"DP New-Lava" Thread

[MadGypsy]

rain+snow+fog

Here ya go. On a side note I have been saving these tutorial webpages offline (by seven, golden_boy, etc...). I intend to turn them into one mega pdf. I don't like to do things half-assed though, so it is actually a lot more than just telling acrobat to combine all the pages into a PDF. I want to keep some comments (that were helpful) and remove others (that were "thanks" etc). This involves editing out a lot of html.

There is also another step of sorting it all into categories. I have worked on this off and on for a while but it is quite voluminous and keeps getting bigger before I can even finish what I have.

So, hopefully one day in the future I will have a compendium of tutorials from here and a few other sites that will make finding certain information much easier.

[talisa]

yes yes, i had made a text file myself too with some quick reminders on how to do it and such, and some tips and hints for myself, but i apparently had accidentially removed the file, lol

and yes yes, i know that thread about rain/snow/fog and have it bookmarked since ages, but thanx anyway for the link.
i was actually referring to the post on how to add the lava steam effect

[webangel]

Seven made a great tut here

Read point 3.) Add particle effects into maps!

[Seven]

Hehe, that was a misunderstanding.

When I said: "snow", I meant the dust particles that slowly raise from lava pools.
As you know, the "snow" effect is used for this.

Please find an example of how it is done in the "small mod compilation" for Rogue.
The .ent file in the download contains the Rogue´s start map.
The Rogue start map´s hard entrance has the steam and "snow" effect in that file.
It is used exactly like the rain .ent block. Only with downside-up snow effect for the flying ashes.
The "snow"-ash has zero performance impact. So you can do it without worries.
The steam/smoke effect for lava has performance impact of course.

As far as I know gdiddy62 wants to do some ID1 maps with:
- new lava eruptions
- lava steam
- "snow"-ashes


Thank you all for your interest and support.

[gdiddy62]

Yes, I'll try to help with lava eruptions, etc!

[talisa]

@seven
ah yes yes, of course ill be adding that rising ash effect, i totally love it

btw can i safely also make versions of ent files with the added lava eruptions?
as in like you wont change anything qc wise? if so ill make versions already which include that lava eruptions effect so that once you release the next version of smc they can immediately have the effect added

@all
thanx everyone else for the links and such. gets me all excited to go make ent files for rogue too. ill first make standard versions with only rain, and then add versions with added effects, so anyone can choose which effects they want and which not
just like seven added a whole bunch of versions with diff effects for ID1

i think ill start on it right away later today, im getting all excited now

[Seven]

The code, sound and effectinfo script for the lava eruptions from post #92 has been changed a lot.
I described it in detail in post #100.

So you will have to wait untill the "small mod compilation" will be released.
I plan to do so next weekend.

I am a little angry with myself, because of the big delay of the new version.
But new ideas all the time short before I want to release it, had it delayed.
But I have to draw a line now.

You can of course safely start with rain cubes.
And always remember to find a good compromise between rain "count"-value and visual. Less is sometimes more. And it will keep the fps up.
Your hipnotic rain was a little too strong in my personal opinion.
But hey, that is just my opinion. And I am wrong many times...

Have fun editing the Rogue maps splitterface !
Seven

[talisa]

okies, ill wait then untill you release the next smc version before adding lava eruptions to the ent files

and dun worry, i dont mind at all if we have to wait longer, seeing waiting longer means more awesome features <3
id gladly wait for another year even if it would mean we'd get a ton more awesome new features

ill try to keep a balance between amount of rain and fps. but other people would have to help on that a bit by lettting me know if its to much, i myself have an uber-powerfull pc and thus even with gigantic amounts of rain i get little to no fps drop at all.

and thanx, i surely will, totally excited to add rain and rising ash and rising steam for ROGUE


EDIT: btw i had an idea.... couldnt the rain code be changed somehow so that instead of calculating the amount of raindrops based on 'blocksize divided by the specified value' that it instead bases the amount of raindrops based on 'drops per unit/meter'? so that no matter how big or small you'd make a rainblock that the amoujnt of rain per meter would always be the same, and thus you wont get that tiny rainblocks would have to much rain compared to bigger ones
and that would also allow for specifying the amount of rain a person likes through a cvar, cuz the 'drops per units/meter' could easily be increased&decreased. and then people who'd like more rain could have more while people who like less can have less, without the need to use a different ent file

wouldnt this be possible? to make the engine calculate amount of raindrops per second based on 'drops per meter' instead of 'blocksize divided by specified value' ?

