Newbie DarkRadiant Questions

[Baal]

You can also declare and use a script variable for that, instead of the "ison" spawnarg.

[Goldwell]

I'm not too sure what that means however the script is working as intended so i'm happy. It may not be the best but it does work

Edited April 17, 2015 by Goldwell

[demagogue]

@Baal, can other future threads get such a variable? The reason to use a spawnarg is that it persists after you kill the script thread, and a future thread can still get it. Normally killing a thread kills its local variables.

 

Edit. I'm asking just for information sake, since Goldwell seems ok with his current set up.

[grayman]

@Baal, can other future threads get such a variable? The reason to use a spawnarg is that it persists after you kill the script thread, and a future thread can still get it. Normally killing a thread kills its local variables.

 

Edit. I'm asking just for information sake, since Goldwell seems ok with his current set up.

 

Just make it global.

[Obsttorte]

The best approach is to bundle it up in a script object, and create an entity definition for the lamp using it. This way it is easier to reuse it either multiple times in your own mission or for other mission authors who want to have a similar effect and don't have the skills to do it themselves.

[Sotha]

Insert any chest prefab you like and look at the set-up between the lid and the body there. It's exactly the same for this. To outline it, though:

 

1. Make your door/gate as usual, but don't put any lock-related args on it
2. Make your lock and turn it into an atdm:froblock
3. Give the locked, pickable, lock_picktype, lock_pins and used_by args to the froblock entity and make it target the door/gate
4. Give the froblock a "frob_peer" arg that names your door/gate and give the door/gate a "frob_master" arg that names the lock

 

Now they should both highlight when you look at one, and you should be able to pick the door whether you look at it or the lock

 

Thanks, but did not work as advertised.

 

I had to modify a bit to get it work in unison:

 

1) Make your door/gate as usual, but don't put any lock-related args on it

2) Make your lock and turn it into an atdm:froblock

3) Give the locked, pickable, lock_picktype, lock_pins and used_by args to the froblock entity and make it target the door/gate

4) Give the froblock a "frob_peer" arg that names your door/gate

5) Give the door/gate a "frob_master" arg that names the lock AND give the door/gate "frob_peer" arg that names the lock.

 

Now everything gets highlighted properly.

[Goldwell]

Everytime you enter an area and music plays via the locations system it seems to play the track from the start. Is there a way to stop this and say play the track at random points of the song or continue where it left off? It just sounds very weird whenever you're jumping back and forth between rooms and you hear the start of the song each time you enter the location.

 

I noticed that speakers dont do this however, if I put a track on a speaker and add the s_looping and then walk away and come back it will be at a different point of the song, not the same point each time

 

Thanks!

[Obsttorte]

I don't think you can do this. But I think the sounds can be faded so it isn't that noticeable. The location system should already provide this feature.

 

A minor hint: Don't overuse this feature. You don't need a new sound in every room (that's a bit exaggerated, but you get the idea I guess).

[demagogue]

The sound does continue if you do a 180 turn and return to the location before it fades out, but once it goes silent, the speaker turns off. When you re-enter it turns on from scratch. The reason is pretty straightforward. If you kept all the ambients in a level running silently, just so they fade in the loop, it'd be a major resource hog for a pretty paltry return. Well, it doesn't matter anyway, because all the ambients play on one speaker which can't have more than 2 ambients running on it at the same time anyway (and even those 2 are just so there's an nice overlapping fade during the transition).

 

The underlying issue is ambients shouldn't be too distinctive at the start. What I might do is chop off the front an ambient so it starts in a non-descript place, so it won't sound repetitive, then put that chunk at the end.

[Goldwell]

The sound does continue if you do a 180 turn and return to the location before it fades out, but once it goes silent, the speaker turns off. When you re-enter it turns on from scratch. The reason is pretty straightforward. If you kept all the ambients in a level running silently, just so they fade in the loop, it'd be a major resource hog for a pretty paltry return. Well, it doesn't matter anyway, because all the ambients play on one speaker which can't have more than 2 ambients running on it at the same time anyway (and even those 2 are just so there's an nice overlapping fade during the transition).

 

The underlying issue is ambients shouldn't be too distinctive at the start. What I might do is chop off the front an ambient so it starts in a non-descript place, so it won't sound repetitive, then put that chunk at the end.

 

 

Yeah I think that might be the best thing to do because the ambient is rain for the street so if the player runs inside it cuts off then after they're done in the apartment they leave and it restarts and its only been say 10-15 seconds so it gets noticeable. But yeah cutting the sound so at least the first 30 seconds doesn't do that might be the best solution.

 

Thanks!

[grayman]

 

 

Yeah I think that might be the best thing to do because the ambient is rain for the street so if the player runs inside it cuts off then after they're done in the apartment they leave and it restarts and its only been say 10-15 seconds so it gets noticeable. But yeah cutting the sound so at least the first 30 seconds doesn't do that might be the best solution.

 

Thanks!

 

I'm working on a rainy mission atm and have found that what works for me is to make the rain sound the ambient in the street, then place a low-radius speaker with the same sound just outside the door. If you rely on an ambient sound only, then when you're inside, you can't hear the rain. Imagine entering the room, the rain fading away, and being left with silence. But there you are, standing just inside an open door with rain coming down a few yards away. But with a dedicated speaker, its rain sound can be heard when the door is open and is muffled or silent when the door is closed. When you go outside, it takes a few moments for the ambient to come up. Technically you hear both the ambient and the speaker, but if it's the same sound, it's really not noticeable. As you move out into the street, leaving the speaker behind, the ambient is all you hear.

 

Works quite well.

