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Newbie DarkRadiant Questions


demagogue

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There are two walk animations, walk1 and walk2. Also, the animation is "search_sword1", I believe.

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I wasnt able to make the replace anim arg work, i wonder if the conversation code overwrittes it as I tried many animations and none of them worked (probably still doing something wrong).

 

What worked was to first make the AI go to entity, but with wait to finish unchecked; placed a wait 1 second, then play anim cycle search1, then wait 4 seconds more (so the ai will pretty much reach the first path entity), and then he will continue to the other path corners still playing the animation all the way.

 

There seems to be a problem with the "drawn weapon" walk animations as neither search1_sword (or search_sword1) and search2 worked - the ai would walk normally and without making any sound, some kind of glitch.

Edited by RPGista
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yes, you are ;)

FM's: Builder Roads, Old Habits, Old Habits Rebuild

Mapping and Scripting: Apples and Peaches

Sculptris Models and Tutorials: Obsttortes Models

My wiki articles: Obstipedia

Texture Blending in DR: DR ASE Blend Exporter

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Hi

 

I want start to become familiarly with Darkradiant. I use the latest Release (1.72).

 

 

My Questions are:

 

1. Is it possible, to rename certain brushes ? As example: I start to create a room. This room

consists of 6 Brushes. I want to rename this to sky,ground,left,right,front,back.

 

If i call the Entity-List i only see this six brushes: But they are not editable.

 

2. I have no clue about the camera-symbols in the front and side-view. They only rotate up

and down. but they don't rotate left/right. If i go in one of these windows and rotate it

via MMB to left/right, so the camera goes upside-down. Is this a bug or is this by intention ?

 

My understanding (and so it is in other 3-d-editors): If i look around in top-

view or in render-view the camera-symbol in front and sideview should rotate

too.

 

3. key-c and key-d should move the camera down/up: But there is no reaction when i press the keys.

 

 

4. Is there a actual documentation ?

 

5. Is it possible to do all things in DarkRadiant (objectives, missiontexts etc.) or is

an external texteditor neccessary ?

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@john

 

1. only entities have names, convert them to func_statics and you can rename them

therefore: select the brush -> rightclick -> convert to func_static

 

2. the camera symbol is updated, if you do something in 2D view, like scrolling, its not realtime

 

3. they work only if your are not in 3D-view, so if you've not right-clicked in the 3d-view-window

 

4. check the wiki

 

5. under windows check the entity menu, under linux it seems to be missing

 

hope that helps

FM's: Builder Roads, Old Habits, Old Habits Rebuild

Mapping and Scripting: Apples and Peaches

Sculptris Models and Tutorials: Obsttortes Models

My wiki articles: Obstipedia

Texture Blending in DR: DR ASE Blend Exporter

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Welcome - it takes a bit of getting used to at first.

 

Here's a list of DR's default keys and mouse ops:

 

http://wiki.thedarkm...rk_Radiant_Keys

 

Here's a beginner tutorial:

 

http://wiki.thedarkm...-_Z_Guide_Index

 

If you follow that it should answer most of your basic questions but keep posting here with specific problems.

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Thanks for the Answers.

 

@Fidcal: I already had a look at the Tutorial. So it seems to fit to the newest DarkRadiant.

To make this sure was the reason for my question. Thank you for the effort to realize this

tutorial !

 

 

 

@Obsttorte: I still have problems with the editor:

 

1. As i said, the front- and sideview-camera-symbols only rotate (in real-time) up/down. Except this they only "look" at

right. When i go in one of these windows and rotate by MMB the symbol looks then to the left side:

but the camera is then turned upside down.

 

I want to understand, why it is so. What is the sense ?

 

 

 

2. The c and d-key don't work. Independently in what window i am.

 

 

 

 

To convert the brushes into func_static worked well. I was able to rename the objects now :-)

 

Here a question about this topic:

 

3. Can please someone explain, what the difference is between func_static and worldspawn ?

Are this the only two types of objects ?

 

4. In some cases there is the possibility to choose an c++-class. Have i to deal with this when

i want to create a mission ? Or is this only important for Developers ?

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3. Well there's a long answer someone might give but in summary, worldspawn is the default world entity - the raw material from which most of your world will be created. It is the only entity that seals against the void. No doubt you know or soon will that you build in a void and all your gameplay must take place within a sealed area - like a submarine is sealed against the sea or a space station against the vacuum of space.

 

There are lots more entities with many different properties. They can be found by right clicking the grid view and selecting Create Entity where you'll see a structured list. Note that these do NOT seal against the void and in fact must not be in the void or they will cause an error. A func_static it is only one of these many entities and as the name implies, it is passive, static. When you create a new model from the same popup menu it is made a func_static by default - though it can be changed later. Some of the entities in the list already have a model 'connected' to them while others do not but need you to add one - while still others do not need a model at all (eg, a path object.)

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I've got a question about the ambient_light: As far as I understood every brush is rendered, which is touched by a light, the player is currently seeing. Is this correct?

And what about the ambient_light? Doesn't this one touches everything, so everything needs to be rendered?

Edited by Radiant
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Lights do not control rendering. Rendering is controlled by the visPortals. The area enclosed by visportals is called a "leaf". Everything inside the leaf the current player is in will be rendered, and if he can look through any visPortal, everything in the leaf on the other side of that VP will also be rendered. (The only catch is if a func_static crosses from an open leaf into a closed one, the whole thing still gets rendered. But what I said applies to all brushes.)

