SEED grass not showing up

[grayman]

I'm trying to get some SEED grass to grow, with no luck.

 

I looked at Knighton's manor and Builder Roads, and if I copy a couple SEED entities from each into an otherwise bare room, none of the grass appears.

 

Is there something required beyond creating a brush and converting it to an atdm:seed_random_grass_sparse entity?

[Bikerdude]

I have SEED working in NHAT, got a test map I can have a look at to see what the issue is..?

[grayman]

thanks.

 

seedgrass.map.txt

[grayman]

I forgot to mention that the patch is from Builder Roads, the small brush is from Knighton Manor, and the long brush is one I created from scratch.

 

Builder Roads and Knighton display the SEED just fine, but I can't get the same entities to display in my map or the test map.

[nbohr1more]

Hmm. I think you might need a general SEED brush encapsulating those entities but that seems like it would defeat the purpose of

making pre-built entities... I will check this out tonight too...

[Bikerdude]

Had a look -

• you were missing "combine" "1"
• I removed the "Map" arg from the SEED entity - dont know what that does.
• I dont know if this has any effect but the texture scale on some of the SEED brush/box was very small, set it to 0.5

There was something weird about your map so I created a new one and put some plain SEED entities in there along with the random_grass one you had been using. I forgot how cool SEED is, gonna have to start using it more!

 

- seed.map.txt

 

[Bikerdude]

Hmm. I think you might need a general SEED brush encapsulating those entities but that seems like it would defeat the purpose of

making pre-built entities...

You can use both the random_grass seed entity aswell as the plain seed entity, the above above has both examples for people to play with.

[nbohr1more]

Map tells SEED to distribute the objects according to the layout of a "map texture".

[grayman]

Had a look -

• you were missing "combine" "1"
• I removed the "Map" arg from the SEED entity - dont know what that does.
• I dont know if this has any effect but the texture scale on some of the SEED brush/box was very small, set it to 0.5

There was something weird about your map so I created a new one and put some plain SEED entities in there along with the random_grass one you had been using. I forgot how cool SEED is, gonna have to start using it more!

 

- seed.map.txt

 

seed.jpg

 

- "combine" "1" is default, so it wasn't missing on any of the three test entities

 

- how did you remove the "map" spawnarg, since it's a default spawnarg?

 

Your test map works for me.

 

However, I copied your random grass entity into my test map and it fails to spawn grass.

 

What's weird about my test map? It's just a box with some lights.

[grayman]

Okay, quite strange.

 

All of a sudden my test map started working, and the only thing I can think of is that dmap decided to wake up and create a new .cm file.

[grayman]

I think I've figured it out.

 

The random grass SEED entities need to have a grass texture (or some grass-friendly texture) to plant their grass on. I seem to remember this requirement from a long long time ago because I was trying then to grow clumps of SEED grass on brick floors and it wouldn't work so I gave up.

 

The cm connection is that my test map started with a tile floor (just chose a random texture), so SEED refused to grow the grass. After I changed to a grass texture, it still refused to grow, but that was because dmap didn't update the cm file. Once dmap deigned to update the cm file, SEED saw the grass texture beneath it and started working.

 

The grass is now working in my WIP.

 

Thanks for the help!

[Bikerdude]

• The random grass SEED entities need to have a grass texture (or some grass-friendly texture) to plant their grass on.

Once dmap deigned to update the cm file

• Hmm, interesting is this in the wiki for the SEED entry/tut..?

This sounds like a bug that needs a tracker..?

[Bikerdude]

On the subject of using SEED for big things like tree's, I assume thats not avisable where AI want to path find as because the mapper cant place MC due to not being able to predict where the tree's will spawn...?

[nbohr1more]

Yeah SEED can be used for decorative Trees as long as you block-off the whole area with monster clip. I suppose the Tree LOD entities could

also include monsterclip models (one box for the trunk and one box for the branches)?

