Decals, how to?

wacko · Post by **wacko** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 10:44 pm

I wanted to use algiers/afrika_windecal for the first time and I must confess, I don't know how

Should I use a brush 1 unit thick 'flying' in front of the wall or is there sth like the decal-thing in Worldcraft (which for me was always mirrored, unmovable and looked different in-game)?

Hope, I won't be downgraded for this question!?

panTera · Post by **panTera** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 11:40 pm

hi,
as for decals, I usually make them the same way I make my windows. These decal textures have a surfaceparm of 'trans' in their shaders so they won't make shadows. So what I use to do is make a flat brush with the common/nodraw-texture and then apply the decal texture to the front. You don't necessarily have to place them right in front of the wall, but you can also just drag them a little inside it (doesn't really matter i guess). Make the brush detail so it won't cut your wall. Well i don't know if this is the right way to do it but so far it all looks fine

.

The only real problem i have with these decal thingies is that they cause a lot of z-fighting when playing in 16bit:/ I use 32bit myself but I can image this can be annoying to people who do play with lower settings. But a few decals won't hurt and do look nice!

wacko · Post by **wacko** » Sun Mar 02, 2003 12:08 am

This z-fighting will become a problem... Also, I have it already in mohr, where these brushes are harder to select (select decal, get wall, select decal again, now get decal, deselect wall)
Those decals I wanted to use actually are just windows, and I wanted to use them for unaccessible buildings as it would be much less work (and brushes) to use them instead of 'real' windows...

panTera · Post by **panTera** » Sun Mar 02, 2003 12:25 am

why not just combine the wall and decal textures yourself in a paint program and add the combined version as a custom texture?
The only benifit of these decals is that you can place and move them anywhere on the wall you want. But when you say it's for some unaccessible buildings I'd say just edit the textures.
Sometimes when I have rather flat brushes laying on top of let's say a road, I drag the bottom of the flat brush through the road and don't caulk the sides. Strangly enough this can sometimes help, although it's not always a good thing to the fps.

if you need any help with editing textures, then lemme know.

Desert Eagle · Post by **Desert Eagle** » Sun Mar 02, 2003 3:58 am

Have you tried CSG Subtracting the brush decal into the wall. Seems to work for me.

mohaa_rox · Post by **mohaa_rox** » Sun Mar 02, 2003 4:05 am

It's advisable not to use csg subtract.

Desert Eagle · Post by **Desert Eagle** » Sun Mar 02, 2003 6:42 am

CSG is not the devil......

If used properly and your pc a powerhouse it can be used as long as mappers are careful.

Post by **jv_map** » Sun Mar 02, 2003 6:53 am

You don't need to have any z-fighting in your map

.

Just make sure there's no texture behind the decal except caulk. So you'll need to split up the wall behind the decal, you could use csg subtract for that but I don't think that's a good idea.

wacko · Post by **wacko** » Sun Mar 02, 2003 9:43 pm

Using CSG makes no sense in my eyes: I wanted to use a decal to keep the brush-count lower.
What do you think of a simple-patch-mesh (just 2 triangles) with the decal-texture, floating 1 unit in front of the wall? Could this be the way this decals are ment to be used?
I mean, what good would a decal(!) be if I had to make a brush to use it?!

HA!! post #200!!

Post by **jv_map** » Sun Mar 02, 2003 9:49 pm

What do you think of a simple-patch-mesh (just 2 triangles) with the decal-texture, floating 1 unit in front of the wall? Could this be the way this decals are ment to be used?

You will be able to see the wall behind the texture if your distance gets large enough.

I mean, what good would a decal(!) be if I had to make a brush to use it?!

Why so scary for brushes? You could make a brush slot exactly in the wall. This is better for framerate than the method you suggested, as the texture area is smaller. The wall doesn't have to be drawn totally anymore.

Congrats on your #200 post 8).

wacko · Post by **wacko** » Sun Mar 02, 2003 10:00 pm

Congrats on your #200 post

Thanx! Most of them was asking for help...

Why so scary for brushes? You could make a brush slot exactly in the wall. This is better for framerate than the method you suggested, as the texture area is smaller. The wall doesn't have to be drawn totally anymore.

I still don't get this compiling-vis-fps-thing

If you(!) say so, I will make brushes for my windows (aar, much more work this is...

)!

Slyk · Post by **Slyk** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 2:21 am

Sounds like you are making this too complicated, best idea is to either:

1. make it an individual brush that fits into the wall like a window or as JV stated.

2. make it a couple units thick, border the outer edges with a wood or metal texture and fit the main texture to the large side with a caulked back and align it against the wall.

wacko · Post by **wacko** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 7:56 am

2nd: and make it detail + clipbrushs in the groundfloor

Yep! But what are decals for, then?

Post by **Bjarne BZR** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 12:14 pm

Hmmm... reading this thread gives me an idea... can I use these "dacals" to put like... I dont know... an "explosion burn" in the middle of an intact brush? Like the effect of when a grenade explodes on the floor and leaves a burnt mark where it exploded? This could be really usefull when creating the results of an "objective explosion"...

rOger · Post by **rOger** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 8:40 pm

There is the Decals that you place in you map using not Radiant but MOH itself. There is a Tutorial for this with the SDK (?), Never tried it, but it seems to be what Bjarne are looking for.