Ok, having completed the last tutorial exercise, you will see that the level looks rubbish, it is "fullbright." Quake defaults to fullbright as opposed to going totally dark. In order to light your level you must include a light entity. This tutorial will show you how to light your level, and how you can use lighting to create shadows in your level.

Open the file you just saved, I called it Test1.QLE. Open this by selecting file/open, or by clicking on the open file icon. In order to demonstrate the shadows, we are going to add a couple of columns to create shadows from. This also gives you a look at the other brush styles.

Click on new object, or right click on your map, select brushes, then select 6-S cylinder. You will need to resize this column to fit within your level, select scale mode, and then drag your column up an right until it looks like it would fit in your level. I put mine in the top right hand corner, so that I would have enough room to put a second column in. I am now going to demonstrate how to use the copy/paste functions of QOOLE.

If you are satisfied with the current look of your column, give it a texture, select the column, go to the texture window and select a texture to go on the column, it really does not matter which, as long as it is not a water or lava texture. Once you have selected the texture, click apply, and the column will now be textured with the selected texture (The selected brush window will show this.)

Now we will copy the column, this is done by making sure the column is selected, and clicking the copy icon, or by selecting edit/copy from the menu. Then hit paste (or paste from the edit menu) and another column will appear, and it will be currently selected. Ensure that you are in move mode, and drag this second column so that it looks right in the level, make sure that you look at both side and top views so that it actually is in the level. Now we will add a couple of lights.

When you add lights there are a number of different types, or styles, of light. The type we will be adding is a walltorch, this a light which has an associated sprite. To insert the torch select new object, then entity, then light, then small wall torch.You will then see the picture of the light in your level, and it will be selected. Now make sure you are in move mode, and move it so that is on one side of a column, about 3/4 of the way up. The exact position is not important but it must be in the level (ie: use both top and side views) and it must not be inside the column. Once you are satisfied with the positioning, we will insert another light, on the other column. I'll leave this step up to you, you could either copy the existing torch, or insert another light from scratch.

The final completed level should look something like this. If yours is close to this don't panic, remember: freedom of expression is your right!

Finally, save your new level over the last one, click save. Then export this file as a .MAP, you can simply replace your existing map. Then compile the level with qbsp, Light and Vis. and copy the file to your quake/id1/maps directory. You will have to replace your existing bsp if you saved it with the same name.

Wow, see how good you are. If you didn't get this far, or had an error, take a look at my map and see whether you can spot the problem.

The next tutorial will show you how to create a slightly more complex level, and show some more advanced features of the editor.

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