Sky brushes and external geometry

[EmeraldTiger]

So in my map, I have some tower-like structures and other things which rise well above the playing area. Due to their height they should be viewable from multiple rooms with an open sky, not just the one which they are located.

Unfortunately, due to some bug, separating the rooms with walls made of sky brushes causes an odd "flicker" effect, where the structures blink in and out of existence if they are hidden by a sky brush. This has forced me to resort to making the whole part of the map above the playing field (sky) open and free of walls, which I am sure is putting a big hit on frame rates. The map is not leaked though, but if you fly to where the sky (supposedly) is you can view the whole map at once, without going into the void. I doubt this is good.

I`m guessing I could whittle the r_speeds down with hint brushes and I definitely plan on using them... but my question is, is there a more efficient way of making sure these structures can be seen all over the map, without flicker effects but with a reasonable FPS / r_speeds? Or put more simply, how to make a tower in Room A be visible in Room B but effectively closing off the upper space in between them without flickering?

Hopefully this is clear... if not I can post screenshots.

[cityy]

I know what you mean. I think there is no way to work around this.

[Noruen]

Try this style with hints and let me know, if it works for you. I think this is the only way how to do it, other is only to create tower etc. in sky distant sky cube area and do it as "sky portal".



Edit: but screenshot would be great

[EmeraldTiger]

That sounds like a good idea... I will try it. I`m also thinking of making a kind of hint texture that is solid so you can`t pass through it... does the "hint" surfaceparm automatically make something nonsolid even if the "nonsolid" surfaceparm is unchecked? Just curious...

Here is what I`m using:

Code: Select all

//Combines the capabilities of a hint brush and a player clip in one. This is used
//to not only block players from rocket jumping onto the area above the map, but
//also performs useful vis functions without the need for two separate brushes.
textures/common/hint_clip
{
	qer_editorimage common/hintclip.tga
	surfaceparm nodraw
	surfaceparm noimpact
	surfaceparm nolightmap
	surfaceparm nomarks
	surfaceparm nonsolid
	surfaceparm playerclip
	surfaceparm structural
	surfaceparm trans
	surfaceparm hint
	qer_nocarve
	qer_trans 0.4
}

I know I`m using nonsolid here, though playerclip shader also uses it, so I`m guessing that playerclip overrides it...

Thanks!

[Noruen]

You're welcome. Well, placing hints is a science. But I don't think this texture is a good idea. You have too many brushes? It is better to simply use another brush to place hint and clip - ho knows what compiler will do with this EmeraldTexture But you can give it a try.

[dghost77]

Yeah I think that the sky portal would be the best solution if it's an area that you can only see in the sky.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Q3Map2#skybox_tutorial

It's on my to do list of cool stuff to try in a quake 3 map. If I ever get the time.