Topic for Ronboy's maps/ideas

ronboy · 2010-11-27 14:29:16 UTC

[QUOTE={SSF}Sage;248881]Why wouldn’t you put the clip brush into the original func_explosive? If not, then copy all the entities, bars too, into a new map file, open it in notepad and copy the text here (inside

 tags ofc). And if there is any script, post that too. 

I doubt RTCW would have problems destroying 2 func_explosives at once. I assume there is no error message on the screen cos you would have posted it.[/QUOTE]

I get an error message "Wolf SP has encountered a problem and needs to close." This map has no scripting as of now. Here is a test map that I made with the 2 bar textures, opened in notepad.

// entity 0
{
“classname” “worldspawn”
}
// entity 1
{
“classname” “func_explosive”
“spawnflags” “68”
“health” “10”
“type” “metal”
“mass” “100”
// brush 0
{
( 2056 -344 8 ) ( 2008 -344 8 ) ( 2008 -472 8 ) common/nodraw 0 0 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
( 2008 -472 128 ) ( 2008 -344 128 ) ( 2056 -344 128 ) common/nodraw 0 0 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
( 2008 -472 192 ) ( 2056 -472 192 ) ( 2056 -472 8 ) common/nodraw 0 0 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
( 2008 -488 176 ) ( 2008 -360 176 ) ( 2008 -360 -8 ) common/nodraw 0 0 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
( 2056 -160 192 ) ( 2008 -160 192 ) ( 2008 -160 8 ) common/nodraw 0 0 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
( 2000 -288 192 ) ( 2000 -416 192 ) ( 2000 -416 8 ) snow/s_bars_m01 0 0 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 256 0
}
}
// entity 2
{
“spawnflags” “68”
“health” “10”
“type” “metal”
“classname” “func_explosive”
// brush 0
{
( 2288 232 -16 ) ( 2232 232 -16 ) ( 2232 168 -16 ) common/nodraw 48 0 0 0.500000 0.500000 0 13 0
( 2240 176 152 ) ( 2240 240 152 ) ( 2296 240 152 ) common/nodraw 48 0 0 0.500000 0.500000 0 13 0
( 2192 24 200 ) ( 2248 24 200 ) ( 2248 24 -32 ) common/nodraw 48 16 0 0.500000 0.500000 0 13 0
( 2024 136 160 ) ( 2024 200 160 ) ( 2024 200 -72 ) common/nodraw 0 16 0 0.500000 0.500000 0 13 0
( 2064 336 160 ) ( 2008 336 160 ) ( 2008 336 -72 ) common/nodraw 48 16 0 0.500000 0.500000 0 13 0
( 2016 240 184 ) ( 2016 176 184 ) ( 2016 176 -48 ) alpha/bars_m01 28 -24 0 -0.812500 0.656250 0 256 0
}
}
// entity 3
{
“type” “metal”
“classname” “func_explosive”
“spawnflags” “68”
“health” “10”
// brush 0
{
( 2016 96 160 ) ( 2016 80 160 ) ( 2016 80 -8 ) common/clip 16 16 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
( 2032 336 136 ) ( 2016 336 136 ) ( 2016 336 -32 ) common/clip 0 16 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
( 2024 144 152 ) ( 2024 160 152 ) ( 2024 160 -16 ) common/clip 16 16 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
( 2032 24 160 ) ( 2048 24 160 ) ( 2048 24 -8 ) common/clip 0 16 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
( 2016 144 152 ) ( 2016 160 152 ) ( 2032 160 152 ) common/clip 0 -16 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
( 2024 160 -16 ) ( 2008 160 -16 ) ( 2008 144 -16 ) common/clip 0 -16 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
}
}
// entity 4
{
“type” “metal”
“health” “10”
“spawnflags” “68”
“classname” “func_explosive”
// brush 0
{
( 2072 -376 8 ) ( 2008 -376 8 ) ( 2008 -416 8 ) common/clip -16 0 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
( 2008 -320 128 ) ( 2008 -280 128 ) ( 2072 -280 128 ) common/clip -16 0 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
( 1960 -472 144 ) ( 2024 -472 144 ) ( 2024 -472 24 ) common/clip -16 -16 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
( 2024 -320 120 ) ( 2024 -280 120 ) ( 2024 -280 0 ) common/clip 0 -16 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
( 2072 -160 128 ) ( 2008 -160 128 ) ( 2008 -160 8 ) common/clip -16 -16 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
( 1992 -280 120 ) ( 1992 -320 120 ) ( 1992 -320 0 ) common/clip 0 -16 0 0.500000 0.500000 134217728 13 0
}
}



Edit: The grenade bounces off of both iron bars like it should. The first set of iron bars explode properly along with the clip brush, but the second one crashes the game with the above error message. It might be something in the shader for the iron bars causing the crash, not the clip brush.

