Land Lights Timetable?

[Beebop]

I have a mission set on October 10th at 5:45PM on the Moscow Autumn map.
I set up some landlights to illuminate the field as the player arrived.  I followed the manual's example on page 57 but changed the Mission Begin to a Complex Trigger set up for my plane.
They didn't light up.
At first I thought it was my logic but then I tried a test.  I set some lights up on Lapino Summer at 12:30 AM. the same way with a Complex Trigger as in my mission.  They turned on just like they are supposed to when the plane enters the radius.  But when I set the clock back to 8:45 PM they never came on.  There was just a hint of sunlight on the edge of the horizon but the ground was not easily seen.

In my mission there is a heavy overcast at 600 meters and I added rain to the mix so sight distance is further limited and hampered.  Landing Lights would go a long way to helping the player find the base.  I want the mission to start at dusk but by the time they arrive at the base it would be almost dark but not quite.
I've already tried campfires but they are hard to see under my weather conditions and. frankly, not as dramatic as I would like.  I would like to recreate that feeling like when you are driving in heavy rain and a low fog and you lean forward as though it will help you see a little better ahead, if that makes any sense.

 

In 1946 searchlights didn't come on until around 2100 on most maps.  I always joked that their Lamplighters Union had a contract not to turn them on until then. 

Is there a similar "contract" in Great Battles?

 

Edited June 26, 2020 by Beebop

[Sketch]

In my experience the lights won't come on unless it's pretty dark out.

 

I would run a test by placing some lights down in your mission, and adjust the time by 15 minutes until the lights kick on.

[JimTM]

2 hours ago, Beebop said:

I have a mission set on October 10th at 5:45PM on the Moscow Autumn map.
I set up some landlights to illuminate the field as the player arrived.  I followed the manual's example on page 57 but changed the Mission Begin to a Complex Trigger set up for my plane.
They didn't light up.
At first I thought it was my logic but then I tried a test.  I set some lights up on Lapino Summer at 12:30 AM. the same way with a Complex Trigger as in my mission.  They turned on just like they are supposed to when the plane enters the radius.  But when I set the clock back to 8:45 PM they never came on.  There was just a hint of sunlight on the edge of the horizon but the ground was not easily seen.

In my mission there is a heavy overcast at 600 meters and I added rain to the mix so sight distance is further limited and hampered.  Landing Lights would go a long way to helping the player find the base.  I want the mission to start at dusk but by the time they arrive at the base it would be almost dark but not quite.
I've already tried campfires but they are hard to see under my weather conditions and. frankly, not as dramatic as I would like.  I would like to recreate that feeling like when you are driving in heavy rain and a low fog and you lean forward as though it will help you see a little better ahead, if that makes any sense.

 

In 1946 searchlights didn't come on until around 2100 on most maps.  I always joked that their Lamplighters Union had a contract not to turn them on until then. 

Is there a similar "contract" in Great Battles?

 

 

Check the sunrise/sunset times for specific dates in the daytime.cfg file in your /data folder. FYI, see "Trigger an Event at a Point in Time in a Mission" on pg. 100.

Edited June 26, 2020 by JimTM

[SCG_Schneemann]

It's been an issue for a long time, and no love from the developers... You can register a bug complaint again - I got tired of nothing happening, and no response.

 

[Beebop]

Thanks everyone for the replies.  I can always count on this community to come to the aid of a lost soul.

 

@ SCG_Schneemann, I saw that post while going through every post that mentioned 'landlights".  I was hoping that had been fixed perhaps under the moniker of "various other fixes..."

 

6 hours ago, JimTM said:

Check the sunrise/sunset times for specific dates in the daytime.cfg file in your /data folder.

Thank you Jim.  yet another (undocumented) feature I did not know about.  I need to look through more of those oddly named files in the root folder.

I'll check out pg. 100 as well.

 

@ Sketch, the video you posted for jollyjack on Twitch no longer works and I couldn't find it on your YouTube site.  I've found your videos extremely helpful.  Any chance it could be reincarnated?

 

I'll try incrementally changing the TOD.  Too bad it takes so long to switch from the ME to the game.  As noted so many times before the ability to "test" within the ME like in 1946 would be a boon to mission builders and speed up the mission building and basic testing but the Devs seem reluctant to do anything with the ME. 

 

Thanks again folks.

[JimTM]

1 minute ago, Beebop said:

...

Thank you Jim.  yet another (undocumented) feature I did not know about.  I need to look through more of those oddly named files in the root folder.

I'll check out pg. 100 as well.

...

 

That's where it's...documented.  

[Beebop]

@ JimTM,  LOL.  Right you are.  I do miss the days when you got an actual paper booklet with the game that was pretty detailed about the features and functions. 

Let's see, that was back in the .....hmm, I forgot.  

