Starbound

Starbound

(TanzLO) Creeping Monsters!
44 Comments
Nyx & Lucidity Fox 22 Oct, 2023 @ 8:01pm 
wonderful mod, thank you for this!
Grand Poo-Bah de Canadiannaise 29 Apr, 2021 @ 1:37am 
Interesting!
Thanks very much for your reply and future efforts!
All the best!
Sir Greaves  [author] 29 Apr, 2021 @ 1:33am 
I'll see what I can do, but I won't make any promises!

Light-checks are also incredibly resource-heavy, because for some reason, checking the light level apparently forces a lighting update. (Or so I've been told, by CF)

In addition to that, perceptual lighting is apparently different from the light level the monsters check. You can have a very well-lit cave, but the monsters will be invisible. Meanwhile, on the surface of a planet at midnight is considered more-or-less the same light-level. It's... Quite strange. I tried looking into checking the R G B lighting values separately, but that also doesn't seem like a thing I can do.

(You can verify this by checking out the flashlights. Different colors will project visually further or shorter while being more-or-less the same actual level.)

Fading aura MIGHT be something I can do. I'll check it out!
Grand Poo-Bah de Canadiannaise 29 Apr, 2021 @ 12:54am 
Again, love your mods.
(I like how the monsters were actually more difficult to fight at night on the surface)
Thank you!@
Grand Poo-Bah de Canadiannaise 29 Apr, 2021 @ 12:52am 
OH! and I nearly forgot! lol
Have you also considered a "Fading Aura"?
So that the deeper into pitch darkness you go, the weaker your aura gets until it's nothing!
Thanks again for all your wonderful work!
Grand Poo-Bah de Canadiannaise 29 Apr, 2021 @ 12:47am 
Thanks so much for your lighting mods, I've loved them. It makes the game actually feel darker and more dangerous. And it helps when you want to create rooms with specific ambience/lighting in a house with different coloured lights in each room.
I really appreciated this mod too, but I found it a bit much that the monsters turn invisible.
Have you considered a "lighter" version of this mod where the monsters just become more transparent, so you can still see them, but with more difficulty?
(I was attacked by invisible monsters in a cave, where the lighting seemed ample and that I should've been able to seen them. Hence the request.)
Sir Greaves  [author] 8 Apr, 2021 @ 3:25am 
> Hey, Tanz. I'm considering attempting to implement something similar to this as a rudimentary line-of-sight system. Do you know of any theoretical way to check if the player has line of sight on a creature? You did establish earlier that you can't check the color of light illuminating a monster, but is there anything else the player could emit?

I have no idea. Honestly, I'm not actually very good at modding.
16BitPotato 8 Apr, 2021 @ 2:43am 
Hey, Tanz. I'm considering attempting to implement something similar to this as a rudimentary line-of-sight system. Do you know of any theoretical way to check if the player has line of sight on a creature? You did establish earlier that you can't check the color of light illuminating a monster, but is there anything else the player could emit?
43770gaming 27 Jul, 2019 @ 12:30pm 
For once it's not just me who has the element of surprise.
Sir Greaves  [author] 27 Jan, 2019 @ 1:04pm 
>Does the monochrome lights option help at all?

I haven't tried that, actually. I'll take a look today.
Threepounds 27 Jan, 2019 @ 7:02am 
Does the monochrome lights option help at all?
Sir Greaves  [author] 16 Jan, 2019 @ 12:22pm 
>Could we get a version of this that isn't as extreme? There are enemies in full light that are completely invisible...

>Like, they're right next to a campfire, and still invisible
>I think like, almost complete invisibility in night lighting would be preferable over total invisibility.
>That way, you'd see something moving in the night, and have to double take to see it
>And that would fix the issue of enemies still being partially invisible at sunrise too


The problem is the way Starbound calculates the light level. Colored lighting will /always/ be 'less bright' than white light. Even if the colored light reaches further. I can't make the monsters show up in the edge of torch light, for example, without making them also (not just partially) visible in the middle of the night with no other light sources.

I'd /like/ to fix it. The main problem is the game has nothing for me to use to detect RGB levels of light and do the calculations myself.
Hemlock 16 Jan, 2019 @ 1:24am 
Could we get a version of this that isn't as extreme? There are enemies in full light that are completely invisible...

Like, they're right next to a campfire, and still invisible
I think like, almost complete invisibility in night lighting would be preferable over total invisibility.
That way, you'd see something moving in the night, and have to double take to see it
And that would fix the issue of enemies still being partially invisible at sunrise too
Sir Greaves  [author] 17 Sep, 2018 @ 4:14pm 
Despite my efforts, because of how the light is calculated by 'world.lightLevel', I cannot make flares reveal monsters without also making the monsters plainly visible at night or in darker situations.

The maximum light level I've been able to get from flares is still lower than surface-level midnight light level.

If I could get the individual channels and use those to calculate my own numbers, it'd be something I can fix. But since I can't do that, there's nothing I can do about it.
Sir Greaves  [author] 17 Sep, 2018 @ 2:41pm 
>...any plans to update this?

It works with the current version of Starbound, does it not?


>Could you make it so /fullbirght makes them visible ?
>Thanks

As far as I know, /fullbright only disables client-side rendering of light. Not the calculation of it. So I'm not sure that's possible.
zenithBemusement 16 Sep, 2018 @ 8:10pm 
...any plans to update this?
Mongar 25 Oct, 2017 @ 5:38am 
Could you make it so /fullbirght makes them visible ?
Thanks
Sir Greaves  [author] 29 Aug, 2017 @ 1:27pm 
>Would you mind considering an update to this that allows flares to show enemies near them? It looks odd to me how flares will light up an area so brightly and yet monsters aren't revealed by them at all. Since using TanzLO I came to really love using flares but since using Creeping Monsters they're back to being virtually useless again


I gotta make a few changes when I update it, yeah.
Worb 29 Aug, 2017 @ 2:00am 
Would you mind considering an update to this that allows flares to show enemies near them? It looks odd to me how flares will light up an area so brightly and yet monsters aren't revealed by them at all. Since using TanzLO I came to really love using flares but since using Creeping Monsters they're back to being virtually useless again :steamsad:
Sir Greaves  [author] 25 Jul, 2017 @ 5:21pm 
>Thought of updating the Frakin' Universe compatability in it? I think some of the monsters don't work anymore in this tweak to TanzLighting

When I update this, it will only be for vanilla monsters.

FU does so much that I will never hear the end of requests, and would have to dedicate every waking hour to making FU patches for my mods. So no, I will not be making FU patches for this, or any of my mods.
Gratuitous Lurking 25 Jul, 2017 @ 1:32pm 
Thought of updating the Frakin' Universe compatability in it? I think some of the monsters don't work anymore in this tweak to TanzLighting
Sir Greaves  [author] 5 Jul, 2017 @ 7:26pm 
>What I mean is that I *did* light the place up, with torches, and they were still invisible until I shined my flashlight at them while standing next to a torch. So, it's a little too much added difficulty in its current state for early game characters.


Ah, I have to do some more testing, then. I'll see what I can do about lowering their threshold.
Giant Hat 5 Jul, 2017 @ 7:10pm 
What I mean is that I *did* light the place up, with torches, and they were still invisible until I shined my flashlight at them while standing next to a torch. So, it's a little too much added difficulty in its current state for early game characters.
Sir Greaves  [author] 5 Jul, 2017 @ 7:00pm 
>Love the effect! Would be great if the threshold for visibility was below the light level cast by a torch, though. Makes them rather useless if the monsters are still invisible after I've lit the place up like a Christmas tree.

