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Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => FS2 Open Coding - The Source Code Project (SCP) => Topic started by: jg18 on July 04, 2011, 08:10:18 pm

Title: valid or reasonable ranges/increments for lighting settings?
Post by: jg18 on July 04, 2011, 08:10:18 pm
Are there valid (or at least reasonable) ranges and increments for the non-Boolean lighting settings? (-ambient_factor, -spec_exp, -spec_point, -spec_static, -spec_tube, -ogl_spec)

Thanks.
Title: Re: valid or reasonable ranges/increments for lighting settings?
Post by: Commander Zane on July 04, 2011, 10:43:20 pm
You can check this page for preset settings that have noticably different variables. (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Sample_Lighting_Settings)
Title: Re: valid or reasonable ranges/increments for lighting settings?
Post by: jg18 on July 04, 2011, 11:09:00 pm
You can check this page for preset settings that have noticably different variables. (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Sample_Lighting_Settings)
Thanks, I've seen that page, although it's not quite what I'm looking for.

I'm working with Iss Mneur on wxLauncher (the new cross-platform launcher), and I think it'd be nice if people could enter the lighting settings in the launcher GUI, as is done in Soulstorm's OS X launcher, rather than as custom flags. I also thought that, rather than people just entering lighting values as typeless strings, without the launcher checking the validity of the user's entered lighting values, the launcher's GUI controls could simply limit the range of inputs.

Furthermore, since some of the lighting settings are floating point rather than integers, it'd be good to know what might be reasonable increments for those settings (.1? .01? .001?) so that the launcher GUI can support that.

And that's why I'm interested in learning about the valid/reasonable ranges and increments for the lighting settings.

As a sneak preview, I'm considering (with Iss Mneur and others' approval, of course) taking the preset settings you mentioned and making them available as radio buttons in the launcher, so to select say the MediaVPs lighting settings, you can click on a radio button in the launcher and you're good to go.

[Note to self: provide better context when asking questions. Although then people have more to read...]
Title: Re: valid or reasonable ranges/increments for lighting settings?
Post by: Commander Zane on July 04, 2011, 11:24:26 pm
My mistake for misunderstanding.
At the lowest number place I see the flags at x.y or xx.y, so I suppose increments of .1 would be most reasonable.
Title: Re: valid or reasonable ranges/increments for lighting settings?
Post by: jg18 on July 04, 2011, 11:34:29 pm
Nah, it's fine. Like I said, I didn't give enough context. This isn't the first thread in which it's happened, hence the note to self. And I appreciate your replies. :)
Title: Re: valid or reasonable ranges/increments for lighting settings?
Post by: MetalDestroyer on July 05, 2011, 06:07:38 am
Check this (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Command-Line_Reference) on the Other section. Read the description.
Title: Re: valid or reasonable ranges/increments for lighting settings?
Post by: Kobrar44 on July 05, 2011, 12:45:12 pm
These flags quite often have values of about 1.x or 0.x, so 0.1 can make quite a big difference. 0.05 or lower would be better IMNHO.
Title: Re: valid or reasonable ranges/increments for lighting settings?
Post by: Luis Dias on July 05, 2011, 12:58:49 pm
Radio things would be awesome to have in the launcher. My big thumps up to that!
Title: Re: valid or reasonable ranges/increments for lighting settings?
Post by: Commander Zane on July 05, 2011, 02:18:56 pm
These flags quite often have values of about 1.x or 0.x, so 0.1 can make quite a big difference. 0.05 or lower would be better IMNHO.
Every launcher setting I've seen someone post goes no farther in variables than in tenths, never into the hundredths so I couldn't see .05 being used.
Title: Re: valid or reasonable ranges/increments for lighting settings?
Post by: Luis Dias on July 05, 2011, 02:33:20 pm
And a kewl feature would be special combinations. For instance, Fury makes a new combination that is badass. People clamor for its awesomeness and beg for his numbers. Someone puts those numbers within a list that is "choosable" in the launcher. Said list grows its epicness.
Title: Re: valid or reasonable ranges/increments for lighting settings?
Post by: jg18 on July 05, 2011, 02:48:31 pm
Check this (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Command-Line_Reference) on the Other section. Read the description.

I assume you're referring to this (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Command-Line_Reference#Lighting)? Thanks, I've looked at it several times, but it's not quite what I'm looking for, although at least it lists the range for ogl_spec. I've also looked at cmdline.cpp in the FSO source tree, which confirms the range for ogl_spec (FSO enforces it), although even that file doesn't tell me more than whether the different settings are integers or decimals.

I apologize to everyone. I'm slowly learning to be more precise with what I'm asking for and why I'm asking for it. I explained the "why" above. Here's the "what":

For each of the six non-Boolean lighting settings (-ambient_factor, -spec_exp, -spec_point, -spec_static, -spec_tube, -ogl_spec), I would like to know its smallest and largest possible values (or, if there is no minimum/maximum, the smallest/largest value that someone might reasonably use), and if the setting is a decimal value (that is, not an integer), the largest reasonable increment that someone might use for that setting (0.1? 0.01?). Consider that decimal precision is limited anyway (for example, 3.01 might not really be represented in the computer as exactly 3.01) by the limitations of computer arithmetic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_754-2008). For the record, FSO considers -spec_exp, -spec_point, -spec_static, -spec_tube, and -ogl_spec to be decimal values but -ambient_factor to be an integer.

Thanks for your help.

Radio things would be awesome to have in the launcher. My big thumps up to that!

Glad you like the idea! :) And thanks for your idea about presets that people make themselves.
Title: Re: valid or reasonable ranges/increments for lighting settings?
Post by: Luis Dias on July 05, 2011, 02:53:54 pm
Yeah, but if said lists could be sharable that would even be more awesome. To make all the people retype and coordinate all the different combinations will merely please the top 30 people who are that obsessed with it.... to make it sharable in some form (a simple .txt file shared when new mediavps versions come along? Other ideas?) will ensure most people will toy with it and have fun with it...

The "example" combinations would provoke casual players to toy more with the figures (and render your efforts in the radio thingies worthwhile for everyone, not just a few).

IDK, just a thought....
Title: Re: valid or reasonable ranges/increments for lighting settings?
Post by: Kobrar44 on July 05, 2011, 03:16:45 pm
These flags quite often have values of about 1.x or 0.x, so 0.1 can make quite a big difference. 0.05 or lower would be better IMNHO.
Every launcher setting I've seen someone post goes no farther in variables than in tenths, never into the hundredths so I couldn't see .05 being used.
Actually, .05 has been used in settings Fury posted some time ago and my current settings use it, so I assumed it is not a bad idea to still use it.
Title: Re: valid or reasonable ranges/increments for lighting settings?
Post by: Kolgena on July 06, 2011, 10:11:23 pm
I've used .01 increments, and it seems to work without issue.

Common post-processing settings should also be paired with lighting tags. For example, my particular setup looks terrible without post-processing, but quite good with it on.

In fact, it might be worth it sometime to have post processing numbers in the launcher.