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vdgg

2 silly questions (startans and lighting)

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1. Being a daltonist, I'd like to ask, as not too sure about it: have STARG1, STARG2 and STARTAN2 exactly the same colour?

2. With Vanilla/Boom settings, the lighting levels are an approximation, of course, as one sector cannot have different light levels on various height levels. But say I want to be "realistic" in terms of angles and I don't want a lamp to give light where it shouldn't (obstacles).

Does anyone use 3d studio-like programs (but simpler) that cast shadows automatically? Any recommendations (I'll use them as an aid in creating lighting in Doom maps, probably for nothing more)?

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vdgg said:

1. Being a daltonist, I'd like to ask, as not too sure about it: have STARG1, STARG2 and STARTAN2 exactly the same colour?


No. STARG* are green (specifically, asparagus; STARG1 and STARG2 are fully green, STARG3 is green on the edges and fading to STARGR grey in the middle); STARTAN* are tan. STARBR* are bronze and STARGR* are ash grey.

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vdgg said:

Does anyone use 3d studio-like programs (but simpler) that cast shadows automatically? Any recommendations (I'll use them as an aid in creating lighting in Doom maps, probably for nothing more)?


Yes, but not when making Doom maps, because this sort of shortcut is only possible in some true-3D game engines. The easiest way to light realistically in a Doom map is to take advantage of DB2's smart sector splitting so you can draw "light rays" that border the area that the light source is able to illuminate. Smart sector splitting is an advantage because you can then draw these lines across multiple sectors without needing to split the line manually. If you want the floor and ceiling to have different light levels or if you want shadows to be cast on walls, there's no substitute for manually tinkering with light transfer specials. Occasionally you may even have to make 1-pixel-deep insets in walls so that part of a wall can be of a different brightness than the rest of it.

EDIT: Oh, I see now that you mean you'd make a model of your map and render it with light sources just as a visual aid when lighting your map manually. I guess you could do that, if you really wanted to. I don't think it'd be worth the trouble. At the end of the day, you'd probably find that the precise details of "realistic" lighting aren't worth copying in a Doom map, and you'll end up with something that looks like you lit it intuitively, anyway.

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Thanks for the reply. Exactly, I meant making a model of my map in a graphics program, and it wasn't written clearly; in fact, I'm amazed at your deduction skill, Creaphis. It seems like it's really not worth it if no-one admitted using this method, yet I've seen many Doom maps I wish I could lit them so well. On the other hand, some simple lighting methods used in SID or AV (not overdone, no more than 3 light levels around a source of light) work quite well. I've never complained about the "simplicity" of these maps which didn't look old at all! As a complete side-note, I remember AV was one of the first PWADs I played (maybe the 7th or 8th one). After this the next PWAD I played the old MM and only THAT was a disappointment (an initial disappointment, I must add), as in comparison to AV, MM maps looked really old with their squarish architecture and simplistic lighting (example: MAP28, one of the better looking, with "circles of light" - one light level - around lamps placed in the open).

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I agree that even relatively simple lighting can add a lot to how a map feels. Maximizing this benefit is a bit of an art (one that I don't claim to have mastered). Note that what's more important than "realism" is how you place your light sources in the first place, to create interesting contrast. Note also that you don't have to be consistent in how light "works" in your map. A torch of the same "brightness" can shine light all the way to distant walls in one room, while creating just a small circle of light in another, depending on how you want each area to feel.

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