Hello there,

I am working on a Half Life 2 map using Hammer Editor, and I am running into some challenges when it comes to achieving realistic and dynamic lighting effects. I have been experimenting with various light entities; but I am not quite getting the results I am aiming for; and I was hoping to get some advice from the community.

I want to create a natural lighting setup that has soft shadows; particularly for outdoor areas with sunlit and shaded parts. My shadows tend to come out too harsh or unnatural; and adjusting light_environment does not seem to fully solve the issue.

For an indoor section; I am trying to implement flickering fluorescent lights to give it a run down; eerie feel. I have tried using light_spot with a logic_timer; but the flickering effect is not consistent and looks a bit jarring. Is there a better method to achieve this effect without it appearing too disruptive?

Also; I have gone through this post; https://www.interlopers.net/tutorials/17779?page=tableau&params=17779 which definitely helped me out a lot.

I have noticed that my current lightmap setup is causing performance issues; especially in larger areas. I have tried reducing the lightmap grid size; but I am not sure if that is the best way to optimize without sacrificing too much visual quality.

Thanks in advance for your help and assistance.

I can't help with source1 optimization anymore as its been too long and I haven't compiled or tested a src1 map in a decade, But for direction on how to do the lighting from memory I might be able to 'shed some light'

Besides the performance, and this idea is probably going to hinder performance; Build the light from the start and manually break it down as it hits surfaces. It's tricky to do in source1 as it doesn't have real time preview lighting but with some guides on either here or the net I think you could plot it out. Also I believe if memory serves me right theres a disable cast shadow option for lights in source 1 which would help in this effect. Go from the bulb being the hottest emmiter of light and largest brightness build a chain of lights that demonstrate diffusion with specific brightnesses for their placement. This would take a long time to achieve but if you really wanted to attempt this, it's how I would first try.

Basically follow the guide you referenced, but you're going to need to really think in between the light emission and where it hits the ground and sadly without live preview your going to probably need to compile a lot with examples to see how it all works. I would also try and write down as much data from these examples of what works and doesnt as I can to help formulate a curve of desired effects so you end up compiling and waiting around less.