Well, I just played CoD for the first time in a long time, and since I played that first mission I decided I liked that flak panzer (wip).

IM not trying to re create the level or anything, BUT, i was wondering if it is possible to recreate expolosions over the air. THis would ROCK on quite a few maps.

From what i have tested and know already, you cannot affect the skies in HL with lighting. Another words, if I had a dynamic light, such as a flashlight and shined it on a sky box, the sky wouldnt light up.

That being said, i wonder if we could create a cloud texture or sprite, have a dynamic pulsing light behind it, and give the effect of a "explosion" in the air. I wonder if that would work.

Fuzzdad already created a paradrop sprite. Im wondering as a map community if we could come together and try to figure out an accurate recreation of that sequence.

Needs: Flying C47 models (possibly one on fire!)
paradrop sprite
evelope_shooter ??? AA fire (no idea how to make)
dynamic lighting effects for "explosions"
(light entity, others)
sounds! Plane crash, good AA fire
good night sky tga's
possible transparent cloud sprites???
good light_environment settings
(Glidias's sig looks about right)
searchlights

Post your settings, screenshots, etc for anything possibly needed

hope to see some creativity and involvement. I know you guys are the best in the HL community.

VoodooChild

Hmmmmmm, well it seems like having a second 'skybox' with the sky textures applied to it would be possible. But perhaps a better idea is to take the moving clouds system (you lay a big brush out on the level you want your clouds at, use a cloudy texture, and give it a name so the engine sees it as a water brush and makes it drift along slowly, it's pretty futching cool) and then lay explosions behind that. Since that brush would be more normal it seems like it'd be affected by dynamic lighting.

Actually...the paratroop drop in flugplatz is really a massively scaled down version of a full scale model...the model was used in the original dod_hedgerow opening cinematic.

And...I would not waste too much time thinking about making detailed sky action in this version of HL...a lot of us toyed with things like that but it always came down to using too many entities and incurring too much lag. But...in HL2 you'll actually build a second skybox off to the side...this skybox then get's projected onto the in-game skybox like a movie...so you can have planes wizzing past, all sorts of events occuring in your skybox and in the actual game you'll look up and see that action. If someone built a model set of a small squadron of B-17's on a bombing run you could follow them in the sky from one end of the map to the next without having to worry about them running through brush work...or a flight of geese, stuff like that. I'm not sure if there's a weather system of sorts but my guess is you can have overhead clouds move by etc)

That's great, but HL2 is still very far out of reach... Hopefully Valve's "Summer" release date is firm.

I have got the c47 flying, is like the one with the glider, from dod_glider, but without the glider... u understand me...

And I have also the searchlight, from dod_dog1. It is a quite nice one x)

Contact me if u want it... the model is from b3.1

damn you again fuzzdad for beating me to the punch.
:)

i suggest waiting for HL2 to do this, but if you can figure out a way to do it in DoD please enlighten me. Personally, I tried it like two years ago but never got anything to work right.

A multi_manager calling a light (brightness 1000 white color), then calling it again 1 millisecond after, is a very nice effect for night explosions. Successfully implemented in my last WIP dod_veteran.
The rest is harder. Nothing is impossible in HL(1), but here you are at the limits. Moving things and extra effects like this have an hudge influence on performances. I guess Glidias will write a whole book about this soon. Or encyclopedia we'll see :D
There are several possibilities. A simple sprite (i remember an eagle in a snow map in CS) or a model with less than 100 faces could do the trick. An animation would be required, since movewith property is history.
To be honest COD has a very impressive LOD, compared to our good old HL.

Yeah I could have a cool scripted seqeunce of a lit flare dropping down a shaft, but it'd be hell to make. I'd have to calculate the amount of time in seconds it'd take to hit the bottom, multiply that by 24 (or 30), figure out the acceleration curve of the object, and then strategically place light entities and trigger them precisely.

ive done something like it before, it invloved alot of env_beams if you have multiple targets it will pick them randomly creating a nice effect ..atleast nice on hl1 engine, also involved sounds and lights

though it wont ever look as good as cod and takes WAY to many entities

best bet is to forget about it map with what yo ugot and wait for hl2

hay i see a patern here :P

I always loved that effect in cod. You could also try to use func_illusionaries for other planes in the sky (far up) and paratroopers in the distance.

Like i said in the 1st post, im not making a map of it, so lag, etc is not a worry.

