Nosslak
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Posts posted by Nosslak
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Haven't done any testing yet, I'll probably get to it tomorrow.
Here's what I've been up to today. What do you fine gentlemen think?
I'll add the leather parts tomorrow and make an open (filled?) version as well.
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Sounds good, Serps. I couldn't have described it better myself.
Since the structure shown in the normal map is textured horizontally, not vertically as shown here, blender seems to have rotated the bake to match with how it is used on the model. This results in incorrect lighting. The xNormal version works correctly in doom3. Might this also be something that's fixed by applying the scale etc before baking?... in my head it doesn't seem like it would be.I doubt this will work but I'll run some tests later.
I've chosen to work on a bellow instead of the carriage, so here's what I'll be making in the next few days:
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I'll look tonight.
No need to. Arcturus helped me fix it, it works flawlessly now.
About smoothing groups. Speculation...
Does it have one or none? It won't hurt to have one assigned, it'll still light flat as it's flat. lol.
And I don't know if having none would cause a bad effect or not. maybe, something to try at the very least. (really all models should have just one smoothing group, it's just the seperation of lines that makes them seperate. In Max you can assign 20 to any poly, they don't export though)
Blender doesn't really do smoothing groups actually. Blender just splits the edges, so there's no need to assign it to a special smoothing group or anything like that.
Serp's terrible explanations and poor choice of words strikes again
Yeah, but I should probably just have asked what you meant.
Mystery solved, should fix up the mesh issue your streetlamp too.
Yeah, I'll fix it later when you get around to posting the fixed normal map
.Here's the new (hopefully) final version:
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I'd think maybe either 0.2 doom units is too little space, or possibly the alpha plane material is casting shadows (does it have noshadows and noselfshadows in the shader?)
no shadows casts no shadows on other objects/terrain.
NoSelfShadow won't cast shadow on itself (usually we leave this on all materials as it's kindof an AO on objects - an arm casts a shadow on a torso...)
I had forgotten to turn on noshadow and noselfshadow but they doesn't seem to have made any difference at all, it's still black.
I don't think the alpha planes are causing z-fighting, I just mentioned that because if you are say 1000 doom units (or more, not sure how far) away the metal details might start to 'flicker'.
Nope, that doesn't seem to be the problem as the problem still exist when I remove everything else (frame, collision and shadow mesh). When I tried to resize it the problem persisted until I scaled it at least 20 times the width but seemed to work when I had rescaled the width of it by 100 times. Twenty times the current width is not acceptable (it would go way beyond the frames), so we will have to come up with something else.
and .obj file would be great.
Ah, Noss said he'd fixed this stuff up - I'm not 100% sure on what it is but when it was happening with the lamp post I cleaned up the model in meshlab to sort it out... I however cant recombine obj's into ase very easily, hmmm I'll see what we can do later/tomoz
Truth to be told I wasn't sure what you meant when you talked about the black model stuff and it looked good in my over-lit map so I assumed everything worked as it should. I had completely forgotten about this problem until Fidcal showed it. I'm pretty sure its not a problem with the smoothing groups this time as there is none on the fabric part (because it completely flat).
Try using 'Apply Scale/Rotation to ObData' before exporting to ASE.
That seems to have been the problem. I can't believe it was that simple. Thanks a lot, Arcturus.
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Made an oven and a cooking range but performance hit when all fires are lit. If I make them one light each with 3 flames models then they all go out with one water arrow. Maybe I'll have to do that and make Easy into low-PC again. Both oven and range are one func_static each less doors and lights. I don't think I can do much to improve performance in the kitchen.
Looks great, though there is one little detail I'd change; The orientation of texture of the stone columns next to the doors on the oven. As it is right now it's very obvious that it's just the same texture as the background and doesn't look particularly realistic, this way it would look more like they were stacked on top of each other.
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The slightly corroded brass is very fitting for it, lending the model a nice weight. Well done!
Thanks.
