diff --git a/src/com/blarg/gdx/tilemap3d/lighting/LitChunkVertexGenerator.java b/src/com/blarg/gdx/tilemap3d/lighting/LitChunkVertexGenerator.java
index 962e6d6..39c26ef 100644
--- a/src/com/blarg/gdx/tilemap3d/lighting/LitChunkVertexGenerator.java
+++ b/src/com/blarg/gdx/tilemap3d/lighting/LitChunkVertexGenerator.java
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.Color;
 import com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.g3d.utils.MeshBuilder;
 import com.badlogic.gdx.math.Matrix4;
 import com.badlogic.gdx.math.Vector3;
+import com.badlogic.gdx.math.collision.BoundingBox;
 import com.blarg.gdx.graphics.Vertices;
 import com.blarg.gdx.tilemap3d.ChunkVertexGenerator;
 import com.blarg.gdx.tilemap3d.Tile;
@@ -13,8 +14,8 @@ import com.blarg.gdx.tilemap3d.tilemesh.TileMesh;
 
 public class LitChunkVertexGenerator extends ChunkVertexGenerator {
 	final Vector3 tmpOffset = new Vector3();
-	final Vector3 tmpLightSource = new Vector3();
-	final Color finalLightingColor = new Color();
+	final Vector3 tmpLightSourcePos = new Vector3();
+	final BoundingBox tmpBounds = new BoundingBox();
 
 	@Override
 	protected void addMesh(MeshBuilder builder, Tile tile, TileMesh sourceMesh, TileChunk chunk, TileCoord position, Matrix4 transform, Color color, int firstVertex, int numVertices) {
@@ -28,6 +29,8 @@ public class LitChunkVertexGenerator extends ChunkVertexGenerator {
 		tmpOffset.y += (float)position.y;
 		tmpOffset.z += (float)position.z;
 
+		chunk.getBoundingBoxFor(position.x, position.y, position.z, tmpBounds);
+
 		// figure out what the default lighting value is for this chunk
 		byte defaultLightValue = chunk.tileMap.skyLightValue;
 		if (chunk.tileMap.ambientLightValue > defaultLightValue)
@@ -49,46 +52,85 @@ public class LitChunkVertexGenerator extends ChunkVertexGenerator {
 			// translate vertex into "world/tilemap space"
 			vertex.position.add(tmpOffset);
 
-			// the color we set to the chunk mesh determines the brightness (in other words: it is the lighting value)
+			// now we need to find the appropriate light source for this vertex. this light source could be either
+			// this very tile itself, or an adjacent tile. we'll check using the vertex normal as a direction to
+			// "look in" for the light source ...
 
-			// use the tile that's adjacent to this one in the direction that
-			// this vertex's normal is pointing as the light source
-			tmpLightSource.set(vertex.position).add(vertex.normal);
+			// get the exact "world/tilemap space" position to grab a potential light source tile from
+			tmpLightSourcePos.set(vertex.position).add(vertex.normal);
+
+			// HACK: if the light source position we just got lies exactly on the max x/y/z boundaries of this tile
+			//       then casting it to int and using it as a tilemap grid coord to get the tile will fetch us the
+			//       _next_ tile which we probably don't want when the position is exactly at max x/y/z ...
+			//       (this was resulting in some incorrect dark edges along certain tile layouts)
+			if (tmpLightSourcePos.x == tmpBounds.max.x)
+				tmpLightSourcePos.x -= 0.01f;
+			if (tmpLightSourcePos.y == tmpBounds.max.y)
+				tmpLightSourcePos.y -= 0.01f;
+			if (tmpLightSourcePos.z == tmpBounds.max.z)
+				tmpLightSourcePos.z -= 0.01f;
 
