Night and day ....

[aztec11us]

in Oblivion, theere is a cycle of day and night ...

here is my question ...

is there a way...ANY way...when you are inside a house, to make the windows light up with the day and darken a bit during the night ? thus giving the illusion of night and day ?

[DM8954]

Similar to the Benirus Manor question, you can have 2 sets of windows and script them to swap out based on the conditions... The only problem might be that the room would only change when you enter or leave the room. If you spend 3 hours in a room at sunset, it'll keep displaying the daytime window until the entire room reloads. That's better than the windows suddenly flashing dark instantly, I guess, but it is a minor issue to consider.

Are you thinking of changing specific windows? It might be difficult to replace all the windows in the game.

Another option might be to edit the base file of the window with an animation of the window getting lighter and darker... similar to waterfall animations. I'm not sure how easily the scripting could tie it in to the clock, though.

[aztec11us]

thnx a lot for your answer

i liek your isecond idea better, as normally, if i do stay in the same room till it gets dark, the windows should dim too WITHOUT me having to reload the room !

for now, id like to do that just to my manor .... any idea how i could edit that base file ? ;P

[DM8954]

Sorry, I haven't learned that part yet. If you look at the base graphics for the waterfall, it's basically a seamless scrolling image. I don't know how you set the speed of the animation but you'd have to set it pretty slow to make it realistic looking in-game. (You might also need to use scripting so that every time you enter a room the animation starts at the correct spot... instead of starting at zero, which could be midnight... no matter what time you entered the room. That's a big bug to avoid there.


Now, since this is the mod section (and I love to throw out fanciful ideas)... I have a suggestion for a more advanced version of this mod. You could essentially create a 3D 'diorama' window to simulate an outdoor view. You would need 3 - 7 layers of images to complete the full effect.

Step one would be to take a screenshot from inside the outdoor version of the model at it's location on the world map. In the editor... or even with collision turned off in-game, you can see through any walls that you're on the 'wrong side' of. You'd then need to dissect the screenshot into separate objects (buildings, trees, etc.) and remove any sky you find. Use the same idea as above for the distant background/sky replacement. In the immediate foreground is the window frame. The main thing besides these layers, is to blur things out just a bit. Glass windows in the middle ages weren't perfect... besides, you don't want it too clear or you'll wonder why you can't see anyone outside. That last layer, which I almost forgot to mention, if just behind the window pane layer. It would be completely dark blue or black and cover all background objects. During the day, the opacity is turned off so the layer is invisible. At night, the layer is faded in, which darkens the entire background landscape.

That's one main thing I like about having an interior model that is separate from the exterior model. You can build this elaborate (and deep) window construct... and it won't be sticking out like a sore thumb on the outside of the building.


The window-box idea is very time and work intensive, since it's so specific to the exact location of the window. The animated light/dark background could potentially be implemented on all windows in the game... if done properly. Each window of a particular type is a reference to a master object. If you could replace the base file with an identical copy with this functionality added... theoretically, it should replace every window of that type in the entire game. I'm not sure if it would go as planned but I would hope so. It's mostly a matter of scripting.