Level Building - Lighting

[QuestOfDreams]

Q. What does the setting on the editor level compile menu 'default ambient lighting' mean?

A. This is the color (RGB) used for ambient lighting - a basic light level for the entire level.
The color depends on what you're trying to achieve... for example:
For a dark or semi-dark level I either use 20 20 20 or 45 45 45. Both of these are a grey lighting. That way with no lights, you can still see a hint of what's going on.
For a snow level darkness, I use 20 20 45 (RED GREEN BLUE).
You get the idea? The lower the values the darker the light. The lower each value goes, the less color from that particular color.
The same applies to you're lights, suns, etc.

[QuestOfDreams]

Q. My level is always brighter than it should - why won't it get darker?

A. Because the default ambient lighting is probably bright. Or your faces are set to full bright.

[QuestOfDreams]

Q. My level is really dark. Why can't I see anything?

A. Because the default ambient lighting is probably too dark and you don't have enough (or any) lights in your level.

[QuestOfDreams]

Q. My pawns, static entity proxies are all lit up like Christmas trees even when they're in the dark, how do I make them lit properly?

A. Go to your pawn.ini, or in the static entity proxy entity in the editor, change the fill color and ambient colors to 0 0 0.

[QuestOfDreams]

Q. What is radiosity?

A. Radiosity, an option on the compile menu, is light from textures glowing on other textures, mainly it makes softer lighting and more colors.
Compile times get much longer and the .rec files used for the lighing calculations may become rather large (some 100 MB). You can delete them after the level compiles.