🕯️ Darkwater: Belt Lantern

Author: EGYS1N | Version: 1.0.0

"In the crushing depths of the industrial ruins, darkness is your first enemy. Don't let it be your last."

Belt Lantern is a high-quality, immersive expansion for Darkwater that adds a dedicated, hands-free hardware slot for your gas lantern. No more choosing between holding a wrench or seeing where you step — mount your light to your belt and reclaim your hands for the work that matters.

✨ Key Features

• 🛠️ Dedicated Belt Slot: Seamlessly move your gas lantern from your hands to your belt with a single keypress (V).
• 🌟 Atmospheric Point Light: Unlike directed flashlights, the belt lantern provides a warm, omnidirectional 360° glow, illuminating the environment naturally around you.
• 🔥 Procedural Flame Flicker: Features a subtle, gas-burning flicker effect with random intervals (30-120s), adding a layer of grounded realism to your gear.
• 🖥️ Adaptive HUD: A procedural lantern icon indicates your light's status (ON/OFF). The UI is resolution-independent and anchors itself perfectly to your inventory toolbar, regardless of your screen settings.
• 👥 Seamless Multiplayer: Fully synchronized across the network. Other players will see your belt light exactly where it should be.
• 💀 Safety Protocol: If you fall in the line of duty, your lantern will automatically drop into the world, allowing your teammates to retrieve it.

⌨️ Controls (Configurable)

• [V]: Transfer lantern between hand and belt slot.
• [L]: Toggle the belt light On/Off.

🛠️ Installation

1. Ensure you have BepInEx 5.4.2 or later installed.
2. Place DarkwaterFlashlight.dll into your BepInEx/plugins folder.
3. (Optional) Run the game once to generate com.darkwater.flashlightslot.cfg in your config folder to adjust brightness and positioning.

Developed with care for the Darkwater community by EGYS1N.

Changelog

1.2.1

• Finalized Light Defaults: Set intensity to 2.7 and color to author-approved warm glow.
• SFX Polish: Sound now only plays when toggling light ON/OFF. Slot transfer sounds removed until better assets are found.

1.2.0

• Mechanical Sound Effects: Added a satisfying metallic click/clank sound for all belt lantern interactions (attaching, toggling light).
• In-game Settings Menu: Added a real-time configuration window (Alt+V) to adjust light intensity and color while in-game.
• Improved Light Quality: Finalized light parameters for a more natural gas lantern feel (Warm Glow, Intensity 2.7).
• Dynamic Asset Loading: Implemented a system to load audio from the mod directory at runtime.

1.1.0

• Enhanced Multiplayer Synchronization: Implemented a new hybrid system using "Silent Chat RPCs" for instant updates and background "Inventory Polling" to fix light visibility for late-joiners.
• Improved HUD Icon: Dynamic binding to the game's toolbar (PlayerUI), ensuring correct positioning regardless of screen resolution or aspect ratio.
• Under-the-hood: Fixed icon file signature issues to strictly comply with Thunderstore standards.

1.0.0

• Initial release.
• Added Belt Lantern slot system (Toggle with V).
• Quick light switch on the belt (Toggle with L).
• Atmospheric 360° Point Light with procedural flicker.
• Initial multiplayer support.

0.2.4 (Pre-release)

• UI Scaling Fix: Implemented dynamic anchoring to the PlayerUI toolbar using RectTransform.GetWorldCorners().
• Fixed HUD icon jumping around on different resolutions and graphic settings.

0.2.0 (Pre-release)

• Added HUD icon to indicate lantern status in the belt slot.
• First implementation of DrawFilledRect for a procedural lantern silhouette.

0.1.0 (Internal Alpha)

• Initial prototype.
• Implemented core logic for transferring hand lanterns to a virtual belt slot.
• Attached Point Light to the player bone hierarchy with configurable offsets.