Adding light

MaGicBush

L2: Junior Member
Jun 9, 2009
56
1
I finally got Hammer to start working again and am just trying to get the lighting in my map correct for the first alpha, but I can't seem to get it to show up like I want it. Looking at Valve maps one light source will light up the whole room, I use a few and can't seem to get it right(still seems dark). What colors do you use when lighting? What brightness do you use(for a well lit map, like cp_well)? I have went through a few lighting guides, and I understand how to make them. Just have been using trial and error about 10 compiles now, and can't seem to get it bright enough? Thanks for any help!
 

MaGicBush

L2: Junior Member
Jun 9, 2009
56
1
Actually one question, using the library I noticed I need to use 120 lights for just red's area is this normal?
 

Cameron:D

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 28, 2008
363
145
You may have a leak, after you have complied, go to Map->Load Pointfile, and follow the red line to where it leaves the level. Brush entitys (ie func_detail) will not block or 'seal' the level, nor will props and displacements,
 

MaGicBush

L2: Junior Member
Jun 9, 2009
56
1
Tried loading, but it pops up a box asking to load a .lin file and doesn't find one. I assume that means there is no leak? I changed some of the light values to a brightness of about 1500 and still require at least 80 lights on one base lol. I think I may have my ceilings to high, and that's what is causing the issue, I will try lowering the ceilings and see if it helps :).
 

LunchBox

L1: Registered
Jun 13, 2009
41
4
120 is ridiculous lol i used 4 and it works just fine. Here is what i did it might help you out :D
Under each of your lights put a light_spot. The settings i used for the light_spot are brightness - 251 250 238 400 inner (bright) angle - 60 Outer (fading) angle 80 Focus - 1
Then i also threw in a point_spotlight and those settings are
FX amount - 128 Color - 173 141 99 Spotlight length - 400 Spotlight Width - 100 HDR color scale - 1.0
I used this in a completely enclosed room and it works just fine. Hope this helped you :D
 

Cameron:D

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 28, 2008
363
145
What type of light entity are you using?
light_spot are best, the light entity just makes the presence of light, but doesn't really lighten things up much
 

MaGicBush

L2: Junior Member
Jun 9, 2009
56
1
I was using just the light entity, then started using the library. Using the light entity I needed about 120 of them to get some lighting but not very bright. Using the lighting library it cut this amount down to about 80, even adjusting the brightness. I posted my pre-alpha screenshots under the map section, some suggested I needed to scale down the map. I think I just have the ceiling to high in the different areas of the map(about 4x to high lol). So gonna scale down the height a bit and try your suggestion Lunchbox.
 

Sgt Frag

L14: Epic Member
May 20, 2008
1,443
710
Yeah, that's alot.

I like to place alot of light entities myself and don't think I've come close to that.

Make a light entity (not spot). This is an omni light (light in all directions). Leave the standard 200 brightness. add a little color if you want but not too much (that looks bad, it's a game not a circus).
Make the 50% radius something small like 100 or 200 (try to keep the yellow sphere from touching any walls or you get a hot spot), then make the 0% radius large (like 1200 or 2000), that yellow helper sphere can clip stuff, doesn't matter.

That'll give you a nice fade from bright to no light and light up most areas pretty well.
You can adjust those valuse for different size rooms, but leave brightness at 200.
If it's too bright make the inner sphere smaller (45 or less will give you a fairly dim light but still light the whole room).