[Minimum KSP version 1.11] Surface Mounted Lights v1.19

[IgorZ]

>>> Support me at Patreon if you like the mod!

Surface Mounted Lights

The stock light parts are designed to light the distant objects. However, the station itself needs some lighting to be usable when passing thru the dark side of the celestial body. The lighting parts in this mod are designed to highlight the surface, on which they are mounted.

Omni Light

Illuminates a small area on the vessel's surface.

Spot Light

Illuminate the parts and objects at a small distance.

4Way Spot light

A special version of the spot light that emits light in 4 perpendicular directions. Each light can be adjusted and controlled independently.

Features

• The stock lights get an ability to change the lens color. It make them looking much cooler.
   
• All light parts, including the stock ones, can be adjusted in flight when EVA. The following properties can be adjusted:
  • On/OFF status. Even if the vessel that owns the part is not controllable.
  • Color of the light.
  • The light part lens intensity. In Advanced Tweakables mode only.
  • The spotlight angle. In Advanced Tweakables mode only.
  • The light range. In Advanced Tweakables mode only.

Demo media

• VIDEO: Overview of the EVA capabilities.

* The videos above were created using the pre-release versions of SurfaceLights. Real appearance may differ.

Languages supported

 Русский

 Italiano

 Español

 Português

Support

You can support this and the other of my mods on Patreon. This is where I post my ideas, prototypes and the features development progress.

How to install

• Recommended:
  • Install and run CKAN.
  • Search for "Surface Mounted Lights", then install the mod.
  • Occasionally run CKAN client to update the mod to the latest version.
• Manual:
  • Download the ZIP archive:
    • From CurseForge.
    • From Spacedock.
    • From GitHub.
  • If you have an older version of the mod in your game, you must delete all the old files first! Do not just copy over, this will likely result in compatibility issues.
  • Unzip the release archive into the game's GameData folder.
    • Note, that names of the folders must be exactly like in the archive or the mod won't work.
    • The release archive contains a minimum version of the required dependency: ModuleManager. If your game has better versions, do not overwrite!
  • Verify the installation: the mod's LICENSE.md file must be located at <game root>/GameData/SurfaceLights/LICENSE.md.

Sources are available on GitHub. License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License.

This is a continuation of the abandoned project, originally started by @Why485.

Edited July 3, 2021 by IgorZ

[merlinux]

Yes I am glad this is living on! Thank you @IgorZ

[Apollo13]

I've been using these lights in 1.1.2 without an update.  Nice to see igorz grab this and go with it.

[ratchet34321]

Thanks IgorZ for continuing the mod, I prefer the aesthetics of these lights. They are very useful  

[TMasterson5]

@IgorZ I was directed to you about getting a quick tutorial on how to make lights for a KSP mod. What are the chances I could have one? Thanks in advance for your help!

[IgorZ]

5 hours ago, TMasterson5 said:

@IgorZ I was directed to you about getting a quick tutorial on how to make lights for a KSP mod. What are the chances I could have one? Thanks in advance for your help!

Hello. I'm a programmer so, I can help you with the code side. E.g. how to code the context menu, how to get light sources from the model and control playing. Though, a properly made model is 50% of the success. To be more specific:

1. You need to define a light source in the module.
2. You need to define an emitting texture on the material, and use it where you want you "lens" to be shown.
3. You need to define an animation which slowly turns on/off both the light and the texture. It's not required, actually. But it makes the light more player friendly.
4. And, finally, you need to pack this stuff into .mu so what nothing is lost.

I wish I could help with the latter 4 bullets but I only played a bit with the models (and none of them worked after that ). I may recommend you @Shatten who is currently fighting with 4-way Spot Light model in SurfaceLights mod. He has much more background than me.

Edited May 16, 2016 by IgorZ

[TMasterson5]

7 hours ago, IgorZ said:

Hello. I'm a programmer so, I can help you with the code side. E.g. how to code the context menu, how to get light sources from the model and control playing. Though, a properly made model is 50% of the success. To be more specific:

1. You need to define a light source in the module.
2. You need to define an emitting texture on the material, and use it where you want you "lens" to be shown.
3. You need to define an animation which slowly turns on/off both the light and the texture. It's not required, actually. But it makes the light more player friendly.
4. And, finally, you need to pack this stuff into .mu so what nothing is lost.

I wish I could help with the latter 4 bullets but I only played a bit with the models (and none of them worked after that ). I may recommend you @Shatten who is currently fighting with 4-way Spot Light model in SurfaceLights mod. He has much more background than me.

