tool lightmaps

[sleepy1212]

1: what are the upper and lower limits for tool lightmaps (i generally use 0 0.9) or the sapien equivalents?

2: why do i have to keep re-running lightmaps when i already have one everytime i re-run structure? seems to me i should be able to use the same level.bitmap when i've only made minute changes.

[chrisk123999]

It has to UVW the lightmaps. And if you added anything, it would mess it up.

[Rob Oplawar]

Doesn't anybody use the HCE tutorial anymore? It comes with the game, and this sort of information that people keep asking is readily available therein...
I understand people coming here with difficult problems, and there is no shortage of such problems in modding Halo, but basic command parameters can be found all over the place.
What is today's youth coming to? Doesn't anybody know how to figure things out for themselves?
[/rant]

e: by the way, this is what happens when you use the same lightmaps after restructuring:
http://spacebrick.net/pictures/gallery/checkerboard1.jpg
http://spacebrick.net/pictures/gallery/checkerboard2.jpg
http://spacebrick.net/pictures/gallery/checkerboard3.jpg
http://spacebrick.net/pictures/gallery/checkerboard4.jpg
As chris said, the lightmaps are UVWed onto the level geometry. When you change the geometry, the lightmap UVWs change (you'd be surprised by how much- they use an interesting algorithm for packing them together) and then the lightmap image you had before gets mapped in a really strange way.

[chrisk123999]

I'm almost positive that the HEK tutorial only goes over Sapien radiosity.

[Ro0ster]

I'm almost positive that the HEK tutorial only goes over Sapien radiosity.
It does, but it does mention that you can run it in tool (though it doesn't tell you how).

[Rob Oplawar]

Whatever. The point is, when I was a kid, when I asked my parents what a word meant they'd tell me "the dictionary's right there." Seriously, you have resources. Use them.

[sleepy1212]

the only info i've found is the command line itself and a few different radiosity qualities. HEK is very limited. in fact, highly detailed information about tool (and guerilla for that matter) is almost non-existant. otherwise i wouldn't have posted. i would have found it myself.

so go ahead and find this mystical tutorial you're talking about. if it existed, the technical aspect of this forum wouldn't.


the reason i asked about the level.bitmaps is that i only added portals...i wasn't necessarily talking about UV'ed geometry, although that makes perfect sense. thanks everyone for that.

one of my testers was complaining that a particular area of the map was clipping out so i went back and portalled to see if i could reduce what was being rendered outside of that area.

my issue there is that sapien won't run radiosity but tool will, it just takes 45 minutes (at 0 0.9) while the changes i'm making only take a few minutes. this is where using the same lightmap or using a much lower quality lightmap would save time while testing.

once that is fixed i'd like to use a high quality lightmap. hence the question about tool.

[chrisk123999]

I think portals effect lightmaps. Not positive but I think it changes where stuff is located in the BSP tag.

[sleepy1212]

could be....don't they define clusters?

[chrisk123999]

Yes. I think.

[sleepy1212]

maybe.

lol at "sort of" knowing things.


anyway...the answer about tool i'm looking for now should look something like this:

0 0.00000X - X X.XXXXXX

[Rob Oplawar]

Alright, fine. Back in my day... young whippersnapeprs... *grumbles*

tool lightmaps <quality> <threshold>
<quality> is 0 for debug, 1 for final
<threshold> is a range between 0 and 1, but the tricky thing about it is that it varies by the amount of light and reflective surfaces in your map. When you run lightmaps, tool periodically puts out decreasing numbers-
0.678
0.523
0.504
0.490
etc.
I think this has something to do with the remaining amount of rays to be reflected, or something, so if you only have a few lights in a small map, it will start at a relatively small number, but if you have a complex map with many light sources and many shadows to be cast, it will start at a high number.
Tool will cut off when that number dips below the specified cutoff threshold.
Also note that the numbers don't decrease linearly but logarithmically. The lower the numbers get, the slower they decrease. I'm not sure if tool will ever actually reach "0" if you let it run for all eternity... probably will in terms of discreet size limits on the arithmetic it uses. But anyway, the point is, pick a sensible cutoff threshold. I usually do this by running "tool lightmaps 0 0.001" first, and then hitting ctrl-c once the first number is output. Then I can run it again with a number that is small enough that it will go through a couple of iterations before cutting off. That makes the lightmaps look fairly good.

[sleepy1212]

ahh, thank you rob...i know it's annoying when people don't look things up...in internet time i belong in a nursing home lol.... appreciate you posting this.

so a threshold 0.999 would cut off sooner than 0.001 making the former a lower quality lightmap?

glad to know i can cut it off early as in sapein ( ~ - save). i might've guessed that part from the message tool gives...never tried it.

thanks again.

[paladin]

so a threshold 0.999 would cut off sooner than 0.001 making the former a lower quality lightmap?

Yes.

glad to know i can cut it off early as in sapein ( ~ - save). i might've guessed that part from the message tool gives...never tried it.

Yes. I do this all the time when I am constantly doing structural changes and updating/test a new bsp. I literally let radiosity run for 1 minute or so.

.

[sleepy1212]

awesome. i'm tired of planning my meals around tool...lol