Newbie DarkRadiant Questions

[Aosys]

Here's what I'm seeing for the definition:

 

 

 

textures/darkmod/nature/snow/edge/snow_uneven01_patch
{


	surftype15
	description "snow"

	noShadows
	noimpact
	nonsolid

	qer_editorimage textures/darkmod/nature/grass/grass_patch_alpha_ed

	{
        	maskcolor                
        	map makealpha(textures/darkmod/nature/grass/grass_patch_alpha)
        	alphatest  parm3
	}

		diffusemap  textures/darkmod/nature/snow/snow_rough01
		specularmap	 textures/darkmod/nature/snow/snow_rough01_s
		bumpmap		 textures/darkmod/nature/snow/snow_uneven01_local

	{
                if (global5 == 1)
                blend add
                map                             textures/darkmod/nature/snow/snow_rough01
                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/nature/snow/snow_uneven01_local                   // Bump
                fragmentMap             2               textures/darkmod/nature/snow/snow_rough01                   // Diffuse
                fragmentMap             3               textures/darkmod/nature/snow/snow_rough01_s                  // Specular
        }



}

 

 

 

Not 100% sure how to interpret this since I've never worked with blended(?) textures before.

 

Clipping is also not working; it's the first thing I tried, and just results in z-fighting where the patch intersects, and the rest of the patch is invisible.

[Obsttorte]

This is an alphatested material. The brightness values of the handed image (grass_patch_alpha) are compared with the value specified after alphatest (parm3). This value ranges from zero to one. If the brightness is below this value, the specific pixel won't get drawn. parm3 can be set with "shaderParm3" on the entity using this material.

 

Regarding the z-fighting: Don't just move the patch downwards. Instead, select the boundary vertices and drag them downwards. Z-fighting occours if the distance to two different points in a tris is roughly the same for a pixel drawn on the screen. Due to rounding errors the renderer sometimes consider the first surface to be the closest one, and if you move a bit it considers the second one to be closer. This is results in "flickering" between those two surfaces. To avoid this, the surface must differ strong enough from each other. For intersecting or touching surfaces this can be achieved if the surface normals differ strong enough. See image below

 

[Aosys]

Still using shaderParm3, increased the angle as suggested, still no dice; the texture is completely invisible. I tried on several other test patches and brushes, and they all suffer the same problem.

 

One thing I am noticing is there's a part of the material definition that's no longer needed since 2.0, according to the wiki:

 

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Alpha-fading

 

Is the fact that it's still in there the culprit?

[Springheel]

No. It's redundant, but it doesn't hurt anything.

[Obsttorte]

What value are you using for shaderParm3?

[Aosys]

Ah, I found the problem: it needed a decimal value for shaderParm3, not 1 (which is what I'd been using). Thanks guys!

 

Also, I'll see if I can make some frost decals, since I found a set of Photoshop brushes that doesn't require any licensing

[Obsttorte]

Yeah, the values range from zero to one. But a value of one means everything gets cut away, which is normally not what you want

[ERH+]

How dmap deals with computer resources? I've made a big change in size of map' main "room" and Darkmod crashes after an hour of computing. But If I dmap half of map - it make it to the end, and if I dmap the other half of map - it finishes processing too. With full map Darkmod uses about 2.4 GB of memory and overall memory usage is maybe about 70%, but seemingly problem lays in quantity - do I have not enough ram (8GB), or Darkmod have some limits in processing huge empty spaces (and no it is not an .aas problem, crash occurs during .cm/.proc faze)?

[demagogue]

Does dmapping still crash if you, e.g., stuck a big wall in and cut the big room in half into two leafs?

Just to see if it's really that big open space that's causing the problem...

I don't have experience with dmap and massive rooms (how huge are we talking about?) so can't really even speculate though.

[nbohr1more]

How dmap deals with computer resources? I've made a big change in size of map' main "room" and Darkmod crashes after an hour of computing. But If I dmap half of map - it make it to the end, and if I dmap the other half of map - it finishes processing too. With full map Darkmod uses about 2.4 GB of memory and overall memory usage is maybe about 70%, but seemingly problem lays in quantity - do I have not enough ram (8GB), or Darkmod have some limits in processing huge empty spaces (and no it is not an .aas problem, crash occurs during .cm/.proc faze)?

