<![CDATA[QUAKE LIVE Forums - Mapper's Corner]]> http://www.quakelive.com/forum/ A place to learn and discuss the art of mapping for Quake Live. en Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:19:54 GMT vBulletin 180 http://www.quakelive.com/forum/images/misc/rss.png <![CDATA[QUAKE LIVE Forums - Mapper's Corner]]> http://www.quakelive.com/forum/ recovery of ultrav for Q3 http://www.quakelive.com/forum/showthread.php?32654-recovery-of-ultrav-for-Q3&goto=newpost Sun, 16 Jun 2013 11:09:08 GMT In 2004/05 I did a Q3 remake of the old QW map UltraViolence commonly referred to as UltraV. It was hosted on our local servers with good feedback. ... In 2004/05 I did a Q3 remake of the old QW map UltraViolence commonly referred to as UltraV. It was hosted on our local servers with good feedback.

However at that time due to studies and other personal reasons, I drifted away from Quake and since returned in 2009.

Unfortunately in the interim period my hdd crashed and I lost quite a bit of data, including my workings for the map. I managed to get the final release from another player I met on the QL servers.

If I recall correctly from the years I did use GTK, the final .bsp cannot really be edited. Is this still the case and if so how would I be able to proceed with marketing my map? I must add I also lost my Q3 so I would have to purchase a copy of that as well. ]]> saturnz http://www.quakelive.com/forum/showthread.php?32654-recovery-of-ultrav-for-Q3 Creating Your Own Shader - The Basics http://www.quakelive.com/forum/showthread.php?32510-Creating-Your-Own-Shader-The-Basics&goto=newpost Thu, 06 Jun 2013 11:25:00 GMT As I mentioned in my videos already, QuakeLive differentiates between two different materials, namely textures and shaders. As opposed to textures,... As I mentioned in my videos already, QuakeLive differentiates between two different materials, namely textures and shaders.
As opposed to textures, shaders are not just simple images but script files that assign specific properties to textures (i.e. water, lava, flares, lamps, jumppads, grates).

Getting deeper into map making you will get to the point of modifying existing QuakeLive shaders (i.e. create a alternative color version of a banner or simular) or creating your own. In order to do this, you need to learn how to create your own shader file (no worries, it's not hard).

1. Creating Your Shader File

A shader file is nothing more than a simple text file with the file suffix changed to .shader. To create your shader file, navigate to the scripts\ folder inside wolfcamql\baseq3\ and create a new text file using the name of your current project (i.e. I named the shader file for cure ct_cure.shader).
As you might have noticed all of my shaders use the prefix ct_ which is nothing more than an abbreviation for "cityy" and a measure to group all my shaders. Giving your project materials a prefix with an underscore will cause GTKradiant to automatically group them in the texture browser (just like base_wall/floor/light, gothic_wall/floor/light etc.) and is a great way to keep yourself organized.

NOTE: Pay attention to the difference between a shader and a shader file - shaders are contents of the shader file, they include a path, global directives and stages (see "4. How Are Shaders Structured")

2. Adding Your Shader To The Shaderlist

The shaderlist communicates with GTKradiant and q3map2 (the map compiler) to let them know what shader files they are supposed to load.
That's why your shader has to be listed in the shaderlist in order to be recognized by GTKradiant/q3map2. Look for the shaderlist.txt file inside wolfcam\baseq3\scripts\ and open it with a text editor of your choice. Finally, add the name of your shader below the others (for cure, I added ct_cure to the shaderlist).

3. Creating Your Material Folder

Creating your own shader often goes with using your own or modified QuakeLive textures. For the purpose of self organization you manage those textures in your own material folder which should have the same name as your .shader file (e.g. the material folder for cure is called ct_cure). Put your material folder into wolfcam\baseq3\textures.

4. How Are Shaders Structured

Shader files are basically lists of shader directives, they are not algorithms and are in no way related to traditional programming (c, c++ etc.) - shader files are much more like CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) documents, a list of directives being defined through parameters and values.
If you are new to shaders, keep in mind that they are easier to handle than it looks but also be aware of the fact that there is no guide, tutorial or video that will make you a shader expert in 24 hours.
The best way to get into shaders is getting an idea about what result you want to achieve, find an existing shader in QL that does exactly what you want or something simular and eventually grab that shader and copy its contents over to your own file.
The common shader structure looks like this:

Code:
textures/mymap/exampleshader
{
    GLOBAL DIRECTIVES
    {
            STAGE 1
    } 
    {
            STAGE 2
    }
}
Explanation:

- 1st line: textures/mymap/exampleshader - this sets the path and name of your shader, in this example the shader "exampleshader" would appear in the "mymap" folder in the texture browser. For the shader path you usually stick to the same name as you gave your shader file (e.g. in the case of cure it would be "ct_cure.shader" with the path "textures/ct_cure/exampleshader")
- the first curly bracket ({) opens the global directives of the shader which commonly include surfaceparameters (e.g. nonsolid, nomarks), "q3map_"- and light parameters as well as the stages
- stages: managed by curly brackets inside the main stage, you have to imagine sub stages like texture layers of your shader - e.g. if you look at the base jumppad, sub stage 1 would contain the actual pad texture while sub stage 2 would contain the semi transparent blend texture (glow/swoosh effect) - NOTE: Stages are layered back to front. Ingame, the first stage is always "at the very bottom" of your shader
- note that the global directives affect the entire shader in its properties while the stages only affect the individual layers

As said above, the best method for startes is to work off existing QuakeLive shaders. Pak00.pk3 contains most of the basic QuakeLive shaders, so if you decrypt and unpack it you will have a good repository to work off from.

