[OSO]

Hhour posted a question on how to set up a self illuminating texture. Here is a quick tutorial on how it is done:

First check out this image:

Material Editor Settings

Under Blinn Basic Parameters you can enter a number from 0-100 in the Self Illumination box. You should see the texture get brighter in the scene and the material editor.

I've always used a value of either 0 (default) or 100. I don't see any reason why a value in between would not work. I've always used this setting for lights that I wish to have a brighter than normal intensity and it does make a difference in game.

Here is how it looks upon initial export in the lighting tool:

Lighting Tool

Just place a point light nearby so it hits all the vertices of the light polygon and you're good to go.

Finish up, export and launch the map in game:

In Game

It is pretty obvious that it has an effect.

[H-Hour]

Thanks Oso, screenshots make a world of difference!

[Tinker]

Cheers Oso. I had thought it was pretty straight forward stuff, but never give it a go.

Resources wise, can you go to town with this, or is it used in moderation?

[OSO]

Cheers Oso. I had thought it was pretty straight forward stuff, but never give it a go.

Resources wise, can you go to town with this, or is it used in moderation?

I don't think it uses any resources at all. In reality it is a modifier to the texture's brightness. It won't light the room by itself. In other words it will use the same amount of resources as the texture itself.

By today's standards, GR is pretty easy on a system as far as lighting goes. All of it is static whereas the newer games use normal maps, HDRI lighting and all sorts of shaders with dynamic lighting and shadows.

In GR all of the lighting data is stored in the darkmap files and doesn't change once the level is loaded.

From my experience the biggest drain on resources from a map level are bad portal placements. Not bad as in the don't function, but bad in how and where they're placed.

Page 12-15 in the level building pdf under the Rendering section sums up the issues with portals.

Speaking of resources...

How many people that still play this game use a system with technology from 2001?

I don't mean to toot my horn but my current system exceeds the recommended requirements for this game by at least 16 times in every category.