Setting Environment preset parameters

Description of Parameters in the Environment Editor window [F6]

The Environment Editor window can be opened by pressing the F6 key

Light

Parameters of the light block

Parameter	Description	Note
direction	Direction from which the Sun shines
ambient	Color of ambient light	Parameter for Phong only
ambient_intensity	Intensity of ambient light	Parameter for Phong only
diffuse	Color of sunlight
diffuse_intensity	Intensity of sunlight
specular_intensity	Intensity of specular highlights
environment_intensity	Intensity of sky lighting	Parameter for PBR only
lights_intensity	Intensity multiplier for local light sources
envmap_amount	Sky lighting brightness in some schemes
night	Day or night for gameplay
night_vision	Night vision range multiplier for soldiers
color_saturation	Color saturation with values [0..2]: 0 - gray; 1 - normal; 2 - oversaturated
fx_additive_intensity	Intensity for additive effects
fx_blend_intensity	Intensity for blend effects

The Sun's position on the sky texture and the light direction must match. The Sun's position is adjusted in the sky block using the relative_rotation parameter.

Parameters for unit highlighting

Used to highlight active units on the map (own/allied/enemy) to make them clearly visible.

Unit highlighting works by modifying the main light source settings (Sun) and adding additional lighting.

Pros: units are clearly visible on the map Cons: disrupts normal lighting

Highlight option

Highlight units can be toggled in the Options:

1. Open the Game tab.

2. Check the Highlight units box.

Highlight units can be toggled in the Options:

1. Open the Game tab.

2. Check the Highlight Units box.

Highlight parameters in the Environment preset

Parameters that do not work for PBR:

• ambient_bounced

• rim_intensity

• rim_glossiness

Parameter	Description	Value Range
brightness	Used to calculate ambient/diffuse in the new light source for unit highlighting. Base colors are taken from light/ambient and light/diffuse	[0..100]
ambient_bounced	Light comes from below and sides. Base color - light/ambient	[0..100]
rim_intensity	Light intensity perpendicular to the camera direction, highlighting object contours	[0..1]
rim_glossiness	How sharp or blurred the highlight spot edges are	[0..1]
highlight_brightness	New ambient when hovering over a unit. Base color - light/ambient	[0..100]

Brightness value ranges for the brightness, ambient_bounced, highlight_brightness parameters:

Value Range	Description
[0..24]	Shift towards black
[25..49]	Midway between base color and black
[50..74]	Does not change the base color
[75..99]	Midway between base color and white
[100]	Shift towards white

Sky

The parameter block for configuring the sky.

The position of the Sun on the sky texture and the light direction must match.

Parameter	Description	Note
enable	Enabled/Disabled
mesh	Sky model	Different models can be used, but it is recommended to use the sky_farspace model. In the sky_farspace model: - alpha is used for smooth transition into haze; - parameters from the sky material are output to the sky block; - the second set of UVs can be used for clouds.
color	Color for tinting the sky texture	Default is white
global_environment	Main sky texture
relative_rotation	Sky rotation, in radians
textures/clouds_mask	Mask for gradually fading clouds to zero visibility	It is recommended to make the texture in RF16 format to avoid banding. The mask works well, and it is recommended not to change it.
textures/clouds	Texture of clouds floating in the sky
clouds_scale	Scale of the clouds
clouds_pan_y	Speed of cloud movement across the sky along the y-axis
clouds_pan_x	Speed of cloud movement across the sky along the x-axis
clouds_opacity	Cloud density	[0..1]
clouds_opacity2	Cloud density	[0..1]
clouds_color	Tint of the clouds
clouds_color_luminosity	Brightness of the clouds
environment_luminosity	Sky brightness multiplier
tone	Overall tint of the sky and clouds
tone_luminosity	Overall brightness multiplier for the sky and clouds
global_luminosity	Overall brightness multiplier for the sky and clouds
haze_falloff_start	Start of fog application at the lower edge of the sky
haze_falloff_end	End of fog application at the lower edge of the sky
haze_falloff_power	Fog intensity

To prevent the color from degrading into white or gray, its brightness should be in a wide range. For this, HDR textures are used for the sky.