[Goldwell]

 

I'm working on a rainy mission atm and have found that what works for me is to make the rain sound the ambient in the street, then place a low-radius speaker with the same sound just outside the door. If you rely on an ambient sound only, then when you're inside, you can't hear the rain. Imagine entering the room, the rain fading away, and being left with silence. But there you are, standing just inside an open door with rain coming down a few yards away. But with a dedicated speaker, its rain sound can be heard when the door is open and is muffled or silent when the door is closed. When you go outside, it takes a few moments for the ambient to come up. Technically you hear both the ambient and the speaker, but if it's the same sound, it's really not noticeable. As you move out into the street, leaving the speaker behind, the ambient is all you hear.

 

Works quite well.

 

I have the same setup and actually used that with a noble home too, you just have to make sure the sound is mono though so usually I just take the custom rain track and have a mono and a stereo version, one for the transition inside and one for outside.

 

Also.. a rainy mission by the epic likes of Grayman! Oh you tease, more details please!!!!

[grayman]

Also.. a rainy mission by the epic likes of Grayman! Oh you tease, more details please!!!!

 

WS4 takes place after Steele has left Cleighmoor, and the snow has turned to rain. The Warrens is a pretty dismal place, and the rain adds to the mood. I think it looks pretty good, and--so far--performance is holding up pretty well, but if it gets out of hand at any point, I might have to cut the splashes or the rain and the splashes. Wouldn't be a happy moment, but if it needs to be done, it'll be done.

 

I don't think I would've used rain/splashes/pools of water on such a grand scale if Steve hadn't fixed the water rendering problem (this will be a 2.04 mission).

[Goldwell]

 

WS4 takes place after Steele has left Cleighmoor, and the snow has turned to rain. The Warrens is a pretty dismal place, and the rain adds to the mood. I think it looks pretty good, and--so far--performance is holding up pretty well, but if it gets out of hand at any point, I might have to cut the splashes or the rain and the splashes. Wouldn't be a happy moment, but if it needs to be done, it'll be done.

 

I don't think I would've used rain/splashes/pools of water on such a grand scale if Steve hadn't fixed the water rendering problem (this will be a 2.04 mission).

 

Oh wow, will it be a city mission as well?

 

Also do you have an ETA?

 

And finally if you're after some very cool looking ripple effects I highly recommend arcturus's rain ripples. His work combined with a friend who made a custom rain texture for me I find looks great on my FM.

 

I recorded a video to show off the map to some close friends of mine but i'll share it for you so you can see what I mean (keep in mind the map is very very WIP) but the things that im showing off (rain and ripples) obviously are not.

 

Turn on 1080p and go fullscreen if you want to see everything properly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff989TzaFe0

 

If you're interested I can PM you over all the details

Edited April 20, 2015 by Goldwell

[grayman]

If you're interested I can PM you over all the details

 

Sure. That would be good. I've already altered the splash particle effect so it can be placed on slanted surfaces, but the ripple effect looks nice as well.

[DeusXIncognita]

I recently played Sir Talbots Collateral, and all those projected window shadows were really nice. I thought on including some on my own.

But I noticed that in my map those shadows would probably be more from the inside to the outside. To be realistic, those shadows would have to fade the more lights are turned off inside (if possible to turn them off).

 

Can anyone think of a way to do this? I know that ambient light for a zone can easily be tied to the lights burning inside, so I hope there is a way to tie this mechanism to a projected light somehow.

[SteveL]

I recently played Sir Talbots Collateral, and all those projected window shadows were really nice. I thought on including some on my own.

But I noticed that in my map those shadows would probably be more from the inside to the outside. To be realistic, those shadows would have to fade the more lights are turned off inside (if possible to turn them off).

 

Can anyone think of a way to do this? I know that ambient light for a zone can easily be tied to the lights burning inside, so I hope there is a way to tie this mechanism to a projected light somehow.

Try targeting projected lights from the nearest indoor light. That should mean they turn on and off with that light.

[Moonbo]

When I was putting together Requiem, I remember being told that I should keep my shader count (i.e. the number of unique textures I used on the map) to under 500 otherwise I would run into potential performance problems. I remember not noticing any issues but wanted to make sure so made some painful cuts to get my shader count down under that number. For my current WIP I'm at around 530 shaders and I'd really prefer not to cut down on the shader count...is this 500 cap still in effect? What exactly is the consequence of going above it?

[SteveL]

Are you counting textures on models, or just worldspawn/FS?

 

I can't speak from experience but I'm just having a look at some numbers from existing maps.

[Moonbo]

Just what's on worldspawn/fs (I'm using the map -> map info menu to count). I can probably ignore stuff like nodraws and caulk though...which would help get me under the 500 count.

[SteveL]

Requiem has the highest count of textures used out of the published missions, at 489 distinct "textures/..." in the map file, and a couple of others have 400+. None of them provides a test case with >500. Anoott has 247, Home Again has 423 and Sir Talbot's Collateral has 279.

 

I'm not sure what the limit applies to, or whether it's out-of-date advice by now. When you count textures loaded via models too, all the numbers are much bigger. TDM has about 395 textures it loads and uses internally (most of them small). On top of those, Requiem has 2089 loaded, Anoott has 1284, and Sir Talbot's has 1361. As far as the renderer is concerned, there's no difference between textures from models and those from your map geometry. DMAP turns your map geometry into models anyway, so it should all cost the same when the game is running.

[Moonbo]

Hm, okay well I got the count down to 521 shaders, so I guess we'll if beta testers notice any issues :-).

[Springheel]

When I was putting together Requiem, I remember being told that I should keep my shader count (i.e. the number of unique textures I used on the map) to under 500

 

 

Where did you get this advice from? I've never heard it before.

[Moonbo]

It was from Bikerdude.

[Springheel]

I can see the number of textures increasing load times for a mission, but why would it affect performance?