Lighting (or lack thereof) - Am I doing something wrong?

[luizsilveira]

I've seen quite a few threads about lighting and its problems and whatnot, but I have the impression the images I see area always so much better than how things look in my game...

Take this hangar for example:

It's just so dark. Both in and out. And it doesn't matter how many lights I put, they seem to create more shadowy areas than properly emit light... Which only makes it look even worse.

Is there any setting maybe? Like in advanced settings, I don't know exactly what "Lighting Quality" (which I have at 48) or "Simple Dyn. Lighting" (which I have OFF) do.

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[NeonSturm]

Increase the light rays to increase the light level.

Not a good option because stations should look the same to all.

 

[Lecic]

You need to increase the raytrace count for lights.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

You could try using some rod lights as well. These are not embedded into the wall/ceiling so I believe they will cast a little more light as they are light source isn't obstructed by the other blocks.

 

[kupu]

Increase the light rays to increase the light level.

You need to increase the raytrace count for lights.

Which is this;

"Lighting Quality" (which I have at 48)

In case you (or others) were wondering on how to change that in the settings.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

I also hope for one day for additional light sources, invisible, nearly invisible or "low profile" source such as dome lights that you can stick on the face of a block and doesn't stick out like a rod.

 

[NeonSturm]

A simple glass block in front of them significantly reduce their light level. I used to play with this, should have remembered it earlier.

They seem to emit more light the more empty faces they have.

 

[luizsilveira]

Which is this;

"Lighting Quality" (which I have at 48)

In case you (or others) were wondering on how to change that in the settings.

Thanks. I've upped that to 256 (max?) and indeed it looks quite better:

Still rather shady in the middle though, considering the number of lights. It looks a bit like a Christmas tree

What is the default for that "Lighting Quality" setting? Had I changed it?

 

[Colt556]

I've been having this issue too. I'll watch videos from Criss or Saber when they do reviews and the ships/stations have very few gray shadow splotches yet they also have significantly fewer lights than what I'll place. Even when I upped the light to 256 it still didn't seem quite as even and uniform as I see in the videos.

 

[luizsilveira]

Yeah. So today I've spent a little while just removing a lot of lights from my smaller rooms as they all became so bright they were hurting my eyes.

It does seem like this could bring problems for people sharing rooms/stations/ships indeed, if they have different settings.

Oh, and setting it to 256 brought no performance change whatsoever.

On another note:

You could try using some rod lights as well. These are not embedded into the wall/ceiling so I believe they will cast a little more light as they are light source isn't obstructed by the other blocks.

I also hope for one day for additional light sources, invisible, nearly invisible or "low profile" source such as dome lights that you can stick on the face of a block and doesn't stick out like a rod.

Taking these two together: Wouldn't it make sense if the light emission by the engine was done not only from that one light block we place but also from the 6 adjacent blocks as if they had a light block as well?

That way it'd be enough to stick a light block in a wall/ceiling/floor surface and still not get those shadowy areas because the surface itself is blocking most of the light. Most of the time the light looks much better if one puts the block on the surface instead of in it -- except for the intrusive light block that is.

Doesn't seem like it'd be too big a challenge for the engine to do so?

 

[Master_Artificer]

Slave lights to lights to increase brightness?

 

[Colt556]

Slave lights to lights to increase brightness?

I think he meant make it so that the way light is calculated embedding the block wouldn't effect it's light output. Having a block embedded or resting on top would yield the same level of illumination.

I have to agree, it's kinda silly that a light block only lights up like two blocks away and then you get shadows. More than anything we just need stronger lights, not in intensity but in distance. A single light block should illuminate, without shadow, up to like 10 blocks away even if embedded in a wall. We shouldn't have to spam light blocks every other block to get decent levels of light.

 

[Dire Venom]

I also hope for one day for additional light sources, invisible, nearly invisible or "low profile" source such as dome lights that you can stick on the face of a block and doesn't stick out like a rod.

Light slabs :D

 

[NeonSturm]

Light slabs :D

Yes, that is a part of the solution.

 

[icky]

ive always wished that light would spread a bit more than it does. like in a very large room irl a single light in the middle of the ceiling will still illuminate the entire room, just not as brightly as if there were more lights. in starmade it seems like no light at all travels more than a few meters from the source.

also docked entities not being lit by other's lights, like all my rail doors are dark unless i put lights ON them. it seems the flashlight you carry can illuminate different entities, why dont all lights act like that?

 

[NeonSturm]

also docked entities not being lit by other's lights, like all my rail doors are dark unless i put lights ON them. it seems the flashlight you carry can illuminate different entities, why dont all lights act like that?

Because the flash-light can use up more resources - it only exists once.

 

[icky]

Because the flash-light can use up more resources - it only exists once.

damn your logic!

 

[Lukwan]

While we are at it the sun only seems to shine on things when I get close enough to spit. This breaks immersion for me as it seems so unnatural. I understand that lighting the universe can be a drag on the hardware resources but this would improve the playing experience a lot.
It seems a shame to spend all this time building a huge and impressive design only to have it cloaked in shadow, rarely seen.
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Because the flash-light can use up more resources - it only exists once.

Well then ...how about a flashlight block for one of your ships. One per customer (player).

 

[NeonSturm]

Indirect light in an area.

Imagine a lot of insects with wings that emit light dancing around the actual block.

Or intelligent, luminescent fluid that floats around an object (hold by a magnetic field, or as insects in air, just anyhow)​

Or a (holo)wall that emits light in a straight line away (less resource intensive).