Newbie DarkRadiant Questions

[ungoliant]

so i've finally taken a mind to start thinking about visportals in my mission, but i dont have any enclosed rooms yet to start putting some up and testing them, and doing so would take a lot of work considering thus far all rooms are(or will be) adjacent to a circular tower structure which makes everything 10x more complicated.

 

So i have some visportal questions that i would like to have answered before designing anymore architecture.

 

1) does tdm render straight through patches? i think i read somewhere that patches do not block out the void, but i dont know if all the rest of my world geometry will render through the patches. for instance, a conical patch roof that is cloned and then matrix inverted (to show both sides) sits on top of a circular tower structure. Now if i build a little attic room inside the tower, that uses this patch as its ceiling and walls, assuming this small attic room is completely sealed with no windows or anything, will the game still render the whole area on the other side of the patch anyways?

 

2) dependent upon the answer to question 1, can patches be used with a visportal texture instead of brushes? i mean, its a child of worldspawn, right? (i.e. can i clone my roof a third time with a visportal texture directly over the roof patch)

 

3) if #1 is true, and #2 doesn't work, how on earth do i portal a circular attic area with a conical patch roof? if this is nigh on impossible, i guess i'm stuck using brushes?

[AluminumHaste]

Brushes are the only thing that can seal a visportal

[ungoliant]

Brushes are the only thing that can seal a visportal

 

damnit i was really hoping that wasn't the case. maybe i can make a patch-brush-patch sandwich roof... or just suck it up and use brushes i guess.

[AluminumHaste]

damnit i was really hoping that wasn't the case. maybe i can make a patch-brush-patch sandwich roof... or just suck it up and use brushes i guess.

 

That could work, I had to do that myself with my cathedral map.

[DeTeEff]

That could work, I had to do that myself with my cathedral map.

 

Or you could try make thin and long brushes, with the caulk-texture, which you tilt and then put them inside the conical patch-roof/ceiling...It shouldn't be too hard unless your roof is very thin.

 

When I read about the sandwich thing above I realised you meant just that

Edited March 23, 2010 by Fieldmedic

[killhour]

This model shows up properly in DR, but not at all in game. Does anyone know what's up?

 

http://sites.google.com/site/shadow516/circlerailingmiddle.ase?attredirects=0&d=1

[stumpy]

i compared the model with a ase file I made that I know works in game and the only differences I can see are in the material list.

in the

 

*MATERIAL_NAME "cardfrnt.tga" i have this

 

while

 

*MATERIAL_NAME "Material.005" is in that object

 

the texture the model uses is gold01 so you would have to replace Material.005 with gold01.tga

 

and in the

 

*MAP_NAME "cardfrnt.tga" i have this

 

while

 

*MAP_NAME "Tex.005" is in that object

 

so you would have to change the Tex.005 to gold01.tga

 

you would also have to make the gold01.tga file from the gold01.dds file as the tga version doesn't exist.

 

although I could be completely wrong, and you'lled probably need an expert with this type of file and am just a nube.

 

or maybe you have to just point the bitmap directory at the dds version of the file which is in

//base/dds/textures/darkmod/metal/flat/gold01

because currently the base points to the editor version of the file and not the one the game uses.

Edited March 27, 2010 by stumpy

[killhour]

i compared the model with a ase file I made that I know works in game and the only differences I can see are in the material list.

in the

 

*MATERIAL_NAME "cardfrnt.tga" i have this

 

while

 

*MATERIAL_NAME "Material.005" is in that object

 

the texture the model uses is gold01 so you would have to replace Material.005 with gold01.tga

 

and in the

 

*MAP_NAME "cardfrnt.tga" i have this

 

while

 

*MAP_NAME "Tex.005" is in that object

 

so you would have to change the Tex.005 to gold01.tga

 

you would also have to make the gold01.tga file from the gold01.dds file as the tga version doesn't exist.

 

although I could be completely wrong, and you'lled probably need an expert with this type of file and am just a nube.

 

or maybe you have to just point the bitmap directory at the dds version of the file which is in

//base/dds/textures/darkmod/metal/flat/gold01

because currently the base points to the editor version of the file and not the one the game uses.

 

That second one is probably it. I'll try it later. Thanks!

[Serpentine]

This is the example of a model that uses two materials for different sub-meshes.

*3DSMAX_ASCIIEXPORT	200
*MATERIAL_LIST {
       *MATERIAL_COUNT 2
*MATERIAL 0 {
	*MATERIAL_NAME "Material_1"
	*MATERIAL_CLASS "Standard"
	*MAP_DIFFUSE {
		*MAP_CLASS "Bitmap"
		*BITMAP "//base/models/nature/tree_01/tree_01_leaves"
		*UVW_U_OFFSET 0.0
		*UVW_V_OFFSET 0.0
		*UVW_U_TILING 1.0
		*UVW_V_TILING 1.0
		}
	}
*MATERIAL 1 {
	*MATERIAL_NAME "Material_2"
	*MATERIAL_CLASS "Standard"
	*MAP_DIFFUSE {
		*MAP_CLASS "Bitmap"
		*BITMAP "//base/models/nature/tree_01/tree_01"
		*UVW_U_OFFSET 0.0
		*UVW_V_OFFSET 0.0
		*UVW_U_TILING 1.0
		}
	}
}
*GEOMOBJECT {
*NODE_NAME "3D_Object__None.00"
*NODE_TM {
	*NODE_NAME "3D_Object__None.00"
}
*MESH {
*MATERIAL_REF 0
}
*GEOMOBJECT {
*NODE_NAME "3D_Object__None"
*NODE_TM {
	*NODE_NAME "3D_Object__None"
}
*MESH {
   *MATERIAL_REF 1
}

 

Its more complex than you need, but if you look at the material section you will see the material is meant to be done as :

*BITMAP "//base/models/nature/tree_01/tree_01"

 

Not using the *MATERIAL_NAME or the filename, rather the *BITMAP "//base/models/nature/tree_01/tree_01" and virtual material path

[stumpy]

does the glass in this image look better as a projected coloured light, or should it be a yellow and black projected light.

