Newbie DarkRadiant Questions

[cvlw]

14 hours ago, MirceaKitsune said:

This is a consequence of not yet having a proper reflection system: Windows use a static blurry cubemap to simulate some level of reflection. This will probably be improved later someday, for now you'll have to use a window without any reflection at all or with the mirror pass for it. Don't know if there's one by default, if not it should be easy to make a custom material.

Ah thanks.  I will look into this.

Much appreciated.

Clint

 

[Dragofer]

Has anyone figured out how to change the font colour in a readable? The font images have a recolour-friendly white base colour, but the GUIs always seem to set them to pure black regardless of matcolor setting

[Geep]

I wonder if this gawdawful hack works in readables:

https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Text_Decals_for_Signs_etc.#Signs_with_Illuminated_Colored_Letters

Possibly a related need: in long term,  could use color fonts in subtitles too.

[AluminumHaste]

I don't know if this was added to TDM, but this same formatting is also in quake 3 arena and quake live.

[cvlw]

Greetings again, all.

What is the way to prevent ai from bumping into things...

For example, I have a key on a nail on a wall that the player needs to get.  How do I prevent the AI from bumping the key or hitting it with a sword and flinging it far away?  I have the key wrapped in nodrawsolid, and the wall has monster clip all the way to the ceiling about 2 unites out from the key.  Yet, an AI will still bump it or hit it with a sword in hand.  Possibly have the AI just too close no matter what?

Appreciated.

Clint

[Geep]

I don't know if this would solve it, or cause other problems, but you could try enveloping the key area in a force field that pushes the key against the wall.

[datiswous]

Put it inside a box with a glass door?  Putting the key higher on the wall? Just some ideas.

[peter_spy]

Just change the key spawnClass from idMoveable to idStaticEntity.

[grodenglaive]

Greetings, after completing nearly all the FMs, I finally started building my own. Fidcal's mapping tutorials and others have been really useful (thank you), but I have my first question (probably of many).

I have a some bushes that I don't want the player to be able to climb on top of. I added the property "is_mantleable 0", but this made no difference. I also tried "allowStep 0", but no dice. I guess I could put a clip brush around it, just wondering if there was another way.

[Geep]

Player Clip or a general clip is go-to all-purpose method. If you outfit your bushes with sloped tops (I recall greater than 40 degrees), the player can't climb up them.

[grodenglaive]

will do, thanks!

[cvlw]

On 2/14/2023 at 10:48 AM, peter_spy said:

Just change the key spawnClass from idMoveable to idStaticEntity.

Thanks for this suggestion. It seems to address it.

Clint

 

[Frost_Salamander]

How do you use the new security safe prefabs?  I've added 'safe02_standing_combination_lock.pfbx' to my map.  The number wheels have a spawnarg called 'slot', which I'm guessing is the unlock code for each wheel?  If so, it looks like the default combination is '123'.  When I play the map and set that, nothing happens (the safe doesn't unlock nor does the wheel become frobable).  What am I missing?

[MirceaKitsune]

Had a question I should probably ask about to prepare: When you create a single FM you may have a custom script by naming it the same as the map, like my_fm.map / my_fm.script. Now if you're developing a campaign, can you have a script that's loaded for all maps in that campaign? I only remember using tdm_custom_scripts.script / tdm_user_addons.script and forgot which does what... don't want them overriding actual addons though, are they the right choice for campaigns?

[joebarnin]

4 hours ago, MirceaKitsune said:

Had a question I should probably ask about to prepare: When you create a single FM you may have a custom script by naming it the same as the map, like my_fm.map / my_fm.script. Now if you're developing a campaign, can you have a script that's loaded for all maps in that campaign? I only remember using tdm_custom_scripts.script / tdm_user_addons.script and forgot which does what... don't want them overriding actual addons though, are they the right choice for campaigns?

Yeah I think that the /script folder is the way to go here. Create my_campaign.script in the /script folder and add it to tdm_custom_scripts.script (i.e., #include "script/my_campaign.script"). And if your script needs to know which campaign mission is being played, don't forgot https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Setting_up_Campaigns#Scripting.

 

[Geep]

8 hours ago, Frost_Salamander said:

When I play the map and set that, nothing happens (the safe doesn't unlock nor does the wheel become frobable).  What am I missing?

Probably the .script file that's needed, but unfortunately can't be included with a prefab. Maybe there's a comment somewhere in the prefab (or in the wiki or forums) that says what script it needs and where to find it. (The similar combination setup I used earlier doesn't involve "slot", so clearly uses a different script that I what I have.)

