Window Testmap

[Gildoran]

Ok, I've added a window testmap to CVS (test_window.map)... it's a bit on the ugly side and not optimized, but I just wanted to get something out there. Unfortunately, using this method, I can't control how much the light diffuses through the glass without a glossmap, but at least it still kind of looks like the light from the latern is shining through the glass. IMHO, it looks better with moonlight but I wanted a chance to show how it looked with a single-light source.

[Gildoran]

I was wondering how noticable people found the differences between the 3 window implementations. Does the general appearance seem acceptable (ignoring the lack of stains and the specific colors used), in terms of how light coming through the windows looks?

[Springheel]

I can't really see any significant difference, other than the combined one being a bit greener-looking than the other two.

[SneaksieDave]

I finally got around to sync'ing up, so now I've seen this.

 

On the good side: I don't really see any difference (perhaps until it's pointed out) between the different implementations. They all pretty much look great.

 

On the bad side: I do get a lighting error resulting from this. See attached image. That lit area in the distance fades/shrinks as I approach it, but at a distance, the light apparently goes through the wall.

 

Oh, and the light model seems to be missing (I have a black square as the light source).

[Gildoran]

@Springheel: Hmm... maybe I overestimated how noticable the differences were. The combined one has mipmap errors at the edges of the frame (only noticable from the lit side at a slight distance). The alpha-test one has aliasing. This picture should illustrate what's been bugging me about them:

 

 

@SneaksieDave: Strange... That doesn't show up on my computer at all. My current best guess is something due to mipmapping. Is there any chance I could get you to do an fraps or something?

 

As for the light-source, I thought the same streetlamp was used in the rain/snow maps... Does it show up as a black square for anybody else?

[SneaksieDave]

Sure, here's a capture:

 

http://208.49.149.118/thedarkmod/movies/lighterr.wmv

[Springheel]

Yeah, it was a black box for me too.

[Gildoran]

As for the lantern, I've corrected its path. Apparently somewhere in a pk4 in my darkmod directory, there's another latern.

 

As for the strange light, thank you for the fraps. I've managed to reproduce it on my computer by setting the quality to low. I'll see if I can find a fix.

 

Edit: Crap... I think I know what's causing it, and I'm not sure if it's possible to fix on low quality. It's due to lack of anisotropic filtering. Anyway, about the only way I know to fix it is to turn up anisotropic filtering: try setting "image_anisotropy 4". I've noticed image_"lod_bias -2" can also help it, at the expense of making things look too sharp.

 

When anisotropic filtering is turned off, any surface viewed from an angle becomes blurry. In the case of the projected lights, they're getting sort of a double-whammy: the angle at which they're projected across the floor stretches them, and then they get stretched even more by your perspective when you're far away. With anisotropy turned off, you get some really nasty blurring effects.

 

This is making me think that if we're not careful, maps may have different effects on the lightgem based on difficulty level.

 

I'll try experimenting some more to see if it's possible to use nearest neighbor filtering in specific light materials or anything.

 

Edit 2: Good news! Nearest neightbor filtering and linear filtering fix it! I've decided to go with linear filtering. I'll upload the new version now...

[Gildoran]

Ok, as far as I know, all problems should be fixed... is anybody still noticing any?