[Seven]

Interesting question.
Once I fully understand it (due to my bad english) I will think about it.

[talisa]

erm... lemme try explaining it in german what i mean. my german is not the best but people often tell me im better at it then i think. anyways, excuse me if i make mistakes

die regen ist heute calculiert wie 'grosse von regenblock geteilt durch angegeben wert'. kan es nicht errandert werden das es an stelle von calculiert wert wie 'regentropfen pro meter/unit'? wenn es so calculiert dan ist auch die regen in jeden block gleich, und is es nict das in sehr kleine blocken mehr regen ist dan in grosse, und dan kan man auch sehr kleine blocken brauchen sonder das es sehr viel regen ist in das block.

und wenn es so calculiert wert wie 'regentropfen pro meter/unit' ist es auch moglich es zufugen das die speler mit eine cvar selbst kan sagen von 'in die map wil ich so viel regen, und in die map so viel'

i hope that that makes it more clear what i mean, and that i didnt make to many errors

[Seven]

The amount of rain particles is based on the area size.
That is how LH coded it inside his engine code.

void(vector mincorner, vector maxcorner, vector vel, float howmany, float color) te_particlerain = #409;

SSQC changes are ignored.
Even "hardcoded" count values get ignored.
Also count<1 values will not spawn particles.
Even when I delete the SSQC lines for that, the engine will not spawn any.
So, in short words, there is nothing I can do against the way it is done in DP.
I guess you would have to change the code in .c to do so.
As always, I might be wrong.

[talisa]

was already afraid of that...
shame you cant fix it and the rain code is engine-side and thus not changeable

[_Smith_]

Well, Seven is wrong this time

Solution is in the unused func_rain() from dpmod. It has more functionality than we need and don't work with our ent files.
This simplified version is good enough for us, add it below rain_think() in misc.qc:

void() rain_init =
{
if (!self.dest) self.dest = '0 0 -700';
if (!self.cnt) self.cnt = 2;
if (!self.count) self.count = 1;
self.count = self.count * fabs((self.absmax_x - self.absmin_x)*(self.absmax_y - self.absmin_y)/65536);
var float autocvar_rain_density = 1;
self.count = self.count * autocvar_rain_density;
if (self.count == 0) { remove(self); return; }
if (self.count < 1) self.count = 1;
self.think = rain_think;
self.nextthink = time + 0.1;
};

autoexec.cfg: set rain_density 1 – default, 0 – will disable rain, you can use any value you want

Example ent file entry ( the first rain one in start.ent ):

{
"classname" "info_notnull"
"absmin" "276 404 -100"
"absmax" "812 764 400"
"nextthink" "0.1"
"think" "rain_init"
}

It is compatible with existing ent files: “min”, ”max” lines are unused I believe, “dest”, “cnt” lines are unnecessary unless you want values different than default.
"count" will work exactly like it works now, but you should use it only if you want different rain density in this particular spot ( for performance reasons, or on very tiny blocks, remember it is still affected by rain_density autocvar ). When count line is not present, default value will be calculated from rain block size.

To have uniform rain density across all levels “count” lines should be deleted or commented out and “think” values should be changed to “rain_init” in all ent files.

Edit: There was a bug in the fourth line: there was fabs missing -> self.count = fabs(...); it worked on start map and I didn't suspect this code can be incorrect

[talisa]

cools, ill give it a try later, see if it works.

[Seven]

Hello Smith,

Good to see you back.

Unfortunately this will not change the issue with count<1 values.
As soon as the calculation will result in a count value<1 the rain is not spawned.
That was my concern.
It seems to be hardcoded in the engine.

I am not sure if you tried to create weather cubes for maps before.
The value "1" is good enough for big areas, but unfortunately you have to create small cubes many times to fully complete a roof cutout and you still have to use that big value of "1", which is for a small area much too much.

That is what I meant in my above post:
Even hardcoded values get ignored.

Example for your code:
Put this into start map:

{
"classname" "info_notnull"
"absmin" "400 500 -100"
"absmax" "500 600 400"
"nextthink" "0.1"
"think" "rain_init"
"dest" "0 0 -700"
"cnt" "2"
}

You need a cvar value of "7" to have a result count>1, so that the rain starts to fall.
So you always need a minimum cvar value for your cubes to be sure that the rain will fall.

And this makes the code and the idea to have a free choosable cvar value absolete !

It would be wonderful if LordHavoc gets rid of this minimum count value...
I have no idea why he added it.

But Thank you very much for your post and idea Smith !

Best wishes and hope to see you more often
Seven