How to make nebulas more mean looking

? Offline

Hi all,

What i’m after is to make nebulas darker and more mean looking. I’m familiar with some of the settings. Let’s look at Alaska for instance

[TexturePanels]
file = solar\nebula\generic_shapes.ini

[Exterior] < –------------------------------ This i think is the exterior of the nebula from a distance
shape = generic_exterior1
shape = generic_exterior2
shape = generic_exterior3
shape = generic_exterior4
shape_weights = 1, 1, 1, 1
fill_shape = nebula_circle2
plane_slices = 1
bit_radius = 10000
bit_radius_random_variation = 0.200000
min_bits = 10
max_bits = 12
move_bit_percent = 0.250000
equator_bias = 0.500000
color = 255, 255, 255

[properties]
flag = nebula

[NebulaLight] <–----------------------------------- Inside nebula illumination
ambient = 60, 90, 90
sun_burnthrough_intensity = 0.600000
sun_burnthrough_scaler = 4

[Exclusion Zones] <–------------------------------------- Exclusion zones so no worries with these
exclusion = Zone_Li05_shipyard_exclusion
fog_far = 8000.000000
zone_shell = solar\nebula\generic_exclusion.3db
shell_scalar = 1
max_alpha = 0.500000
exclusion_tint = 40, 120, 120
exclusion = Zone_Li05_prison_exclusion
fog_far = 10000.000000
zone_shell = solar\nebula\generic_exclusion.3db
shell_scalar = 1.000000
max_alpha = 0.700000
exclusion_tint = 70, 150, 150

[Clouds] <–--------------------------------------------------- Clouds inside the nebula
max_distance = 400
puff_count = 10
puff_radius = 100
puff_colora = 255, 255, 255
puff_colorb = 60, 100, 100
puff_shape = generic_cloud1
puff_shape = generic_cloud2
puff_shape = generic_cloud3
puff_shape = generic_cloud4
puff_weights = 1, 1, 1, 1
puff_drift = 2.000000
near_fade_distance = 200, 250
puff_max_alpha = 0.200000

[Fog] <–---------------------------------- Think this is like a view thing that throws a fog depending on the distance specified
fog_enabled = 1
near = 125
distance = 1500
color = 20, 60, 60

[BackgroundLightning] <–-------------------- Lightning
duration = 0
gap = 2
color = 150, 160, 170

[DynamicLightning] <–------------------------- Dynamic lightning
gap = 50
duration = 0
color = 0, 0, 0
ambient_intensity = 0
intensity_increase = 0

I’m assuming to make things more dismal, you would either make the colour darker which isn’t really what i need. How about the settings regarding sun burn through, what effect does this have?

Sushi

I was playing around with these settings when I started to develop 2.0. Sunburn, at least from what I saw, has to do with how the sun will appear in nebula. So, a lower number, will make the sun less visible in the nebula, while a higher number will make it more visible. The scaler, from what I found, is a multiplication factor of the intensity. So, I once used a sunburn factor of 10 (which was too much) and used a scaler of 10. The sun was HUGE in the nebula.

FriendlyFire

Making the fog’s distance closer can give a claustrophobic feel to it. Having larger, well blended puffs can easily work against a player’s navigational skills and give them the feeling they’ve lost their current location and/or orientation. Dynamic lightning can really help setting off an atmosphere, especially if you tie them up with the background lightning. I’d also suggest trying lightning that isn’t white, for a change. Subtler differences give a totally different impression.

Oh and of course, choosing or making a different cloud texture can have a major impact. Colors are also deeply important, and music is another element to consider.

Dragnite_MU

Did something similar to what FF describes in tohoku when i made the giants causeway for MU. Put a large minefield with a fair few exclusion zones then placed a blue nebula which is very dense and causes you to lose all sense of direction as the sun doesnt burn through it. Its a real nice effect.

Also in other areas i tried different coloured lightning such as green, orange and magenta looks much better than plain old white.