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12-20-18, 10:02 AM   #1
Zuldaris
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Day & Night cycle & textures help

Good day to all!

I am currently working on a grad school thesis that deals with WoW textures, and the day and night cycle of the game. I'm new to both, but not new to shading and texturing, and rendering in general. So, does anyone here know of some great resources on game texturing or game day/night cycles (preferably WoW-focused)?

I'm doing my necessary research online, but always like to ask actual people and not rely solely on static webpage text.
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12-20-18, 02:38 PM   #2
myrroddin
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As far as I know, World of Warcraft doesn't have day and night textures, although it does have lighting effects. The problem is that we AddOn authors cannot modify the in game textures. We can only modify the user interface, including textures for the UI.

If you wanted to check the day or night cycle and apply an appropriate texture to a frame, you can do that, but since we can't access the light source code, you'd have to do this creatively.

Have two textures, one for day and one for night. We can tell what time it is in game, but we can't apply light sources and their shadows to a frame; at least not with WoW's own light sources.

What you could do is create some fancy math converting a 12 hour day into alpha, then do the same for a 12 hour night. Then apply each to their respective frames based on the actual game clock.

You could take it one step further, with even more complex math. Have only one texture, increase its alpha for 6 hours, keep it static for 12 hours, decrease alpha for 6 hours. Cycle it that way.
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12-20-18, 06:47 PM   #3
Zuldaris
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Thanks for the reply myroddin.

I'm not trying to actually work on the game itself. I use WoW models from an app similar to WoW Model Viewer, along with Maya, and Unity. So whatever I do will be more of a proof of concept. It is for a thesis, and if I can take it further than that, I will. Yet that would involve a dream job scenario actually happening.

I'm basically just trying to learn more about day and night cycles in games, as well as game textures and lighting. I can Google away, but it is always good to use forums too. Thanks again for your reply.
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12-20-18, 09:32 PM   #4
Xrystal
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In the case of Unity .. a google search of "day night cycle unity" came up with the following that may help you view that side of things.

http://twiik.net/articles/simplest-p...cle-in-unity-5

I would suggest you copy the websites content in case when you want to view it at a later date it won't be available.

Other than that the fact that wow has a server time system that they use to change the day/night cycle behind the scenes ( outside of our control as myrroddin said) just demonstrates the source of values and the graphics engine being used will need to be informed how to do work with it. Unfortunately each graphics engine has its own set of functions so hopefully the unity one will give you an idea of which areas can be transferred to other engines.

In theory ( its been awhile since I played with it in unity myself so it may be off a bit ) you would assign an angle range to the horizon ( say -90 in the west and +90 in the east making a total of 360 degrees for the full cycle ). Then assign which angle represents which time ( or how many degrees per second/minute/hour etc ) and update the visual sun/moon light source appropriately making sure to adjust both the colour and intensity accordingly.

There is nothing wrong with asking questions on forums but from experience most programming forums ( which you should be asking these questions on ) expect you to have at least looked into it yourself which includes googling the right word combinations to get the right results. And until you try it out yourself you won't really understand it.
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Last edited by Xrystal : 12-20-18 at 09:39 PM.
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12-21-18, 11:39 AM   #5
Zuldaris
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Can I change the textures of in-game items, such as a building, with Lua, or does Lua only allow you to alter UI elements?
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12-21-18, 11:51 AM   #6
Tim
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Originally Posted by Zuldaris View Post
Can I change the textures of in-game items, such as a building, with Lua, or does Lua only allow you to alter UI elements?
No. Lua can only alter interface based textures. (ie: unit frames, windows such as spellbook/achievements/character pane/etc, minimap, etc.)
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12-21-18, 02:24 PM   #7
Zuldaris
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I thought so. Otherwise, there would be textures packs, similar to Minecraft's.
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12-21-18, 02:31 PM   #8
Zuldaris
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Originally Posted by Xrystal View Post
There is nothing wrong with asking questions on forums but from experience most programming forums ( which you should be asking these questions on ) expect you to have at least looked into it yourself which includes googling the right word combinations to get the right results. And until you try it out yourself you won't really understand it.
Thanks for the reply Xrystal. I've done some C++ with OpenGL stuff, but nothing in an actual game engine. So, I am trying out stuff myself now, in Unity, and will learn Unreal Engine as well, and perhaps Cryengine.

I find that programming forums are great when needing specific help with learning a language's syntax or functionality. Yet for something more related to game engines and game textures, I find graphics or game-related forums like this one to be much more helpful. It is all about what the focus is. Its like reading a book on C++ versus reading one on C++ for Game Development.

Last edited by Zuldaris : 12-21-18 at 02:34 PM.
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WoWInterface » Developer Discussions » Graphics Help » Day & Night cycle & textures help

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