Lamp Posts: What are they?

Note: You can download this tutorial in Microsoft Word format here.

Identification and Properties:

Mathias Wagner (Matze) has given the CnC community map editors for several Command and Conquer series games. These include Final Sun, Final Alert1, Final Alert 2, and most recently Final Alert2~Yuri. All of these editors are similar in basic functions and features. There are however differences in the structures list that is available to the map maker. The ones that we are concerned with in this tutorial are the Lamp posts that are disabled in FA2 and FA2~YR.

To enable these "hidden" lamp posts you need to open the Final Alert 2~Yuri directory and navigate to the FAData file. Open the file in a text editor such as Wordpad or Editpad and scroll down to the subsection [IgnoreRa2]. Keep scrolling until you find the lampost section, it will be down the list starting at #34, it will appear like the following:

; things only FinalAlert will ignore
; these are usually all dummies and leftovers from TS
[IgnoreRA2]
**
**
34=REDLAMP
35=GRENLAMP
36=BLUELAMP
37=YELWLAMP
38=PURPLAMP
39=INORANLAMP
;40=NEGLAMP ; NEGLAMP added again, invisible in game
41=NEGRED
42=TSTLAMP

You will notice that #40 has a semi colon in front of the string, this enables it in the editor, or in simpler language ..you can use it. By employing the same process to the other lamps you can again gain access to them from the structures list in the editor. If you are using Final Sun or Final Alert 1 then these are already available to you and this step is not needed.

The Lamp Posts that are available to you (including the ones disabled in FA2 and FA2~YR) and actually emit or absorb light are as follows: Note* the numerical designations are from the RA2md ini file(Yuri)

[BuildingTypes]
33=REDLAMP
34=GRENLAMP
35=BLUELAMP
36=YELWLAMP
37=PURPLAMP
38=INORANLAMP
39=INGRNLMP
40=INREDLMP
41=INBLULMP
49=INGALITE
50=INYELWLAMP
51=INPURPLAMP
52=NEGLAMP
53=NEGRED
260=TEMMORLAMP
261=TEMDAYLAMP
262=TEMDUSLAMP
263=TEMNITLAMP
264=SNOMORLAMP
265=SNODAYLAMP
266=SNODUSLAMP
267=SNONITLAMP

NOTE: There are also two other lamps listed in the building list of the ini files, the GALITE and the TSTLAMP

This is the original ini subsection for the GALITE from the Tiberian Sun game, from it all the other lights were cloned . This is the Momma lite.

; Light post
[GALITE]
Name=Light Post
Image=GALITE
Strength=600
Armor=wood
Owner=GDI,NOD
Cost=200
TechLevel=-1 ; changed from 12
Nominal=yes
Sight=0
Points=30
Power=0
Crewed=NO
Explosion=TWLT070,S_BANG48,S_BRNL58,S_CLSN58,S_TUMU60
MaxDebris=1
LightVisibility=5000
LightIntensity=0.2
LightRedTint=0.05
LightGreenTint=0.05
LightBlueTint=0.01
ThreatPosed=0 ; This value MUST be 0 for all building addons
DamageParticleSystems=SparkSys,LGSparkSys
AlphaImage=NONE
Powered=true

The parameters are identical to the other games with the exception of the houses and the extra entry, AIBuildThis=no, in the Red Alert2 games. Notice the subsections:

LightVisibility=5000
LightIntensity=0.2
LightRedTint=0.05
LightGreenTint=0.05
LightBlueTint=0.01

These are the default settings. These parameters allow for the natural lighting that you observe if you do nothing with the tint values from the lighting editor. GALITE is NOT available to you from the editor without editing the ini. It doesn't need to be in that respect either, as it's counterpart, the INGALITE is the invisible version of the same lamp, with exception that it is an Alpha Lamp, and it is available for use.