[Bikerdude]

Yeah SEED can be used for decorative Trees as long as you block-off the whole area with monster clip. I suppose the Tree LOD entities could

also include monsterclip models (one box for the trunk and one box for the branches)?

How would you make sure the MC brush is spawned in the same location as the tree though..?

[nbohr1more]

If they are all part of the same entity def, they should all spawn in the same place just like an AI is made of multiple models.

I'm pretty sure anything you can texture can have the monsterclip surface attribute in the material def. So that's all the parts

of the equation other than making the cubes and adding them to the entity def.

[grayman]

 

• Hmm, interesting is this in the wiki for the SEED entry/tut..?
• This sounds like a bug that needs a tracker..?

 

 

- I can't find in the code where a random grass SEED entity requires a grass texture beneath it, but further testing shows that's the case. There might be more textures that act like grass (I would expect 'dirt' to work, but it doesn't). I'll update the WIKI so it at least mentions grass.

 

- Already exists: #3311.

[grayman]

 

I'll update the WIKI so it at least mentions grass.

 

 

 

There's no appropriate spot for it. The closest I can get is some vague comment about SEED disallowing certain combinations, like "trees on metal". But there's no list of inappropriate combinations, or how the mapper can overcome them (like putting a random grass SEED on dirt). (The SEED wiki pages are full of "TODO" comments, so the whole topic is incomplete.)

 

As a consolation prize, I added a blurb to the editor note for these things that the random grass SEED entities have to have grass on the brushes/patches beneath them.

[Bikerdude]

@Gman, hmm, it shoud work on all grass & dirt textures. Might be another one for Steve to have a look at it.

If they are all part of the same entity def, they should all spawn in the same place just like an AI is made of multiple models.

Models don't come with an MC brush by default and I have no idea how you would even accomplish that either. The mapper has to place MC after placing a model etc.

[nbohr1more]

Create a custom material def and add monsterclip where you would add other surface attributes:

 

 

 
textures/darkmod/stone/brick/rough_blocks02
{
    stone
    monsterclip
    description    "vine_friendly"

    qer_editorimage textures/darkmod/stone/brick/rough_blocks02_ed
    diffusemap      textures/darkmod/stone/brick/rough_blocks02
    bumpmap         textures/darkmod/stone/brick/rough_blocks02_local

    {
        if ( parm11 > 0 )
        blend       gl_dst_color, gl_one
        map         _white
        rgb         0.40 * parm11
    }
    {
        if ( parm11 > 0 )
        blend       add
        map         textures/darkmod/stone/brick/rough_blocks02
        rgb         0.15 * parm11
    }

    // TDM Ambient Method Related
    {
        if (global5 == 1)
        blend add
        map                textures/darkmod/stone/brick/rough_blocks02
        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/darkmod/stone/brick/rough_blocks02_local            // Bump
        fragmentMap        2        textures/darkmod/stone/brick/rough_blocks02            // Diffuse
        fragmentMap        3        _black            // Specular
    }
}
 

[Springheel]

If that worked, shouldn't we be doing that to all our models by default...?

[Bikerdude]

If that worked, shouldn't we be doing that to all our models by default...?

+1 on that, but one thing I have noticed is that in DR half the time the MC brush is much larger than the model or wrong orientated.

[nbohr1more]

The point of monsterclip is to "simplify" so that the AI doesn't have to figure out complex geometry. So if you're saying,

"should we surround all models with monsterclip cubes to reduce pathfinding overhead?" I would say "yes". If you're

saying "should we texture all models with materials with the monsterclip attribute?" I would say "no" because the model

will have the same collision complexity. Of course, the simplified collision model also does this... but it's usually still more

complex than you'd want monsterclip.

[grayman]

Another problem with automatically adding m/c to models is that m/c should extend up to the ceiling to reduce the number of horizontal surfaces that generate AAS areas. The only way to do this is manually, because ceiling heights vary.

[nbohr1more]

I guess this would solve terrain pathfinding problems with models though (other than their complexity, that is).