LRM (Light Replacement Mod) - Support, Development and Discussion

[rsc204 21,808]

A screenshot would help to see the problem.

If you simply mean a blue-ish hue, that's probably intended.

If you mean a graphical glitch, you might need to have hardware rendering enabled for LRM to work correctly. You can resolve this, where Hardware Rendering won't work by removing the light cones and using the original Maxis ones with the mods. Details on that somewhere in the readme/FAQ.

[KiethMarkus2014 14]

How tall are the generic USA lights in meters?

[T Wrecks 10,209]

On 23/02/2012 at 3:18 PM, MandelSoft said:

OK, now I have my PC back up and running again, I have started working on bugfixes. I have to change faulty exemplars later, but for now, here you have some dimmed versions of the once "over-saturated" light sets. Try it and see if it helps.

Best,

Maarten

LRMv4_Lights_LOT_$$$_Dimmed.zip

LRMv4_Lights_LOT_$$_Dimmed.zip

LRMv4_Lights_ST_$$$_Dimmed.zip

I know I'm really late, but I'm considering actually playing the game again. (gasp!) Currently I'm testing stuff to get a basic configuration going - LRM vs. USL is one of my current tests. I prefer the lights that come with the LRM, but the light distribution with the USL looks better to me. There are some extremely bright spots on lots when using the LRM.

I wanted to see if the dimmed cones still work for the LRM5.1 packages, but it seems the attachments are dead.

Does anybody...

• know whether the LRM5.x already comes with dimmed cones?
• know if the cones from the LRM5.x packs can be replaced with the dimmed ones from the quoted attachments?
• still have the quoted attachments and could share them with me, if a replacement works?
• know if the cones from the USL can somehow be used with the LRM?

Excuse the bump and thanks in advance for any advice/help!

[rsc204 21,808]

Dimmed light cones aren't that difficult to make, I think it simply is an adjustment to the FSH textures of the light cones themselves. Either way if you can get the attachments, it should be easy enough to modify them for use with LRM 5.0. Either re-IDing the S3D light cone props or the FSH textures.

2 hours ago, T Wrecks said:

I wanted to see if the dimmed cones still work for the LRM5.1 packages, but it seems the attachments are dead.

Are you sure about that? Perhaps when you quoted them it fixed something, but I can click the links in your quotes and am offered the downloads.

[matias93 7,535]

20 minutes ago, rsc204 said:

Dimmed light cones aren't that difficult to make, I think it simply is an adjustment to the FSH textures of the light cones themselves. Either way if you can get the attachments, it should be easy enough to modify them for use with LRM 5.0. Either re-IDing the S3D light cone props or the FSH textures.

Are you sure about that? Perhaps when you quoted them it fixed something, but I can click the links in your quotes and am offered the downloads.

 I was expecting for the same fix than T Wrecks, but no modding skills here xdd. When I tried to download the files, they worked but the zip is very small and appears corrupted.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Yes, the attachments are 324 byte ZIPs that are not recognised by 7zip.

OK, so I just took a look into the existing light cones file and saw how it's built up - so we basically have different S3D files for the different light cone applications (different lampposts => different cone positions & sizes) as well as a few FSH textures they are all based on. If I extracted these and loaded them into GIMP using GoFSH, I should be able to reduce their brightness and re-import, right?

Come to think of it, shouldn't it be possible to simply take the already dimmed FSH's from kodlovag's USL and re-IID them so they replace their intended counterpart in Mandelsoft's LRM?

EDIT
Fun fact: Whenever I tried to delete the old FSH's and replace them, the Reader crashed on me. When I made what was supposed to be an override, the game showed interesting graphics errors. Seems like it doesn't take well to two copies of light cones being present. Oh well, back to the drawing board...

[rsc204 21,808]

On 12/08/2017 at 11:35 PM, matias93 said:

When I tried to download the files, they worked but the zip is very small and appears corrupted.

Just quickly checking the downloads I'm seeing the same behaviour. The good news here is that whilst @MandelSoft is no longer active modding SC4, I believe he remains contactable. So it should be possible to resolve the problem. Actually I think there was a problem with attachments on ST a while ago, because I had the same thing happen to all my attachments before a certain date.