@Shatten could you help me out here?

[Felbourn]

You did this just for me, didn't you.  

[SpaceFoon]

I can't fly a rocket that doesn't have good lighting. Thank you for this!

[vger]

Thanks so much for picking up the ball on this.

Any chance you'll be doing this unfinished part of the mod as well?

Aviation Lights and Strobomatic do this 'OK,' but this mod in particular feels so much more polished, and also has the convenience of being able to just tweak the lights to the way you want them to behave, instead of (for instance) having different parts for different colors. And currently I don't think there's ANY mod that allows for long-range visibility of light flares, such as what you see from an aircraft in the sky at night. I've always wanted my bases to have such lights as well, so I can spot them from orbit.

Edited July 12, 2016 by vger

[IgorZ]

8 hours ago, vger said:

Thanks so much for picking up the ball on this.

Any chance you'll be doing this unfinished part of the mod as well?

Aviation Lights and Strobomatic do this 'OK,' but this mod in particular feels so much more polished, and also has the convenience of being able to just tweak the lights to the way you want them to behave, instead of (for instance) having different parts for different colors. And currently I don't think there's ANY mod that allows for long-range visibility of light flares, such as what you see from an aircraft in the sky at night. I've always wanted my bases to have such lights as well, so I can spot them from orbit.

To be honest, it's very low in the priority list. I like launching rockets into the space, and spend little or none time in the air After implementing the planned features in KIS, KAS, and EVS I will consider getting back to the nav lights.

[Supernovy]

You should have called them Stockalights.

[Ruedii]

If there is a way to force all 4 spotlights on the 4 way spot to be the same color that should allow the lens color to work.

[IgorZ]

3 hours ago, Ruedii said:

If there is a way to force all 4 spotlights on the 4 way spot to be the same color that should allow the lens color to work.

Interesting idea. It may actually work.

[Tyko]

I've noticed that my lights are flickering sometimes. I read your note above about having more than 8 lights. Could this cause the flickering I'm seeing? When you say "in a single area" what are you defining as an "area"?

Thanks!

[IgorZ]

1 hour ago, tjt said:

I've noticed that my lights are flickering sometimes. I read your note above about having more than 8 lights. Could this cause the flickering I'm seeing? When you say "in a single area" what are you defining as an "area"?

"Single area" means a compact scene area with many light sources. It's unknown how exactly KSP/Unity optimizes lights, so it's hard to say anything concrete. Increasing the setting solves the problem but impacts rendering performance.

[Tyko]

so a single ship/space station would be considered one "area"? if that's the case, then I'm well over the 8 light max.

 

 

[IgorZ]

6 hours ago, tjt said:

so a single ship/space station would be considered one "area"? if that's the case, then I'm well over the 8 light max.

It can be considered "one area". We don't know how exactly KSP/Unity works when handling light sources. If you see your lights flickering then you need increasing the setting. If everything is fine then do nothing

[Fictitious1267]

I love using this in 1.1.3. It doesn't show color in 1.2, but they work as white lights still. Thanks.

[IgorZ]

4 hours ago, Fictitious1267 said:

I love using this in 1.1.3. It doesn't show color in 1.2, but they work as white lights still. Thanks.

Looks like they optimized the shaders. Last time I tried to beat it with the stock lights I haven't figured out how to workaround it. Good to know the mod at least works.

[C04L]

more lights! yes!

I love the rounded directional light. one either side-top of a hatch looks awesome.. looking forward to 1.2 release

[Bombaatu]

On 9/28/2016 at 1:07 PM, IgorZ said:

Looks like they optimized the shaders. Last time I tried to beat it with the stock lights I haven't figured out how to workaround it. Good to know the mod at least works.

I'm pretty sure the Station Light in Mark One Laboratory Extensions is working correctly for 1.2PRE.  

EDIT: I just checked it;  the station light is working correctly. Might want to peek at the MOLE code and see how it is done there.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Bombaatu

[IgorZ]

12 hours ago, Bombaatu said:

I'm pretty sure the Station Light in Mark One Laboratory Extensions is working correctly for 1.2PRE.  

EDIT: I just checked it;  the station light is working correctly. Might want to peek at the MOLE code and see how it is done there.

Thanks for the note! I'll definitely use it when I'm out of ideas For now I have a hope they've just optimized the default shader which can be worked around pretty easily.

[IgorZ]

Luckily, simple re-compile fixed the issue.

[stibbons]

Thanks for keeping the lights on for this mod. SurfaceLights is one of very few part mods I like to have around.