SSF-Sage · 2010-11-27 16:07:02 UTC

If I were you, I would get rid of the clip, and texture the rest of the faces of the bars with common/clipmissile (it would block players and missiles, like nades). Then the bars would block the player itself. Common/nodraw is not a good idea.

Common/clip just like common/nodraw cannot block any bullets or explosives, so it cannot be blown. That might cause the crash?

If the clip entity really has any purpose (like blocking a bit bigger area than the bars only, and you for some silly reason would not want to move it to the func_explosive. You could turn it into a func_static, and make the func_explosive target it.

ronboy · 2010-11-27 16:24:09 UTC

[QUOTE={SSF}Sage;248903]If I were you, I would get rid of the clip, and texture the rest of the faces of the bars with common/clipmissile (it would block players and missiles, like nades). Then the bars would block the player itself. Common/nodraw is not a good idea.

Common/clip just like common/nodraw cannot block any bullets or explosives, so it cannot be blown. That might cause the crash?

If the clip entity really has any purpose (like blocking a bit bigger area than the bars only, and you for some silly reason would not want to move it to the func_explosive. You could turn it into a func_static, and make the func_explosive target it. [/QUOTE]

It’s working now, thanks Sage.

jackendonald · 2010-11-30 14:54:05 UTC

The layout of hell_lab is finished. If you’re wondering, the lab is ment to be small. Don’t forget that this is a mappack.Aii this Beyond the lab entrance, Experiment room, Room with some goodies inside, Lab exit, Entrance to crypt nice pics.

ronboy · 2010-12-16 00:41:27 UTC

Another problem has came up. The Christmas map seems to be suffering the shader overflow bug. I have cut down on the number of ai, models, and other details, but the problem persists.
Vicpas has suggested I use areaportal and hint brushes.
I put some areaportals in some doorways. When the player stands in the center of one, I noticed the sounds and ai vanish until the player leaves the center. Is this supposed to happen? Also, I don’t know where I should put the hint brushes exactly.
The Christmas map is a mixture of indoor and outdoor fighting, by the way. Help with this bug would be appreciated.

ronboy · 2010-12-17 11:41:29 UTC

Can anyone help? I need to know how to use an areaportal and hint brush properly.

UJERebel · 2010-12-17 12:13:15 UTC

Maybe this? http://sites.google.com/site/stefanpiot/Hintbrushestutandmore.pdf?attredirects=0
(topic)
Grtz

ronboy · 2010-12-17 15:09:48 UTC

Thank you Rebel. Most of the Christmas map is outdoors, so how would I use the hint brush? The outdoor areas are long and wide. Here’s a screenshot of the fps…horrible. :eek: By the way, the fps in the pic is after going through the map killing all of the enemy ai.
The fps is fine except when I look in the direction shown in the pic.

UJERebel · 2010-12-17 17:14:30 UTC

Never played RTCW but on et, if you have a big open distance with low fps => smoke so you can’t see that far

ronboy · 2010-12-17 17:29:07 UTC

So I need smoke? The skybox makes the map foggy, so you can’t see too far.
But the problem is the lack of hint brushes. I just need to fix the fps in that one direction, and everything will be fine.

UJERebel · 2010-12-17 17:33:02 UTC

Maybe try to put some hint brushes to continue the wall. not sure tough

ronboy · 2010-12-17 17:40:56 UTC

Just making sure, are you talking about between the two walls? The hint brushes should go in the outdoor areas, correct? The indoor areas are small, that’s why I think they shouldn’t go there.

UJERebel · 2010-12-17 19:07:21 UTC

Yes, im just guessing

but like this

----------------------------------------------
Wall ----------Hint --------------- Wall

SSF-Sage · 2010-12-17 20:36:32 UTC

I’ve written probably hundreds of posts about the subjects in the thread, so I don’t bother rewriting it all again.

Search for keywords hint, vis and structural, read tutorials. It will take some hours of reading to understand it, but it is very important thing for this and future projects. That’s very important to fighting against the bad FPS.

That’s not really the way hint brushes work. All they do is harm if you don’t know exactly what you are doing with them (same with areaportals). Rebel, compiler adds a portal in there itself, if the walls are structural, so hint is not really needed in there. Hints create portals, structural brushwork does too. Portals can be viewed in radiant 1.5.0 (after compiling bsp) with a plugin prt viewer. Compiling with -debugportals should work too. Remember, hint brushes does not block vis itself (learn more about it yourself)!

