Mapping Question Megathread v3

[IronPhoenix]

[QUOTE=sixAxis;36126397]Ok thanks, hopefully it will be fixed in the future. Its not vital that this is fixed it would simply look better.

ON ANOTHER NOTE

Does anyone know if there is an invisible water texture? I'm using a custom animooted water texture, but its solid. I was going to make this solid a func_brush, make it not solid and layer it over another world brush with the invisible water texture to make it seem like it was actually water.[/QUOTE]

Sounds like the custom texture isn't set up properly.

[Azzator]

[QUOTE=metallics;36129361]1. Did you place an env_cubemap for the surface of the water? If not try that.[/QUOTE]

Looks like I didn't. But it's odd still since prior to adding HDR, real-time reflections for the water functioned normally. I presume that HDR disables/limits that feature?

[QUOTE=metallics;36129361]Do you have more than 1 brush textured with expensive water where the tops are not level in the same PVS?[/QUOTE]

I'm confused as to what you're saying. The only thing I can say for sure is the water is divided into two large masses with the adjacent edges perfectly aligned/vertices merged.

[QUOTE=metallics;36129361]Yes, but there is a lower limit defined by the size of the displacement. If you try and lower it beyond that it will just revert to the minimum.[/QUOTE]

So I guess it's safe to lower the scale for all displacements to 2 since it'll all snap to the minimum anyway. Thanks.

[Metallics]

[QUOTE=Azzator;36129838]Looks like I didn't. But it's odd still since prior to adding HDR, real-time reflections for the water functioned normally. I presume that HDR disables/limits that feature?

I'm confused as to what you're saying. The only thing I can say for sure is the water is divided into two large masses with the adjacent edges perfectly aligned/vertices merged.

So I guess it's safe to lower the scale for all displacements to 2 since it'll all snap to the minimum anyway. Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Sorry, I'll reiterate that point, but in a simpler manner.

If you have 2 brushes that are textured with expensive water (the nice looking stuff) AND the engine thinks the player can see both at the same time AND the tops of the brushes aren't level it botches the reflections, but from what you've said that is not the case.

[GoldPlatinum]

[QUOTE=Azzator;36129838]Looks like I didn't. But it's odd still since prior to adding HDR, real-time reflections for the water functioned normally. I presume that HDR disables/limits that feature?

I'm confused as to what you're saying. The only thing I can say for sure is the water is divided into two large masses with the adjacent edges perfectly aligned/vertices merged.

So I guess it's safe to lower the scale for all displacements to 2 since it'll all snap to the minimum anyway. Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Fix that odd white water reflection by placing a water lod controller on your map with big values.

[DasMatze]

Is there an entity that (smoothly) rotates towards a given entity? Something with a look-at input maybe?

[sixAxis]

[QUOTE=IronPhoenix;36129449]Sounds like the custom texture isn't set up properly.[/QUOTE]

FYI im using these textures: [url]http://www.tophattwaffle.com/downloads/water-source-textures/[/url]

If you know any that are better then id gladly use those rather than these.

[Azzator]

is it important to also have tool brushes follow conventions (on-grid, powers of 2, etc)?

[Legend286]

[QUOTE=~ZOMG;36121592]It's not that I want the mesh to cast shadows, I just want the poles to and using brushes seems wasteful if there's a better way around it.

[editline]29th May 2012[/editline]

Is -textureshadows a compile command?[/QUOTE]

Blocklight brushes are removed on compile anyway, so it's not wasting anything. The fence models are already in the lights file so if you still get huge shadows from using -textureshadows then you should just do what I said.

[IronPhoenix]

[QUOTE=sixAxis;36131321]FYI im using these textures: [url]http://www.tophattwaffle.com/downloads/water-source-textures/[/url]

If you know any that are better then id gladly use those rather than these.[/QUOTE]

Or just use source textures. Custom textures don't nesseceraly make maps better.

