The RichDiesel University Tutorial Questions Thread.

[Joben]

Is there any reason to make (structural) brushes thick?

Basicaly would there be any weird side effects if i made the void

touching walls of a room one unit thick? (other than it

being hard to click-drag something that small )

I know that sounds kinda weird but im just checking.

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......ll

......ll

......ll

......ll *

......ll

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OK that is suposed to represent a floor and wall.

(Ignore the periods they are just to make the board let me

have the floor exend on both sides of the wall)

The asterisk is a light. For some reason with this arangment

light shines along the floor under the wall to the other side even

though there is no space the between them!

Anything i can do about this? ...other than not placing bright lights in positions like that.

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I finished your BC102 section and am working on Brushes 201.

I am a little unclear on the differance between 'caulk' and 'nodraw'

Can you offer any brief (for your sake) clarification?

They seem to work pretty similarly in my brief experience with water and fog...

[Shadriss]

Ok, first an answer (possibly) for Achilles7.

 

I had a similar problem for a time, and I traced it back to an error in my map. When you do your compile, go back through your text box at the bottom of the Radiant screen. What you are looking for is an error that says something along the lines of "MAX_POINTS_ON_WINDING" It should give you a list of co-ordinates. Check them out for multiple brushes, or simply redo the brush it refers to. IT fixed my problem, but if you dont get this error, than I have no other advice at this time.

 

And now, a question :

 

Custom Textures.

I made'em.

I put'em in a folder under /base/textures, and they appear in the editor.

In game, no dice. Nice little grey and white picture.

 

So, am I missing a step here? I've checked a few different files, but have found no obvious answer. I know shaders need a .shader script... do plain textures need something similar to get them in-game?

 

And finally, another question. I did my compile on a fairly complex map today. Only took 20 mins (WOO HOO!) And it worked great getting into the game. Here's the issue. In one area, a corridor lined with three arches and two overhead cylinder lights, I get flashes of the No-texture (greay and white that I mentioned earlier) flashing across the screen, then vanishing, ,depending on my angle of view. ANy ideas here?

 

Thanks to all.

[~Rebel_Monkey~]

how far are you on your new map, RichDiesal?

[WhiteShdw]

Hey, Rich.

 

I've been using a beam shader in my map that has noclip. It shouldn't clip then, right?

Well, it works fine in SP, but some of the brushes in Mp do clip when i use this shader. The effect seems to be kinda random. Some of the brushes clip with the shader some don't. It's kinda pissing me off. Every brush works fine in SP, but not in MP. Any ideas?

 

I guess this is another one of those MP engine bugs.

 

Any chance Raven could update their MP engine with a patch? It would be cool if they could put the SP lighting engine in Mp. That would look so much better.

 

ps. Why does it say that i started this thread? Didn't Shadriss start it? What's going on here?

[teutonicknight]

Wow, just read all these pages.....

 

RichDiesal: How do I make a spiral stair? I have an idea of how, but im sure there is an easier way. Also. how do i make stairs? I've made one based on how i think they are made...:

 

http://teutonicknight.freeservers.com/stairway.jpg

 

Made by just making three steps and copying over a over again...

Is there an easier way?

[Joben]

heh cool name Knight.

 

try here havent used this tutorial yet but it looks fairly reasonable...

 

http://www.massassi.com/coffeestain/radiant2.html

 

on the subject of stairs and such...I was talking to my brother about

how the .map files are just plain text. He wondered if anyone has

written little programs in perl or C , to automate repetative tasks.

 

Duplicating stairs seems like a good candidate. What do you guys think?

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O i am totaly missing something...there must be an easy way to

close of the ends of bevels and such. I have a building with curves

on the outside corners, looks fine from the ground but the curves

of course dont apear when viewed from above...If i extend the roof

to cover them there is a nasty sharp corner at the top of my nice curve.

