When to recompile

(shazmax) #1

I was just curious if after I remodify my shaders and textures, although they remain in the same directory with the same name - if I need to re-compile to incorporate them…or does the compile process just point to the files.

(FireFly) #2

No you don’t need to recompile. You can just alter your custom shader or texture and restart your map… :smiley:

(Chruker) #3

Some of the textures properties are ‘baked’ into the geometry of the map, so that requires a recompile.

Lets say you have a texture with this content:

	qer_editorimage textures/snow_sd/snow_track03.tga
	q3map_nonplanar 
	q3map_shadeangle 120 
	surfaceparm trans 
	surfaceparm nonsolid 
	surfaceparm pointlight
	surfaceparm nomarks
	polygonOffset
	
	sort decal
	{
		map textures/snow_sd/snow_track03.tga
		blendFunc GL_ZERO GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_COLOR
		rgbGen identity
	}

Any changes in the non-stage section requires recompiles, while you can change stuff in the shader stages without recompiles.

(Loffy) #4

Hi!
Yes, that’s correct.
That’s one great advantage, if you are working with a complex map with lots of nice lights and detailed shadows. (Such map takes ages to compile - as you know - and it’s a pain to re-compile.)
I recommend mappers to use the speaker-system: http://www.planetquake.com/simland/ldr1_1/speakereditor.htm
The speaker entities and co-ordinates are stored in a separate file ‘/sound/maps/<mapname>.sps’. It’s easy to open the .sps file and change the volume, the range or whatever. No need for a re-compile just because I changed a speaker!
// Loffy