-			// if the light source position is off the bounds of the entire world
-			// then use the default light value.
-			// the below call to TileChunk.getWithinSelfOrNeighbour() actually does
-			// do bounds checking, but we would need to cast from float to int
-			// first. this causes some issues when the one or more of the
-			// lightSource x/y/z values are between 0 and -1 (rounds up to 0 when
-			// using a cast). rather then do some weird custom rounding, we just
-			// check for negatives to ensure we catch them and handle it properly
-			// NOTE: this is only a problem currently because world coords are
-			//       always >= 0. this will need to be adjusted if that changes
 			float brightness;
-			if (tmpLightSource.x < 0.0f || tmpLightSource.y < 0.0f || tmpLightSource.z < 0.0f)
+
+			// if the light source position is off the bounds of the entire world then use the default light value.
+			// the below call to TileChunk.getWithinSelfOrNeighbour() actually does do bounds checking, but we would
+			// need to cast from float to int first. this causes some issues when the one or more of the lightSource
+			// x/y/z values are between 0 and -1 (rounds up to 0 when using a cast). rather then do some weird custom
+			// rounding, we just check for negatives to ensure we catch them and handle it properly
+			// NOTE: this is _only_ a problem currently because world coords right now are always >= 0
+			if (tmpLightSourcePos.x < 0.0f || tmpLightSourcePos.y < 0.0f || tmpLightSourcePos.z < 0.0f)
 				brightness = Tile.getBrightness(defaultLightValue);
 			else {
 				// light source is within the boundaries of the world, get the
 				// actual tile (may or may not be in a neighbouring chunk)
-				int lightX = (int)tmpLightSource.x - chunk.getMinX();
-				int lightY = (int)tmpLightSource.y - chunk.getMinY();
-				int lightZ = (int)tmpLightSource.z - chunk.getMinZ();
+				int lightX = (int)tmpLightSourcePos.x - chunk.getMinX();
+				int lightY = (int)tmpLightSourcePos.y - chunk.getMinY();
+				int lightZ = (int)tmpLightSourcePos.z - chunk.getMinZ();
 
 				Tile lightSourceTile = chunk.getWithinSelfOrNeighbourSafe(lightX, lightY, lightZ);
 				if (lightSourceTile == null)
+					// out of bounds of the map
 					brightness = Tile.getBrightness(defaultLightValue);
-				else
+				else if (lightSourceTile.isEmptySpace())
+					// this tile is getting it's light from another tile that is empty
+					// just use the other tile's light value as-is
 					brightness = lightSourceTile.getBrightness();
+				else {
+					// this tile is getting it's light from another tile that is not empty
+					// check if the direction we went in to find the other tile passes through any
+					// of the other tile's opaque sides. if so, we cannot use its light value and
+					// should instead just use whatever this tile's light value is
+					// TODO: i'm pretty sure this is going to produce poor results at some point in the future... fix!
+
+					TileMesh lightSourceTileMesh = chunk.tileMap.tileMeshes.get(lightSourceTile);
+
+					// collect a list of the sides to check for opaqueness with the light source tile .. we check
+					// the sides of the light source mesh opposite to the direction of the vertex normal (direction we
+					// are "moving" in)
+					// TODO: is it better to check each side individually? how would that work if the normal moves us
+					//       in a non-orthogonal direction and we need to check 2 sides ... ?
+					byte sides = 0;
+					if (vertex.normal.y < 0.0f) sides |= TileMesh.SIDE_TOP;
+					if (vertex.normal.y > 0.0f) sides |= TileMesh.SIDE_BOTTOM;
+					if (vertex.normal.x < 0.0f) sides |= TileMesh.SIDE_RIGHT;
+					if (vertex.normal.x > 0.0f) sides |= TileMesh.SIDE_LEFT;
+					if (vertex.normal.z < 0.0f) sides |= TileMesh.SIDE_BACK;
+					if (vertex.normal.z > 0.0f) sides |= TileMesh.SIDE_FRONT;
+
+					if (lightSourceTileMesh.isOpaque(sides))
+						brightness = tile.tileLight;
+					else
+						brightness = lightSourceTile.getBrightness();
+				}
 			}
 
-			finalLightingColor.set(
+			// TODO: need to play with vertex/mesh color combinations a bit more to see if this is really correct
+			vertex.color.set(
 					vertex.color.r * color.r * brightness,
 					vertex.color.g * color.g * brightness,
 					vertex.color.b * color.b * brightness,
 					vertex.color.a * color.a
 			);
-			vertex.color.set(finalLightingColor);
 
 			builder.vertex(vertex);
 			sourceVertices.moveNext();