Torch light is actually fairly bright, and this is more of a "light the place" motivator anyway. I toyed with the idea of having them less visible under certain conditions, but that made even less sense and was less fun.
Giant Hat 5 Jul, 2017 @ 4:07pm 
Love the effect! Would be great if the threshold for visibility was below the light level cast by a torch, though. Makes them rather useless if the monsters are still invisible after I've lit the place up like a Christmas tree.
Amicus 19 Oct, 2016 @ 9:02pm 
Ah, well thanks for replying anyway. I don't know much about modding, so forgive my ignorance. I wish you a nice day and good luck modding in future =)
Sir Greaves  [author] 19 Oct, 2016 @ 6:40pm 
>It's a bit confusing for me since I can see the area while my character evidently can't. Creates a bit of a disconnect I feel. Perhaps an option for true darkness on this mod? It would achieve the same effect without making it feel like all the mobs have cloaking fields.

If you mean a fog-of-war mechanic, that's impossible in Starbound.
Amicus 19 Oct, 2016 @ 4:17pm 
It's a bit confusing for me since I can see the area while my character evidently can't. Creates a bit of a disconnect I feel. Perhaps an option for true darkness on this mod? It would achieve the same effect without making it feel like all the mobs have cloaking fields.
Sir Greaves  [author] 8 Sep, 2016 @ 10:20pm 
Heads-up: This spits errors into starbound.log

I'm going to fix it when I don't have such a splitting headache.

Love you guys! Thanks for your comments and stuff!
Kbitynomics 26 Aug, 2016 @ 9:02am 
spook
Sir Greaves  [author] 10 Aug, 2016 @ 3:10pm 
>i love the mond but wish there was a line of sight version rather than light something like the game monaco but over all 10/5

Line-of-sight would require pathfinding, which I have no idea how to use. So it's a possibility for the future, but just out of my abilities at the moment.
MF RAGE 10 Aug, 2016 @ 2:00pm 
i love the mond but wish there was a line of sight version rather than light something like the game monaco but over all 10/5
Sir Greaves  [author] 1 Aug, 2016 @ 9:03pm 
>why??
>didnt like seeing monsters or something?

This goes with my Lighting Overhaul to help make things even spookier. I wanted to have a reason to use my flashlight or place torches in caves and stuff.
Rentago 1 Aug, 2016 @ 8:42pm 
i like the idea
Det 1 Aug, 2016 @ 8:31pm 
why??

didnt like seeing monsters or something?
Dizzy_Dares 31 Jul, 2016 @ 3:07pm 
video please
Sir Greaves  [author] 30 Jul, 2016 @ 3:24pm 
>is it possible to do kinda same, but when they are out of you vision? (like in project zomboid, for example - zombies are invisible, if they are behind you)

I don't know the first thing about pathfinding, so maybe it's possible, but not for me.
*Yuki* 30 Jul, 2016 @ 3:13pm 
is it possible to do kinda same, but when they are out of you vision? (like in project zomboid, for example - zombies are invisible, if they are behind you)
Sir Greaves  [author] 30 Jul, 2016 @ 3:11pm 
>Does this work with non-vanilla monsters?

Because of the way I had to implement it for compatibility, no.

But mod support is planned for some mods.
o'night 30 Jul, 2016 @ 2:43pm 
Does this work with non-vanilla monsters?
Sir Greaves  [author] 30 Jul, 2016 @ 1:36pm 
>isnt it better to just improve shadows to make everything not inside ya light invisible?

Shadows don't have that kind of functionality. But this makes monsters check their light level and turn more invisible when they're in less light.
*Yuki* 30 Jul, 2016 @ 1:34pm 
isnt it better to just improve shadows to make everything not inside ya light invisible?
Sir Greaves  [author] 30 Jul, 2016 @ 1:32pm 
>emmh... didt understand, what this mod does, actually

Maybe this Gfycat demonstration will help: https://gfycat.com/ClearcutEqualBeagle
*Yuki* 30 Jul, 2016 @ 1:21pm 
emmh... didt understand, what this mod does, actually