Force Field Shader

[Eldritch]

I'm making a level that includes a hangar, and I want to have a force field (like in the Death Star MP stage) that looks out onto the skybox. I have two solid brushes of the same size lined up touching each other where I want the force field/skybox to be seen, covered in caulk except for the surface the player will see. The one closer to the inside has a force field shader on it, the one closer to the outside has the sky shader on it. My problem is this: when I compile and load up the map, I get a HOM effect where the forcefield should be, and obviously can't see the skybox. I've looked in FAQs and Tutorials but there doesn't seem to be any help on making forcefields, so I am unsure of what to do, or if I am doing it wrong. Any help here would be nice. Thanks.

[Lehik]

Originally posted by JEDI_Anakin_S

I'm making a level that includes a hangar, and I want to have a force field (like in the Death Star MP stage) that looks out onto the skybox. I have two solid brushes of the same size lined up touching each other where I want the force field/skybox to be seen, covered in caulk except for the surface the player will see. The one closer to the inside has a force field shader on it, the one closer to the outside has the sky shader on it. My problem is this: when I compile and load up the map, I get a HOM effect where the forcefield should be, and obviously can't see the skybox. I've looked in FAQs and Tutorials but there doesn't seem to be any help on making forcefields, so I am unsure of what to do, or if I am doing it wrong. Any help here would be nice. Thanks.

 

I had same kind of problem when I tried to do a hangar to my map. I was about to give up but then I decided make some outer parts of the hangar visible, in other words, the distance between sky shader(skies/stars) and forcefield(tests/forcefield) came longer, and the HOM effect disappeared and it looked perfect. I'm not sure is this the only way to fix it but it worked fine.

[Eldritch]

Unfortunately, it didn't work.

I am using the tests/forcefield and the skies/yavin shaders; still getting the HOM effect. I must be overlooking something.

[giganerd]

I had a similar problem (altho with different textures) and what I did was put caulk on all the faces that were touching other brushes, put the force field shader on the one face that the player would see, and nodraw on the other side which was not touching any brush and the player could not see it. I also put a brush in front of my force field brush that had nodraw_solid on it. I was using the tests/energything_3 shader for the force field and skies/stars for the sky shader. Putting the caulk and nodraw stuff seemed to fix it, I dunno if that will work for you though, good luck anyway!

[Lehik]

Originally posted by JEDI_Anakin_S

Unfortunately, it didn't work.

I am using the tests/forcefield and the skies/yavin shaders; still getting the HOM effect. I must be overlooking something.

 

I made a second hangar to my level and had the same problem, but I found a solution. Now I will copy some your text

 

"I have two solid brushes of the same size lined up touching each other where I want the force field/skybox to be seen, covered in caulk except for the surface the player will see. The one closer to the inside has a force field shader on it, the one closer to the outside has the sky shader on it."

 

I did exactly everyhing like you did, but the brush that has forcefield shader on one side must be turned into a detail brush by selecting it and pressing ctrl + m. Now it should work.

[Eldritch]

Never thought of using nodraw, giganerd. I'll give it a shot. I'll also had forgotten to turn it into a detail brush, so thanks for reminding me, Lehik. I'll try those ideas out and see if they work.

[Lehik]

Actually it works without nodraw. I just checked what richdiesal's tutorial brushes 201: lesson 8 said about a shader (in this case the forcefield, rich's tutorial is about glass) being next to sky, and all you have to do is caulk all sides not be seen and convert the "inner" brush to a detail brush.

[giganerd]

Now that I think about it, it shouldn't really matter whether you use caulk or nodraw (altho i believe most will recommend caulk). I'm not really sure why I chose nodraw, oh well.

[Karshaddii]

I skimmed through your question so id ont have all the details...but have you tried making the force field out of a simple patch mesh?

 

It seems to work better.....