Hey guys, I'm new to this website. I've been looking for a good portal mapping community and it looks like I've found one. :0)

I don't have much to contribute yet since I'm new to mapping in Hammer (though I do have some experience in UnrealEd that will certainly transfer over).

However, I do have a question.

I'm working on my first map and I'm trying to add some recessed lighting to it. I'm using the light_recessedcool002 texture the same way the sample SDK map is, but for some reason only a single light source is created from the texture instead of a whole line of lights along the wall.

I've even tried directly copying the recessed lighting group objects right out of the sample map, but they do the same thing. I also tried recompiling the sample map to see if it was an issue with compiling/hammer similar to the common cubemap problems, but the sample map recompiled just fine.

Does anyone know what might be causing this? I've got all of the textures settings set identical to what the sample SDK map has, and I've tried multiple scalings/rotations, but I still only get one light source. Is there a properties page that I need to go to to configure texture-sourced lighting?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Check your map for leaks; radiosity may fail to generate properly if there are leaks anywhere, which will cause some funky lighting artifacts. Failing that, can you describe the problem more precisely? A screenshot, perhaps?

Korjagun wrote:
Check your map for leaks; radiosity may fail to generate properly if there are leaks anywhere, which will cause some funky lighting artifacts.

Sweet. That was it. I had a HUGE gaping hole at the bottom of the starting elevator shaft. I feel like an idiot.

Is there a quick way to tell if your map had any leaks when you compile short of trying to load a pointfile?

If there are any leaks, you'll notice some pretty big warnings at the top of the log. It's hard to catch them when they're just whizzing by, but just scroll the window up to the top and they should be easy to spot.

The pointfile is the easiest and best way to check for leaks, really. The log just says that you have them.

Does anyone know what texture the lighting recessed into the metal walls is called? It's a yellowish texture (or possibly white with a yellow light on it, in which case, does anyone have an estimate of that light color?).

If it is textured lighting (which honestly kind of sucks in Source, sadly) then those values are preset and you only need to place the texture on a brush. As for which ones it is exactly, you can probably load up the example map and see what they use.

The console command "mat_crosshair" displays the name of the material/texture under the crosshair.

im pretty sure that texture you're using doesn't produce light by default.

You can make any texture produce light by making a .rad file

Example:

mapname.bsp uses lights/light_recessedcool002 as a recessed lightsource

make a new text document in the directory the bsp is located. name it 'mapname.rad'

open the .rad file in notepad and type on line one the texturename and r g b brightness

so mapname.rad has
lights/light_recessedcool002 135 207 255 300

if there are any other texture lights, just put it on line 2. thats the values I used for that very same texture in my map.

you will know if it works, when during compile it comes to the RAD computation, at the begining of that stage it says something like:

[Reading texlights from 'lights.rad']
[53 texlights parsed from 'lights.rad']
...
[2 texlights parsed from 'h:\steam\steamapps\account\sourcesdk_content\portal\mapsrc\mapname.rad']

where 53 is the actual number of that light its putting in the mapfrom the default lights.rad file

2 is how many lights are being parsed in from the custom rad file in the map directory, overriding any default ones that may conflict

let me know if you need anymore help

The lighting I'm trying to duplicate is the kind of lighting found in the level where GlaDOS talks about momentum. They're indentations in the metallic walls which contain the lights/white001 texture but give off a bright, bright yellow light. I can't seem to get the same level of saturation and brightness achieved in the original level.

have you made a .rad file?
if so just adjust the RGB and brightness value in that file, and recompile the map

sadly we can't see (that I know of) specific settings used in .rad files for the official maps, because these values are external to hammer, they only come into play when calculating the RAD for the map.

The white texture already emits a light - is it possible to change it?

yes, its using the default values in the lighting.rad file for the game, making a mapname.rad file will override any duplicate values with what you specify

Looks like it has the effect I want if you just compile for HDR lighting. :0)

what exactly are you looking for? more light bounces?

you could always pair a texture light, with a seperate bouncelight. Its a good way to fake radiosity we use in 3d art.

lemme try and draw you a ascii picture cause im lazy and dont want to open 3dsmax or photoshop (I will if you need me to)

hole in wall \ = light rays _ & | = hard surfaces o = bouncelight
[ ] /|
\ / |
\ / |
___\o/ _ |

ok I have no idea if that makes sense to other people. but what it means, is where the highlight, or brightest part of the wall is, put another light, not as bright, that will "extend" the lighting

this would work best if the highlight is definable, if not you can use the bouncelight carefully to fake it being definable, but it would be noticable if anything passes in front of it.

if only we had lights like 3dsmax

EDIT: yeah the ascii thing didn't work, it took out the spaces, just say the word and I'll open 3dsmax for ya

Dear Artesia,

Stop making ascii drawings, they don't help anyone. Open up MSPaint and attach your image to the board so that people can maybe understand what you are trying to convey. Thanks.

Love,
Comprehension

lol alright, opening up 3dsmax as we speak, ill upload it in a few minutes

I'm making a new post called Bouncelighting as this might help other people as well

I made a single-room map to demonstrate what I'm walking about.

Here is the effect I was getting:

Basically, it's just a boring white texture in the ceiling that emits light. However, it looks nothing like the typical lights in Portal.

Here is the effect I wanted:

This looks a lot more like the Portal lights. All you have to do is check the HDR box when you're compiling your map. It's more drastic here because I only have one other dim light in the room, but the effect is quite impressive even in a well-lit room.

EDIT: I'm also having a bit of trouble with the other recessed lighting - one of my walls is extremely bright and flaring out of the recession, and the other is only lighting up the recession that brightly. I think I have to pan the textures some (haven't tried it yet), but I figured I'd give a quick heads up in case the fix is something I haven't thought of yet. I'll post screenshots tomorrow if I'm still having problems.

go take a look at my newest post at

viewtopic.php?t=386

the first is basic lighting techniques, the newest post is actually what you're doing right here