Newbie DarkRadiant Questions

[Dunedain19]

Just a quick question:

 

Was this issue ever examined for a possible resolution?

 

http://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=3699

[grayman]

Not by me (yet).

 

I've marked it to be fixed in 2.03.

[Sotha]

Not by me (yet).

 

I've marked it to be fixed in 2.03.

 

Be sure to check Beleaguered Fence once you have a fix.

 

 

Lark Butternose is often saved by throwing him out from the second floor window...

 

If he dies after the changes, some sort of cushion needs to be added. ;D

 

 

[grayman]

I added this caveat to the issue.

[AluminumHaste]

I'm in the process of optimizing, and have a few questions. These may have subjective answers.

 

When it seems logical to group together worldspawns, I'm grouping them into func_statics. But should I be doing this with every non-perimeter brush (converting them to func_static, that is)? Does this go for patches as well?

 

I also have a couple overlapping light fields. I know that's one of the suggestions for optimizing, but it's not a dealbreaker, yeah? I tried not to have it happen any more than necessary given the architecture and lighting of my level.

 

It's a small-ish level. I can't imagine it will give anyone problems regardless of what I do. But I want to learn proper practices as much as possible anyway, for future reference. Thanks.

 

Just remember that when you group multiple things into one func_static, they become essentially one unit, so if the bounds of said grouping cross a visportal, and a player can see even 1 pixel of the func_static, that visportal will always be open, even if you are a million miles away.

[RJFerret]

Just remember that when you group multiple things into one func_static, they become essentially one unit, so if the bounds of said grouping cross a visportal, and a player can see even 1 pixel of the func_static...

 

Wouldn't it be more correct to say that func_static will be rendered despite the visportal being closed? I have exactly that design in an FM, the portals close (red), other things in that visleaf are not rendered (those that can be seen), just the part I need displayed is, although the visportal is actually closed.

[AluminumHaste]

EDIT: Tested, I was not correct.

[Springheel]

That's not my experience. This method is commonly used to make building tops visible even when they're not in the current visleaf; I used it a great deal in Reputation, and it didn't result in the portal staying open.

[AluminumHaste]

Okay nevermind, I just tried this very scenario in DR and the visportal works as it's supposed to. Maybe it only happens with models or seed entities.

You're all good

[RJFerret]

Aw, and I'd done up a picture showing it and everything. Since you mention models and SEED, there are models and SEED entities in the back right of the pic that I'll post anyway. ;-)

 

[Goldwell]

Anyone know how to stop a mover object thats controlled by a script? The mover object is setup on a script that Obs kindly provided to me and works perfectly fine moving all directions however I want to create some objects that when it hits it will stop. I have tried multiple things such as creating collision boxes, full clip boxes and trying to make the mover stop when blocked but nothing works.

 

Anyone know of a way I can stop this mover?

[Digi]

Was all this visportal talked spawned from something I asked?! I'm tickled...though the conversation seems to have left its humble beginnings.

 

Anyway, question: do we have a thread for people to just share their mapping ideas. Not a "what are you working on" but a general "what would you like to make" thread? I'd be interested in reading the input and goals of others.

[SteveL]

Anyone know how to stop a mover object thats controlled by a script? The mover object is setup on a script that Obs kindly provided to me and works perfectly fine moving all directions however I want to create some objects that when it hits it will stop. I have tried multiple things such as creating collision boxes, full clip boxes and trying to make the mover stop when blocked but nothing works.

 

Anyone know of a way I can stop this mover?

You could try turning your blocking objects into func_movers, even though you're not going to move them. From what I remember of the collision code, by default movers only detect collisions with other movers. But you might find that the blockers then get pushed aside. I'm not sure whether there's a "pushable" spawnarg to stop that happening.

 

If that doesn't work, another option would be to perform a trace in the script to find out how far your mover can go before hitting something, then move it just that distance.

[RJFerret]

Anyway, question: do we have a thread for people to just share their mapping ideas. Not a "what are you working on" but a general "what would you like to make" thread? I'd be interested in reading the input and goals of others.

 

Not a continuing thread as such, afaik. I've seen two general types of threads people have done in the past, some where they have created map geometry, and offer it up for someone else to finish/embellish with story. And vice-versa, there was a thread once of someone's story ideas, who didn't find they had mapping desires/skills.

 

If it's inspiration you seek, welcome to the travails of creativity?

[Digi]

Not a continuing thread as such, afaik. I've seen two general types of threads people have done in the past, some where they have created map geometry, and offer it up for someone else to finish/embellish with story. And vice-versa, there was a thread once of someone's story ideas, who didn't find they had mapping desires/skills.

 

If it's inspiration you seek, welcome to the travails of creativity?

 

Was just curious about a place for bouncing around ideas that didn't actually have DR files to accompany them. I'm not going to be prolific enough to make a thread devoted to just my own ideas, though, so I'll probably let it slide. I have about three ideas on my "wish list," but probably don't want to start talking them up too much until I can actually work on them.

Edited June 30, 2014 by Digi

[Giskard_hun]

Hello guys,

 

How can I add a simple moon/sun light (paralell light from the sky)?