[Achillesz7]

Alright, I just got done compling the final verison of my level using the "FullVis extra" compling option. BTW, this level took 3 fricking days to fully, complete the compile. Anyways, the compile is finished. I then start to pack up all the level elements into a .pk3 file using the template.pk3 available on Rich's tutorial page. I put my .bsp file in the map directory, I put the arena script file in the script directory and then I put my custom (sky) textures, levelshot and (sky) shader all in the appropiate directories. Everything is good. So I save the pk3, under the same name as the .bsp and place it in my JO base directory. I launch JO multiplayer, because it's an mp map, and click create game. I see my map, click on it and hit the begin. But instead of load properly it suddenly pops me back out into the JO main menu. I try again, but it yields the same results. I have no idea what to do next, there is no error message to report or anything. I've followed both the tutorials of Rich Diesel and the men at http://mapping.jediknightii.net for instructions on how to compile and finalize a level to working order. But I'm still plagued by this problem. I need some help fellas, I'm dying! Even worse I fear that the custom sky that I've made doesn't work! Which would mean I'd have to re-compile! Now, I know that my map was solid and it had no leaks or errors before so I really don't know what's causing the problem. Lend a brother a hand! Thanks!

-Achillesz7

 

 

p.s. Shadriss - I'll have to check up on the advice you gave me for my other level which is sitting on the backburner til I get this first one done.

[WhiteShdw]

well, you can try setting your Hunkmegs a little higher, or maybe lower. Try setting it to 128 or 192. Maybe that will help.

 

And I hope your were kidding about that 3 day compile time, because that can't be good. I hope you used detail brushes.

[teutonicknight]

Originally posted by Joben

heh cool name Knight.

 

try here havent used this tutorial yet but it looks fairly reasonable...

 

http://www.massassi.com/coffeestain/radiant2.html

 

on the subject of stairs and such...I was talking to my brother about

how the .map files are just plain text. He wondered if anyone has

written little programs in perl or C , to automate repetative tasks.

 

Duplicating stairs seems like a good candidate. What do you guys think?

 

Wow, thanks; but im using JKRadaint not GTKRadiant. Do you know of ones for JKRadiant?

 

 

...

 

OMG! Someone actually thinks my name is cool!

 

[Joben]

as far as i know they are different versions of the same basic program.

The controls are a little different but the theory should be fine.

[teutonicknight]

Ah.. ok, i'll try it

[Project_Fusion]

doesn't anyone know what my problem is?

 

my compile takes about 2 seconds, doesnt give me a .bsp or .nav.

 

My caulk vanished completely (I've tried typing it into surface inspector) and my caulk non solid has changed to blue checkerboard, along with my fogs.

 

surely somebody can help me fix this....?

 

Rich

[Joben]

hmm im not shure...wait a blue checkerboard?

 

sounds like the path to the textures at least is wrong.

check out the paths under project settings, some of them may be wrong.

[Project_Fusion]

Hi,

I checked, they are all correct (except the third one-RSHCGI or something. That is blank)

 

Besides, I get other textures like bespin/basic... :'(

[Achillesz7]

Well, I was stupid and didn't make my entire map with detail brush. Thanks Whiteshadow! You were right and I was a dummy. So, now my level loads super and everything. Execpt for my custom sky which is represented ingame by a "hall of mirrors" effect. I don't know why it's doing that everything should be correct in packaging. All the custom sky stuff is in the right place in the pk3 file. Do I have to delete the existing shaders and texture files that live outside of the pk3? The ones that were originally used for making the level? I'll look around the forum and see if others are having troubles. Also one strange thing, I re-compiled my level at maximum FullVis extra and when I loaded the map it was very, intensely bright...But when I compiled at Fast1/2 all the lighting is normal, how it should be....hmmmmm

-Achillesz7

[WhiteShdw]

well, i don't know what's wrong with the sky texture, but i did have a similar problem. I didn't use a custom sky, but i had a forcefield that sealed of my level and you could see a sky behind it. I got the HOM effect when the forcefield was a structural brush.

 

I made it into a detail brush and then it was fine.

[RichDiesal]

Oookay guys, I'm kinda back. There's a slight lull before moving back into dorms, so I'll be able to take some questions for the next few days before classes start and such.

