Map themeing via server scripts

[chronomaster]

http://forums.alliedmods.net/showthread.php?t=105608

Interesting concept. Thoughts?

[backfire]

dustbowl with leaves falling... awesome ;D

Can we get this?

[[fr31ns]Karrde]

Do want.  Would add some nice flavor to the game assuming it can all be done without major lag/gfx/or huge downloads.

[Wedge]

Oh that's awesome.  Would do wonders for variety.

[CaffeinePowered]

Karrde link=topic=3714.msg116950#msg116950 date=1254963815]
Do want.  Would add some nice flavor to the game assuming it can all be done without major lag/gfx/or huge downloads.

My major concern would be how the particle system is fucked up atm

Might be good for a lark though

[Versus]

epic, want

[KarthXLR]

For once, I could have a white christmas....

[Bonesinger]

Looks awesome.

DO IT DO IT DO IT

[[fr31ns]Karrde]

Another good point caff made in the server last night is would precip/leaves/whatever fall indoors?  You need to put a brush in place to prevent this usually.

[backfire]

I sorta imagined there was some magical way the plugin would only place these in space directly below a skybox brush or something. I'd deal with it raining indoors though if that's what it took.

[CaffeinePowered]

I sorta imagined there was some magical way the plugin would only place these in space directly below a skybox brush or something. I'd deal with it raining indoors though if that's what it took.

If you look at the early versions of indulge, it rains indoors in some areas, in a map not specifically designed and tailored for those effects you might see some weird shit happening.

Barring any problems I should have something ready for friday

[Wedge]

Frankly it's sort of a joke there isn't a proper precip system that uses some basic collision checks and skybox style tracking to automate this all.  It's been done in games YEARS ago and isn't really as cpu intensive as you would think.

[CaffeinePowered]

Frankly it's sort of a joke there isn't a proper precip system that uses some basic collision checks and skybox style tracking to automate this all.  It's been done in games YEARS ago and isn't really as cpu intensive as you would think.

Please go try using hammer, compared with other modding tools for things like Unreal 3 or even fallout 3, its like comparing a hand axe to a chainsaw in efficiency at cutting down trees.

[[fr31ns]Karrde]

Is that saying hammer is bad or good?  But it's besides the point.  I doubt that most precip systems actually use collision checks.  My money would be on soft particles that don't clip certain identified faces.  It'd just be easier to program and be less buggy.

[Bonesinger]

Since I'm not to familiar with Hammer are the particals blocked by normal bsp or does there need to be a property checked? So far from what I've seen just about everything other than fine detailing is made from brushes in TF2 maps so there shouldn't be too much of a problem with partical collision on most stock maps, of course there will always be some iffy spots like Caff said.

[CaffeinePowered]

Since I'm not to familiar with Hammer are the particals blocked by normal bsp or does there need to be a property checked? So far from what I've seen just about everything other than fine detailing is made from brushes in TF2 maps so there shouldn't be too much of a problem with partical collision on most stock maps, of course there will always be some iffy spots like Caff said.

Ive not messed with any of the particle systems but from talking to other mappers who have done things in unreal's map editor for example, the stuff that Epic provides beats the living snot out of hammer.

[Wedge]

Karrde link=topic=3714.msg117050#msg117050 date=1255031719]
Is that saying hammer is bad or good?  But it's besides the point.  I doubt that most precip systems actually use collision checks.  My money would be on soft particles that don't clip certain identified faces.  It'd just be easier to program and be less buggy.

You realize you just described particles with collision, right?  A collision check is an ambiguous term, not an absolute method.

[Bonesinger]

[quote author=Bonesinger link=topic=3714.msg117052#msg117052 date=1255031919]
Since I'm not to familiar with Hammer are the particals blocked by normal bsp or does there need to be a property checked? So far from what I've seen just about everything other than fine detailing is made from brushes in TF2 maps so there shouldn't be too much of a problem with partical collision on most stock maps, of course there will always be some iffy spots like Caff said.

Ive not messed with any of the particle systems but from talking to other mappers who have done things in unreal's map editor for example, the stuff that Epic provides beats the living snot out of hammer.
[/quote]

Well yes and no. You have a lot of different methods and ways to go about having particles and emiters through Unreal. Generally speaking though particals are not blocked by normal bsp but by Volume BSP. That's why I was wondering if regular bsp blocks it or not within Hammer. I'll go ahead and boot up Hammer here and test some stuff out by putting rain in Dustbowl and see what happens. Well, Func_Precipitation is blocked by regular bsp but I'm not sure if that's what the script will use.

[[fr31ns]Karrde]

[quote author=[fr31ns]Karrde link=topic=3714.msg117050#msg117050 date=1255031719]
Is that saying hammer is bad or good?  But it's besides the point.  I doubt that most precip systems actually use collision checks.  My money would be on soft particles that don't clip certain identified faces.  It'd just be easier to program and be less buggy.

You realize you just described particles with collision, right?  A collision check is an ambiguous term, not an absolute method.
[/quote]

I guess I was interpreting collision on a grander scale.  Instead of saying "Ok, I hit surface x with y property, which means z result".  I was also thinking about physics calculations and whatnot to decide what happens after collision.  More of having a stock response for the action as opposed to having to go through complicated calculations to decide what happens.  Kinda like the difference between animated deaths in counterstrike and pure ragdolls.

[CaffeinePowered]

Ok, Ive reviewed the plugin and I will put it up before FNF, but not before

Its fairly complex but very powerful and I'd rather not fuck something up royally.



However, because this uses the custom particle systems, I have a nagging feeling this is going to cause square flames all over the place, and we might need to hold off on fully using it until after valve fixes that problem.