Alpha Lamps:

If the GALITE was the momma then the TSTLAMP is the daddy. This lamp is referred to as the Alpha Light Post. Speculation leads me to believe that this is the first lamp introduced into the CnC games, as it has no lighting properties and of course it's name.
The ini section for this lamp is as follows:

; Light post
[TSTLAMP]
Name=AlphaLightPost
Image=GALITE
Strength=600
Armor=wood
TechLevel=-1
Nominal=yes
Sight=0
Points=30
Power=0
Crewed=no ; why would we want guys to come out of the lightpost?
Explosion=TWLT070,S_BANG48,S_BRNL58,S_CLSN58,S_TUMU60
MaxDebris=1
ThreatPosed=0 ; This value MUST be 0 for all building addons
DamageParticleSystems=SparkSys
Insignificant=yes
AlphaImage=ALPHATST

Notice the last entry in the [TSTLAMP] section, AlphaImage=, by studying the ini files we note that some of the Lamp Posts specifically state AlphaImage=NONE. This is of some importance when choosing which lamp to employ in your map. The Alpha image Lamp Posts, or the ones that do not state AlphaImage=NONE, cause the game to lag substantially more than the the ones that do not have the Alpha image. You will need to take this into account when making your map, as this will affect what triggers you will use and how many. It will also affect gameplay. Let give you an example...You have created a beautiful map, the detail is the absolute peak of perfection, the cliffs are random and well made, the sound effects are just right, you have installed a Day/ Night Loop and a set of random action triggers that enable a weather storm /ion storm at different waypoints. You have also placed several of the Alpha lamps around the arena ..some in the ore/tiberian fields, some near the water, and a few scattered close to the base for enhancement.

You fire up the game and things seem to be going okey, you did notice that when the game first started that there was a thirty second period of time that it lagged, but that cleared up. You are in the heat of battle, lots of action going on, tanks stalking and shooting at each other, aircraft on the go, infantry buckeling down ,and then it happens........the game begins to lag, it gets slower and slower until finally it freezes!!.. You can't do anything!! Your cursur moves but that is it. You can't even [Alt][Tab] out of the game. This has occured in all likely hood because of what I call "ALPHA OVERLOAD".

As I have stated in other tutorials "Moderation in all things". The number of Alpha Lamps that you have placed in the scenario (map) add to the other things that cause lag only in a more dramtic way. Things that cause lag are animations, triggers that call up animations and lighting changes, to some extent the number of triggers , the size of the map, the amount of territory that is revealed, etc., etc., etc. As you can see the more that is in the map the more it will lag.

I recently created a map with many Alpha Lamp posts on it and managed thru much ini editing to get my Day/Night Loop in the map without any appreciable lag. Granted it did lag for the first fifteen seconds or so but that is to expected, as it was a large map with a lot of lighting effects and Alpha image Lamp posts incorporated in it.. This in itself was quite an achievement, however, no other triggers other than the Day/Night Loop could be used and absolutely no sound effects (another huge generator of lag). You might say "Gee RV, what's wrong with that". The problem is, that I was not able to fully enhance the map the way I had planned to from the beginning. I had planned to turn the Lamp's off when the ambient light level's reached a certain point and then on, when they were on the way up. Because of the "Alpha overload' this was not possible.

Another property that I have observed when using the Alpha's, the lower the intensity and visibility that is used for each, the lower the lag factor seems to be. So by using the absolute minimum intensity and visibility that you need for your map you can keep this to a low level.

The intensity and visibility can be lowered by altering the LightVisibility= and LightIntensity= parameters to a lower value.
The Alpha Lamps are as follows:

[NEGLAMP]
[INGALITE]
[NEGRED]
[YELWLAMP]
[INYELWLAMP]
[INPURPLAMP]
[INORANLAMP]
[INGRNLMP]
[INREDLMP]
[INBLULMP]
[TEMMORLAMP]
[TEMDAYLAMP]
[TEMDUSLAMP]
[TEMNITLAMP]
[SNOMORLAMP]
[SNODAYLAMP]
[SNODUSLAMP]
[SNONITLAMP]

Visible Lamp Posts:

This leaves only a few Lamp Posts that do not cause any appreciable lag. They are:

[REDLAMP]
[GRENLAMP]
[BLUELAMP]
[PURPLAMP]The GALITE also, understandably so, is not an Alpha Lamp.