 

In any case, the reason that happens, WhiteShdw, is because the compiler doesn't know that your forcefield brush has a shader on one side - thus it acts as if it is a regular textured brush. If a regular textured brush blocks off a hallway, it blocks VIS - that's why you get HOM behind it. If you made your forcefield into an entity (a func_usable, for example), then you wouldn't need to do that as entities do not block VIS.

 

The same concept applies with any transparent brush that's not an entity - windows, forcefields, grates, etc.

 

If that isn't your problem, Achillesz7, likely your sky shader is written incorrectly and not drawing the skybox correctly.

[Darth-Nasty]

my map wont load in jk2 cos of this error message!

 

"error

 

max_patch_planes"

 

 

whats going on? whats it mean? how can i fix it?

 

Oh and is your ffa_archives map on hold for a while due to other commitments?

[Project_Fusion]

Hi,

I reinstalled, which didn't work. I reinstalled again, which didn't work. I was bored so I reinstalled AGAIN and... it worked!

 

strange.

 

1) How do I set what force powers you start with in my SP level?

 

2) How do I view all of the entity window??? I can only see up to 2 thirds of the value box, from the very top, and that is with the start bar down. If I resize it, it doesn't help. Only takes up more space. This is very annoying as I can't see the buttons underneath.

 

3) I'm getting some sort of white ling between my stairs and hand rail. It is only on the bottom step. Is this a form of sparklies???? I have all unseen faces as caulk.

 

cheers

 

Rich

 

PS: Rich, on your model tutorial, I think you should tell newbies how to ungroup or even untrigger, ect: using ungroup entity. ^_^

[Achillesz7]

Ok, if my shader script has been written wrong then the error must be somewhere here:

 

textures/Dantooine5/Dantoosky

 

{

 

qer_editorimage textures/skies/sky.jpg

 

surfaceparm sky

 

surfaceparm noimpact

 

surfaceparm nomarks

 

notc

 

q3map_nolightmap

 

skyParms textures/Dantooine5/sky 512 -

 

}

 

Maybe you guys can see the error I can't. But, if there's no error in the shader script my next guess would be that there is something wrong with the sky .jpg pictures themselves. But that wouldn't make any sense! All the pictures are labeled correctly sky_up, sky_dn, sky_lf, sky_rt, sky_ft and sky_bk and sized at 1024x1024! But here's something that I found interesting. I recompiled my map again and when I loaded it the sky was represented by the black and white checkers. I took this as a good sign. But I got the HOM effect in the map when I typed in "sv_pure 0" before executing the "devmap" command. Typing the command "sv_pure 0" should allow custom textures to be shown in game, right??? So, when I saw that happen I figured that his narrow down the list of suspects to the sky shader. But where is the error?? Is it in the shader script or what?? Is it possible that the error is caused because all my sky brushes must be detail brushes to function properly? Could that be it??? But that makes no sense! Before when I was making my level I just had a bespin sky shader on the brushes and it worked when I loaded it in game. ARGYH!@#$ Thanks for you help if anybody can figure out this annoying mystery!

-Achilllesz7

[RichDiesal]

"error max_patch_planes"

whats going on? whats it mean? how can i fix it?

 

A bit complicated. When you compile, sof2map creates extra vertices on the edges of brush faces (for reasons that I won't go into). If you already have too many vertices on one face touching the edge of another face, the second face will end up getting split up into hundreds or even thousands of vertices during compile. When the game tries to draw that, it gets confused.

 

In short, find and delete any brushes that you did a lot of weird vertex/edge manipulation and that should eliminate the problem.

 

Oh and is your ffa_archives map on hold for a while due to other commitments?

It's on hold for the time being. I will likely be able to return to it next week.

 

How do I set what force powers you start with in my SP level?

Scripting! Check out any of the playersetup or start scripts that Raven used and make up your own like you want it. Start it with a target_scriptrunner and target the player_start AT the scriptrunner to activate it at the beginning of play.

