Signs

[Goldchocobo]

Hey gents,

I'm trying to use the sign entity/readable editor to create street signs... to no avail.

How can this be done?

Thanks

[rich_is_bored]

Go with a custom GUI. You only need to create one if you fetch the street name from a key/value pair.

[Goldchocobo]

I thought any GUI would be fine... the words simply don't appear on the sign. I don't want it to be frobable.

[stumpy]

this method does not use the in darkradiant text/gui editor.

 

you need to use a custom func_static, a cube or other shape, one side that faces away from the sign painted with a fitted gui texture, the other five sides nodraw texture, you place the gui side the closest you can get to the sign without it touching, turn it to a func_static. add gui key to it link it to a gui file like this one.

 

windowDef Desktop

{

rect 0, 0, 640, 480

backcolor 0, 0, 0, 0.1

 

windowDef SignText

{

rect 20, 40, 600, 440

backcolor 0, 0, 0, 0

text "New Church"

font "fonts/stone"

textscale 2

textaligny 110

forecolor 0, 0, 0, 1

visible 1

}

 

}

Edited April 8, 2010 by stumpy

[Goldchocobo]

Thanks stumpy I'll give it a shot.

[rich_is_bored]

If you replace the line...

 

text "New Church"

 

... with ...

 

gui::street

 

... then you can reuse the gui for every street sign.

 

All you need do to change the street name is assign a "street" key/value pair to each func_static with the street sign gui applied.

 

If you need an example I can do a quick mockup.

Edited April 8, 2010 by rich_is_bored

[Goldchocobo]

A mockup in prefab form would be killer

[rich_is_bored]

A prefab would be useless without the custom gui to go with it.

 

Here's a mockup in pk4...

 

download

 

Just place the pk4 in the darkmod directory and type...

 

map guitest.map

 

... in the console.

 

I should mention that it seems you can't use any arbitrary key/value pair like I thought. It must be named gui_parmX where X is a number. In this case, since I only need 1 value I used gui_parm1.

[Bikerdude]

I have a sign request also...

 

would it possible to have some more hanging signs made up, as we are missing the useal T2 type.. they only have to have a image rather than test, like the ones already in TDM.

 

Magic store, General store, Grocery store, Weapons store, Shoe maker, Baker, Butcher (but we need some meat objects first).

[Springheel]

We certainly could use some more signs; I just haven't had the time to make any. It shouldn't be hard for people to take the existing three or four sign models and make skins for any new signs they want, however. Or just make a transparent decal with the text/image that you want and put it just in front of an empty sign model.

 

(On a nitpicky note, there are no such things as grocery stores in this time period; you'd buy most food from an outdoor market, like a modern farmer's market. You wouldn't find "magic stores" in the TDM setting either, as it is illegal to sell most kinds of magic. At best you'd have alchemy or apothecary shops with a few "special" items in the back for regular customers.)

[Bikerdude]

We certainly could use some more signs; I just haven't had the time to make any.

 

(On a nitpicky note, there are no such things as grocery stores in this time period; you'd buy most food from an outdoor market, like a modern farmer's market. You wouldn't find "magic stores" in the TDM setting either, as it is illegal to sell most kinds of magic. At best you'd have alchemy or apothecary shops with a few "special" items in the back for regular customers.)

 

• Ok, whats the easiest way to make a skin or transparent decal?(or is it in the tutorial) and I assume I can just use the bind arg to attach it to the sign..?
• How about a general store, that sells food and other bits and bobs..? (as I have one in my mission atm)

[Springheel]

Ok, whats the easiest way to make a skin or transparent decal?(or is it in the tutorial) and I assume I can just use the bind arg to attach it to the sign..?

 

You don't have to bind it, you just treat it like a decal (unless your sign is moving).

 

If you want to make a sign that says, "General Store" just use a graphics program to type it onto a transparent background, then save it as a .tga. Or you could search for a suitable image and use that (the background still needs to be made transparent).

 

I'm at work, so I can't recall exactly what the best example would be, but I think if you look at the decals_vegetation.mtr file, you could copy one of those material shaders and just point to your image (and rename the shader, of course).

 

Then you just make a patch in front of the sign model and texture it with that decal.

 

Another option (for text) is to use a gui sign as described above. I actually uploaded a sign model with a gui panel built into it...it should be in the last update.

 

How about a general store, that sells food and other bits and bobs..?

 

Yes, pawn shops and "curio" shops would have been common, selling a little bit of everything (they're also great fronts for underground goods). Probably nothing wrong with selling dried food or grains or spices at the same time. Most food would spoil too quickly to sit around waiting for a buyer, however. "One stop shopping" is kind of a modern concept.

[rich_is_bored]

You really should locate the images used for existing sign models and use them as templates. It's not much trouble. Just place a sign model in a box map, compile it, and use r_showsurfaceinfo to find out what the name of the material shader is.

[Springheel]

Dark Radiant will also show you the shader and the file it's in for any given model.