func_illusionary stays blue

im making a map for the mod NS, and it has two alien textures called
alien_alpha1 and 2. Both are textures that have blue in them for see
through, but when i put them on a func_illusionary, no matter what i
put the render mode and the render amount to, the blue remains in-game.
Any ideas? am i using the wrong entity? i also want these entities to
be fully passable, so i figured illusionary was the way to go.

The blue will only stay blue in software mode and this only in rare occurrences due to drivers.

You aren't using software mode, are you?

Try D3D or the other setting.

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There is no history until something happens, then there is.

The blue color has to be number 255 in the color index. I
trust you have that wonderful program called Wally? The transparency
color is ALWAYS the last one in the palette (255) and usually 0 0 255 (R G B).

these are textures that came with the game, and are used all the time.
I doubt i have to edit them. Could it be that they can only be used in
decals or something? ..i havnt used decals (just overlays for source
and decals for like 10secs). Can a decal be placed off of brushes, or
maybe on a null'd illusionary?

rendermode should be solid

fx amount should be 255

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i eat paint

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting StixNStonz</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>no matter what i put the render mode and the render amount to, the blue remains in-game. </DIV></DIV>

As I said, the only time I have ever seen this is when someone has their setting for software mode. I suppose all that means is its my only experience with it happening but try resetting your machine before you proceed further. If I am incorrect, so be it.

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There is no history until something happens, then there is.

there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of possible combinations, so i assumed that the claim to have tried them ALL is a little bit of an exaggeration, and posted the correct settings.

i've also heard of people making custom textures with the transparancy colour(normally blue) on a pallette index other than 255. if they've put the blue on 30, then they'd need to have the fx amout in hammer set to 30, etc. this is to make it harder for other mappers to 'borrow' textures.

so if it's a custom texture(i know you said not, but....) then open it in wally and find the pallette index of the blue. use the same number for the fx amount. (rendermode still set to 'solid')

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i eat paint

Check 4 replies up Fishy, he mentiones them coming with the game and used all the time.

Also, the textures would changes subtly with each render mode alteration but none of them would retain the "blue" as its completely invisible as being blue in any setting.

I cannot say about customs since they fall into another texture type and as we all know, customs are often fouled up when creating them.

But, I am nearly positive its a graphics setting. Not absolutely so since, its wierd that anyone now days would have their machine set up for software mode. Thats the only part of this equation I am confused on.

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There is no history until something happens, then there is.

aye, it was when he said that they came with the game that i posted the correct settings for 'came with the game' transparacies. the reason i did this, was the very fact that he said that he'd tried them ALL. someone that has to try them ALL, doesn't KNOW what the RIGHT one is, so i told him.

if he'd posted saying 'i've tried 'solid' '255', then i'd have suggested making sure he was running on ogl, and also told him about the possibility of the transparancy being on an unconventional index number. (it's true, Andrei;))

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i eat paint

Well, since I posted prior to his second reply, and he neither acknowledged it, nor I hope ignored it, we'll have to wait for his next appearance.

Now I am curious as to the solution.

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There is no history until something happens, then there is.

the possibility of the transparancy being on an unconventional index number. (it's true, Andrei;))

Damn, why didn't you tell me this earlier (like in 1999 or so)?

heh

i had this problem before with another texture before, and nothing
worked. Then i tried another and it worked fine. Maybe certain textures
are only meant for decals? could that be what the 'alpha' in the name
means?

and by 'all the different settings', i meant each of the render modes,
and then each using 255 and 100 (since glass you use around 100, and
normal semi-transp. (blue) texts 255).

I definitely dont run on software. OGL for the last ever.

I'm pretty positive it wouldnt be a different number, since these are
stock. To use one in a map would cancel out all the other stocks.

Fishy, how do you even change the 'fx amount' that you're talking
about? the fx amount i use seems to be how visible the normal part of
the texture is.. the blue is gone regardless. I assume you mean that
you change the value for what blue is actually removed... where do you
do that?

