I'll start a map in a new theme. I already created a outdoors Japanese shrine-themed map before saying this (as of now it's only 1 brush), but I've paused work on that one because people expect me to take a mapping block or start a level in a new theme. I chose the "new theme" route because I wanted to release another map in this year. It's gonna be an indoors Japanese castle map. 

I'm not gonna do that "indoors Japanese castle" theme yet.

I'm just gonna do a map in a new theme, that being something I never quite used before. After I release that map, I'll take a 3 month break from mapping, then I'll do that "outdoors Japanese shrine" map and that "indoors Japanese castle" map. ( 

Have fun with whatever. Don't place any worries of expectations on us. We'll play whatever you make, whenever. I've got 4 maps I have been working off and on for 5+ years and no one has given me crap about taking too long or whatever. Take your time. Have fun! 

Okay, I'll "have fun with whatever" as you say! 

Yes it is possible:
http://imgur.com/P1IN2yX

Being playing around with the alpha key and simple glass textures and came up with this little hourglass / sands of time thingy. Making it illusionary allows for the sand to be seen inside.

The alpha key is one of the coolest features available, thanks to whoever implemented it. I'm not sure if all engines support it though. I was thinking with alpha, and maybe a blue glass texture one could make ice cubes and a frozen castle style map... Lots of possibilities. 

I don't see the glass, only sand in a very dark corner.

But yes, my tech map makes use of alpha for lots of things such as glass. 

Imgur seems to have really destroyed that other shot. This one its easier to see the glass in. Never sure how dark things are going to be...

http://imgur.com/5stxjNF 

If you post screenshots, it's good to know to tune up the gamma 200%.
It's hard to keep up with the thin blue gamma colour.
Nice done!

I was working at something simmilar static entity.
And statics have no transparents.
sandbox. 

Now I see it. Subtle but well done I think. 

Thanks for the tip. I like how easy Imgur works but I'm not to happy with the way screens look on there. I increased the brightness and made the alpha higher in the second screen.

Your model looks really cool too. You are certainly the master of Quake modelling. I would like to learn some modelling after I finish my current map, but it seems very challenging. 

shader/brush rain

An alternative to DP's rain that has virtually zero impact on performance, even with very, very low-end hardware.

Next is snow, which will be a little more tricky. 

isn't there a fillrate cost in areas with long sight lines? 

I'm certain it *technically* has a performance impact, but in my tests (so far) it isn't appreciable. 

let it snow

This turned out much better than I expected; however, there are a few issues: 1. when viewed from certain angles a pattern is noticeable, but this can be fixed by using more than one snow texture and varying the texture alignment, and 2. the brushes move in unison. It would be nice to make one set of bushes begin their move while the other set is in the middle of its own. I don't think there is a way to time delay deformvertexes purely shader-side. It's not a super big deal as you have to sit still and really look to notice it.

After reflecting on what metl said about line of sight, I figure you probably don't want to fill massive open areas with rain/snow. But, I think if you correctly hint/optimize your map there shouldn't be an issue. Compared to particle rain/snow, this method is worlds apart in terms of performance.

Also, in the video the framerate dips because of the recording software, it's normally pegged at 1k. 

2. the brushes move in unison.
You could use your fix from point 1 to prevent this, using duplicates of the same textures with their order shifted. 

Looking good. 

Nice! Use ash instead of snow =) 

Where's the download-it-now! button? :) 

Very cool stuff :) 

 

@mugwump - that won't do it, unfortunately. I'm speaking of the deformvertexes parameter in the shader. I use "move" to make the brushes appear to sway to and fro in a sine wave motion. The lame part is that the shader is executed globally at the same time at map load so all brushes reach the end of the move and change direction in unison. Offsetting half of the shaders so that they begin their move while the others are in the middle of their own would be preferable.

Use ash instead of snow =)

hmmm... 

figured out the "deformvertexes happening in unison" issue. "phase" is what I was look for. snow is awesome now :D 

I prepared test statue.
Works in vanilla.
Light is not exactly right on the 2nd screenshot, but I just have put it into some simple scene, to see if it works.

Statue - QME
Statue - WinQuake

1v1 me Muk style! 

That statue looks really nice :O any plans to release it anywhere? 

8-0