nightly (mod) area accessible during day, Is that possible? Options

[jastey]

Hi,
for a cutscene I need a nightly outside area. (The cutscene is kind of a dream so it is night there but not necessarily in the actual game time.)

I wanted to re-use a game area, not make a new one for this purpose.

How does the BGII engine handle the day and night views of the areas? Is it possible to extract a game area in a way that in the "new" area there is always night?

Thanks for any help.

[Baronius]

The engine uses lighting effects to change the brightness of the area (and changes colors according to what part of the day is).
I think you should just extract the area you want to use, and then with an editor change the color scheme and re-generate the tile set.

[jastey]

Can I do this with DLTCEP?

[Baronius]

You can extract the area in DLTCEP and re-generate the tile set too if I remember correctly. The middle step, the color re-balancing (or applying selective color, perhaps lighting effects) needs a program like Corel PHOTO PAINT (I assume Photoshop can do it too).

However, I'm no expert in this (IE areas) and hope others will reply as well (I saw igi reading this thread).

[jastey]

If it needs a graphic editing tool then I am at a loss. *Hoping that someone might volunteer to do this*

I am talking about the area FW6000, btw... (BG1Tutu, small (!) outdoor area) (or AR6000 in BG1, but I need it for the BGII-engine.)

[Rabain]

I think you can use a scripting command to do this when entering the new area:

DayNight(I:TimeOfDay*Time)

Set the time to Midnight, the game itself should do the rest.

[Baronius]

If I remember correctly, that will inevitably change the party's Clock thus the current time as well, and jastey wants the time flow naturally. It would only (and always) be midnight when the party enters the area, and then the dawn would still come after hours (inside the dream...).

[jastey]

If changing the time is possible, theoretically the time could be turned back after leaving the modded area, but I have the problem that I do not know at which time the cutscene will start. (And I guess there is no "StoreGameTime" command...)

[Rabain]

Well again, if it's a dreamlike cutscene then it would start with Resting...resting takes 8 hours...move to the new area, set the time to midnight...move back to the area you came from...set the time to Dawn.

You had a dream and a long sleep!

[Baronius]

Silly me, I forgot that you had mentioned CUTSCENE. In that case, no worries about dawn: cutscenes take only for a few moments or few minutes: in this case setting the game to midnight is entirely correct.

[jastey]

But I can't make the game time jump to midnight because my cutscene is showing... It was maybe 10 am one minute, cutscene, time is at midnight, game goes on. Not really satisfactory...

[Rabain]

What is the pre-requisite for your cutscene?

What starts it?

[jastey]

The PC (player) talking to an NPC via dialogue. I have no influence on when that will happen, and because of story things I do not *want* to restrict it, either.

[Rabain]

Is it just an ordinary banter? Or does it start in specific circumstances?

If it takes place at a certain stage in the story it must have circumstances already attached to it, no? If it happens at a certain point..why can't it start at the next night Rest period? A lot of players Rest during the game just to heal, it would be a bit odd to have a cutscene that takes you to another area just pop up while you were resting in a dungeon in between battles for example?

Is it a dream or just a visual representation of the npc's memories as they talk to the PC?

I ask because adding another area to the game (with tis file) will increase the size of the mod by a fairly large amount which would really be unneccesary for a short cutscene. You would be better off to search through NI looking for an area that is already Night (some area's are only night colours, intentionally dark) as they are only used for Night encounters.

[Baronius]

I agree with Rabain, however, everything depends on jastey's mod (and on its size). If there isn't any area that is suitable enough, I advise using a new one -- quality is the first after all. I said that the mod's size is also important because if it's a big mod, a few megabytes (or less, if TisPack is used) won't make any difference.

[jastey]

adding another area to the game (with tis file) will increase the size of the mod by a fairly large amount

Agreed, but this scene has to take place in a "night" setting.

It's the graphical interpretation of a story the NPC tells, so to say...

You would be better off  to search through NI looking for an area that is already Night (some area's are only night colours, intentionally dark) as they are only used for Night encounters.

That's a cool idea, and would be very convenient.

[Rabain]

Whenever the banter is ready to fire (Global's set etc) have the player wait until the next Night period. Allow the Time of Day to be anywhere in the Night time frame.

The most the player should have to wait is 1 day or so, if the dialog is weighted enough to be the next to fire.

It's not much to sacrifice and the player won't even notice the time-shift.

[jastey]

Something like that maybe, or I'll try the time change... Only thing is I am afraid it could cut down valuable time for possible quests. I will see.

Thank you all guys, I think my original question was answered.

[Avenger_teambg]

You can alter an area to 'dream like' if you set the area flag.
Well, these won't make a night area, just a colourless gray one.
You can do this from script or by the area editor.
From script you do this: AddAreaFlag(8)
Or you could add this line to your areaflag.ids:
4 ANTIMAGIC
8 GRAYSCALE

The first prevents casting in the area
The second makes the area look like dream cutscenes in bg1

To remove the flags, you can use RemoveAreaFlag