Dungeon lit by torches?

[Bridgeman]

I'm using the visibility range script made by Galv to create the effect of the light of a torch around the player. However, now I want to make a little sidequest where basically the player has to find all the torches in the dungeon and light them all up so that the dungeon can more easily be navigated.

Does anyone know what would be the quickest and easiest way to do this? Events or script?

 

[mlogan]

Not sure of the script but I would think I would have an event that uses a script call to light the torch.

 

[Bridgeman]

Yeah I've been thinking of that as well. Unfortunately whenever I search for "VX Ace torch script" all I get is scripts for a torchlight following the player...

 

[SlaveOfThaMind]

try Khas awesome light effects.

http://arcthunder.blogspot.com.br/p/rpg-maker.html

 

[Bridgeman]

Wow, that looks amazing. Seems like a complicated script though. Guess I'll go toy around with that and see what I can get.

 

[mlogan]

Hmmm, you know I'm looking because I had a few lighted things for one map in my IGMC game and it looks like I evented them, lol.

Aha, here is the thread from when I was asking about it. It should have some useful information in there for you. http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/28826-lighting-script-preference/?hl=lighting

 

[Bridgeman]

Hmmm, you know I'm looking because I had a few lighted things for one map in my IGMC game and it looks like I evented them, lol.

Aha, here is the thread from when I was asking about it. It should have some useful information in there for you. http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/28826-lighting-script-preference/?hl=lighting

The general consensus here seems to be that it's best to use events if it's only one map. What I'm working on will have only one, maybe two maps. Post #19 states something about a dude named "Busted Ed" who apparently has a tutorial + demo on that somewhere. Anyone know where to find that? Google gives me nothing but BS results.

 

[cabfe]

Maybe this is this tutorial?

Definitely the most simple and easiest way to manage lighting.

 

[mlogan]

Yeah, that was it. And if you need help let me know and I can look and see how I implemented it in my game. Also I recently posted an image in the screenshot thread that I believe shows the lights I did.

 

[Bridgeman]

Hmmm well I really like it, but it doesn't actually create light. It just creates that illusion, which looks really good, but it's mostly aesthetically. I really need something that allows me to create lights that actually light up the level and show you the way.

 

[mlogan]

Well technically it's all just an illusion.

However for moving lights yeah, you will need a script. Dekita linked a couple of his in the thread I posted but I have no idea how the complexity compares to Khas.

 

[Bridgeman]

Not even moving light, just stupid torches. The people in that thread linked earlier seem convinced that Khas has severe performance issues, but the demo runs just fine on my old desktop.

 

[cabfe]

A little more complex would be to take a screenshot of your dungeon, import it in an image processing software like Gimp/Photoshop/Paint.net and draw your lighting as a layer.

You save that layer and display it as an overlay (see overlay scripts, there are plenty) with the Add option (like the Add option in the Show picture event command).

Khas's script may run smoothly if you don't add too many light sources and/or don't have a big map.

My computer (bought in 2006...) can hardly handle it. Most if not all games I played that used it were under 10 frames/s for me.

But that's a really old CPU.

 

[Bridgeman]

Yeah, I considered doing that as well. But the problem is, in my game you go around lighting torches in no specific order. So it wouldn't work just using one overlay.

It may be performance heavy, but I have to say it does look amazing, especially the way those shadows move... I honestly didn't think that was possible in an RPG Maker game.

 

[cabfe]

You can create as many overlays as there are torches, not just one.

 

[Bridgeman]

Doesn't that affect performance too if I have like 50 torches?

 

[cabfe]

Much less impact to display 50 pictures than having 50 Khas light sources.

You can try it easily yourself though.

Try his script with 50 light sources and try displaying 50 pictures (even if they still aren't the final ones, only the number would count).

I'm pretty sure the difference should be obvious.

 

[Bridgeman]

Which overlay script do you think is best?

 

[cabfe]

Most popular seems to be Yami's.

Personally I use Galv's.

I have not tested their performance, if there is a difference between the two.

It's mostly a question of taste and possibilities.

 

[Bridgeman]

Galv's seems simple to use, but to be honest I still don't see how I can accomplish what I want by using this. I need the screen to be pitch black, except for a small light surrounding the player. And then when the player interacts with a torch, a small light appears around that torch. Now there's two ways to make the screen pitch black. I could use the Screen Tint event command, but then none of the overlays in this script would be visible. Or I could use a pitch black overlay, but once again, the torch lights won't be visible because the black overlay is covering them, and I have no way to predict which torch the player lights first. On top of that the light surrounding the player would be invisible.