So, what are you working on right now?

datiswous · October 28

Is this part of a new mission. or assets?

ERH+ · October 28

I have a bunch of weird things like that, but they collect dust in a drawer. It is time to make some use of it. I will try to keep it small and finally release something.

Geep · October 29

On 10/27/2025 at 1:24 PM, ERH+ said:

Some say good horror uses all senses - this should help a bit.

Engaging concept.

For smells, which in your demo tend to predominant and persist, it might be less distracting to use icons+captions, a la the style of inventory items. Maybe, say, a column of these at the left edge. Constant smells would just be opaque, but a likely or possible smell more translucent and/or with pulsing, fade in/out.

ERH+ · October 29

Icons for few well established effects like in HalfLife are one thing, but if smells/feelings are meant to express something unknown, and in many cases one of its kind, icons will be only confusing and unintelligible.

Geep · October 29

1 hour ago, ERH+ said:

icons will be only confusing and unintelligible.

By themselves, yes. Not with a caption, e.g., a bale of hay with the caption "hay". Within an overall area captioned "Smells"

I agree feelings, touch, probably tastes are better off text-only.

JackFarmer · October 29

On 10/27/2025 at 1:52 AM, Cambridge Spy said:

So how much have you done so far with the remake?

My original idea was that you should enter this abbey from the outside. However, I just couldn't get the facade right (not to mention placing the building in a believable coastal region).

I have to admit, I just can't design building facades. So now you enter the abbey through a cave system on the cliffs of the island.

This was very demotivating, and I'm only making very slow progress. I've failed several times so far in designing the prayer room. I've completed maybe 10% of the project.

I'm trying to see this project through now (I just want the terrible HHI to disappear), but after that, I think I'll be done with mapping.

datiswous · October 29

20 hours ago, JackFarmer said:

but after that, I think I'll be done with mapping.

That's not very positive. sounds to me it's better to work on another mission first. Or take a break first.

Edited October 30 by datiswous

snatcher · October 30

On 10/28/2025 at 1:34 PM, ERH+ said:

I have a bunch of weird things like that, but they collect dust in a drawer. It is time to make some use of it. I will try to keep it small and finally release something.

We will (very) soon have a sandbox for junior mappers to learn the ways of TDM and for senior authors to deliver advanced / weird / experimental stuff in a neat standalone format. Stay tuned!

Arcturus · November 7

Water shader. Fog light for depth + reflective surface + scrolling textures + "sparkles" cubemap.

Spoiler

water_reflection
{
qer_editorimage textures/editor/mirror
noimpact
nonsolid
noshadows
discrete
{
blend blend
mirrorRenderMap
map _white
alpha .6
}
}

water_shader_new
{
noimpact
nonsolid
{
blend diffusemap
map textures\darkmod\water_waves_01_height
red .2
green .2
blue .2
translate time * -0.2 , time * -0.2
scale 1.5 , 1.5
}
{
blend specularmap
map textures\darkmod\water_waves_01_height
red .7
green .6
blue .6
translate time *-0.15 , time * -0.15
scale 1.5 , 1.5
}
{
blend bumpmap
map textures\darkmod\water_waves_01_local
translate time*0.1 , time*0.1
centerscale .1*sinTable[time*0.1]+.8 , .1*sinTable[time*0.1]+.8
shear .3*sinTable[time*0.02] , .3*sinTable[time*0.02]
rotate .01*sinTable[time*0.04]
}
{
blend parallaxmap
map textures\darkmod\water_waves_01_height
min -0.15
max 0.15
translate time*-0.1 , time*-0.1
centerscale .1*sinTable[time*0.1]+.8 , .1*sinTable[time*0.1]+.8
shear .3*sinTable[time*0.2] , .3*sinTable[time*0.02]
rotate .01*sinTable[time*0.04]

inversevertexColor
//refineSteps 5
//linearSteps 20
//grazingAngle 0.3
//offsetExternalShadows 1
}
{
vertexProgram heatHazeWithMaskAndDepth.vfp
vertexParm 0 time * 0.1 , time * -0.15 // texture scrolling
vertexParm 1 15 // magnitude of the distortion
fragmentProgram heatHazeWithmaskandDepth.vfp
fragmentMap 0 _currentRender
fragmentMap 1 textures\darkmod\water_waves_01_local // the normal map for distortion
fragmentMap 2 _white // the distortion blend map
fragmentMap 3 _currentDepth
}
{
blend add
cubemap env/sparkles/sparkles
texgen reflect
rgb .5
}
deform turbulent sinTable 0.01 (time * 0.02) 10
}

This "liquid" func type for animated water surfaces is still experimental or are people using iit?