[Jaegermeister]

2 hours ago, Beebop said:

Too bad it takes so long to switch from the ME to the game. 

 

Currently 1 minute 45 seconds +/-, depending on how long the mission takes to load. You could get it down to 90 seconds with a minimal test mission.

[Sketch]

2 hours ago, Beebop said:

@ Sketch, the video you posted for jollyjack on Twitch no longer works and I couldn't find it on your YouTube site.  I've found your videos extremely helpful.  Any chance it could be reincarnated?

Do you have a link to the video in question?

[Beebop]

1 hour ago, Sketch said:

Do you have a link to the video in question?

^^^  Post 4 on this page   ^^^

@ Jaegermeister:  
So if you make 10 checks during a one hour mission building session you've spent 17 1/2 minutes switching between the ME and the game.
Is the ME a government designed program?  It sure has their mark of "efficiency".

 

@ busdriver;
Thanks.  You automatically advance to the Tournament of Champions.  
That's a little later than I wanted.  Makes all of my weather moot as eye candy.

 

 

[Jaegermeister]

@Beebop if you don’t put a space after the @ symbol and type a name, it will give you a notice that you have been tagged in a post...

 

and yes, it’s a huge waste of time, that’s just waiting around for the little wheel to spin on the screen, and does not include actually doing the test and then waiting almost as long to reopen the ME. 

 

That and the undo command... haha

[Beebop]

1 minute ago, Jaegermeister said:

@Beebop if you don’t put a space after the @ symbol and type a name, it will give you a notice that you have been tagged in a post...

Thanks.  The forums are something I'm learning concurrently with e v e r y t h i n g else.  LOL.

[Jaegermeister]

Welcome back. 

[jollyjack]

4 hours ago, Jaegermeister said:

@Beebop ... and yes, it’s a huge waste of time, that’s just waiting around for the little wheel to spin on the screen, and does not include actually doing the test and then waiting almost as long to reopen the ME.  That and the undo command... haha

 

Now isn't there some clever guy here who knows about a virtual windows environment, running both at the same time, or isn't that possible? Logged user switching?

 

PS there is a partly working undo in the ME when you work with some surface editing items.

[Beebop]

20 minutes ago, jollyjack said:

Now isn't there some clever guy here who knows about a virtual windows environment, running both at the same time, or isn't that possible? Logged user switching?

 

It can be done but framerates are in the basement and it's prone to crash both the game and the ME.  I know of only one person who's been successful to any degree with it and he says it's not worth the effort most of the time.

 

20 minutes ago, jollyjack said:

PS there is a partly working undo in the ME when you work with some surface editing items.

 

Totally unsuporrted.  When you can get those map editing functions to work you have to enable mods, even if you don't use them, for the result to be seen.  Even then sometimes you are the only one seeing the edit(s).

I think the Devs would consider tampering with the ME, that is making a working Mod, would be close to, if not actually, modifying the game code, an excommuicate-able offense.

Edited June 27, 2020 by Beebop

[jollyjack]

Well, at least i don't have to be excommunicated LoL. I am already on the loose.

[Beebop]

A big thank you to all.  I have learned a little more about the ME, a little bit more about the inner workings of the game and how that can relate to mission building.

I am incrementally smarter now and that's a good thing.

After much testing, tweaking and experimentation I have decided to leave the mission at the time originally set and forgo for this mission at least the land lights.

It's a lot like real life, you work with what you've been dealt.  You can either grouse that it should be better or you can say OK, how can I take this set of circumstances and make the best of it?

Who'da thunk a game could echo reality to this degree?

Thanks again all.  But not to worry, I'll be back with some other question I can just feel it.  LOL! ?

[jollyjack]

Beebop, probably i am stupid and a declared clown once again, but isn't there a way to fool the lamplighter via a timer setup, thinking that it's midnight still?

 

 

Now we still need thunder and lightning, and then we promise to have no mo' wishes for the devs for a while ....

 

[Beebop]

Perhaps but I am unaware of any workaround.  (doesn't mean it doesn't exist).

One thing I've discovered is even with the Landlights on there are many situations where they are not as useful as one might want.

On a paved runway they seem to reflect nicely giving you a well illuminated view..

On dirt they are much less effective even though in real life they would still illuminate it satisfactorily even if at a lower level.  Probably something to do with the specular properties of the dirt texture (?).

Under some light conditions like early evening/late morning,, even with the Landlights on, you can only tell if you are directly facing them.  That is to be expected though.

 

Thunder and lightning were a couple of the features of 1946 I really enjoyed and would be nice additions to the game.  Moving weather fronts would also be a great and an even better improvement.  Imagine having to call off a mission because a strong front unexpected by the weather predictors was over your target and having to fly to a secondary target etc. 

 

Ah, but if wishes were horses all us beggars would ride.?