Which sector light mode do you use in GZDoom?

[Lizardcommando]

Reading through the last topic about the different rendering modes people use, I feel like finding out what other people use when it comes to the different sector light modes could be another fun topic to dive in to.

 

As for me, I always use the Doom Legacy sector light mode. Maybe it's because I've gotten used to it, but I feel like the dark shadows in the other modes are way too dark and too sharp of a contrast between bright areas and dark areas. I guess this does bring up another question: How do you accommodate for everyone's different preferences for the different sector light modes? Do you just design your maps/mods under one specific sector light mode or do you do what you can to try and accommodate for as many of the different sector light modes as you can?

[Reisal]

Doom, because of the extra darkness.

[exl]

I use the Vanilla mode, and enforce the mode I designed a map in through MAPINFO.

 

Edit: oops, my default is actually set to "Software".

Edited June 2, 2023 by exl

[Lizardcommando]

Oh, I didn't even know you can do that. I'll have to do that next time.

[openroadracer]

"Bright". I play DooM to blow demons to bits, not fumble about in darkness.

[Lippeth]

Software most definitely. On occasion I'll cycle through while playing a few maps to see how I still feel about them, and while "Doom" comes close sometimes, they all have a sort of dull looking ambient quality except for "build" which is a fun novelty every once in a while.

 

As for the second question, I haven't made a ton of maps but I only remember testing in software sector light mode, and don't really care or worry if someone misses out on my intended experience because of their preferred lighting mode, or any other setting really. I could be dense but I can't think of a scenario where using a different sector lighting mode than the author intended would ruin anything other than either seeing or not seeing something obscured by a particularly dark sector.

Edited June 2, 2023 by Lippeth

[Firedust]

Anything that isn't Dark :p

[Bauul]

1 hour ago, Lippeth said:

I could be dense but I can't think of a scenario where using a different sector lighting mode than the author intended would ruin anything other than either seeing or not seeing something obscured by a particularly dark sector.

 

The wrong light mode can make a huge difference to the look of a map, especially over large distances (which is where light falloff has the biggest impact). The entire atmosphere of a level can be undone that way.

 

Some lightmodes also illuminate the area around the player (the way the software renderer does) while others don't. A dark maze could be much more easily navigable with "Vanilla" (which has a strong personal light) compared to say "Dark" (which doesn't have one at all). 

 

If a mapper has spent any amount of time fine tuning the lighting in their level, I am a very strong advocate of specifying the lightmodes in the Mapinfo to ensure a consistent experience for the players.

[ColonelDuff]

I hadn’t really thought about it until I saw this thread so I had a play around. It turns out I had been using Bright but I’ve realised I prefer Software in the WADs I’m playing at the moment. 
 

Thank you! Going to have fun testing this more regularly now. 

[MFG38]

Used to favor Standard, nowadays I use Vanilla.

 

While we're on this topic, why in God's name is Dark the default?!

[DoomPlayer00]

I prefer software majority of the time but sometimes switch to bright if the map as a whole is a bit too dark.

[ebrl]

Not a fan of how GZDoom handles some of the more "traditional" aspects of Doom in general.... but its emulation of the software renderer is absolutely incredible. I find it wild that someone would even consider any of the others, it's a basically perfect recreation of the original lighting down to the most subtle details, while from what I remember most of the other modes tend to be pretty flat in one way or another - making everything too bright, making dark areas pitch black, flattening/eliminating distance effects, etc.

[Shepardus]

Software to me looks the closest to the actual software renderer, so that's what I usually use. An exception is that I changed it to Standard when playing Unloved because I was running into too many situations where I couldn't see anything, and I don't think the Software lightmode existed at the time Unloved was made anyway.

[Lippeth]

On 6/2/2023 at 11:11 AM, Bauul said:

The wrong light mode can make a huge difference to the look of a map, especially over large distances (which is where light falloff has the biggest impact). The entire atmosphere of a level can be undone that way. 

I suppose what I'm getting at is that as a mapper I try not to stress over what settings a player might prefer to use. That's not to say I don't make suggestions in the text file or even enforce some things (namely compat settings), but I've also not made a map where having or not having light diminishing would obstruct progression or be anything other than a preference, despite mainly testing with a specific one.

[Jaska]

This is interesting. For a long time I've thought "Dark" is the best and forcing it to my mod.. So, another thought and testing to that..

[Graf Zahl]

Even though it's not the most accurate, I prefer the "Doom" mode, its light diminishing looks more natural than the software renderer's.

 

Still, no contest with Build - its light diminishing is so poor that I deliberately added a different option later to have something better,

By comparison, GZDoom's light modes come from a time when there were no shaders and an approximation was all we could do.

 

[Darkcrafter07]

I would prefer "Vanilla" if not a weird visual bug it has on some 3D model surfaces. I have recorded a video about it (7mb). That's why I go with "Software" most of the time. "Doom" is a nice alternative to "Software", except that the former I favor less and only choose it when hardware doesn't allow for software.