Remove static shadows when object is hidden?

[JessieG]

I know this may be a stretch but I was hoping someone might be able to clear this up for me. I have a room in my project where i want objects to be removed gradually until it is pretty much empty. Now I know using dynamic lighting and interp actors only this would work fine, but I would prefer to use lightmass for this area for both the looks and performance it gives.

Say I have a box on a desk that casts a shadow on the desk. Is it possible to at some point remove the box and also remove the static shadow it casts on the desk?

[darthviper107]

You can't. The lightmaps that are generated include everything that casts shadow on an object, so you can't remove one and keep the others. You'd have to use dynamic shadows

[JessieG]

Bummer. I figured that'd be the case. Ok. Thanks!

[Solid Snake]

One possible way to do this, would be to have streaming levels for each of the items removed or a mix. Then you can just stream the level chunks in and out as appropriate.

[JessieG]

One possible way to do this, would be to have streaming levels for each of the items removed or a mix. Then you can just stream the level chunks in and out as appropriate.

That actually makes perfect sense. Also, since it's a single room I doubt it would take too long to load (it'd probably be instant). The way i plan to do it is have things disappear when the player isnt looking at them anyway so the switch wont be noticable. Thanks for the idea!

[ClimateChange]

Can multiple lightmaps be generated for the same surfaces? If yes, I was imagining swapping textures in and out, load one lightmap and unload the other, but that seems to be what streaming is about.

[JessieG]

Can multiple lightmaps be generated for the same surfaces? If yes, I was imagining swapping textures in and out, load one lightmap and unload the other, but that seems to be what streaming is about.

That seems like it would be a pain to figure that out (it's not possible natively as far as i know so it would probably need to be scripted) but streaming should work easily because I would just have to build the room, build the lights, save the map. Then delete some things, build lights, save out another version. Not too difficult.