light switch from which the player can toggle a light on or off.

STEP 1: Place a switch sprite (#712 is the standard light switch) somewhere in your level. Give this sprite a unique lotag value.

STEP 2: Place one sector effector sprite in each sector that will light up when the light is on. The shade of this sprite determines how bright the light will be in that sprite's particular sector when the light is on.

STEP 3: The shade of all walls, ceilings, and floors of the sectors to be lit up should be set to the shade they will be when the light is turned off.

STEP 4: Give each sector effector sprite a lotag value of 12. Give each sector effector sprite the same hitag value that you gave to the light switch. You are now finished - Take a look at the tutorial map if you don't quite understand.

Map Name: TUTORIAL.MAP (ROOM 2-F)

To create colored lights, simply change the palette of the walls, floors, and ceilings you desire to be colored to one of the following values (palette is set in 3D mode by pressing the [ALT]+[P] keys when the mouse is over the desired object to change):

• 1 = Blue
• 2 = Red
• 7 = Yellow
• 8 = Green

Map Name: TUTORIAL.MAP (ROOM 2-G)

Pulsating lights can be used to create some neat effects (moving lights to name one).

STEP 1: Place a Cycler sprite in the sector(s) that you want the light to pulsate in. Change the shade of this sprite to how bright you want the light to be when the light is at its brightest point.

STEP 2: Change the shade of the floor to how dark the sector should be when the light is at its darkest point.

STEP 3: To change the speed of the light pulsing, simply place one GPSpeed sprite in the same sector as the Cycler sprite. Now give the GPSpeed sprite a lotag value. This value is how fast or slow the light will pulsate (the higher the value, the faster the light will pulsate).

STEP 4: To turn the effect off/on, give a switch or Touchplate a unique Lotag value and match the Hitag of each Cycler sprite.

NOTE 1: Here is a great bit of information on the speed of Cycler sprites when combined with GPSpeed sprites (thanks to Keith Tyson for this information). The cycle length (going from bright to dark to bright again) seems to be halved as the GPSpeed lotag value is doubled. Strangely enough, this is the case up to a value of 1023, (a value of 1024 doesn't work). From 1025 to 2047, the above pattern is reversed: As the GPSpeed lotag value gets higher, the cycle length increases. A value of 2048 doesn't work either. A simple conversion indicates that a lotag of 1 will produce roughly one cycle in 120 seconds (quite slow), while a lotag of 1023 will produce roughly 8 cycles per second (quite fast).

NOTE 2: Walls with a hitag value of 1 are not affected by the Cycler sprite.

NOTE 3: This effect can be used to create the "rotating" lights found in some of the episode 2 levels. Take a look at those levels to see how this is done.