Geep

To improve performance, I'm pondering the use of func_portals to manually open/close some of the outdoor-area visportals, controlled using scripting of a state machine. I'm at little concerned, though... It appears that you can only use func_portal to toggle open/close its visportal, not to set it explicitly. That is, while a mover has function calls "openPortal" and "closePortal", func_portal does not (I think). Furthermore, I didn't see anyway to detect the open/close state of the associated visportal. I'm concerned that if a trigger toggle gets "out of sync" (code thinks portal is in opposite state from what portal really is), then it will all go to hell. I imagine, instead of func_portal, I could use dummy movers that are either transparent or tiny or buried in the ground. Then I would have openPortal() and closePortal() available. I assume, once you have a mover or func_portal on a visportal, the engine doesn't itself decide to open or close it, so you can rely on the state in the scripting code being persistent. But maybe that's not a valid assumption. Thoughts? EDIT: I started down this road, but then thought about it further. The potential for problems is high and benefits uncertain and modest. So forgetaboutit.

One thing I wasn't able to figure out for the wiki post was the use case for the painting models with the "_tearable" suffix. By default, these are empty frames with little scraps of stuff at edges and corners. But if you change the skin to real art, you just see the art unmodified (as if this was a painting model without the _tearable suffix). Maybe at one time it would look torn, but doesn't now in 2.09? Or maybe this model is something to use with the "replace" spawnarg for lootables? If so, I'd like to know of an example of anyone doing that. EDIT: Figured it out, will update the wiki soon EDIT2: Done, now with considerable more content.

I just added a new "Framed Art" page to the wiki, giving an intro to the TDM framed painting system. https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Framed_Art I thought the basics need to be on the wiki first, before maybe talking about how to customize with new art a la Away0.

That sounds beyond what I can help with. Good luck

I tried converting the tga to b&w with lens blur and adjustments to brightness/contrast. Probably too bright, so it became like a sheet of glass in an experimental FM. But then it immediately became obvious that the "flickering" was just plain old z-fighting. I'm seeing some evidence that the tavern_bar01 model (even if not custom scaled) incorporated instances of this stain decal in the same plane as the wood bar top surface. Maybe at one time this was ok to do, but not now? So if you wanted to use specular as intended here, only correcting the model (e.g., in blender), to put space between the wood surface and stain, would do it. Sorry, no can do myself. (Or give up on specular & return to leaving out the .tga file)

Hmm, when I said above, "I'm guessing that when the DDS is created it munges the surface normals, and they remain munged when converted backto TGA", I was confused. That doesn't apply to a specular map, only to a normal/bump map (which is not used in this shader).

Since the existing (flickering) cure is worse than the (dmap warning) disease, I'm reverting back to life without a stain01b_s.tga, for now.

BTW, the post between SeriousToni and @Springheel was from 2013, not 2008. Here: As I said above, the dropbox links are no longer good. But there is a reference to FM "Chalice of Kings", so maybe better (non-infringing, non-flickering) versions of these 2 variant files (diffuse & specular) could be had from there? EDIT: No custom textures in TD2:Chalice of Kings.

Maybe @SeriousToni's work was to create a variant stain pattern (with the same filename) to avoid copyright infringement? Dunno.

In the "be careful what you wish for" category, I added that file to my FM's /textures/decals/, and now I've got the flickering on my bar top (of a tavern_bar01 model). Sigh I'm guessing that when the DDS is created it munges the surface normals, and they remain munged when converted backto TGA. Although I guess there's also a 3 color issue, which is why MakeIntensity had to be used.

Missing Texture Uncompressed Specular File "stain01b_s.tga" This concerns 2.08, 2.09, and 2.10 dev, and relates to @nbohr1more's May 7, 2020 post in this thread. The "stain01bwet" shader is defined in tdm_textures_base01.pk4/tdm_decals_dirt.mtr as: textures/darkmod/decals/dirt/stain01bwet { DECAL_MACRO translucent twosided noimpact qer_editorimage textures/decals/stain01b { blend gl_dst_color,gl_zero map textures/decals/stain01b.tga } { blend specularmap map makeIntensity(textures/decals/stain01b_s.tga) } } Unfortunately, the file stain01b_s.tga is not included in any of these releases, only stain01b_s.dds, which makeIntensity(...) does not look for (nor should it). So a console complaint. Perhaps someone assumed that the .tga was unneeded, given the .dds, and so it was purged from the distribution. If anyone could provide me with the missing file, I think I can work around the problem for my FM. (The original source, from @SeriousToni in 2008, no longer has a valid link.) And of course a more permanent fix within 2.10 would be great.

I've always had to do tweaking of that spawnarg by trial and error. And you can only expect the beginning and end locations of the hatch to be good, with the movement in-between continuing to be funky. As to OrbWeaver's point, for non-func-statics like individual brushes, I think it's better to not to use the free-hand rotate tool, but instead DR "rotate and scale" of the Z axis with a known numeric value, like 45, 30, 60 degrees.

But yet, you must

Stolen Heart Release Candidate 2 is now available, now with much less disk space, and a bit more to wonder about, like this door here...

NEVERMIND! MY BAD! Turns out I had renamed 2.10's tdm_sound_ambient_decl01.pk4 to .zip to look inside, and forgot to restore the name.