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Multiple Portals
https://www.quake3world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=52153
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Author:  RojaN Returned [ 06-29-2016 10:18 AM ]
Post subject:  Multiple Portals

I've got a control room with a bank of monitors, used like CCTV showing different areas of the map. Problem is, crosstalk. One of the cameras takes over the whole bank. I started with 2, then created 2 more to serve as a buffer, with no portal parm for the middle 2. Still no go. I move the misc_portal_surface entitles way off in opposite directions, the two brushes with the portal textures (derivative of portal_sfx) still are locked on by only 1 entity. Move 'em around, bsp and maybe I get the other one.

Is there some set distance at which this crosstalk ceases? Can they not be in the same plane? I realize this was never meant for this purpose, and the occasional map that uses portal_sfx/misc_portal_surface/misc_portal_camera are few and if there's two, they're separated (eg Lloyd Morris' Omnipresent Eye, with the two shooter cams seperated by some stairs). Any suggestions would be a help.

Author:  CZghost [ 06-29-2016 10:43 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Multiple Portals

You mean bunch of live cameras from different parts around a map being displayed on one wall using multiple screens? That's not possible since Quake3 has memory for only one active portal and thus only one portal will be visible. This is because of buffer overflow prevention when looked into infinite mirror. If you put two mirrors each facing the other, you will see some sort of hall on these mirrors. This is how the mirror works in real life. Not in Quake3. In Quake3 you will be looking to the mirror in front of you and the mirror behind you will render HOM effect instead, which is in short nothing being rendered, or even shortly the void, which most graphics cards just do not accept that there should be nothing, so they just repeat the render instructions set before the previous frame in the area where nothing is being drawn. So in short, you will need to obscure the cameras and actually use screenshots instead to get that actually "working". It won't be live, but at least it would look like that. Don't use pre-recorded RoQ videos as videomaps as it won't work like that and will cause similar feature like the multiple portals as one videomap will take over the whole memory buffer and will render in all the videomap places in the view. So in short, you will always end up using static screenshots of the map's areas to view as monitored. In order to really get multiple portals working it would require sophisticated and deep touches to the renderer itself, which would require to build new executable binary (quake3.exe on Windows). Sorry to say that, but currently there is no possibility to actually make multiple portals in one view :(

Author:  Theftbot [ 06-29-2016 12:17 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Multiple Portals

http://ws.q3df.org/level_design/mirror/

Author:  RojaN Returned [ 06-29-2016 01:34 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Multiple Portals

Hrm. So what about de-activating them? In other words, when I'm done looking at one, and walk away to another, the first one is flushed out, making room for monitor #2?

I have several portals at distant points, and they don't create this problem. So at some point the renderer is released and becomes available for a new portal. I've already tried
Code:
alphaGen portal (low value)
, but having the display faded out when you step away doesn't seem to free it up.. Is there some way that I could force the last portal to let go?

I don't need them both visible at once, I can have video noise (not RoQ, just a shader animation) until you get right on top of the individual monitor in question via the above line in the shader.

Author:  CZghost [ 06-29-2016 08:19 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Multiple Portals

The portal actually gets only covered by the cloud layer, but actually doesn't get deactivated. In order to do so you need to actually look away from that portal to get it off your view.

Author:  RojaN Returned [ 06-30-2016 06:11 PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Multiple Portals

Thanks, CZghost, that led to a fix. I've made two banks facing each other, each with only one actual portal, the other stations do other things. Because they face one another, the player will inevitably be turning their back on the other. It works.

Author:  KittenIgnition [ 07-05-2016 04:44 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Multiple Portals

What if I play on 180 FOV?

Author:  CZghost [ 07-06-2016 08:19 AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Multiple Portals

KittenIgnition wrote:
What if I play on 180 FOV?

Ugh :eek: Really that large? :paranoid: Why :question:

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