Water Fogging and Entities

This one has got me stumped - when you're underwater the fogging makes normal brushes fade out ok but func_walls/illusionaries don't, looks weird when you can see a ladder from so far away underwater.

Just wondering if there's any way of stopping func_walls being seen from underwater ?

tia

beer hunter said:
This one has got me stumped - when you're underwater the fogging makes normal brushes fade out ok but func_walls/illusionaries don't, looks weird when you can see a ladder from so far away underwater.

Just wondering if there's any way of stopping func_walls being seen from underwater ?

tia

i have never seen this, or maybe never noticed it before, in all my maps i have made.

only by clipping into a sky has it been seen.

and if you are using zoners tools, i doubt you will be doing any skyhopping any cause zoners clips the sky off now.

try a full vis compile, it sounds like yours is defective..

i may have to go back and look at my maps, but i do not recall water showing func_?'s just because its water.

i tend to get the same thing when i'm in func_water. if there is any other func_brush in the water with me, it doesn't get obscured by the fog/haze that the water makes.

i've never seen a workaround for this. :sad:

It sounds very much like an engine-related problem. In other words, there's not likely to be a solution.

Gollum's probably right, I imagine it is engine related. However, if its a single-player map you could use a system of trigger_multiples and env_renders so it appears to fade in the closer you get to it. That's all I can think of I'm afraid.

Thanks for everyones replies - i came across this about 3 years back and thought that someonene may have come up with a trick workaround by now, grrrrr.

Nice idea about the triggers Loco, its multiplayer tho' :sad:

@Orph, no compile errors that i know of. Quite hard to describe what i meant, a couple of screenies may better explain -

under water
above water

Its quite a big lake and you can see the func_wall ladders and walkway from miles away, looks horrible.

use world water, i can tell you havent because the r's would have dropped to zero underneath..

maybe it will help..

Mod's note: more a work-around than an actual solution, it will indeed solve the problem as posed, so I switched this to yes.

ok, will have a go when i get some more time.

It's always worth asking about really old problems - sometimes there is a new solution, such as the late discovery of angular velocity for func_trains.

Gollum said:
It's always worth asking about really old problems - sometimes there is a new solution, such as the late discovery of angular velocity for func_trains.

...What?

Some years (three, at a guess) after HL was released, some of the mapping community became aware that func_trains could be given a constant angular velocity. Prior to this discovery, it had been thought that these entities were only capable of translational movement.

Though not well-known and little used, this feature of the func_train allows special effects sequences such as bouncing, rolling tyres from a crash.

I think I remember that - didn't everyone get all freaked out because they saw the part in Blue Shift where the metal coil rolled?

I've never seen Blue Shift myself, but I believe that is where it started. Here's the seminal article by Unquenque:

http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?go=avelocity

gollum i know you've probably had enough of working on gmdm2, but perhaps add the bouncing effect to the boulder as a nice special effect (tho it might be difficult to make it look realistic) maybe make it bounce of a wall if that's possible? :smile: ... that would make it very interesting ...

It's possible, but to do well requires a large investment of path_corners (you can change the speed at each one, to simulate proper accelaration etc.). I can't afford to waste that many entities on a little effect.

There will probably be a Gmdm2 update at some point, but it won't involve making the boulder effect any more sophisticated.

If I had fewer paths and general entity crap, then perhaps it would be viable. Maybe Cash can do something like this in his "Gollum Rolling Boulder Mod" map.

What is the revalation? The train and then the lift on your way to the test chamber in the original game both rotate while going up/down. How did people think this was done if they didn't know about giving an angular velocity? As for the ladder bug, build your map so that it isn't possible to get a far off view of a ladder while underwater...

Jeff, you're conflating different types of rotation.

The lift is a func_platrot, which is a special entity hard-coded for one purpose only: to move up and down between two points whilst rotating around the vertical axis.

The train is a combo of func_tracktrains and maybe the turntable entity. Again, this is a specialist application and cannot be used to make rolling tyres/banking aeroplanes/helicopters with independent rotor-blades/rolling boulders etc.

Regardless of the other stuff, I'm pretty damn confident I know the only way to make a rolling boulder (with particular specifications) in normal HLDM. I did work on this problem over the course of a few years, after all :biggrin:

are you sure this isn't a problem with the render mode being set to texture instead of solid? I've never noticed this bug before in other maps.

It may also be a video card issue. For example, on my old voodoo banshee you could still see black outlines of players underwater at any distance. On the newer cards models are properly 'fogged' though. In this case having a better card was a disadvantage, a lot harder to sniper underwater in tfc's well map

Easy fix. Surprised none of you know this one after mapping all this time.

Turn your func_walls that are under water into func illusionaries then match the brush with a clip brush. This way your ladders etc. will not "shine / glow" underwater.

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In this case having a better card was a disadvantage, a lot harder to sniper underwater in tfc's well map

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Why, you dirty rotten cheat :smile:

Yup, render mode is texture, i don't want to go down the func_illus/normal/solid route as i really wanted a transparent water FX. I know its going to kill fps but it just looks nicer IMO. Looks like i'm going to have to get creative in blocking the ladders off