4 questions

[Veleran]

Download again,I put the missing actor in the zip.Point the directories to what it is in your system,but do not change the other settings,and save.
When you run the RfEditPro level Editor,set the visibility to visible groups,then open the level,
compile with the suppress hidden brushes checked.

If the level will not run try messing the actor mesh display directory,if before it was C:\RealityFactory\media\actors
make it like C:\RealityFactory\media\
Many times if you do not start a level from scratch and continue compiling it as it grows but open an existing one,the level editor crashes when trying to display the actor meshes.
I have not tested the bug much and i do not know what might be causing it.

After that you can do any changes and save to another name,but you first have the demo intact so you can check the original settings.
Do you use any compressed 8 bit paletted 256 color bitmaps?Their number 256 last color is for transparency.

[realgaming135]

That bug you are talking about, that thing that make the editor crash, it happends to me. When I open the level, and wanna point the directories to where I use them, the editor crashes. I can't do anything about it. One click or one movement = crash.
but I'll see if I can solve this en some way

[Veleran]

If you can not open it at all,then just start new scene and Import the lake demo .3dt level from the menu: File/import.

Before you import,in the Menu: view/show actors ,uncheck the actors-now they will not be displayed.

Mess the actor directory in the level options as i said-for example by removing the word "actors" or make it "actor".

[realgaming135]

Hey, I was thinking, could the reason be that I am using png textures on the terrain model?

[Veleran]

The texture format affects only the actor builder,that converts it to the bmp format the engine wants.The actor builder that can do it and i can think now is equity.
It may be a transparency and compression format issue or it may not be.

If there is something wrong with the textures ,it will show in the actor viewer of the tools folder.
It could be bugged,but not really bugged for example the classic case:if the texture was a paletted 8 bit 256 color ,the last 256 number would be transparent.

The actor builder should not have problem with that.
It could be something else that i noticed that may happen when you run Rf on 64 bit system win 7 ,the paletted 255 color not 256 color bitmaps that you created to a 32 bit win platform now appear as 256 bit color depth and now have transparency.
This means you have to re optimize and save the bitmaps as 255.

I advice leaving the textures to 24 bit,because Rf converts and compresses them to its own format.
Use the 8 bit 255 color depth only for transparent textures,but i personally use the more recent one the .tga.

If i remember right the 8 bit transparency (came out between 1996-98 with the first Genesis) then the newer tga 32 bit was added to Rf.

[realgaming135]

Hi again.

It could be something else that i noticed that may happen when you run Rf on 64 bit system win 7 ,the paletted 255 color not 256 color bitmaps that you created to a 32 bit win platform now appear as 256 bit color depth and now have transparency.

This is possible because I use windows 7 64 bit. But yeah, I can try re-optimizing it and save as 255 bitmaps. Leaving the textures to 24 bit. But if the texture is saved as a 8-bit bitmap with 256 bit color, wouldn't these holes in the terrain be there always then, instead of bugging and when player is in some positions, look different or even disappear?
But ofcourse, RF has never been good with outdoor (mostly natural) environments terrain and such. Maybe I should just stick to indoor levels only let them be outdoor if it is like in a city (with no natural environments).

[Veleran]

To be sure,use 24 bit the bitmaps and when ever you want to have transparency use the .tga which has an alpha channel.
Depending on the driver you pick on the video setup application of the Rf root directory,they will get compressed the way the engine can do it.

[realgaming135]

Hi

I'm not sure if I misunderstod something:

It could be something else that i noticed that may happen when you run Rf on 64 bit system win 7 ,the paletted 255 color not 256 color bitmaps that you created to a 32 bit win platform now appear as 256 bit color depth and now have transparency.
This means you have to re optimize and save the bitmaps as 255.

But wouldn't this happend to all the terrain, and not only in the water if this was the problem? And the problem is, that these holes appears in that part of the StaticEnityProxy terrain model that touches the water brush.
If this info helps: No tintcolor is showed in the water either.

To be sure,use 24 bit the bitmaps and when ever you want to have transparency use the .tga which has an alpha channel.
Depending on the driver you pick on the video setup application of the Rf root directory,they will get compressed the way the engine can do it.