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There's a problem with lighting. I get a strange shadow when I light it with the player lantern or a candle. I can't see anything wrong with the material so I can only guess it's the shadow mesh - but that is beyond my knowledge I'm afraid. Perhaps someone can recognize the problem from the image below.
I had that problem too so I added some extra lights and it disappeared. I just assumed it was my crappy lighting skill that caused it. I really have no idea what it can be.
BTW what's privacy screen 2 ? Is that just an obsolete version?
Yeah, it seems I forgot to delete that. I just used it to quickly copy the bitmap settings for each mesh. It doesn't have any shadow mesh so you probably don't want it.
that's strange for sure. I'd have to see wires/shadow mesh,etc.. to figure that out.
I'll upload a new file for you if you can't open an .ASE file. Would .OBJ work?
is there a normal map seam there? or mirroring?
There is only a normal map on the wooden screen so that's not it. I have used mirroring but only vertically, not horizontally.
Does the fabric have a sub-division across there? is the material completely flat?
I have made two horizontal subdivision on the fabric part but none of them are even close to that place.
Is that a 'double sided shader' that's on the screenwall, or is it 2 seperate planes of polys?
Possibly having double sided shader could make it light weird.
(not sure if the shading will be optimal on this set-up) If they are Doom will just add the extra polys , and they would be on the same plane, thus possible shading issue.
I have made 2 separate planes for it, both of the planes have their normals pointing outwards and I haven't made anything particularly weird with the material file either it shouldn't be double-sided.
if it's 2 planes of polys, but they are right next to each other (no space in between - like Doom would do with two sided shader) they might be z-fighting in a way, throwing shadows on each other .
Would be good to space them out a bit.
There is space between them, not a lot but there is some. I'm not completely sure but I think there is 0.2 Doom units in between them. Is that too little?
This also brings to mind an issue I had with alpha planes on the door models. The hinge/lockplate alpha planes were very close to the door itself, at long distances they started z fighting (due to the engine dropping decimals I guess). If the metal alpha planes are really close to the material planes same thing can happen. (Most likely these will never be seen at really long distances like doors will be outside but it's something to look at as a possible issue.)
This could perhaps be what is happening here but you'd think that it'd work when you're this close to it.
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you just creat a folder namede screenshots in your darkmod folder, it should the save any screenshots in there!
Yes, I know. What I meant was if it's possible to make Doom save the screenshot in a completely different folder such as username/pictures/screenshots and preferably save it as jpeg or png.
Very nice too! I'll be using these soon as I can.
I look forward to seeing them in a mission. In the meantime you can find the model here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/m231y15vi183kf3/privacy_screen_by_nosslak.rar
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My privacy screens done. Here's all the files:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/uhwiiv624yzvtg6/privacy_screen_by_nosslak.rar
And here's a preview:
EDIT: Newer and slightly improved version.
EDIT2: Don't use this as there seem to be some kind of weird lighting issue going on. I'll try to get it sorted out.
EDIT3:I've updated it again, hopefully it's finished now.
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If you mean you can now find your skin in DR's matching skins list and it correctly shows the skin in DR but not in-game then you need to check your path for Dark Mod. Is the skin in darkmod/skins or mygamefolder/skins? And are you running Dark Mod pointing to the game folder if so? This assumes that you have re-started Dark Mod. I don't think it reloads skins with reloadDecls.
Thanks for trying to help, but I've got it working now thanks to a lot of help from Serpentine.
Here are all the four versions (which have been colored in DR):
Lowpoly: 256 polys, 512*1024 pix textures (diffuse, normal, spec) for the frame and 512*1024 pix diffuse for the body.
Collision: 36 polys
Shadow: 52 polys
There is a small issue at the top with the circle where I have mirrored normals on a flat surface, for some reason the normals get inverted (it's not really visible here but if you zoom in on the model you can see it). Is there really no way to solve this?
Other than that it's finished. What do you think about my most excellent privacy screen collection?
