Volumetric lighting

Split

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Volumetric lighting is a lighting technique meant to simulate light bouncing off fog or dust particles in the air, such as a warehouse or foggy beach. It makes the player see beams of light shining from the sun or other light sources. Currently, the only Valve-made software running on Source that supports Volumetric Lighting is Source Filmmaker, however some third-party engines incorporate volumetric lighting into env_projectedtexture. If the game you are making maps for doesn't support volumetric lighting, you can use some workarounds seen here.

Most Source 2 games have support for Volumetric lighting by default.

Media

Volumetric lighting in Source Filmmaker

Volumetric lighting in Alien Swarm Deferred

Volumetric lighting in Portal 2: Desolation

Volumetric lighting in Half Life Alyx

Volumetric lighting in Portal 2: Community Edition

Native Support

Source

Game	Supports
Source 2004 Source 2006 Source 2007 Source 2009/ Source Multiplayer Source 2013 Half-Life: Source Day of Defeat: Source Half-Life 2 Half-Life 2: Episode One Half-Life 2: Episode Two Alien Swarm Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop Half-Life Deathmatch: Source Half-Life 2: Deathmatch Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Counter-Strike: Source Team Fortress 2 Portal Left 4 Dead Left 4 Dead 2 Portal 2 Black Mesa	No
Alien Swarm Deferred Apex Legends Portal 2: Desolation	Yes
Source Filmmaker Strata Source	Yes (env_projectedtexture)

Source 2

Game	Supports
Half-Life: Alyx	Yes
Counter-Strike 2	Yes
S&box	Yes

Using models/textures to fake volumetric lighting

	Using vollight_stainedglass.mdl		Model in Hammer	Model in engine

	Using vol_light128x128.mdl		Model in Hammer	Model in engine

Note:On DirectX 9, volumetric lighting on Old Engine was slightly less visible compared to using DX8 level. However, the volumetric lighting on New Engine DX9 was even less visible (or nearly invisible) compared to Old Engine's DX9. This is likely due to a bug (or changes to the lighting) on Source 2007 and later.^[1][2]

	Old Engine	New Engine (Source 2013)
DirectX 8.1 (and earlier)
DirectX 9.0+

References

References

1. Jasper Carmack (@JasperCarmack) (April 3, 2024). "Comparing the differences between Half-Life 2 (Legacy / "DX8" shaders) on the left and (Modern) DX9+ shaders on the right.".  X (Twitter). Retrieved October 31, 2025.. 2. Jasper Carmack (@JasperCarmack) (April 3, 2024). "When loading the save for comparison, you need to wait a little bit because the light glows are scripted to come on after a delay. So 1 = dx8, 2 = dx9 on load, 3 = dx9 after 5 seconds".  X (Twitter). Retrieved October 31, 2025..

See also

• Env volumetric fog volume
• Env volumetric fog controller
• Working With Volumetrics
• WiseVol

External links

• YOUTUBE How To Create Sunbeams using Volumetric Fog in Source 2 Hammer
• Volumetric lighting imitation trick with env_projectedtexture and translucent models (showcase)
• Volumetric lighting imitation trick with env_projectedtexture and translucent models (tutorial)
•  Volumetric lighting