Sky brightness can be adjusted with the global_luminosity parameter or by changing the brightness in the texture itself.

Recommended ranges for HDR sky textures:

• bright areas: [1.0..2.0]

• dark areas: [0.001..0.01]

Tool for converting HDRI textures to cubemap versions: HDRI to CubeMap.

Weather settings

Weather settings

Wind

Creating wind effect in the game.

Wind parameters:

speed	Wind speed and direction. Affects the direction of visual effects (vfx) and the swaying direction of trees
amplitude	Swaying strength of trees

Haze

Creates a fogging effect at the edges of visibility. Used to hide objects beyond the visibility range and at the edges of the map.

Haze parameters:

enabled	Enabled/Disabled
color	Haze color
intensity	Fog brightness. Also used for HDR sky. To avoid fog glowing, this parameter should be reduced
start	Start of the haze in game units
end	Maximum haze density in game units

Weather

Includes weather effects such as snow or rain.

Weather parameters:

enable	Toggles weather effects on/off
density	Density of the weather effects
rain	Indicates whether it is raining
fx	Specifies the visual effect to display
sound	Selects the sound effect (sfx) for weather phenomena like rain or snow

Thunder

Thunder and lightning effects.

Thunder parameters:

enable	Enables/disables thunder and lightning
interval	Range for random selection of thunder and lightning intervals, in seconds
color	Color of the lightning
sound	Sound to be played after a lightning strike

Additional visual effects

Video Overlay

Video Overlay refers to the process of displaying a video on top of the existing visual content. This means that the video appears superimposed on the current game or application visuals. It is used for various purposes, such as adding special effects, informational videos, or cinematic sequences without interrupting the main content.

enable	Enables/disables the video overlay
file	Path to the video file to be overlaid
color	Tint color for the video overlay

Lens Flare

Lens Flare refers to visual artifacts that occur when a bright light source, such as the sun, shines directly into a camera lens, causing light to scatter and create various shapes and patterns. In a game engine, lens flare effects are used to simulate this phenomenon, adding realism and visual appeal to scenes where the sun or other bright light sources are present. This effect can enhance the immersive experience by mimicking how cameras and the human eye perceive intense light sources.

enable	Enables/disables the lens flare effect
preset	Name of the configuration file with sprites located in the resource\set\lens_flare folder
brightness	Brightness of the lens flare effect
fade	Time for the lens flare effect to appear when sunlight is on the screen and disappear when the sun is off the screen

Post Process

Post-processes in lighting are effects and techniques applied after the main scene rendering to enhance the visual quality of lighting, add realism, and stylize the image.

Eye Adaptation

Automatic brightness adjustment of the image

Parameter	Description
enabled	Enabled/disabled
target_exposure	Increase/decrease the image brightness before applying the tone mapping curve
exposure_min	Minimum exposure value, below which the image brightness will not decrease. Maintains dark scenes properly dark
exposure_max	Maximum exposure value, above which the image brightness will not increase. Helps prevent overexposure and detail loss in bright scenes. Can be used to create controlled-bright effects.
rate	Brightness adaptation speed
fix_exposure	Ignore image brightness data for exposure calculation
fix_whitepoint	Ignore image brightness data for white point calculation. Does not work with ACES tonemapper

The exposure_min and exposure_max parameters are used to control the brightness range of the scene during automatic exposure adaptation (eye adaptation). These parameters help maintain the visual integrity of the scene under various lighting conditions.

Tone Mapping

Tone Mapping is the process of converting HDR brightness range to LDR range for proper display on standard screens. HDR images contain a wider range of bright and dark values than standard displays can reproduce. Tone Mapping helps preserve details and contrast in these images when displayed on a screen.