 

Now after you have that, what lights do is: for each brush already getting rendered, there is another rendering pass for each new light hitting it. If it's 1 light, there's one pass, 2 lights=>2 passes, etc. (So generally it can help performance to reduce the # of lights hitting a brush.) I do not recall the algorithm for ambient lights, but I'd think there's a round for the ambient_light too. But you still need and want an ambient_light over your whole map.

 

But to answer your question, the ambient_light is not rendering every single brush it touches; only brushes in open leafs are getting rendered. For that matter, a *normal* light will not render every single brush it touches (e.g., if the light passes into a VP around a corner you can't see, the light would theoretically be hitting brushes in there, but they are not getting rendered because that leaf is closed. So there's not even a single render pass, even with you seeing the light.)

What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you but I know that it's mine.

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Ah, thank you very much for bringing light into this. ;)

 

Another question: Which solution is better in terms of performance, when I want to close a leak behind a bevel patch?

This one with a an extended, textured wall behind it:

bevel1.jpg

 

Or this one with two new caulk brushes?:

bevel2.jpg

(Sometimes like in this case it could be replaced by only one brush.)

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Bevels and patches don't seal against the void. Performance difference between the presented cases are negligible. Just minimize the amount of brushes and work.

 

Handy tip for patches: check the patch inspector fixed tesselation thingy: easy way to save tris.

Clipper

-The mapper's best friend.

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you'll have to select the worldspawn element of the entity you wish to resize. unless you are using the wrong terminology and are asking how to resize brush worldspawn. In either case, with the proper worldspawn selected, use the resize tool, or the translate tool with the vertices in question selected.

 

Also I made a small video series on working with brushes

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Also, remember, you can also resize func_statics. Click the func_static part selection button (cube with red highlighted section). Select the part of the func_static you want to change. Click the vertice movement mode (cube with one highlighted vertice). Move the vertices freely.

 

Note that you cannot resize/manipulate at all func_statics or any objects based on models.

Clipper

-The mapper's best friend.

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How to make a light start unlit?

 

I did this once for torches. You place a torch and give it the spawnarg extinguished "1".

But if I do this for a simple light I created via RMB -> create light the light is still lit on map start. :o

"Einen giftigen Trank aus Kräutern und Wurzeln für die närrischen Städter wollen wir brauen." - Text aus einem verlassenen Heidenlager

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normal lights use different spawnargs that flames. Flames use extinguished.

Normal lights use start_on or similar. Check the light spawnargs from the menu you get by right clicking the entity manager or checking the checkbox for "show inherited spawnargs."

Clipper

-The mapper's best friend.

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In either case, with the proper worldspawn selected, use the resize tool, or the translate tool with the vertices in question selected.
I feel I'm missing something basic - here's what I'm experiencing:

 

1. I make a brush.

2. I turn the brush into a trigger_once.

3. When I try to resize my trigger_once, I'm unable to resize it, nor can I select its vertices.

 

Can you explain what you mean by 'select the proper worldspawn' - is there a special way to select brush entities?

 

Here's a short desktop recording of what I'm experiencing. I make a trigger_once and am unable to resize it:

http://blendogames.com/dev/dr1.avi

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A trigger_once is an entity, which contains one or more "things". The same happens for instance if you select two brushes and turn them into one "func_static". To select the individual "parts" of such an entity, select the entity, then press "TAB" until you have the part you wanted.

 

That can be a bit cumbersome with many parts, but in the case of trigger_once, there is only one part. So hitting TAB once should do the trick.

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

 

"Remember: If the game lets you do it, it's not cheating." -- Xarax

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Hi

 

In http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Starting_to_Model_for_TDM i read this:

 

"....Re:Grid size, testing in your 3d program: An easy way to check your grid is to open a new file in DarkRadiant, choose a large grid size and drag out a cube brush, choose the next smaller grid size and drag out another brush, do this with 3-4 grid sizes. Make each cube as small as possible for that grid size. No need to texture them, place them all close to each other. Now select all of them and choose file/export as obj, this will make them an obj file that can be imported into most 3d programs, if not you can convert it with a program like Accutrans into a 3ds mesh and import that..."

 

But Blender could not load the obj-File.

 

As example this error: "ValueError: could not convert string to float: b'<-4.72656,'"

 

When i compare DarkRadinat- and Blender - obj-Files, they look different.

 

How can i do the suggested test from the text ?

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I've been studying blender noob to pro (a nice piece of work for a noob like me!) because there are several things that I want to do in DR which pretty much require it. And Blender is not only free, but powerful - worth the time. But after reading John's post I tried the experiment and couldn't import a simple 256x256x256 box obj into Blender 2.63. Don't get me wrong, I fully appreciate all the unpaid work that goes into the free programs I use in doom editing - but jeez, this is the kind of stuff that makes me weary...

 

Obviously the passing back and forth of model conversions is done. Why would it *not work*?? It's usually something very simple that I'm missing...

 

One of the many reasons I've decided to learn Blender is Arcturus's "grass" map which in the main is obviously ported into DR where some base worldspawn brushes are either imported as well or already made or made to order. Problem is, I can't even read Arcturus's map in DR since it's done in ase format and there's no indication of how it was done. So it boggles me. In DR all the interesting stuff is represented by icons.

 

Meanwhile I'll continue to learn from "noob to pro", even while trying to learn plotting a TDM fm, lighting a TDM map, the seed system, pathfinding and scripting actions of TDM AI (oh my lord!!!), and so on. Altho' I prefer to work on TDM, I understand why id continues to go with the ultra-simple run&gun style in comparatively easy maps. Doing a "level" that way would eliminate 95% of my problems :)

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