Essentials Series/Stage Controllers

This page is part of the Essential Series modding tutorials. It will cover editing of some asset types.

Environment
Every stage must have exactly one Environment (ENV) asset, usually in the Default layer of the HIP. Most of the fields in this asset should already be taken care for you, as there is already one ENV in the blank HIP/HOP templates for custom levels.

The only field which is really interesting to edit in this asset is the Object_LKIT_AssetID. If you change the Light Kit you are using for your level, you must set its asset ID here so it will be applied to the objects.

If you're editing a Sand Mountain (SM) level, you can set the ClimateFlags in the ENV to 2 to enable snow! The ClimateStrenghtMin and ClimateStrenghtMax flags control this effect..

Light Kit
The LKIT is a very important asset, as it controls the lighting data of the stage. In stages made entirely of SIMPs, which is the case for all custom levels as explained in the Custom Models tutorial, SIMPs which do not have vertex colors will have dynamic lighting calculated for them using the LKIT asset.

There is no LKIT template in Industrial Park, but you can copy the asset from another level. For example, using the LKIT from Rock Bottom (RB) will quickly give your stage a night/dark feeling to it through the lighting setting without even having to change most textures.

To switch the LKIT, delete the ones that are currently in your stage's HIP and paste the one you want to use from another stage. After this, you must open the Asset Data Editor for the ENV asset and set the Object_LKIT_AssetID to the asset ID of the new LKIT.

You also need to open the PLYR asset and set the new LKIT asset ID there, in the LightKit_AssetID field.

Fog
The FOG is an optional asset for your level, usually in the Default layer of the HIP. There is no fog template in Industrial Park, so you must copy the fog from an existing stage. In the Asset Data Editor, you can choose settings such as fog start color, end color, start distance, end distance etc. Fogs can also be used to hide the glitchy background effect that happens in levels without skyboxes.

To enable a fog, you must send the On event to it, usually done with a ScenePrepare => On link in the fog. You can also have multiple fogs in the same level, switching among them using the On and Off events

HOP Model Controllers
These assets usually exist in the HOP's Default layer (except in Scooby, where there is no HOP). They control various information for MODL assets. If your HOP doesn't already have one of them, you can place a template, but it's not needed to have more than one as each can have any number of model entries. Their asset names do not matter.

Collision Table
The collision table allows a model to use a different model for collision checking or for camera collision than the rendered one. See COLL for more information.

Level of Detail Table
The level of detail table allows a model to fade out of view when the camera is at a certain distance from it, and even use different models depending on the distance. This is used to increase game performance by hiding models which are far away. See LODT for more information.

Pipe Info Table
The pipe info table sets pipeline rendering states for models, allowing you to enable vertex colors or transparency or create interesting view effects. See Pipe Info Table or PIPT for information.

Simple Shadow Table
The shadow table allows you to choose which model each model will use as a shadow. See SHDW for more information.