Posts by m8nkey

Quote from fonfa

that could be a problem in the vmt itself. post it here so we can help youi'm having a hard time texturing this little guy. crits plz!

I'd suggest finding a good base texture as a starting point from the net. Personally I'd aim for something plastic looking, posibly with scratches.

A specular effect on the lenses would be cool too.

Fixed my texture problem, problem was the 3ds Max model had an object without the correct texture assigned. The model looks horrible in game, it was just a practice as I'll have to make some cinema seats for the map I'm working on.

Quote from PogoP

Bearing in mind of course that the model is practically already done by Generalvivi in his tutorials ;D

As a fellow beginner I'd have to aggree the General's tuts were a great place to start. I deviated slightly as I created my own model and used Wunderboy's 3ds Max VTF pluggin for the texture in Max.

This is pretty humiliating but I just keep getting the dreaded purple checkers in game. I followed Generalvivi's tutorials and have searched around the net but just can't get it to work.

The VTF/VMT are located:

C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\steamapps\account\counter-strike source\cstrike\materials\models\test

In my qc file I refered to it using:

$cdmaterials "models\test"

As the same VTF is applied to my Max model I can't understand what the problem is.

Here's a Max render alongside a pic in HLMV. Polycount is 754 but think I can do some more optimising.

[Blocked Image: http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/m8nkey/c_seat.jpg]

Quote from Wunderboy

Got steam started?

Yep, after doing some further reading I found the error message was a generic Vista error (Win32 Error 6). Completely disabling UAC resolved it and my models compile fine now.

I've started playing around with prop models from 3ds Max to Source (thanks Generalvivi for the tuts).

When I goto compile my model using StudioMDL or Wunderboy's GUI I get the following error message:

SteamStartup() failed: SteamStartup(0xf,0x0012F188) failed with error 1: Failed to duplicate pipe handle, Win32 Error 6 "The handle is invalid."

I've even tried compiling qc's provided with the SDK and I still get this message.

After attempting a compile, I get the same message if I run any game or SDK app from Steam and I have to re-install/repair Steam.

Searched the net and checked the official Steam forums but haven't found a solution. btw I'm using Vista so that may have something to do with it.

Quote from Defrag

The only complaint I can make about showbudget is that it forces you to rely on your own system setup to extrapolate how your map will run for other people.

That's what I was thinking, seems like the results are very system specific. Thanks for the advice, just wanted to make sure I didn't do anything fundamentally wrong on my current map.

From the wiki "For those familiar with the Half-Life 1 engine, you can think out it as an advanced replacement of the r_speeds meter".

I'm new to source and don't really understand how this is more advanced than the good old fashion e, w_polly and r_speeds.

Sure you can see what's chewing up system resources but there's no set values for what is acceptable. Measurements of time spent in different engine systems isn't the same as a hard value for what it's actually doing in each of those systems.

I'm pretty sure my maps should be right as I'm used to working under limitations of hl1.

Quote from FrieChamp

Nice! Very nice, but what's with the statues in the background of the last shots? Looks mayan or something and out of place in the medieval themed map

I'd have to aggree. Looks great though and nice work on the displacements.

Just flashed up steam and noticed my favourite author, Clive Barker, is releasing a new game tomorrow.

I'd never heard of Jericho. Undying was a fucken awesome game, scared the shit out of me. I'll buy Jericho on the basis that Barker put his name to it.

Overall it was better than I had expected and I still think it has potential (I only played to lvl 3 and I'm pretty sure the beta closes on Friday). I thought the environments were very detailed for an mmrpg, the downside to that is the heavy instancing. The environments feel very linier and boxed in, certainly doesn't feel like you're freely roaming around a post apocolyptic London.

I think to really judge the gameplay you'd have to experience the teamwork involved in a mid-high lvl dungeon.

High lvl caps in games irritate me too (lvl50 in HGL). I can't see any point in them other than to get people spending ridiculous amounts of time in game.

Looks solid. I'm downloading FF and I'll take it for a spin.

Got my beta key yesterday and I'm installing it now. Although I initially thought this was a great concept for a game, I haven't heard anything good about it since it went beta.

Many of the complaints (particularly on Slashdot) seem to be about the business model with real world products advertised in game, a subscription system and the game sending information to the developers.

I'm still keen to try it out though and make up my own opinion.

Damn beautiful map. The only thing I didn't like was the flowers watching me. Would it have been possible to set them facing one position? I realise this would have made them look flat but I think it would be less distracting than having them follow the player.

I'm sure you considered everything and produced the best result you could considering the limitations of the engine. Overall great job, best outdoor map I've seen.

Quote from ReNo

I'd prefer it to be 3D personally. I quite like 2D fighters but prefer things to move on.

I don't think it needs to be 3D to move on (which unfortunately, is what happens in remakes or new additions to old games).

