Lightmapping help!

[GALILEO]

Hey guys! I am new to making maps and I have already published one map but it was a poorly made joke map that required little to no effort. So, this leads me to making my second map- a more advanced (yet smaller) map that is supposed to be a playerhome for myself.
So, the basic content or idea of the map is that it is supposed to have a nice spacial theme to it-outside the window one will find his/herself in an apartment in space, the apartment itself is calming with modern-like furniture while there is some nice ambient music playing off in the distance. Overall, it's basically meant to be relaxing. This leads me to lighting... yeah, I have always been a fan of darker lighting with some nice glowing things here and there, especially in a relaxing environment that also provides a sci-fi feel to it.
So this is basically what it is supposed to look like/not look like:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ot0rszlyw9ixp2/lighting%20issues.zip?dl=0
*(this is a DropBox link with the images I am describing provided. You'll see that one folder has images of what it is SUPPOSED to look like while the second folder has images what what is NOT supposed to look like.)

Sooo, let's break these files down...

1. I get that it isn't the most attractive thing to view, but it is my first time lightmapping. The point is, however, that's what it is supposed to look like.

2. So, in the folder where it says they're NOT supposed to look like this, you will come across to pictures. The first image is (if I am correct) an image of just a black screen. You might be asking yourself, "hey, what is this??". That, my friend, is what happens when I load my map in to the game....yeah. It somehow just doesn't load? Now, I am obviously testing this on PC. I have a VR but I am not going to use it just to momentarily test my map. So, what I am saying is, I am used to VR POVs, not PC. And I am unsure if this "black screen" will look different in VR, but at least on PC and for any PC players, it won't do any justice being like this. So this leads me to my question... how the heck can I actually allow my map to load in so that players (including myself who is needing to test it) can actually load in? This is a bit frustrating given that I can't really move on until I figure out what's up with this.

3. Okay, so this concerns the "Auto-Generated lighting". In the lighting tab I was told by someone to just uncheck the Auto-Generate box. Sooooo, I did. I then excitedly threw myself into game-testing mode, expecting that to do the job. Weeeelll, it clearly didn't as you will see in that second image there, which shows the lighting being default and obviously no custom lighting included. Yeah, that is what happened when I went in-game. So I went to the person and asked them what's the deal with that and they explained that I need to go into the generate lighting (or whatever it was called) drop-down menu and re-apply it. So I assumed that the big button that said "Generate Lighting" was what I needed. Soooo, I clicked it. That, my dear Steam users, is what led me to number 2 up there with the black screen. Yeah, I guess VRchat doesn't like my lighting that I re-generated.
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In conclusion, how the heck can I make it so that this actually works and doesn't keep me in a blank loading screen?

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*UPDATE*
-before submitting this, I actually re-tried to it. I cleared the baked data and re-generated the lighting and took it in to the game only for..... nothing. Sure, the black screen went away but now we are back to, oh gee, the default lighting system. Can someone tell me what the heck is going on? All I simply want is my nice, dark and glowy apartment but it's hard when this has to be so gosh darned tedious. Any help would be great, thank you.

[GALILEO]

*Update on my findings...*
So clearing a bake makes the lighting default, but generating a new one makes the screen black/stuck in a loading screen(?) in-game. Has any other map makers come across this issue before? If so, how do I get past this issue?

[stealthXG]

1. Do you have a directional light in your world set to mixed or baked lighting?
2. Is the objects (that don't move) set to lightmap static?
3. Do you have generate uvs checked for models in their settings?

Check to make sure you have all 3 of those otherwise baking lights will give you problems.

[GALILEO]

Originally posted by stealthXG:

1. Do you have a directional light in your world set to mixed or baked lighting?
2. Is the objects (that don't move) set to lightmap static?
3. Do you have generate uvs checked for models in their settings?

Check to make sure you have all 3 of those otherwise baking lights will give you problems.

Someone told me to delete my directional light so I did so before creating all of my lighting settings. I honestly didn't know that I NEEDED it for this.
And am I supposed to lightmap static every single object? What about those that you pick up?
Also, I am unsure how to generate UVs. Most of the objects like the walls and parts of desks and whatnot are all shapes sawned in unity, and I am also unsure how to generate UVs for those as well given that they are not in the assets section. As far as those that are in the assets section (like, the original models), like I said, I have no idea how to even find the UV section on those. I actually looked at pictures for that too but for some reason I am unable to find the option.

[stealthXG]

Originally posted by Visser Al 1042:

Originally posted by stealthXG:

1. Do you have a directional light in your world set to mixed or baked lighting?
2. Is the objects (that don't move) set to lightmap static?
3. Do you have generate uvs checked for models in their settings?

Check to make sure you have all 3 of those otherwise baking lights will give you problems.

