SPOOKY STORY



I made this latest screenshot after having spent a lot of time trying to figure out what decides the order of the sky's layers in the MDO file. After I succeeded in getting everything to look right (the glow behind the moon was being animated) I made this screen, and didn't want to go so far as to fire up a game of KF2 to confirm the position of the moon in the sky.



I was just looking for a nice view of the moon, that also included the water (and no unfinished tiles) and liked this one... wanting to incorporate a familiar location if possible.



I didn't think this was where the moon was supposed to be (edited: I just chose this position in the sculpting software, having to pick a side.) But I liked the shot anyway. But I was just now in the emulator and it occurred to me to check... and as it just so happens this is the moon's position in the sky!



I kind of expected it to be on the opposite side, because I can now see that there is zone-wide directional lighting (which I've attempted to reproduce) and if the light was the result of the moon, then it would make more sense for the moon to be on the opposite side , or actually, now that I look again, on the SW side .



Strikeout: Maybe there are lights shining from both SE and SW so that more or less it is from the south. But also the lights point up at the ceiling, and so it's not cut and dry that the moon can be a source of the light... obviously not indoors. I think the moon is in the north.





I might move it to the south side yet, so that the light sides of the cliffs line up with moon's position.



The glow in the emulator seems much fainter. And the moon is smaller, but looks very similar. I thought the circle would have a 3D highlight, but it doesn't actually. It looks like the screenshot. Except it seems a little oval... which might back up my impression that the horizontal/vertical FOV is not in line with the aspect ratio... or it might be because it's said that old televisions would make the picture wider for Super Nintendo games, and so it might be the same for PlayStation... but if so, the emulator isn't simulating this.





EDITED: For what it's worth, I've left the sky model so that the stars actually move like the clouds in SOM's skies. I think I may leave it this way. The PlayStation's stars twinkle as you move, so something like movement in the stars is a substitute. Although, what I find funny is that the stars closer to the ground seem to not move at all. I can't understand why not. It likely means that the sky effect must not be so straightforward.