[SteveL]

Hello guys,

 

How can I add a simple moon/sun light (paralell light from the sky)?

 

Parallel lights are tricky but it's perfectly doable. Here's the way I do it. Place a light, stretch it so it completely covers your outdoor area, press L to get the light inspector and tick parallel, then v to enter vertex editing mode and move the origin to set the angle. The light won't come from the origin, it'll flood the light volume nearly to the edges, but it'll take its direction from where you place the origin. The rays will shine in the direction from the origin to the centre of the bounding box/light volume.

 

Parallel lights misbehave if you look into their light volume from outside, which is why you use one big one. If you can see its shadows from inside a room, the light needs to cover the room too.

 

That's the easy bit, if it happens to work properly in your map, but you might see glitching shadows. It should be ok if your outdoor area is a single visleaf. I found in testing that if the light has to pass through more than 2 visleafs, it's unreliable. There's a way round that described with a diagram and demo map in this post: http://forums.thedar...post__p__339487 (The second half. Ignore the bit about the light changing with clouds which was a second experiment that I've yet to turn into something usable.)

 

Basically you use caulk tubes to connect the visleaf containing the centre of the light volume to any visleaf where the light glitches. It's a bit elaborate, but it works.

[Dragofer]

Was just curious about a place for bouncing around ideas that didn't actually have DR files to accompany them. I'm not going to be prolific enough to make a thread devoted to just my own ideas, though, so I'll probably let it slide. I have about three ideas on my "wish list," but probably don't want to start talking them up too much until I can actually work on them.

 

There is a start to a thread like that from January with a couple of ideas - I think that's a great idea that would be nice to see being added to (although maybe the best ideas are still your own? In terms of how far you'd end up going with putting them into action).

 

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/15833-plot-and-subplot-ideas/

[Lux]

Was just curious about a place for bouncing around ideas that didn't actually have DR files to accompany them. I'm not going to be prolific enough to make a thread devoted to just my own ideas, though, so I'll probably let it slide. I have about three ideas on my "wish list," but probably don't want to start talking them up too much until I can actually work on them.

 

I believe that's the, "So, what are you working on now...", thread.

[Obsttorte]

I believe that's the, "So, what are you working on now...", thread.

Anyway, question: do we have a thread for people to just share their mapping ideas. Not a "what are you working on" but a general "what would you like to make" thread? I'd be interested in reading the input and goals of others.

[Goldwell]

Whats the best way to add a special custom loot item to your inventory? every time I do it once I frob the loot it seems to overlap whatever is in the current inventory slot and wont change until you scroll through your inventory. I figure either my custom loot is setup incorrectly or its just a bug with TDM

Edited June 30, 2014 by Goldwell

[RJFerret]

How can I add a simple moon/sun light (paralell light from the sky)?

Parallel lights are tricky but it's perfectly doable. Here's the way I do it...

 

Do you need what is technically called a "parallel light", for shadows? Or are you looking for the simple "ambient_world" that most missions use for simulated day/moonlight? (Which I typically get by importing the start stuff prefabs from the "misc" folder along with starting player items, etc. at the beginning of map creation.)

 

The technical parallel lights have tricky ramifications, only hit surfaces at certain angles, etc., see here:

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Light_Properties#Parallel_Light There's also a section on ambient_world in that link.

[SteveL]

The technical parallel lights have tricky ramifications, only hit surfaces at certain angles, etc., see here:

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Light_Properties#Parallel_Light There's also a section on ambient_world in that link.

I strongly suspect that the wiki article incorrectly diagnoses the problems in the troubleshooting section. I had those symptoms too, and I gave a method for reproducing them in that test map (just block any visportal in the roof anywhere except the starting visleaf), which suggests that it has nothing to do with multiple walls. The test map also has multiple parallel walls with no glitches.

 

A parallel light won't illuminate walls that are in line with it or facing away at all of course, so you need an ambient light too else they'll be solid black. I did experiment with katsbits' method of using two opposing parallel lights from opposing sides of the color wheel and it looks fantastic but even if you offset the lights so they're not in perfect line, they still always leave some walls unilluminated so you still need the ambient. That's too expensive -- 3 lights hitting everything before you even add any accent lighting -- so I've reverted to one parallel plus my ambient world, which looks pretty good.

 

Now if only Obs can crack the final soft shadow issues it'll be perfect. Fingers crossed :-)

[RJFerret]

My use case was much more basic, no intervening walls/portals, but I ended up just using multiple projection lights to simulate "parallelness", and get useful shadows on the right surfaces where they'd actually cast. I'm hoping, to fit the "simple" part of the request here, the term parallel wasn't meant specifically, or it moves out of "newbie" territory, heh.

[Giskard_hun]

As i noticed, the ambient_world is changing the light for the whole map (indoor and outdoor). I want only a simple sunshine from an angle with paralell lights, like in the real world, which causes shadows....etc. My map has a lot of outdoor part and I have to make this outdoor light.

 

I inserted a light into an outdoor part, but the resault was horrible. What do i have to use? Omni, or projected light? Each has paralell option.