I actually have these fixes myself though and quickly looking at them it seems the prop exemplars were altered to point to different S3D models. What I'm a little unsure about though, is that this change included adding an additional state or 8 reps to each property. It seems somehow to link to (or switch between) two different lightcones, one bigger and one smaller than the original. Without fully understanding the relationship between the RTK4 property and the way lightcones are displayed, I can't really make sense of how this setup works in practise. :Edit: It turns out, they have two lightcones, one of which shines light onto the road surface, the other is much smaller and gives the effect of the lamp post's bulb. So all makes sense now... phew!

On 13/08/2017 at 12:47 AM, T Wrecks said:

Come to think of it, shouldn't it be possible to simply take the already dimmed FSH's from kodlovag's USL and re-IID them so they replace their intended counterpart in Mandelsoft's LRM?

Seeing what I'm seeing, I'd take the FSH and S3D lightcones as a single "package". But yes in theory it should be possible to simply give the USL S3D files the same IDs used for LRMs lightcones (you don't need to Re-ID the FSH textures, but you do need to keep them), then you should get the USL lightcones working with LRM props/T21s. Looking at the LRM ones, it's totally possible to re-use a texture for multiple sized S3D props, so I'd try to avoid editing them and using what's available, unless you really fancy a challenge. Bear in mind too, the lightcones are typically a totally separate object from the lampposts modding wise.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Looks like we have some results finally. Oddly enough, while adding the FSH's to the existing S3D's crashed the Reader, adding the correct S3Ds to the file with the (re-IID'd) light cones actually did work.

Before:

After:

It's something. Thanks for your input! It certainly helped to shed some light on this issue. *ba-dumm tsss*

[rsc204 21,808]

20 minutes ago, T Wrecks said:

while adding the FSH's to the existing S3D's crashed the Reader

Erm, not sure exactly what you mean here, the S3D models have links to materials and U/V settings, you can alter the ID of the materials (textures). Is that what was causing them to crash? I can happily alter them here.

There is the potential for a file header bug to mess with SC4 files, it usually only triggers when attempting to make alterations to the file, removing or adding items. In those cases, simply copy everything into a blank reader file (DIR file notwithstanding) and save the new file. Then using that you should be able modify things in the file without crashing.

I've also made a point of updating the three attachments, since I don't feel we need permission to fix this problem. Clearly something's gone wrong on the server, so I'm just restoring them. If someone could check/verify these are now working, I'd be grateful.

[rivit 3,391]

I made the fix for those lights back then but I cannot find the file I then put up. As you have surmised what was wrong was that the exemplars were pointing to the wrong textures.

Attached however are "improved" light cones that should work and a little explanation of why. I have made a derivative LRM according to this document but have resisted offering it publicly because I have used a particular combo of light colors and masts and I wasn't going to make the whole mod again.  

LRM4_DarkNite 1Pass Cones.dat

LRM4_MaxisNite 1Pass Cones.dat

A discussion of Light Mods.pdf

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Ron, you are unbelievable! I'm glad that I necroed this thread. Just tested your file in game, and this is the result:

Before (LRM 5 default light cones):

After (USL dimmed light cones):

after 2 (rivit's modified LRM4 light cones):

While the light is more yellowish than it used to be, the important part is that the superbright spots have virtually disappeared. Everything looks far smoother, too.

[rivit 3,391]

Good to know that worked - it looks good and its a great comparison. For those interested in seeing the (even better) result of my LRM here is a link  - install this as is into Plugins\Z___RVT Modds\ as RVT NightLIghting. It will override Maxis lighting and use RVT Nite settings which will work ok with MAXIS Nite  or  DarkNite buildings.

Its very much "My config" - and I wont be modifying it - however at least here are some files to use as examples to study should you get inspired...

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Whoa, you're really incredible.  I come and whine a little about light mods, and here you come and have nothing less than a full-fledged night lighting mod that includes everything but the kitchen sink!

The very least I can do is add a screenshot of that mod in action to show what it looks like compared to the others.

