[1.0.5] Surface Mounted Stock-Alike Lights for Self-Illumination (v1.2.2 - 11/15/15)

[DTPhantom]

While waiting to figure that out, can you share your updated version?

Glad to see this back, and third on the physics/dds update. Any other reasons it wouldn't be compatible with 1.0.4?

Fourth here!

Not the OP but those changes are easy to make.

Go into the parts cfg file and add this line

PhysicsSignificance = 1

That will make the lights physicsless, although remember in post 1.0.1 KSP Physicless doesn't mean the same thing as it use too. The parts now have mass and drag, but they add it to the parent part. So if you have an asymmetric layout it won't it won't cause the vessel to pull to that side.

To convert the textures to dds just download this tool and feed it the original textures. I used that tool to make my mod and it works perfectly, as long as you don't change the name you shouldn't have to do anything else for the mod to use dds.

[peteletroll]

there you go! Why485, I hope you're OK with that! the readme.txt notice is unmodified, I converted (and downscaled) the textures and added the "PhysicsSignificance = 1" line to the cfg files.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/skc3t9z8ge3d7uw/SurfaceLights-dds.zip?dl=0

[Wintersdark]

Thanks!

[Sampa]

Hey, Why, in the future, would you consider making this compatible with the ISS Community and Mir packs? I tried using it a while ago, but it only went INSIDE the modules!

[Kerbas_ad_astra]

One point of feedback: it might be good to knock these parts' maximum temperature down to 2000 like the stock lights (and honestly, I'd put them even lower than that -- maybe 1200, like other delicate science equipment).

[peteletroll]

maxTemp is now at 2000!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/skc3t9z8ge3d7uw/SurfaceLights-dds.zip?dl=0

- - - Updated - - -

By the way: Why485, I think these small updates could be merged with your distribution, if you're ok with that, and if the users of your mod agree.

[Reiver]

maxTemp is now at 2000!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/skc3t9z8ge3d7uw/SurfaceLights-dds.zip?dl=0

- - - Updated - - -

By the way: Why485, I think these small updates could be merged with your distribution, if you're ok with that, and if the users of your mod agree.

I'd be all for it, and the massless flag too.

While we're there, is there a way to make luminosity a tweakable? I'm not talking colour, but rather that some days I wish I could set the thing to be as bright as, say, a landing gears headlights or a flood lamp, when I'm using them as a headlight on a probe. Other days, I'd actually be happy if they were less bright - when using them as navigation lights or the like, the glow is less needed. If this altered the power consumption, bonus points! But that's less vital, and probably harder, I guess.

Beyond all that, I thought I should mention that I adore this mod. Thanks for making it

[peteletroll]

While we're there, is there a way to make luminosity a tweakable? I'm not talking colour, but rather that some days I wish I could set the thing to be as bright as, say, a landing gears headlights or a flood lamp, when I'm using them as a headlight on a probe. Other days, I'd actually be happy if they were less bright - when using them as navigation lights or the like, the glow is less needed. If this altered the power consumption, bonus points! But that's less vital, and probably harder, I guess.

I have no way to check right now, but lowering all the three colors at the same level should reduce the luminosity without affecting the color

[Reiver]

Ooh. I'll have to give it a go - it won't help boost the brightness though, correct?

[vestlen]

How well are these balanced as far as tech/price go?

They are the same as the larger stock lights in terms of price and energy usage. The 4-way is the same energy/cost as 4 spotlights. Personally, I lowered the energy usage in the files for this mod's lights to 1/10th what it is otherwise. Just added an extra zero. Seems about right, as these lights are not very bright compared to the stock ones.

SurfaceLight > part.cfg

resourceAmount = 0.002

SurfaceLight4Way > part.cfg

resourceAmount = 0.002 (for each of the 4 modules)

SurfaceOmniLight > part.cfg

resourceAmount = 0.001

[jlcarneiro]

They are the same as the larger stock lights in terms of price and energy usage. The 4-way is the same energy/cost as 4 spotlights. Personally, I lowered the energy usage in the files for this mod's lights to 1/10th what it is otherwise. Just added an extra zero. Seems about right, as these lights are not very bright compared to the stock ones.

SurfaceLight > part.cfg

resourceAmount = 0.002

SurfaceLight4Way > part.cfg

resourceAmount = 0.002 (for each of the 4 modules)

SurfaceOmniLight > part.cfg

resourceAmount = 0.001

Great idea! Do you know how to implement through ModuleManager? This way, future updates on the parts won't overwrite this change... I tried, my MM knowledge is a bit limited, and the values are inside a module and to worsen things, on the 4way light, there are FOUR of these modules, differentiated by the name...

[ibanix]

I get flickering when using the 4-way lights. They also seem way too bright. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong?

[cttw]

There is a limit on the number of lights (maybe only spotlights) that can be rendered by the engine in the same scene.

[Drew Kerman]

There is a limit on the number of lights (maybe only spotlights) that can be rendered by the engine in the same scene.

This can be adjusted in the graphics settings. Still a hard limit, just noting it can be increased if set to default

[SmiteZero]

These look great. Could you add an option to make them flash? Perhaps we could also set the on/off timings?

[RyanRising]

With Alternis Kerbol removing all ambient light outside of an atmosphere, these take on a whole new degree of usefulness. I'd download them right now were I not on my phone.

Edited October 4, 2015 by RyanRising
"Were", not "we're", darnit!

[Kerbas_ad_astra]

Great idea! Do you know how to implement through ModuleManager? This way, future updates on the parts won't overwrite this change... I tried, my MM knowledge is a bit limited, and the values are inside a module and to worsen things, on the 4way light, there are FOUR of these modules, differentiated by the name...

