Light and Vision

[kenawyn]

Recently me and my group were running the Cogs quest-line and i didn't like it.
The quests themselves were ok, but the whole area was too dark - i could hardly see anything.
The PnP game has various tools to address this, so why not bring them into the game?

We need to distinguish the two different ways adventurers deal with the dark
- We can either light things up using torches, lanterns, light spells or magical items emitting light
- Or we can use special abilities like low light vision, dark vision or blindsight to see in the dark

Using Light Sources

Mundane items
Torches and Lanterns
- Can be purchased at the general merchant
- Have an expiration timer, this only counts down when they are lit
- If placed in the inventory they are put out / extinguished
- If placed in the main-hand or off-hand while lit they emit light that moves with the player
- When dropped while lit, they generate light around them
- Dropped torches and lanterns can be picked up from the ground
- torch light is bright out to 20ft and dim out to another 20ft.

Magical items
Random Loot and Cannith crafting - new prefix, postfix and extra effect
- Light sources attached to magical items only generate light when the item is equipped
- we could have light I, II, III and stronger effects increase the light radius (10, 20, 30ft bright light and an additional 10, 20 30ft dim light)
- also we could have some cosmetic options to tint the light color
- rare artifacts could grant low-light vision, dark vision or the blindsight ability

Spells
Light spell
You touch one object and until the spell ends, the object sheds bright light in a 20ft radius and dim light for an additional 20ft (like a torch).
- You can target an item on the ground (breakables, doors ... etc) to create a stationary light source or
- You can target an item in inventory to give one of your items the property to emit light. The item must be equipped to use it as a light source.

Game-play effects
- monsters relying on eyes should detect the light source bearer from farther away
- players inside the light source should have a harder time sneaking

Seeing in the dark

Racial Abilities
Low Light Vision
Elves and half-elves should have it.
Allows the character to see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination.
The character retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
To use the ability it must be toggled.

Example.: A person with low-light vision holding a torch will see 20ft in bright light and an additional 40ft in dim light.

Dark Vision
Dwarves, half-orcs, gnomes, dark elves and outsiders should have it.
The character gains the ability to see 60ft even in total darkness. Darkvision is black and white only, but otherwise works like normal sight.
Darkvision does not grant one the ability to see in magical darkness.
To use the ability it must be toggled.

Within 60ft you should see perfectly in gray-scale.

Spells
Darkvision (wiz2, sor2, rng3)
The subject gains the ability to see 60ft even in total darkness. Darkvision is black and while only but otherwise works like normal sight.
Darkvision does not grant one the ability to see in magical darkness.

Blindsight (drd3, sor3, wiz3, cle4)
This spell grants the Blindsight Ex special quality. The target creature gains sensitivity to vibrations, so that it maneuvers and fights as well as a sighted creature. The target creature's senses extend to a 30ft radius and the creature need not make spot or listen checks to notice creatures within this range. Invisibility and darkness are irrelevant, though thee creature can't discern ethereal beings.
Recommend applying a filter to the screen to show the 30ft radius and highlight items and hidden and invisible creatures.

Design Philosophy
The reason i did not ask for map changes or quest changes is because some people might enjoy the darkness. So instead i have suggested spells and abilities that are optional to use - even the racial abilities have toggles so if people do not like them they can easily ignore and disable them.
Hopefully with the inclusion of these abilities we will have the tools to light up the dark places so people who are visually challenged can enjoy the questing and dungeon crawling.

[rabidfox]

Light type effects have been mostly removed from the game because of what it does to the play-ability (frame rate, lag, etc) from it. Easiest way to deal with low light areas is to crank up your gamma in the game settings for those locations.

[kenawyn]

Light type effects have been mostly removed from the game because of what it does to the play-ability (frame rate, lag, etc) from it. Easiest way to deal with low light areas is to crank up your gamma in the game settings for those locations.

So you are saying the game used to have a more advanced lighting model in the past and it was dumbed down for more performance?
How did the lighting create lag? Please correct me if i am wrong but shouldn't that be mostly handled by the client side?

I have a high end IPS LCD monitor (3840x2160, 144Hz) calibrated with a Datacolor Spyder5ELITE for color accuracy. I refuse to mess up my colors "cranking up gamma" in the game settings, i rather ignore quests with dark areas instead.

[rabidfox]

Years ago the FvS archon gave off light and its lighting effect was removed. I found this old thread about it https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...emitting-light I know there's a recent mention of it by a dev too but I can't find that thread off the top my head.