Lighting problems

(Grand_Mister_P) #1

Hi, ive been using these forums to make a map of my own and i must say theyve been excellent at helping me. However one problem remains, LIGHTING!!!
Its an outdoor map that has an underground tunnel. When i playtest it, the outside area lighting is fine, however down the tunnel, even though ive chosen dark textures, its still really light. The textures used in the tunnel are only used there.
I want to put a very dim light in the centre of the tunnel too which i can do, but i want to sort getting the tunnel dark first.
Im very new to this, so please, a step by step guide to sorting this would be appraciated big time!

Many thanks in advance.

P

(TerraForma) #2

have u done a -light compile ? if u missed it everything in your map is illuminated …?!

greetz
TerraForma

(Mr_Tickles) #3

Not sure if this actually creates light or if it just makes shadows less sharp… try removing your ambient light key from your worldspawn, also, check to see if you have a minlight in there aswell.
Sometimes pictures help :slight_smile: If you need an image host try -> http://image.hostcubix.com/upload.php (Remember to size them down to about 600 pixels width)

(Grand_Mister_P) #4

I dont think so, ill go give that a try in a sec, everytime ive tried in the past, radiant just crashes on me. Ive no idea what all the -via -meta -whatver mean though see, ive been using (single) BSP - meta. ill investigate shortly.

(Mr_Tickles) #5

Lol, well, you may want to use a light compile… try using -light, hmmm, yeah, radiant seems to crash on me with the other compile options aswell, MadJack has a very, very handy batch file for compiling, i’ll try to find the link for you. (It doesn’t use the radiant compiles but goes straight to the compiling program itself, never crashed on me yet)… brb

(blushing_bride) #6

bsp meta does not do lighting so thats why your tunnel is light because everything in your map is full bright. to get light in your map do bsp light fast. if this crashes your computer then either use a batch file to compile with or download and install a newer version of gtk radiant. I used to use gtk radiant 1.3.8 and light bsp’s crashed my machine, after switching to gtk radiant 1.4.0 i had no problems whatsoever. You can find information on both of these by searching this forum, sorry i cant remeber links to gtk off the top of my head.

(Mr_Tickles) #7

Ok, back. Right this is the link where I had my own compiling problems:
http://www.splashdamage.com/index.php?name=pnPHPbb2&file=viewtopic&t=7958

About half way down that MadJack says to use his batch file and links to the batch file here:
http://www.splashdamage.com/index.php?name=pnPHPbb2&file=viewtopic&t=7733

All the instructions of how to use the batch file and where to install them should be on those pages somewhere.

Also, see if you can get the latest version of the compiler, q3map2. The one that was linked back then might be an older version, i’m not sure.

Have fun!

(P.S. Thanks again for the batch file MadJack :))

(Grand_Mister_P) #8

Great!!! Just dled 1.4 and it light compiles now. So the tunnel and huts are fine as ive put a light source in, but now my whole maps pitch black other than that!!! Surely theres some sort of general lighting something? i want the whole to of the map to be lit just dimmer that usual as if its late afternoon. Youve been a great help so far, so one last thing would be awesome please! (hopefully last thing ;))

Many thanks

P

(Grand_Mister_P) #9

Ahh, just like it is in the radar map!!! Also how do you get the sky to act like that? like it is on radar? (less the rain, unless someone wants to explain that too :))

Many thanks

P

(blushing_bride) #10

sounds like you need a sky. In radiant go to textures then skies then choose sd_batterysky (there are lots of skies but most of them dont work without alot of messing around with shaders and stuff, i think sd_goldrush works as well and thats a night sky but be more suited to what you want). amyway once you’ve chosen your sky make a massive box around the level (or draw a giant brush and hollow it) and texture it with this sky (this is not a good way to make a sky but its easier to explain and is quick). once you’ve enclosed your level in a skybox run the bsp thingies and the sky should light up all the outside bits of your level.

(Grand_Mister_P) #11

Yeah, thats what ive got atm! How much worse is explaining how to put a proper sky in? If it helps, you can walk right to the edge of my map…

(blushing_bride) #12

well making a skybox does create a proper sky but its not the most efficient way of doing it if you want to optimise your framerates and stuff. If you load up goldrush.map in the editor and have a look at that you will see an example of how to make a skybox that is not one giant hollow box. Looking at goldrush is probably the best way of explaining it. In goldrush imagine that the streets are tunnels and that the sky is the roof and upper sides of the tunnel. The point of this is that you dont want the game engine to be drawing the entire level all the time as this could potentially make your frame rates lower. The way you make your sky entirly depends on what your map is like so it would be impoosible for anyone to explain the best way to do it for you. the main thing is that the sky lights up the exterior parts of your level to save you from having to place hundreds of individual lights. If your sky functions properly your map should not be pitch black. hope that make some kind of sense.

(Grand_Mister_P) #13

Yes it did thanks!

P