light_surface - Point Entity

Introduced by Vluzacn's Compile Tools, this point entity functions as a single-texture specific lights.rad and <mapname>.rad with much more advanced control of the texture light's appearance.

Entity Properties

Class Info

• Texture name (_tex) - Name of the texture to emit light from.
• Filter max range (_frange) - Only apply to faces whose center is within this radius.
• Filter max dist to plane (_fdist) - Only apply to surface whose normal distance of its plane is within this value.
• Filter entity classname (_fclass) - Only apply to surfaces belonging to entities of this classname.
• Filter entity name (_fname) - Only apply to surfaces belonging to entities whose targetname is this.
• Texture brightness (_light) - Brightness of the light emitted. Similar to how it works for light.
• Color(replace texture color) (_texcolor) - Normally uses the average color of the texture for the emitted light. Use this to override that.
• Inner(bright) angle(90default) (_cone) - Similar to light_spot's Inner Radius. Sets the fully bright part of the light cone.
• Outer(fading) angle(90default) (_cone2) - Similar to light_spot's Outer Radius. Sets the angle where the light cone has faded to completely dark.
• Adjust emit scale(1.0default) (_scale) - Functions like -scale option on the RAD compiler(?). Higher values results in brighter light and vice versa.
• Grid size of sampling (_chop) - Has limited functionality. Sets the sampling grid size for scaled textures but cannot affect lightmap grid.
• Dark gap in front of texlight (_texlightgap) - How far to move the light from the emitting surface. Can help prevent light bleeding through thin lamp brushes and such.
• Fast (_fast) - Same as using the -fast option on the RAD compiler(?).
• Classname in game (convertto) - Used by the compiler to set the entity's in-game classname. You will most likely not need to set this.
• Name (targetname) - Toggles the emitted light on or off.
• Appearance (no name allowed) (style) - Light appearance. Values:
  • 0 = Normal
  • 1 = Flicker A
  • 2 = Slow strong pulse
  • 3 = Candle A
  • 4 = Fast strobe
  • 5 = Gentle pulse
  • 6 = Flicker B
  • 7 = Candle B
  • 8 = Candle C
  • 9 = Slow strobe
  • 10 = Fluorescent flicker
  • 11 = Slow pulse, no black
• Custom Appearance (pattern) - Sets a custom pattern for the light style using a string of letters from a to z, from brightest to darkest respectively, up to 64 characters.

Flags

• Initially dark (1)
• Not in Deathmatch (2048)

Notes

• This is the only type of texture lighting that can be triggered on or off, and that supports light styles.
• Unlike lights.rad and <mapname>.rad or info_texlights type texture lighting, this does not scale with texture size and the brightness instead behaves more like that of light entities.
• Filter max dist to plane (_fdist) is preferred when lighting a row of lights that lie on the same plane, as the normal distance is identical.
• Filter max range (_frange) is preferred when lighting a bunch of light fixtures that are not on the same plane but clustered within a certain area. However it is affected by face subdivisions.

The following shows difference between Filter max range (_frange) and Filter max dist to plane (_fdist). The value is 80 in both cases.