Lighting

HaloBro35 · Post by **HaloBro35** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 8:40 pm

Hi, I'm new to mapping and I have a question. How do I control the lighting in my maps because I don't want to put torches everywhere since they don't give enough light and they don't match the textures of my map. Also how do i add fog. Thanks in advance guys.

Oh, and on more question. How do I add water to only part of the floor of my map? like a square floor with a river running through it that is pretty deep.

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 11:12 pm

Read any generic mapping tutorial for Quake, Quake 2, Half-Life or any game like that. If possible one made for the editor you use.

Post by **Dr. Shadowborg** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 11:59 pm

If using worldcraft, see Map -> Map properties -> Ambient Light for generic level wide lighting. Also note that you do have more types of light entities than just walltorches. Note that when you have created a light entity, you can set it's strength and stuff as well by selecting the light entity, then right click, properties -> Brightness.

I dunno about fog.

As for water, you should be able to figure it out yourself, it's not that hard.

HaloBro35 · Post by **HaloBro35** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 3:17 am

Thanks for the lighting info guys. As for water, I just meant I wanted to make a river run through the floor of my map. I know all you have to do is apply the texture to it. I just wana know how I can make it deeper and all. Thanks in advance guys you are a big help.

Oh, and on the lighting issue. Is there some sort of light entity that doesn't show up as an item, like an entity that is invisible but gives off light? Also how do I make shadows?

Electro · Post by **Electro** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 5:19 am

The entity named "light" makes light. It'll calculate shadows (lightmaps) for it when you compile your map.

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 8:13 am

From the side:

Black are solid brushes, blue is the water.

HaloBro35 · Post by **HaloBro35** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 1:14 pm

Thanks guys! Sorry if I bothered any of you with all my questions.

Post by **Dr. Shadowborg** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 2:48 pm

HaloBro35 wrote:Thanks guys! Sorry if I bothered any of you with all my questions.

No problem, that's what we're here for.

Incidentally, pretty much all the light entities except the walltorch, the flame, and the spritebased orb thing are invisible. The only real differences is that some can emitt sounds.

mh · Post by mh » Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:44 pm

You can also download some map files and see how others have done it.

RenegadeC · Post by **RenegadeC** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 3:50 am

Brightness on a light entity will light up a larger area but you'd be wise to combine it also with the keyflag 'wait' as it'll expand the light over a greater distance giving it a more softer touch; meaning it'll look a LOT nicer.

This also allows you to use a low brightness on a light entity and 'spread' it out more.

As for deeper water, just drag the water brush downwards.

absynth · Post by **absynth** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:07 pm

the way i got it to work (not saying this is the only way or the best way.. heh)

i use "arghlight.exe" instead of light.exe

then going to map / map properties in WC default light level works.. plus arghlight allows negative light (subtracting light from other light entities) although negative light (say -100) will not subtract light from the default light level..

there must have been another way to do this before arghlight, but i never got a good explanation that made sense to me

also, am i missing something regarding rivers and such.. can quake 1 have waterfalls and such as is (meaning not a moded version of quake 1) that would rock if it were possible.

leileilol · Post by **leileilol** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:29 am

absynth wrote:can quake 1 have waterfalls and such as is (meaning not a moded version of quake 1) that would rock if it were possible.

dspiral.bsp

absynth · Post by **absynth** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:58 am

interesting. how was that done? it seems like it would be possible for like blinking computer textures and such. makes me think about half life and how you could do that with certain texture names.

i could see quake just cycle through x textures at 10fps.. like how you can with .mdl files making skin0,1,2 etc in a sub folder

the dark summer engine doesn't have any changes to address texture behaviour so if your method required something special, i'm not sure...

wait, did you do an animated sprite on a fixed axis? that could almost work except for the wide surface area of your waterfall.. still that gives me an idea..

would just be great to get a truely fluid rolling texture that has transparency... but hey it's quake 1.. for dark summer we need efficiency and those kind of effects come at a cost.

Thanks!
Caleb

mh · Post by mh » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:51 am

The rogue mod did waterfalls/flowing water using an animated texture, and to be honest it looked quite ugly.

frag.machine · Post by **frag.machine** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 2:50 am

[pimp]I implemented scrolling textures in Q2K4 quite easily (you can check it in one of the demo maps available to download in my project's page), it's just a matter of changing the u, v coordinates across the time. I believe it's reasonably viable to implement in software mode (althouh I never tried it TBH). [/pimp]