have a -scale option ... but maybe this is really only for quake2 compilers... 

Since tweaking light levels in already existing bsps is the main reason why I've developed my Light tool, there are a lot of possibilities to very easily set new parameters from the cmd line.

Check out the readme carefully, experiment a bit and you'll see how easy and fast it is.

And the tool that does the brightness/contrast level adjustments is ... Light (any light tool) ;) 

Doesn't setting a minlight increase all brightness in the map? It might look bad, but it can't be much worse than adjusting the gamma. 

only sets a higher minimum value. All lightmap areas that are above that value won't change. 

I made a second try this morning, using -window and/or -nomtex, but it didn't help at all... :/ After the game was launched, and stucked, I had a WinXP message stating that ialtmngr5 process was not responding... (I'm not sure about the name of the process). but it seems that it comes from the Video Card (I asked to my IT engineer that looked my suspiciously...)...

I made the same tests with FitzQuake, and fortunately it is working perfectly in window mode ! No more flickering/HOM like effects

Thanks a lot for the information: you rock ! 

Let's hope it continues to work, there are probably driver issues (the engine should never be able to bring down the OS). Also note that you might be running in 16bpp colour mode (the earlier Fitz log indicated that). 

Only if you use TyrLite minlight (default), if you use additive minlight (ArghLite style, option -addmin) instead, you'll get a *much* better minlight effect. It's actually one of the really essential features of my Light tool. 

oh, cool. 

Thanks for the info. I just scanned through the text file and found the following options for anyone that is interested:

-addmin = makes the minimum light additive.
-range # = scales all lights by #
-globrange = scales sun lights by -range (afaik)
-light/-maxlight # = minimum and maximum light levels. Can also be set in the worldspawn.

I'm posting this because a lot of the useful stuff is contained in the changelog info, which is a little bit time consuming to sort through.

I'll have a play with it and see if I can improve things. 

-globrange should be avoided (and is default off unless requesting other tool compatibility). -maxlight is also not very useful, use -lightcap instead to limit strong lights (but is less effective if you use "wait" keys).

The main global tweak options are -light, -addmin, -range and -dist, combined with -sunlight options.

More detailed descriptions are at the end of the readme, after the changelog. 

... and if you feel adventurous, try the global -anglesense # option. It can seriously change the lighting in a map ... 

http://www.bspquakeeditor.com/ 

seemed to make a massive difference to the lighting. Even range 1.05 make the level a lot brighter. What are the values I should be using? I tested 0.5 and nothing really happened.

The bit at the end of the readme doesn't contain any information on distance scaling (search for -dist) and -range is only mentioned in the changelog, so that's why I mentioned certain commands before.

Anyway, thanks for the help. I will have a play with the -dist command tonight and see how it affects the lighting. 

and -dist are from the original id Light tool, I assumed most mappers would know about them thoroughly ... ;)

Anyway, the default for -range is 0.5, therefore 1.05 is more than double intensity. Default -dist is 1.0, lower values means lower attenuation and therefore brighter.

To get a more even lighting, you typically lower range and dist, for more contrast (more digital on/off lighting) you typically increase range and dist.

To understand more about how various options affect the total lighting in a bsp, use the BspInfo tool: bspinfo -lightstat3 mymap >bspinfo.txt.

You'll then get a histogram over the total light distribution, it's basically like a DNA fingerprint for the map. 

now I understand why it looked the same at 0.5 ;)

I will try 0.75.

Thanks for the information about the histogram thing too. Sounds interesting. 

I'm not sure if it's worth your time, but I don't think the original tool parameters were every really explained in a manual or text file, so it would probably be useful to add a section to your text files explaining all the original compiler features that still exist in your tools. 

...this sketch is getting silly.

They are clearly item_rockets in the map view of the editor, and they are clearly item_rockets in the .map file after I've saved it.

So why are they poxy spikes in the game? I need rockets. If I didn't need rockets, I wouldn't have put rockets in the map. But I need rockets.

Why... who, is changing my item_rockets to item_spikes. Come on, own up. I am no longer amused.

Will some clever clogs kindly tell me WTF is going on? 

I have a brief explanation for each option (with default values) if you run Light without parameters. 

Does this happen after loading a saved game? If so, you might've run into the mixed models progs bug. It typically happens when you have random precaching order of models. 

No, it's straight from a fresh compile.

It's got to be something in the spawn qc (can't blame anyone else if that turns out to be the case!) but I'll check it tomorrow. 

OK, I checked the CCTV and now know what happened.

My house was broken into and someone started-up my computer, changed one line of code in items.qc, saved the file, shut-down my computer and left the house. I've asked the police to arrest Cut N Paste and bring him to justice.

How does one write maniacal laughter? 

Harharharrr!!! Hahahahahagahkhahaha!!! 

i thought it was 'muahahaha'? 

and Spirit's version is Pirate-Rapist,

for maniacal, you need something twitchy and indiciative of a loss ofcontrol.

Like a, 'he. he he. heh?!? HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA AAAAHHHHHH'

Far from perfect, but a little Joker and a little Stewie mixed in and it should be right. 

qc-code one night in the SinglePlayer area, and it ate all my progs.dat