There's a variable called "Render Mode". And a variable called "FX Amount" in the entities properties.

Render Mode has a drop down box of values to choose from. FX amount is a text box expecting an integer [1 .. 255]

To remove blue, you set Render Mode to solid (or texture, if I remember correctly) and set FX Amount to 255.

That's it. If that doesn't work ... try different render modes? Maybe it needs a specific mode for it to disappear. Or maybe whoever made it used the wrong color blue.

Mark Fishy correct when you get this all working.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Oh, just decompile the map you saw the textures in and see the bearing entity's properties. :heee:

chrono... when using Render Amount, doesnt the integer of 1-255 not
indicate the colour to remove (as that would be 3 numbers, since blue
is not 255 but 0 0 255 or whatever order), but rather indicate the
transparency of the rest of the texture?

<div class="abouttext">Message submitted 1 minutes after original post:</b></div>
btw whats a good decompiler? Theres a map for this mod whose source
file got lost ages ago, im thinking of fixing up some of the bugs (i'll
ask permission to do/release it once the official site is up again).
How difficult is it to fix up a map from a complete decompile?

btw i do have a good amount of mapping experience, mostly in source though, hence all the HL1 questions :razz:

Since its the older engine, it should be "WinBSPC"

google search a decompiler program and see if it comes up.

Good luck

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There is no history until something happens, then there is.

I never said it chose what color to remove. In hl1 it's a specific shade of blue, in conjunction with a specific character set inside the textures name.

But, yes, setting it to a render mode other than the default .. and one other one, I forget which, they will still have blue in the texture. So, only certain modes do what you're saying. I think after that, yeah, the number is the opacity of the blue. (since if you set it to zero, if I remember properly, the texture would still have blue)

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

when using Render Amount, doesnt the integer of 1-255 not
indicate the colour to remove (as that would be 3 numbers, since blue
is not 255 but 0 0 255 or whatever order), but rather indicate the
transparency of the rest of the texture?

Textures have a palette of 256 colours maximum - each colour has an
index no and in the case of transparent textures, pure blue (0 0 255)
is the last in the palette - index 255.

This is the 255 you enter as the FX Amount. I think :smile:

This is the 255 you enter as the FX Amount. I think :smile:

We JUST refuted that.

StixNStonz said:
<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quote:</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>

This is the 255 you enter as the FX Amount. I think :smile:

We JUST refuted that.
</div></div>

when? if you're using stock textures, the rendermode should be set to 'solid' and the fx amount to '255'.

what is the full nane of the texture that you're using?

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i eat paint

I know I'm a little late here, but from what I remember testing this
stuff, both Solid and Texture mode support the transparancy color -
with Solid, a FX Amount of 255 has to be used (though this is not
linked to the index of the color, I think it's hardcoded to take the
last color from the palette rather than using this number as an index).
With Texture, any FX Amount can be used, the transparant parts will
always be transparant and the FX Amount controls the transparancy of
the rest of the texture. The edges between the transparant and non- or
less-transparant parts look some more smoothed than with the Solid
mode, though.

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Create-ivity - a game development blog

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StixNStonz said:
<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quote:</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>

This is the 255 you enter as the FX Amount. I think :smile:

We JUST refuted that.

when? if you're using stock textures, the rendermode should be set to 'solid' and the fx amount to '255'.

what is the full nane of the texture that you're using?

</div></div>
When? Like two posts ago. If you do those settings, with 255, the blue comes out of normal textures. If you do that with 100 instead, the blue comes out but the normal stuff is 100/255 transpanrent.

What's with all this in your posts? It makes them hard to read man...

Anyway, checked if the textures you're using have { at the start of
their name? Checked in the official maps that have them with
transparant part if those are the same textures (impulse 107 while
looking at a face returns the texture name)?

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Create-ivity - a game development blog