number of lights

[creekmonkey]

I was playing around seeing how much effect lights have on framerate and noticed something I dont undersdtand. I have a simple level, just the hollow cube, player and one dspotlight. If I am close to or look at the light the framerate shows anywhere from 5 to 39 lights. If I compile the level without the light it shows no lights. Why does it render so many lights for 1 dspotlight ????

[Jay]

No, it doesn't render so many lights at once. It renders one light on 5 to 39 lightmaps. The number it gives is the number of lightmaps (polys) that are affected by all lights.

[creekmonkey]

Thanks Jay, that makes it much easier to understand!