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Brush Entities and Distance
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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by Spartan on Tue Sep 21st at 8:02pm 2004

I am working on a map for DPB (Digital Paintball) and I have a fenced in area. I notice however that when you get far away from the fence (which is a func_wall) the it begins to disappear. I have the max veiwing distance set far enough but it only does it with the brush entities. I have notice that in other paintball maps they have found a way to avoid this. Can anyone help me?



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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by ministeve on Tue Sep 21st at 8:12pm 2004

simple. for the fance to be seethrough you either set "solid" or "texture". cant remember them off my head but one of them will cause the brush to fade away as you get further away, and the other one "blocks up" the seethrough area. whichever you have, try changing it to the other.



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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by fishy on Tue Sep 21st at 8:35pm 2004

? posted by ministeve
simple. for the fance to be seethrough you either set "solid" or "texture". cant remember them off my head but one of them will cause the brush to fade away as you get further away, and the other one "blocks up" the seethrough area. whichever you have, try changing it to the other.

these forums used to eat people for advise like that^^.

ahh, the good old days.

spartan, are you sure you have your max viewable distance set high enough? that's the only thing i've ever known to make this happen. try doubling whatever you have it at atm.





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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by Spartan on Tue Sep 21st at 8:49pm 2004

? posted by ministeve
simple. for the fance to be seethrough you either set "solid" or "texture". cant remember them off my head but one of them will cause the brush to fade away as you get further away, and the other one "blocks up" the seethrough area. whichever you have, try changing it to the other.

Sometimes I wonder if people even read what I write.





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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by scary_jeff on Tue Sep 21st at 9:16pm 2004

This is a dodgy solution but may work. Create another brush covered in the '{blue' texture, then move it near where the fence goes invisible, but so that it can't get in anybodies way. Then add this brush to the func_wall of the fence.

I'm guessing you are already using zoners or whatever the newest compiler is, but if not, give that a go.

If the fence is very big, try splitting it into a couple of smaller-but-joined-together ones.

Get somebody else to have a look at the map. It is possible there is some issue with your graphics drivers. What graphics card is it?



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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by G.Ballblue on Tue Sep 21st at 9:24pm 2004

? posted by scary_jeff
This is a dodgy solution but may work. Create another brush covered in the '{blue' texture, then move it near where the fence goes invisible, but so that it can't get in anybodies way. Then add this brush to the func_wall of the fence.

I'm guessing you are already using zoners or whatever the newest compiler is, but if not, give that a go.

If the fence is very big, try splitting it into a couple of smaller-but-joined-together ones.

Get somebody else to have a look at the map. It is possible there is some issue with your graphics drivers. What graphics card is it?

I think the issue is whether or not you're in Software or OpenGL mode? In software, entity based objects have the tendency to "disapear" for no real reason. OpenGL is your fix. If you're not already using it that is.

[addsig]



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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by Spartan on Tue Sep 21st at 10:04pm 2004

The problem has already been solved. All thanks to Fishy.





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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by Orpheus on Wed Sep 22nd at 12:03am 2004

? posted by G.Ballblue

I think the issue is whether or not you're in Software or OpenGL mode? In software, entity based objects have the tendency to "disapear" for no real reason. OpenGL is your fix. If you're not already using it that is.

*takes an aspirin before replying*

i have used openGL since it was available, never assisted me at all..

if this idea has merit, its very little merit.

*breathes slowly to avoid saying more*

[addsig]



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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by ReNo on Wed Sep 22nd at 12:20am 2004

But if you aren't using OpenGL then you are no doubt using D3D, which is a satisfactory mode to run in unlike software rendering which should only be used on PC's without graphics acceleration. BTW Orph, unless I'm very much mistaken, I believe OpenGL works better for HL than D3D, so it may help improve visual quality a little or run smoother. That said, the performance discrepencies might have been accounted for by now - long time since I checked.
[addsig]



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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by G.Ballblue on Wed Sep 22nd at 1:26am 2004

? posted by ReNo
But if you aren't using OpenGL then you are no doubt using D3D, which is a satisfactory mode to run in unlike software rendering which should only be used on PC's without graphics acceleration. BTW Orph, unless I'm very much mistaken, I believe OpenGL works better for HL than D3D, so it may help improve visual quality a little or run smoother. That said, the performance discrepencies might have been accounted for by now - long time since I checked.

They still exist. In classic, I was walking over a func_wall based bridge in openGL -- no problem. For the the heck of it, I went into software and walked over the same bridge. The object randomly appeared and disapeared.

[addsig]



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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by Spartan on Wed Sep 22nd at 1:40am 2004

That because Software sucks and OpenGL is the best.



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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by fishy on Wed Sep 22nd at 1:50am 2004

i do believe that ReNo was refering to possible discrepencies between openGL an D3D................everyone knows that software mode sux.

the most probable reason for your disappearing bridge using software mode, is that it only allows 800 world polys to be drawn at any one time. if you are in an area of a map which has higher amounts of polys visible(r_speeds over 800), then some random polys (faces) wont be drawn.





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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by Orpheus on Wed Sep 22nd at 2:02am 2004

my comment differs, but only in reference to certain solids becoming invisible..

remember, we had issues with the signs becoming harder to see with distance in the pitcrew map?

this had nothing to do with the "viewable distance" setting though, so it doesn't pertain to this guys issue..

my point earlier was, openGL did not fix this problem, we had to... well i cannot remember just now, but we did not increase the viewable distance if i recall..

[addsig]



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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by fishy on Wed Sep 22nd at 2:18am 2004

was that something to do with the signs being too thin and close to the wall, and blending into the wall [much like overlapping brushes in hammer] when you got so far away from them?



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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by Orpheus on Wed Sep 22nd at 2:21am 2004

? posted by fishy
was that something to do with the signs being too thin and close to the wall, and blending into the wall [much like overlapping brushes in hammer] when you got so far away from them?

i think we turned them into func's

i was only attempting to convey to duncan, my thinking was that openGL didn't actually solve everything as BB indicated.

is openGL better?, oh yeah, but... well.

[addsig]



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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by wil5on on Wed Sep 22nd at 9:32am 2004

The ole video mode debate... heres my 2 cents:

Software - Hopelessly inefficient, only to be used when D3D and OGL are unavailable. Hard limit of 800 polys, any more and they dont get drawn. No nice effects like waves on water brushes or distance fog in water either.

D3D - Better, but not great. I've had some weirdness in the past with this mode (skyboxes screwing up, mouselag when too many decals are visible). Remember HL uses a very old version of DX, so you cant really compare with modern DX9 games.

OpenGL - The best for HL. Smooth and reliable.

[addsig]



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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by fraggard on Wed Sep 22nd at 10:35am 2004

? posted by wil5on

Software - Hopelessly inefficient, only to be used when D3D and OGL are unavailable. Hard limit of 800 polys, any more and they dont get drawn. No nice effects like waves on water brushes or distance fog in water either.

I agree in principle with the rest of what you've said, but this...

It's not inefficient. In fact software mode runs very efficiently on older machines. I'm quite sure someone managed to run HL on a Pentium 166Mhz or somesuch. I played HL on a P2 333Mhz with a 2d video card , and didn't have any trouble with any of the sections. Plus, the water effect in software mode OWNS. Not that horrible texture distortion like in OpenGL

I do use OpenGL now, but software mode is actually quite good.





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 Re: Brush Entities and Distance
Posted by ministeve on Tue Sep 28th at 5:41pm 2004

sorry, mustve been asleep again then.

<generic noob smiley>




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