[sixAxis]

[QUOTE=IronPhoenix;36132608]Or just use source textures. Custom textures don't nesseceraly make maps better.[/QUOTE]

I know, i just want them in my map.

[Vladnag]

how do i get the light at then end of the tunnel to go away? there's no gaps

[IMG]http://i47.tinypic.com/24nmcnq.jpg[/IMG]

[H4wkeye]

Put a blocklight brush?

[Vladnag]

[QUOTE=H4wkeye;36134464]Put a blocklight brush?[/QUOTE]

thanks man, worked a treat

[Wazbat]

Another question for you guys.
I had steam on my c drive, that got full of crap, so I copied everything to my D drive, steam works a treat, but whenever I try to open hammer, It says that my gameinfo.txt doesnt exist on my C drive, is there a way to tell hammer to check the other hard drive?
Thanks :3

Edit: Yay! New page

[IronPhoenix]

[QUOTE=Wazbat;36143900]Another question for you guys.
I had steam on my c drive, that got full of crap, so I copied everything to my D drive, steam works a treat, but whenever I try to open hammer, It says that my gameinfo.txt doesnt exist on my C drive, is there a way to tell hammer to check the other hard drive?
Thanks :3

Edit: Yay! New page[/QUOTE]

You need to change the file path in the game infos.

[~ZOMG]

Does anyone happen to know if $blendmodulatetexture works in conjunction with $basetexturetransform?

[Stiffy360]

Do displacements have LoD?

[.FLAP.JACK.DAN.]

Okay so every time I test my map it crashes after a few second or I have to turn anywhere. It shows me no error, it just crashes me to desktop. Here's the compile log:
[img]http://i47.tinypic.com/2z4eiht.png[/img]
[img]http://i45.tinypic.com/icslqv.png[/img]
[img]http://i46.tinypic.com/2cd9vmc.png[/img]
[img]http://i49.tinypic.com/2vaee80.png[/img]

[Azzator]

[QUOTE=Stiffy360;36149828]Do displacements have LoD?[/QUOTE]

don't think so.

[url]https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Displacement[/url]

[Stiffy360]

Is there any way to make a shrink wrap collision mesh to a model? Without 3DS max or any of that?

[paulisdead18]

Alright, so I keep getting crashes on a map I'm making. It didn't happen at first when I loaded it in Gmod, but now it keeps crashing. It's not a Gmod problem, but the map, as I was able to load other maps in Single Player besides the one I want to look at. Here's the compile log. I see a "Could not load 'GameData' key" and I think that is exactly the problem, but I have no idea how to fix it. Anyone know how?

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk\bin\orangebox\bin\vbsp.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\garrysmod/garrysmod" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\Garrys Mod\mapsrc\anarchy_map.vmf"

Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Apr 26 2012)
2 threads
materialPath: c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\garrysmod\garrysmod\materials
Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\Garrys Mod\mapsrc\anarchy_map.vmf
Could not locate 'GameData' key in c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\garrysmod\garrysmod\gameinfo.txt
Patching WVT material: maps/anarchy_map/dev/dev_blendmeasure_wvt_patch
fixing up env_cubemap materials on brush sides...
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Processing areas...done (0)
Building Faces...done (0)
Chop Details...done (0)
Find Visible Detail Sides...done (0)
Merging details...done (0)
FixTjuncs...
PruneNodes...
WriteBSP...
done (0)
writing C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\Garrys Mod\mapsrc\anarchy_map.prt...Building visibility clusters...
done (0)
Creating default LDR cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
skybox/sky_day01_01*.vmt
! Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.
Creating default HDR cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
skybox/sky_day01_01*.vmt
! Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.
Finding displacement neighbors...
Finding lightmap sample positions...
Displacement Alpha : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Building Physics collision data...
done (0) (123476 bytes)
Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Compacting texture/material tables...
Reduced 214 texinfos to 174
Reduced 23 texdatas to 22 (563 bytes to 542)
Writing C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\Garrys Mod\mapsrc\anarchy_map.bsp
1 second elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk\bin\orangebox\bin\vvis.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\garrysmod/garrysmod" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\Garrys Mod\mapsrc\anarchy_map"

