Natural Light for RimWorld
Introducing a revolutionary device to illuminate, ventilate and defend your base: the WINDOW! Your base designs are never going to be same.
Once your pawns realize they've been cut off from nature's light cycles, they're going to crave it! The outdoors need levels are going to decay 3x faster* if they are stuck indoors without windows. You are going to need them all over the place! But you better plan well. Be prepared to set aside some land, because the windows can only pump light in if they have acess to wide open areas. So say goodbye to the infinite hallways of rooms glued to one another in unhealthy bunkers and welcome to the real-world architecture needs! Also, if you are playing with Dubs Skylights or Expanded Roofing, all light coming from your skylights or transparent roofs counts as natural light too. But just like in real life, it suffers a small 10% loss when crossing the glass framings.*
Your windows can act as vents. But you will need to research glass-making before you can build windows that can filter air or light independently. More advanced windows can ventilate even with their shutters closed, even if at a lower rate. If you're playing with Glass+Lights, all research and production chains will be integrated.
Who needs embrasures when you can use a window that opens and closes? That's right: your pawns can shoot while ducking behind a window, with a cover value equivalent to sandbags. When the enemies get too close, the window can be closed and it will become equivalent to a wall. Let them come! Of course, they might decide to charge the windows themselves, and they are weaker than a regular wall. You might find yourself with a breach on your hands! But don't worry, there's a fortified window you can install on more sensitive locations. They just won't come cheap!
If you're playing with Nature is Beautiful, its rebalanced version or Beautiful Outdoors, the windows will calculate their own beauty stat by summing up all the beauty on their outside field of view. This means your rooms will actually benefit from having a garden next door! For balancing reasons, we've inculded a "beauty sensitivity reduction" factor*. * These adjustments are customizable on the mod's options panel, so you can totally have it your way!
This is not a cosmetic mod! It was designed to make designing your base a more challenging (and thus, rewarding) task. It gives you as much trouble as benefits, so you must consider the tradeoffs carefully. Windows provide pretty good and flexible defensive positions, but they will also become weak spots on your walls. They provide a free light source during the day, but your colonists will suffer if they are away from it. And they only work if you can place them between interior and exterior spaces, natural light only going as far as the next obstacle is on the other side. For this reason, I don't recommend adding it to a game you already started, even if it doesn't actually require a new savagame. You've been warned! Please don't ask me to nerf it without trying it first!
You can safely add this to your saved game. About other mods, we simply cannot test it with every one out there. All we can do is design for maximum compatibility and hope for the best. If you're unsure, please give it a shot. If you stumble on any problem, let us know and we'll do what we can to fix it. Integrates with:
- Dubs Skylights: The windows will require glass panes. The skylights and the smelt glass recipe will require the Glassworks research (except if also using Maaxar's Dubs Skylights Glass+Lights Patch and Glass+Lights). Note that light passing through will suffer a 10% level reduction, just like with the windows (you can change this on the mod's option panel). Also, the skylights' material cost will be significantly higher in order to fit in with the windows.
- Expanded Roofing: The Transparent Roof Production research now will require the Glassworks research. Its cost was reduced to compensate for that. This means Transparent Roof will only be possible after the windows. As a side effect, transparent roofs no longer produce those ugly shadows! Note that light passing through will suffer a 10% level reduction, just like with the windows (you can change this on the mod's option panel).
- Glass+Lights: The windows will require glass, reinforced windows will require reinforced glass. G+L's Glassworks research project replaces the one added by this mod. Also, if G+L is present, it will affect Dubs Skylights: glass replaces glass panes and the smelt glass recipe is removed (this means you no longer need Dubs Skylights Glass+Lights Patch).
- Nature is Beautiful [1.0], Nature is Beautiful [rebalanced] & Beautiful Outdoors: If one of them is present, the windows will calculate their beauty by summing up the beauty on their field of view. The pawn's sensitivity to beauty will be reduced to compensate (you can change this on the mod's option panel).
- [KV] RimFridge: Wall refrigerators get the same treatment as the windows, vents and coolers: now they're actually linked to the walls!
Not compatible with:
This mod's light distribution model was inspired by Dubs Skylights. Many thanks for that and for the help! Also, thanks to Thom Blair III and Vermillion for their willingness in making compatibility easier with their respective mods, NanoCE for the support and inspiration, and Brrains, Krafs, lbmaian and erdelf on the Harmony Discord channel for the help.
Open for collaborations on: https://github.com/jptrrs/OpenTheWindows