Q3a: problem with glass shader [solved]

[dichtfux]

I'm having some problems with the glass shader from the FPS tutorial.

One can see through the walls behind brushes that use the shader, the following image illustrtes the problem. You can look "into" some brushes next to the glass brush (marked with II), but even worse, you can look into a corridor beneath the floor (marked with I). :icon28:



The shader (from the tutorial) was not modified, you can see it here:

Code: Select all

textures/glass/darkglass
{
qer_trans .5
surfaceparm trans
surfaceparm solid

                      cull disable
                      {
                      map textures/effects/tinfx.tga
                      tcgen environment
                      blendfunc gl_one gl_one
                      rgbGen identity
                      }
                      {
                      map $lightmap
                      blendFunc gl_dst_color gl_zero
                      rgbgen identity
                      }
}

The brush was covered with common/nodraw as described in the tutorial, except for the upper and lower faces that the player should be able to look trough.

Any suggestions on how to fix this?

[Fjoggs]

lame question, but you did add a texture to the trims surrounding the glass?

[dichtfux]

Yes, I did.

As you can see in the image, the texture is drawn on the top and buttom of the brush (and it shows up on all of its sides in radiant).

Moving the glass brush next to any other brush creates the same problem there, so it has most likely nothing to do with the brushes next to it - it's the glass brush that causes the problems.

[maz0r]

Btw you should make your glass brushes half the height and apply the glass shader to just one face of the brush. just looks better and more realistic in most cases. Will maybe even fix your problems.
And like Fjoggs said, it really looks like you forgot to texture the face on the trim touching the glass.

[dichtfux]

Btw you should make your glass brushes half the height and apply the glass shader to just one face of the brush. just looks better and more realistic in most cases.

Just did that, can't see any difference though.

it really looks like you forgot to texture the face on the trim touching the glass.

I just doublechecked it and this is not the case. The glass brush is moved up in this radiant screenshot so one can see the textured brush face you can look through when the brush is lowered.


More ideas?

[dichtfux]

Here is the scene shown on the radiant screenshot rendered in q3a (note the floating glass).




The texture on the brush is drawn - after doing nothing besides lowering the 2 glass brushes (1 split into 2 as suggested), it seems to be gone and you can look through the brush. :icon23:

Should I use any other texture than common/nodraw for the sides of the glass brushes? To me it seems that nodraw is breaking the texturing on brushes next to it.

[Shallow]

On a quick search I can't find any reliable-seeming document referencing surfaceparm solid. I think it's probably a bullshit surfaceparm but if not, maybe it is forcing the brush to be structural, not just solid? Even if it is a real surfaceparm you can delete it safely: It's redundant, since shaders are implicitly solid.

I'd also recommend you make those brushes detail if you haven't already. Covers your bases if the shader is a bit cranky.

There's some really dodgy shaders in that tutorial, I'm surprised it's on Bill's site. I mean, tcmod scroll .0 .0, hello?

[dichtfux]

Thanks a lot Shallow, that fixed it! :icon14:

I commented out the surfaceparm solid line in the shader and made the brush detail.

EDIT: If the brush is not set to detail, the error appears. This also explains why the same shader works in a second map I made - the other map is almost finished and I tend to set brushes to detail late.

[maz0r]

Ok did not check the shader, that's not my cup of tea. But I remember using that shader some time ago without any problems.

For better communication in german:
Ich meinte eigentlich, dass du den Glass-Brush nicht in 2 Hälften teilen sollst, sondern nur ein einziges 'Face' mit dem Glass-Shader hast, welches in der Mitte hängt. So guckt man nicht jeweils durch 2 Schichten Glass durch. Sieht in Q3 meistens authentischer aus
Grüße und viel Glück mit weiterhin!

[dichtfux]

Ahh, I see. Thanks for making that clear.

[maz0r]

np

[broar]

Ho Timme.
Have fun.



textures/hull/hull_trans
{
qer_editorimage textures/hull/hull_blue.tga
qer_trans 0.5
surfaceparm trans
cull disable
{
map textures/hull/hull_blue.tga
blendfunc filter
}
{
map textures/effects/tinfx2.tga
blendfunc gl_dst_color gl_one
tcGen environment
}
{
map $lightmap
blendfunc gl_dst_color gl_one
tcgen lightmap
}
}

[dichtfux]

Thanks a lot, pal! :icon14:

EDIT: surfaceparm "solid" is invalid indeed. q3map2 complains about it during compile, too ("unknown surface parm...").