It basically be a tiny little map you could start up just to see the effects. NOW that being said, help with the solution instead of saying wait till HL2.

THis is not intended for a playable map. Just for fun that everyone could see.

btw, i didnt see a reply about AA fire. Can it be done? How?

like in flugplatz?

nevermind i figured it out...ty

If you want to fully light up the entire scenery like in OFP (rockets, flares, etc.), a trick is to place some sort of blinking light over the origin of the map model (tree, scenery, terrain), thus causing the entire map model to get lit up like a major flare! Good to simulate it with tracers and lighting up the whole map in a dark gloomy sky in some D-day night drop. For example, an entire terrain/bridge .mdl could get lit up simply because of it's origin being lit. For a night remagen bridge map (i know it's not historically accruate), the entire remagen uber large bridge .mdl will get lit up when some navy ship below it shoots out a flare (scripted of cos!!)....

Firstly, it's possible to use a life size model, put its origin/env_model in the map so it appears regardless. Make sure you set your VIS distance to 9999999999.

The paradrop .mdls used in flugplatz is the ones used in dod_hedgerow. They aren't life-sized models, but rather minature ones. Another comment i got to make, those paradrop .mdls are too poly intensive considering they are seen from far away. You could easily lower the polycount to a negible level that could allow for more dropping figures. Actually, a sprite could be used. But i think sprites won't work unless u intend the resultant object to be spawned within the world. This is because sprites images always appear on the origin, never in relation to it.

I seriously miss the loaders in Glider :( in b3.1. Oh yea, moveWith is history. I'm sad. But anyway, moveWith would run like a serious snail in v.1.0 considering the performance issues. Even the DoD AI grunts (allied_barney.mdl, axis_grunt.mdl, allied_grunt.mdl) used to run smoothly in b2.0-b3.1, but in v1.0 they start moving about jerkingly (maybe it;s my slow computer).

Of cos, HL2 will be better in this area. YOu can place tons of buildings/terrain/vehicles/flying-animals/clouds outside the map as part of a scenery! Detailed 1.6km x 1.6km area and outside scenery consisting of HDB flats, maybe an occasional airplane flying pass if you are near the airport area....YuM!!

LOL KRUGER, I didnt doubt it either :D

Glidias, I always see these totally amazing ideas of yours but I never see them into play. When are you gonna show us some of your work?

Originally posted by VoodooChild
[B]NOW that being said, help with the solution instead of saying wait till HL2.
I don't think you do realize that people who give this advice released more official maps than you will ever. In other words they know what they are talking about. You can experiment yourself, but keep in mind ol' timers advices. From what I've seen of HL1 and HL2, it is as if you asked to Michael Shumacher to drive a Grand Prix with a traction avant rather than the ferrari 2004.

Originally posted by Mythic_Kruger
I don't think you do realize that people who give this advice released more official maps than you will ever. In other words they know what they are talking about. You can experiment yourself, but keep in mind ol' timers advices. From what I've seen of HL1 and HL2, it is as if you asked to Michael Shumacher to drive a Grand Prix with a traction avant rather than the ferrari 2004. Except that the entire point of this is to see if it can be done in HL1. A challenge.

Actually...I like doing these test maps too because they teach you a world of things about entities and how to handle them.

All our advice is geared towards our experience and sometimes that experience makes us forget that we came from a time and place where we had to ask about clipping, and brush placement, and "what's the <insert entity name here> used for"...it's not meant as "don't waste your time because we've been there". I'd say go for it and when you think you have it post the bsp and the rmf so we can all share.

PS...I do need some help with a concept I have on "Instant Combat" that I'll post in another thread...

Yes if you do figure anything out that works, please post a test map so we can check it out. I'm sure when we start doing HL2 mapping we'll say "remember back in HL1 mapping when we had to jerry rig this lighting system and it took 18 million entities and it didn't work exactly as we had hoped" etc...

now if I can just get my strafing run test map working exactly the way i want...

yeh it certainly isnt impossible.
and its certainly something to try doing if your looking to gain experience, its just not very realistic to put it in a level concidering the amount of entities required to creat a effect that will never look as good as cod for example

there are other things your able to do with less entities to creat cool effects for example:

- env flashes with distance explosions (ambience ) lighting up the level

-trigger a "flare" that will light up the area with bright red light, gunfire starts, followed by expolsions

etc.

i guess the point in trying to make is.. concider what is possible to make with the engine and would look good. use what you got and dont be blinded by what you wished it would have been like.

:)