Lighting polymost

[3D Master]

You know, I've been playing Duke again, and I'm not having as much fun. You know why?

Lighting.

It's gotten horrendous. It didn't used to be this bad a few years ago and on a different older computer (and I don't know how that could really make a difference) but it's WAY to bright. WAY, WAY. I have the brightness setting on the least bright you can set it, and it still feels that no matter where I go I'm walking through a desert where the blazing sun is glaring out all shadows and even colors and a movie director for good measure added a few super bright beam lamps.

For example: E2L3 Warp Factor. There these two side tubes where you have to go through to get to the yellow keycard, they're supposed to be really dark and red; with me they're orange and I can see just fine.

Also, at the very beginning of the same level, you start at a small room with the Earth behind you and some windows. A beam separates the windows and it casts a shadow, and I remember it being rather prominent and dark. In polymost I actually had to stop and peer and look for several seconds to notice that yes, there's a tiny teensy bit of slightly more dark patch. Walking around though, you notice nothing, it just seems like a perfectly lit bright room with no shadow at all.

As you can imagine; such enormous brightness, really sucks the enjoyment out of the game.

So I submit; the way the lighting is handled in polymost needs a serious overhaul.

[DeeperThought]

Let's try an experiment. Post the map you are talking about as an attachment, or provide a link. Post a screenshot of the room you described with the terrible lighting. Then, me and/or someone else will post a screenshot of the same room, and we'll see if there is better lighting on other computers.

[The Commander]

I think it all has to do with the Monitor, There are two computers in my house, The one with the normal Monitor plays perfectly fine, Yet the other computer with LCD screen is WAY to dark... I keep pushing "F" for the HL flashlight! lol

[Dr. Kylstien]

This sounds like an older version of Polymost. I remember it used be kind of washed-out compared to software rendering.

[DeeperThought]

Originally Posted by Dr. Kylstien

This sounds like an older version of Polymost. I remember it used be kind of washed-out compared to software rendering.

I agree, but I thought it would be entertaining to have a screenie showdown.

[Usurper]

I hope it's better than the last screenshot showdown, in which the complainer used pics from a room that had pulsating lights and had the high resolution pack (which mercifully does not use 32 shade tables) installed.

[3D Master]

Map? I don't need to post any map. Episode 2 Level 3 Warp Factor. That's the original Duke3D, you can just start it up.

No, it's not the monitor, and it's not too dark it's far too bright.

No, it's not an old Polymost, it's the one from the newest HRP, that is, the OpenAL highres music modified one.

How the hell do you make the screenshots again?

[3D Master]

Illustrating with earlier screenshots:

8bit:



Polymost:

[Plagman]

Originally Posted by Usurper

I hope it's better than the last screenshot showdown, in which the complainer used pics from a room that had pulsating lights and had the high resolution pack (which mercifully does not use 32 shade tables) installed.

What is it that you were saying?

[Hunter_rus]

Originally Posted by 3D Master

For example: E2L3 Warp Factor. There these two side tubes where you have to go through to get to the yellow keycard, they're supposed to be really dark and red; with me they're orange and I can see just fine.

In case someone can't found the room, the room is in the middle of the left wing.
It is affected by the tint which is also used for the expander and other stuff. The tint needs adjustments.

The values in the latest HPR Update:
tint { pal 2 red 255 green 128 blue 50 flags 0 } // that's rather orange then red.

EDIT
As for shadows.
Type in the console "r_shadescale 1.4".
Note: It makes some things too dark. It needs adjustments as well.

[DeeperThought]

Originally Posted by 3D Master

Also, at the very beginning of the same level, you start at a small room with the Earth behind you and some windows. A beam separates the windows and it casts a shadow, and I remember it being rather prominent and dark. In polymost I actually had to stop and peer and look for several seconds to notice that yes, there's a tiny teensy bit of slightly more dark patch. Walking around though, you notice nothing, it just seems like a perfectly lit bright room with no shadow at all.

This is the area in E2L3 you described. As you can see, the shadow is very prominent. The screenshot is scaled but otherwise unmodified, using the default display settings with the brightness turned halfway up.

[3D Master]

Originally Posted by Hunter_rus

EDIT
As for shadows.
Type in the console "r_shadescale 1.4".
Note: It makes some things too dark. It needs adjustments as well.

Console? You bring that up with ~ like any other 3D shooter right? Cause I do that, and I get nothing.

Originally Posted by DeeperThought

With me, I have the brightness all the way down and I don't even get close to that.

[3D Master]

Okay, r_shadescale 1.4 is not recommended, it broke my Duke3D install.

Loading ep2 l3 now produces a shitload of floating green wall textures in every square, and starting a new game LA Meltdown yields memory usage going out of bounds, the game standing still - and oh, yeah, the hand holding the gun is gone.

Going to reinstall now.

[Hunter_rus]

Originally Posted by 3D Master

Okay, r_shadescale 1.4 is not recommended, it broke my Duke3D install.

Loading ep2 l3 now produces a shitload of floating green wall textures in every square, and starting a new game LA Meltdown yields memory usage going out of bounds, the game standing still - and oh, yeah, the hand holding the gun is gone.

Going to reinstall now.

r_shadescale sets the shade coefficient for polymost mode.
r_shadescale can't broke anything because it just set the coefficient. You probably broke something at the DEF files for SD_Duke.

Comparing 8-bit and polymost mode(highres textures are off, filtering is linear, projection hack is off), I can see the difference too.

[3D Master]

r_shadescale sets the shade coefficient for polymost mode.
r_shadescale can't broke anything because it just set the coefficient. You probably broke something at the DEF files for SD_Duke.

I didn't do anything with the def files, nothing at all, all I did was enter the r_shadescale command and poof once loaded, wall textures everywhere.

Anyway, I reinstalled, braved the command again, it didn't screw things up this time around, and it looks better, but still not exactly super.