Normal maps in Source overlays?

    I'm trying to find out if I can use a simple normal map as an overlay, with no basetexture, and if yes what type of shader I should be using.

    I've tried all the logical ones I could think of, and the normal map appears either white or black in game

    belongs to engine discussion!

    though there is no way i know to do this with an overlay. if you have a simple structure where you want to put this normal mapped material, then add a brush above it with 1 unit height difference. otherwise if you wanted a normalmap overlay onto a displacement or so, i got no freakin' idea

    There, I moved it

    No, I just wanted to come up with a bootprint overlay. A simple normal map that would be displayed on top of whatever ground you want to use.

    I tried to use a blank basetexture in case one was needed, but the normal map remains black

    I don't think decals/overlays support any sort of effects like normal maps, env maps, or selfillum maps (we certainly haven't had any luck doing this in NS2)

    Maybe you could get a similar effect using the modulation shader, which will let you define shadow/highlights onto the surface it's used on. It would basically be a faked normal map, but it could still look cool maybe.

    Completely off-topic, it is possible to have animated decals & overlays (frame animations).

    Quote from Furyo

    There, I moved it No, I just wanted to come up with a bootprint overlay. A simple normal map that would be displayed on top of whatever ground you want to use.

    I tried to use a blank basetexture in case one was needed, but the normal map remains black

    Did you try changing the values of the alpha channel in the diffuse map? Maybe if you make the alpha channel completely white (or is it black? I forget) it will make the diffuse map completely invisible and only display the normal map.

    Yeah that's what I tried Blitz, but as Merkaba put it, I think I've come to the conclusion that normal maps or any other fancy effect can't be used with any vmt that would reference a decal.

    And yes, animating an overlay is very feasible, we're using that to some extent in our current game.

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