Valve Software - vvis.exe (Apr 26 2012)
2 threads
reading c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\garrys mod\mapsrc\anarchy_map.bsp
reading c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\garrys mod\mapsrc\anarchy_map.prt
549 portalclusters
1481 numportals
BasePortalVis: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
PortalFlow: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (3)
Optimized: 520 visible clusters (0.67%)
Total clusters visible: 77503
Average clusters visible: 141
Building PAS...
Average clusters audible: 544
visdatasize:70457 compressed from 79056
writing c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\garrys mod\mapsrc\anarchy_map.bsp
3 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk\bin\orangebox\bin\vrad.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\garrysmod/garrysmod" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\Garrys Mod\mapsrc\anarchy_map"

Valve Software - vrad.exe SSE (Apr 26 2012)

Valve Radiosity Simulator
2 threads
Could not find lights.rad in lights.rad.
Trying VRAD BIN directory instead...
Warning: Couldn't open texlight file c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk\bin\orangebox\bin\lights.rad.
Loading c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\garrys mod\mapsrc\anarchy_map.bsp
Setting up ray-trace acceleration structure... Done (0.27 seconds)
1631 faces
61503 square feet [8856566.00 square inches]
0 Displacements
0 Square Feet [0.00 Square Inches]
1631 patches before subdivision
8559 patches after subdivision
sun extent from map=0.034899
2 direct lights
BuildFacelights: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (5)
BuildVisLeafs: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (9)
transfers 463092, max 390
transfer lists: 3.5 megs
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #1 added RGB(27031, 15896, 6234)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #2 added RGB(6409, 1761, 373)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #3 added RGB(2681, 340, 48)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #4 added RGB(1347, 87, 10)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #5 added RGB(714, 25, 3)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #6 added RGB(386, 8, 1)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #7 added RGB(211, 3, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #8 added RGB(116, 1, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #9 added RGB(64, 0, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #10 added RGB(35, 0, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #11 added RGB(20, 0, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #12 added RGB(11, 0, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #13 added RGB(6, 0, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #14 added RGB(3, 0, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #15 added RGB(2, 0, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #16 added RGB(1, 0, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #17 added RGB(1, 0, 0)
Build Patch/Sample Hash Table(s).....Done<0.0042 sec>
FinalLightFace: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (3)
FinalLightFace Done
0 of 0 (0% of) surface lights went in leaf ambient cubes.
ThreadComputeLeafAmbient: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Writing leaf ambient...done
Ready to Finish