Before (LRM 5 default light cones + SimFox DarkNite):

After (USL dimmed light cones + SimFox DarkNite):

After 2 (rivit's modified LRM4 light cones + SimFox DarkNite):

After 3 (Rivit's modified light cones + custom night setting somwhere inbetween Maxis night and DarkNite):

It really shows that this is a complete configuration and not just one piece. Everything looks totally natural and coherent. I just found out for myself that the darkness of SimFox' DarkNite has really grown on me, and I tested some DarkNite renders with your settings and found that they stood out somewhat - too much for my personal taste. That's why I will probably leave it at DarkNite plus your cones.

Your mod is absolutely great, though. If possible, you could totally upload that as a ready-made package on TIOLI (take it or leave it) basis! I think there would be some takers, not least because it's some hassle to find a combination you really like with the LRM. Many people would probably appreciate a ready-made package.

---------- end of meaningful part of the post, some rambling and thinking aloud below ----------
 

Spoiler

 

Another nifty little detail about your mod is those little light halos around the actual lamps - I'm more than half tempted to try and see if I can squeeze them into my current setup somehow.

Then again, another thought just occurred to me... I'm currently on DarkNite. Some good BATs, unfortunately, aren't. BATs that only exist for DarkNite are very, very few by comparison. I gotta try plopping some Maxis night 3dsmax BATs into that test city to see how they look - if the result is good, I could make the switch to your night settings.

Another possibility would be to try my hands on modding the overall darkness value myself, hoping that I may find a setting that will allow DarkNite buildings to look good while not being quite as dark as the original.

Hmm, much food for thought. I can't like your post twice, but if I could, I'd totally do that with all of your last ones in this thread.

 

 

[rivit 3,391]

The irony is that I had a burst of activity 5 years ago straight after LRMv4 came out and never touched it after that other than to update the light mast models to LRMv51 which were a big improvement.

 To test the 2-pass rendering with DarkNite (or MaxisNite for that matter.)  do the following:

in the sub folder zz_LRM40_zRVT Adds and Alters

• remove the file  z5_RVT RVTNite 05-19 Seasonal Variable.dat which will leave the original Nite in action 
• replace the zLightCones_RVTNite.dat with the corresponding one of those following below

I found that the MAXIS buildings by night will always look like there's a full moon because of the strong blue cast and I don't use the Dark Nite myself because, as you say, there are too few examples. It does have its charm though as its a no moon spooky look. However if you're a city dweller, how often is it really that dark?

I'm pretty sure that a judicious color adjustment of the FSH of Maxis Buildings could go a long way to making them compatible with Dark Nite, but it would take a fair bit of faffing about to make it better than a manual process. Knowing what the two light rendering settings in gmax (3dsmax) do would probably help a lot.

LRM4_DarkNite 2Pass Cones.dat

LRM4_MaxisNite 2Pass Cones.dat

[jaredh 195]

I honestly don't see hardly any light in the last picture in the parking lots.

[markussaage 762]

On 12.8.2017 at 1:48 PM, T Wrecks said:

I know I'm really late, but I'm considering actually playing the game again. (gasp!) Currently I'm testing stuff to get a basic configuration going - LRM vs. USL is one of my current tests. I prefer the lights that come with the LRM, but the light distribution with the USL looks better to me. There are some extremely bright spots on lots when using the LRM.

I wanted to see if the dimmed cones still work for the LRM5.1 packages, but it seems the attachments are dead.

Does anybody...

• know whether the LRM5.x already comes with dimmed cones?
• know if the cones from the LRM5.x packs can be replaced with the dimmed ones from the quoted attachments?
• still have the quoted attachments and could share them with me, if a replacement works?
• know if the cones from the USL can somehow be used with the LRM?

Excuse the bump and thanks in advance for any advice/help!

I am using the LRM5.1 USA Set and as far as I can tell, it does not come with dimmes light cones, so on some lots the night lights are very bright. That depends on how many light cone prop layers the lotter used... I just put my sunglasses on then....

Kind regards!

[tariely 4,496]

Just a little word in edgewise : I am using rivit's tweak AND the USL on the lots (and relots) I've been making recently ; I find the combination of both gives the best results. My night mod is Masthy Night.

 

[laconh 0]

Hello, sorry for reviving the topic, but I installed the Mega Pack 4.0 with custom settings (I mean, mixed styles from different countries), and after that I'm getting boxes instead of posts in several buildings such as Deluxe fire stations, private schools and some custom BATs. Did you have any idea of what have I done wrong?

