Are light corona positions dictated by a dummy/bone location?

I am trying to fix a problem with a car that has twin coronas on the front lights but they're in the wrong position. I can't see any setting in the carcols.meta though that actually controls that aspect of the corona. I can see size, intensity, rotation etc... but nothing for position.

So that made me wonder if the coronas are actually positioned based on a dummy in the model. Seeing as I have seen models with the light coronas in the doors, that would seem to indicate that they are.

Can anyone confirm this please? It just saves me fighting with document values if they're controlled by the model itself.

You can see the problem in the image here:

alt text

I should have added, the car is a Dodge Challenger, specifically this one. https://www.gta5-mods.com/vehicles/dodge-challenger-2015-add-on-replace-animated-template

Rarefacer

Dummies issue. Is common in dual headlights cause the modder leave the headlight dummie in the default position and no apply the correct dual headlight position in the center of both lights in the model (we can look the issue in the coronas, are positioned like their center is the external headlight).

@Rarefacer Thank you for the confirmation... I suspected as much.

Really annoying when it's a problem the modder doesn't fix and it's something we can't fix with a simple document change.

Rarefacer

@LeeC2202 Yeah and without modder response and locked files to do fixes, too many nice models are unfortunatelly in lower rankings.

@Rarefacer This is the second fix I have had to request tonight. One car had no headlights at all and this one has messed up coronas.

Considering that both vehicles have had multiple updates, I don't understand how problems like this can still be there. Surely if they make something that lights up, they should check it in the dark... and if it doesn't work, then they should fix it. $:\$

I don't know... maybe my way of thinking is too old fashioned.

Willief23

@LeeC2202 have you tried to disable the coronas? by going under <Lights> and changing the corona num value to 0 under headlights?

Rarefacer

@LeeC2202 I do not blame you, the perfection is a sexy lady and everybody wants her

@Willief23 I hadn't tried that but I did so and nothing changed. Then I wondered if it might have been due to the Light ID of 100 possibly clashing with a vanilla ID, so I changed it to 2100 which did change the appearance of the coronas but still left them visible.

That's with headlight and front indicator coronas set to 0... so I have no idea how it is possible for any to display, when they are set to 0. $:\$

@Rarefacer I think perfection is more like the Dodo... extinct.

Willief23

@LeeC2202 oh i forgot to tell you the rest of it for the corona so you will see :
<headLightCorona>
<size value="0.100000" />
<size_far value="0.990000" />
<intensity value="1.890000" />
<intensity_far value="1.000000" />

change all those values to 0.00

@Willief23 I did wonder about those. I'll give them a go tomorrow, it's late here now and if I start messing, I'll probably break something.

I am kinda hoping the author fixes the problem though to be honest, because I hate the lights without the coronas.

I will certainly give it a go though, so thank you for the information.

_CP_

The problem is in distBetweenCoronas for <headLightCorona> in carcols.ymt/meta. It's better to learn using my example of Schafter. Also it's important to place a dummy between headlights in the model. ID 150 is an information to carvariations.meta to assign your lights in lightSettings.

<Item>
<id value="150"/>
<indicator>
<intensity value="0.37500000"/>
<falloffMax value="2.50000000"/>
<falloffExponent value="8.00000000"/>
<innerConeAngle value="20.00000000"/>
<outerConeAngle value="50.00000000"/>
<emmissiveBoost value="false"/>
<color value="0xFFFF7300"/>
<textureName/>
<mirrorTexture value="true"/>
</indicator>
<rearIndicatorCorona>
<size value="0.00000000"/>
<size_far value="0.00000000"/>
<intensity value="0.00000000"/>
<intensity_far value="0.00000000"/>
<color value="0x00000000"/>
<numCoronas value="1"/>
<distBetweenCoronas value="128"/>
<distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/>
<xRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<yRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<zRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<zBias value="0.25000000"/>
<pullCoronaIn value="false"/>
</rearIndicatorCorona>
<frontIndicatorCorona>
<size value="0.00000000"/>
<size_far value="0.00000000"/>
<intensity value="0.00000000"/>
<intensity_far value="0.00000000"/>
<color value="0x00000000"/>
<numCoronas value="1"/>
<distBetweenCoronas value="128"/>
<distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/>
<xRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<yRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<zRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<zBias value="0.25000000"/>
<pullCoronaIn value="false"/>
</frontIndicatorCorona>
<tailLight>
<intensity value="0.25000000"/>
<falloffMax value="4.00000000"/>
<falloffExponent value="16.00000000"/>
<innerConeAngle value="45.00000000"/>
<outerConeAngle value="90.00000000"/>
<emmissiveBoost value="false"/>
<color value="0xFFFF0000"/>
<textureName/>
<mirrorTexture value="true"/>
</tailLight>
<tailLightCorona>
<size value="1.20000000"/>
<size_far value="2.50000000"/>
<intensity value="5.00000000"/>
<intensity_far value="1.00000000"/>
<color value="0xFFFF0F05"/>
<numCoronas value="1"/>
<distBetweenCoronas value="128"/>
<distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/>
<xRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<yRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<zRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<zBias value="0.25000000"/>
<pullCoronaIn value="false"/>
</tailLightCorona>
<tailLightMiddleCorona>
<size value="0.00000000"/>
<size_far value="0.00000000"/>
<intensity value="0.00000000"/>
<intensity_far value="0.00000000"/>
<color value="0x00000000"/>
<numCoronas value="1"/>
<distBetweenCoronas value="128"/>
<distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/>
<xRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<yRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<zRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<zBias value="0.25000000"/>
<pullCoronaIn value="false"/>
</tailLightMiddleCorona>
<headLight>
<intensity value="1.50000000"/>
<falloffMax value="35.00000000"/>
<falloffExponent value="16.00000000"/>
<innerConeAngle value="0.00000000"/>
<outerConeAngle value="60.00000000"/>
<emmissiveBoost value="false"/>
<color value="0xFF7FA7E3"/>
<textureName>vehiclelight_car_standardmodern</textureName>
<mirrorTexture value="false"/>
</headLight>
<headLightCorona>
<size value="0.10000000"/>
<size_far value="7.00000000"/>
<intensity value="7.00000000"/>
<intensity_far value="5.00000000"/>
<color value="0xFF61A5FF"/>
<numCoronas value="2"/>
<distBetweenCoronas value="25"/>
<distBetweenCoronas_far value="55"/>
<xRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<yRotation value="0.33247800"/>
<zRotation value="0.20964600"/>
<zBias value="0.15000000"/>
<pullCoronaIn value="false"/>
</headLightCorona>
<reversingLight>
<intensity value="0.50000000"/>
<falloffMax value="7.20000000"/>
<falloffExponent value="32.00000000"/>
<innerConeAngle value="20.00000000"/>
<outerConeAngle value="78.00000000"/>
<emmissiveBoost value="false"/>
<color value="0xFFFFFFFF"/>
<textureName/>
<mirrorTexture value="true"/>
</reversingLight>
<reversingLightCorona>
<size value="0.80000000"/>
<size_far value="2.00000000"/>
<intensity value="1.50000000"/>
<intensity_far value="1.00000000"/>
<color value="0x00F7F7F7"/>
<numCoronas value="1"/>
<distBetweenCoronas value="128"/>
<distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/>
<xRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<yRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<zRotation value="0.00000000"/>
<zBias value="0.25000000"/>
<pullCoronaIn value="false"/>
</reversingLightCorona>
<name>schafter</name>
</Item>

