RPGista

Thats great, thanks grayman. I also encountered the issue a few times on different maps.

Unfortunately, turning the post processing option on results in the exact same problem reported by Spooks, the screen quickly brightens to a solid white... I was looking into the post processing info (here http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Advanced_TDM_Visuals_Tweaking ), perhaps we are having these issues due to the way the mechanics were written into TDM. I have no technical knowledge on the matter, but the way it sounds is that the implementation was not a straight foward affair, and might have altered the way vanilla idtech4 had this set up, in unpredicatable ways? (Assuming you wrotte the program and shader having the original engine in mind) "During development the team of developers ran into several problems with the original HDR implementation, including performance issues and some visual artifacts, that were hard to circumvent given the fact that the source of idTech 4 is still closed. It was then decided not to work on the basis of an actual "High Dynamic Range", but to still maintain most of the resulting effects. The HDR implementation was altered and split up into the new Enhanced Interaction Shader and the HDR-Lite Post-Processing."

Bob - indeed your sword looks very cool, I can see it being used in your mission as some sort of relic that needs to be stolen, a cerimonial sword or something. I think right now, since you have already shown you can model complex things, it would be important for you to focus more on what makes models game-ready. The process of baking a normal map from a high poly to a low poly version, to be used in game. The manual uvunwrapping and texture painting. The low poly modeling and how to make it look good with the right amount of tris. Etc. You can then come back for help on how to put the models inside the engine. The is a lot of good information on the TDM Wiki (see on the top of the page). Keep up the good work, man!

Very cool, never knew you could do that! Thanks a lot for the tutorial, man.

Indeed my friend, Im afraid it seems to be the GUI implementation. I've tested both versions, following the instructions, and Im always getting the same result. First, there's a black screen with little color dots. If I move around, randomly I get a picture, visually the shader is working as intended, but there is frequent freezing (only the image freezes, I can hear the game going on underneath). It happened in The New Job, Saint Lucia, Training Mission, even my own testing map, the one I used to post the pictures (it doesnt have any portals). My guess is that it was working flawlessly for me before because I was simply applying the shader to the bound sphere. I didnt even try using the g_test command before, thats why I didnt notice the issues at the time. My settings are these, if relevant: ambient rendering - simple, interaction shader - default, post processing - disabled, no bloom.

Soul - I wouldnt worry too much about capping. It would be preferable, IMO, to do something like this: You can thicken your patch surface and use a texture that works, so you can give your arch a body. You can then split your wall into a few brushes, and sink them into the patch structure accordingly, as AH suggested.

Neon, take a look at Arcturu's water shader. http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/10003-so-what-are-you-working-on-right-now/page-296?do=findComment&comment=406613 http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/10003-so-what-are-you-working-on-right-now/page-296?do=findComment&comment=406615

No, this was a lot darker than that, and I just tested it inside the starting area, the cemetery. It was as if I had lowered the levels almost completely on the LUT palette (it was a notch above completely black), but I was using the same one I used to make the screenshots above. It was definitely something to do with the GUI overlay. The bound sphere thing does work, but it has several setbacks. It wont follow you if you crouch (it hovers over your head). If its too small, you'll come out of it when you are mantling things. If its too big, it will clip models around you. I guess thats why you could use two, one big and one small, to account for these problems. But it wont affect the player's HUD models (arms and weapons) which breaks the effect quite a lot. Hopefully this is not hard to fix, having it on the GUI is the perfect solution!

Strange... I tried on a few more missions I have here, got an image in Mother Rose, everything was working great in the sense all items but the HUD graphics were being affected by the color grading, but it was extremely dark, several times darker than my clut editing. In A Step too Far, all I get is the starry sky. In my own testing map, only a black screen. Im posting the console dump, if it is any help. mother.txt step.txt testing.txt PS: In all cases, the HUD graphics are showing fine (player items). Its the world view and hud models that are black. Could it be anything related to graphics settings? PS2: I put the pk4 in the darkmod folder (was using it per mission folder before). I can confirm that the shader works on the training mission, as well as the Saint Lucia one. But both are suffering from strong slow downs on random intervals, the image just freezes, then comes back again. The game doesnt hang, I can escape to the menu and exit the game normally. It just freezes while playing.

Thats awesome! But unfortunately, I was testing this on a couple of maps and Im getting a black screen. The game is running, you can see the HUD items (and see the night skybox in one map), but everything else is black...

Sure, I can help you with models. But my time is rather limited. What are you looking for?