And by the way, Equity 7C won't let me use Bitmaps on my model, so I use png, so I guess this only counts for the level geometry. But if this also counts for the png, I don't know how to fix this.

but thanks anyway for your time. This topic is growning big

I don't blame you if you get tired of replying to this topic, because you have put alot of time and knowlegde in this, but I really don't have any idea about this problem.

[Veleran]

I use the actorstudio tool not the equity,and i always save as 24 bit bmp uncompressed any textures i create or convert for actor building.You can start to learn using it because although limited, it is less buggy

[realgaming135]

Hi, and thanks again for answering

I used actorstudio to build my actor, and I did build my actor from a 24bit bitmap texture, and a model without any material on it. Actorstudio is a good tool and also quite easy to use.

But it didn't solve my ''holes-in-terrain-model'' problem. Nothing is changed at all. And this error/bug is one of the only problems that holds me from start building this level.
What really confuse me is that you can do it and I can't.

In case it is forgotten how the holes looks like, here's some screenshots:

holes.jpg

(100.29 KiB) Not downloaded yet

Here's how it looks where terrain model touches water brush. And the terrain model is made with 24bit bitmap texure.
They only appears on the other side of the waterbrush surface. So when I am inside the water, the holes appears other places except from in the water brush.

no tintcolor.jpg

(71.57 KiB) Not downloaded yet

And as I told, no tintcolor is showed in the water bruch either.

looking down.jpg

(122.85 KiB) Not downloaded yet

And when I look straight down, the terrain model disappears.

[Veleran]

Is the terrain static entity one texel above the collision brushes?
Are the collision brushes textured with a simple 24 bit bmp and no transparency at all,(no transparency 0-255 check in the face attributes)?
Run a test level preview using no transparency at all at the water model face attributes using 24 bit bmp water texture.
If it is still messed then start from the beginning ,adding one entity at a time to notice which thing is the buggy one.
And,i know it is not the reason for the clipping but you have to always use a default texture on all actors and bsp geometry.

[realgaming135]

Yes, the terrain static entity is one texel above the collision brushes.

The collision brushes you see through the holes, is marked as 'sky', but the only difference there is when you make them not transparent is, that you now can see the collision brush texture through the holes.

When the water is non-transparent I can't see those holes because you can't see through, but in the water there's no tintcolor.

Then I did the thing about find ''the buggy one''.
And already when I place the terrain static entity one texel above the collision brushes there is a bug: When I look straight down the static entity disappears. In fact it already happends no matter how I place it as a terrain. Then already when I place the brush that later on becomes the water, and make it transparent (without any Echaos and Liquid entity), the holes appears. And when I add Liquid entity, there's no tintcolor.

So my final thought about this, is making the terrain with lakes of textured collision brushes only.

I guess it can't handle when static entity proxy terrain and water brush crosses each other, or is overlapping each other.

But I still don't know why the static entity disappears when I look straight down.

Thanks for trying to help

[QuestOfDreams]

Your 'collision' brush should be of type Clip and that should not show up at all in the compiled level but just provide the geometry for collision. StaticMesh must have z-sort enabled if any transparency is involved (and should have vischecklevel 0 since it's probably visible all the time) ...

[realgaming135]

Hi QOD, and thanks for trying to help.
I wish I could say that this was what I was looking for, but sadly it wasn't.

StaticMesh can't handle a waterbrush going through it, not even with the settings you recommended. These holes which has been the problem with the StaticEntityProxy is also showing up here, and I fall through the seabottom. But maybe I should only use level geometry/ collision brushes with textures as a terrain, when water brushes is involved. it's just gonna be hard to make the cliff texture and the grass texture overlap each other in a smooth way.

I think I will experiment with this in some time before I post in this topic again, because this topic is growing big, Even though it's only about the "waterbrush + staticmesh/ -entityproxy" problem.

[Veleran]

I made the collision bsp brushes back to clip,and re uploaded the small lake example.
Modify any directory paths to point your working Rf folders.
Clip is good for optimization more so because it does not receive stencil shadows.
And still the monsters can not see you through them.
While solid cast shadow on the staticmesh ,although it is very dark and the clip brush has to be smaller that the static mesh and to not project out in any spot (a staticmesh pillar or 12 sides needs a clip of also 12 sides and smaller radius and height).

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fi ... 7785566681