Patches and seams

[phantazm11]

I'm having trouble getting patches to align properly in Q3. In Q4 it was super easy to create crazy patchwork conglomerations, but I'm finding that in Q3, it seems I can't get simple patches to align for anything. I tried searching for this particular problem, but couldn't find an answer.

My problem is illustrated in these screenshots:


As you can see, the patches (and subdivisions) line up properly. Everything is snapped to the grid at grid size 8. But in game, there are seams. To me it looks as though the bevel in game has a subdivision of 4 while the mesh has a subdivision of 8 still. I have tried creating these patches a few different ways, with the same result.

I'm using GTKradiant 1.5 and Q3map2.5.16. I'm compiling this with -meta and fast light for now.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

[wattro]

silly question... how many subdivisions are on the patch on top of the bevel?

[phantazm11]

All four meshes in that shot have a subdivision of 8. I copied and pasted that bevel to create the others.

[AEon]

I'd suggest you copy and paste the relevant patch and brushes into a small map, and post it here, then we can take a look at the actual geometry, and maybe be able to suggest something.

[sock]

This is a classic Q3 problem with 3 patches next to each other and you have modified the control points to be a non square angle. 2 out of the 3 patches lock together and the third one will not work with the other 2 and sub divides into a higher or lower setting. Generally the best solution is to ASE the patches together, otherwise you will spent a very long time just tweaking them until they magically work. Another solution is to merging some/all of the patches together and creating a new special texture for them.

[phantazm11]

@sock: Yeah, that sounds exactly like what is happening. Crap. Don't have a lot of time to mess with this so I will probably just change the geometry.

Thanks for the advice and replies.

[dONKEY]

or instead of making an ase file you could set -patchmeta and -subdivisions 4 (insert any number here, lower equates to smoother curve). Often the patches appear that way in the editor, but not in game, and sometimes the reverse is true.

[phantazm11]

I'll give that a shot, donkey. Thanks.

[AEon]

phantazm11,
it would still be interesting to take a look at your geometry, in a mini .map (just the patches/brushes in that corner) . I just can't believe those patches won't line up. Sock comments make sense, but from the looks of it your patch vertices - used to bend the patches - should all be at "right angles". Just trying to learn something new about patches

[phantazm11]

@ donkey, didn't seem to work or I did something wrong. The patches actually disappeared.

@AEon:No problem man. I'll make up a file sometime this afternoon.

[phantazm11]

@AEon: Here is the sample map that you asked for. Bare in mind that is only the geometry in the screenshot and is not blocked out or anything. I retextured the sample in base textures for easy viewing.

[AEon]

Hmm.... in GTKradiant 1.2.13 is looks fine. You will need to cut the gray columns left and right of the patches (one horizontal, 4 angles ones) to avoid sparklies

Will add it my current map and compile, to check it in-game tomorrow.

The only other thing I could think of is placing the 3 patches into a func_group to "LOD-link" them. But, darn it, it should work.

[dONKEY]

I am 99% sure this is just an LOD crack. -patchmeta should solve it.

Here is my batchfile for the quick compile I'm using at the moment. I assume this is for noghost? My patches has the same issues, but not if I compile this way.

Code: Select all

"C:\Program Files\Quake III Arena\GtkRadiant\q3map_2.5.16_win32_x86\q3map2.exe" -meta -patchmeta -subdivisions 2 "C:\Program Files\Quake III Arena\baseq3\maps\mymap.map"
"C:\Program Files\Quake III Arena\GtkRadiant\q3map_2.5.16_win32_x86\q3map2.exe" -vis "C:\Program Files\Quake III Arena\baseq3\maps\mymap.bsp"
"C:\Program Files\Quake III Arena\GtkRadiant\q3map_2.5.16_win32_x86\q3map2.exe" -light -fast "C:\Program Files\Quake III Arena\baseq3\maps\mymap.bsp"
"C:\Program Files\Quake III Arena\quake3.exe" +set sv_pure 0 +devmap mymap

[phantazm11]

@Donkey: Don't know what I did wrong the first time :/ Using -patchmeta did indeed fix the problem. Thank you for your patience.

[dONKEY]

You're welcome...easy when we had the same problem to solve!!