@CP Thank you... I did try changing that distBetweenCoronas value but it had no effect. But when I think about it, that was when it was using the ID of 100 that seemed to be causing the coronas to display incorrectly anyway. I set it (distBetweenCoronas that is) to 10 and they stayed in exactly the same place, so I wasn't even sure at that point, whether what I was seeing was really the headlight coronas or not.

Given the things I have seen in some of these models, I take absolutely nothing for granted when it comes to assuming the correct dummies are being used. A lot of the time, they're either in the wrong place, or simply not there at all.

I'll try using that info you have posted though, thank you for that.

tk0wnz

I don't really see a problem with your picture. You can just change the number of headlight coronas in the carcols file from 2 to 1 and be done with it. The hellcat doesn't have 2 headlights on one side, just one. In this car the dummy is in the correct position.

@tk0wnz said in Are light corona positions dictated by a dummy/bone location?:

I don't really see a problem with your picture.

Coronas not placed where the lights are is incorrect, maybe we just have different ideas of what constitutes correct.

Let's put it this way, here's the same shot with the corrected Light ID in a comparison with the original lights. This is how it should have looked from the start.

The bottom one is the corrected ID by the way... if you can't see any difference between them.

Edit: Oh, and the number of coronas was already set to one, I suspect the other is the indicator corona.

tk0wnz

@LeeC2202 Yeah now I'm confused
It seems fixed in the 2nd picture? And what do you mean with the indicator corona's, I don't see them in the pictures...

@tk0wnz What I think he has done, is placed the headlight coronas on the outer edge of the headlight ring and the indicator coronas on the inner part of the headlight ring.

The idea behind that being that as you get closer, the coronas grow and they merge into a single corona. But even as they diminish, they still remain aligned with the outer rim of the light.

I think he has sacrificed the indicator to make the headlight work better and now that it is using the xenon headlights, it is creating the blue horizontal flare that ties the two separate coronas together. That's why they are harder to see, because they are now acting as they should have done.

I think the original ID caused the wrong kind of lights to be used, in slightly the wrong position. Because I can't switch off the artist side of my brain, it can't ignore that... it really is a curse sometimes.

AHK1221

@LeeC2202 TL:DR

I'm kinda looking for a solution for this as well for my mods, and I think its in the carcols file, where the light settings are defined.

The dummies just provide (AFAIK) the position as to where the corona center should be placed, and where the "beam" should emit from. I really want to know how I can edit carcols to make it look better

Willief23

@AHK1221 what are you trying to change in the coronas? Because the light settings section you can change the size, the brightness, how many coronas, how far apart each corona is from each other, tail light and reverse light brightness, the headlight brightness and brightness of turn signals. I have turned to mess with the innerConeAngle and outerConeAngle on the tail lights to see if it would spread out the brakelight more since on a couple mods the mod authors only choose to light up 1/6 of the brake light and left the rest untouched/unlit. Only tried messing with it a few times if you make it too high of a number then you get massive white spots all over the screen lol. Never really messed with falloffExponent and falloffMax though.

Zievs

@LeeC2202 I am too lazy to read the whole conversation but I know this:

Coronas on this car should be working fine - but for "replace" cars chances are that corona settings are changed in Carvariations or Carcols (Can't remember which one - or if it's both.) Don't know exactly how to fix it though.

@Zievs This was an addon and it was the Lights ID that was the problem. Once I changed that, they are now working fine... but they weren't before, as the images show.

I suspect that the ID of 100 was causing a vanilla light setting to be used in place of the custom one that was included in the carcols.meta for this car.