So it would seem that if we employ these four Lamp posts and just these four Lamp posts that we would be on solid ground wouldn't it? Unfortunately this is not the case. There are several items that must be taken into account when using these or any of the others for that matter. Ambient recalculation is the first thing to take into account. Whenever any ambient changes take affect or are intergrated with the normal ambient levels then the game engine will recalculate these changes in order to come up with a constant that it can use in order to speed up or slow down the game. It does this in an attempt to keep the game stable at 15fps (frames per second).

Experimenting:

Here is a simple experiment you can do to observe this in action. Make a simple, small (50x50), flat map for 2 players. Separate the map with a river running from one side to the other, diagonally of course, and create a reveal trigger in order to see the whole map. . Now place 1 or 2 REDLAMPS on both sides and save the map as a multiplayer and name it simply "TEST". Start the game and select your map. After the game starts have your units walk into the Red light. Did you notice that they slow down when they enter and that they speed back up after only a short time? Did you also notice that they did not slow down as they left the Red light? That slow down period is when the game is recalculating and adjusting the fps. Now leave the game and edit the map. Place enough lamps on the map so that it will be saturated with red light and appear to be the planet Mars. Start up the game again and observe that the map is totally red and that there is no lag!! This is because the ambient rate and change are stable and there is no reason to recalculate beyond the norm. Now delete all of the Lamp posts except two. Paste this ini change into your test map and save it.

[REDLAMP]
LightVisibility=950
LightIntensity=0.005

Start up the game and you will find two "spotlight" type red areas. Run your units into these areas and you will note that they do not slow down when entering the area. Bearing this in mind it should be apparent the need to limit the intensity and visibility of the Lamp Posts to the minimum required for any particular enhancement.

This brings us to the other thing to be taken into account when using these lamps, I stated in a previous tutorial that using these particular Lamp Posts serves no purpose, let me qualify that here.

• 1: The visible lamp posts are in the wrong pallet and look funny in the RA2 games. This is because it is really a Tiberian Sun structure.
• 2: If used judiciously, the Alpha lamp posts can be used without any appreciable lag.
• 3: It is quite easy to give the visible lamp propeties to another more suitable structure in RA2.

Now, all that being said , I suppose you can hide them in the trees or behind a cliff.

Negative Lamp Posts:

; Black Light post
[NEGLAMP]
Name=Negative Light Post
Image=GALITE
Strength=1000
Armor=wood
TechLevel=-1
InvisibleInGame=yes
Nominal=yes
Sight=0
Points=30
Power=0
Crewed=no Explosion=TWLT070,S_BANG48,S_BRNL58,S_CLSN58,S_TUMU60
MaxDebris=3
LightVisibility=3500
LightIntensity=-0.15
LightRedTint=0.03
LightGreenTint=0.04
LightBlueTint=0.04
ThreatPosed=0 ; This value MUST be 0 for all building addons
DamageParticleSystems=SparkSys,LGSparkSys
Insignificant=yes

After studying the [NEGLAMP] parameters and truncated comments it can be seen that this Lamp Post is quite different from the others discussed in the "Alpha Lamps" section of this tutorial.

First off, in the truncated comment above the UIName we see that the programmers call this the "Black Light post". Looking at the "LightIntensity=" parameter it is noted that the entry is a negative(-) one!! So, using our reasoning power we can deduce that this light is not really Black Light but, actually absorbs light from the surrounding tiles giving the appearance of a severely shadowed, or darkened area.

By editing the entries it is possible to enlarge or shrink the area affected by altering the LightVisibility= entry. The higher the number the larger the area, the inverse would true by lowering the number.

The LightIntensity= entry determines how dark, or how much light is allowed to shine in the area. Editing this entry will alter the shading, by moving the benchmark further in the negative direction the darker the area will become, again the inverse would be true by moving the bench mark closer to the positive direction.

