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Old 07-04-21, 12:10   #1
saintjunia
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Post Distance fog color change tutorial

A simple flipeffect to change the distance fog color will suffice in some cases (for example, in my level Lara is pushing a block in a tiny space, so the sudden change is not noticeable). The less the difference between the two colors, the better such effect will look. However, there is a way to create a "dynamic" for change via triggers and scripts. You need to have a basic understanding of triggers and scripting to use this, but there are many tutorials here explaining how, say, flipeffects work.

Thanks a lot to Richard_trle for explaining how organizers work and proposing this idea!

STEPS (you can do them in a different order):

1. PLACING THE FIRST TRIGGER

Place the F224 trigger somewhere (Weather: fog, set the distance fog color), it can be the same color as the current fog, but we need this trigger to set our numeric variable. Remember that you can customize presets in FLEP. For example, I am using color #3, which is light blue by default, but with FLEP I changed it to RGB 30/40/30.

2. SETTING THE FIRST NUMERIC VARIABLE

On the tile of this trigger, put another flipeffect: F232 (Variables: numeric, set & variable with E value). I am using Global Byte Alfa 1 (gba1) and the value 1. You can use different variables. Be careful if your level already uses variables not to overwrite them.

What this means: the "state" of your level when the fog is that color will be marked by this value. So for me, gba1=1 is when the fog is color #3.

3. SCRIPTING

Now comes the hard (and interesting) part! We have to create 2 triggergroups and 2 organizers. What we want to do is:
  • reduce for visibility
  • change the fog color "behind the scenes"
  • return fog visibility

Script (don't forget to change the IDs for your triggergroups and organizers accordingly; my numeration is a bit messed up because I have a lot of them and lost track already haha):

Code:
Triggergroup= 26, $2000,195,$0264, $2000,127,$0001, $2000,232,$0100
Triggergroup= 28, $2000,195,$0264, $2000,127,$0002, $2000,232,$0200

Organizer= 1, IGNORE, IGNORE, 3, 5, 1, 36, 3, 10 
Triggergroup= 5, $2000,224,$0004 ; change fog color to #4
Triggergroup= 36, $2000,195,$0378 ; change start fog to 0 in 3 seconds 
Triggergroup= 10,$2000,128,$0001 ; stop organizer  1

Organizer= 2, IGNORE, IGNORE, 3, 3, 1, 6, 3, 60	
Triggergroup= 3, $2000,224,$0003 ; change fog color back to #3
Triggergroup= 6, $2000,195,$0378 ; change start fog to 0 in 3 seconds 
Triggergroup= 60,$2000,128,$0002 ; stop organizer 2
Let's dissect this.

3.1. TRIGGER GROUPS

Both TGROUPS work in the same way:

$2000,195,$0264 is the F195 which changes the start fog distance to 20. This is useful for big rooms. In smaller, a distance of 16, 12 or else will do nicely (the bigger that distance, the slower it will take for the fog to "come back") ;
$2000,127,$0001 enables organizer 1;
$2000,232,$0100 sets the gba1 to 1.

The second TGROUP is the same, it only has a different change start distance (I put 12) and set gba1 to 2.

3.2. ORGANIZERS

Both organizers work in the same way. Once Lara activates the TGROUP, she enables an organizer that changes the fog color (F224) after the period of time it took for the fog to "disappear". For me it was 3 seconds, so I put Organizer= 1, IGNORE, IGNORE, 3, 3, which means that after 3 seconds, TGROUP 5 with F242 will be activated.

Then, we have to return our fog (now in the new color!) by changing the start distance from 12 (or 20, or whatever you have) to 0. I chose 3 seconds for this as well. So, my TGROUP 36 contains F195 exported trigger with & (time) as 3 secs and E (value) as 0. And then we just have to stop the organizer, which is F128 placed in TGROUP 10. The second organizer works the same, it simply has a different value for the fog color and changes distance. It is something you can experiment with indefinitely!

You can find more information about organizers in this thread.

4. PLACING MORE TRIGGERS

Now we have our script (don't forget to save and build it!). Time to put it into action. First, I put the triggers in Zone A, as shown in the picture:



Now, when she steps into Zone A, organizer 1 will be activated and we will have our smooth transition. Now, we want our fog to return to the previous color if she goes back:



That's all! Because of the variables, she will ignore the triggers until she steps into another zone. She can go back and forth and the organizers will be performed only then.

You can check out the effect in this video: https://youtu.be/ZVZKCS9TuS4

Remember to test everything and adjust the script as needed. And most importantly, have fun experimenting and creating effects that suit your level .
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Old 07-04-21, 12:45   #2
tlr online
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Thank you for posting saintjunia.
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Old 08-04-21, 02:49   #3
Richard_trle
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Nice! Thanks for sharing this Saintjunia!

Can any mod or admin please move this to the tutorial section?
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