Lights: Custom appearence

D

Davve

L1: Registered
Feb 18, 2012
2
0
I have six lights, each with a different Custom Appearance attribute:

zzzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaazzzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaazzzzaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaazzzzaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazzzzaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazzzz

Where a: dark, z: fully lit.

What it should do: Each light should stay on for a short amount of time each, cycling through each other.
What happens: All lights flash at the same time, as if they were all set to the value of the first one (zzzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa).

What's going on here?

Do they all need to have different names? When I name them, only two of them work and I get the error "Too many light styles on a face at x" when compiling.
 
Last edited:
LeSwordfish

LeSwordfish

semi-trained quasi-professional
aa
Aug 8, 2010
4,102
6,597
Okay, lights that turn on and off are a bad idea. Each time a light can be on or off- any time a light is named, or set to use a custom apperarance- the compiler has to work out what the map looks like twice. If there are two lights in the same area,the compiler has to do it four times- once for both on, once for both off, one time for each one on and the other off.

Every named/variable light multiplies the compilation of the area its in by two. Presuming these six lights are within a few rooms of each other, that area will be compiled 2x2x2x2x2x2=64 times.

Whatever you're trying to do, env_sprites can probably do it better.
 
henke37

henke37

aa
Sep 23, 2011
2,075
515
Yes, you may need to give them unique names. And yes, the error means that the engine doesn't like more than two switchable lights per face.
 
Pocket

Pocket

Half a Lambert is better than one.
aa
Nov 14, 2009
4,696
2,580
Isn't there also the option of making lights that project but don't bounce, so they're basically just a toggled decal that glows? Or is it only non-spotlights that can do that?

EDIT: And I don't mean env_projectedtexture either; I'm talking something kind of like the flashlight in GoldSrc, where it created real-time changes to the lightmap.
 
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