A few questions for the more advanced mappers...

[Garrett]

I have a few questions about textures and such.  Please put the question number next to your answer if it possible.

1.  What are the point of high res. textures?
2.  How come the game can use a .jpeg file and .wal files but bsp can only use .wal?
3.  What are TGA files and how are the used in the game and in bsp?
4.  In the textures folder, there are folders pertaining to the map they are used in and such.  How does the map know to go to that folder and not just got to the pball texture folder by default?
5.  Some of the maps i have downloaded in the past are missing they textures.  If there anyway I can download them?

Sorry my questions are kinda lengthy but I am tiring to understand a weeks worth of reading on a subject I have just started to learn with out asking a single person a question. 

I finally blew my load... of questions that is... and asked you guys.  Thanks in advance.
Garrett

[SmackWaters]

1. They look better ingame.
2. Because bsp is a quake2 editor, and .wal textures are quake2 textures.
3. Targa files, used in making pics such as crosshairs, I'm pretty sure it's because they support transparency. As far as i know, bsp doesn't use targa files.
4. I believe you have to put the textures in a folder with the same name in bsp's textures folder (the .wal textures) for example, if you had a texture in c:\games\paintball\pball\textures\mymap\texture.jpg
you would have to put the .wal texture in
c:\bsp\quake2\pball\textures\mymap\texture.wal
5.Not unless you know what they are or know a server that has them.

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I hope that helped.

[Garrett]

Some of the texture packs I have downloaded have TGA files in them, such as, waterfall.tga .  I understand what your saying with the folder with bsp and the folders with dp2.  I thought that was what you needed to do but I just wanted to clarify.  Thanks for the help with everything.  You reinforced my reading and thats what counts.    I sound like a weirdo because I'm just a little bit 'baked' right now.  Sorry

[Apocalypse]

Tgas work for the game (not bsp) as well as .wal and .jpg I think that's all though.

[XtremeBain]

1.  What are the point of high res. textures?
Hi resolution textures are more visually pleasing because greater detail can be captured since more pixels are available.

2.  How come the game can use a .jpeg file and .wal files but bsp can only use .wal?
.wal are low-res textures that were the standard texture format in Q2.  PB2 introduces the ability to use hi-res textures in the form of JPEG and TGA, however TGA is an uncompressed image format and takes up a lot of unnecessary space.  Generally when hi-res textures are distributed, they are in the .jpg format.  If you are making new textures for your map, it is best to create both a .jpg and a .wal (using wally or whatever that .wal export plugin for psp/ps/etc.).  The reason to create a .wal of your hi-res jpg, is so that you can preview your brushes with a texture in BSP.  I also believe that arghrad(RAD) uses the .wal for lightmaps or phone shading, someone will have to back me up on that.

3.  What are TGA files and how are the used in the game and in bsp?
.tgas have always been used in Q2, but only to present the skybox.  PB2 allows .tgas to be used as a texture and we're able to take advantage of the alpha channel (in 32bit .tgas) to create better transparency effects.

4.  In the textures folder, there are folders pertaining to the map they are used in and such.  How does the map know to go to that folder and not just got to the pball texture folder by default?
Most of the textures are found in the pball folder, textures found in other folders could almost be considered "third-party" textures.  You can use any texture in any folder in your maps, and it is advised that if you are creating your own textures that you place them in a seperate folder so that they don't clutter the existing folders.

5.  Some of the maps i have downloaded in the past are missing they textures.  If there anyway I can download them?
Some (not all) are available at http://dplogin.com/files/textures/

[Garrett]

1.  What are the point of high res. textures?
Hi resolution textures are more visually pleasing because greater detail can be captured since more pixels are available.

2.  How come the game can use a .jpeg file and .wal files but bsp can only use .wal?
.wal are low-res textures that were the standard texture format in Q2.  PB2 introduces the ability to use hi-res textures in the form of JPEG and TGA, however TGA is an uncompressed image format and takes up a lot of unnecessary space.  Generally when hi-res textures are distributed, they are in the .jpg format.  If you are making new textures for your map, it is best to create both a .jpg and a .wal (using wally or whatever that .wal export plugin for psp/ps/etc.).  The reason to create a .wal of your hi-res jpg, is so that you can preview your brushes with a texture in BSP.  I also believe that arghrad(RAD) uses the .wal for lightmaps or phone shading, someone will have to back me up on that.

3.  What are TGA files and how are the used in the game and in bsp?
.tgas have always been used in Q2, but only to present the skybox.  PB2 allows .tgas to be used as a texture and we're able to take advantage of the alpha channel (in 32bit .tgas) to create better transparency effects.

4.  In the textures folder, there are folders pertaining to the map they are used in and such.  How does the map know to go to that folder and not just got to the pball texture folder by default?
Most of the textures are found in the pball folder, textures found in other folders could almost be considered "third-party" textures.  You can use any texture in any folder in your maps, and it is advised that if you are creating your own textures that you place them in a seperate folder so that they don't clutter the existing folders.

5.  Some of the maps i have downloaded in the past are missing they textures.  If there anyway I can download them?
Some (not all) are available at http://dplogin.com/files/textures/

1.  That was what I thought.  In a way its like when you stretch a rubber band out and write on it.  When it un-stretches you can see the words in a different way but you see the whole word, only smaller.
2.  Makes sence.
3.  TGA files make basically all the extra nice graphics part of a map then?
4.  Makes sence.
5. Thanks for the link.

So if I want to use a TGA file in my map, do I convert it to a .wal file and do the same procedure as with a high resolution texture?

[XtremeBain]

So if I want to use a TGA file in my map, do I convert it to a .wal file and do the same procedure as with a high resolution texture?

I would strongly recommend that you use a .tga only if you need to have transparency in the texture (like the graffiti in ub_rooftop).  Other wise you should just use a .jpg.  Either way, it is best to make a .wal as well.  And when you make the .wal, if you're using any transparent areas, I'm pretty sure that there's a colour on the DP pallet for transparency.

[Garrett]

How do you make textures that look like they are flowing? like a waterfall?

[Chef-Killer]

To make textures look flowing you have to set the flowing flag

(hit "s", click "flowing", rotate it for the direction, click "Apply Brush/Apply Face")

[Garrett]

Ook I figured that was what it was for.  How do you set up a teleportor?

[Chef-Killer]

Target a misc_teleporter to a misc_teleporter_dest.

> Give the misc_teleporter "target" "tele1" (tele1 is just an example)
> Give the misc_teleporter_dest "targetname" "tele1" (the same as the value you target)

[Garrett]

Thanks man, your the man.