W-ET uses fog clip to stop drawing anything behind the clip distance. So basicly what is hidden in the fog won’t be drawn (they are by default). I’m not sure if it works in RTCW, fogclip is listed in worldspawn keys, so it probably does. Adding fogclip in your map would probably be a solution itself as it has very heavy fog already, but learning how to block vis(ibility) is essential too.

For shader overflow bug, I would start by texturing. If there are different textures/shaders that looks any same, use only one of them. Try to cut using so many different shaders/texturse. Type /r_lightmap 1 in your console to see what textures affects this error. Any texture that turns from normal to white/grey/black affects this error, textures that does not can be ignored. In other words, only lightmapped shaders count. If still won’t work, google for the topic, a lot of solutions are found.

Tons of tutorials are written about all of the subjects, search for them. Do note pretty much all IDtech3 engine games acts the same way, so it does not have to be a tutorial for RTCW.

ronboy · 2010-12-17 21:02:49 UTC

[QUOTE={SSF}Sage;251859]I’ve written probably hundreds of posts about the subjects in the thread, so I don’t bother rewriting it all again.

Search for keywords hint, vis and structural, read tutorials. It will take some hours of reading to understand it, but it is very important thing for this and future projects. That’s very important to fighting against the bad FPS.

That’s not really the way hint brushes work. All they do is harm if you don’t know exactly what you are doing with them (same with areaportals). Rebel, compiler adds a portal in there itself, if the walls are structural, so hint is not really needed in there. Hints create portals, structural brushwork does too. Portals can be viewed in radiant 1.5.0 (after compiling bsp) with a plugin prt viewer. Compiling with -debugportals should work too. Remember, hint brushes does not block vis itself (learn more about it yourself)!

W-ET uses fog clip to stop drawing anything behind the clip distance. So basicly what is hidden in the fog won’t be drawn (they are by default). I’m not sure if it works in RTCW, fogclip is listed in worldspawn keys, so it probably does. Adding fogclip in your map would probably be a solution itself as it has very heavy fog already, but learning how to block vis(ibility) is essential too.

For shader overflow bug, I would start by texturing. If there are different textures/shaders that looks any same, use only one of them. Try to cut using so many different shaders/texturse. Type /r_lightmap 1 in your console to see what textures affects this error. Any texture that turns from normal to white/grey/black affects this error, textures that does not can be ignored. In other words, only lightmapped shaders count. If still won’t work, google for the topic, a lot of solutions are found.

Tons of tutorials are written about all of the subjects, search for them. Do note pretty much all IDtech3 engine games acts the same way, so it does not have to be a tutorial for RTCW.[/QUOTE]

I will first try the fogclip. What number do I put for the “value” key in the small entity window? Btw, thanks for the information.
EDIT: I typed in /r_lightmap 1 in the console, and most of the textures in my map turned white. You said that when they turn white, the are causing the shader overflow problem. How can I fix these textures?

SSF-Sage · 2010-12-18 12:51:10 UTC

[QUOTE=ronboy;251863]I will first try the fogclip. What number do I put for the “value” key in the small entity window? Btw, thanks for the information.
EDIT: I typed in /r_lightmap 1 in the console, and most of the textures in my map turned white. You said that when they turn white, the are causing the shader overflow problem. How can I fix these textures?[/QUOTE]

The value is distance in radiant units where the engine starts culling (not drawing) things. The value must be bigger than the fog distance, so you don’t see stuff dissapearing. To see the distance, open the fog’s shader and check the last number in line “fogparms”. Or then you can try different numbers, but it won’t be optimal then (or you can manually measure fog opacity with a brush).

Well you can always turn lightmapped textures into vertex lit, but it will make the light quality worse. But I assume you don’t know much about shaders so I would not bother. Easiest thing is to try to limit using so many different lightmapped textures. If there are similar textures, use only one of them. If you use a texture you could replace, replace it. If some texture is used only once or so, think if you really need it.

ronboy · 2010-12-22 18:40:38 UTC

Good news! The map is nearing completion. This map might just be playable in time for Christmas.
When it’s ready, I’ll put it on filefront as a beta version.

ronboy · 2010-12-23 15:04:36 UTC

The map is almost finished. I just need help with 1 more thing. I have a custom alarm sound that is twenty seconds long. I want this sound to start when the player passes through a trigger, and stay looping. How can I do this?

SSF-Sage · 2010-12-23 15:18:43 UTC

Should be enough to just target trigger_multiple to a target_speaker with box “looped off” ticked. I don’t think you can make it global this way tho. You did not ask for it. If you want to toggle it after this, you can target it with more entities, or you can just alert it from the script (alert a target_relay that targets the target-entity ofc).

ronboy · 2010-12-23 15:41:47 UTC

The second method had the best results. The alarm sound doesn’t really need to be looping, now that I think about it. Thanks for the help. :stroggtapir: