Screen Effects

[Xmaily]

Hello Ownedcore,

Today I come to you with a very interesting question! I am working on a quest where players get buried underground and I need a spell that Turns your screen pitch black. Right away I started looking at spells that change the effect of your screen and didn't find any that turned your screen pitch black. So I then did some research and found out that this can be done through ScreenEffect.dbc. So i kept looking and found a guide on Mod Craft for editing ScreenEffect.dbc files. However, he explains just as much as the wowdev page does on this topic.

After more searching I found a video where someone else created EXACTLY what I am looking for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoFkeA-spfY. In this video the people talk about how the colour is handled through rggbbxx which is coulom four in the DBC file. However, I don't know what flag or number I would need to put in the make a screen pitch black. I tried copying other numbers from coloum four into the specific spell I was trying to use but nothing happened.

In some cases the effect got totally removed and in other cases there was no change. Does anyone know anything about ScreenEffect.dbc or how to make your screen pitch black.

Thanks!

[stoneharry]

ScreenEffect.dbc - WoWDev

RGB Color Codes Chart

RGB 0, 0, 0 is black.

I don't really know what else to say. The video you posted was mine, it was that simple.

[Xmaily]

ScreenEffect.dbc - WoWDev

RGB Color Codes Chart

RGB 0, 0, 0 is black.

I don't really know what else to say. The video you posted was mine, it was that simple.

So I literally went to the page you linked and put 000000 in column four as stated and when I cast the spell in game it literally does nothing.

Edit:

Here is what my dbc file looks like atm;

41 Borean Tundra - Mist of the Kvaldir 3 0 (when I put multiple zero's as stated in the page you link it goes to one zero) 0x6 40 -1 0 0

[Xmaily]

Do I need to edit any other columns other then column four for this effect to occur?

[stoneharry]

Just tested my record:

800,"Test Dark Screen",3,-16777216,0x1,100,,-1,0,0,

1 ID int
2 Name str
3 Type int
  0: ffxEffectGlow
  1: ffxEffectDeath
  2: ffxEffectNetherWorld
  3: ffxEffectSwirlingFog
4 Col color, see in hex. rrggbbxx
5 edge int Screen Edge Size - lower the value, closer to the centre of the screen it will go.
6 bw int (the higher this is.. the more Black and White the screen will go) - higher the value, more black and white (greyscale) it will go.
7 unk null
8 LightParams iRefId
9 SoundAmbience iRefId
10 ZoneMusic iRefId

Why do I have that value?

RGBX = Red, Green, Blue, Unused channel.

Each channel is a uint8 value ranging from 0-255 then shifted into its position in a 32 bit integer.

So if you extract each channel: https://ideone.com/OtCXRO

	public static void main (String[] args) throws java.lang.Exception
	{
		int colour = -16777216;
		int r = (colour)&0xFF;
		int g = (colour>>8)&0xFF;
		int b = (colour>>16)&0xFF;
		int x = (colour>>24)&0xFF;
		System.out.println(r);
		System.out.println(g);
		System.out.println(b);
		System.out.println(x);
	}

 stdout copy
0
0
0
255

0, 0, 0 = black, 255 for the unused bits.



Test other records to see what those values have produced if you get stuck again. It helps with debugging.

Edit: Since the X channel is just ignored bits I believe, you can just use a colour to RGBA converter since alpha will then be the ignored channel and RGB remains in the correct positions.

[Xmaily]

Just tested my record:

800,"Test Dark Screen",3,-16777216,0x1,100,,-1,0,0,

1 ID int
2 Name str
3 Type int
  0: ffxEffectGlow
  1: ffxEffectDeath
  2: ffxEffectNetherWorld
  3: ffxEffectSwirlingFog
4 Col color, see in hex. rrggbbxx
5 edge int Screen Edge Size - lower the value, closer to the centre of the screen it will go.
6 bw int (the higher this is.. the more Black and White the screen will go) - higher the value, more black and white (greyscale) it will go.
7 unk null
8 LightParams iRefId
9 SoundAmbience iRefId
10 ZoneMusic iRefId

Why do I have that value?

RGBX = Red, Green, Blue, Unused channel.

Each channel is a uint8 value ranging from 0-255 then shifted into its position in a 32 bit integer.

So if you extract each channel: https://ideone.com/OtCXRO

	public static void main (String[] args) throws java.lang.Exception
	{
		int colour = -16777216;
		int r = (colour)&0xFF;
		int g = (colour>>8)&0xFF;
		int b = (colour>>16)&0xFF;
		int x = (colour>>24)&0xFF;
		System.out.println(r);
		System.out.println(g);
		System.out.println(b);
		System.out.println(x);
	}

 stdout copy
0
0
0
255

0, 0, 0 = black, 255 for the unused bits.



Test other records to see what those values have produced if you get stuck again. It helps with debugging.

Edit: Since the X channel is just ignored bits I believe, you can just use a colour to RGBA converter since alpha will then be the ignored channel and RGB remains in the correct positions.

Oh okay that all makes sense surprisingly haha. One more question though, after making these changes the screen isn't as black as I would like it. In your YouTube video the screen was even blacker. In the ScreenEffect.dbc - WoWDev it says that column six is what's used to make the screen darker or brighter. So i increased that and nothing happened. Do you happen to know what the issue is here?

Thanks!

[stoneharry]

Oh okay that all makes sense surprisingly haha. One more question though, after making these changes the screen isn't as black as I would like it. In your YouTube video the screen was even blacker. In the ScreenEffect.dbc - WoWDev it says that column six is what's used to make the screen darker or brighter. So i increased that and nothing happened. Do you happen to know what the issue is here?

Thanks!

The documentation is misleading. It doesn't change black and white intensities, it makes it more greyscale (so ONLY white and black colours if set to 100).

Column 5 sets how far towards the middle of the screen the main effect extends. A lower value is closer to the middle. In the record I gave in the example I have it set to 0x1 (hexadecimal for 1). Set it to 0 and it should get as dark as it can get.

A different screen effect type may also be used to achieve a darker effect - I only tested this one.

edit: If you are looking to make the screen fully black you should use a full screen texture. The interface will still render over it if you set it up correctly.