Lets Make Ns Glow!
RedDragonGecko
Join Date: 2002-12-11 Member: 10564Members
Join Date: 2002-12-11 Member: 10564Members
<div class="IPBDescription">adding the Tron 2.0 glow effect</div> I think this would look very good and really fit in with the look and feel of ns.
Tutorial on implementing it is here <a href='http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?doc=1081854378-22165000' target='_blank'>http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?...854378-22165000</a>
and here are some screenies showing the differnce
<img src='http://collective.valve-erc.com/data/docs/1081854378-22165000/files/glow_beforeafter.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Tutorial on implementing it is here <a href='http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?doc=1081854378-22165000' target='_blank'>http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?...854378-22165000</a>
and here are some screenies showing the differnce
<img src='http://collective.valve-erc.com/data/docs/1081854378-22165000/files/glow_beforeafter.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Comments
The problem I see is that it makes the brightness a little excessive. It's not the brightness, it's the effect that it produces that looks neat. Possibly, a combination of this and lower gamma might look neat.
Because it looks cool.
Sounds like a fair enough reason to me.
The idea seems to be that a slight blur makes up for mediocre graphics. You can't see the seams between textures as well and the edges where polygons meet don't look so sharp. Considering the age of the half-life engine, I think it might be interesting to try this in a future beta.
Is this something that map makers can use on a map to map basis, or does it need to be coded into the main architecture of the game?
The idea seems to be that a slight blur makes up for mediocre graphics. You can't see the seams between textures as well and the edges where polygons meet don't look so sharp. Considering the age of the half-life engine, I think it might be interesting to try this in a future beta.
Is this something that map makers can use on a map to map basis, or does it need to be coded into the main architecture of the game? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
It needs to be coded into the mod itself, so it lies in the hands of the devs.
It a somewhat different way.
See the <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=62384' target='_blank'>Detail Textures Thread</a> in Mapping.
this would be awsome to have...and bring back some of the now-all-but-gone awsome atmosphere the game had
doitdoitdoit
:] nice find btw
Because it looks cool.
Sounds like a fair enough reason to me. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
there's many more pressing problems in ns, like balance. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yes, but Flayra wouldn't have ANYTHING involved with this would he? Other than slapping in some code, the blunt of the work is up to mappers no?
So what?
We arent discussing its priority, just if its a good feature idea or not. Dont be so negative.
<img src='http://www.labor.iu.edu/organizeindiana/images/clip%20art/Comic%20Thumbs%20Up%202.JPG' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Due to the way that this effect is being done, it will only work if the user is using OpenGL as their rendering API. In addition, their graphics card must have support for 4 texture units and fairly primitive vertex and pixel shaders. The effect was tested on an NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200, and should work on the equivalent hardware of ATI.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
which isn't quite so good. Do we really want more things that'll cause differences in how people see the game? Its bad enough as it is.
Would look nice though.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Due to the way that this effect is being done, it will only work if the user is using OpenGL as their rendering API. In addition, their graphics card must have support for 4 texture units and fairly primitive vertex and pixel shaders. The effect was tested on an NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200, and should work on the equivalent hardware of ATI.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
which isn't quite so good. Do we really want more things that'll cause differences in how people see the game? Its bad enough as it is.
Would look nice though. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well seeing as 99% uses OpenGL that won't be the problem but...
The problem is not everyone has a Geforce 4 or higher... <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->
They said they tested it on a Geforce4. It likely goes lower though (I don't know how far back 4 texture units reaches on the graphics technology ladder).
As for people asking to move on to more pressing matters... anything that makes the mod better deserves a place in it. This doesn't look like it takes a mind-blowingly huge amount of man-hours to implement, anyway.
*EDIT* an important thing to remember is that NS doesn't emphasize on the same things that most horror gnere movies and games do. It's in the mapping guidelines: dramatic and beautiful mapping is encouraged, not gore and bodies slumped against tables in a perpetually dark room. This lighting could create a great contrast between bright areas and dark areas, which may help the atmosphere more than we realize at first: or it may hurt. It depends on how the product looks.
Link.
Plz.
Now.
thx.
So it can be added to any mod without them having to patch it?
NS doesnt need it.
) allows you to play the single player half life with the glow effect.
make sure cg.dll and cggl.dll get put in you windows/system32 directory. Everything else gets put into a new directory under halflife.
Since the .dlls need to be modified the mod makers need to incorperate it themselfs
<img src='http://bob.thezazi.net/bastglow01.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://bob.thezazi.net/bastglow02.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://bob.thezazi.net/bastglow03.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://bob.thezazi.net/heraglow01.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://bob.thezazi.net/heraglow02.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://bob.thezazi.net/eclipseglow01.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Oooooh, aaaaah.
The effect is more noticable in some shots than in others, I admit. If you decide to play with it yourself, the command cg_blur_steps will help you out. The fewer steps, the less glow. Most of these were done with a range of 1-4. The more steps, the lower your fps as well. I tried to keep a somewhat realistic range to give an idea of how the game would play with this enabled. Of course you can crank it way up and get massive glow on everything, but then your fps drops to about 5, and you'll keep wondering if there's something in your eyes that's making everything so blurry.
Also note that you'll have to turn cheats on and then load the map, so you can noclip your way down out of the readyroom. The join team portals, obviously, don't work. Have fun!
Just a question: how hard were the FPS hits, and on what quality of graphics card? I'm asking this just out of curiousity, as if the glow was put in it would almost certainly have to be an option anyway.
It's simple to try it yourself, if you'd like. Like I mentioned, just install that linked mini mod up there to a folder under you half-life folder. The folder name doesn't matter (I used HLGlow), it'll show up in your games list as 'tron 2.0 effect'. Then just copy the maps, sprites, and models folders wholesale from you nsp folder. (Sounds are optional, but nice to have) Then just start up the tron 2.0 effect game and type map whatever to see how it looks with the blur. Make sure cheats are on so you can noclip out of the ready room. The maps aren't perfect, of course. It doesn't understand several ns only entities, the res nodes and the particle systems, most notably. So you do get some odd blank spots. And sometimes ceilings that are set as func_seethroughs vanish completely, leaving a hole into the void. But for just getting a general idea, it works great. The only difference is that you don't have ns's nice gamma overbrightening effect to make it really glow.
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