Searchlight vs Spotlight difference?

[Ventus]

Surprised I didn't find a thread here explaining these.

Whats the difference other than cost? Just built one of each and they look the same. The searchlight didn't track enemies either and I couldnt man it.

Thanks in advance

[Player1]

As far as I know there isn't a difference, searchlights will be added to your mounted crossbows and harpoons.

[Ventus]

Ahh, sorry, the lights added to crossbows are a different thing. I'm specifically wondering about the crafted light 'Searchlight' and 'Spotlight' that hangs off walls and buildings.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Ventus:

Ahh, sorry, the lights added to crossbows are a different thing. I'm specifically wondering about the crafted light 'Searchlight' and 'Spotlight' that hangs off walls and buildings.

No idea. I thought the Searchlight was supposed to rotate or something like that. There was some mention, somewhere, of either of those lights helping to reveal stealthy enemies... but that's BS as far as I know since NPCs don't "stealth" AFAIK.

[mr_bman]

The searchlight is brighter and covers a larger area with light.

[Ventus]

Originally posted by mr_bman:

The searchlight is brighter and covers a larger area with light.

Not according to my screenshots. Visually, identical (unsure of hidden stats differences in detecting stealth).

[cdplayer906]

your screen shots are wrong then. search light has about twice the ground coverage of lighting than a spotlight.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by cdplayer906:

your screen shots are wrong then. search light has about twice the ground coverage of lighting than a spotlight.

Interesting. I tried one, once, on a building in a Town. I couldn't spot the difference. Will have to try it again, since that was early in my first playthrough.

[Shidan]

Here are the stats pulled directly from the FCS.

Searchlight
Brightness: 0.8 - 1.2
Radius: 750 (75 meters)

Falloff curve: 0.5
inner cone angle: 60
outer cone angle: 80


Spotlight
Brightness: 0.3 - 0.9
Radius: 300 (30 meters)

Falloff curve: 1
inner cone angle: 40
outer cone angle: 90


So it is possible to get a Spotlight with the same or even better brightness level as a Searchlight, which could help explain your screenshots. But Searchlights have higher max brightness and are more consistent with it.

Radius I think would be hard to mistake, but I can't be sure what it looks like in-game thanks to all these other appearance values like "falloff distance for inner and outer cone angles". No idea what that means or translates to in-game. :P

Edit: Added the falloff curve and cone angles to post.

[cdplayer906]

how is the range of brightness decided? height, ???, profit?

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Shidan:

...
So it is possible to get a Spotlight with the same or even better brightness level as a Searchlight, which could help explain your screenshots. But Searchlights have higher max brightness and are more consistent with it.

Radius I think would be hard to mistake, but I can't be sure what it looks like in-game thanks to all these other appearance values like "falloff distance for inner and outer cone angles". No idea what that means or translates to in-game. :P

Good informative post!

Falloff distance, inner and outer cone angles would be useful, too. That's basically a way of mimicking "real light." Falloff distance is the point at which the light begins to decrease in intensity/strength. Cone angles determine the spread and how the intensity varies from the focus point to the outer limits. If you posted the numbers, it might be helpful.

Can these be edited in the FCS??!!

I do remember, now, Engineering different sorts of lights when I first researched them and it may have been the Searchlight I found particularly bothersome because it was far too bright for where it was built. There are formulae one could use to fine-tune lights intended for specific placement/use so they didn't suffer from burnouts/washouts. ie: First Story Light, Second Story, etc.

And, if Lanterns could have those values edited, it might be nice... Though, I have to say that I noticed some dynamic reduction of burnout (multiplicative lighting effects that washout an area with "brightness") occurring. I hadn't noticed it happening before, but as my squad came together to heal up after a night battle, the bloom/burnout gradually reduced the longer I started at it from close range. I was very surprised, but haven't tried to duplicate it.

Thanks for those numbers!

[Shidan]

Updated post above with the numbers. And yes, it's trivial to edit these in the FCS, once you know where to find them.

You have to open the part entry that goes with the object you want to edit, then find the name of its light entry. After that you have to manually search the lights section of the FCS and find the one it specified. Inside that you can find and edit these numbers. :)

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Shidan:

Updated post above with the numbers. And yes, it's trivial to edit these in the FCS, once you know where to find them.

You have to open the part entry that goes with the object you want to edit, then find the name of its light entry. After that you have to manually search the lights section of the FCS and find the one it specified. Inside that you can find and edit these numbers. :)

You've created a monster...

I'd be the world's worst Art Director, but nobody has to play the game with the lighting effects I'd want. :)

Gonna go bloom hunting. I assume the lighting engine is Ogre3d's. (Will check what docs I can find on it.)

PS - Can light emitters/objects have animations/frames? Time for a Disco revival?

[Ventus]

Marked best answer. Solid reply (we need a Kenshi wiki squad to update the piss poor wiki with gems like this reply).