bjptools has a _sunlight2 that works like you describe.

maybe I should have named my version something other than _sunlight2 because the effect is quite different. I wanted to not just do a simple minlight based on sky visibility.

Here's a screenshot: https://runeofearthmagic.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/yoghurt-sunlight/

The soft shadows on the main, pink, sunlight is a different feature (_sunlight_penumbra). You can see the difference in _sunlight2 in the shadow of the taller tower: in the top (bjptools) screenshot, the shadowed area is just an even shade of gray. In the bottom screenshot (my modified _sunlight2) the gray areas have more shading depending on how much a given spot can see the sky. 

You were right. I set _sunlight2 to 2k to start noticing some change. A value of 20k turned affected surfaces into washed white.

Also, I need ambient occlusion, so I'll keep using your code :P

Thanks!! 

Here's my first attempt using your light tool. This is supposed to be moon lit, night time.

First, the fullbright image:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3Ww0W8WFfq7cGUtN2pvdUZsWnc&authuser=0

Now, ericw's magic:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3Ww0W8WFfq7Y05fZU5VcHZGNjg&authuser=0

Not sure if it's gonna be night. I'm gonna light the rooms and then try daylight / night.

I used here:
worldspawn
_dirt 1
_sunlight 350
_sunlight_color 64 184 255
_sunlight2 5000
_sunlight2_color 64 184 255
_sunlight_penumbra 4
_sun_mangle 180 -90

Lighted with -extra4 -anglescale 0

The level is very vertical. There's a floor below, with ugly shadows. I had to help with two point lights scaled 0.1, value 50, no falloff, same color as the sun.

Still working... 

That's a good looking scene! What texture set are you using? 

These are all my own :) I intend to release them along with the level. It's intended to be 1x1 deathmatch, but I see Qonquer potential on it. We'll see. 

Reminds me of piranesi counter strike map, the original, not any source release. 

I guess _sunlight2 5000 may cause problems with overly bright lighting if you have any rooms with a bigger area of sky visible.

Maybe I will look at some kind of exponential exposure thing for _sunlight2 so that rooms with a narrow strip of sky like yours can light up a decent amount, without washing out fully outdoor areas, like gb's city I posted earlier. 

... but is not my only problem. Take a look:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3Ww0W8WFfq7UHAxamdRcUF2YUU

This is what happens when I set ambient light to 50: there is the brown texture color where black shadow should be (look where the crosshair is). There is "ambient light" where _sunlight2 doesn't reach (casting shadow).

For now, I just gave up on ambient light. But how to solve it properly? Or is it nonsense?

I know there is _minlight for brush entities. But should I turn a massive amount of brushes into some entity? What are the cons? 

the brown is probably grey, it just looks brown compared to the blue lighting around it.

Can you specify R G B for the ambient instead of just one number? 

I thought there'd be a worldspawn key for minlight color, but looks like it's only available on brush entities (_mincolor). Will add that to the todo list. 

There is "external" ambiance, lit by moon, but there will be also rooms lit by orange lamps. I couldn't pick just one _mincolor.

@metlslime I think it's not gray, it's just the texture pixels lit by worldspawn "ambient light"

Anyways, I turned that whole wall into a func_wall and set _minlight to 50 and _mincolor to the same blue moonlight:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3Ww0W8WFfq7WG5tVzhfMkl0anM

Looks like mincolor lit _sunlight2 shadows. But there's still unlit faces (facing down) and I don't know why. They are part of the same func_wall. 

use minlight style (4) on lights with the colour you want. 

I should think about the global "ambient light" in terms of "shadow color". If so, I should:

1- set the sun and sun2 to get this moonlight;
2- set worldspawn to a minimum level of the same blue tone: the color of the shadows;
3- warm interiors up with yellow lamps.

So, all I need is a worldspawn _mincolor, as you said. 

I should think about the global "ambient light" in terms of "shadow color". If so, I should:

1- set the sun and sun2 to get this moonlight;
2- set worldspawn to a minimum level of the same blue tone: the color of the shadows;
3- warm interiors up with yellow lamps.

So, all I need is a worldspawn _mincolor, as you said. 

Yes, the local minlights are doing the trick. Thank you all and I'm ending this flood. 

I need a brush that is not affected by any light entity. Is it possible? 

 

In which case - external .bsp model? 

Fullbright you could do with adding "light" "255" to the entity (TyrLite only) 

@Kinn, an external brush model should work. Have to learn how to do it, though. 

What someone who isn't as lazy as me need to do is write a "re-internaliser" compile tool. It would run as an extra step on your toolchain.

The tool would seek out entities with references to external BSPs in their model field. You would feed the tool the path to your mod directory (or some other directory with the same paths). It would then search starting from the mod directory for the external models the map is referencing.

For each external model it successfully locates, it creates a copy of the BSP data from that file in the list of internal models within the map. Then it updates any external references to that model with references to the internal model. Voil�, all the benefits of a separately compiled external model, but without needing multiple files hanging about. 

a way to selectively export internal models into external bsp files so you've got external bsps with nice matching lighting and the ability to see how they look in the editor. 

... but I managed to light the scene the way I wanted. Thanks! 

I've got a strange problem with my map.
I added several new entities to my progs.dat and gave them all their own qc file. I compressed the map to a pak file and added all there is to it, sound, progs, gfx.
First time I played the map on the pak file I was drenched with warnings "SV_StartSound not precached".

Now two weeks later I play the map again and there are no signs of warning. Did I put Chtulla back to sleep meanwhile? I wish I knew how.

Another thing that's bugging me is a model that has only a stand, walk, run and death pose. I made it so that it doesn't attack untill I trigger it with a button.

Unfortenately the model doesn't respond to the trigger. But if I replaced it to another part of the map nothing is wrong and it resigns the button well.

The model is placed in a shape of lights with func_info's, but that can't interfere with the model or button. 

The map needs to see the light of day! Those are some funny new enemies. And if someone is at it, see if you can fix the projectile origin of the chaingun dude's attack as well as change it to nail bursts.

Madfox: btw. clip brushes do not count towards the marksurfaces limit, they only affect the number of clipnodes. So you should be able to add more clips without running into compiler troubles.