[Kolossus]

I have some questions about lighting:

1. What compile options can I choose to test the light effectively? So, the less options possible but capable of reaching the final result (I just want to test the light without waiting 86238476 hours for compile).

2. Does the distance of the sky-brushes from the terrain affect the source of the light? Not sure I am clear on this one. If I move the brushes that carry the skyshader, does the light source move or radiant doesn't really care?

I'm asking because if I test a section of my map with lighting and then recompile the whole map, I'd like the shadows to be cast the same way for that section.

3. What common shader should I use to clip models? For light, bullets, players?

This post has been edited by Kolossus: 03 June 2014 - 10:35 AM

[Mod Iye]

• That would be -light -v
  check out: q3map2 switches @ cmm wiki
  Though you might want to add a -bounce (note that this increasese compile time.)
  
• Depends. For your sun (ext) in your skyshaders it is irrelevant. But mostly you will want a low light value on the skybox, so that all areas at least have some 'natural' lightning. This would decay over distance. a lower value will do it, since its just for a more smoothed/natural lighting.
  
  Also: Consider not building boxed maps. Built your maps in different areas. and make the skybox thoutch the walls where possible. note that a skybox is like a weaponclip, so no (nades) passing through.
  there is a article about that somewhere......
  
• if i remember correctly there is an option to make models solid in the model ent in radiant. though that only worked on ase or something like that. Also its better to clip your models manually.
  In most cases you will want to use the weapclip texture. (actually the only clips you need are weapclip and playerclip; where weaplclip additionally blocks bullets/nades(damage))
  By clipping models manually you can make the clipping more simple (like a car can me clipped in 3-5 simple brushes), which makes gameplay smoother/easier
  To make your models cast shadows check the description in radiant. i think you want something like the _cs key. its described there.

This post has been edited by Iye: 03 June 2014 - 11:38 AM

[Kolossus]

Iye, on 03 June 2014 - 11:37 AM, said:

That would be -light -v
check out: q3map2 switches @ cmm wiki
Though you might want to add a -bounce (note that this increasese compile time.)

Thank you!

Iye, on 03 June 2014 - 11:37 AM, said:

Depends. For your sun (ext) in your skyshaders it is irrelevant. But mostly you will want a low light value on the skybox, so that all areas at least have some 'natural' lightning. This would decay over distance. a lower value will do it, since its just for a more smoothed/natural lighting.

Also: Consider not building boxed maps. Built your maps in different areas. and make the skybox thoutch the walls where possible. note that a skybox is like a weaponclip, so no (nades) passing through.
there is a article about that somewhere......

Yes, I'm not building a boxed size one, I'm trying to make the layout fit the "rooms" type of layout so I can block vis better. The skybox being a weaponclip is a bit annoying and doesn't help with realism but well... :P

Iye, on 03 June 2014 - 11:37 AM, said:

if i remember correctly there is an option to make models solid in the model ent in radiant. though that only worked on ase or something like that. Also its better to clip your models manually.
In most cases you will want to use the weapclip texture. (actually the only clips you need are weapclip and playerclip; where weaplclip additionally blocks bullets/nades(damage))
By clipping models manually you can make the clipping more simple (like a car can me clipped in 3-5 simple brushes), which makes gameplay smoother/easier
To make your models cast shadows check the description in radiant. i think you want something like the _cs key. its described there.

Oh I thought that the weaponclip brush would cast a shadow but thinking about it you're right. I'll look into it!

[Kolossus]

I tried applying the algiers sky shader (for testing) and compiled using

BSP -meta -vis -light

but the light is everywhere, no shadows are being cast, at least I can't see any.

[Mod Iye]

You can only use major switch at a time. All additional major switches (and all minor switches, that belong to an additional major switch wil be ignored.
So your compile wil, only do a meta, which has' no 'lighting.
You need to do a -meta first and a -light afterwards.
q3map2 wiki @wikibooks

Also you don't need the -vis for a simple lighting test. Vis is only needed for perfomance increases at a 'release' compile (also a pub alpha/beta)

[Kolossus]

Ah that's it! Thank you! :) I ran the compile twice, one for bsp and one for light.

So when releasing it, I have to compile 4234 times? :P

This post has been edited by Kolossus: 03 June 2014 - 05:09 PM

[Mod Iye]

nah. 3 times (as described in my OP link) should be good to go. :) (implied that you dont find a bug afterwards....)
also there are quite some compile scripts out there. some even with GUIs and stuff. i've written my own things in batch, so that it automatically does an backup and cleanup of the .map file, a full compile and a bsp.exe run to integrate the surface sounds.

Also, radiant (i used to use 1.5) has all those options built it. (it might not have the most recent version of q3map2, but that actually doesnt matter) You could just do check out the built menu there. (if i recall correctly it even has a final compile built button, which does all necessary things; you could also add/customize built options)

This post has been edited by Iye: 03 June 2014 - 06:16 PM