 

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

Boxes = missing models (dependencies).

[laconh 0]

Yes, but the mod is the dependency itself. Or it needs another dependency?

[rsc204 21,808]

If the mod is the dependency (I believe it does include everything required), then that probably means you failed to install every part of it that was required. There is quite an extensive readme which explains exactly what you require. You must have the lightcones and also the models for the desired style of posts, which is most likely what you are missing. However, I wasn't aware it was possible to mix and match the styles used, at least without further tinkering. Perhaps this is your problem?

[Busta -CASE- 140]

I've tried many times to reinstall it and still get this... I used the German installation. Some help?

[rivit 3,391]

See the post of 13 August 2017 above - pick the right lightcones for your setup and make sure they load after the LRM itself as they need to override these neon beauties above.

[Busta -CASE- 140]

59 minutes ago, rivit said:

See the post of 13 August 2017 above - pick the right lightcones for your setup and make sure they load after the LRM itself as they need to override these neon beauties above.

thanks  will do

[Sam4 22]

On 14/08/2017 at 10:08 PM, T Wrecks said:

Whoa, you're really incredible.
After (USL dimmed light cones + SimFox DarkNite):

hi man i have z__LRMv40_Mega_Pack installed but my problem with this version is the lights seem too bright, do you have a simple explain for this situiation, can yo fix that for me? simply i want less bright like picture above

[Sam4 22]

On 14/08/2017 at 11:07 PM, rivit said:

To test the 2-pass rendering with DarkNite (or MaxisNite for that matter.)  do the following:

LRM4_DarkNite 2Pass Cones.dat

i have two questions for this file
where it should be installed in and what is the file that should be deleted from z__LRMv40_Mega_Pack USA

[rivit 3,391]

@Sam4,

• If you are using the default LRM package you need the 1Pass cones - four posts further back (also 13 August sorry) and you just need to make sure they load after LRM to override the ones in that folder which are faulty, leading to neon wonderland.

~

• The 2 Pass cones will only work with My Mod based on LRM and it has the files named in that post. They will be very dark in the original LRM.  My LRM mod has a link two posts back from the one you've flagged.

It's worth reviewing this thread from the top of this page from the first entry on Aug13, 2017 to get clarity and context - its hard to explain from this end of the page.

 

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

One of my cities wants USL_PEG_$$streetlightoffset_2C56_RC. Is that a light replacement mod? If so, where should I go to find it?

[Sam4 22]

21 hours ago, rivit said:

entry on Aug13, 2017 to get clarity and context - its hard to explain from this end of the page.

yes i' agreed with you that why i put my z__LRMv40_Mega_Pack USA.zip because the excessive lights still bright in the city after using these three files

LRMv4_Lights_LOT_$$$_Dimmed

LRMv4_Lights_LOT_$$_Dimmed

LRMv4_Lights_ST_$$$_Dimmed

i think these excessive brights coming from low wealth$ buildings too, to see what could you fix in z__LRMv40_Mega_Pack USA.zip, we want to fix all tthe weaths not only LOT_$$$ and ST_$$$

[rivit 3,391]

Well its a combination of things that leads to excessive blobs of lights. Before any of these light mods we only had maxis lighting which has a very narrow cones if white. So many lot makers added quite a few lights to the lot compensate - car dealers come to mind, also some residential towers and parking areas. Once better light cones with a wider casting of light came to pass this led to blowups of light - any lot that has multiple light masts in a small area + street lighting is liable to show this - regardless of wealth, esp if using Orange sodium color lights

Now The LRM cones were still quite bright - even dimmed down and weren't true to physics - the gap between lights was brighter than it should have been - best to see on avenues or freeways. The 1 pass lights I made correct this.

Those 1pass cones directly replace this in  ..\LRMv4 Models & Props\ LRM4v4_Models_Lightcones_MaxisNight.dat. Presumably in the corresponding place in LRM5. They are a bit better but wont get rid of problem lots with too many lights. These need to be fixed in LE or the like.

I personally won't be making any more changes/fixes for this - its almost 6 years since I spent any time on it and I'm happy with my setup.