[MOD] Night Shift (Video Trailer Now)

[Palii]

Here is a new mini-mod that me and my sweetheart are working on. She is working on maps and skymaps, I'm altering the races.

Goals:
- Create night in Dawn for War.
- Night wargear is added to all races accoring to TT rules.
- A night version is created for every single map in DOW and WA.

Notes:
- All skymaps are repainted to night.
- All existing maps are tweaked to emulate night.
- Searchlights are added to many units for the 5 existing races.
- Different light fx for each race.
- Searchlight is like a turret that aims and follows ememies.
- Night Wargear will be automatically added to units, but only on night maps!
- Searchlights can be switched on and off by the units who have it.
- Night will be a negative penalty in itself on all night maps.

Race Info:
- Space Marine
Rhino: Searchlight (finished)
Whirlwind: Searchlight (finished)
Predator: Searchlight (finished)
Land Raider: Searchlight (finished)
Dreadnought: Searchlight (finished)
Hellfire Dreadnought: Searchlight (finished)

- Chaos
Rhino: Searchlight (finished)
Predator: Searchlight (finished)
Horror: Daemonic Aura (finished)
Bloodthirster: Daemonic Aura (finished)

- Eldar
Bonesinger: Nightvision (finished)
Guardarian: Nightvision (finished)
Warlock: Nightvision
Farseer: Nightvision
Ranger: Nightvision
Howling Banshee: Nightvision
Howling Banshee Exarch: Nightvision
Dark Reaper: Nightvision (finished)
Dark Reaper Exarch: Nightvision
Warp Spider: Nightvision
Warp Spider Exarch: Nightvision
Fire Dragon: Nightvision (finished)
Fire Dragon Exarch: Nightvision
Avatar: Nightvision

- Orks
Wartrukk: Searchlight (finished)
Wartrak: Searchlight (finished)
Killa Kan: Searchlight (finished)
Leman Russ: Searchlight (finished)
Squiggoth: Searchlight (finished)

- Imperial Guard
Chimera: Searchlight (finished)
Leman Russ: Searchlight (finished)
Basilisk: Searchlight (finished)
Hellhound: Searchlight (finished)
Sentinel: Searchlight (finished)
Baneblade: Searchlight (finished)
Vindicare: Nightvision (finished)

Map Info:
- Every single skymap repainted to feature night.
- 80% of the Dow and Wa maps are altered to night.

Screensots:






Now the big question: What should be the penalties of dark and what sould be the bonuses of light?
We need betatesters

[Seraphim2150]

This looks cool. I'l test

Idea: how about giving deamons a larger line of sight than normal troopers?

[fuggles]

plus - line of sight reduced, morale damage higher, lower accuracy. Cloaked units 100% undetectable.

Night can't be anything but detrimental to an army unless they are sneaking about, really. There was a game set on mars when the greys could see well at night and the humans couldn't, so it shifted LOS size every so on. Could do that with chaos maybe?

[FIG]

Chaos units shouldn't have normal searchlights. How about some different looking red light or maybe aura that surrounds the units? Eldar should simply have night vision or the ability to see better at night which means glowing eyes or something for infantry units and the ability to just see more and have a better range than other units.

[Maestrorobertus]

Sounds like a cool idea... anyhow is there are an effect that produce real light? I saw some environment effect that do such things. Example the relic point gives ligth to units around. That way also building could enlight the night.
Why not make the night pitch black... are at least very dark, that way the penalty is more on the player side.
Also unit few range should be limited to the lights.. it sounds almost not possible.

Next, couldn't you make the searchlight depend on the map you use it. That way units will work normal in day maps.

[DarknessKnight]

Eldar's see just fine in the dark so the ideia of a glowing eyes is just perfect if possible to make, terminators and marines see just fine in the dark because if the infrared sensors in their helmets but if you wanna make this fun just make the bolters with lights. the Orks i cant remember so i leave to the orks Boyz of the comunity to speak, IG as it is obvious cant see squat in the dark so big lights is a must be. If you are making the tau also they all see in the dark with the Helmets but i have only a friend's word on it because he just bought the Tau codex by internet so check it out. The Chaos guys? dificult, they are not human so the ideia of a aura is not bad. Good work to you and your girlfriend, thumbs up!!!

[Baneboss]

Isnt Defiler's animation when Wraithlord destroys him bugged? WL rips his head off.

Maestro: What about giving such lights to SL HQ?

[Kresjah]

Palii, I have some suggestions for you. Seek me out on IRC or MSN later today

[Palii]

Seraphim2150:
- Thank You! I will pm you soon, and send you what we have for alphatesting.
- Good idea for demons, it's very much possible.

fuggles:
- What do you mean by shifting LOS size?
- The penalties you mentioned are good. Mainly the sight radius. But we also need to take light into consideration.

FIG:
- I agree that chaos shouldn't use searchlights, but I added the searchlight to Chaos Marines, not demons. With chaos marines being the counterpart of space marines, it seems ok. It's like this according to TT.
- The fx is different for all races, chaos sort of suck light at the moment, not project light. I may add color to chaos lights later, ork lights will be surely yellow.

Maestrorobertus:
- Yes, there is the light fx type. Relic says it doesn't work, you can't even create a new one. But it works , you can reuse it from the relic structure. It will lit surrounding units, but not the map surface.
- The maximum darkness on dow maps is like on the pics. It's dark enough and that is what we have.
- The searchlight is already dependent on maps! On day maps tanks don't have searchlight at all. On night maps, a searchlight is automatically added to tanks, and a toggle ability switches them on and off.

DarknessKnight:
- Eldar, yeah nightvision. Although there are no specifics in the Eldar codex, most fantasy elves have either natural nightvision or infravision. For now they won't have anything, balancing will tell.
- Adding lights to infantry could prove to be too much work, so I don't see that happen.
- Orks: Searchlights according to the codex.
- Tau use Blacksun filters implants. (Battlesuits, hammerhead, devilfish) This will be much easier to add than for the existing races when the new expansion is out.

Kresjah:
Coming...

Sentinel finished!

[Korbah]

guys is it possible to cycle day and night dynamically in a map? eg. full day/night cycle?

[Palii]

Korbah:
No

Night Rules are here...
#1: Darkness: Infantry, vehicles, buildings have their sight radius reduced to 50%.
#2: Darkness Exceptions: All demons, all eldar units, vehicles, not buildings.
#3: Searchlight: Units using and units targeted by searchlights recieve ranged damage at 150%. Units using a searchlight have their sight radius increased to 200%.

[p0seidon]

This mod is going to work great with my commando tactics I use when I play with the space marines

[Mirage Knight]

Defilers don't get searchlights - they're daemonically possessed war machines. You could make the eyes glow though

[Maestrorobertus]

Palii: If you share the FX and the way to use that, I could add this in my mod. So, in the future you could play such maps with other races too.

Anyhow, how does it work on infantry units?

[Palii]

I hope that this mod will open a new tactic horizon.

Mirage Knight:
I only have the old chaos codex, the defiler is not in it. The chaos dreadnought can have searchlight. The defiler's searchlight is still buggy, putting it away for later, if chaos needs more searchlights.

Maestrorobertus:
Glad you asked!
- I hope to get all mod teams to include searchlights in their mods.
- Two tutorials will be released, one to make searchlights, one to make night maps...to ensure compatibility. (and source files of course)
- The Night Shift module file can be altered to include other mods, this way the player just goes into "night mode" and night maps will be avalaible.

[the-tempest]

Looks amazing, Palii! Should be awesome to play!

[DarknessKnight]

And Finally we can see those SM scouts and Vindicare Assassin (especially him!!!) doing their thing (Full night vision for the Assassin please!!!)

[Maestrorobertus]

you can make a map pitch black.
Simple turn sunlight colour and shadow colour to black.
For start distance to 0 and colour to black. Then end distance determinds now in what error you still see units... anyhow very dark.

