Daedalus' Forums

As for there were few models to convert for this map, I tried messing with this map. These are what I got so far:















I managed to decompile the map and recompile it with no problems. But there are several models which don't work. These are: wndwa.mdl, wndwb.mdl. Maybe I didn't decompiled them right. Going to see what I can do, but I didn't saw any difference without them.
I can say the map is pretty complete at the moment.

Nice! Looks pretty

Thanks. Going to make more soon. Now I'm currently working on another map. Is there a problem if I want to create a new thread for a map but there is another thread with the same name but currently the thread is old or not continued anymore?

Just make a new thread with the name of the map, but put the date of today, and your name after it. For example if I made a thread for sm_diner, I would call it "sm_diner (12 aug 09) by Beerdude26". That will prevent any confusion

I've done alot of maps, but I can't progress until Python is implemented in the mod. And also I got into another problem.

Here's the video of this map:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuFB1gUX_OU

There you can see all the problems with the map: disappearing models, ugly cubemaps, lightnings, textures, etc.

I sure hope that you did not think that a converted map would result in the same "look and feel" as the original?

As previously discussed, Troika used their own lighting model. Their textures also supported DXT3 an alpha format I am not sure is supported by Valve. Troika wrote their own vertex and pixel shaders.

In short, they heavily modified their version of the source engine to get the visual results seen in their maps. Trying to duplicate their work is an excercise in futility.

Nem has a nice tool called VTFEdit (http://nemesis.thewavelength.net/index.php?p=41) which may be useful in editing the .vmt file to try out different shader effects. Cubemaps can be recreated to take advantage of the changes made to Valve's renderer.

You may also need to take a look at the orientation and properties of the lights in hammer. I have seen angular orientation differences as a result of vmex's decompilation of the maps. If the lights are not oriented correctly, you may end up with visual defects in the rendering of the textures and models.

I know about VTFEdit, cause I use it for making custom skins for other Source games. But about it's own lightning model. But I'm more concerned on the disappearing models, as you saw in that video, which are mostly the windows. But it happens on many props, if you get too close to it and view it in a small part (like the edge) it disappears. I'll try messing with the lightning in the meanwhile.

I compiled the same map and got the same results as you. The models are not disappearing. There are two models. The window and the curtain that covers the window. There is an environment fade entity that fades the curtains when you approach with the camera.

Ideally, you would expect that the curtains which are slightly transparent would cover the window completely and obscure the window if lit properly and the window would show through the curtains when the camera approached the window under certain lighting conditions.

The lighting illusion may not be working at all or not working properly. I have not checked to see if Valve has the same environment fade entity programmed into their engine.

This highlights the biggest obstacle. Valve may not have entities that can be substituted for those created by Troika. If not, we have to program the missing entities.

I don't really think it's because of the environment fade entity. I made a test map, in which I placed 6 windows (3 window model which are double windows) and 4 curtains static props.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNR1bxsY4HM

As you can see in this video, when you are looking at the model, in the same position but rotating the view angle, you can see that when looking at it's corner, it disappears. I didn't placed any environment fade entity in this test map, and fademindist and fademaxdist are set to 0.
I'd be guessing that the models are the cause, rather the lightning or fade. There are many models which have the same issues, in different maps. Try to find out what's the cause of models disappearing at viewing at that specific angle. I also tried putting a window from HL2 and putting a curtain for it, and next to it just the window and next to it just the curtain. The results were that the window with the curtain, the window stayed, the curtain disappeared, in both the window and curtain and separate. The HL2 window stayed, but the Bloodlines one still disappeared.

What are the full path names of the models and textures that you used in your test map? I do not believe the problem is with the models as they display without artifacts in hlmv. Perhaps it is the textures along with the shaders that are used to render them.

Did you run the full radiosity algorithm or the fast for the test map? Do the textures have an alpha channel?

This is a strange and interesting test case. Why are the models culled out of the scene when the camera approaches?

Yes, it is strange indeed. The only models which are affected are the Bloodlines one.
The full path names of the model is scenery/structural/diner/wndwa.mdl and for the material is models/scenery/structural/diner/wndwa. The map was compiled with full radiosity algorithm and the textures don't have alpha channel. I also for me the models display without artifacts in hlmv and in Hammer. I'd be guessing ingame rendering would be the most cause. But strangely on these Bloodlines models have this issues, and not the Half-Life 2 ones. Also it's not always when I approach it. They're are even culled out of the scene even when staying in a position and looking at its corner.

The material used for the wndwa.mdl is plaster/dinwndwc.vmt. This material uses LightmappedGeneric with an environment cube map and its associated mask. Troika did not use the same lightmapping algorithm as Valve. Valve does not have a physics surface property "plaster". Perhaps the rendering of the lightmap generated with Troika's vrad.exe will differ from that rendered with the lightmap generated using Valve's vrad.exe.

It would be nice if we had Troika's tools to test this theory. If we compiled your test map with Troika's tools and viewed it in game we would know for sure that Valve's rendering engine is the problem.

Yes that would be release nice if we could test with their tools. If only we could contact them, ask them about what they changed in their engine and if they could provide the tools.

The company no longer exists, and these tools have probably been lost to the winds.

However, check out the compilation tools fire64 has released - they successfully compiler maps for the original game.