Lighting in skirmish missions not correct... Help!

[[=SF=]Riker]

Perhaps someone knows how to fix it...<P>I don't have correctly lighted objects in skirmish mode (single player) most of the time... In campaign it's always fine and the lighting changes depending on the position of the sun related to my ship... <P>But when I go to single player in the simulator room and create my own missions, in 4 of 5 missions my ship and all the others are completely in shadow although there is a sun...<P>One mission it works, the next it doesn't... It simply changes randomly...<P>Why is this??? Some error in the mission creation routine that forgets to set a light source for the sun or what? Does anyone know why this is and how to fix it? Help, please... <P>(My System: PIII 933Mhz, 128MB RAM, GeForce2 MX, Windows ME)<P>

[John Banks]

Pal...i have exactly the same problem. Since i have bought my GeForce1 2 years ago i have this problem. I still have it with my GeForce3 i think..not that sure. It seems that XWA doesn't work proberly with all possible harware combinations. I have called a technical support and asked a guy at LA if this problem can be solved but he said no it can't. So u have to live with it.

[[=SF=]Riker]

... or learn to make real mission via AlliEd, I think.<P>Strange that only the automatically generated surroundings for the skirmishes have that problem, not the real missions. Seems to be a problem with the randomly generated backdrop combination for skirmishes, I think. <P>However, would really be nice if someone who has experience in modding XWA could find a way to control those settings for the skirmishes. If those were the same every time, the problem would be gone, I presume.

[Defiant]

Any chance the temp.tie file is corrupted and/or read-only?

[[=SF=]Riker]

I will check that, although I don't know much about it...<P>I must add, that there are several people with this problem as the first answer here and another post I found in the xwingalliance.net forums show... <P>I definitely think the problem should be a missing backdrop with standard lighting... although a sun is almost always visible but does not emit any light...

[Defiant]

Yeah. I've never had the problem myself, but I do know that the skirmish info is used to fill in a template mission called temp.tie, and that you can override a lot of stuff (even play campaign missions) if you tweak it right.

[[=SF=]Riker]

Then whatabout creating a skirmish mission and then checking the temp.tie with AlliEd or something like that and adding a backdrop light if necessary? <P>What do you think? Perhaps it works... I'll try...<P>Thanks for the hints... I hope it works!

[[=SF=]Riker]

It worked...<P>I did this:<P>I opened the temp.tie and added "standard backdrop" with AlliEd (I still have look for a freeware editor...)<P>Then I made the temp.tie read only. If not, XWA overwrites it with the non-edited version.<P>Result: Light in the mission!<P>For better results you should first remove the old backdrops and then set your own ones.

[Defiant]

Cool, glad it worked out.

[John Banks]

Hey Riker. Could u send me this temp file via email ? Would be great cause i don't have any of these editor programs and don't know much about the way to handle them. Just use the email icon over my post.<P>thanks

[[=SF=]Riker]

That would be no use for you. The temp.tie consists only of the last skirmish you played. That means I could only send you a skirmish I made and you couldn't change it... <P>I think it would be better if you go to <A HREF="http://www.darksaber.freeserve.co.uk" TARGET=_blank>www.darksaber.freeserve.co.uk</A> and get New Horizons from their mission editor section.<P>Then do this:<P>1. Create a skirmish and launch the mission. Then exit X-Wing Alliance.<P>2. Open the temp.tie in your xwingalliance\skirmish directory.<P>3. Edit the backdrop or add some. (Must have brightness and color other than 0!)<P>4.Save the mission and make it read-only.<P>If you want to fly a different mission, edit it with the editor or repeat 1 to 4 after removing the read-only attribute from the file.<P>Should be the best solution for now... <p>[This message has been edited by [=SF=]Riker (edited 27 November 2001).]

[John Banks]

Thankx pal..I will check it out when i have some time on weekend. God bless you