Bikerdude: - questions

[Fidcal]

It does work - but you've set it invisible. You can't see it if it's invisible.

[Bikerdude]

ah, and because its invisible, there wont be any announcement in-game then..? I suppose I could make it visable, but optional then, to keep things simple and give the player more things to do..

Edited March 12, 2011 by Bikerdude

[Fidcal]

Yes, that's the easiest way out.

[Bikerdude]

Another question:

 

Why would patches with a rain texture applied cause a huge fps drop on a map..?

 

Do I have to texture fit either 1:1 or 2:2, and any higher cause the engine to get bogged down trying to generate paritcles..?

[Sotha]

Why would patches with a rain texture applied cause a huge fps drop on a map..?

 

The texture emits rain particles. The default rain textures cause a huge amount of rain particles, so I wouldn't use anything higher than the light rain textures.

 

You need to set up hide_distance patches so that there are smallish areas where the rain pours when the player is near them. See transaction.map how to set it up.

 

Rain particles are be really, really expensive. Check r_showprimitives when you have rain and when you don't for the same scene. The triscounts are insane for heavy rain.

 

You might want to tweak the rain a bit if you have the rainparticles disappearing when the player looks down at certain angles. See transaction/particles/transaction.prt & transaction/materials/transaction.mtr for optimized rain particle emitting rain texture. You can change the count variable in the .prt file to increase or decrease rain particle amount. The less you have, the better the performance will be, obviously.

 

I am unsure whether the texture scale has any effect on how to particles are emitted. The .prt file is where you can tune the rain details.

[Bikerdude]

I went with the FS and hide_distance method and that seem to put the fps back up..

[Bikerdude]

Another question:

 

Mucking about with the material file to try and make the textures respond to TDM ambient world light etc and I'm having 2 problems

 

1. the map leaks on the changed texture.

2. and/or the texture is borked in some cases.

 

here is an example -

 

Original

textures/method/asphalt
{
stone
qer_editorimage		textures/method/asphalt.tga
diffusemap		textures/method/asphalt.tga
bumpmap			textures/method/asphalt_local.tga
specularmap		textures/method/asphalt_s.tga
}

 

With TDM ambeint

textures/method/asphalt
{
stone
qer_editorimage		textures/method/asphalt.tga
diffusemap			textures/method/asphalt.tga
bumpmap			textures/method/asphalt_local.tga
specularmap		textures/method/asphalt_s.tga
}
{
               if (global5 == 1)
               blend add
               map                             textures/method/asphalt.tga
               scale                   1, 1
               red                     global2
               green                   global3
               blue                    global4
       }
       {
               if (global5 == 2)
               blend add
               program ambientEnvironment.vfp
               vertexParm              0               1, 1, 1, 1              // UV Scales for Diffuse and Bump
               vertexParm              1               1, 1, 1, 1              // (X,Y) UV Scale for specular
               vertexParm              2               global2, global3, global4, 1

               fragmentMap             0               cubeMap env/gen1
               fragmentMap             1               textures/method/asphalt_local.tga   // Bump
               fragmentMap             2               textures/method/asphalt.tga         // Diffuse
               fragmentMap             3               textures/method/asphalt_s.tga       // Specular
       }
}

 

WTF am I doing wrong..?

[Springheel]

Couple things. Don't include the extension (.tga) D3 will ignore it anyway but it tends to confuse people looking for the file.

 

Also, watch your brackets. You close your brackets before the ambient stage, so it's not considered part of the shader.

 

textures/method/asphalt

{

stone

qer_editorimage textures/method/asphalt.tga

diffusemap textures/method/asphalt.tga

bumpmap textures/method/asphalt_local.tga

specularmap textures/method/asphalt_s.tga

} <------ remove

{

if (global5 == 1)

blend add

map textures/method/asphalt.tga

scale 1, 1

red global2

green global3

blue global4

}

{

if (global5 == 2)

blend add

program ambientEnvironment.vfp

vertexParm 0 1, 1, 1, 1 // UV Scales for Diffuse and Bump

vertexParm 1 1, 1, 1, 1 // (X,Y) UV Scale for specular

vertexParm 2 global2, global3, global4, 1

 

fragmentMap 0 cubeMap env/gen1

fragmentMap 1 textures/method/asphalt_local.tga // Bump

fragmentMap 2 textures/method/asphalt.tga // Diffuse

fragmentMap 3 textures/method/asphalt_s.tga // Specular

}

}

[Bikerdude]

ah ok, fyi the wiki isnt very clear because it has a big comment line right at the same spot...

[Bikerdude]

Thanks for that Springs, it also seems there was a handful of typo's on my part causing issue - which I put down to the pack this is my first time mucking about with mertials definitions...

[Springheel]

Yeah, it's a bit of a mess at first, but you'll quickly get the hang of it.

[nbohr1more]

Alright!

 

We need to see screens of that map in TDM.

 

(When your done editing a bazillion material defs of course... )

 

[Bikerdude]

well Im gonna release as a quick and dirty mission to show what a basic Q4 Mp map looks like after its been made TDM friendly.... should be in the next day or so..

[Bikerdude]

I know this has been asked before, but god dammit I cant find the post/thread...

 

i want to make zombies sleep, so when the player gets to close they wake up etc aka Thief syle.

[Shadowhide]

entity->AI->monsters->undead->zombies->atdm_ai_undead_zombie_alt01_1

[Bikerdude]

ta.

[Bikerdude]

Right couple more Q's.

 

• is there a bug tracker setup for the free look toggle issue? (where DR dosent un-toggle randomly).
  
• where is the wiki article pertaining to setting up fog lights with all related settings and such.
  
• I had a 3rd question but have now forgotten it.
  

[Fidcal]

Right couple more Q's.

 

• is there a bug tracker setup for the free look toggle issue? (where DR dosent un-toggle randomly).
  
• where is the wiki article pertaining to setting up fog lights with all related settings and such.
  
• I had a 3rd question but have now forgotten it.
  

 

1. Don't know.

2. I only know http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=A_-_Z_Beginner_Full_Guide_Page_3#Fog

3. .

[grayman]

Wrt a fog light, since the best spot for it might be out in the void, you can either surround it with a little caulk room, or set this spawnarg on it:

 

 

"noflood" "1"

 

This keeps the map compiler from flagging it as an entity "in the void" and complaining that you have a leak.

[Bikerdude]

Ah ok, and whats the reasonling behinf not having the center of the light inside the map....?

[grayman]

Ah ok, and whats the reasonling behinf not having the center of the light inside the map....?

 

When you've placed it where it covers everything you want it to cover, you might find that it's in the void. It behaves no different out there, but 'noflood' keeps the compiler from complaining.

[Bikerdude]

On the subject of fog, whats the correct way to put fog in a skybox..? as a method I use din another map isnt working..

[nbohr1more]

This is a portal-sky...? If so, how big is your skybox?

 

Maybe you need to change the ShaderParm3 (fog distance) ?

Edited April 24, 2011 by nbohr1more

[Bikerdude]

I put a basic fog light inside the skybox, but I think I see the problem when I go inside the skybox in game I see the fog isnt appearing on upper part of the sky - I wander what would cause that..

 

[fixed] it was the FS patch that had the sky fade on it, removed that and now I have fog in the sky that seamlessly matches that on the ground..

[nbohr1more]

Hmm...

 

Fog distance is calculated from the player... I wasn't sure if a portal-sky camera would count but it looks like it won't...

 

You might need to use a BlendLight instead...

Edited April 24, 2011 by nbohr1more