Self-illumination

Self-illumination on the Cheater's Lament.

See the VDC on $selfillum for how glowing is implemented in materials.

Self-illumination, also known as selfillum or simply as glowing, is a feature of the Source Engine that causes certain textures to appear to glow when in areas with little light. This effect is used to add to the appearance, tone and/or artstyle of certain items in Team Fortress 2. As with other graphical features like jiggle bones, self-illumination is purely cosmetic with no gameplay consequence.

Objects that glow in the dark

Note: This list is incomplete and does not display self-illumination of all applicable items.

v • d • e List of items with Self-illumination
Class	Slot		Item	Notes
Scout	Weapons	Melee		The orange segments.
	Weapons	Melee	Sun-on-a-Stick	The orange segments.
	Cosmetics			The lens.
			Bolt Boy	The lens.
				The monocle.
			Cross-Comm Express	The monocle.
Soldier	Cosmetics			The laser and monocle.
			Cross-Comm Crash Helmet	The laser and monocle.
				The horn lighting.
			Infernal Impaler	The horn lighting.
				The eyes.
			Lieutenant Bites	The eyes.
				The eyes.
			Lieutenant Bites the Dust	The eyes.
				The burnt end of the cigar.
			Soldier's Stogie	The burnt end of the cigar.
Pyro	Weapons	Melee		The neon tubing.
			Neon Annihilator	The neon tubing.
				The orange segments.
			Sharpened Volcano Fragment	The orange segments.
				The heated coil.
			Third Degree	The heated coil.
	Cosmetics			The whole head.
			Apparition's Aspect	The whole head.
				The horns, ears, and eyes.
			Blazing Bull	The horns, ears, and eyes.
				The eyes.
			Carrion Companion	The eyes.
				The lightbulb.
			Electric Escorter	The lightbulb.
				The wings.
			Fallen Angel	The wings.
				The whole head.
			Filamental	The whole head.
				The lenses.
			Googol Glass Eyes	The lenses.
				The eyes.
			Gothic Guise	The eyes.
				The goo.
			Mucous Membrain	The goo.
				The eye-slits and ear-holes.
			Person in the Iron Mask	The eye-slits and ear-holes.
				The window on the house in the snow globe.
			Portable Smissmas Spirit Dispenser	The window on the house in the snow globe.
				The lenses.
			PY-40 Incinibot	The lenses.
				The neon tubing.
			Pyro in Chinatown	The neon tubing.
				The skull.
			Spectralnaut	The skull.
				The tail.
			Tail from the Crypt	The tail.
				The lenses.
			Triclops	The lenses.
				The lenses.
			Vicious Visage	The lenses.
				The flame and the top of the candle.
			Waxy Wayfinder	The flame and the top of the candle.
Demoman	Weapons	Primary		The stripe and the end of the grenades.
			Grenade Launcher	The stripe and the end of the grenades.
				The stripe and the circles on the side of the grenades.
			Iron Bomber	The stripe and the circles on the side of the grenades.
				The fuse and plug on the cannonball.
			Loose Cannon	The fuse and plug on the cannonball.
		Secondary		The team-colored sections of the stickybombs.
			Quickiebomb Launcher	The team-colored sections of the stickybombs.
				The stickybombs.
			Stickybomb Launcher	The stickybombs.
	Cosmetics			The eye.
			Cap'n Calamari	The eye.
				The eye.
			Eyeborg	The eye.
				The eyes.
			Forgotten King's Restless Head	The eyes.
				The screen.
			HDMI Patch	The screen.
				The mushroom cloud.
			Mannhattan Project	The mushroom cloud.
				The eyes.
			Polly Putrid	The eyes.
				The eyes and teeth.
			Scottish Snarl	The eyes and teeth.
	Taunt			The stripe and the end of the grenades.
	Taunt		Spent Well Spirits	The stripe and the end of the grenades.
Heavy	Weapons	Secondary		The light.
		Secondary	Robo-Sandvich	The light.
		Melee		The gems.
		Melee	Apoco-Fists	The gems.
	Cosmetics			The flames.
			Bunsen Brave	The flames.
				The brain.
			Can Opener	The brain.
				The gems.
			Cold War Luchador	The gems.
				The eyes.
			Hellish Overlord	The eyes.
				The sandwich.
			Ivan the Inedible	The sandwich.
				The bolts and the wounds.
			Soviet Stitch-Up	The bolts and the wounds.
				The whole hat.
			Storm Spirit's Jolly Hat	The whole hat.
				The star.
			U-clank-a	The star.
Engineer	Weapons	Primary		The screen and the light.
		Primary	Rescue Ranger	The screen and the light.
		Secondary		The light emitted.
		Secondary	Giger Counter	The light emitted.
	Cosmetics			The lenses, when using the Paint Eyes style.
			Arctic Mole	The lenses, when using the Paint Eyes style.
				The watch.
			Big Star	The watch.
				The lenses.
			Clockwerk's Helm	The lenses.
				The whole hat.
			Data Mining Light	The whole hat.
				The light.
			Delldozer	The light.
				The festive lights.
			Face Full of Festive	The festive lights.
				The lenses.
			Head Mounted Double Observatory	The lenses.
				The festive lights.
			Industrial Festivizer	The festive lights.
				The light.
			Mining Light	The light.
				The screen and buttons.
			Pip-Boy	The screen and buttons.
				The lenses.
			Special Eyes	The lenses.
				The lenses.
			Tin-1000	The lenses.
Medic	Weapons	Primary		The team-colored muzzle and stripe.
		Primary	Blutsauger	The team-colored muzzle and stripe.
		Secondary		The yellow lines on the barrel.
			Kritzkrieg	The yellow lines on the barrel.
				The lights on the backpack.