Edit: Unfortunately textures/sfx/vp3 material from tdm_sfx_legacy.mtr used for heathaze conflicts with the water, which is a shame.

Spoiler

textures/sfx/vp3
{
deform sprite
nonsolid
translucent
{
vertexProgram heatHazeWithMaskAndDepth.vfp
vertexParm 0 time * 0.1 , time * 0.5 // texture scrolling
vertexParm 1 0.4 // magnitude of the distortion
fragmentProgram heatHazeWithMaskAndDepth.vfp
fragmentMap 0 _currentRender
fragmentMap 1 textures/sfx/vp1.tga // the normal map for distortion
fragmentMap 2 textures/sfx/vp1_alpha.tga // the distortion blend map
fragmentMap 3 _currentDepth
}
}

heathaze.jpg.3ca6a5b35d8fa0a917c1473969a7edbe.jpg

Texture was made in Material Maker

Epifire · November 8

13 hours ago, Arcturus said:

Water shader. Fog light for depth + reflective surface + scrolling textures + "sparkles" cubemap.

Reveal hidden contents

water_reflection
{
qer_editorimage textures/editor/mirror
noimpact
nonsolid
noshadows
discrete
{
blend blend
mirrorRenderMap
map _white
alpha .6
}
}

water_shader_new
{
noimpact
nonsolid
{
blend diffusemap
map textures\darkmod\water_waves_01_height
red .2
green .2
blue .2
translate time * -0.2 , time * -0.2
scale 1.5 , 1.5
}
{
blend specularmap
map textures\darkmod\water_waves_01_height
red .7
green .6
blue .6
translate time *-0.15 , time * -0.15
scale 1.5 , 1.5
}
{
blend bumpmap
map textures\darkmod\water_waves_01_local
translate time*0.1 , time*0.1
centerscale .1*sinTable[time*0.1]+.8 , .1*sinTable[time*0.1]+.8
shear .3*sinTable[time*0.02] , .3*sinTable[time*0.02]
rotate .01*sinTable[time*0.04]
}
{
blend parallaxmap
map textures\darkmod\water_waves_01_height
min -0.15
max 0.15
translate time*-0.1 , time*-0.1
centerscale .1*sinTable[time*0.1]+.8 , .1*sinTable[time*0.1]+.8
shear .3*sinTable[time*0.2] , .3*sinTable[time*0.02]
rotate .01*sinTable[time*0.04]

inversevertexColor
//refineSteps 5
//linearSteps 20
//grazingAngle 0.3
//offsetExternalShadows 1
}
{
vertexProgram heatHazeWithMaskAndDepth.vfp
vertexParm 0 time * 0.1 , time * -0.15 // texture scrolling
vertexParm 1 15 // magnitude of the distortion
fragmentProgram heatHazeWithmaskandDepth.vfp
fragmentMap 0 _currentRender
fragmentMap 1 textures\darkmod\water_waves_01_local // the normal map for distortion
fragmentMap 2 _white // the distortion blend map
fragmentMap 3 _currentDepth
}
{
blend add
cubemap env/sparkles/sparkles
texgen reflect
rgb .5
}
deform turbulent sinTable 0.01 (time * 0.02) 10
}

This "liquid" func type for animated water surfaces is still experimental or are people using iit?

Edit: Unfortunately textures/sfx/vp3 material from tdm_sfx_legacy.mtr used for heathaze conflicts with the water, which is a shame.