 

 

 

If this is "Seed of Lodestar", (as I can tell) there are many areas with no AI roaming about.

You can encase HUGE sections of the map in Monsterclip brushes. Probably the entire underwater section.

 

 

 

[ERH+]

@nbohr1more I've made both arctic and sea section bigger up to 57344 in diameter and only visible thing stretched and reshaped is sea surface (so player don't see square horizon). Player movement is restricted by player clip, so is water volume.

Monster clip rooms for AI are tiny

.

Only thing that really changes is stretching triangles and textures.

I remember from early map stage that making one big func_static (of ship haul) can take much longer to dmap than many small separate parts, so cutting sea surface into pieces is a chance - but it will in fact only make much more triangles.

[demagogue]

I don't know the design here, but if you're talking about a huge sea region just for the view where the player isn't going, this is the kind of thing that's better made in the skybox, which is only a fraction of the size and doesn't worry about dmapping business. At least read up on skybox architecture and see if it might work for you.

[ERH+]

It is the transition that make a problem - you see a cut between a skybox texture and a main "room". I just thought it will be easiest way but it makes another problem . But it is worth a thought how it works in case someone will have a GTA idea for map, i.e. with a flying machine.

[Obsttorte]

 

I remember from early map stage that making one big func_static ... can take much longer to dmap than many small separate parts

That makes sense. Within one func_static the different planes cut up each other and additional vertices and tris get added. This means each surface has to be matched against each other surface. This gives you a quadratic time effort. So two times the planes require four times the amount of work. Having two func_statics with roughly the same surface count only doubles the effort. So splitting up func_statics helps here. It doesn't neccessarely mean that you get extra tris, though, normally this will even reduce tris count (as you avoid the splitting). Best way is to use the ase exporter, me thinks, though.

[demagogue]

 

 

It is the transition that make a problem - you see a cut between a skybox texture and a main "room". I just thought it will be easiest way but it makes another problem .

 

There's been discussion about skybox techniques to hide the transition and make the skybox geometry follow the player, and I've seen the demo video where the skybox wall was put right in the middle of city streets, where a building was cut in half, and you couldn't see the transition at all even walking right up around it. So it's possible.

[Nohcelf]

Noob question's of the day :

 

Is there a way to modify models directly from dark radient ? (cutting, scaling, etc...) Or do I necessarily need to use a modelling tool like blender even for the simplest tasks ?

 

++

[Obsttorte]

Scaling models is possible. Greebo added that a while ago. There is a button on the right side bar to do this, directly below the cutting tool button. It shows a small and a big rectangle with an arrow pointing from the small to the big one.

 

Cutting models is not possible in DR. Note that DR only serves the purpose of placing those models, it is no modelling tool. You can create stuff in DR via patches and brushes, but unless you write your own improved export script you will most likely not get the same results as with the before mentioned tools.

[Durandall]

Is there a way to cap an end cap without getting distorted textures?

[Aosys]

The best way I've found is to first create your end cap, then either create a temporary brush somewhere with your desired texture, or used an existing brush (e.g. the connecting walls to an archway). Maneuver your brush into place if need be, then find the face going in the same direction as your cap. From there, copy and paste the face's texture onto your patch.

 

This page provides an example: http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Patches#Archways

[Durandall]

Thanks, got it. I was copying a texture from a perpendicular piece. I'm not sure why that would cause issues, but a parallel face worked.

Also, the shift+click+middle mouse on the wiki won't work as it is a shortcut for "Paste Shader (Natural)" and you just need "Paste Shader".

[Durandall]

Another question. Can I annihilate the "see through" seams on these caps? Both of the two different sized end cap caps have a seam in the same place that can be seen and allows light to pass through.

[AluminumHaste]

Another question. Can I annihilate the "see through" seams on these caps? Both of the two different sized end cap caps have a seam in the same place that can be seen and allows light to pass through.

 

Screenshot?

 

EDIT: You might need to set the subdivisions manually

[Durandall]

Looks like subdivisions may do it, but I'll have to fiddle some more. Might need to drop arch complexity and deal with it.

 

Image for fun:

 

[AluminumHaste]

Convert the whole thing to func_static and see if it does the same thing.

Make sure to align to grid before you do it.

[Durandall]

Didn't do anything, but I lowered the subdivisions a bit and it still looks good.