Water Error (screenshot inc.)

hey guys,

only been mapping for css a few days now but i have a problem that i can't fix. Ok well i have followed water tutorials word for word and created some water, but when i go in game there is like a major graphical error over the top of the actual water (which from the bits i can see looks ok), its like a glitchy colourful overlay or reflection. Before you ask i have got a fully working skybox so it isn't reflecting a null skybox, any ideas??

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/BaGzY/watererror.jpg

BaGzY

So you've played CS: S enough to know it's not a graphics card issue? And I'm assuming that there are no leaks, all surfaces but the top are "tools/nodraw", and you don't have any overlapping brushs, etc, and that you've double-checked all that....That's an unusual bug, I'll try to upload a file later that has water and works on my computer. Sorry, not much of a help here.

I think Reno and I have been getting the same thing...

I've been getting slightly dodgy water but nothing that bad. Mine just
comes up with an extremely blue tint, but I believe that is down to not
using a cubemap entity (they weren't working last I checked, though HL2
might have fixed that).

I've created water and have had no funky issues so far, but I started post-HL2 release, so all may be well now.

I got this on my first attempt. For some reason I think it's a
graphics card issue - it's trying to render higher quality water [eg
9.0b water] when your card doesnt support it [dont ask me WHY].

To fix it go to your water_lod_control entity set the start transition
number to 1 and end transition to 2. This means that almost
always you'll default to cheap water instead of expensive water and
thus the error doesnt appear.

Makes no sense to me, as the game should be defaulting the water to
your system's capabilities. Though it at least looks like water
thereafter.

I had an issue like this with Far Cry once. The water looked all s**tty ... litterally. It turned out to be a driver card issue. And, no the water and effects don't change to suit your system. That's what the level of detail settings are for.

Ah right thanks for your advice guys. Firstly i doubt it is my graphics
card as in maps like aztec and chateu i can see the water perfectly and
it looks amazing it's only in my map, and secondly i have an x800 so if
it is i am guna cry I think it is
the water_lod_control thing because i left that out and it created a
default one, i'll keep trying and i will post what happens.

BaGzY

It has to change somewhat to suit your system because there are system
settings in the game. Such as what codepath to use as well as 3
in-game LOD settings. If it didnt adjust for that in game than
every piece of water would have to be at DirectX7 Low Quality because a
lot of cards wont run DX9.0b high quality.

Still if using an X800 I would have no idea. Try the workaround, then see if they patch it (:

That isn't what I was saying, you said the GAME chooses for you.

See, this is what you said:

the game should be defaulting the water to your system's capabilities

And that isn't really true, it sets a default much lower then what your system can handle and you're free to change it.

I was only pointing out that it isn't implicit, you have to change the settings to suit your system. I didn't say you can't change the detail levels.

thought you might want to see this article. its from the sdk docs

http://www.valve-erc.com/srcsdk/Materials/water.html

I've found that water (and other specially rendered surfaces, e.g. glass) will look totally crazy if you have an env_cubemap and a leak in your level...

Oh alright. Will look into it. Oh and btw do you happen to know why this is happening to my water.

under water - http://img128.exs.cx/img128/1444/3116.jpg

above water - http://img128.exs.cx/img128/8257/3115.jpg

Iv try so many things it just isnt getting fixed.

I got a cubemap, water.lod.control, and no draw brush on all sides but
top and its still not working. Are there some things that might cause
this?

I have the same prob as you BaGzY. It's because you have Hammer running in
the background as u play test the map. Try closing Hammer before you
start CS Source.

That works for me.

morfar said:
I have the same prob as you BaGzY. It's because you have Hammer running in
the background as u play test the map. Try closing Hammer before you
start CS Source.
That works for me.

That isn't really a general solution, the error he's getting is most definatly a rendering issue (which can mean many things).

For example:
I have hammer running in the background when I run maps in hl2. As well, since hl2 takes awhile to load up I just leave it running while I map in hammer, alt tabbing out. (It surprisingly runs well).

I do the same Crono and agree that it runs surprisingly well, but I'll
have a try without running hammer in the background to make sure it
isn't causing my blue water syndrome.

ReNo said:
I do the same Crono and agree that it runs surprisingly well, but I'll
have a try without running hammer in the background to make sure it
isn't causing my blue water syndrome.