Here's a catch-all patch:

@PART[W485_Surface*Light]
{
    @MODULE[ModuleLight],*
    {
        @resourceAmount /= 10
    }
}

[Why485]

maxTemp is now at 2000!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/skc3t9z8ge3d7uw/SurfaceLights-dds.zip?dl=0

- - - Updated - - -

By the way: Why485, I think these small updates could be merged with your distribution, if you're ok with that, and if the users of your mod agree.

Thanks for keeping this updated. I'll upload your version and update OP.

[BudgetHedgehog]

Just a reminder: If you (Why485) want to upload to Curse and maintain as necessary, you're more than welcome to - me uploading to Curse was intended to be merely a temporary solution to a permanent problem

[Why485]

I'd be all for it, and the massless flag too.

While we're there, is there a way to make luminosity a tweakable? I'm not talking colour, but rather that some days I wish I could set the thing to be as bright as, say, a landing gears headlights or a flood lamp, when I'm using them as a headlight on a probe. Other days, I'd actually be happy if they were less bright - when using them as navigation lights or the like, the glow is less needed. If this altered the power consumption, bonus points! But that's less vital, and probably harder, I guess.

Beyond all that, I thought I should mention that I adore this mod. Thanks for making it

It's been a while since I look it, but checking the stock lights it doesn't seem like there's a way to do it. The light itself is provided by the Unity scene, which means its brightness and range is preset. You can make the light dimmer by lowering the RGB values across the board as peteletroll said. I often do that with the landing gear lights because I think they're overly bright.

Unfortunately there's no way to as far as I know (short of making a plugin) to change the intensity of the light. This means if you wanted it to be brighter, then you're out of luck.

I specifically designed these to be darker and with a yellow tint when compared to the stock lights, as before tweakables you couldn't adjust the stock lights in any way. I wanted something a little darker, and something that would sit more flush. With tweakables, the lights now annoyingly default to pure white, and you can lower the brightness of the stock model as well as clip them into stuff if you want. I still keep this mod around though, mostly because I like how the models look.

- - - Updated - - -

Just a reminder: If you (Why485) want to upload to Curse and maintain as necessary, you're more than welcome to - me uploading to Curse was intended to be merely a temporary solution to a permanent problem

I just uploaded peteletroll's update to the mod to Kerbal Stuff because I like the format and how nice it looks. Is there a way to allow me to update the Curse link you made or would I have to make a separate one? I'd rather keep that link as it seems to be popular. If I can't update it myself could you update it with the version from Kerbal Stuff? It's identical to peteletroll's but with an updated readme.

[Why485]

KerbalStuff link is wrong - prob. leads into dev's area

Oops, forgot to hit publish. It should work now.

[Thourion]

Yeah seems to work just fine, thanks!

[BudgetHedgehog]

I just uploaded peteletroll's update to the mod to Kerbal Stuff because I like the format and how nice it looks. Is there a way to allow me to update the Curse link you made or would I have to make a separate one? I'd rather keep that link as it seems to be popular. If I can't update it myself could you update it with the version from Kerbal Stuff? It's identical to peteletroll's but with an updated readme.

AFAICS, you can't update my Curse download, but if you want, I can delete my link and you can reupload (or not; KerbalStuff is very popular, there's a few mods exclusive to it and it updates the CKAN automatically).

But I can also update the Curse link to be the same as your KS link (which would involve me downloading from KS and updating the Curse file).

It's entirely your call - from my perspective, I'd rather do the second option (update Curse to be the same as KS) and see if it's possible to transfer ownership of the Curse download to you, if you want. If not, then I'll just delete and you can reupload if you want as I don't really have to time to keep updating the Curse link (60-hour work weeks are a paaaaiiiiiin).

[Why485]

So today I was messing with plugins to fix my two annoyances with the lights ever since KSP added tweakables.

1. The lights now default to a color set in the part file.

One of the big intents behind these lights was to get away from the ugly pure white default lights in KSP. When tweakables were introduced, it made all lights default to pure white because they now took their color from the tweakable value instead of the what the light was set to in the model.

2. When you change the color of the light, the model reflects the change.

Now that you can set an arbitrary color for the lights, the yellow tinge on the light lenses looked out of place. Now, the light texture takes the color whatever you've set the light color to be. The only weird case is the 4 way light, which just uses the last color you set. Unfortunately I can't figure out a way around this aside from making this much more complex than I think is worth doing.

Something else I'd like to do, and now that I've opened the plugin can of worms, is create good nav lights using the above stuff. There's already a mod out there for nav lights (that I actually contributed to at one point), but I think now that tweakables are a thing it could be done better.

[Svm420]

So today I was messing with plugins to fix my two annoyances with the lights ever since KSP added tweakables.

1. The lights now default to a color set in the part file.

One of the big intents behind these lights was to get away from the ugly pure white default lights in KSP. When tweakables were introduced, it made all lights default to pure white because they now took their color from the tweakable value instead of the what the light was set to in the model.

2. When you change the color of the light, the model reflects the change.

Now that you can set an arbitrary color for the lights, the yellow tinge on the light lenses looked out of place. Now, the light texture takes the color whatever you've set the light color to be. The only weird case is the 4 way light, which just uses the last color you set. Unfortunately I can't figure out a way around this aside from making this much more complex than I think is worth doing.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15133164/2015-11-12_00-09-36.gif

Something else I'd like to do, and now that I've opened the plugin can of worms, is create good nav lights using the above stuff. There's already a mod out there for nav lights (that I actually contributed to at one point), but I think now that tweakables are a thing it could be done better.

That is awesome! can't wait t see what you do for nav lights. Not sure if you've ever heard of t, but another mod with a similar idea was ASET stack inline lights. Do you think you could give this functionality to those parts? They used to have to through a custom module as well, but it fell to lack of maintenance. Either way great work!