What about using beautifully animated, high resolution sprites along with partical effects and other post production effects typical of a 3d game? Another awesome effect would be slow motion on the final killing blow (like peggle)

Traditional 2d animation in games is a dead art This is one genre that really suites 2d.

hmmm, I noticed normal maps could have an alpha so thought along that path but wasn't aware of the "$normalmapalphaenvmapmask" string. The specular map already has an Alpha 'cause not all the texture is reflective. Guess I can't have that AND a bump map.

Thanks for the advice though. From what I read that's the way to go for creating reflective concrete and ground surfaces.

Redone those textures, did the second one from scratch so it doesn't look like it's been sharpened.

Bahrain map is looking good though slightly generic, dust-like. Looks like it's early in development though so coming along well.

I know that's sorta how Bahrain is as it was the first place I travelled to in the middle east. Very unusual place. It's very affluent, the US dollar is only worth 0.4 Dinar. Everything is covered in dust, including the latest model cars you see driving around.

There's plenty of damaged and demolished buildings littering the streets. The city center is an unusual mix of modern and dilapidated buildings. The outskirts and market areas contain "Dust" like architecture. Some areas of the city are heavily fortified with concrete barriers, razor wire, armed soldiers and 50cals.

Suggestions:

1. Possibly include a fortifide US facility.

2. You could include some modern buidings or cars (covered in dust of coarse)

3. I'd definately suggest some battle damage, damaged buildings.

4. Lots of beautiful Mosques over there too. You could include one as a feature.

Respect Rick_D! Based the entrance to the cinema complex on the first picture you posted.

[Blocked Image: http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/m8nkey/d3d07.jpg]

I've used reference picks ever since I played around with mapping for a HL1 mod called Bushido a few years back.

I've got plenty of cool design references for skyscrapers and my ability to create textures is slowly improving.

One thing that may be difficult to tie into the aesthetic is smaller shops and shopfronts.

I'd like to have some brand parody stores and props around the map. Also going to have parody movie posters and snack food packets in the cinema.

The last few days I've been trying to find some good references for interior design but have only found a handful of pictures. Anyone know a good reference for crazy interior design?

My expectations couldn't be any lower. WTF did they make it 3d? I'm a massive fan of 2d fighters though it's practically a dead genre. Last ones I had on the Xbox, SNK vs Capcom 2, Marvel vs Capcom 2 and Capcom fighting evolution all recycled ugly low-res sprites from predecessors.

Only 2d fighter I've seen with hi res sprites is the Guilty Gear series.

KOF Maximum Impact wasn't a bad 3d rendition of a 2d fighter but would have been better in 2d.

Thanks for the suggestions Uragan. I still have some reading to do on env_cubemaps.

Here's some pics of 2 textures I'm working on. First one was raped from hl2 textures. The second was made from a sample I found at http://%7boption%7d

The second texture is a bit grainy and too sharp but I'm happy with how it looks in game with reflections masking the grain on the glass.

[Blocked Image: http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/m8nkey/window01.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/m8nkey/window02.jpg]

I'm still having problems combining texture effects. For some reason my reflective textures with alphamaps don't like my bumpmaps (though standard lightmapped generic's work fine with them).

Haven't had any luck at all with detail textures at all either. I've extracted the VTF from the GCF and put it in my WIP directory. I've also played with the syntax as I noticed the VMT's in CS use "\" not "/".

I really appreciate the support here. I've gone through the Wiki repeatedly (and still do) and every other source I could find on the subject. Here's the VMT with remarks for what's not working:

"LightmappedGeneric"

{

"$basetexture" "cs_duke3d/window01"

"%keywords" "duke"

"$surfaceprop" "glass"

"$detail" "detail\noise_detail_01" <--- Not working

"$detailscale" "4.283"

"$detailblendfactor" .8

"$detailblendmode" "0"

"$bumpmap" "cs_duke3d/window01_normal" <--- Not working

"$envmap" "env_cubemap"

"$basealphaenvmapmask" 1

"$envmaptint" "[.45 .45 .45]"

"LightmappedGeneric_HDR_dx9"

{

"$envmaptint" "[.23 .23 .23]"

}

}

I'm starting to get the hang of shaders and making my own textures. Here's an updated screenshot of that buiding:

[Blocked Image: http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/m8nkey/10004.jpg]

I'm concerntrating on modelling one building at a time, aiming for interesting architecture and buildings that look like they have a purpose.

This one isn't finished yet but I'm happy with how it's coming along.

Downloaded it today and played a few rounds. I'd have to aggree with the graphical issues everyone else mentioned. Hopefully the full version gives you greater control over video settings along with the hi-res textures.

I enjoyed playing it, I didn't really get into the other UT's. I'm not normally a fan of vehicals in an FPS but thought they were cool. I like the hover board but think they could have done more with the physics/control mechanics of it.

Based on what I've seen I think it has a lot of potential and I'll buy the full version.