 

 

its in a test room.

Edited April 3, 2010 by stumpy

[AluminumHaste]

does the glass in this image look better as a projected coloured light, or should it be a yellow and black projected light.

 

 

its in a test room.

 

You would only get that color from that glass if the light shinning through it was white. Any coloring to the light coming through, IE from a torch (yellow) would change the color being projected.

[SneaksieDave]

Either way, it's

[stumpy]

well the windows underground, so the lights coming from a mushroom patch.

[Serpentine]

stumpyshoorms - the brightest 'shrooms in all the land!

 

Just remember not to allow the light to travel too far, the lack of soft lighting makes scenes like that look a bit meh.

(on a side topic : is there any way to adopt the doom3 soft shadows shaders to work on projected textures like this? I'd imagine using it exclusively on them wouldn't cost too much performance and might be quite nice to allow longer range use.)

[plasticman]

(side topic: why not just blur the light texture then?)

[stumpy]

the light through the window just gives a plain distorted retangular box on the far wall.

so its a light behind the glass to light up the back of the glass, a spot light in front of the glass pointing at the far wall with a copy of the window texture defined as a light texture on it, and a light in the room to light up the front of the glass.

 

The light in the end will be a lot darker than this, I just made it brighter cause the screenshots turn up darker than they are on screen. I've still got to add dust to it to define the outside edge of the projected light, and make the projected light texture darker around the edges and slightly blured due to the glass looking about an inch thick.

[ungoliant]

just installed tdm and dr to my laptop to slave on my fm at work, everything runs smooth except 1 thing: the selection boxes in DR either single or multiple selections, the outlines go completely crazy or doesn't show up at all, regardless of if boxes are solid or dotted in camera preferences.

 

laptop runs vista 32bit, with an ATI radeon x1250 mobility card, and yes i already disabled catalyst AI.

 

i found something on the DR page, said "Some users have noticed a few graphical glitches when drag-selecting stuff, which we can't associate yet. It might be that the GTK/GL combination is not working very reliable in Vista, maybe it's the drivers". not sure if this is related.

 

anyone know what the problem might be, or better yet how to fix it?

[AluminumHaste]

just installed tdm and dr to my laptop to slave on my fm at work, everything runs smooth except 1 thing: the selection boxes in DR either single or multiple selections, the outlines go completely crazy or doesn't show up at all, regardless of if boxes are solid or dotted in camera preferences.

 

laptop runs vista 32bit, with an ATI radeon x1250 mobility card, and yes i already disabled catalyst AI.

 

i found something on the DR page, said "Some users have noticed a few graphical glitches when drag-selecting stuff, which we can't associate yet. It might be that the GTK/GL combination is not working very reliable in Vista, maybe it's the drivers". not sure if this is related.

 

anyone know what the problem might be, or better yet how to fix it?

 

Disable Areo, the transparent fancy effects of the OS GUI and it should fix it.

[ungoliant]

Disable Areo, the transparent fancy effects of the OS GUI and it should fix it.

 

yeah so i read up on aero a bit, and definately thought that disabling it should work. yet somehow... it still doesn't work. i'm positive aero was off because the startbar turned solid after starting up DR.

 

just for good measure i checked all the other boxes in compatibility tab with the word 'disable' on it, rebooted, and still nothing. now i'm puzzled.

[AluminumHaste]

yeah so i read up on aero a bit, and definately thought that disabling it should work. yet somehow... it still doesn't work. i'm positive aero was off because the startbar turned solid after starting up DR.

 

just for good measure i checked all the other boxes in compatibility tab with the word 'disable' on it, rebooted, and still nothing. now i'm puzzled.

 

Okay that is very strange, can you get a screenshot of the issue and upload it to imageshack.us or something?

 

EDIT: BTW, what Catalyst Drivers are you using?

[ungoliant]

Okay that is very strange, can you get a screenshot of the issue and upload it to imageshack.us or something?

 

EDIT: BTW, what Catalyst Drivers are you using?

 

 

yeah i'll get you a ss when i get back from work.

 

unfortunately, toshiba only put up catalyst support for my laptop model up to 8.401

[AluminumHaste]

yeah i'll get you a ss when i get back from work.

 

unfortunately, toshiba only put up catalyst support for my laptop model up to 8.401

 

Download this: http://www.hardwareheaven.com/modtool.php

 

Download the latest ATI Catalyst driver, and mod it using that tool, and try and install the modded driver.

[ungoliant]

Download this: http://www.hardwareh...com/modtool.php

 

Download the latest ATI Catalyst driver, and mod it using that tool, and try and install the modded driver.

 

process has more than 2 steps for vista, so i'm doing this tomorrow lol.

 

btw heres the SS anyway. damn vista... damn toshiba... damn ati!!

 

i'll post if that updated driver does the trick. I've had plenty of ATI issues on my desktop but strangely the laptop with this oldass driver only encounters a problem with DR selections, and all else runs peachy keen. i have the strangest feeling that even if a modded driver 'works', its going to cause more problems than it solves. we'll see.

Edited April 6, 2010 by ungoliant

[New Horizon]

i'll post if that updated driver does the trick.

 

Worked for my wife's Toshiba laptop.

[Melan]

I wonder if Jermi's recently implemented enhanced skies could be ported over to a TDM mission (maybe even incorporated in the default package, with his permission of course).

 

I think his city distant art is the best ever produced for thiefy games:

 

 

Beauty.