Hide contents

textures/sfx/vp3
{
deform sprite
nonsolid
translucent
{
vertexProgram heatHazeWithMaskAndDepth.vfp
vertexParm 0 time * 0.1 , time * 0.5 // texture scrolling
vertexParm 1 0.4 // magnitude of the distortion
fragmentProgram heatHazeWithMaskAndDepth.vfp
fragmentMap 0 _currentRender
fragmentMap 1 textures/sfx/vp1.tga // the normal map for distortion
fragmentMap 2 textures/sfx/vp1_alpha.tga // the distortion blend map
fragmentMap 3 _currentDepth
}
}

Texture was made in Material Maker

Hot dayum! How'd you end up getting that cubemap stage to update it's position in real time? The only way I was able to get moving reflections on the stock method was to physically translate the surface it was applied to. This was the main reason my ocean water system I was working on, never got out of the prototype phase.

Wellingtoncrab · November 8

Wow that looks really cool!

7 hours ago, Arcturus said:

This "liquid" func type for animated water surfaces is still experimental or are people using iit?

I have one in my WIP after saw it being talked about on the idtech4 discord the other day - I had no idea they even existed before that though.

A lot of potential but it was certainly kind of a pain in the ass to setup.

I don't understand all the parameters but I also always have a problem where the intensity of the waves seems to keep growing or multiplying gradually over time, so it looks great at map start, but after a decent amount of playtime it gets completely out of control.

Arcturus · November 8

20 hours ago, Epifire said:

How'd you end up getting that cubemap stage to update it's position in real time?

Cubemap is not really moving, the normalmap is. I guess changes in surface normals create that illusion.

The banner is swaying back and forth too.

The .liquid model has real waves which affects reflections:

With normalmap:

Plus deform_turbulent:

@Wellingtoncrab In my example I use these values:

Spoiler

size_x 1200
size_y 1200
tile_x 300
tile_y 300
verts_x 100
verts_y 100
liquid_type 1
density 0.989
drop_height -5
drop_radius 8
drop_delay 0.8
update_rate 24
seed 22
shader water_shader_new

Wellingtoncrab · November 9

@Arcturusah thanks! It's the density I had wrong I guess - I had it set to 1. Seems like it needs to be somewhere between like .98 and 1 to produce something that "loops". Otherwise it seems to gradually wind up or wind down.

Arcturus · November 9

@Wellingtoncrab

This post from @stgatilov

explains it. Density set to 1 means there's no damping.

Wellingtoncrab · November 9

@ArcturusNot exactly that intuitive. "If set to 1.0, then once-generated wave works forever without any reduction. The lower the value, the faster oscillations stop"

Makes it sound like 1 is what it should be set to if you want it to loop forever and you should only set it lower if want the wave to eventually stop.

I wouldn't guess it needs to be set in like a a band between .99 and 1.

Arcturus · November 9

@Wellingtoncrab

Spoiler

size_x 1200
size_y 1200
tile_x 300
tile_y 300
verts_x 100
verts_y 100
liquid_type 1
density 0.8
drop_height -20
drop_radius 8
drop_delay 0.8
update_rate 24
seed 22
shader water_shader_new

Unlike for example md3 animation that has a fixed number of frames that loop forever, here the surface is generated dynamically by random "drops".

Bikerdude · November 13

@Wellingtoncrab could the physical animation be added to the harbour water in my WIP? or would the water patch have to be animated?

I ask because I like the way I have your water setup, but having it physically undulate, would be very cool.

Edited November 14 by Bikerdude

Wellingtoncrab · November 14

@BikerdudeWith some tuning I don't see why not:

I attached a prefab with the func_water entity you add to your map and you need to add the "bkd_liquid.liquid" file into a directory named "liquids" in your project. You can then open bkd_liquid.liquid in a text editor to change things like the size, texture tiling and wave parameters to suit what you are looking for.

Though you can't seem to reload an runtime, so you will have to reload the game to see any changes.

bkd_water.pfbx bkd_liquid.liquid

Bikerdude · November 14

11 hours ago, Wellingtoncrab said:

@BikerdudeWith some tuning I don't see why not:

I attached a prefab with the func_water entity you add to your map and you need to add the "bkd_liquid.liquid" file into a directory named "liquids" in your project. You can then open bkd_liquid.liquid in a text editor to change things like the size, texture tiling and wave parameters to suit what you are looking for.

Thank you, testing...