EDIT: Quick question: Is it possible to make Doom 3 save screenshots in another folder or to make it save them as jpeg or png?
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Funny it doesn't show in matching skins because your skin file looks right. Check that the model line in both the skin file and on the entity in Entity Inspector are both exactly the same
model models\darkmod\furniture\privacy_screen. ase
If there is a tiny difference there that would explain both why it is not in the matching skins and why it shows black in game.
It's weird but for some reason I can find the texture in matching textures even though I looked closely to see that nothing would change. For some reason it still doesn't want to render the right diffuse in the game, but it do show the right editor diffuse in the engine. Weird.
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Is there any chance that we could get an updated version of this list with links that works?
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Alright, we're finally getting somewhere.
If you have a game folder then in Dark Radiant you should have:
Preferences > game:
mod fs_game mygamefolder
mod base darkmod
The skins folder with your skin file can be either darkmod/skins or mygamefolder/skins
If you are not using a game folder then...
mod fs_game darkmod
In that case the skins folder must only be darkmod/skins
Having made the skin it still needs applying to the individual model entity in a map. This is what to do:
In Dark Radiant, with your map open:
Create the model
Select the model entity
I've got everything working up until this.
Type a new property:skin
And give it the value:
privacy_screen_plain
Alternatively, give it a few random letters as value and press Enter and the skin selector button appears at the foot of the Entity Inspector panel. Click it and you see skins and if there are any matching skins. In this case, if all is well, you should see one matching skin - this new one.
This doesn't seem to work. I assume that when you say I should type a new skin property I assume you mean in the first blank textbox in the inspector and then in the second I wrote privacy_screen_body_plain (changed the name as it describes it better) and clicked on the "choose skin..." button. No matching skins turned up but I did manage to load it from "all skins" instead. So when I look at it in the editor I can see the right texture but not in the game, it's just black in-game. What should i do?
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Is your original material defined in the model bitmap line named exactly:
*BITMAP "//base/privacy_screen_body"
Yes.
Is your skin folder in darkmod or in a game folder and is Dark Radiant and Dark Mod correctly pointing at it with fs_game?The model was only in the darkmod folder and I had fs_game assigned to darkmod in Dark Radiant. I also tried to copy it to my mission folder and use that as my mod base but that didn't work either.
If you select the entity in Dark Radiant and click the skin line in Entity Inspector then click the button that appears below to select a skin, does your new skin show in the matching skins?I'm not very confident in using the editor but afaik the enitity inspector is the panel to left with model/origin specifications and such. If that is what you mean then I can't find anywhere it says skin at all. If you perhaps meant that I should click on the small + in the model browser then I can't because DR doesn't seem to recognize that it has more than one skin at all. So in other words it looks just as it did before I even tried to make a skin.
Is all the above correct but it stills shows black in game? Or it shows as the original texture?It shows original texture.
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Just to verify you're placing that skin declaration in a .skin file and placing the file in the /skins folder?
Yes, that's what I've done. I've called my skinfile nosslak.skin as it would be easy to just update it later, when I make more stuff.
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skin privacy_screen_plain
{
model models\darkmod\furniture\privacy_screen. ase
plain notsoplain
}
ase was on a line break, don't know if that's how it is or forum thing.
You don't need paths to the textures here, just the name of the shader on the object to change, followed by a space, followed by the name of that shader for the new skin. (skin in this case has nothing to do with a bitmap image, it just swaps shaders from .mtr files)
First, the dds and /or textures prefix isn't needed before any path.
plain, is that the name of your material (shader)? If so you only need to list that. It references the material name in the mtr file. Just like in your ase you put the name for the shader. //base/plain
And notsoplain is the name of the new shader you want to use.
