how to add shadows to civilian buildings?

[orsin 157]

I have noticed a picture posted yesterday in the screenshot thread, as below, that civilian buildings now seem to have their shadows like other attackable objects.

 

Can anyone tell me how this was done? or which mod it comes from?

 

[+Dave 2,320]

I think you set in the game options as I have never seen or heard of a mod that added this.

[Wrench 9,733]

Have shadows turned on in the Options menu. The game will either generate them from SHD files in the terrain cat (old style) or from the object's LOD itself (08/SF2).

 

wrench

kevin stein

[Fubar512 1,350]

Only those structures which are terrain objects (those that have their own .lod and .ini files, and are therefore handled as solid objects), can cast shadows.

 

Quite a few structures are alpha objects (similar to trees) and are defined within the various .tod files. In a nutshell, because alpha objects do not have .lods and .ini files associated with them (which would in turn define their shapes and dimensions), there's nothing "there" to tell the game engine when, where, and how to cast shadows.

[Wrench 9,733]

On a slight aside, the TE classes the various buildings (ONLY the ones you add via the texture/texture map list/ add object function) AS solid objects, as opposed to Alpha objects ie: trees and bushes and shurbs. They also lack collision meshes, so thereby allowing you to fly through those little building, whilst terrain object buildings will not.

 

But as Fubs said, there's nothing there to create the shadow from (one will note that trees also don't cast shadows.) I can just imagine the total lack for framerates if the game engine had to calculate and create them!

 

wrench

kevin stein