Lighting problems -_- Created 18 years ago2006-08-13 12:03:49 UTC by flyingduck

I'm thinking of making a series of 'Wrecked ship' maps for HL2, however I can't seem to get exterior lighting right. When i compile the outdoor vmf. it turns out to be pitch black...
The first map is set at night-time so the pitch-blackness vaguely suits the map but i need a little light else it looks dire.
Can you help please?

Well be a bit more specific, are you using a light_enviornment? Those emit light from the skybox. If you are, then the brightness is too low; a brightness of around 20 will do nicely for a night setting.

skybox......

I'm used to non-source mapping, I only started source yesterday....

How do you do a skybox?

A "skybox" is a brush that encompases the map area covered in the "skybox" texture. This texture becomes invisible in-game, and from it, you see the sky. When using a light_enviornment, the light settings from that entity are emitted from the skybox, giving the play area within the skybox the look like night or day.

I'm not sure if there's a skybox tutorial somwhere in this site... I'll have a look around.

EDIT: no tuts for a plain, old Skybox :

Well, simply put: to make a skybox, make your map, then make a brush that covers the entire map. Hollow it out, and make all of the brushes' faces the "skybox" texture (type in "skybox" into the filter setting in the texture browser, it will be close to the bottom.). Compile and look at your pretty new sky. Just make sure that you have a light_enviornment, or no light will be emmitted from the skybox. If you dont like the sky texture, the enter the texture browser, type in "skybox" or "sky" and look for the textures that have names like "skybox/sky_day01_03rt". Find the one that you like, and write down its name. go to map > map properties... > skybox texture name and put the skybox name without the "skybox/" and "rt" or "sv" or what ever 2 letters are at the end of its name. it will look like "sky_day01_03"

Hope that helps yeh

Yep it works now! Thanks!

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Sky_List

Shows you a list of skys and the default brightness/ambiences that valve used in their maps. Usefull for getting the light to match the sky,

www.interlopers.net

Has hundreds of tutorials.