[Frost_Salamander]

28 minutes ago, Geep said:

Probably the .script file that's needed, but unfortunately can't be included with a prefab. Maybe there's a comment somewhere in the prefab (or in the wiki or forums) that says what script it needs and where to find it. (The similar combination setup I used earlier doesn't involve "slot", so clearly uses a different script that I what I have.)

I would have thought that if it's included as a core asset, the script objects should be bundled with the game.  There is no comment on the prefab itself.

[MirceaKitsune]

Thanks: tdm_custom_scripts.script it is then. Yeah I can #include each separate scripts from there then.

Otherwise I asked this on Discord but no one knew an answer yet, and since it's useful to know during map design I'm putting it here too. I had a few questions about light optimization, surprisingly I never checked this to know for certain how it works practically:

1. When you use a spot light with the light_target spawnerg set, is it more performance effective than an omni light? I'm presuming it only calculates surfaces within the cone, rather than in all directions emanating from the point like standard lights. Or does it still calculate in all 6 directions regardless?
2. Are light entities that poke through walls discarded when their room is closed off by portals? Obviously if a light shines through an opening it will be rendered even if the room it's in is closed off, but does the engine know if that light has no path to shine in your current room? Best example is a torch placed on the back of a wall in one room, you're in another room that shares this thin wall with the first room, the first room is closed off by the portals: Will that torch still use up FPS just because it touches the room you're in, or does the engine realize the torch doesn't intersect the necessary portals to form a possible path to your location along the way and can thus be ignored?

Edited February 19, 2023 by MirceaKitsune

[Geep]

5 hours ago, Frost_Salamander said:

I would have thought that if it's included as a core asset, the script objects should be bundled with the game.  There is no comment on the prefab itself.

Yeah, I'm wrong, you're right, there are 3 script objects due to @Dragofer that are included in 2.11 tdm_base01.pk4/script/:

- in tdm_safe.script, there's scriptobject tdm_safe, that is referenced from your safe's door

- in tdm_safe_lock.script, there's these scriptobjects:

   tdm_safe_lock, referenced from the lock housing

   tdm_numberwheel, referenced from each of the 3 wheels

Since the safe02 prefab elements seem to reference these, the problem probably lies elsewhere. Maybe Dragofer will shed light. Or you could temporarily try the wall safe prefab, that uses the same scriptobjects, and see if that works correctly or fails similarly. Otherwise, you might override these script files with your own copies and start debugging (i.e., print values to the console).

[MirceaKitsune]

Another little thing I'm looking to address: I was wondering if it's possible to define a door with a handle as one entity in your FM def. The reason this might not be possible is it requires two entities, an atdm:mover_door and mover_door_handle: I could def_attach the handle to the door with the proper offset... issue is I normally need to specify the door entity to bind to by name, does using def_attach automatically bind in a way that connects the handle to the door and has it move?

[datiswous]

Why do you want to do this?

[MirceaKitsune]

1 hour ago, datiswous said:

Why do you want to do this?

Easier to manage, especially since I plan on throwing time into a large campaign where I'd reuse copies of a lot of complex stuff: If I want to make a change I just edit one def and update it on all maps. Might try this one out and see the results: IIRC def_attach is the reverse of bind, thus a door handle should recognize its door when addressed this way.

Edit: From what I looked in existing defs it's not possible. You can specify a door_handle spawnarg but it must be an entity in the world. I'm going to define a custom default door to change some basics, but it's clearly best to place the door handle manually with the current setup we have.

Edited February 20, 2023 by MirceaKitsune

[datiswous]

11 hours ago, MirceaKitsune said:

If I want to make a change I just edit one def and update it on all maps.

Ok, it seems to me editing 2 defs that are listed in a def file directly above each other not too difficult.

[grodenglaive]

I ran into an odd issue today. I have a wall which appears in the editor window, but in the game it's invisible (or missing). What would cause that? I'm not getting any dmap errors. 

(edit) I fixed it. I had used the "Hollow" button instead of "Make Room" on the brush. I just moved the vertices around so there is no overlap and now it's working fine.

Edited February 22, 2023 by grodenglaive
updated info

[JackFarmer]

47 minutes ago, grodenglaive said:

I ran into an odd issue today. I have a wall which appears in the editor window, but in the game it's invisible (or missing). What would cause that? I'm not getting any dmap errors. 

(edit) I fixed it. I had used the "Hollow" button instead of "Make Room" on the brush. I just moved the vertices around so there is no overlap and now it's working fine.

Is this brushwork? If so, is it snap to grid? Is there a Visportal near by? If push comes to shove, pm me the WIP and I will have a look.