Bug with fog volumes

(G0-Gerbil) #1

This is something I’ve had mulling around in my head since trying to update church.

Basically I had a fog volume that didn’t work at all unless it was XXX units deep at it’s deepest - I could move it down a few units and the entire fog would miracoulously disappear :slight_smile:

Anyway, I don’t think that’s a specific bug, but I think it might well be tied into a more general bug with fog volumes because…

Remember my MD3 models getting textured wrongly? Well, most of the scenarios involving this had the model either fading to black randomly, or being completely black until you got really close. I didn’t connect this with fogging until I looked at the beach map (1.4 I think) - you’ll notice some odd texturing on models there. The connection though, is quite clear on that map.

The sea contains a huge pure blue fog volume. The MG42s on the landing craft are… pure blue. Some of the health cabinets etc are pure blue.
Now connecting this with my models being black, and me using black fog volumes in my map, seems to me there’s an obvious (although vague) deduction can be made here. To spell it out:

  • There appears to be bugs in fog volumes.

This can appear either as the fog volume not working, or certain (random?) MD3s getting fogged elsewhere in the map.

I’m not really sure where to go with this because I don’t know WHY it happens. Gonna post a link to this from the q3map2 bit to see if anyone is interested there.

(G0-Gerbil) #2

Ah, for screenshots of the beach map bugs, go here:

http://www.splashdamage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3518

Look a page or two down for Kevinski’s selection of screenshots - many objects show blue tint :frowning:

(chavo_one) #3

I saw this happen on my venice map too. Initially I put a fog brush in the water, so that it wasn’t crystal clear. But my canal posts (ase models) that stick out of the water, were colored the same as the fog. Also, if I stood on the edge of the canal (out of the water mind you), my gun became the same color as the fog as well. I couldn’t figure out what the problem was, so I removed the fog. :frowning:

edit: I’m sorry. I believe the fog I was using was part of the water shader, NOT a separate brush.

(G0-Gerbil) #4

I thought they were treated the same at run-time / compile-time? Not sure though.

I have this problem with colouring in objects ‘miles’ from the fog volume itself, as does (did?) the beach map.

(ydnar) #5

  • Compile with the latest version of Q3Map2 (2.5.6) and see if the problem remains. There were some fog volume bugs in the version of Q3Map2 that shipped with the ET tools (and other older versions).

  • Try using a less-dense fog shader, one that’s 2-4x as far out. The fog code was changed in the renderer to draw differently than Q3/RTCW.

On an asthetic note, you might want to use a less saturated blue, too. Bring up the red and blue channels, or drop the blue channel a bit.

y

(G0-Gerbil) #6

OK cheers for that, will give it a bash.
Already changed the density - you can tell by eye alone that it had changed.

As for the beach map, it’s not mine, just exhibited the same problems and was the only thing with screenies around :slight_smile: