Flashlight, fix it, we all want it fixed.

[Morgoth]

agreed its ugly as hell can be

 

[krid]

And how much does a Source (HL2) engine license cost? Probably several hundred thousand $

Valve negotiates each license separately, and there have been a few indie Source-based games. Zeno Clash and Garry's Mod come to mind.
I would expect the terms to involve a cut of each sale instead of a flat rate.

+ Time for recreating the full game beside textures

Well, textures and models anyway.

KF would have probably been released in the Year 2011 and would have cost 40$.

I think it would be more likely to be released late 2009/early 2010, and I don't think the price would have changed.

All that just because you don't like the flash light.

There are several strong benefits to the Source engine. The materials system, the ragdolls, the particle system, the rendering system, the far better voicecom, multicore support, the scripting engine, higher entity limits, better netcode, etc...
The source engine is far more advanced than the U2.5 engine, which is more the result of Valve's constant work on it than anything else. Of course, that itself means that a source-based KF could be designed to let Valve's engine improvements migrate into the game over time.

However, I don't think TI wants to go down that path at this time. Maybe they could go engine-shopping for KF2, but the game's recent launch gives them far more pressing matters to deal with.

 

[Sgt. Lag]

OMG what the H?? Does it really mathers so much??
Stop bashing the development team so much, if you don't like the flashlight Left 4 Dead has a very pretty light that cast dynamic shadows and stuff.

 

[bwat47]

I don't care if it casts dynamic lights, I just want t to be useful and somewhat realistic, neither of which the current one comes to.

 

[Murphy]

My guess, and this is just a stab in the dark, is that TWI made the flashlight consist of so mny different components not only to make it look more appealing but also to give everyone, regardless of their display settings, a flashlight that has at least some use or at least shines and looks somewhat like a flashlight, even if doesn't light stuff up well.
E.g. if you disabled projectors in the mod your flashlight didn't illuminate anything.
In the retail game it doesn't light up stuff if you disable dynamic lighting.
However there is still this cone, which is just bright enough to make things behind it appear a little brighter but translucent enough to not obscure everything behind it completely. It's not ideal, but at least there is something resembling light coming from your flashlight, even if you turned off projectors and dynamic lights!

Why they used such a low-res texture for it is beyond me though. That was a bad move either way.

It was a bad call. Maybe they should have stuck to using dynamic lights and/or projectors and somehow code them so the flashlight effect is unaffected by the settings in the menu (and can only be disabled in the .ini for troubleshooting purposes, if at all).
And if that's not possible then they maybe should have bitten the sour apple and leave those who disable projectors and/or dynamic lighting out in the literal dark.

 

[PiNeBoX]

Which brings to mind, the flashlight on this game shows a better light spectrum than L4D when looking at someone elses flashlight beam *another comparison to L4D there* But point made.

Also, it keeps everyone from using the flashlight which could be annoying as well...

 

[Mkilbride2599]

OMG what the H?? Does it really mathers so much??
Stop bashing the development team so much, if you don't like the flashlight Left 4 Dead has a very pretty light that cast dynamic shadows and stuff.

Krid, you went abit to far. Not asking them to switch Engines, as that'd be stupid.

UT 2.5 isn't some cheap Engine anyone can get either. Who knows? Maybe they had a spare from RO, though.

Yes, a functioning Flashlight ****ing matters though. So many times I can get ****ed over because I can't see anything.

UT 2.5 Engine cost: US $350000

Valve, as said, negotiates a price with the developers and whatnot. They give them Valve's own support, technicians, and all that. They get the full Valve treatment.

Also, completely remade?

All of the maps are exactly the same as the Mod, bugs and glitches included. They took 3 months to go from Mod to Retail, so I think it's pretty freaking obvious they didn't do that much.

 

[krid]

Krid, you went abit to far. Not asking them to switch Engines, as that'd be stupid.

I don't see where I went too far. I pointed out that there's more benefits to the Source engine than just a better flashlight, and listed several of them.
Then I said that it wouldn't be a wise idea to switch now, but that they could consider a new engine for KF2 - at which point Source may not be as strong a contender.

UT 2.5 isn't some cheap Engine anyone can get either.

I understand it's cheaper than the UT3 engine, though.

Who knows? Maybe they had a spare from RO, though.

I don't think engine licenses work that way...

Yes, a functioning Flashlight ****ing matters though. So many times I can get ****ed over because I can't see anything.

... which means you agree this thread is talking about a legitimate issue.

I think the best way to handle the flashlight is to provide levels of improvement depending on what options the user has enabled. If they have projectors on, for example then the flashlight can use those. If they don't have anything on that would improve the flashlight, then it uses the current flashlight.

Also, would it be possible for an advanced flashlight option to create an area glow around where the flashlight hits (Possibly of the average color of the hit area) to do a first-order approximation of diffraction and radiosity? It would really help in enclosed areas, and would have a near-zero time cost.

UT 2.5 Engine cost: US $350000

Thanks, I didn't know the exact cost for a U2.5 engine license.

 

[Mkilbride2599]

Of course it's cheaper than UT3 Engine, but they won a free one of those with the MSU contest.

And of course I think it's a legitimate issue - I started this thread.