Released: July 10, 1997

=====================================================================

Title                   : ArghLite

Filename                : arghlite.exe

Version                 : 1.0



Author                  : Tim Wright

Net Nick                : Argh!

Email Address           : argh@ziplink.net

                          (comments, questions, bug reports, etc.

                          welcome... flames aren't ;)

WWW                     : not yet... soon...



Description             : New enhanced version of "light":

                          * Scale fade distances of individual lights

                            (without changing brightness)

                          * Set a global minimum light level

                            (eliminate those totally dark spots)

                          * Supports Ritual's "Scourge of Armagon" 

                            map extensions.

                          * Fast (consistently outperformed all other

                            versions of light I could find)

                          * Slightly more feedback output



Requirements            : Pentium, A Win32 operating system (I use

                          Win95, WinNT is untested but I assume it

                          works), and whatever the requirements are

                          for id/Ritual's "light" code. :}



Additional Credits to   : id Software & Ritual Entertainment Inc. for

                          source, Janis Jagars for "LightDis", Eric

                          Sambach for "MinLight".

                          

=====================================================================

* Usage *



It's pretty easy to use, I hope my explanations don't actually make

it sound harder. :}  I use Worldcraft for building, so along with

basic usage I'll mention how to set certain values from within WC.

Note that you'll have to rename arghlite.exe to light.exe to get it

to work with Worldcraft (and probably in many other editors as well).



Fade distance

-------------

To modify the fade distance of a light, add a new key in the form

"wait" "n", where n is the number to scale the distance.  N>1 will

make the light fade faster, n<1 will make it fade slower (just like

the -dist command line parameter).  Example:

   {

   "classname" "light"

   "origin"    "100 50 150"

   "light"     "200"

   "wait"      "2"

   }

The above will make this light fade twice as fast as normal (or in

other terms, the light will travel half as far).  Using "wait" "0.25"

would make the light fade 1/4 as fast (or go 4 times as far), etc.



You can set this in Worldcraft by going into the light's properties,

turning off "smart edit" then adding a new key called wait, and

entering the desired value.  If you want to make this field always

available in "smart edit" mode, that's fairly easy to do.  Load

Worldcraft's quake.fgd into a text-editor (make a backup first if you

don't really know what you're doing), and find the block that starts

with:

   @baseclass = Light [

Now right before the last (second) "]" in that block, add the line:

   wait(string) : "Fade distance factor"

In Worldcraft the value will be blank by default, so only enter a

number when you need to.



Minimum lighting

----------------

There are two ways to set the minimum light level.  The first is by

adding a new key in the form "light" "n" to the map's "worldspawn"

entity (the first thing in the map file), where n is the minimum

light value.  Example:

   {

   "classname" "worldspawn"

   "worldtype" "0"

   "sounds"    "1"

   "wad"       "quake.wad"

   "light"     "20"

   

In Worldcraft this can be set by selecting Map/Map Properties, then 

changing default light level to the desired value.  Make sure this 

is set to 0 if you don't want any min-lighting!



The second method is by using the command line parameter -light n,

where n is the minimum light value.  The command line option

overrides any value set in "worldspawn", so you could re-light a bsp

with a different setting without needing to change the "worldspawn"

value.  Example:

   C:\>arghlite.exe -light 10 argh.bsp



Note: the minimum light value works like Quake's r_ambient console

command.  BUT, there's one BIG difference, r_ambient is twice as

bright as it should be!  r_ambient is a good way to test different

minimum light levels, but when you find a good value with it, be sure

to multiply that number by 2 before setting it for ArghLite! (I find

values around 5-25 look the best)



Other

-----

The original command line options still work:

-extra    - Turns on extra sampling for smoother lighting/shadows.

-dist n   - Scales the fade distance of ALL lights.  N>1 fades 

            faster, n<1 fades slower.  A light with a "wait" will be

            scaled once for that, then scaled again by -dist.

-range n  - Scales the brightness range of ALL lights without

            affecting their fade distance.  N>.5 makes them brighter,

            n<.5 makes them darker.  Can achieve the same affect on

            individual lights by increasing or decreasing both the

            brightness and "wait" factors.



=====================================================================

* Construction *



Base                    : Modified "Light" source code for "Scourge

                          of Armagon" from Ritual Entertainment,

                          based on Quake light source code from id

                          Software.  Features were inspired by

                          "LightDis" by Janis Jagars and "MinLight"

                          by Eric Sambach, however modifications are

                          completely original.

Compiler used           : Microsoft VC++ 4.0

Construction time       : Couple hours a day over a few days?

Known Issues            : A face with 4 different non-normal light

                          styles cast on it will not be minlit.

                          That's a very rare occurrence so it's

                          probably nothing to worry about.  (I'm

                          calling it an "issue" because it's a Quake

                          shortcoming and not a bug in ArghLite)



=====================================================================

* Copyright / Permissions *



You MAY distribute this EXE, provided you include this file, with no

modifications.  You may distribute this file in any electronic format

(BBS, Diskette, CD, etc.) as long as you include this file intact.



* Disclaimer *



Usage of ArghLite is at your own risk.  I accept NO responsibility

for any form of damage incurred through the usage of this program.



(Okay, with that officially stated... I can say you probably have

nothing to worry about.  This is as stable as id's or Ritual's

versions.  If those didn't do anything nasty to ya, this isn't likely

to either. :)



=====================================================================

* Where to get this Utility *



ftp.cdrom.com and all mirrors.

