Custom static meshes + black shadows

[PaulH84]

Any custom static meshes that i am using, that i have also set up a new UV set for in UED so that i can fiddle with the lightmap resolution, are not being affected properly by the directional and sky light in my level.

It seems to be a problem with the sky light, as the faces that the directional light points towards are normally lit but any other faces on the meshes are completely black.

This isn't happening with other meshes that don't have this seperate UV layer set up, so what could the problem be..is it my meshes or my lights?

Thanks for any help

[PaulH84]

I set the ambient light to ForceDynamicLight and that seems to work now...unless anyone knows of a reason why this option shouldnt be enabled, or an alternative workaround?

[MrCobra]

If you set up the UVs in UED then that may be your problem. I've had similar issues until I created the UVs in Max.

Forcing dynamic lights on a large amount of polys is not a good idea as the engine will start to choke on the extra overhead.

[Green_Day_584]

Bump!

i have the same problem, and want some very nice strong shadows on my custom meshes without this happening

[PaulH84]

Looks like the only way we can fix it is to create the 2nd UV layer for lightmapping in the modelling program, rather than using the in-editor tools. Sort of defeats the point of the editor tools being there though?

[Green_Day_584]

2nd... UV... layer?
what is this witchery that you speak of?

nah, seriously, iv never heard of a second UV layer... could u maybe link me to some information about it and a tutorial on it? (if needed)

thanks man

[apophis3d]

If you unwrap your mesh using maya or max you should not have this problem.

Use this program to unwrap also it will make the unwrap process 20x easer than doing it manually. It has a maya plugin and also a standalone version. Be sure to download the user manual with it also.

http://www.cgindia.org/2007/02/roadk...wrap-tool.html

[Green_Day_584]

If you unwrap your mesh using maya or max you should not have this problem.

Use this program to unwrap also it will make the unwrap process 20x easer than doing it manually. It has a maya plugin and also a standalone version. Be sure to download the user manual with it also.

http://www.cgindia.org/2007/02/roadk...wrap-tool.html

i always unwrap my meshes in max... and they have the problem anyway

[ffejnosliw]

I've never had any problem with using the UV generator in the Static Mesh Editor. Are you using the default values? Made sure to create the UV's for UV Channel 1? Set the LightMapCoordinateIndex for the static mesh to 1?

[PaulH84]

Yes to all of those ffejnosliw...i create the models in max and unwrap in modo, then i create the 2nd UV set in UED. The lightmaps created in UED do actually work and show up correctly, but only on surfaces the light is pointing at, all other sides remain pitch black unless the ambient light is set to 'ForceDynamicLight'...