Quote:

Well as a lightning discharges from bottom to top, it isn't that wrong.



For a "Ground Strike" actually, "Step Leaders" (Charged Particles) travel from the ground towards the cloud, and from the cloud towards the ground where the potential difference is the highest.
(A lot of one charge in the clouds, usually positive - and a lot of the opposite charge on the ground, usually negative...Charge polarities are not *always* of one type for the ground or cloud.)

As the Step Leaders travel, they leave a charged/ionized trail as their 'wake'.

When the two Step Leaders meet (being of opposite charge they are attracted to each other) they complete the "circuit" and a lightning strike is discharged through the charged trail.

P.S. In my lightning routine (posted May 2001 - boy is *that* old!) I used particles.
Don't forget to set max_particles to like 10000 before the level_load statement, or on multiple strikes you'll get incomplete bolts/forks - as once you exceed max_particles the older particles will be removed before you want them removed, so that newer particles can be created...

- Neut.