How is the lightlevel calculated? In Simple Terms.

[Daniel Mars]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could possibly explain the light level calculations in fairly simple terms to me. I have been trying to do some research of my own but always run up against this hurdle where someone does explain it but it reads to be more complicated than it probably ends up being and doesnt make too much sense to my ADHD ridden brain xD.

 

I would love to understand it better as generally speaking, I wanna keep my animals safe without having to build 100 meter high walls in which wolves and bears are still able to spawn.

[Vallen]

There's a mod out there that can help but the images they have for it alone can help you to understand a bit better. https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/7845

[Daniel Mars]

Oh I did see the mod but still thank you.

 

This is primarily about wanting to understand how lightlevel itself is calculated. For instance, in MC we can easily see the values and know at 0 mobs can spawn. But there is also this whole spiel in Vintage Story where some mobs, to my understanding, despawn at certain levels and other mobs such as wolves only spawn around X and Y light levels. So if I were to understand how the system works in general and what the basic lightlevel would be and how light itself interacts with it, I feel it would help a lot ^^

[Daniel Mars]

Yeaaaaaa I think I can give a much better example now. Protected my entire space for animals. Put up two lanterns thinking the lightlevel is enough. Bear spawned still in the pigpen and killed all my gen 5 pigs. I wanna cry TuT

 

This is why I wanna understand it better. Knowing drifters cant spawn above 0 with artificial light is simply not enough when it comes to this game sometimes TuT

[Bumber]

You need an artificial light level of at least 8 (lanterns start at 18) to block bears. This is the same level to block drifters. If bears are spawning in the area, then drifters can also spawn at night (with the small exception that drifters and wolves are blocked by a single layer of snow, whereas bears aren't.) The alternative is to use bottom slabs or loose stones to block all spawning.

The mod should be showing red somewhere in your pen, assuming the bear didn't hop the fence somehow.

Edited August 25, 2023 by Bumber