Parameter	Description	Note
enabled	Enables or disables the use of tonemapper. If disabled, colors in the [0..1] range are directly output to the screen
aces	Enables the standard ACES tonemapper, which emulates film shooting. In ACES mode, all curve parameters are ignored.	Should be enabled in lighting presets for MoWII.

Achieving the desired effect is usually possible by adjusting the target_exposure parameter in the eye_adaptation block or using LUT.

When the aces option is disabled, the manual tone mapping parameters become available.

Example of configuring tone mapping parameters in the Environment Editor

Histogram Explanation:

• Toe: The lower bend of the curve

• Shoulder: The upper bend of the curve

• Linear: The straight part connecting the toe and shoulder

The tone mapping curve parameters

Parameter	Description	Note
white_point	Intensity of the HDR scene corresponding to white in the resulting LDR image
linear_angle	Slope of the linear part of the curve	Contrast in midtones
shoulder_length	Defines the shape of the shoulder	Contrast in highlights
shoulder_strength	Defines the steepness of the shoulder	Contrast in highlights
toe_numerator and toe_denominator	Define the shape of the toe	Contrast in shadows
toe_strength	Defines the steepness of the toe	Regulates contrast in shadows

The influence of each parameter on the output brightness overlaps. For example, adjusting the toe parameter will also affect the midtones, while adjusting the shoulder_strength will affect the entire curve to varying degrees. Therefore, a sequential adjustment of a series of parameters is necessary (white_point -> linear_angle -> shoulder -> toe).

During the adjustment process, there may be situations where intermediate parameter changes result in incorrect image display, making it difficult to evaluate their impact. Therefore, the editor includes a histogram feature that displays the range of incoming brightness and the function of converting HDR to LDR. This helps visualize the impact of parameters on the tone mapping process during intermediate adjustment stages. The histogram components in the editor can be enabled via console commands.

Console command parameters for histogram

Console Command	Description	Note
v_hdrHistogramOn [0 | 1]	Disables/Enables the histogram display	Default is 0
v_hdrHistogramLinearRange	Sets the scale of incoming brightness	0 - linear, 1 - logarithmic (default is 0)
v_hdrHistogramFixedLumRange	Maximum incoming brightness	Default is 0, which sets the maximum scale equal to the scene's maximum brightness if adaptation is enabled. Otherwise, the maximum brightness of the scene must be set manually using this command.
v_hdrHistogramScaleBinHeight	Scales the height of the histogram bins	0 - no scaling

Glare

Glare around bright areas of the screen

Parameter	Description
threshold	Brightness threshold above which glare appears
scale	Glare intensity adjustment

Blue Shift

The image becomes gray in unlit areas, useful for night maps

Parameter	Description
enabled	Enable/Disable
threshold	Brightness threshold at which the transition to gray starts

Depth of Field

Simulates the work of a camera.

Parameter	Description
enable	Enable/Disable
focus	Distance from the camera to the center of the focus area
width	Width of the focus area
far	Distance from the far edge of the focus area
near	Distance from the near edge of the focus area
blur	Level of blurriness for areas outside the focus zone
smooth	Smooth transition between sharp and blurry areas

SSAO

SSAO stands for Screen Space Ambient Occlusion. It emulates shadowing at surface intersections.

Parameter	Description
enable	Enable/Disable
standard	Standard or extended parameters

LUT

Instead of brightness, contrast, saturation, and tone modifiers, image adjustment is implemented via texture.

The reference texture that does not alter colors when used is called lut_default.tga.

Local Light sources

The brightness of local light sources is influenced by the global light_intensity parameter. The brightness parameters are multiplied when calculating the resulting brightness of local light sources.

Parameter	Description	Value Range
intensity	Sets the brightness of the center of the light
radius	How far the light reaches
compression	Compression of the attenuation curve towards the center	2..100 (default is 2)

Examples of attenuation curves

• X-axis: normalized distance from 0 to 1 to the center

• Y-axis: normalized intensity from 0 to 1

compression = 2

compression = 16

compression = 100