Shader Editor

[Dirge Inferno]

I know I'm bumping an old thread, but has anyone come up with a solution to get Q3ASE working on newer computers?

[Eraser]

Hey CZghost, how's that shader editor coming along?

[obsidian]

[lvlshot]https://i.imgur.com/UcxcZND.png[/lvlshot]

:shrug:

[obsidian]

BTW, can anyone who can't get Q3ASE working confirm whether or not they have Msvcp60.dll sitting in the root directory?

[Fruity]

In my case, the Msvcp60.dll file was only in version Q3ASE 1.5.3. The earlier ones did not have this library.
It still only works on a WinXP VM (on Win 7, it doesn't work). I have no way to check on Windows 10.

[obsidian]

I have used Q3ASE on Windows 7 before so I know that it works. Perhaps you need some other add-on like Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable. Some programs like GtkRadiant 1.6.x requires it and Q3ASE may as well.

I'm not sure which one Q3ASE may require, but for GtkRadiant, I have Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable x64 installed.

[Fruity]

I have installed from v2015 to v2019 (as pictured) but I wasn't sure if there was a v2017 version fully working, but when I tried to install it said refusing (as this package already exists).
I thought that I would check it on a virtual machine (on pure Windows 7) because I used to do a lot of modifications in the system and in the registry (which I doubt if it would matter).

To my surprise, on the Win7 machine Q3ASE did not crash an application error and it initially worked (screen below), it did not work on the Win7 machine either :-0

However, there is something wrong with my current Win7 system and I don't know if more "Visual C++" packages installed than less could matter, or if there is some file collision or overwrite.

[Fruity]

On a Windows 10 virtual machine, Q3ASE works for me. If it doesn't work for someone, maybe there is some file collision or something is missing.

[quBit]

Here are two great alternatives to Q3ASE:

1: https://trello.com/c/6YleNX9k/351-shadered2-v25-and-v22

2: https://trello.com/c/lVFjJVbL/242-autoh ... er-editing

[Dirge Inferno]

Here are two great alternatives to Q3ASE:

1: https://trello.com/c/6YleNX9k/351-shadered2-v25-and-v22

2: https://trello.com/c/lVFjJVbL/242-autoh ... er-editing

Thanks for these, couldn't get Q3ASE to work at all and I'm on Windows 7. It use to work ages ago.

[Fruity]

In practice, I just found out that any change to the shader file requires a BSP recompilation. In general, half of my previous problems stemmed from this aspect :-/. Since the shader file is not injected into the .bsp file, but is located separately in the scripts directory, why can't you just edit the shader file without recompiling the BSP?
I thought that after entering the map in the game, the shader file is loaded from the scripts directory into the code in the game world every time.
In any case, I already know why I didn't have any changes after saving.

I once read in the documentation that one side / face of a brush (texture + shader) can physically affect the entire brush and I wonder if there can be collisions in the entire brush if 5 sides / face is "nodraw" and 6 side / face with different texture + shader?
For example, if we would like to make the player only go one way through the center of the brush without being able to return when he crosses the boundaries and runs through the entire brush. I once saw a trick like this on one map.

[sst13]

Of course you can edit the shader without compiling the map again and again.
But some changes needs recompiling. Changes that affect the geometry/clipping, the light, or the VIS.

Watch out for stuff like:
lighting (surfacelight, light-color, light-subdivision, transparency)
collision (clipping, brush properties)

For example: (red = needs recompile - green = no recompile)

textures/13hell/tele_beam
{
qer_editorimage textures/13hell/ql_lavabeam.tga
q3map_lightimage textures/sfx/demonltblackfinal_glow2.tga
q3map_surfacelight 100
surfaceparm nolightmap
surfaceparm nomarks
surfaceparm nonsolid
surfaceparm trans
cull disable
nopicmip
qer_trans 0.6
{
map textures/13hell/ql_lavabeam.tga
blendfunc add
rgbGen wave sin 0.8 0.2 0 4
tcMod scroll 0.3 0
}
{
map textures/sfx/zap_scroll2.tga
blendfunc add
rgbGen wave inversesawtooth -0.2 0.7 0.25 1
tcMod scale 0.0625 1
tcMod scroll 2 1
}
{
map textures/sfx/zap_scroll2.tga
blendfunc add
rgbGen wave inversesawtooth -0.2 0.7 0.75 1
tcMod scale 0.0625 -1
tcMod scroll 2 -1
}
}



If you apply multiple shaders with different brush-properties on a single brush, then the "first face" of the the brush will set the properties for the entire brush, ignoring all the other ones. You can take a look in the *.map file to find out which is the first face. But this is a bad idea because this can change when you edit the brush later. Or maybe even by saving the map.
So always use shaders with the same properties on a single brush.

