Verdict

The verdict is out. The tests were suffice to say: unsuccessful. This was not entirely unforseen. I expected it to be impractical. I dont have any screenshots since my desktop can longer connect to the internet for a time. (Why post screenshots of a failure to begin with? ;) ) If anyone is interested in the results, feel free to read on.

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There were two files for the sun: fx_sun.dds and fx_sun_glow.dds. The fx_sun file is the massive white ball that you see move around the sky and the first target of my experiment. I replaced this file with the fx_lens_flare.dds file into my override. The first result was a tiny sun with some barely noticeable rays. OK, so I went back thinking that maybe if I increase the image size it would increase the size of the sun. Unfortunately not. Increasing the image size to 1024x1024 or 2056x2056 yielded the same size sun. It would appear as if the engine takes the fx_sun.dds file and resizes it before putting it into the sky. First part of the test was a failure.

But what about the fx_sun_glow.dds file? This test proved a little more successful than the last. Same method involved (minus the resizing). The result was a transparent lens flare effect in the sky of decent size. This transparency effect is added externally from the texture file. Second and final part of the test was a failure.

Between the game resizing images and adding transparencies to create the non-artistic white ball in the sky, a lens flare effect simply isn't possible. However you can replace the sun image with an object of equal size and you won't run into any issues. Want a blue sun with some minor details? Its completely possible. Just don't expect to make it any larger than it already is.

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