... and by changing the sunlight to gold you can similate a camera that actually light the scene.

[Inert Mk2]

You mentioned you needed Beta Testers. Can I?

I also got a few suggestions.

1. guys with flamers count as being in light?

2. maybe have some units emit an aura, e.g. Chaos Sorcerer.

3. limit the amount of vehicles? make it more infantry/commando like. 15 vehicle cap, 25 infantry?

[TheNightbringer]

I'd be happy 2 help with da testing, if u stil need helprs. looks awsome but cud do wiv sum xtra stuf. 4 1, u shud b able 2 pic wat culr ur light is in army painter, the lights shoud definately b able 2 moov 360 degrees on most things,& the Raider needs LOTS more lights, kinda like a Hummer H2. wepn effects such as flames & plasma should still be visible everywhere, as they give off light, & i think the darkness should replace "Fog of War".

[LI'L_NECRON]

ill test if need be plz it would be good fun i hae tested for other games such as impossible creatures and other strategy games. Dont they look coool them sm units

sorry for double post but my e mail and msn addy is

conordlcharleson@hotmail.com

[KasrkinSgt]

i would be a beta tester, this mod sounds pro, its like night fighting rules form table top, i would like to be a tester. keep up the good work

if u want me to test it send me a message to this email address

iraqis_r_us@hptmail.com

[p0seidon]

- I hope to get all mod teams to include searchlights in their mods.

I am willing to incoorporate it into the CoR mod (the BT side), if you can explain me how,, but it won't be for a while

[blood_lord]

sounds like a good mod idea, id like to beta test it!

[Palii]

Wow! I'm glad to see that there is so much interest in this mod.

Thank you for Inert Mk2, TheNightbringer, LI'L_NECRON, KasrkinSgt and blood_lord:
I will send you the current build in a few days in email or in a private message here.

{B}lack_templar:
Great. A tutorial on how to make searchlights will be included with the first public release. Also all source files. At the moment it takes me maximum 2 hours (+bugs) to fully alter any unit in the game. (praise Santos) So it won't be hard to add searchlights to your mod, once your units are finished.

Maestrorobertus:
Yeh, I tried shadow colour, but the result was too dark. Fog and light colour will be black on all nightmaps. Shadow colour will be experimented with more.
I guess we can't influence the sunlight's camera object...

[p0seidon]

I want to add it into the mod because it will make it look even better,,
And I am hoping more mods do it too

[CrossOrion]

Add me to the list of Beta testers if possible, I'm /very/ interested to see how this turns out.

[Hands_of_Fate]

This is one of the coolest ideas I've heard to the date. Two thumbs up for you.

Do Ork searchlight come with a Grot pedalling to power it up?

[smitsky]

first off, hi and thank you all, especially robertus, thud and compiler with your indirect help i have learned so many things about the wierd and wonderful world of modding.
(lots deleted)
just wanted to see wether it would be possible to use this nightstrike mod for a campaign once it is finished.
sorry for any offence caused

[Uncle Benny]

Ummm... Smitsky, if you click on "go advanced" next to the "quick reply", you can wrap your addy in url tags, among other things. Also, "no avatar"? You mean you can't add your own, or you don't have one? b/c you can, it's under your settings.
This site not only doesn't "suck", it is the premier DoW forum, and if not for RelicNews, this community would not be then coherent whole that it has become.

ANYWAYS, Palii, I would love to test for you; I have a ton of maps to try out, as well as lots of gameplay, since DoW is my #1 leisure activity!

[Palii]

CrossOrion & davisbe:
Thanks. I will pm both of you as well.

smitsky:
We must respect and support this forum, the modding community would be nowhere without it. You're offering a map and asking me to join your team? I'm afraid I have no time to work on the Righteous team. But as I said, tutorials and source files will be released to help you make searchlights and night maps. I want the Righteous mod to be night-compatible and I will help you solve bugs, but I can't make the searchlights, neither the night maps for your mod.

This is not the right place to discuss the forum itself.