If you want to create a one sided clipping, just use a simple-patch-mesh with playclip shader. You can pass thru from behind, but get blocked in the front.

[obsidian]

The game reads the shader files at load time, but Q3Map2 also reads the shader file during compiles. Both programs read different parts of the shader so that they know what to do with the surface.

For example, when Q3Map2 is calculating lightmaps, it needs to know information about surfacelight values, but it does not need to know if the texture is flickering. The game engine doesn't need to read surfacelight values since those have already been pre-calculated, but it does need to know what to do with the texture.

Changes to Q3Map_ and shaderparm directives will generally all require a recompile since you're changing some of the physical characteristics of the shader surface. If you're just changing something like stage directives, you're only changing the appearance and it does not require a recompile.

Mixing volumetric properties of brushes is a bad idea. It's completely unpredictable. A brush can't be solid and non-solid at the same time, Q3Map2 will pick the first face of the brush, (which may be random, and may change at any time) and apply that to the entire brush.

For example, if we would like to make the player only go one way through the center of the brush without being able to return when he crosses the boundaries and runs through the entire brush. I once saw a trick like this on one map.

That is likely a trick with using a patchmesh, and using it as a one-way surface.

[CZghost]

Hey CZghost, how's that shader editor coming along?

I am too busy with work and school, so sorry to disappoit you (yet again). I am a man of my word, I haven't forgotten, I just lack any particular time to do it. I never said when it is going to be. Could be in couple of years, maybe longer. I really have hardly any time to do it.

[obsidian]

If you think that's bad, just wait until you have kids.

[Eraser]

lol yes.
Having said that though, I built all of EntityPlus, 11 or so maps, q3spenhanced, an entire videogame, a complete MotoGP prediction game website and much more while having a full time job and 3 kids :shrug:

[Fruity]

It all depends on everything :-|

[Hipshot]

Hey CZghost, how's that shader editor coming along?

I am too busy with work and school, so sorry to disappoit you (yet again). I am a man of my word, I haven't forgotten, I just lack any particular time to do it. I never said when it is going to be. Could be in couple of years, maybe longer. I really have hardly any time to do it.

How long you been in school now czGhost?

[CZghost]

How long you been in school now czGhost?

Well, quite a while. I'm doing school remotely now, while also having a job. And paying for it, too. Plus I've got 3 Minecraft servers in management, so you can imagine the chaos in my head And to add a wood in the fire, I also plan to redesign my websites, I even purchased a domain for it. Very good timing, right at the end of semester when exams period is about to start.

EDIT: Also, I thought about it and I guess the easiest approach towards the Shader Editor would be to write a VS Code Extension for it (someone might fork it for Sublime Text as well). The extension will be actually pack of multiple extensions (downloadable as standalone extensions), one extension will add the syntax highlighting, another extension will include a mini-engine to render a selected shader (and of course shader parser). The latter bit I would actually need a help with, guess it won't be just purely lift the code out of the game engine, it would need to be altered I guess.

[Mapsking]

BTW, can anyone who can't get Q3ASE working confirm whether or not they have Msvcp60.dll sitting in the root directory?

I just downloaded version 1.5.3, on Windows 10 Pro x64. I can confirm Msvcp60.dll is in the directory, with an md5 hash of 6050BCC1B23F3DF7A1876CBDCBAC8232. It opens, asks me about 32 bit pixl depth, and then, whether I say yes or no, it closes immediately.

[quBit]

one extension will add the syntax highlighting

Sublime Text already has a shader syntax highlighter:
https://trello.com/c/5hnQU5dj/350-shade ... blime-text
Could use some updates though.

[Fruity]

BTW, can anyone who can't get Q3ASE working confirm whether or not they have Msvcp60.dll sitting in the root directory?

I just downloaded version 1.5.3, on Windows 10 Pro x64. I can confirm Msvcp60.dll is in the directory, with an md5 hash of 6050BCC1B23F3DF7A1876CBDCBAC8232. It opens, asks me about 32 bit pixl depth, and then, whether I say yes or no, it closes immediately.

There is clearly a collision of programs / services installed / running in the background. On a clean system (after format) and installing core components in windows 7 and 10, Q3ASE works. Currently, Q3ASE is not starting anymore.