Help FizX Shadow Maps Not Showing Up For Certain Bulbs

[Guinness]

Going through some of my classic table favorites adding FizX, along with adding Shadow Map/Ray Cast ect. I decided to spice up Bubble Bobble. The FizX conversion went great, but with adding Shadow Maps the shadows aren't being cast from the slingshot bulbs. I can see the shadows from the slingshots in the BAM menu, but not after they are saved. Shadows are saved and being cast from all the other bulbs just fine.

Now the slingshot bulbs are off by default and scripted to blink when hit, I removed that code and turned the bulbs to on in the FP editor. I just think it makes the table pop more. It's not the first time I've done this on a table before and didn't have problems with the slingshot shadows on those tables, so I really don't think that's the issue.

It's not a deal breaker but just trying to figure out why it's behaving like this. Any ideas?

 

[TerryRed]

Be sure there isn't another surface on top of the playfield that may be blocking the shadowmaps.

Shadowmaps only render as part of the playfield surface texture.... but not anything else on top of it, or light inserts, decals, etc.... and it is was common for lots of tables to use fake playfield surfaces for faked lighting back in the days before BAM.

 

[Guinness]

How to check for another surface?

 

[GeorgeH]

There are some tables where shadow maps just don't work. Playfield textures that have high contrast don't work too well. I used to try temporarily replacing the playfield texture with a solid white texture. You can at least verify the shadow maps are working and adjust everything as bright as possible without flooding the whole playfield with white. Then switch back to the regular playfield. It might look better. If not, try setting "Reflection" to 0.03 or maybe a little more if the playfield is mostly black. It helps also if you reduce the amount of the light level. Shadow maps show up better on darker tables. It can help also if you add a little white light but not anymore than 0.1 or 0.2. If you find one, it can easily be replaced by one of the BAM texture swap code.

Tables that have multible layers of playfields have surfaces that fill the whole playfield but are set a tiny bit higher than the playfield so as to eliminate Z fighting. You can easily see them in the FP editor. They tend to be used to switch between light and dark playflelds. Some tables have large surfaces that are used to keep the ball from flying off the table. These are set to be transparent and are located at 40 mm or higher off the playfield. You can confuse these with the type of surface Identified in the previous paragraph.

 

[Guinness]

Thanks for the help guys, good advice for down the road but I found the issue from a place I wasn't expecting. There's a lot of bulbs on this table, and as I was saying the shadows for the slingshots did show up in the BAM menu, so I thought to try and delete all shadow maps except for the slingshots, and then there were the shadows.

I added most of the shadow maps back (around 30) and the slingshots were not rendering shadows again. I know the slingshot shadows are the last ones that get rendered, so I cut a few more shadows maps out from less noticeable bulbs, now 24 shadow maps, and the slingshot shadows are back again.

So I guess there is a limit to how many shadow maps can be rendered on a table? It seems like I've had more than 24 on a table before without issues, I don't know. Maybe it's just a strange case?

 

[TerryRed]

no limit.... just when you have a lot of shadowmaps in the same area, and depending on your settings the shadowmaps may be too bright to allow the shadows to be noticeable... as well as your other BAM lighting and post processing, etc.

A shadowmap is also a lightmap for the bulb... so its a balancing act to get everything nicely balanced to show both the light and the shadow.... and the playfield texture if dark makes it harder to see the shadows.

 

[Guinness]

Good to know. I Didn't think there was a limit but still probably overdid it in this situation. Don't need a shadowmap on every bulb when one is mostly buried deep under a surface anyhow. Less can be more here, focus on the major playfield bulbs so shadows aren't all over lapping and they can really pop.

 

[TerryRed]

shadowmaps also create ray cast shadows if enabled. The settings for the shadowmaps on a bulb directly affect the look of the ray casted shadow. Flashers will automatically use ray cast shadows unless you specify in script not to (which for some you may want that).

 

[Guinness]

Yes I enable ray-cast shadows on the ball. It's one of those things BAM brings to the "table" (see what I did there) that brings Future Pinball to life like never before.

 

[GeorgeH]

I suppose Terry is right that there is no limit on the number of shadow maps, but the more you add, the more resources on your PC you use. I don't normally use more than 15, definitely less than 20. You definitely don't need to add them to every available bulb.

Also, there are many ways to set up the bulbs on slingshots. You should check various tables. Some use 4 bulbs under each sling. If you want something simple though, you might try having 2 bulbs per sling that are always on but flash brighter when hit by the ball using code like this:

LeftSlingshotBulb.FlashForMs 200, 100, BulbOn

 

[Guinness]

Didn't know that last bit about making bulbs flash brighter, cool to know.