(it's description is in the material file too)
Then in the editor under models/skins you will have
model>
screenwall (using plain on the model)
>>privacy_screen_plain
It sounds simple enough, but it still doesn't work for me.
skin privacy_screen_plain { model models\darkmod\furniture\privacy_screen.ase privacy_screen_body privacy_screen_plain }I want to name my skin privacy_screen_plain, I want to use the model called privacy_screen.ase and I want to replace the privacy_screen_body default material with privacy_screen_plain. Is it the correct code to do that?
Here is the material code (it's the same as the default except with the diffuse texture changed and bumpmap commented out):
privacy_screen_plain { qer_editorimage models/darkmod/props/textures/privacy_screen_plain_ed surftype15 description "carpet" diffusemap models/darkmod/props/textures/privacy_screen_plain //bumpmap models/darkmod/props/textures/privacy_screen_body_local //specularmap models/darkmod/props/textures/privacy_screen_body_s { if ( parm11 > 0 ) blend gl_dst_color, gl_one map _white rgb 0.40 * parm11 } { if ( parm11 > 0 ) blend add map models/darkmod/props/textures/privacy_screen_body rgb 0.15 * parm11 } // TDM Ambient Method Related { blend add map models/darkmod/props/textures/privacy_screen_body red global2 green global3 blue global4 } }Why isn't it working, again? Do I need to change something in some other file for my skin to appear in the editor?
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Is there actually no one that has this extension?
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I haven't posted here for a few days as I was tired of dealing with text-files that never work, but I'm back to try again. So how do you make a proper working skin for your model (selectable in the editor)? Baddcog gave me this but it doesn't seem to work:
//Nosslaks skins///////////// //same format as mtr file //this is what you'll see for SKIN name in the editor when looking at models. skin gold_nugget { //this is the model you are making skins for model models/darkmod/nature/rocks/smallrock2.lwo //this is 2 textures, the original material in the ase file, and the second material that will be switched to if using this skin //in this case I am turning a rock into a gold nugget, you should override this or back it up and delete from your instal... otherwise you'll have a useless gold nugget lol //MOST TDM material names ARE their path name. So if you want to use a smooth gold texture you can find it easily. (it can be usedon objects, worldspawn, etc..) //older textures just had names (ie: tdm_rock01) tdm_rock01 textures/darkmod/metal/flat/tiling_1d/gen_smooth_gold01 }Which looked simple enough, or so I thought. I tried making a skin for my privacy screen by just copying this file and editing the filepaths and names until I got this:
skin privacy_screen_plain { model models\darkmod\furniture\privacy_screen.ase plain dds\models\darkmod\props\textures\privacy_screen_body_plain }I don't really know what I was thinking, I mean this is Doom 3 we're talking about, nothing's ever simple there. So do anyone know why it doesn't work? Also shouldn't there be a file-path for an editor texture?
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If your material can be used on a model, it can be used in DR to texture brushes etc. The materials follow the exact same pattern.
Sounds good, but it didn't really answer the question. How do I make the color changeable and then change it in DR?
If you did try out the whole "using a folder that isnt /darkmod/ to work out of", I wrote a small guide to getting a texture into game at the bottom of that guide (it doesn't have a bumpmap, but you should get the idea of where things go )Yeah, that's what I did. That is what seems to have caused this problem of mine.
TDM sometimes does this if you're using a folder to work out of that doesnt have a settings file to start with, which is pretty annoying at the best of times. The best I can give you is my patented "aaaaah why is it low res ffff" fix :
Start TDM (the menus are low res)
Change res and aspect ratio to something lower than your current settings
Exit TDM
Start TDM
Change res and aspect to the correct values
Exit TDM
Start TDM (they should be correct now, but sometimes even this doesnt fix it)
In short, even if that doesnt work you dont need to redownload it, you just need to move the correct settings file into your folder (I assume you're now using a folder like I suggested)
*sadface* It didn't work, any other suggestions?
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Well, it's best to build with the axles on a grid line, then the wheels will line up when attached. The bigger the grid the easier it is to align.
