graphical improvements

[FourthX]

Suggestions.

1st is a mod i think some other q2 games have done which is to combine trans66 and trans33 to make solid brushes with space where transparency is (like a chain link fence or floor grate) seems that this would be a fairly simple mod and would make for some nice effects when combined with clip/ladder brushes.


2nd is more bizarre and may never see the light of day...

Flares along with smoke and paint grens, great for maps like antioch and sandtrap where people camp in the shadows too much. It wouldnt throw balance off because only 1 person would have a flare at a time..


3rd. allow hud scaling to work in decimals instead of just integers  (ok i know this is silly too but I'm just brainstorming)


4th old school sprites, uni-directional and fixed angle for mappers (and animated)


OK im done

FTX

[Eiii]

how bout explosions....

"EXTREME PAINTBALL!!!!!"

[FourthX]

ummmm ok...

Anyhoo i have the source to kmquake2 (which implements the trans66+33 feature) and now im trying to figure out where it all ties together. I needed a good excuse to dig into the source anyway

FTX

PS: http://www.geocities.com/knightmare66/

[jitspoe]

I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about with the trans33/66, but this sounds like something easily implemented through rscripts.  I could do it, but my only concern is that some old maps might have both trans's checked yet not have the intent to be rendered this way.

[FourthX]

hmm yeah people do screwy stuff like that sometimes. The whole idea is to have solid faces with holes in them i guess, i would love to have stuff like fences in maps. also this could make for some nice halflife style trees instead of the big clunky ones we make now.

[FourthX]

I don't think it should be r_script only, because someone who logs into a server and downloads a map won't get the script. I had suggested the trans66+33 way because several other clients use this (kmquake2 and quake2max for starters) which would allow non alpha users to see the maps properly. I don't think too many maps will have a problem  with this, i was checking through some popular maps with transparencies and couldnt find any with both set. If one rogue map shows up along the way it could be recompiled.

FTX

PS: thinking in the morning hurts my head

[Mister_Zimbu]

You can already do transparencies in textures.



One of the colors in the palette (forget which one) + Trans33/66/both = transparency.

It's been a standard feature in Quake 2.

Look in the Quake2 tutorials at gamedesign.net for full documentation on it.

[FourthX]

LOL!!! Could have sworn i tried this already, will check on it today

[FourthX]

Yeah even the tutorial shows using just trans66, the dual trans thing isnt in standard quake2. Try using a solid texture with trans66+trans33 and you'll see that it's still ghosted. Of course for something like a thin wire mesh trans66 works well because it makes it look thinner.

FTX

[jitspoe]

I've been meaning to implement a "requiredfiles" thing that you could put in a map's worldspawn, which would make a client attempt to download said files (if missing) whenever the map loads, ie: "requiredfiles" "texturepack1.pak scripts/maps/mymap.txt"

[jitspoe]

Done. (that was easy)

trans33, trans66, trans33+66, no transparency.

[FourthX]

Ok now is that a script or .wal texture?? Also, on the required files thing, will it download files referenced by the script that are missing?

FT

[jitspoe]

It's a .tga texture.  No scripts.  The "requiredfiles" thing isn't implemented yet.  I could make it check through the script for missing files, probably.

[FourthX]

Wow, that ~was~ fast! Uni and i are already making maps that use it. The required files field sounds very exciting, I've been kind of reserved about scripting maps because I figured 99% of the people would never see the scripted elements. Also with an ent file on the server you could then get the client to download a script for an old map.


I had some other ideas after reading through some random q-coding tutorials on the web, maybe for alpha 9 ...

1. script command to make a certain texture take foot prints (imagine arctic with criss-crossing stainmap foot prints, or following someone on winter...) Also the ability to add to the foot step noise for textures, crunchy snow and squishy mud. etc.

2. foot prints when people leave the water, ala duke nukem.


FTX

[jitspoe]

I'm thinking of implementing some server-controlled foot steps so if you run nocheat server, you can still hear footsteps.  That would allow for surface-dependent footsteps (this could also be done client-side, I suppose, with less lag, but wouldn't work with nocheat servers)

[FourthX]

That would certainly make nc server nicer to play on. What about the weapon fire noises? NC servers functions plus dps own lag reduction sometimes lead to situations where an opponnent is firing right around a corner and you never hear or see the shots until your in the middle of them. I think it has to do with paint not being drawn when it's alive less than x frames, not 100 % sure on that though.

I've almost got dp compiling under lcc-32 (im too poor to afford msvc ) so hopefully soon i will be able to put my money where my mouth is and actually work on the code.

FtX