How to stop "sunlight" from passing through an object at a distance?

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

Good afternoon everybody!

 

I am currently working on a custom worldspace mod and I have a small (or large, actually) issue.

 

I have a very large (3 cells long, 1 cell wide) space that has a "ceiling".

How do I stop the "sunlight" from going through the ceiling at a distance?

 

 

As you can see from the screenshot, it is fine where the player is standing, but at some distance, the ceiling stopps working properly.

 

(Don't mind the walls, I haven't done any LOD for them yet ...)

 

I know for regular "placed" lights, you can use a lightbox to restrict the light to a room for example, but how would you do something like this for a huge multi-cell exterior space?

[Zorkaz]

Make the Material Double sided, maybe that helps

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

Make the Material Double sided, maybe that helps

I do have something "on top" of it, but I will try it.

[DiodeLadder]

Hello YDNKMN,

 

I think it might be possible that the sunlight would not remain as a "shadow light" in long distance. Shadow lights are huge performance hit for the game engines, and I'd imagine after a certain distance, it would stop casting shadows. Maybe when it doesn't cast shadows, it will pass through meshes like other non-shadow lights.

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

Hello YDNKMN,

 

I think it might be possible that the sunlight would not remain as a "shadow light" in long distance. Shadow lights are huge performance hit for the game engines, and I'd imagine after a certain distance, it would stop casting shadows. Maybe when it doesn't cast shadows, it will pass through meshes like other non-shadow lights.

Makes sense ...

Is there something like a "lightbox" to "exclude sunlight" or something like that?

[DiodeLadder]

 

Is there something like a "lightbox" to "exclude sunlight" or something like that?

 

 

Yeah, that would be handy wouldn't it? I haven't found anything like that so far, though.

 

Maybe it can be done as an interior, with sky turned on, but "sunlight" is placed manually only where you need it? DefaultLightWhite has a sunlight variation, and you could use the emittance source in object ref editor to simulate day/night cycle with it.

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

 

 

Is there something like a "lightbox" to "exclude sunlight" or something like that?

 

 

Yeah, that would be handy wouldn't it? I haven't found anything like that so far, though.

 

Maybe it can be done as an interior, with sky turned on, but "sunlight" is placed manually only where you need it? DefaultLightWhite has a sunlight variation, and you could use the emittance source in object ref editor to simulate day/night cycle with it.

 

This does not need a "day / night cycle".

I just thought I'd make it an exterior cell because I don't know what the "maximum size" for an interior cell is, and the place is quite big (like I said,3 or 4 cells long and 1 cell wide).

 

It is supposed to be a drydock for ships, like "the nucleus" form FarHarbor, except a bit larger ...

Edited October 4, 2020 by YouDoNotKnowMyName

[DiodeLadder]

 

This does not need a "day / night cycle".

 

I just thought I'd make it an exterior cell because I don't know what the "maximum size" for an interior cell is, and the place is quite big (like I said,3 or 4 cells long and 1 cell wide).

 

It is supposed to be a drydock for ships, like "the nucleus" form FarHarbor, except a bit larger ...

 

 

As far as the size go, I've done a room in an interior cell exactly that size myself, and I didn't have any issue with it in my case. I didn't have too many objects in it, though, and how much stuff is supposed to be visible at one time might be more of an issue in this kind of scenario. Interior cells can be very large. (take a look at Vault 88 or Mechanist's Lair)

 

By the way, you can just check "No Sky" and "No Landscape" in your worldspace window to use it pretty much like an interior cell, also. It can be a nice option if you are doing a location large enough that you need dynamic loading.

 

Long straight visible area can get pretty taxing on the game engine if you have a lot of objects. So if you are going to have lots of machines in your location, you might want to think about ways to break up line of sight.

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

 

 

This does not need a "day / night cycle".

 

I just thought I'd make it an exterior cell because I don't know what the "maximum size" for an interior cell is, and the place is quite big (like I said,3 or 4 cells long and 1 cell wide).

 

It is supposed to be a drydock for ships, like "the nucleus" form FarHarbor, except a bit larger ...

 

 

As far as the size go, I've done a room in an interior cell exactly that size myself, and I didn't have any issue with it in my case. I didn't have too many objects in it, though, and how much stuff is supposed to be visible at one time might be more of an issue in this kind of scenario. Interior cells can be very large. (take a look at Vault 88 or Mechanist's Lair)

 

By the way, you can just check "No Sky" and "No Landscape" in your worldspace window to use it pretty much like an interior cell, also. It can be a nice option if you are doing a location large enough that you need dynamic loading.

 

Long straight visible area can get pretty taxing on the game engine if you have a lot of objects. So if you are going to have lots of machines in your location, you might want to think about ways to break up line of sight.

 

Yes, I made an interior cell and it "worked".

I mean it didn't crash or cause infinite loading screens, so that's good!

[Blinxys]

Very likely a shadow distance setting issue. No good fix really.

Breaking off visibility I.e. facade/chambered wall or some such.

(Game designer considerations).

 

Interiors can be ginormous from the looks of things:

Vault 120 U.S. Forest Service

(For reference IIRC).

 

What I want is: lights to stop shining through hats, in SO many games, including this one.

 

(That space looks cool BTW).