Yeah, that sounds about right. I would suggest, as with any kind of creative endeavor, to really strip it down, focus solely on what counts, what makes it work, unique. Like in TDM for example, there's no conversation system, no friendlies routine, the AI is perfected solely for what the game wants to be. You can make something like a Slender Man game, just a simple premise, and make it work 100% inside those limits. Thats what I would do. Good luck.

I dont think you guys are really getting all the massive potential that Rich's system is bringing to TDM. Not only can you get crazy, wacky effects (that would work for dreams and allucination scenarios, as some have mentioned), or a black and white scene, etc. - more importantly, you can actually create your own personalised visual style for your work, as an artistic expression. You can setup your own color grading, that means fine tuning your contrast, levels, color channels and saturation to get a specific look throughout your world, enhancing it in several ways. And all of that with a very simple system, where you basicly edit the provided palette in your image editing program. You take a screenshot from your map, make the changes untill you find the look you want, apply that to the LUT palette, and youre done. Its unbelieveable. Take a look at some quick tests I did inside a concept map Im working on: Original Color graded Notice the changes in contrast, as well as the color channels. This opens up a lot of opportunities. I would actually ask you guys to consider making this a built in feature of TDM, maybe experimenting with setups that could be selected in the options menu by the players. Sikkmod has this (several color grading settings you can choose from), we could also have some, like a bit of a sepia to it, or a bit of a colder one, or a grading that increases contrast, one that desaturates a little, etc (it would naturally have to be overidden by the mission's own LUT, if any). I just think it would make TDM that much cooler to look at. Edit: Editted out part about GUIs.

That briefing video is insanely good. The visual style is so nice, I loved the robed figures and the silhouete aproach. Goldwell's acting and voice is amazing. Stellar job, guys. Digging that trailer too, I appreciate all the work involved in setting up those camera shots. Liked the ending, when its goes crazy... Very cool, man.

Hey hmart, you said you were checking the engine out for a future game. What would that game potentially be like?

Looking awesome!

Yes, I experimented with that, but was unable to control the shader. Maybe I set it up incorrectly, but I was also unable to get rid of a strong brightness effect. Still, I havent had time to look into Rich's solution yet, but hopefully it will also allow for custom color grading effects (the rgb editing that is refered to in the blog article linked above), which is actually what Ive been looking for!

You are brilliant! I was looking to achieve something like this, had basicly given up as it took a lot more knowledge than I thought (and possessed), so cool to see this in action in TDM!

Thanks guys, I guess I'll have to make due with those alternatives freyk pointed out. And great catch Obs, that just saved me hours of clueless back and forth.

So I was following a tutorial on GUIs, and I since discovered that my installation (or TDM itself) seems unable to load both the custom GUIs (when you use the console command "testgui xxxxx.gui"), or the GUI editor that is supposed to come included in DOOM. The first simply fails, saying that the game cant load the gui, and the screen turns black (I´ve tried with a few different ones, even stuff from the startmap pack, and the results are the same), and the editor actually loads up, but when you click "new", nothing happens; when you try to load any gui, it says it cant import it or load it, and when you exit the program, TDM crashes, is unable to continue. Is that only on my end, or has the gui functionality somehow changed during the standalone process? Perhaps some of it hasnt been ported yet?

Yes, you copy the startmap folder to the fms folder, install the mission, keep it installed, and then you go about changing all the description files, the title, etc. You then have the startmap file to edit and start creating your own geometry in there. Eventually you erase all of the original stuff you didnt use. All the new custom files (materials, textures, etc), go inside the customised startmap folder, which is now your mission's. Thats what I did, back in the day.

These videos are extremely informative, well thoughtout and edited. Brilliant work.

Well my friend, the hardest part is coming up with the assets, mapping is not that hard... However, it seems to me that those models are on the low poly side, perhaps a tad too simplistic. There seems to be a few smoothing problems. And the textures also need work, they are little more than a color fill, and maybe a normal map here and there. You need a bit of grime, some details, even high-tech materials need a bit of variation on the specular map to look more real and interesting. But, as a starting point, it seems good enough to go. They have donated their assets, have they? BTW I like the idea of a future where medieval/gothic elements have made a return, something like Dune.

Pretty amazing geometry, you can imagine all sorts of adventures going on inside those walls.

The quality of the model is through the roof, all the details, the precise hard surface modeling coupled with the soft detail of the couch. Im amazed at how much work was put into in, the geometry is stunning. I quite like the style of it, because it blends a sort of futuristic design with a bit of kitsch and antique feeling to some of the elements. Will be great seeing your texturing for this, and even more so seeing it working in game.