 

How do I view all of the entity window???

Your screen resolution is likely at 640x480 or 800x600, which is far too low for effectively mapping. Right-click on your desktop, select Properties and then click on the Settings tab. Increase your screen resolution to at least 1024x768.

 

I'm getting some sort of white ling between my stairs and hand rail. It is only on the bottom step. Is this a form of sparklies???? I have all unseen faces as caulk.

That is a sparkly based error. You need to use the clip tool to break apart your step so that the shape underneath your rail piece is cut out of the step. Then place caulk on the top surface of that shape.

 

Thanks for you help if anybody can figure out this annoying mystery!

First, sv_pure 0 allows custom textures/shaders to be viewed in the game. When you don't enter it, it cannot find your sky shader at all, so it displays the default white/gray grid.

 

Your sky needs to be structural, since it blocks off the void.

 

As for what's actually causing your error, I have no idea. I would try removing the "notc" line though, simply because I don't know what that is.

 

Are you sure you're not looking at the sky through any other shaders? A system/outside shader maybe? Glass? Forcefield? Anything like that?

[Project_Fusion]

hi,

wow, so many answers... lol thanks Rich ^_^.

 

Rich

[Shadriss]

Well Rich, first off, Welcome Back. We have all been destitute without you. Which really just means we all need help, and you seem to be a god in that department.

 

Speaking of problems (cant resist a good segue...)

 

I'm in the middle of a smallish map. Single room, ,featuring a suspended platform over a pit. THe platform was done with a cylinder capped on both ends. Over this, to provide light, is a series of windows to the outside, where I've added the Kejim_light skyshader.

 

Problem is this - After the compile is done and i enter the map, I've noticed something curious... the shadow pattern on the top plane of the capped cylinder (the platform) is exactly the same as the UNDERSIDE. Now, maybe this has something to do with the fact that it's a patch, but I'm not sure. But as there is no light source beneath the platform, so far as I can tell it should be dark. I tried putting a series of caulked brushes inside the platform to "catch" the light, but that didn't seem to work either.

 

In short, I guess I need more information of how to make lighting work the way I wish. Thanks in advance, and again, Welcome back.

[Achillesz7]

Thanks for answering my question Rich! But, no my sky isn't in front of any other shaders. To seal off any doubts as to whether my map is screwed up I did a test. I made a new level (just a square w/some lights) and applied my sky shader to the brushes. When I loaded the level using the "devmap" command my sky was white and black boxes like before. This is typical. I didn't type in the "sv_pure 0" command. So, then I exit out and type in the "sv_pure 0" and "devmap" command lines. I get in game and I get the HOM effect. Conclusion based off this little test map I constructed? Something is definitely screwed up in my shader files or something. It's not the map or anything in the map that's causing the problems. It must be something within the sky shader file, but what? Now, I just saw another clue inside of GTK Rad. When I apply my custom sky shader to a brush I get this message in the bottom console window:

 

texture not found for shader: textures/Dantooine5/Dantoosky

 

What does this mean? Does it mean it can't find my sky files or what? I think this mystery of mine just worsened. I just cannot figure it out. I've followed step by step every line of instruction from the "custom skies (making and importing)" tutorial at http://mapping.jediknightii.net/tutorials.htm. Things should be working! I mean, what is going on? Argh. Well, thanks for putting up with my frustrating rant and thanks for the help so far!!

 

-Achillesz7

 

P.S. I wouldn't be making such a big stink about this map if I didn't think it was worth it. I FEEL that this map needs the custom sky to enhance the atomsphere of the level.

[Shadriss]

I know little about Shaders, Achillies, but two ideas present themselves to me. I would imagine you've already though of both, but just in case....

 

First - is the shader file referencing the textures? You touched on that one in your last post, so enough said...

 

Second - OK, "idiot check" here - the texture files you're using with the shader... they ARE a power of 2 right? 512x512 or 1024x1024, etc.

 

As I said - stuff you've already looked at I'm sure, but since you havent mentioned these that I've seen....