CROWD AND ARENA LIGHTING 101. TIPS/GUIDE/TUTORIALIts long overdue, since 2k20 a lot of people asking how to make the crowd brighter or darker or the whole arena itself.. We don't have a New-Gen gameplay and graphics on PC, but at least we can replicate or imitate the looks of New-Gen graphic wise or a Realistic approach. as PC is capable enough to handle what the New-Gen consoles can. I made a small tips/pointers on how to edit the arena, especially the crowds for lighting modders and this part are always overlooked.
Here are 3 samples/scenarios of edited crowds (and arena).
scenario 1: crowd_lighting.FxTweakables onlyAmerican Airlines Center - Dallas Mavericks
use Hex editor can edit the crowdfx
big thanks to Santicruyff for the pointers.
000001ec - overall brightness multiplier
00000180 - lower section (near court) brightness/darkness
0000027c - overall color balance (hue)
000001a4 - color balance
000001c8 - shadow
(this method will work on a lot of arenas including retros)
crowd fx and lightmap download:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/eo47es9y ... p.rar/file scenario 2:crowd_lighting.FxTweakables and crowd_seats_pixel.***.ddsCrypto.Com Arena - LA Lakers
Lakers "Lights Out" is known since 2006, were lights were out at seating areas.
this "lights out "effects cant be achieve thru crowdfx. only, even you set the hex value to the lowest or darkest, the crowds on 3-level suites are still well lit . You need to edit the crowd_seats_pixel.***.dds to solve the issue. here is the sample of edited crowd_seats_pixel.***.dds I made last year which still work on 2k20-23.
same as crowdfx you can use Hex editor to edit the crowd_seats_pixel.***.dds As you notice, to compare with 2k default seatpixel the difference between modded on 00000000 until 00063260, as this area controls the upper sections until the lower suite sections of the arena. (note: all crowd_seats_pixels are unique in every arena, they have different configurations/arrangements)
Lakers seats_ pixel download:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/38l9oiit ... s.rar/file scenario 3:crowd_seats_pixel.***.dds only (you can edit the crowd_lighting.FxTweakables to balance the color etc.)
Chase Center - Golden State Warriors
As we notice on default 2k Chase Center has dark crowd starts on mid of lower section (100 level in general).. Again, the crowd_lighting.FxTweakables is not enough to edit this.
I edit the crowd_seats_pixel.***.dds of s019.iff for the entire crowds to look more realistic.
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how to edit crowd_seats_pixel.***.dds
to make crowd brighter, you can copy the float values from the bright parts of crowd, and paste in the darker parts and the other way round, or use the seats_pixel file from other arena as a reference.
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all Arena lighting (walls, steps etc.) can be done through lightmaps. the darker the lightmap, it creates the lighter effects, vice-versa.
fog effects can be added thru PostEffect.FxTweakables..
you can see the tutorial here
viewtopic.php?f=267&t=111557&p=2033629&hilit=fog#p2033629 by Santicruyff
Player lightings can be done in 3 ways, 1. PostEffect.FxTweakables 2. arena.scne VC_spotlights setting 3. minion ibl specular
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No Reshade on all screenshots