How to fix the AmbientLighting on Static Meshes

You have to know the basics of the Unreal Editor 3 to be able to follow this tutorial.


Step 1: Preparation

Well, what do we need?

• We will need a raw example-map that contains at least one static mesh and (if possible) no light actors (this will help you to see the effect better)
• We will need a ZoneInfo in our example-map
• You will need curiosity, ambition and motivation
• And (of course) we need the Unreal Editor 3 and UT2004

First, let's start with our example-map.
Just subtract a cube and place a static mesh and a ZoneInfo (Actor Class Browser (short form: ACB): Actor->Info->ZoneInfo) or you can separate a part of another map and use this one or you can use it on one of your maps which you want to improve (visually). The example map shall look a bit like this:

Usually you don't expect something of this quality by a mapper these days but that's all we need, so why bother making more than we need, after all it's just an example!

If you didn't rebuild yet you should do it now. Click on the BuildAll button
To underline the effect your map should be pitch-black if you view it in the Lighting Only and Dynamic Lighting mode (I have set the ceiling to unlit to show where the ceiling and where the floor are - and to make it look somewhat logical - the ceiling serves as the "source of lighting", even if there is no light actor or actual sun texture visible - but whatever. Example map).

Step 2: Setting the AmbientBrightness

Mark your ZoneInfo and open its properties.
Go to ZoneLight and there you should see three sections that belong to the AmbientLighting:

[Those who have been working with the AmbientLighting before can skip this small section that features the definitions of the three sliders]

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AmbientBrightness

If you move the slider you can change the AmbientBrightness.
Default setting: 0

AmbientHue

This is the "colour palette" of the Unreal Engine. By moving the slider you can set the colour of the lighting. If you compare the slider with the MS Paint colour palette you will see that they are identical what concerns the "settings". 0=red (left), 32=orange, 64=green, 128=blue, 255=red (right).
Default setting=0

AmbientSaturation

This slider lets you choose the "pigment content"/saturation of your light colour that will brighten your zone. The highest setting is 0 which will make the colour appear very strong, the lowest setting is 255 which will make your colour white (basically the same as with light actors).
Default setting: 255

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Choose a value with the AmbientBrightness slider that lights up your example map. 64 is a nice value, let's take this one!

If you have set the slider to 64 and if you are in Dynamic Lighting mode you will probably notice that although you didn't rebuild your map your static mesh became brighter, just your static mesh. Here's another picture to show you what I mean:

That's actually the whole trick and we will use this to our own advantage.

Now click on BuildAll and you will notice that your static mesh is much brighter than your BSP architecture. You can switch to Lighting Only mode to convince yourself.


Step 3: Fixing the lighting issue of the static mesh

Now you'll probably understand what I want to do in a few moments.

We will reduce the AmbientBrightness from 64 to just a quarter of it, in other words: We set it to 16. This way we have solved our little lighting issue of our static meshes that made the map look odd. Here are a few pictures to show you how it looked before and after the fix.
Before:


After:


But you should be careful now! Don't rebuild your lighting! I recommend to do this fix at the end of your mapping process otherwise this will happen:


And again we would have to fix this to set the brightness of your BSP architecture and static meshes to the same level, either by setting it back and repeating the process of just by reducing the current brightness to a quarter of what it was before:

Static meshes have the tendency to appear four times as bright as your BSP if you are using AmbientBrightness. I have no idea what the source of this problem could be, I guess you would have to ask Epic Games themselves.

This method is also fps-friendly and reduces your framerate just slightly:

Before the fix: an average between 376 and 377 frames per second
After the fix: an average between 374 and 375 frames per second

The average fps changed just a little and because of this you can use this nice and easy-to-use method in real maps. Out of curiosity I have used this method in a map and the fps sunk just a small little bit. However, if you want do this with very complex maps which had fps issues before, I recommend to not use this method since these performance issues may get even worse. I don't know what influence this method would have on very detailled maps (especially on old PCs).


Now just a few last words and a few standard tips by me:

Always stay on the grid, never modify and save packages by others without their permission and don't change and save any files that came with the game since this can cause online incompatibility when playing with another player or on servers!

That's all!

Tips for improvements of my tutorial are welcome!


I hope I could help some mappers out there. Have fun mapping and good luck!
And may the UEd/BSP Goblin stay away from your maps!

Sly.

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link to my original thread/tutorial at UTzone (German)