Messin' around again... a drawbridge this time

[PranQster]

I just made a custom single chain link to match the chain_highpoly_small size (there is a single link for the larger chain, but not the small one). I then did a decent job wrapping it around a windlass cylinder I made, offsetting each ring of chain by several degrees so it doesn't look symmetrical.

This may turn out to be impractical as the poly count in the map just jumped quite a bit.

About to test it in-game and see how bad it is.

 

Edit: Umm.... I think I just gave doom3 an aneurism. LOL, it just halted for about 4 minutes during dmap... still doing its thing though...

Edited July 22, 2010 by PranQster

[PranQster]

Just a wee bit too ambitious... lol

[Bikerdude]

Feck, it must have taken ages to 'wrap' the chain around that...

[Bikerdude]

So maybe DR could have some default setting in the make prefab selection that says "will be set to 0,0,0, unless you check this box to retain the current location (rarely needed)" or something like that.

Komag, purhaps add this to the community request thread...

[Fidcal]

I never intended that you wrap the links around the windlass! Only use them for the actual chain. The windlass can be reskinned with a chain texture.

[PranQster]

I never intended that you wrap the links around the windlass! Only use them for the actual chain. The windlass can be reskinned with a chain texture.

 

Yeh, that would be best. LOL, I had a message during dmap stating that item has over 20000 faces. I re-did it (made the windlass and one chain loop both as prefabs first). It currently has 10008 faces and looks pretty decent, but still takes a long time to dmap.

 

BTW, the closest chain texture to being appropriate have all the links lined up in the same direction... so it looks like columns of '8's when applied. Would be cool if textures can be made from the actual chain models.

[PranQster]

Feck, it must have taken ages to 'wrap' the chain around that...

 

It took a few minutes, but not too long. I started with 2 links, then cloned them and adjusted rotation and position. Then selected the 4 links in place and did the same... until I had 1 ring of links looking pretty decent. Then I cloned that ring and gave it a 10 degree rotation so it wouldn't look identical to the first... etc until the windlass was full.

 

And it looked even better after I applied the proper rusted iron texture... the one in the screenshot looked a bit flat.

Edited July 22, 2010 by PranQster

[Tels]

Yeh, that would be best. LOL, I had a message during dmap stating that item has over 20000 faces. I re-did it (made the windlass and one chain loop both as prefabs first). It currently has 10008 faces and looks pretty decent, but still takes a long time to dmap.

 

Select the chain links and turn them into a func_static.

[Fidcal]

I see the windlass model is all wood. If you make a patch cylinder around its drum you should be able to find a chain texture - look under other materials - I see one there. Then you can rotate and scale it around the drum.

[Baddcog]

Select the chain links and turn them into a func_static.

 

Also, add

noshadow to them. It's probably the shadows that kills performance.

 

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I'm also curious now, but I think a link made of patches might render easier, plus it would be smooth shaded. (harder to select though as it would be 2-4 cylinders per link - not sure how to group patches, can they be func_staticed into a group?)

[PranQster]

Select the chain links and turn them into a func_static.

Oh believe me I did that. Then it was a lot of fun when I went to remove half of them (before I made a circular chain loop into a prefab). I had to revert them to worldspawn, which made each and every link into 6 pieces. Then I had to select all pieces of one complete loop and make them func_static again to save as a prefab. Then I did a CTRL-Z to undo them back into func_static so I could properly delete them and start over.

 

I see the windlass model is all wood. If you make a patch cylinder around its drum you should be able to find a chain texture - look under other materials - I see one there. Then you can rotate and scale it around the drum.

Actually the windlass model is an iron drum with riveted copper ends... at work now and don't have the texture names handy. The first time I made a windlass for this bridge, I had an octagonal center drum plus a larger diameter drum around it. When I applied the chain texture to it, the outer drum became transparent so the chain links looked to be floating around the drum. My earliest screenshots of this may show that... or it can be seen in a portcullis screenshot, behind the portcullis.

 

Also, add

noshadow to them. It's probably the shadows that kills performance.

 

--------

I'm also curious now, but I think a link made of patches might render easier, plus it would be smooth shaded. (harder to select though as it would be 2-4 cylinders per link - not sure how to group patches, can they be func_staticed into a group?)

I will definitely try that (noshadow). Read that suggestion in other posts but it had not occurred to me for this.

Edited July 22, 2010 by PranQster

[Fidcal]

In addition to the reasons for dragging a selection to 0,0,0 before saving as a prefab, it won't show visibly in the prefab selector if it is too far away.

[PranQster]

Ok this damn thing is basically done. The last item of business is the get the windlass drum to rotate in the reverse direction. I re-read the posts concerning the observatory dome and didn't notice anything radically different than what I have happening already except for a clip brush triggering the frobable status of a lever.

I currently have a trigger from a handle to activate the windlass, followed by a 'trigger_when_opened' on my bridge to stop the windlass ('trigger_on_open' is set to 0, so I'm not getting a double trigger... that would just stop it from rotating anyway). Then the handle triggers it again when I close the bridge and the bridge triggers it to stop when 'trigger_on_close' happens. Going by what the post concerning the observatory said, the dang thing should reverse direction after the first time it is stopped. Will tinker with it tonight and re-read the observatory post again... I'll load the windlass in a tiny test map and work with it until I get it to change direction. Then I can apply the same rotator to the pulley wheels too, which are currently doors and rotate way too slow.

The chains themselves are 8-link sections so that they can do their disappearing/reappearing act when they are in the space between the back of the windlass and the front of the wall. I have 5 trigger_multiple entities which each target a pair of chains in turn, from front to back. 5 activators are bound to the center of 5 chain sections, front to back, each lined up with a trigger_multiple entity. I had to disable the last trigger_multiple because I made the brushes too thick and the activator for the last pair of chains stays touching it when stopped, resulting in chains which kept disappearing/reappearing. Those would sometimes be unhidden when closing the bridge because of that. No big deal since those last chains are just out of view unless you noclip up to where they come out of the wall and turn on the lantern... then you could see them end before reaching the windlass. I might remove them completely, but I prefer to leave them for the peace of mind that the chains all reach the windlass... details

Edited July 23, 2010 by PranQster