Someone told me to delete my directional light so I did so before creating all of my lighting settings. I honestly didn't know that I NEEDED it for this.
And am I supposed to lightmap static every single object? What about those that you pick up?
Also, I am unsure how to generate UVs. Most of the objects like the walls and parts of desks and whatnot are all shapes sawned in unity, and I am also unsure how to generate UVs for those as well given that they are not in the assets section. As far as those that are in the assets section (like, the original models), like I said, I have no idea how to even find the UV section on those. I actually looked at pictures for that too but for some reason I am unable to find the option.

You don't need a directional light but you most definitely need some sort of lighting for baking otherwise it'll come out looking bland. It's just best to use a directional light to make it easier.

You can set objects that do not move to lightmap static (You can just check mark static). If you're using any assets go to the asset in the folders, click on the model, select the inspector tab, and then it's settings should pop up. It should be labeled as "Generate Lightmap UVs."

One more thing, what is the Environment Lighting (Source) set to in the lighting settings?

[GALILEO]

Originally posted by stealthXG:

Originally posted by Visser Al 1042:

Someone told me to delete my directional light so I did so before creating all of my lighting settings. I honestly didn't know that I NEEDED it for this.
And am I supposed to lightmap static every single object? What about those that you pick up?
Also, I am unsure how to generate UVs. Most of the objects like the walls and parts of desks and whatnot are all shapes sawned in unity, and I am also unsure how to generate UVs for those as well given that they are not in the assets section. As far as those that are in the assets section (like, the original models), like I said, I have no idea how to even find the UV section on those. I actually looked at pictures for that too but for some reason I am unable to find the option.

You don't need a directional light but you most definitely need some sort of lighting for baking otherwise it'll come out looking bland. It's just best to use a directional light to make it easier.

You can set objects that do not move to lightmap static (You can just check mark static). If you're using any assets go to the asset in the folders, click on the model, select the inspector tab, and then it's settings should pop up. It should be labeled as "Generate Lightmap UVs."

One more thing, what is the Environment Lighting (Source) set to in the lighting settings?

-alright. I put back in a directional light and I set the lighting to black as any other lighter colour distorts the lighting I already gave the map and makes it look....bad. but hey, I still put in the directional light and I suppose that is good enough.

- and alright, I just set everything to static. And I set the UVs to all of the assets that I have created outside of Unity

- Also, I currently have it set to none, but should I set it to the directional lighting, or something else?
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I am going to try testing this out to see if it works right now, so let's see...
---
update on that: So I tried test driving my map and first, that completely black and not-loaded screen pops up. Now what's unique about that screen is that apparently if you click your mouse all over the place it reloads the map for some reason(?????) and once it is reloaded, it loads into, once again, the default lighting.
SO one, how the heck do I get rid of that black screen and two, if I did everything you said (maybe aside from the environment lighting?), it still refuses to load correctly.

[stealthXG]

Originally posted by Visser Al 1042:

-alright. I put back in a directional light and I set the lighting to black as any other lighter colour distorts the lighting I already gave the map and makes it look....bad. but hey, I still put in the directional light and I suppose that is good enough.

- and alright, I just set everything to static. And I set the UVs to all of the assets that I have created outside of Unity

- Also, I currently have it set to none, but should I set it to the directional lighting, or something else?
-----
I am going to try testing this out to see if it works right now, so let's see...
---
update on that: So I tried test driving my map and first, that completely black and not-loaded screen pops up. Now what's unique about that screen is that apparently if you click your mouse all over the place it reloads the map for some reason(?????) and once it is reloaded, it loads into, once again, the default lighting.
SO one, how the heck do I get rid of that black screen and two, if I did everything you said (maybe aside from the environment lighting?), it still refuses to load correctly.

You said that you get a long black loading screen? What is the file size of your map? A map that I made does this but it still loads up and it's 345 mb. It's nothing to worry about.

Looking at the images again I think the problem is that you don't have a proper lighting. You said that you had set the directional light to black. In order to have baked lights make things look nicer you need to have a light source that illuminates and is set to baked/mixed.

[GALILEO]

Originally posted by stealthXG:

Originally posted by Visser Al 1042:

-alright. I put back in a directional light and I set the lighting to black as any other lighter colour distorts the lighting I already gave the map and makes it look....bad. but hey, I still put in the directional light and I suppose that is good enough.

- and alright, I just set everything to static. And I set the UVs to all of the assets that I have created outside of Unity

- Also, I currently have it set to none, but should I set it to the directional lighting, or something else?
-----
I am going to try testing this out to see if it works right now, so let's see...
---
update on that: So I tried test driving my map and first, that completely black and not-loaded screen pops up. Now what's unique about that screen is that apparently if you click your mouse all over the place it reloads the map for some reason(?????) and once it is reloaded, it loads into, once again, the default lighting.
SO one, how the heck do I get rid of that black screen and two, if I did everything you said (maybe aside from the environment lighting?), it still refuses to load correctly.

You said that you get a long black loading screen? What is the file size of your map? A map that I made does this but it still loads up and it's 345 mb. It's nothing to worry about.

