I've noticed on Half-Life 2: Lost Coast shadows seem sharper and nicer, may I ask how? - Developers

I'm just curious if anyone knows how they make those so much nicer, but when I compile they're all foggy around the edges, but I don't see anything on my compiler to let me change that type of thing. Does anyone possibly know how?

Reduce lightmap scale in the texture change menu

The lower the Lightmap Scale the Better the shadows

[url]http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Lightmap[/url] That's everything you need to know.

Ah, thank you all a lot. I'm assuming for now on the source engine the lowest is 4?

Why would you assume that, did you not read any of the dev wiki and just looked at the picture? And no it's not, the lowest is 1

I did, it just seemed like it went in multiples of four, so I assumed that.

[QUOTE=Reactors;25348881]I did, it just seemed like it went in multiples of four, so I assumed that.[/QUOTE] Do you not know how computers work? Practically everything uses powers of 2. 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192 16384 ect...

[QUOTE=LuckyLuke;25336987][url]http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Lightmap[/url] That's everything you need to know.[/QUOTE] This.

[QUOTE=Firegod522;25350918]Do you not know how computers work? Practically everything uses powers of 2. 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192 16384 ect...[/QUOTE] Yeah I knew that, I didn't know if some game engines worked differently though for some reason. I've been out of it all day today, so please excuse my ignorance.

I would not really go lower than 4 though, 8 preferably.

and use shadow_control (or whatever it is) to give npcs, props and stuff better shadows. [editline]10:46[/editline] rating yourself is fun :v:

[QUOTE=aaro1450;25354863]I would not really go lower than 4 though, 8 preferably.[/QUOTE] Honestly, it really depends. I think 4 looks good if the surface is right up to a light source, but higher lightmaps work better the further from light sources it goes.

Do lower lightmaps just increase compile time or do they drop frame rate as well?

[QUOTE=thedarkknight7;25360080]Do lower lightmaps just increase compile time or do they drop frame rate as well?[/QUOTE] They increase compile time, and don't affect FPS.

Well thank you all. I appreciate the help.

[QUOTE=Legend286;25360752]They increase compile time, and don't affect FPS.[/QUOTE] THEY DO affect FPS when you use dynamic lights. Any light that has an ability to be turned off is dynamic, even if you use simple light entity or spot light. I'm not really sure if naming lights doesn't make them dynamic too. Haven't been playing with hammer for a loooong time now, but I've got 2+ years of experience in it, though.

[QUOTE=Avager;25367829]THEY DO affect FPS when you use dynamic lights. Any light that has an ability to be turned off is dynamic, even if you use simple light entity or spot light. I'm not really sure if naming lights doesn't make them dynamic too. Haven't been playing with hammer for a loooong time now, but I've got 2+ years of experience in it, though.[/QUOTE] We aren't talking about dynamic lights. naming lights add to the compile time, due to it has to make another sheet for the lighting, whether its on or off.

[QUOTE=Firegod522;25367992]We aren't talking about dynamic lights. naming lights add to the compile time, due to it has to make another sheet for the lighting, whether its on or off.[/QUOTE] So yea, naming lights make them dynamic. Thank you for clearing this for me. What I said in my last post was about lightmaps which are small ( less or equal 4) and are used by lights that are dynamic (named, switchable (on/off) or flickering). Loss of FPS is lower with higher lightmap set on brushes... Get it ?

[QUOTE=Avager;25368636]So yea, naming lights make them dynamic. Thank you for clearing this for me. What I said in my last post was about lightmaps which are small ( less or equal 4) and are used by lights that are dynamic (named, switchable (on/off) or flickering). Loss of FPS is lower with higher lightmap set on brushes... Get it ?[/QUOTE] Your knowledge of the Source engine disappoints me. Naming lights doesn't make them 'dynamic' in the way that you seem to think, and they certainly don't lower fps.

[QUOTE=Legend286;25376249]Your knowledge of the Source engine disappoints me. Naming lights doesn't make them 'dynamic' in the way that you seem to think, and they certainly don't lower fps.[/QUOTE] Actually if you would read my posts above, I said already "I'm not really sure if naming lights doesn't make them dynamic too. Haven't been playing with hammer for a loooong time now" But low lightmap with switchable light DOES provide you with less FPS than high lightmap with switchable light (tested already couple of times on Pre-ww2 PC where you see differences in FPS graph by doing certain things).

[QUOTE=Avager;25377137]Actually if you would read my posts above, I said already "I'm not really sure if naming lights doesn't make them dynamic too. Haven't been playing with hammer for a loooong time now" But low lightmap with switchable light DOES provide you with less FPS than high lightmap with switchable light (tested already couple of times on Pre-ww2 PC where you see differences in FPS graph by doing certain things).[/QUOTE] I'm talking about on a pc with parts that weren't made years ago.

[QUOTE=Legend286;25377416]I'm talking about on a pc with parts that weren't made years ago.[/QUOTE] Yep, but bear in mind that many people are still using old Amigas 2000 to play games like HL2 or other new and then moan how they get 1 fps instead of 5 ... (not that I have one of these, friend of mine got it and he is (actually he was) my testing zone for mapping and optimalization as I could see the best results of my work on his PC).

[QUOTE=Avager;25378376]Yep, but bear in mind that many people are still using old Amigas 2000 to play games like HL2 or other new and then moan how they get 1 fps instead of 5 ... (not that I have one of these, friend of mine got it and he is (actually he was) my testing zone for mapping and optimalization as I could see the best results of my work on his PC).[/QUOTE] Well they're gonna be bitching when Garry updates gmod and they can't play on their old pieces of shit. Oh well, their fault.