gtkradiant vs netradiant custom?

[Acrobat]

gtkradiant vs netradiant custom?

What's the advantage of one to the other? I actually couldn't get netradiant to work right or load textures\shaders, but if I mess with it enough I probably can. However, what is the advantage of it over just using gtkradiant 1.4? Can you make larger maps or such?

[mjt]

q3map2 that NetRadiant brings a long as been improved quite substantially by its maintainer Garux - it's got a lot of quality of life improvements and better ressource management. The editor has a lot of added features - takes a while to get to know them all.

You have probably seen this but just in case:

https://garux.github.io/NRC/

 

The CSG tools have been improved over GTK Radiant a lot! Texture allignment is improved and you have UV lock button to retain them properly on rotate / move brushes - especially if you switch map type to V220 in preferences / brush

[Bubbles]

I wonder if 1.4 uses multi threading for compiling. I think maybe 1.5 does if you specify it. I believe with NRC its enabled by default. So build times should be a lot faster.

I also agree with MJT it is just easier to work with. I imagine it takes some adjusting though if your used to 1.4

[mrwonko]

1.4 is ancient, it has been superseded by 1.6, which is a direct upgrade and should be used instead. NRC has a different lineage and subsequently feels different to use, so it can come down to taste, but NRC is generally considered more powerful.

[Acrobat]

Does shearing still exist? I can't seem to make it work in netradiant but it's probably there. It's one of my more common techniques I like to use.

 

https://icculus.org/gtkradiant/documentation/q3radiant_manual/appndx/sskey_dl.htm

[Szico VII]

What features does this new q3map2 have over the one with GTK1.6.6?

Is it possible to get the new q3map2 from somewhere by itself?

[AshuraDX]

1 hour ago, Szico VII said:

What features does this new q3map2 have over the one with GTK1.6.6?

Is it possible to get the new q3map2 from somewhere by itself?

You could simply download netradiant, grab its q3map2.exe and replace your current one with it. Doesn't require you to use netradiant at all, I mean I'm piping maps from 3ds max into netradiants q3map2

[Szico VII]

3 hours ago, AshuraDX said:

You could simply download netradiant, grab its q3map2.exe and replace your current one with it. Doesn't require you to use netradiant at all, I mean I'm piping maps from 3ds max into netradiants q3map2

But what does it do differently?

[AshuraDX]

4 hours ago, Szico VII said:

But what does it do differently?

I can't tell you the exact changelist, but besides a lot of optimizations it has duplicated some compiler params into entity keys

you can set shadeangles and things like that on entity keys, so you could force different shade angles on the same material across different func_groups.

@mjt should know more

[Szico VII]

I'm finding this a big problem coming back after a few years, nothing is documented and there's no references

[AshuraDX]

12 minutes ago, Szico VII said:

I'm finding this a big problem coming back after a few years, nothing is documented and there's no references

That is true, luckily NetRadiant-Custom does have its own documentation - but unfortunately it does not highlight what has changed over the classic Q3map2.
Unfortunately that too seems only included in the download, unless I'm utterly blind and just can't find where it's hosted as a viewable site.

There's also this feature overview for NRC:
https://garux.github.io/NRC/

[mjt]

6 hours ago, Szico VII said:

But what does it do differently?

Most notable differences are in the toolkits provided - the gizmos / modifiers are a bit more advanced - the workflow differs in some areas quite substantially and coming from GTK, you'll have to relearn or reconfigure some shortcuts.

If you want a tour through the tool - I can help you set things up and show you around.

The q3map2 supplied alongside is vastly more modern than the one from GTK - it includes a bunch of custom fixes and enhancements documented on either github or the help documents supplied alongside.

If you want to take a look: https://garux.github.io/NRC/

[Szico VII]

Hi @mjtI was referring to q3map2 not netradiant, I did see the link about the netradiant features from another post above

in order to decide if its worth using, and how to make best use of it, I wpuld rrallynlike anlist of changes and any new compile parameters and what they do, so far I can find absolutely zero 

 

I also have no idea how to actually get this new q3map2 working in the first place. Simply replacing the old exe does not work and the various dll files are in a new structure compared with the 2.5.17 version in gtk 6.6

[mjt]

I've no idea how to separate out q3map2 from NRC folder structure - I just switched to using a batch script for the exe in the NRC directory, instructing it to scan my maps folder for last modified .map and then run its stuff on it.

I can curate a list of known changes if you give me some time. Most notable changes are under the hood though performance wise and with regards to how for example meta surfaces are generated.

In general NRC q3map2 switched to ASSIMP as a model loader - instead of picomodel and thus now supports a wide variety of model formats. Most notably .fbx with vertex RGBA - with this method you can also bypass some of the brushwork based surface count limitations that q3map2 usually throws.

Recent q3map2 from NRC also has some updates to the q3map_skylight command, enabling it to sample colors directly from the skyparms ( 6 skybox images ) and cast hemispheric ambient light.

The best documentation of what WORKS though is when opening the help in Radiant and looking at the offline / fixed documentation.

I'll get back with a more comprehensive list later.

[Szico VII]

@mjtThat would be very much appreciated

Could you share your batch file? Perhaps just one where the map can be dragged onto it to run the compiler (all 3 stages?)

Many thanks again

 

Oh, and I might take you up on the tour at some point but Im off to a mates stag this weekend so will rain check for now, if thats ok?

[Lazarus]

22 hours ago, mjt said:

Most notable differences are in the toolkits provided - the gizmos / modifiers are a bit more advanced - the workflow differs in some areas quite substantially and coming from GTK, you'll have to relearn or reconfigure some shortcuts.

If you want a tour through the tool - I can help you set things up and show you around.

The q3map2 supplied alongside is vastly more modern than the one from GTK - it includes a bunch of custom fixes and enhancements documented on either github or the help documents supplied alongside.

If you want to take a look: https://garux.github.io/NRC/

I just got NRC as well installed, i find vertex modding a lot easier, though height and dragging is a thing you need to get used to by switching to the move tool, i got used to it now, and actually i felt i made a lot of progress. Also the snap to grid option when selecting everything is a live savior, which helps me filling the gaps i get when i used cut tool with drag vertex mode. This dragging tool is a lot more optimized than GTK.

I do still try to figure out, so if @mjtis making a public tour, i gladly tag along