The other negative lamp at the map makers disposal is the NEGRED. The ini entries for this are as follows:

; Light post
[NEGRED]
Name=Negative Red Light
Image=GALITE
Insignificant=yes
Strength=6000
Armor=wood
TechLevel=-1
Nominal=yes
Sight=0
Points=30
Power=0
Crewed=yes
Explosion=TWLT070,S_BANG48,S_BRNL58,S_CLSN58,S_TUMU60
MaxDebris=1
LightVisibility=4000
LightIntensity=-0.05
LightRedTint=-1.5
LightGreenTint=0.01
LightBlueTint=0.01
ThreatPosed=0 ; This value MUST be 0 for all building addons
DamageParticleSystems=SparkSys,LGSparkSys,P

By studying the properties of this Lamp post we notice that it is quite similar to the NEGLAMP with one very critical exception...."LightRedTint=" is a negative number also. Not only does this structure absorb light , it absorbs a large amount of the red spectrum.

Again by editing the properties we can control the amount of light, as well as the amount of red light absorbed. By moving the LightRedTint= parameter further in the negative direction we can eliminate the red tint even more. We can limit the effect by moving the benchmark in the positive direction.

It should also be noted that both the Negative lamps are Alpha types and therfore their use should be judicous and well thought out.

Theater/Time Dependant Lamp Posts:

There are only two types of these Lamps because they were designed for use in the Tiberian Sun game as that genre has only two theaters, Snow and Temperate.

The following are the Lamp Posts for the Temperate Theater:
[TEMMORLAMP] is the morning Lamp Post
[TEMDAYLAMP] is the broad daylight Lamp Post
[TEMDUSLAMP] is the dusk Lamp Post
[TEMNITLAMP] is the night Lamp Pos

The Morning Lamp and the Dusk Lamp are identical with the exception of their UINames. I suspect that this allowed Westwood to place two lamps down in the same map and have different setting for each via ini editing. Primarily these Lamps were used to light up the starting areas in Night maps and also to offset the level shadows in the canyon regions of a typical Tiberian Sun map. The Temperate Lamps are quite lovely with a slight green/yellow tint that really looks very nice in a jungle type map for RA2. The use of one TEMPNITLAMP will more than light up the starting area of any night map and may even need to toned down a bit.

The following are the Lamp Posts for the Snow Theater:

[SNOMORLAMP] is the morning Lamp Post
[SNODAYLAMP] is the broad daylight Lamp Post
[SNODUSLAMP] is the dusk Lamp Post
[SNONITLAMP] is the night Lmap Post

If you study the parameter s for the Snow Lamp posts you will notice that the entries for the the blue tint is quite low and in some instances is even a negative!! Look at the example of the Morning Lamp Post:

; Invisible Light post
[SNOMORLAMP]
Name=InvisibleSnowMorningLamp
Selectable=no
InvisibleInGame=yes
Insignificant=yes
Image=GALITE
Strength=6000
Armor=wood
TechLevel=-1
Nominal=yes
Sight=0
Points=30
Power=0
Crewed=yes
Explosion=TWLT070,S_BANG48,S_BRNL58,S_CLSN58,S_TUMU60
LightVisibility=3500
LightIntensity=0.01
LightRedTint=0.3
LightGreenTint=0.4
LightBlueTint=-0.1
DamageParticleSystems=SparkSys,LGSparkSys
Powered=true

The entry for the LightBlueTint is -0.1. This will "suck" the blue out of the RGB code for the snow, causing it to be white, really white.

The parameter for the Dusk Lamp Post takes it even deeper with a setting of -0.2.

The Night Lamp Post does have an entry of 0.05, this coupled with a low ambient setting has a very nice effect in Tiberian Sun. However in RA2 I would add even more blue tint as the snow differs greatly between the two games.

We have now covered all the Lamp Posts that are available in the games. Remember to use them judiciously (sparingly), and to edit them to reasonable levels. Do not use them in the ultimate n00b sin.....writing your name! If I find the game lags because I am forced to read your name...then into the bin it goes and I will indeed remember your name, but I will never see your work again =)

Check out RVMECH's Basic Lighting Tutorial!