Author Topic: Fixing the brick textures.  (Read 30809 times)

What has been bothering me for quite a while was the fact that the textures that the bricks use are still visible in the dark. In pitch-black darkness, you still see the white parts of the textures. I fixed this recently, and to say the least, it works very well.

Below are two examples of the changes I made. Notice how the textures are actually fade into the darkness completely instead of standing out.





And besides, it makes builds awesomely beautiful.



Now if you want to change the textures, then move the following files that are already in blockland/base/data/shapes to another folder in order to just keep them:

brickBOTTOMEDGE.png
brickBOTTOMLOOP.png
brickRAMP.png
brickSIDE.png
brickTOP.png

Now save these following images to the same directory now that you've safely moved the existing files:

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/9623/brickbottomedge.png
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/5328/brickbottomloop.png
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/5621/brickramp.png
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/808/brickside.png
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8347/bricktop.png

After that, it should work. If you're wondering how I got it to work, then allow me to explain. For the simple textures like the studs and sides, I just made all of the white spaces 100% transparent, and made the already 100% transparent spaces a darker shade of black. For the more complicated textures, I mostly just erased the white completely.

A little side effect from this change is that colors in normal light seem to be deeper and more defined, and that's good. I'm even going to go as far as to say that this should be the default texture set just because it makes things look so much more realistic.

Thank you for reading.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2010, 05:52:30 PM by Squideey »

I dont see anything give us an example.

I dont see anything give us an example.
Do you mean how it looks like without the change?





This is what was annoying me, you would see a mess of white lines instead of real pitch-black darkness.

but on legos, there are slight angles to all the bricks on edges and curves.
they reflect because they face the light in those cases

but on legos, there are slight angles to all the bricks on edges and curves.
they reflect because they face the light in those cases
Then why would they reflect any light in complete darkness? Personally it makes the game a lot more immersive when things in a dark environment are actually dark along with it.

if it really was complete darkness, then you wouldn't see any bricks regardless. there is always light, in any map. in any place.
the blockland textures are actually pretty realistic for lego bricks.

i guess if you want realistic in real life buildings then sure. but i like blockland because it reminds me of legos i grew up with. not some modeling program.

people have mentioned dislike for studs and the lines altogether as well in other nonrelated topics.
but that just isnt lego-like to "clean" em all up.

I don't think real legos would have such a bright plastic shine on the edges in pitch black anyway. Carrying a light or having some tasteful emitters can have a bigger impact when the bricks lines are less distracting, in my personal opinion. I think it's just up to anyone's personal preference.

I just think that when the players, vehicles, and interiors are invisible in the dark, then it only makes things work when bricks act the same as well. But this is really just personal opinion like you said. It works for me because I almost always build in the dark.

That's pretty cool, i might get it later.

Blah blah blah, realistic.
These are loving lovey.

I think it should be in the next update as a enable function.

I think it should be in the next update as a enable function.

Or maybe someone could make a switch-texture add-on, kind of like that cross-hair one? That would be nifty.

Something thats bothering me is the shirt textures. The same as the brick textures.

Or maybe someone could make a switch-texture add-on, kind of like that cross-hair one? That would be nifty.
yes. My idea would have to wait till next update to V14.