How do I know how much mem my high-res lightmaps are using?

(Cardigan) #1

And how much is the proverbial ‘too much’ ? I noticed some very strange things going on when I set my whole map to lightmapsamplesize 1… :slight_smile:

(ydnar) #2

I’d use _lightmapscale on specific func_groups to tune the shadows in your map. Using global -samplesize 1 is overkill.

y

(Cardigan) #3

hehe, I know - I was just experimenting… :wink:

is there anyway to find out the memory load though, so that when I’m making my func_groups I can balance the lightmapscales so they don’t use up loads of mem and make the map run badly on machines with low video memory?

(Hewster) #4

I guess, to find the size of your lightmaps…
do a compile without light, then do one with, and look at the
difference in the size of the bsp’s :slight_smile:
I am presuming the lightmap’s arn’t compressed in the .bsp ?

If lightmaps are 128x128 pixels x 32bit (4 bytes … 1byte = 8bits),
then 1 lightmap is 65,536 bytes ?
then you could note the number of lightmaps produced at the end of
compile, and multiply by 64 = Total lightmap data in Kb’s ?

Am I right ydnar ?

Hewster

(cloudscapes) #5

Compile with -export switch, select the resulting lightmap TGAs in Explorer and voila! :smiley: The amount of mem they will take a tthe bottom of the window.

(Cardigan) #6

aha! very cunning, cloudscapes! :slight_smile:

I guess if I just add what could be considered ‘extra’ lightmap data (ie the additional memory used when I change the resolution from the default) to the total texture load (/imagelist) that should give me a reasonably accurate performance indicator.

cheers guys

(ydnar) #7

You could also use the -info switch. Q3Map2 will spit out the sizes of each part of the BSP file.

y

(Cardigan) #8

aha, even more cunning! ydnar, as usual, has it covered… :notworthy: :slight_smile:

(Valhue2) #9

Since you can export lightmaps, is it possible to import lightmaps? Hypothetical situation: A completed map (meaning no further brush work will be done to it, nor anything that has to do w/ solid manipulation or light manipulation), compileit w/ the -export switch, and then find the lightmap that co-incides(?) with the area that you wish to manually adjust, import that TGA into, say Photoshop, and manually change its apperance (im going to assume that Black is shadow and White is light), then once you are completed with that, then recompile with the -import switch (or whatever) option to add the new lightmap to the level.

If this is already possible, then sooper… if not then… krappy.

V^2

(ydnar) #10

Yes, you can import lightmaps back into the BSP. Note: The BSP that exported the lightmaps is the only BSP that can recieve the exported lightmaps.

Note: Q3Map2 removes duplicate lightmaps in the BSP, so if two surfaces are identically lit, they will share a section of lightmap.

y

(wudan) #11

Is there a way to turn this off? Also, how can one make changes to the lightgrid without changing the lighting of a level?

For instance, if I wanted to make the lightgrid lighter than it normally would be without making my map lighter than it normally would be, how do I do this?

(Valhue2) #12

I kinda figured… seeing that if you have a huge outdoor type map, it isnt going to have the same lightmaps as a small gothic indoor type map… But thats good to know… i guess… well gotta experiment i guess…

V^2