Looking at the images again I think the problem is that you don't have a proper lighting. You said that you had set the directional light to black. In order to have baked lights make things look nicer you need to have a light source that illuminates and is set to baked/mixed.

so if I were to go into VR and load my map on VR, it would kinda just be a normal loadng screen?I actually am unsure what the size is, but I will check when I get home.

As far as the lighting.. like I said, when I add lighting other than black, things look horrendous. I want a darker room, and for some reason the directional light makes it look disgustingly bright an distorted.

[stealthXG]

No idea, but as long as your world loads it should be fine.

Did you try baking lights again after setting objects to lightmap static with an illuminated light? Objects will not be affected by baked lighting if it's not set to lightmap static, thus they will appear bright.

In order to get baked lights to work properly you just have to have a light source in which its lighting is set to mixed/baked, and gives off light. Then you just need objects that are set to lightmap static and have Generate Lightmap UVs checked if that object has the option.

Can you post your directional light settings and your baked lighting settings?

[GALILEO]

Originally posted by stealthXG:

No idea, but as long as your world loads it should be fine.

Did you try baking lights again after setting objects to lightmap static with an illuminated light? Objects will not be affected by baked lighting if it's not set to lightmap static, thus they will appear bright.

In order to get baked lights to work properly you just have to have a light source in which its lighting is set to mixed/baked, and gives off light. Then you just need objects that are set to lightmap static and have Generate Lightmap UVs checked if that object has the option.

Can you post your directional light settings and your baked lighting settings?

it only loads after spamming my mouse all over the screen, but when I get home tonight I will check and see if this loading screen looks any different in VR mode.

How do I bake the objects? is that in the generate light section? Should I clear and re-generate that again? Sorry for these questions, I bet they're simple but like I said, I am certainly new to this. Also, as far as the light source which I am imaginging is the directional light, I set it to baked, but in th escreenshot it's realtime as I just set it to baked. but what SHOULD I set it to, mixed or baked? Also, I tried setting the neon lights to baked but for some odd reason when they do that, any light emitted from them goes dark.


anyways, here's some screenshots..
https://www.dropbox.com/s/y4pk1a6hhya7sq4/lightmap1.png?dl=0
This is basically how I want it to look:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xhilm1jcsbncgtf/lightmap2.png?dl=0

and the settings:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xeitch2gs0l5qqx/lightmap3.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/s92m053xuwwzmjy/lightmap5.png?dl=0
hopefully these can help

[stealthXG]

Objects should bake automatically once you set them to lightmap static and if they have the Lightmap UVs checked. You just have to worry about the baking parameters and which lights is set to mixed/baked.

Mixed just means it'll handle both baked and realtime lighting, meaning objects that's not set to lightmap static will cast realtime shadows. With baked alone the light source will cast any realtime shadows.

You could try changing your Environment Lighting to Skybox. I recommend making a simple project to mess around with baked lights to get a better understanding of it.

Here is a tutorial with lighting in Unity, hope it helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnG2gOKV9dw

[GALILEO]

Originally posted by stealthXG:

Objects should bake automatically once you set them to lightmap static and if they have the Lightmap UVs checked. You just have to worry about the baking parameters and which lights is set to mixed/baked.

Mixed just means it'll handle both baked and realtime lighting, meaning objects that's not set to lightmap static will cast realtime shadows. With baked alone the light source will cast any realtime shadows.

You could try changing your Environment Lighting to Skybox. I recommend making a simple project to mess around with baked lights to get a better understanding of it.

Here is a tutorial with lighting in Unity, hope it helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnG2gOKV9dw

thank you very much. I will watch that as soon as I can! Also sorry for the late reply, I was at work and accidentally passed out after haha

[GALILEO]

Originally posted by stealthXG:

Objects should bake automatically once you set them to lightmap static and if they have the Lightmap UVs checked. You just have to worry about the baking parameters and which lights is set to mixed/baked.

Mixed just means it'll handle both baked and realtime lighting, meaning objects that's not set to lightmap static will cast realtime shadows. With baked alone the light source will cast any realtime shadows.

You could try changing your Environment Lighting to Skybox. I recommend making a simple project to mess around with baked lights to get a better understanding of it.

Here is a tutorial with lighting in Unity, hope it helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnG2gOKV9dw

SO update! Good news, I finally got it to work! Thank you very much for your patience and all of your help!

[stealthXG]

Originally posted by Visser Al 1042:

Originally posted by stealthXG:

Objects should bake automatically once you set them to lightmap static and if they have the Lightmap UVs checked. You just have to worry about the baking parameters and which lights is set to mixed/baked.

Mixed just means it'll handle both baked and realtime lighting, meaning objects that's not set to lightmap static will cast realtime shadows. With baked alone the light source will cast any realtime shadows.

You could try changing your Environment Lighting to Skybox. I recommend making a simple project to mess around with baked lights to get a better understanding of it.

Here is a tutorial with lighting in Unity, hope it helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnG2gOKV9dw

SO update! Good news, I finally got it to work! Thank you very much for your patience and all of your help!

No problem, I'm happy you got it to work.