Let there be Light!

WORKS ON NECESSE v1.3.3

And the Player said: 'Let there be Light!'

The Book of Necessians 1:1-5

1. In the beginning the world was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep caverns. 2. And the spirit of the Player moved upon the dark terrain, bearing a wooden stick dipped in pitiful resin. 3. And the Player looked upon the vanilla torch, and behold, it cast light of merely two cubits, and darkness remained upon the land. 4. And the Player ventured forth into the gloom, stepped unawares upon a concealed pressure plate, and was smitten unto death by spike traps and cave horrors. 5. And the Player wept bitterly, lifted eyes unto the heavens, and cried: 'Let there be Light!' — and there was Light: two-fold in brilliance, casting away the shadow realm, and behold, it was very good.

Let there be Light! is a gameplay and lighting overhaul for Necesse that finally fulfills the divine commandment of true illumination. Banish birthday-candle torches, pitch-black death traps, and stick-littered bases forever.

Why You Need This Mod

• Stop Squinting in Dark Caves: Better Torches cast light twice as far as vanilla torches, helping you spot ores, chests, traps, and lurking monsters long before they reach you.
• Save Inventory Space & Wood: Because brighter fixtures cover wider areas, you use 50% fewer torches. This means fewer wood-chopping trips and more open inventory slots for dungeon loot.
• Craft and Uncraft Anywhere: Upgrade 4 vanilla torches into 1 Better Torch directly in your handcrafting menu while exploring underground. If you ever need regular torches back, you can uncraft them on the fly with zero material loss.
• No More 'Stick Graveyard' Bases: Replace messy ground torch spam with elegant Steel Lamp Posts, 4-way Wooden Hanging Lanterns, and majestic Phoenix Lamps.
• Conquer Flooded Caves & Deep Oceans: Normal torches cannot be placed in water, and vanilla water lanterns are barely visible. The Abyssal Crystal Lantern floats on water with realistic wave bobbing and illuminates deep flooded trenches.
• Wire Automation for Modern Towns: Connect lights to daylight sensors or switches to automatically turn off your settlement's lighting during the day or when settlers go to sleep.
• Sprint & Ride Without Torch Clumping: If you use the AutoTorch mod, this mod dynamically projects placement ahead of your movement vector, so sprinting or riding mounts never causes torch lag or clumped placements.

New Lighting Fixtures

• Better Torch (300 Light Level — 2x Vanilla)
• Mountable on ground and walls. Hand-craftable anywhere on the fly (4x Torch -> 1x Better Torch) and uncraftable back to vanilla torches. Perfect for mining tunnels and deep dungeon exploration.
• Steel Lamp Post (350 Light Level)
• Heavy industrial metal street lamp with dynamic spark particles and wide coverage. Perfect for town pathways, plazas, castle courtyards, and perimeter security.
• Wooden Hanging Lantern (350 Light Level)
• Cozy rustic lantern supporting 4-way mounting (left walls, right walls, back walls, or ceilings). Perfect for taverns, log cabins, mine shafts, and indoor ceiling lighting.
• Phoenix Lamp Post (550 Light Level)
• An ornate golden beacon forged from iron and gold bars at the anvil, radiating a massive warm solar glow. Perfect for town centers, grand monuments, and boss arenas.
• Abyssal Crystal Lantern (450 Light Level — 3x Water Lantern)
• Supercharged tier-2 aquatic lantern with floating wave physics and bioluminescent aquatic particles. Mountable on land or floating in water. Perfect for ocean exploration, flooded cave caverns, and fishing docks.

Smart AutoTorch Integration

If you have the AutoTorch mod installed, this mod seamlessly upgrades its placement behavior:

• Lookahead Travel Placement: Predicts your movement direction (including diagonal sprinting) and places torches ahead in the dark instead of trailing behind you.
• Dynamic Spacing: When holding Better Torches or Phoenix Lamps, torches are automatically placed 12 to 16 tiles apart instead of 3 tiles, saving your inventory.
• Surrounding Light Awareness: Senses existing fixtures up to 20 tiles away and avoids dropping duplicate torches into already-lit hallways.
• Water & Land Smart Switching: In ANY_LIGHT mode, it automatically places floating Abyssal Lanterns over water and solid torches on land.
• Anti-Clumping Protection: Eliminates torch pile-ups against walls when dashing or riding fast mounts while the lighting engine computes.

Crafting Recipes

• Better Torch: 4x Torch (Handcrafting / Workstation)
• Vanilla Torch (Uncraft): 1x Better Torch -> 4x Torch (Handcrafting / Workstation)
• Steel Lamp Post: 1x Iron Bar + 1x Torch (Iron Anvil)
• Wooden Hanging Lantern: 1x Any Log + 1x Torch (Carpenter Bench)
• Phoenix Lamp Post: 1x Iron Bar + 1x Gold Bar + 3x Torch (Iron Anvil)
• Abyssal Crystal Lantern (Upgrade): 1x Water Lantern + 1x Quartz + 1x Any Gem (Workstation)
• Abyssal Crystal Lantern (Direct): 1x Torch + 1x Any Log + 1x Quartz (Carpenter Bench)

Configuration & Customization

Everything is customizable in settings/lighting/settings.cfg:

• Adjust brightness of any fixture
• Customize color warmth, hue, and saturation.
• Choose recipe difficulty (EASY, MEDIUM, HARD).
• Full multiplayer synchronization: Server settings automatically push to connecting clients.

Credits & Acknowledgements

Huge thanks and appreciation to the original mod creators whose foundational work and ideas made this mod possible: