Development talk:Day of Defeat: Source

VRAD compile notes

For anyone wishing to add more pictures to this page, keep in mind that the lighting quality of the VRAD lighting compiler changed over the course of the game's development. Using the compilers included with the game, with VBSP and VVIS at normal settings, the following settings can be used to generate period-accurate lighting for the various stages of development while still using the current official Steam build of the game:

2004 to mid-2005 (Half-Life: Source-style)

vrad.exe -game <gameinfopath> -ldr -final <mapname>

Early in the game's development, when it was a more direct port of the original game, the Source engine did not have high dynamic range support yet, so the maps would have been compiled in standard dynamic range instead (like was the case with Half-Life: Source).

Late 2005 to 2006 (retail Day of Defeat: Source-style)

vrad.exe -game <gameinfopath> -both -final <mapname>

When the game was changed to a Counter-Strike: Source-style remake, HDR support was added. Most of the maps included in the game likely use these compile settings.

2007+ (Orange Box-style)

vrad.exe -game <gameinfopath> -both -final -StaticPropLighting -StaticPropPolys -TextureShadows <mapname>

The Orange Box update to the Source Engine added several improvements to lighting involving static props, but earlier maps and models are not designed with this in mind; the props in the "mapmodels" folder will have inaccurate shadows when -StaticPropPolys is used (due to a VRAD bug involving submodels), and foliage props will cast significantly stronger shadows when -TextureShadows is used, especially if they don't have forcetextureshadow in lights.rad. However, later maps such as dod_palermo or dod_koln may have been compiled with these parameters.

The screenshots already included on this page already use era-accurate lighting; I list this info here for reference in case any more screenshots are to be added.
ーSirYodaJedi (talk) 18:31, 4 February 2024 (UTC)