[Mod] Thief 1/2 Realistic Water & Lava

LarryG on 12/10/2012 at 00:33

Quote Posted by vurt

the game unfortunately doesnt use different waters for streams and lakes (AFAIK), i wish it did because like you say a stream doesnt look like a lake. How transparent it is depends on depth too, the stream isnt too deep in the game, i've seen plenty of images of quite clear streams.

People have requested transparent water so that they can see what's below.

Edit: hmm maybe the green water (grim/grout) is used for the bigger ponds and the blue for streams? I guess i need to get to more places with water..

The original missions, I think, intended the green water to be more stagnant water, whether flowing or still, and the blue for fresher water. You can have more water types if you want in your own missions, I forget how many, but there is a limit I believe. I have some purple and gold and other colored waters to represent different chemical mixes in vats.

ZylonBane on 12/10/2012 at 00:40

Quote Posted by vurt

ah, thanks for the correction. i've always though it was a shader type.

Nope. This is DX6-era, so object lighting is done purely via simple vertex shading. At least it does it really well. Better than Deus Ex's vertex lighting, IMHO.

Albert on 12/10/2012 at 01:24

Say, um, is there a guide on how to use env maps? This is an interesting new thing which I've never actually heard of, when glancing through dromed discussion. Is it new for 1.19? :confused:

vurt on 12/10/2012 at 14:26

Quote Posted by Albert

Say, um, is there a guide on how to use env maps? This is an interesting new thing which I've never actually heard of, when glancing through dromed discussion. Is it new for 1.19? :confused:

Yes, its very simple here's an example from my blin.mtl:

env_map 0.15 1 tex\envmaps\v_reflection1

v_reflection1 is the file name of the cubemap in this case. 0.15 and 1 is the intensity and how large you want the env map to appear, afaik.

to create the cubemaps i used cubemapgen v1.1 (from ATI) i can give you a tutorial if you need one.

LarryG on 12/10/2012 at 14:49

Quote Posted by vurt

... to create the cubemaps i used cubemapgen v1.1 (from ATI) i can give you a tutorial if you need one.

Yes, please.

vurt on 12/10/2012 at 14:52

Here, i googled one for you that uses (http://download2-developer.amd.com/amd/GPU/executables/cubemapgen_v1.1.exe) cubemapgen:

Once you start up the program, here are the steps to creating a cube map:

1. In the blue section on the right, hit the "Skybox" checkbox so you can see your cube map faces in the background as they're loaded.
2. In the green section on the right, set "Select Cube Face" to +Y (the up direction). Then hit the "Load CubeMap Face" button. From your set of 6 images, select the image that's in the up direction.
3. Set "Select Cube Face" to -Y (the down direction). Hit the "Load CubeMap Face" button. Select the image that's in the down direction.
4. Set "Select Cube Face" to +Z (the forward direction). Hit the "Load CubeMap Face" button. Select the image that's in the forward direction.
5. Set "Select Cube Face" to -Z (the back direction). Hit the "Load CubeMap Face" button. Select the image that's in the back direction.
6. Set "Select Cube Face" to +X (the right direction). Hit the "Load CubeMap Face" button. Select the image that's in the right direction.
7. Set "Select Cube Face" to -X (the left direction). Hit the "Load CubeMap Face" button. Select the image that's in the left direction.
8. Now that all six of your panels are loaded, switch the "Display CubeMap" drop-down to "Output". The sphere in the center will turn black because you haven't generated any output yet.
9. Hit the "Filter Cubemap" button toward the bottom. CubemapGen will work for a few seconds and then your sphere will display the filtered version of your cubemap.
10. To save out your cube map, Hit "Save CubeMap (.dds)" toward the top and give your cube map a name.

(from (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=365936))

If you have additional questions ask :)

LarryG on 12/10/2012 at 14:59

I need something a little more basic yet. :erg: That's a mechanical explanation of how to. I need an explanation of what I am doing to what and why as well. What are cubemaps, what are they good for, how do they relate to Thief, etc.

For example, where it says "From your set of 6 images, select the image that's in the up direction," what 6 images is it talking about? :confused: I assume these are faces on a cube, but of what? Why? Huh?

blaydes99 on 12/10/2012 at 17:34

Fantastic work vurt, this is really starting to get good. Hope to see some downloadables soon. :)

vurt on 12/10/2012 at 18:46

Quote Posted by LarryG

A cubemap is a texture that consists of 6 images that are wrapped around a cube. This texture will be your environment map (or "reflection map").

Here's how the images should relate to the cube

Inline Image:

http://piclair.com/data/y72dx.jpg

I think my youtube video explains what it does in Thief and how it can look, however I just used a regular .dds and not a cubemap in the video, i just took a screenshot in thief and then resized it to 512x512 and used that as the reflection. So you can try that first if you want to get a basic understanding of how it can look on your model (or any default model).

Here are some examples of cubemaps (downloadable): (http://www.codemonsters.de/home/content.php?show=cubemaps) They should obviously match your surroundings, having a sky reflecting on a candle holder inside a building will look kind of odd..

@blaydes99 thanks, yes i'll try to finish the water today or tomorrow.

Weasel on 12/10/2012 at 20:28

Quote Posted by LarryG

To give you a real layman's explanation:

A cubemap is used for cheap reflections.

Even in an environment with just one shiny surface, giving it a real reflection potentially means rendering the entire scene twice. A cubemap is a way to sacrifice detail in exchange for having very little extra rendering to do. The reflective object thinks it's in cubic room without any real details--just fake things painted on the walls, floor, and ceiling. A cubemap for a particular area can be generated in advance, by essentially taking pictures in six different directions from a point in the middle of the area. That cubemap can then be used for anything reflective in that area.

For very small reflections (or when you don't care about being precise), you can use a more generic cubemap. For example, if a house has the same color walls everywhere, use the same cubemap in every room and it might not be obvious.