Pitch Black
How do I get a room to be pitch black, like in the campaign when you are running from galados (just before you jump onto assembly lines)? I am using "black_floor_metal_001b" material and its reflecting little bit of light by default.
Most of it has to do with lighting. Textures--unless they're selfillum, which the metal textures aren't--don't generate light. I'm fairly certain that in the P2 map there were three or four sets of lights that would be toggled (dynamic lights aren't needed, light entities would work) on and off. As long as there are no further light sources there should be no visible reflections.
For the record though the limit of named lights that can be shining on any given surfaces is either three or four. This is because for every toggleable light VRAD has to compile lighting for every possible combination of on-off state. You can give several lights the same name and it will only count as one to that limit.
Now with 100% more inline comments!
I havent tested what you said but could it be ambient light coming from behind the player?
If there are lights back there then probably. I think you can set the dropoff distance for lights, not sure. That might fix the problem. If you absolutely have to you can use a brush with the blocklight texture, but be warned: if you're not careful with how it's placed it can really make things look unnatural.
Now with 100% more inline comments!
Actually, if I recall, they just use an env_fade in the campaign maps; set the colour to black, and the fade duration to zero seconds so that it's instantaneous.
I think your confusing the metal's reflections for lighting.
If you just want a room to be black (like the gun's still visible and stuff although dark) you can use tools/black_noportal as the floor, wall and ceiling textures. Just tools/black is portalable.
If there are lights back there then probably. I think you can set the dropoff distance for lights, not sure. That might fix the problem.
By lights behind the player meaning a light that is above the player and following the player where ever the player goes....This comes to my mind because thats how it is in unreal engine. The light is so dim that you dont notice it in a well lit environment but you can still see little bit (just enough to make out what your immediate surroundings are) in dark areas.
If there are lights back there then probably. I think you can set the dropoff distance for lights, not sure. That might fix the problem.
By lights behind the player meaning a light that is above the player and following the player where ever the player goes....This comes to my mind because thats how it is in unreal engine. The light is so dim that you dont notice it in a well lit environment but you can still see little bit (just enough to make out what your immediate surroundings are) in dark areas.
Fairly certain that doesn't exist in Source.
Now with 100% more inline comments!