High Range Dynamic Lighting

My point was:
Sun position is sent to the client.
Moon position is sent to the client.
Light sources present in the sim are sent to the client (along with brightness levels, etc).

What more do you need?

As for alternate servers hosting...whatever data, it might as well be considered the same as a LL hosted server: it'd be sending the same data.

My point was:
Yes, we know it could be done.

Since we know it could be done, what steps have been taken to settle on light & shadows data formats? Does Linden Lab even want to deal with ligh data? Does the database hold enough meta-data for various styles of lights and shadows? Would another asset server that contains all kinds extra meta-data be needed? Hoes the look and feel effect each client. Some content is based on how the lights work now, but will upgrades break that content? OMG... the list goes on...

In which case:

FINALLY you've expressed your point in words rather than beating around the bush about it under the assumption that EVERYONE knows EXACTLY what you're asking about when you're asking for a lighting system.

Here I was going on and on about the RENDERING and you wanted to know about the ASSETS.

Oh... I just got TOLD! lmao

Sir, I believe my first message stated my question is aimed lights, yet I then stated my questions about the database side. I only briefly gave a question to gain knowledge for research. There are lots of questions that can be asked that has nothing to do with feasability or rendering. However, I wouldn't leave those questions out either. I'm open to explore options, too.

Anyways, I believe we are still left in the dark about data transparency and future plans. It would be good to know.

LL DID have a shader in place when hardware lighting was just getting implemented. It looked sweet having a shadow cast from my avatar, and I believe the same could be extended out to objects as well. The problem I see is the fact that you've got dozens of prims in an object, but they aren't one unified mesh. If you could combine the prims together into one cohesive mesh, you can figure out how the light falls across the whole of the object, as well as how it should fall on the ground. Otherwise, you've got to figure out a shadow for every single prim in an object, and you're shading all the hidden surfaces within the object as well.

Addendum:
I found a tutorial on GameDev.net about shading which seems to work beautifully:
http://nehe.gamedev.net/data/lessons/lesson.asp?lesson=27