I just did that with the print press I made, has a few gears that will be attahced, so I made sure the axles were cenetered oin a grid line. (had to fudge the model a bit to align them)
Alright, I'll try to keep this in mind when I get to that stage.
Right now I'd like to know what kind of properties you need to add to a material to make it DR-editable. Who am I gonna call?
EDIT: Something's weird going on with TDM. When I start it and look at the main menu and the loading screen it is all very low-res (maybe 640x480) even though I have adjusted the resolution to 1920x1200 in the video options. Strangely enough it works just fine in-game but not in the menus, what should I do (I'd prefer not to re-download it)?
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You probably want to bring the brightness of the material WAY up. So it's actually white with light grey details. It'll color alot better. (You can always use darker coloring to bring it down but you can't brighten it up if the base is so dark).
Alright I'll it up a bit then.
The poles, I'd think maybe brass would be best. But others might disagree. I just think that's an object that'll be used in fancier spots and they'd be using brass instead of steel. That part doesn't need color changes imo.
Yeah, that's what I though too but I wasn't sure if you wanted it changeable or not.
A wood version would be great too. Brass and wood seem the most likely candidates for the framework. (and it would be polished wood so doesn't really need much normal action either. (as far as grain - for that matter the brass would also be smooth so I'd only put details, not grain/noise i the pole normals)
I have now made a wood version and made the brass a little smoother and I'd show it to you if I could but Fraps, Screenhunter and Windows don't think you're worthy
.A horse is in the works, and talk about trying to rig carts. So if that's all going to be in the mod, even if only background then yeah, we'd need some carriages. Your looks pretty nice.Thanks, I'll get to work on it when I'm done with this then.
Probably one with no wheels, and just one wheel. Then we'd have an entity with def attached wheels (so they could be made to turn). And having 4 copies of one will would lessen the draw calls.
OK, I'll keep that in mind.
On anything that rotates you need the center of it at 0,0,0 in Blender. So the center of the axles on the carriage would also need to be on a grid line, might as well go 0,0...
So I can't just position the objects origin/center in the middle?
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I don't think it would be particularly easy but one thing that I'd want to see in The Dark Mod (or all first-person games really) is a more animated body (like in Mirrors Edge and FEAR). If I climb a ladder I'd want to see my character grab each step and if I mantle an object I would like to see my characters hands and arms when he pulls himself up. That would probably be pretty hard to do but one thing which would probably be easier would be to animate some legs that you could see from the first person perspective.
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This is usually caused by file formats, if you're using alpha chances are either use a black/white alpha tga (24bit) or include it into the DDS. I've had issues with doing it any other way. If Doom3 has aaaaaany issues with formats it will just give you a black material, made me rage for a good while when I was trying to get 'good' compressed normal maps... turns out you cant and instead you will just want to punch a wall after seeing you 50th black wall. That said, an easy way to check textures is to just apply the material to a brush and spawn a lantern for playing around with moving lights... or set up moving lights and be fancy.
It might have had to do with the fact that I tried using NoSelfShadow to remedy the problem with nothing showing though the alpha. I'm not sure but after disabling that and changing some other stuff it suddenly worked.
Never used it personally, but it most likely depends on how you're working with the files, are they sitting in darkmod folders or a test map folder etc. lemme go write how I like things set up.
I've just put all my files in the darkmod folder as that is what I thought you were supposed to.
Because it wouldn't be doom3 if it wasn't covered in a million problems, impossibilities, arbitrary requirements and general "poke at the black box, maybe it'll work". Over time you start to work out the mythical beast's logic, but even at the best times it will surprise in the usually most annoying way.
Haha, yeah. I outsmarted the beast this time, though.
Sometimes itzepissa. But there are some great people here who will help you figure it out and you'll definitely be the better for it. So just maybe stop for the moment; step away and come back later.
Yeah, I had put off trying to get it in-game to a couple hours before I was going to bed for this reason. I knew I would rage, just as last time, but I didn't want to ruin the whole day so I waited till the evening where I could then sleep and take a look at it with fresh eyes.
