Unsolved Underbody lights using props and spotlights

So I've been playing for most of the afternoon with props in an attempt to make underbody lighting work. So far I've managed to get a light to shine at the ground from the underside of the car while the vehicle is running.

Walls I've hit and am unable to get over:

- Spotlight is a tiny spot on the ground, I need to make the angle wider to extend the light to the edges of the car

- The refnode triangle I have chosen I don't think is perfectly level with the car, is there a default set of refnodes I can use that are essentially 0,0,0, dead centre of the cars base and perfectly flat plane?

- Activating the cookiename seems to break the JBEAM entirely, and it won't show up in the mod menu at all.

Code below if anyone wants to persue before suggesting how to move forward:

Code:

{
"coupe_neon": {
    "information":{
        "authors":"ItsJustCurtis",
        "name":"Neons",
        "value":500,
    }
    "slotType" : "coupe_towhitch",
"props": [
    ["func"      , "mesh"              , "idRef:", "idX:", "idY:"            , "baseRotation"        , "rotation"                 , "translation"        , "min", "max", "offset", "multiplier"]
    {
        "lightInnerAngle":0
        "lightOuterAngle":180
        "lightBrightness":1
        "lightRange":10
        "lightColor":{"r":255, "g":255, "b":255, "a":255}
        "lightAttenuation":{"x":0, "y":0, "z":0}
        "lightCastShadows":false
        "flareName":"vehicleHeadLightFlare"
        "flareScale":0.5
        //"cookieName":"vehicles/coupe/neons/coupe_neon.DDS"
        "texSize":512
        "shadowSoftness":0.5
    }
   
    ["running"    , "SPOTLIGHT"        , "f3l", "f2l", "f3r", {"x":180, "y":0, "z":0} , {"x":0, "y":0, "z":0}    , {"x":0, "y":0, "z":0}, 0, 0, 0, 1, {"baseTranslation":{"x":0.0, "y":0.0, "z":-0.0},"lightRange":180,"lightBrightness":1,"flareScale":0.5}], 
],

}
   
}

I've read the props, spotlight positioning and glowmaps wiki, though used nothing from the latter. I would like a better understanding of how the different variables affect the light and its reflections. The appearance of the light itself isn't a concern, as it will be hidden under the car, what I need is a good reflection on the ground for the full effect, which is why I'd like to use the cookiename. If I can get that working and the size of the spotlight extending past the body then I should be able to move forward.

 

Slight update, I've managed to get a the cookiename working, however it seems to force a spread towards the camera, which I don't particularly want, though I don't know if thats just because I've used a 100% white .DDS at the moment. I shall experiment further and report back
--- Post updated ---


Yep, confirmed it was just the way the game responded to the .dds I had. Now if I can work out how to make this appear bigger on the ground that would be ideal. Alternatively I will make 4 repeats of a single line in different positions relative to the nodes, more effort but may end in a better result.

 

Okay so trying to duplicate the lights just resulted in the game dropping the .dds for some reason. No errors shown in the log. Any help would be appreciated

 

will this be for only dev made cars?

 

Yeah its hard enough getting the node positioning right on that, no way I'm going to be adding it for modded cars

 

Thanks, I hadn't considered that, I'll have a play now