Severe lighting issues

YM

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Dec 5, 2007
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Ok so I have come across an insanely bizzare lighting problem.

I've got a custom prop made by yours truely and i have several copies of it one after the other with a teensy tiny bit of overlap between them but nothing that should cause problems (and indeed when moved to counter the overlap by ~3 units there is no change)

Of course I'm running with -staticproplighting and there is evidence of this working on all of the props in question.

here is the problem ingame:
clearlywrong.JPG


As you can see one prop is lit nicely and the one directly next to it is pitch black even though as the brush placed next to them for reference there is clearly enough light in that area for it to be well lit. To further show that something is wrong ingame and not in hammer the raytraced lighting previews show that the prop should be recieving enough light.

As shown here:
clearlyright.JPG

Which clearly shows (almost no bounce lighting) that the lighting on each is pretty even.

Since i know the first poster will demand a compile log even though i can asure you all there is nothing anomolous in it, here it is anyhow - Here, click me.
And since i know someone will say it, i'll restate it: This is taken with -staticproplighting added to the compile parameters. The prop's origin isnt even in any geometry anyhow, it should be directly in the light.
No leak, compiled with cordon.


Dr. Y. M. Suess said:
"It lights without intensity!"
"It lights without vibrance!"
"It lights without red, green or blue!"
And he puzzled and puzzed 'til his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
"Maybe Lighting," he thought, "doesn't light from a point. Maybe Lighting...perhaps...means a little bit more."
 

YM

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They're not in any geometry and infact they're floating in the air, both of those props' origins are free from world geometry, the properly lit one is in direct line of sight to all the spotlights whilst the poorly lit one is inside one of those rock props. However its compiled with -staticproplighting so it shouldnt be using the origin at all for lighting.
 

Rexy

The Kwisatz Haderach
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Dec 22, 2008
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Is VFIG referring to the qc command, the "$illumposition"? I've had props do this similarly when not giving the qc a good $illumposition...and when you place the prop next to world geometry, like in your case, it tries to get lighting from inside world geo...however, if you're compiling with -staticproplighting, then really, this problem beats me.

Just out of curiosity, what is your prop's $illumposition? Because now that I think of it, if your prop is trying to get lighting from somewhere else, this could be it.
 

YM

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Went in and added a rudimentary collision mesh to it (i know props shouldnt need them to light properly, eg goldrush's tracks) and nothing.

Compiled without -staticproplighting and it looks suspiciously similar to the compile with -staticproplighting. I know that when i run it, it definitely runs since the rock models light totally differently with and without it.

It seems that somehow my single prop isnt working with -staticproplighting D:
 

Rexy

The Kwisatz Haderach
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Dec 22, 2008
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Try giving your prop's qc an $illumposition and see if that does anything.
 

Psy

The Imp Queen
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Apr 9, 2008
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Could be something really silly like smoothing groups though the other prop seems fine. Hmph.
 

Rexy

The Kwisatz Haderach
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Dec 22, 2008
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Just make sure your prop doesn't occupy 0 0 0 (I think that's default anyway, even if you don't specify it in your qc)--your prop will find it's lighting from those coordinates. I always place my $illumposition at least 1-2 meters in front (or any direction that is supposed to be 'not the back') of the prop to be sure.

Then again...$illumposition might not even have anything to do with this problem. It's a bizarre problem to be sure.
 

EArkham

Necromancer
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Aug 14, 2009
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What happens if you place an info_lighting at the origin position of the properly lit prop and use that for the badly lit prop? Of course, you won't be able to use -staticproplighting with an info_lighting.

Kep
 

YM

LVL100 YM
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Of course, you won't be able to use -staticproplighting with an info_lighting.

Its actually the other way around, staticproplighting disables all info_lightings on static props, so adding one would be a waste of time.
 

Rexy

The Kwisatz Haderach
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Dec 22, 2008
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So you still haven't figured it out? Cause now I'm intrigued.
 

A Boojum Snark

Toraipoddodezain Mazahabado
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Nov 2, 2007
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I feel I need to say it... you didn't accidentally turn off vertex lighting on that particular prop_static did you?

edit: there is, in fact, something anomalous in your log, you have multiply-abutting displacements. :p not related but I had to point it out.
 
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MoonQuake

L3: Member
Jul 18, 2009
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A few more maybies:

Do you have more than one set of these arches?
Did you do Shift-Drags to copy them in sets of two?
Also, did you use Flip object horizontally for the other halves for each arch or worst, for all halves? :)

I've had hammer crashes and sometimes improper lighting issues like you have because of doing such dare-devilish operations with models. Seemed it screwed the origin even though it looked fine in hammer and properties.

Had to add and browse for the model separately for each object and it fixed it.

---

Also, is the cordon touching part of that pitch black half-arch?

---

What kind of light is lighting the scene? What are inner and outer cones angles if it's a light_spot? The inner angle value lights up models so if it's too small it might not light up your model properly, and if the light is rotated in a way it doesn't point at the dark arch, that could be it.

MQ
 
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YM

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I feel I need to say it... you didn't accidentally turn off vertex lighting on that particular prop_static did you?

edit: there is, in fact, something anomalous in your log, you have multiply-abutting displacements. :p not related but I had to point it out.

No and yes i know, that particular error is obviously not what interlopers says it is since i always seem to get it and i never do what they're saying it is.

Ok new info:
Seems they are vertex lighting after wall, i made a new instance of the prop ant stuck it elsewhere, clearly vertex lit. copied it to the proper location of the originals and deleted the orginals.....exact same problem. it seems inherant to the location of the prop D:
 

Darth Cyrax

L2: Junior Member
Nov 29, 2008
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VRAD enjoys giving you a big middle finger? Maybe it's getting revenge for you telling everyone how to make the model shadows work right:p.

Have you tried moving the whole structure a unit(or a few) over? Although that would probably be a pain, seeing how big it is.
 

EArkham

Necromancer
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Aug 14, 2009
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Its actually the other way around, staticproplighting disables all info_lightings on static props, so adding one would be a waste of time.

The Valve Developer's wiki should be corrected then, if someone has access to do so.

both of those props' origins are free from world geometry, the properly lit one is in direct line of sight to all the spotlights whilst the poorly lit one is inside one of those rock props

What happens when you remove the rock prop and compile?

Kep
 

Sgt Frag

L14: Epic Member
May 20, 2008
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I'd like to see wires of the model.

I have a feeling it is as low poly as possible (ie: the pillar only has one hieght segment and one width segment).

With vertex lighting more polys is better. You should have maybe 2 rows, maybe 3 height wise on the pillar and maybe 2 across. Same under the arches, shouldn't be 2 large polys across the entire width, but a gird of like 4,6 or 8 polys.

Might not be the problem, but would certianly point to why that whole section has such even lighting.
 

YM

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Dec 5, 2007
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The Valve Developer's wiki should be corrected then, if someone has access to do so.

no, because the VDC says what I said..
VDC said:
Note:When using this setting, it disables all info_lighting entities in your level and it will light models as if there wasn't one linked to them.
see??

I'd like to see wires of the model.
Plenty of polys to be lit, I know more is better for accurate lighting, first itteration of the bridge had less and looked bad.