It's not, I get it with or without hammer running on home made maps.

Think about this though, how would another program taking up some SYSTEM ram effect RENDERING which is controlled and stored ONLY on the video card and video card ram?

Yeah it certainly wouldn't make much sense, unless hammer was trying to
render its 3D view regardless of the window state (I recall that some
old version used to do this).

ReNo said:
Yeah it certainly wouldn't make much sense, unless hammer was trying to
render its 3D view regardless of the window state (I recall that some
old version used to do this).

Odd. Also, I noticed that in Hammer 4 you're able to select HL1 or HL2 wad types, yet, in the compiler options if you switch to HL1 NO path for CSG becomes available. So, why is the HL1 option even there. Unless it's like that so you can use HL1 wads in hl2 maps. (if there is a difference)

I think cubemaps can cause glitchy water. Once they are removed the water shows up fine for me.

well, water doesnt work for me either. im betting its a problem that
will be fixed in the full release of hammer, because it only seems to
work for a few people. and as far as i can tell from what ive read they
arent doing anything differently.

Put in an env_cubemap above the water and select the top of the water
as the face the env_cubemap reflects. That will fix it for u.

I'm not quite sure if this will fix the issue. But I had a
similar problem with water which was happening due to my compiling
options. Make sure your bsp, vis, and mat are all set to "normal"
when compiling. Sorry if everyone is beyond a problem like that

I've tried everything explained here, but I still get the same problem
as Asuka. It's rendering fine underneath the water, but its invisible
above it. I'd sure hope this gets fixed.

I had that problem as soon as I got the editor, I think it was because
I made the water brush a func_water entity and tried to set its
rendermode to "texture" (as you would with old HL1 water). Make sure
you are just keeping it a world brush with a water texture on the top
and nodraw on all sides. I'm afraid its all I can suggest.

Yea, that's what I did right off the bat. I've seen one HL2 map so far
with working water - I wouldn't mind checking out the VMF for that...

Perhaps it's something with the compile settings? I'm only using "normal", not advanced.

Here's what I did with it:

Created a brush, applied the "nodraw" texture to the entire brush. Then
I applied the canals_water2 texture to the top face. I then placed a
water_lod control, as well as linking a env_cubmap to the water
surface.

I've also tried creating just the brush, without the env_cubemap entity. Still, nothing has worked. :sad:

On a side note, I'm also noticing that water doesn't quite look right
in Hammer, either. When I apply the water texture, the reflections and
normal maps show up fine, but it doesn't quite look "normal" on the top
of the brush. It DOES however, look good underneath it. On top, it's
reflective and watery looking, but not how it should, and most
defineatly not like the bottom. Here's a screen of what I'm talking
about:

I had this working but I made the cube smaller and its gawn for eva.
There is a test level - sdk_water... this uses the same technique...
and works.

I also get as most of you happen to... have the problem of the
rendering of the bottem but not the top... I'll try to send a message
to valve or someone about this... they may know about it but never the
less.

Hopefully this is fixed... btw when does the 'full' SDK come out?

---

VMF for the sdk_water level:

versioninfo

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"editorbuild" "2933"

"mapversion" "39"

"formatversion" "100"

"prefab" "0"

}

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{

"name" "Auto"

"visgroupid" "1"

"color" "93 194 155"

visgroup

{

"name" "Entities"

"visgroupid" "3"

"color" "123 120 249"

}

visgroup

{

"name" "Brush Entities"

"visgroupid" "2"

"color" "246 207 204"

}

}

}

viewsettings

{

"bSnapToGrid" "1"

"bShowGrid" "1"

"nGridSpacing" "8"

"bShow3DGrid" "0"

}

world

{

"id" "0"

"mapversion" "39"

"classname" "worldspawn"

"skyname" "sky_dust"

"maxpropscreenwidth" "-1"

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{

"id" "23"

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Well, the water_test scene doesn't work for me either. Never has.

This is really starting to piss me off, now. There is no reason why
this is working for some people, but not others. Makes no sense at all.

Okay here we go, I think I have a water resolution for everyone.

Shut down STEAM, then go to your steamapps folder. Delete the
sourcesdk.gcf file, then redownload from STEAM. All of your original
settings should still be intact. I did this, and the water is perfectly
fine now; even the cubemaps are working:



Hopefully this will work for the rest of you as well.