5. Advancing With the Shader Manual

Copy pasting existing shaders and understanding their structure is one thing but understanding what those parameters actually do is another. You can be a good map maker without understanding too much of the shader topic but at some point you will find yourself wanting to understand what all this is about to be able to create new things resulting from your own imagination. That's where the ShaderManual comes into play. The ShaderManual is the official Q3map2 shader documentation and covers every shader parameter available.
Personally, I also started with copy/pasting shaders but eventually, when I wanted to achieve a certain effect with a shader I started looking into the manual, checking out what all those blendFuncs and tcmods are doing. The Manual is the bible of shader editing and of great importance during editing sessions.
You can access the shader manual on multiple websites (use the link above or just search for it via google), access it through GTKradiant (help menu) or what I recommend, save yourself a local copy.

If anyone has specific questions regarding this, feel free to ask. ]]> cityy http://www.quakelive.com/forum/showthread.php?32510-Creating-Your-Own-Shader-The-Basics Texture stretching issue http://www.quakelive.com/forum/showthread.php?32507-Texture-stretching-issue&goto=newpost Thu, 06 Jun 2013 03:21:50 GMT So I have a custom texture, a blue-colored version of the Strogg doorway used in the Warehouse. I go ahead and do a texture replace on those doors to... So I have a custom texture, a blue-colored version of the Strogg doorway used in the Warehouse. I go ahead and do a texture replace on those doors to swap them for the blue doors. (so I don't have to do a lot of re-adjustment) They look perfectly fine and dandy in the editor, as seen here:



But when I compile and view it in-game, I am looking at this instead:



Now, I realize I can fix it by doing some manual re-adjustment, by multiplying the number of repeats for the dimensions of the texture by the dimensions in the editor and moving them manually. But what I want to know is how to prevent it from happening in the first place, especially when a more complex situation arises and simply adjusting textures will become too cumbersome. (i.e. working with irregularly angled surfaces that have a texture with this same problem, and having to re-compile 20 times just to check if it's right)

The texture has the exact same dimensions as the original (512x512), with the only difference being that this is a .TGA, not a .JPG. Do note, however, that I cannot use .JPG as this causes the map to crash with an error. The texture is not a part of a shader, so it is not being affected by the scale function. The original orange doors look the same in-game as they do in the editor, so they are fine - only the doors using my new blue texture are affected.

Thanks in advance. ]]> EmeraldTiger http://www.quakelive.com/forum/showthread.php?32507-Texture-stretching-issue Introducing: The Shaderlist http://www.quakelive.com/forum/showthread.php?32505-Introducing-The-Shaderlist&goto=newpost Wed, 05 Jun 2013 20:15:33 GMT In this article I want to lose a few words about the mysterious shaderlist. _What is the shaderlist?_ The shaderlist is a text file inside your... In this article I want to lose a few words about the mysterious shaderlist.

What is the shaderlist?

The shaderlist is a text file inside your baseq3\scripts folder that GTKradiant and Q3map2 use to determine what shader files they need to load.

Why is the shaderlist important for me?

QuakeLive as you download it from the website does not come with an up to date shaderlist. Due to this, shader entries of newer maps (e.g. repent, cure) are missing in the default QuakeLive setup which causes some shaders not to be listed in the textures menu.
If you are interested in using all QuakeLive shaders you need to get an up to date version of the shaderlist.txt and put it inside your baseq3\scripts folder.


OMG, OMG, OMG, where can I get an up to date shaderlist???

DOWNLOAD (Dropbox)

---

Future versions of GTKradiant are hopefully going to come with an up to date shaderlist but for now you need to set this up manually. If you added any custom shaders to your current shaderlist, be sure to port them to the new file.

For more basic information about shaders read: http://www.quakelive.com/forum/showt...der-The-Basics ]]> cityy http://www.quakelive.com/forum/showthread.php?32505-Introducing-The-Shaderlist How to... ??? http://www.quakelive.com/forum/showthread.php?32466-How-to...&goto=newpost Mon, 03 Jun 2013 13:59:42 GMT hello everyone,

i have a few questions,

1] can i load QL maps into GTKradiant? and if so, how?
2] or can i extract the textures and such from a map?

i have used this tutorial
http://www.esreality.com/post/222132...-to-3d-format/

but i my command prompt doesnt allow the quakelivedec thing...
please help? i saw some nice textures in repent and a Quake logo in arcane citadel i would like to use in my map ''penance'' ]]> Guitar_Monkey http://www.quakelive.com/forum/showthread.php?32466-How-to...