The Dark Mod: Need Alpha testers with ATI cards. - by New Horizon
Shadak on 1/3/2008 at 16:19
To the untrained eye, the old broken version may seem to look better in some circumstances because it seemed to bring out normal map detail in low light areas. But the huge problem was that the "ambient" light was always coming from the upper right, no matter what way the texture was facing, it was always always always upper right.
So the real problem comes when you add an actual light such as a torch on the wall. You would get bricks above the torch that have a the normals lit up from underneath properly, but then they are also being highlighted by the retarded "upper-right" ambient, which really screwed up the overall torch directional effect. With the new fixed ambient the torch light looks TONS better, it's really a night and day issue.
Neuling on 1/3/2008 at 17:01
Well, if the only remaining problem now is to adjust the brightness of the ambient light to a lower level to make the demo look right again, then that is perfectly fine. Thanks for the explanation, NH.
@rebb2
Sorry, I do not frequent any IRCs. Can I test something for you that still worries you?
242 on 1/3/2008 at 19:42
Quote Posted by Shadak
To the untrained eye, the old broken version may seem to look better in some circumstances because it seemed to bring out normal map detail in low light areas.
That's what I thought. But NH wrote
"Ambient light should never really be used as the sole form of lighting"
the problem as I see it is that mission designers will do as they want despite any suggestions, and I'm sure there are going to be plenty of places on their maps where ambient lighting will be used without directional lights. If the possibility exists it will be used for sure by some people (for speed up, because of plain negligence, etc. etc.). And in those cases supposedly fixed amb. lighting will serve for worse.
Shadak on 1/3/2008 at 20:34
But now authors know how proper ambient looks and will instead provide real lighting as they should and not rely on ambient for actual scene lighting purposes. When Fidcal made Thief's Den it was with the old ambient - I'm confident he would make the lighting different and optimized with the fixed ambient.
Of course in the future there may be some lamers who just slap in a bright ambient for the whole map, but that will be the retarded exception. If they really want just one dim light that's easy enough to set up too, no reason to use the ambient.
New Horizon on 1/3/2008 at 21:35
Quote Posted by 242
That's what I thought. But NH wrote
"Ambient light should never really be used as the sole form of lighting"
the problem as I see it is that mission designers will do as they want despite any suggestions, and I'm sure there are going to be plenty of places on their maps where ambient lighting will be used without directional lights. If the possibility exists it will be used for sure by some people (for speed up, because of plain negligence, etc. etc.). And in those cases supposedly fixed amb. lighting will serve for worse.
Is this ever a problem with T3 level ambient?
cacka on 2/3/2008 at 11:38
Quote Posted by Neuling
Here are the pics. As usual in each pic you see the unaltered demo at the top and the comparison shot with the new file below.
You sure that's not the other way around? From the other examples given, it looks like it could be.
rebb2 on 2/3/2008 at 13:37
Neuling and chumbucket please check your Private Messages and send me your screenshots there, so this thread isn't filled too much with testing chatter :).
