Shaders will be the death of me!

[Artemis]

I have looked through the Q3 Shader Manual multiple times already, but I'm still confused.  I need a shiny wall shader for something a friend and I are working on, though for right now I'm just working with a random texture and a glass shader, trying to give it the shiny appearance.

 

In my base folder, I have textures/derp/metalshine, which is the texture I'm wanting to use.  There's also a derp.shader in the shaders folder, and I added the name to the shaderlist.txt.

 

This is what I'm working with from the glass shader:

 

textures/derp/env_metal  <- (Is that even right, to begin with?)
{
 qer_editorimage textures/common/etest4
 surfaceparm forcefield
 q3map_nolightmap
 q3map_onlyvertexlighting
    {
        map textures/derp/metalshine
        rgbGen vertex
    }
    {
        map textures/common/environ9a
        blendFunc GL_ONE GL_ONE
        rgbGen const ( 0.439216 0.439216 0.439216 )
        tcGen environment
        tcMod scale 0.25 0.25
    }
}

 

The thing is, when I try and open the env_metal in ShaderEd, it gives me an error that says it can't find textures/derp/metalshine.  Until something else comes up, that would be the root of the problem.

[Syko]

What I've done in the past with shaders is to copy someone else's shader text (sue me) and replace the textures with mine. Look through some of Sith-J-Cull's maps and if there's an effect you like, see if you can find the corresponding shader and use that.

 

BTW, I believe that your texture file entries (ex. env_metal) need to have a file extension with them.

[mrwonko]

You'll probably want a lightmap. q3map_nolightmap prevents generating one during compilation and lack of a map $lightmap stage prevents using one.

 

Shaders are very close to the hardware - you basically need to learn a lot about how graphics cards work in order to be able to properly write them: Blending, depth tests, what purpose alpha sorting has (note that the Quake 3 engine does not alpha sort). I've only recently started to fully understand them, and I've been mapping for over 10 years.

[Artemis]

Are the textures in question inside a pk3? Or in a folder in base? I.e, base/textures/derp/metalshine.

 

 

 

Also, ShaderEd is kind of a piece of shit. Does the shader at least work in game?

Nope, the textures are just in base/textures/derp now, which I just discovered does not work...  I had a couple in a .pk3 earlier, and those were working up until I took the .pk3 out.

I did test the shader after redoing the .pk3, and it still doesn't work in game.

[Szico VII]

When you say doesnt work do you mean Grey and white squares or normal texture but with no effect?

[Artemis]

When you say doesnt work do you mean Grey and white squares or normal texture but with no effect?

In game, I'm getting the gray and white.  In GTK, I see the right texture...  :/

[Agent Jones]

I have exactly the same problem with a custom water shader.

[Artemis]

I have exactly the same problem with a custom water shader.

 

Yay, it's not just me!

 

If you have the shader file in both a PK3 and the base/shaders folder, make sure they are exactly current. Meaning, both are the version of the shader you wish used.

I'm positive that they're current and the same.

[Artemis]

Well, after fiddling with shaders on models and doing some utterly nonproductive modding, I woke up this morning and realized that my whole code was screwy. 

 

Fixed the code, updated the .pk3 and such, and still nothing.  But I at least got an error in the console...  my metal image was the wrong size.  -.-

 

Fixed that, updated everything, and it works!