System Shock 2 - No Smooth Shadows

[665b0f2d95a65dan_death]

Does anyone know what mod is it to make the shadows look so smooth? I thought it was supposed to be part of the newer patch, but I used the newer SS2Tool on both my old copy and a fresh copy, both identical cam_ext.cfg settings to the demo, and it still doesn't look smooth.

Here are some examples:

Demo
Image: http://i.imgur.com/gvQLg.png

Full
Image: http://i.imgur.com/UKPUE.png

Demo
Image: http://i.imgur.com/VgYoO.png

Full
Image: http://i.imgur.com/2yptV.png

[665b0f2d95c97ZylonBane]

System Shock 2's levels are (mostly) lit using static "baked" lightmaps. Taking advantage of NewDark's 32-bit lightmaps requires loading each level into DromEd and relighting them. Apparently that's what was done for the demo. To get this quality of lighting in the full game, you'll have to wait until the NewDark version of the community patch is released.

[665b0f2d95d7fdan_death]

Balls...well thanks for the explanation! How long would it take if one were to relight all the levels?

[665b0f2d95e8eZylonBane]

For someone who really knows what they're doing, maybe an hour or two.

[665b0f2d95ff4voodoo47]

those screenshots have reminded me - that dynamic sky needs to be yanked out of the demo and made available as a standalone mod for the full game. should be fairly easy.

[665b0f2d9629fLarkSS]

http://larkss.thisisourcorner.net/files/SS2_2x32BitLightmaps.7z
For ADaoB v0.3.0 only!

For example, rebaking station.mis resulted in odd behavior of the first big door only opening for you if you jump in front of it, and I'm pretty sure some other doors were flat-out missing too (so I appended '-bak' to the filename to prevent replacement, but included the file for experimentation purposes). I've played to ENG2 so far and haven't had any other issues with the other maps beyond standing around too long to look at the lighting. Keep in mind I could not rebake any stripped missions so they are not included.

FYI, make sure you disable GDI rendering in ShockEd if you want to bake lightmaps for water surfaces. Seems to be one of the many additions added to the mysterious 2.4 patch.

Edit: The link above has been updated. I rebaked the maps again this time making sure that no form of portalization occurred. This fixes all of the door issues (among possible other things I may have overlooked). This is just a no-questions-asked rebake; hopefully when the new ADaoB releases we'll be surprised to see that a fellow SS2 modder took the time to adjust the lights to properly support the new double resolution format.

[665b0f2d963b5Singulari7y]

Nice work with the lightmaps larkSS but not all levels are done. I searched but i think your the only one who has uploaded rebaked lightmaps for ss2. If you could upload again with all levels done that would be much appreciated.

[665b0f2d96494voodoo47]

the full pack will be released soon.

[665b0f2d965d8Simplex]

Valve time?

(just kidding, I am waiting patiently )

[665b0f2d966c1voodoo47]

can't give an eta, but it's close. reaaly close.

[665b0f2d967f0Singulari7y]

Excellent cant wait voodoo.