Sorry to hear you're frustration but glad you are able to express it.I'm sorry that I raged, everything just stopped working for me.
Like I and so many have said, you have done some really excellent "stuff" so far.
Thanks!
I think maybe you need
NoShadows
On your alpha material. If it's ion front of the other it would cast a shadow.
Also, make sure you haven't checked 'filter' brushes. That'll hide them all but it'll still compile.
This helped, thanks. Apperantly Dark Radiant had saved the settings that I had used for the model viewer when I tried to filter away the collision mesh.
If you archive everything up into a *.zip I'll take a look at it.
Thanks, but it seems to be working now.
Setting up a workplace
I have no idea how much of this stuff people know from the A-Z guide, or even if other people work like this... but I'm pretty sure you know most of it.
Thanks, this will come in handy. I'll try to use it with future models.
Here's how it looks in the game:
It is a tad bit too monochrome, but hopefully someone can help me remedy that (I want to be able to change the colors in DR).
Also, Serpentine, how is it going with the normal map? I'm sure you have realized this a long time ago as it probably is pretty obvious, but I'm using padding on all my textures (to ensure that they'll look good when mip-mapped) so that might be what looked weird on the normalmap?
Do anyone know how to fix the normal error on the circle at the top of the screen (without re-mapping the model)? In Blender it looked like I had solved it when I just moved all the pieces inside the same 1:1 UV-space but it doesn't seem to have worked here.
EDIT: When I'm done with this one I think I'll go revisit a sexy carriage model I've made (but abandoned as I wasn't completely satisfied with it
). Do you want a carriage? -
OK, so today I have been trying to import my model into the game and, as expected, I have encountered many setbacks.
1. For starters the lighting doesn't work anymore, the upper part of my mesh gets shrouded in complete darkness I can't see anything (even though I have 2 lamps very close to it).
2. I cannot take any screenshots of my problem. Not only have The Dark Mod and Dark Radiant fucked me over today, no, Fraps and Windows decided to join in and refuse to make a screenshot of it, too.
3. The model turns completely black if I use the alpha-mapped diffuse even though I use this:
{ blend diffusemap alphatest 0.2 map models/darkmod/props/texture/privacy_screen_frame }It doesn't help to invert the alpha-channel either. I can use the diffuse with this but the alpha won't work:
diffusemap models/darkmod/props/textures/privacy_screen_frame
4. The testmodel command doesn't seem to work on .ASE's. I tried with "testmodel privacy_screen", "testmodel privacy_screen.ase", "testmodel furniture/privacy_screen" and "testmodel [privacy_screen]", but of course none of it works.
5. I cannot believe it but every fucking time I start Dark Radiant it has removed my brushes but kept all my model/lights/whatever. This makes no sense.
I have spent hours trying to get the model in-game and am honestly getting sick of this BS. All I wanted to do was to make some models for a game and then everything comes crashing down on me and refuses to work. Why does it have to be like this?
Nosslaks stuff
in TDM Editors Guild
Posted · Edited by Nosslak
Thanks!
Thanks, that is kind of what I was planning to. I'll make one pretty clean and decorated and then one without the decoration and dirtier.
There was some kind of error with inversed normals on it so I was going to use Xnormal on it but every time I tried (three times I believe) Xnormal crashed so I sent it off to Serpentine to try his luck at it. It seems that he have managed to get a working normalmap but he is a little slower than I had hoped.
Baddcog told me that he thought a wooden screen would be desired and probably be the one that would be used the most. I couldn't find any really good wood texture so I just settled with that one.
I have used Ambient Occlusion and some other stuff on mine so if you'd want those new textures to look consistent then you should probably download the psd file (it is kind of big though, 132 mb). If you want I can resize it so it'll be the same resolution as it'll be in-game (right now it's twice the game rez) so it'll be smaller.
That sounds great, thanks.
That looks great.