Hey guys,
I'm trying to make the sun in my track rise from night time to day, a bit like gigatrack but the opposite way. I know I can use the area condition tool for this but it doesn't permanently change and reverts back again afterwards, does anyone know how to make it change and stay that way?
Thanks for any help provided.
The Area Condition tool, by default, works off how close the game character is to the centre of the Area Condition Event. If you want to make it more 'global', then you'll have to make the Area Condition move to keep up with the drivers location. I've never tried moving an Area Condition Event before, but if it's possible then it'll involve our good ol' buddy, the Object Position Event.
First, place 3 Object Data Sources - each for Position X, Y and Z. Have them target the driver. This will give you the global X, Y, Z co-ordinates of the driver.
Next place an Interval Trigger and an Object Position Event. Set the Interval Trigger to fire every 1 tick, and Target Event the Object Position Event.
Next, in the Object Position Event's properties, untick the 'Local' setting for the Modify Position settings, then highlight each X, Y, Z, hit the Y button, the select the corresponding Object Data Source.
Ok! As things are now, the Area Condition Event should be 'stuck' to your driver. However, this means that the environment will instantly change to whatever settings you've set up for the Area Condition Event. To remedy this, we can animate the value of the Intensity property of the Area Condition Event.
This is actually quite simple - put down a Curved Data Source. Make sure it's Start = 0, and End = 100. Next, go into the properties of the Area Condition Tool, highlight Intensity, hit Y, then select the Curved Data Source you just previously created.
You will now get a gradual change of the tracks environment setting, to the one determined by the Area Condition Event. You can change how long this change takes by lengthening the Duration property of the Curved Data Source.
Hope this helps!
Wow thanks Stu, I'll give that a go tomorrow. I reckon it's a bit late to start working on my first object position event right now. Cheers though!
Thanks again Stu, works perfectly! I need to use a different method to adjust the sun height as I need to have it at a set position half way through the track, so I'll probably have the checkpoints make it rise incrementally.
But that aside the object position event has done the job very well.
You can use a slightly modified version of SeriousStu's suggestion.Originally Posted by JaminBen007
What you need to do is base the Area Condition level on the position of the rider on the driving line instead of just using a curved data source. Create an Object Information datasource, set it to driving line position, and set the target object as the bike or rider. In the editor, select your last checkpoint, and look at the value displayed -- this is the total length of your driving line. Next you need two 2-input operators to do the following:
(P/L) * 100
P is the current position of the rider (use Y to select the Object information source). L is the length of the track (just enter the value you got when measuring the track as described above).
Now what you have is a datasource that will equal 0 when you start the race, and slowly increase to 100 when you finish. Plug THAT number into the Area Condition intensity, and you're good to go!
Hey Skysaw,
Thanks for your help, but I already finished and released my track "Druids Revenge", if you play it you'll see why I needed to have the sun at a specific height at a specific point.
In the end it I realised it didn't matter how high the sun was as you can't see it for most of the track, so instead I changed the intensity to give the same effect.
Initially I set up my checkpoints to trigger a +1 set data source linked to a value, in turn linked to the intensity. However, I quickly realised that each time a rider faulted and reset to checkpoint the sun got brighter, so it would only work if the rider zero faulted. To get around this I matched up area triggers with checkpoints and disabled the "Restart at checkpoint" function so each one is only hit once.
Each area trigger gets split with the split impulse function, one increases the intensity of the sun, the other decreases the thickness of the fog, and you end up with a nice even sunrise as the morning mist clears
Jamin, thats a hell of a track man. Good job.
I too seek the knowledge for such a trick with the environment settings:
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This thread you've started will be very helpful in getting me going.
If there is any additional help you can provide in my particular case I would appreciate it.
Originally Posted by Skysaw
Trying to figure this out as well. Skysaw, I've sent a message on XBOX.
Member
Don't forget that the Area Condition doesn't have to use the bike to make it work. I moved a pipe in and out of one using an Object Position Event on my level. Works like a charm and is much less work to set up.
