Is it valid to use a videoMap shader with a _decal in Q3A?

(WolfWings) #1

Had the idea to use the above combination to get nice-looking caustics underwater, then realized it was probably better to ask before I spent 10+ hours rendering a good time-and-space-tilable caustics texture. And if it WOULD work, then I can package up the resulting .roq and shader and post it here for others to use.

Or would it be more appropriate to just use manual decals, instead of the _decal entity, for what I’m describing?

(Loffy) #2

Slightly off topic: I would appreciate it (roq), and especially a simple tutorial or similar - i’ve spent many hours trying to make a roq now but it wont work.
(I use Enemy Territory, Premier and roq.exe.) I try to make the roq for a map, just to learn something new. Yes, I’ve read many tutorials out there on the net but I just cant get it to work - yet.
Good luck with the underwater ideas!
// Loffy

(WolfWings) #3

Making .roq files is a pain in the ass from what I’ve found. I’m trying to rebuild the SwitchBlade .roq compiler since it seems to have become an abandoned project.

Seperately, the roq.exe compiler is remarkably easy to use, but Windows-only. Just look at the .param files, and do things manually. I can’t help with the sound aspect, as I’ve done NOTHING using the sound yet. My interest in .roq files is purely for video-footage in-game as textures, replacing animMap’s in shaders with longer, better-quality cycles.

(WolfWings) #4

Okay… apparently the ‘videoMap’ shader keyword is rather badly… broken on Q3A. And I mean in a ‘What the hell is going on here?!?’ way.

It might be something that Q3map2 is breaking on, so I’m posting my testing .map file and associated .shader and .roq file.

ydnar, is there something I’m doing wrong here? Is q3map2 doing something that’s causing the videoMap shader to break? Or is this an actual bug in Q3A?

http://wolfwings.us/caustics.zip

Anyways, unpack the .zip file to your Q3A folder, open up the wwsf.shader file to see the two lines you can switch between. With the videoMap keyword, the map has a very noticable visual error in the caustics. With the map keyword, the error goes away. The error isn’t present with an AnimMap either.

Seems odd that Q3A would treat a videoMap texture any different for actual rendering than a normal ‘map’ texture though, especially since r_showImages shows the videoMap texture is treated like any other texture-map from what I can see, aside from having to decode the texture all the time.

(nUllSkillZ) #5

I’ve found a tutorial by m!chi.be about making a “.roq” for RTCW at http://www.level-designer.de (in german language):
http://www.level-designer.de/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1549&Itemid=27

  • create pictures (or screenshots)
  • the name has to be a name + No.
  • the No. can range from 1 to 10,000
  • the size of the pictures has to be 512 * 256
  • create a “.param”-file (for example “mymovie.param”):

INPUT_DIR C:\path-to-pictures\
FILENAME C:\path-to-roq
ame.roq

INPUT shot*.tga [1-313]

END_INPUT

Note: [1-313] are the No. of pictures.

  • open a DOS box and go to the roq.exe folder
  • type “roq.exe mymovie.param”

There’s some additional info for using the “.roq” with RTCW.

(WolfWings) #6

One correction… the images do NOT have to be 512x256.

Any power-of-two size 16 or greater is okay. I.E. 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, or 512 for either dimension are all fine. :slight_smile: