What's the best way to get directional lighting in ourdoor areas in GZDoom?

[meapineapple]

I'm working on a UDMF map that uses some GZDoom features, and the difference between indoor areas with very lovely lighting utiliting both sector light levels and GZDoom lights, and outdoor areas that are almost completely flat-shaded in the daylight, is seriously jarring. Adding a directional light that illuminates bits that are open to the sky and that aren't in shadow would make a very big difference. I know that there's not a whole lot of technical wizardry involved in making a decent directional light, but I don't know how or if GZDoom's shader features can be used to do this, or if there are other tools I should be looking at. Has anyone managed this, or if not where should I start if I'd like to manage it?

 

I tried using a spotlight placed high above an outdoor sector, but it looked awful because of the lack of shadows for lower or upper sector parts or 3D floors. Almost nothing in the ourdoor scene was casting shadows and it looked worse even than the original unlit mud.

 

It doesn't have to be dynamic, though dynamic would definitely be nice. I'm also fine with a solution that involves baking in lightmaps.

Edited September 18, 2020 by meapineapple

[ReX]

A similar question was asked in this thread. The solutions offered there strictly use sector lighting rather than dynamic lighting. To my knowledge, there isn't a simple solution to realistic outdoor lighting in DooM. It might require quite a bit of trickery to emulate such lighting.

[ReX]

[EDIT: I realize you were primarily asking about sector lighting. However, if you wish to use models with lighting baked in, refer to this thread with a tutorial in the ZDooM forums.]