Status Report:
- Defiler searchlight removed
- Bloodthirster and horrors retain 100% sight radius
- Eye markers added to horror, beta fx ready
- darkness reduces sight to 50%
- activating the searchlight increases sight to 100%

[Mirage Knight]

A night version of Rebirth: CE...it'll certainly give it a different feel

Hey Palii - Thanks for giving the mod community some new ideas to tinker with!

[fneep]

Yeah. The whole 'night' thing looks and sounds fantastic

[Seraphim2150]

I have another idea

how about the light gives a slight morale boast?

Because light helps to make people feel safe

[fuggles]

100% sight? How about a bit less? Will it cost power? What are the disadvantages of having lights on?

[CrossOrion]

Well, units using searchlights will recieve larger damage.

It would be interesting for search lights to have a power drain effect.. obviously benefits will have to be increased.

I propose however Eldar have their range and damage reduced to at least 90 or 95%, Night Vision shouldn't really be as good as light after all.

[FIG]

Great idea!

[donkey7890]

eldar guardians shouldnt be able 2 see in the dark....there only the 'genralists (if u can use that term)' so perhaps a bit less than the aspect warriors

also what if teleporting ans deepstriking units scatter is increased.....you wouldnt really know where you were heading so a bit more randomness would help

lights shouldnt use power, however they should only have a limited time on them for working, because other wise they overheat and blow out the bulbs

also id like to help with the testing.....i love playing tabletop 40000 at nighttime scenarios.....is soo much fun

my email address is : donkey7890@hotmail.com

well done so far and keep up the great work

[LI'L_NECRON]

um no offence but i think there are enough testers for this fantastic mod i mean there are 7 or 8 i think thats enough but its up to palli.

[Belgarath001]

Nice mod. when do you expect it to be out?

[scorpia]

look on www.forgeworld.co.uk mabe you could make the ig searghlight emplacement and ofer a searchlight chemera (see new stuff) ig do have a spare building slot

[Palii]

fuggles:
Searchlights don't cost anything, they are switched on and off by an ability. Using searchlight gives the same disadvantage to the unit that uses it, as the targeted enemy units.
CrossOrion:
Currently the eldar deal is that only foot soldiers have nighvision.
donkey7890:
Unfortunately none of your ideas are possible to do in DOW. But you are welcome to help with betatesting. I will pm you as well.
Belgarath001:
It is done in a few days, betatesting may delay the release a few weeks.
scorpia:
The Sabre platform could prove to be too much work. The chimera has searchlight although not that big one. I have plans for the sabre platforms, but not for this mod.

Status Report:
- Eye markers added to bloodthirster
- Daemonic aura fx finished for horrors, bloodthirster.
- Sentinel fixed
- Basilisk, Leman Russ, Baneblade finished
- All but 4 skymaps are repainted and avalaible in ME
- All eldar retain 100% sight radius, except: Falcon, Fire Prism, Grav Platforms, Wraithlord, Buildings.
- Vindicare Assassin retains 100% sight radius!

Screenies:




Notes:
The eye icons are on the IG screenshot. Units with an active searchlight and enemies being targeted by a searchlight will show such an icon. It means they get 150% ranged damage, regardless of cover.

The unit list is updated in the first post of this thread, it shows the units done so far.

[Maestrorobertus]

would be interesting to see the beta... that way I could start adjusting my own units, before I get a delay on release time.

[Typhoon GX]

Awsome stuff, Palii. I can't wait for this mod's release.

BTW, how's your Squat mod?

[Tiresias]

that bloodthirster is sooooo awesome. ME WANTS

[p0seidon]

I can't see the screenies

[LI'L_NECRON]

you have to wait for em to load they show up

erm plz do not pm the ile to me it would be easier for me if you attached it to an e mail

jus for when you od it
thanx

[p0seidon]

I have waited for over 5 minutes

[LI'L_NECRON]

keep trying they will show i swear

[Duken]

This is one of the coolest ideas out there. How about all psyker units having 100% sight radius; and if possible not give it to the unit they are attached to.