Half-life 2 lighting...

[blahblahblah]

That is the current state of computer graphics. I personally think it is very impressive that we have this amount of graphical fidelty today, especially when you compare games from 4,5,6 years ago.

 

[Apos]

We don't really know, though I've never thought things looked wrong in any game that had stencil shadows, like MaxPayne2.

 

[Carbon]

I wouldn't say that, it should *easily* be possible to do, however I suppose it would double the computations on the shadows and you would start running into D3 like problems where its not good to have to many light sources in one area.
I am really curious about this now, but meh, looks like I will be working with D3 which is definately able to do what I was describing anyway.

 

[Sorze]

Whoa! Lots of replys during nighttime!
Oh, that's right, you're yanks? Explains it...



I guess we've got an ok image of what the engine'll be able to do in the lighting area, but it's not 100% clear to me...


E3/SDK/HL2 can't get here soon enough...

 

[kaf11]

im almost certain this will happen, but im just curious. if you shoot a lightbulb, will its light go out and the room become dark?

 

[Varsity]

Lighting isn't one of Source's strongest points, IMO.

 

[Neutrino]

im almost certain this will happen, but im just curious. if you shoot a lightbulb, will its light go out and the room become dark?

I'm sure it is up to the level designer.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

I would like to know if shooting a light source will actually remove the light cast by it.
(aka shooting a lamp and destroying the bulb, therefore washing the room in darkness)
since Farcry has the ability to shoot light sources and they react realistically... except for the fact that they do not break/dissapear as I mentioned.

and if so, can the opponent AI see you in darkness? (not that this is a stealth game, just wondering)

I would ask Valve, but they must either have me or my mail provider filtered out, I never get any responses

EDIT: shoulda read the thread ahead.... errr
kaf11 beat me to it.

 

[The Dark Elf]

im almost certain this will happen, but im just curious. if you shoot a lightbulb, will its light go out and the room become dark?

I imagine that'll happen, providing they set it up that way, you could do that in HL1, it just involved regular triggers so when shot the light would be switched off or killed. It worked with the baked static lighting so there's no reason atall why it shouldn't be included in HL2, I imagine it would be even more use this time round, especially if the AI reacts to it, just shoot the lights out and confuse the bad guys.


Edit: ffs Mr. Redundant stop reading my mind! :E

 

[Mr. Redundant]

Edit: ffs Mr. Redundant stop reading my mind! :E

please forgive me...

OH VENGEFUL LORD, TELL ME WHO TO SMITE AND THEY SHALL BE SMOTEN!

 

[Korgoth]

I think lighting in source looks perfectly fine.... It seems to do its job just right.
Just a personal prefrence but i think dynamic lighting as seen in d3 and splinter cell (etc.) look worse than baked radiosity calculations and dynamic shadows. To me it gives an unrealistic look and feel, and I also think the performance hit that occurs in dynamic lighting situations isn't worth it.

http://planetdoom.com/images/image.asp?screenshots/official/8l.jpg

And maybe its just me, but do the textures in this picture look blochy and low detail?
Maybe that is one cost of dynamic lighting (not to single D3 out, please don't flame me)

 

[Sorze]

Just thought of something else, though I don't think anyone knows anything abou this yet..

Is lights (concerning mapping) still light entities(sp) versus light textures?
I'm guessing they'll keep it basically the same.

 

[mortiz]

Half-Life II may not be as strong as DooM III on the overall lighting front, but it appears that HL2 will be stronger than DooM III in the user affecting the lighting of an area. I'd imagine since so much processing power will go into actually rendering the lights and the scenery in DooM III the actual ability for the player to affect and change the world, specifically the lighting, is limited.

I hate to admit it, but I have tried out the most recent leak of DooM III, the much updated 'beta' version and pretty much all the lighting I came across couldn't be affected by the player. So while DooM III may look nice on the surface, it looks as have a downfall in that aspect of dynamic lighting and scenery.

 

[blahblahblah]

Innervision961 - I personally like that screenshot you posted. For the first time in a game you have multiple shadows on an object. Its not perfect, but its much more realistic than having a soft shadow face the wrong direction from a light source.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Is lights (concerning mapping) still light entities(sp) versus light textures?
I'm guessing they'll keep it basically the same.

Light-emitting textures weren't widely used in HL. However, they look a hell of a lot better than point lights, and without reducing your entity count. I suspect they'll be liberally used throughout HL2.