			Quick-Fix	The lights on the backpack.
				The beaker, hose, hose connector on the backpack, and the nozzle.
			Vaccinator
		Melee		The team-colored liquid and the nozzle.
			Ubersaw	The team-colored liquid and the nozzle.
				The team-colored liquid.
			Vita-Saw	The team-colored liquid.
	Cosmetics			The eyes.
			Archimedes the Undying	The eyes.
				The lenses.
			Byte'd Beak	The lenses.
				The lenses.
			Dr. Gogglestache	The lenses.
				The neon liquid and the symbol.
			Emerald Jarate	The neon liquid and the symbol.
				The vials and heart.
			Herzensbrecher	The vials and heart.
				The vials.
			Quadwrangler	The vials.
				The lenses.
			Steam Pipe	The lenses.
				The eyes.
			Templar's Spirit	The eyes.
				The lights.
			Trepanabotomizer	The lights.
	Taunt			The x-ray.
	Taunt		Results Are In	The x-ray.
Sniper	Cosmetics			The eyes.
			Carious Chameleon	The eyes.
				The bullets and symbol.
			Holy Hunter	The bullets and symbol.
				The lenses.
			Marsupial Man	The lenses.
				The nose.
			Randolph the Blood-Nosed Caribou	The nose.
				The eyes.
			Sir Hootsalot	The eyes.
				The lense and attachments.
			Sniper's Snipin' Glass	The lense and attachments.
Spy	Weapons	Building		The eye.
	Weapons	Building	Ap-Sap	The eye.
	Cosmetics			The eyes.
			Backstabber's Boomslang	The eyes.
				The lenses.
			Upgrade	The lenses.
Multiple classes	Weapons	Melee		The lights.
	Weapons	Melee	Crossing Guard	The lights.
	Cosmetics			The monocle.
			Doublecross-Comm	The monocle.
				The liquid.
			Professor's Pineapple	The liquid.
				The eyes.
			Snaggletoothed Stetson	The eyes.
All classes	Weapons	N/A
				The Australium plating.
			Australium weapons	The Australium plating.
				The eyes on Mk. 1 Silver, Gold, Rust and Blood botkiller weapons.
			Botkiller weapons
				The texture. (Only applied to certain items)
			Decorated	The texture. (Only applied to certain items)
				The festive lights.
			Festive weapons	The festive lights.
		Melee
				The pan.
			Golden Frying Pan	The pan.
				The statue.
			Saxxy	The statue.
	Cosmetics			The festive lights.
			A Rather Festive Tree	The festive lights.
				The skull.
			Accursed Apparition	The skull.
				The lightbulb with a team-colored lens.
			Aperture Labs Hard Hat	The lightbulb with a team-colored lens.
				The insignia.
			Awesomenauts Badge	The insignia.
				The flame and the top of the candle.
			Beacon from Beyond	The flame and the top of the candle.
				The Nightmare style, under the following circumstances: The right eye, when equipped on Pyro, alongside the Voodoo-Cursed Pyro Soul. The goggles, when equipped on Engineer.
			Beaten and Bruised
				The rainbow circle.
			Blapature Co. Contributor	The rainbow circle.
				The eyes and gums.
			Bombinomicon	The eyes and gums.
				The halo.
			Cheater's Lament	The halo.
				The bulb.
			Conspiracy Cap	The bulb.
				The ghost.
			Dead Little Buddy	The ghost.
				The outline.
			Dueler	The outline.
				The headphones
			Earbuds	The headphones
				The monocle.
			Electric Badge-aloo	The monocle.
				The festive lights.
			Festive Frames	The festive lights.
				The outline.
			Gifting Man from Gifting Land	The outline.
				The ghost.
			Hooded Haunter	The ghost.
				The inside areas. Set to fade in and out.
			Horseless Headless Horsemann's Head	The inside areas. Set to fade in and out.
				The outline.
			Philateler	The outline.
				The heart.
			Madness vs Machines Boundless Heart 2019	The heart.
				The screen.
			Memes vs. Machines PotatOS Server 2019	The screen.
				The eyes and mouth.
			Pocket Horsemann	The eyes and mouth.
				The jet flame and the eye.
			RoBro 3000	The jet flame and the eye.
				The bulb.
			Rump-o'-Lantern	The bulb.
				The screen.
			Spirit of Giving	The screen.
			The monkey.
Unknown Monkeynaut			The monkey.
			The lenses, ear covers and inside screen.
Virtual Viewfinder			The lenses, ear covers and inside screen.
			The eyes and brain.
Voodoo-Cursed Soul			The eyes and brain.
Action items			The button on the Return to Base canteen. The syringe on the Übercharge canteen. The strap on the Ammo/Clip Refill, Buildings Upgrade, Critical Hit Boost, and Übercharge canteens. The symbol on all five canteens.
Action items		Power Up Canteen

Update history

December 2, 2010 Patch

[Undocumented] Removed self illumination on the Earbuds.

September 15, 2011 Patch

[Undocumented] Fixed the Industrial Festivizer not glowing in the dark.

February 1, 2013 Patch

[Undocumented] Fixed an issue with the self-illumination on the Vaccinator's backpack.

March 1, 2023 Patch

Fixed Civilian Grade Stat Clock cancelling out ÜberCharge and self-illuminating materials on weapons using War Paints. (community fix from makaroffilya)

March 20, 2023 Patch

Fixed self-illumination effect for the High Roller's Rocket Launcher and the High Roller's Medi Gun. (community fix from makaroffilya)

August 13, 2024 Patch

Fixed regressed self-illum setting for the Earbuds.

Bugs

The entire head of the Engineer Robot is self-illuminated, instead of just the eyes like with the other Robots.

Self-illumination

Objects that glow in the dark

Update history

Bugs

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