# Light maps not baking right at all

**URL:** <https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/light-maps-not-baking-right-at-all/2301116>\
**Category:** World Creation\
**Tags:** baked-lighting, unreal-engine, level, Lighting, question\
**Created:** [January 24, 2025, 3:56pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/light-maps-not-baking-right-at-all/2301116 "2025-01-24T15:56:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![wolffang042](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@wolffang042](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/wolffang042)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 3:56pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/light-maps-not-baking-right-at-all/2301116/1 "2025-01-24T15:56:44Z")

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![image](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/d/d/1/dd19c9a8ffa0214079d254355f778a9b3178d00f.jpeg)  
 ![image](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/7/5/4/75486a8f5b97631711f9e6c2b052f5fd92983989.jpeg)  
I have no idea what is happerning but when i use dynamic light it works fine but when i bake it, it does this. please help ☹

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**Author:** ![BRGThomasHulton](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@BRGThomasHulton](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/BRGThomasHulton)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/light-maps-not-baking-right-at-all/2301116/2 "2025-01-24T16:19:38Z")

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Hello there! How are you? @wolffang042

I need to ask you a few questions to understand the issue better.

Does the baking asset incorrectly have its lightmap UVs enabled? If so, what is their resolution?

Additionally, here is some documentation that might help in resolving the issue:

- [Generating Lightmap UVs in Unreal Engine | Unreal Engine 5.5 Documentation | Epic Developer Community](https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/unreal-engine/generating-lightmap-uvs-in-unreal-engine)

- [Identifying Lightmap UV Problems | Tutorial](https://dev.epicgames.com/community/learning/tutorials/YEm/identifying-lightmap-uv-problems)

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**Author:** ![wolffang042](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@wolffang042](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/wolffang042)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/light-maps-not-baking-right-at-all/2301116/3 "2025-01-24T20:29:42Z")

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They are enabled but the mesh is basically a cube with the normal inside out if that changes anything.

 ![image](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/c/f/6/cf6304ebbc05fa8cdc625289124ec25947c7c570.png)

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**Author:** ![wolffang042](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@wolffang042](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/wolffang042)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 9:47pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/light-maps-not-baking-right-at-all/2301116/4 "2025-01-24T21:47:53Z")

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I found the solution!!!  
i needed to change this setting from 4 to something way higher:  
 ![image](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/a/e/9/ae95e2a9fdbb558ac046be9e468d08631d3cc61d.png)  
this can be found in the static mesh of the object that has the bad shadow map.

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**Author:** ![MostHost\_LA](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/mosthost_la/32/907035_2.png) [@MostHost\_LA](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/MostHost_LA)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2025, 3:35am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/light-maps-not-baking-right-at-all/2301116/5 "2025-01-25T03:35:57Z")

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You are probably missing a lot of basics.  
Look up the following stuff:

What is a Texel.  
What is Texel Density.  
What is a Light UV Map.  
What is Mip.  
Once you know that, then graduate to complex things like:  
How to build light-map UV with mips in mind

Once you know what’s up, then understanding why you got the result you got and why changing the resolution helps becomes a little-bit easier if not just logical…

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**Author:** ![system](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/7/1/3/713c9d3f58553f0de89543d76a8a3a2779dc9fa4.png) [@system](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2025, 3:36am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/light-maps-not-baking-right-at-all/2301116/6 "2025-02-24T03:36:03Z")

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