Object names Objects/Maxobjs Memory / Maxmem Fullness
------------ --------------- --------------- --------
models 1/1024 48/49152 ( 0.1%)
brushes 354/8192 4248/98304 ( 4.3%)
brushsides 2124/65536 16992/524288 ( 3.2%)
planes 402/65536 8040/1310720 ( 0.6%)
vertexes 2270/65536 27240/786432 ( 3.5%)
nodes 959/65536 30688/2097152 ( 1.5%)
texinfos 174/12288 12528/884736 ( 1.4%)
texdata 22/2048 704/65536 ( 1.1%)
dispinfos 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_verts 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_tris 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_lmsamples 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
faces 1631/65536 91336/3670016 ( 2.5%)
hdr faces 0/65536 0/3670016 ( 0.0%)
origfaces 1269/65536 71064/3670016 ( 1.9%)
leaves 961/65536 30752/2097152 ( 1.5%)
leaffaces 2239/65536 4478/131072 ( 3.4%)
leafbrushes 538/65536 1076/131072 ( 0.8%)
areas 2/256 16/2048 ( 0.8%)
surfedges 12730/512000 50920/2048000 ( 2.5%)
edges 7309/256000 29236/1024000 ( 2.9%)
LDR worldlights 2/8192 176/720896 ( 0.0%)
HDR worldlights 0/8192 0/720896 ( 0.0%)
leafwaterdata 0/32768 0/393216 ( 0.0%)
waterstrips 94/32768 940/327680 ( 0.3%)
waterverts 0/65536 0/786432 ( 0.0%)
waterindices 1881/65536 3762/131072 ( 2.9%)
cubemapsamples 0/1024 0/16384 ( 0.0%)
overlays 0/512 0/180224 ( 0.0%)
LDR lightdata [variable] 375232/0 ( 0.0%)
HDR lightdata [variable] 0/0 ( 0.0%)
visdata [variable] 70457/16777216 ( 0.4%)
entdata [variable] 55109/393216 (14.0%)
LDR ambient table 961/65536 3844/262144 ( 1.5%)
HDR ambient table 961/65536 3844/262144 ( 1.5%)
LDR leaf ambient 2006/65536 56168/1835008 ( 3.1%)
HDR leaf ambient 961/65536 26908/1835008 ( 1.5%)
occluders 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
occluder polygons 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
occluder vert ind 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
detail props [variable] 1/12 ( 8.3%)
static props [variable] 1/3410 ( 0.0%)
pakfile [variable] 106014/0 ( 0.0%)
physics [variable] 123476/4194304 ( 2.9%)
physics terrain [variable] 2/1048576 ( 0.0%)

Level flags = 0

Total triangle count: 4392
Writing c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\garrys mod\mapsrc\anarchy_map.bsp
22 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: Copy File
** Parameters: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\Garrys Mod\mapsrc\anarchy_map.bsp" "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\garrysmod\garrysmod\maps\anarchy_map.bsp"

[GoldPlatinum]

[QUOTE=Stiffy360;36150836]Is there any way to make a shrink wrap collision mesh to a model? Without 3DS max or any of that?[/QUOTE]

Propper?

[Wazbat]

[QUOTE=IronPhoenix;36144382]You need to change the file path in the game infos.[/QUOTE]

Is there a wiki page or something about that?

[H.Grunt]

I'm mapping for CS:GO, and env_cascaded_light doesn't cast fully correct shadows for some reason.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/tRXiO.jpg[/img]
As you can see, they work properly when cast on the model geometry, but are hardly visible at all on the usual brushes. How do I fix this?

[Stiffy360]

[QUOTE=HGrunt;36155518]I'm mapping for CS:GO, and env_cascaded_light doesn't cast fully correct shadows for some reason.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/tRXiO.jpg[/img]
As you can see, they work properly when cast on the model geometry, but are hardly visible at all on the usual brushes. How do I fix this?[/QUOTE]

Compile in HDR. LDR screws the shadows up.

Also, how would I go about making a blendmodulate texture?

[Firegod522]

[QUOTE=Stiffy360;36155543]Compile in HDR. LDR screws the shadows up.

Also, how would I go about making a blendmodulate texture?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Firegod522;36152323]
The displacement has to use WorldVertexTransition or LightmappedGeneric.

To make a blendmodulatetexture, you need to make patterns of how you want the textures to blend. Green would be making the pattern, while red makes the falloff/harshness of the texture blending to the other.

[url]http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/$blendmodulatetexture[/url][/QUOTE]

If You go into photoshop you can make these channels separately by going to the channels tab.

[Stiffy360]

[QUOTE=Firegod522;36158767]If You go into photoshop you can make these channels separately by going to the channels tab.[/QUOTE]

I dont have photoshop...

[Firegod522]

You can try Gimp.

[Stiffy360]

[QUOTE=Firegod522;36158860]You can try Gimp.[/QUOTE]

I have used GIMP for a while, but, how do I set the color scheme to what I need?

[muffle]

I remember not too long ago seeing something that would change l4d2 props to work with source 09, could someone please get me a link and a possible tutorial? I can't find it anywhere