Cafu Engine

Hey Carsten I'm experimenting in the editor a bit, just wondering if I can turn off shadows for selected dynamic light sources?
Also is there a way I can change the default limit for active dynamic lights? I know about the console command but for convenience sake I'd like to know if I can change it in code or even just setup a special shortcut to the engine containing the console commands.

Thanks

Hi Scott,
sorry for the delay, but it will take me until tomorrow to write a proper answer, as I'm not at the right computer right now to verify a few things first.

Ok, Scott, all your questions are good ones!

It is currently not possible (in the 7.07 release) to turn off shadow-casting for light sources, but for the upcoming 7.11 release, I'll add script methods that will allow you to do exactly that (as well as set other light parameters, such as color, radius, etc.). I'll explain in detail how this is done when the new release is out, please remind me should I forget!

About the number of light sources limit, this too has no good solution in the 7.07 release. For the 7.11 release, I'll either implement a hotfix for this problem (e.g. a command line switch), or, depending on the time left, implement a proper solution that processes a config file at engine startup where you can override the built-in default value.

I'm very sorry that I've no immediate solution for you, and can only ask you to wait for the upcoming release, which is due soon!

Hi Scott,

I'm currently working on being able to turn off the shadow-casting of selected dynamic light sources. My current implementation adds another property to the dynamic light sources entity that allows you to toggle shadow-casting on and off by a checkbox in the entities "Object Properties" dialog in CaWE.

Well, ... I'm currently wondering if that is enough. It means that whenever you change that property, you have to save and recompile the map as usual. It would not be possible to toggle this property interactively while the game is running. I could add a script method for this very purpose, but I'm a bit reluctant because that's normally a feature that never changes throughout the playtime of a map, and another item that had to be sync'ed over the network.

So please let me know, do you want to be able to also toggle this online, or is the "static" method via CaWE enough??

Static is fine, I cant envision any scenario where I would need to turn shadows back on during the game.