Light Sources on Weapons

[Natterforme]

Ok, let me try to clarify and update a little. I realized afterwards that I didnt make that much sense. For now, lets skip the idea of mesh combining a chosen sword with the scripted gem and look into the second idea. I noticed a while ago that when I was importing a homemade scimitar from blender, that if the weapon was not centered on the x/yz/ plane, it would not line up correctly with the hand that held the weapon. After tweaking the position of the sword on the plane, I found the necessary position for the grip to look proper in the hand. Now for how this relates to our current dilema: faking a light source to attach to a weapon.

 

Ill make the gem a weapon and see how the light changes when held in my characters hand. If the gem is a weapon, it will react appropriately when swung by any animation mod, and presumably the light would follow the gem correctly. If the position of the gem changes the light qualities, then it means the placement of the gem as a handheld weapon is important if we want to fake the intended result(the result being a weapon that has its own source of light). I dont see why we cant just add or replace a weapon of choice after this. If the gem is just a place holder for the light source, we can make it as small or as big as we want, either hiding it entirely or adding it to a lightsaber handle. We can also do away with the gem entirely if the process works when turned into a weapon.The big question here is how turning the gem into a weapon would affect the light source as a script.

 

Of course, if it were that easy then it probably would have been done already :mellow: . Whos knows? We might be heading in the right direction.

[lovender]

Wait, so the gem gives off the light, and the light can be customized to be different colors? If the gem has a script for a light source, while idle(on the floor, on a table), cant we just add that jem to the mesh? For example, lovender, you pull out your green light saber, which is a weapon.

 

Yes, the gem gives off the light & can be customized to be different colors, bcos it uses the ID under the Light tab in the WorldObjects tab in CS.

Every ground mesh you choose to be the mesh for the light ID, will produce light. & it doesn't need a script! :thumbsup:

Mmmm...i ever tried to add the gem to the mesh in NifSkope, but since the right hand weapon is recognized by Oblivion engine as weapon, it doesn't produce light, even there's a gem mesh added to the weapon.

 

Cant we just have a script that equips the gem as an amulet that is weighted to the lightsaber? You know how some weapons auto equip a left hand weapon? Lets just replace it with the desired jem that has the corresponding color? If the jem kept its light source script, cant it illuminate your weapon and fake the light effect?

 

My offhand-lightsaber uses an armor ID, shield mesh with lightsaber model & lightsaber weapon ID for the ground mesh...& it auto-equipped when you unsheath a right-hand weapon (using script from Shield on Back mod).

But...since the ID i use for the offhand-lightsaber is armor/clothing (i.e: amulet, ring) ID, it didn't produce light... :( To produce light, always have to use light ID. But light ID can't be used as shield, so what's the use of offhand-lightsaber?

So, i think the 1st idea is impossible (i hate so say that!)....

 

 

Edit: Or we can make the jem a left handed weapon. Think about this: You know how, in blender, a weapon has to be laid out on a plane in order to fit into a characters' hand? Lets just make the light source jewel a weapon that occupies the exact same space as the blade of the light saber(or my blade). If the script for the light source is radical, we can put it in the center of the blade, or manipulate the script to occupy the correct light dimensions. This way, it doesnt take up an extra equipment slot(amulet/tail) and it should fake the light effect into making anyone think the weapon was giving off the light, instead of the light source being tied to an offhand weapon script. If Im right, it shouldnt hang off to one side like an unwanted sprite. How about that?

 

About the 2nd idea, i think a lightsaber author known as heavywaters is working on with that idea...I still don't know how it works, but it's possibly possible... :sweat:

Edited July 5, 2011 by lovender

[Natterforme]

Ok Ive been looking at the Screenshooters Ilumination mod and can report several things. It takes up the torch slot and can be equiped. That is, it is held in the left hand like a torch and presumably a shield. It only works while in the world space and not in the hand (darn XD). But the weird thing is that if you have some gems on the floor producing light, and then put one in your hand, the ones on the floor stop producing light. The gem is just a standard flawless saphire.

[lovender]

Really?? Well, that didn't happen to my lightsaber mod's gem...i tried to check it after i read this message.

Maybe that's bcos i didn't use any script for the gem...i just put it in the box.

 

I found this Rotating an object around another object with a script tutorial.

I mean, if we can rotate an object around another object with script, can we rotate a "world space" gem (that produces light) around lightaber?? That's what i'm trying to do all this time...but i don't really familiar with scripting... :(

[Natterforme]

I think the gem has a script with it. I dont know anything about scripting myself. I think rotating the item around the light saber is possble, but it would have to be a part of the weapon, then rotated. There are some staffs that have rotating objects such as gears and miniature planets, but they are all part of the weapon. These, obviously, can not be light sourced because they are now part of the weapon. Even if it could happen I think the light source would have a rotating light focus, similar to a light house, with varying degrees of light intensity. :wallbash:

 

I dont suppose we could ask Bethesda for help, since they worked intimately in creating the game :turned: . Maybe they know, since every wiki and tutorial I can find says this is cant be done. I want to say its possible, because I want it to be so.

[lovender]

I want to say its possible, because I want it to be so.

 

SO... :wallbash: DO... :wallbash: I...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :wallbash:

 

Btw, did u ever play Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy?

I'm playing it...Bought it from Steam. & u know what?? The lightsaber glows... :thumbsup: :biggrin:

Another special effect i love is: wall scratch... :happy:

 

Take a look:

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/7107/jediacademy01.jpg

 

I think we need to change blood sprinkles in Oblivion too, into somethings that connect to lightsaber...

& a friend of mine also asks me to create lightsaber blur when we swing it.

Edited July 6, 2011 by lovender

[MarkInMKUK]

Just one teeny point - have you ANY idea how badly this would hit your frame rate if you managed to get it to work?

 

Recalculating the light from a rapidly-moving bar of coloured glow would slug the response VERY badly - I'd guess that you'd see something more like a slow-motion strobe with about four frames from start to finish of a sword stroke. Add multiple light-sabres and ... well ... slide-show city.

 

Remember Oblivion is an oldish program, and tends to do more in the poor overworked SINGLE CPU core and less in the GPU than a more modern game.

 

I wish you luck, but I suspect you'll find the game lag too bad to use it.

[Natterforme]

I think that if we did get it to work, we could eventually get it to the point where it would be fully optimized to not negatively impact your frame rate. For me, just achieving it would be a great success, especially since Oblivion does use an older game engine. But when you look at some of the mods that have been made for this game, such as Deadly Reflex, you would be skeptical if you only knew that the engine was old. Also, I am thinking long term. If this feature is fully integrated standard in Skyrim, hopefully we can look at the scripts they use(if its not hardcoded) and duplicate them appropriately to give the same effect in Oblivion. I do thank you for you concerns though, as it is advice, and only fools do not accept good advice and take it to heart^^.

[lovender]

@ MarkInMKUK:

 

Yea, thanks for your advise...

I remember a nexus member ever told me about this.

 

But let's find a solution.

Kyle Katarn; a Jedi Master, @ the end of the Jedi Academy video game said:

 

"If there's one thing I've learned - never say never..." :thumbsup:

[Natterforme]

I prefer Han Solo: "Never tell me the odds!" :thumbsup:

 

I love it when I get at least 3 Star Wars references in a day :tongue: .