Texturing error (screenshots provided) [SOLVED]

[Amtie]

Question:

I've been mapping for a few weeks now, consider myself to be fairly experienced with most common functions.  I texture well, apply caulk to non-visible sides (except glass), and for map size considerations use default-map textures (e.g. textures from atcs, arachnid etc).

One problem i get with players who play my map is that a texture seems to not work/render/view/whatever, and instead shows the usual grey/white boxes associated with the noshaderfound texture thing. Paradoxially, the texture that is supposed to be viewed by the player is also used on a staircase directly adjacent to the defunct floor texture. I also have the same texture on the floor after the flight of stairs (leading down, towards z-axis 0), which views as expected. The texture in question is a texture from atcs, called "eq2_floor_04.jpg". My map has been pk3ed, and is auto-downloaded by clients. No textures have been included in the pk3.



The GTKRad. screenie shows the texture on the floor, and staircase. I'm guessing you can tell which is which.



This screenie shows the textures ingame, viewing perfectly. That is, on my computer, where the server hosting the map is hosted (sounds funny =/).



This screenie shows the textures ingame, again, only this time you see the texture on the floor is not viewing as intended, while the textures on the staircase views correctly. This screenshot was taken on my other computer, slightly older (bought in 2004), using trem 1.1.0, no tjw etc stuff (fresh install).

Note: After compiling the map (i think, or was it after loading the .bsp file in trem) i got a folder with the name of my .map file which contained four .tga files, numbered 0000 to 0004 (or something like that). I tried opening them with photoshop, paint, windows gallery viewer, but all failed to show anything. I believe there is some significance to these files, since four textures were not rendered correctly in my map the first time i loaded it.

Aftermath
As i was collecting the ingame screenshots in my old computer, i found that now even more textures had become defunct. What was even more confusing was that the textures on one group of brushes (which have the same texture) was defunct, while on the other side of the room, at the same level, had correct textures. Not one brush as the staircase/floor one, but a group of them. (They arn't physically grouped in gtk, just placed next to each other).

Edit:
If you want the .map file, post a link to a site i where i can upload for free (no signing up like rapidshare and the like).

[Taiyo.uk]

Do any image or shader related error messages appear in the console?

[Amtie]

In the first window (-meta, i think) during compilation, it says a few shaders are missing, but they do not correspond with the textures screwing up. And neither would it make sense even if they were the textures missing, since some brushes show while others dont, as you have seen in the screenshots.

Also; i sent my .map file to my friend, and when he opened it in gtk he found all the textures, even when correctly named, had the noshaderfound image in the textures selection. Even the skybox, caulk (which i used from the common folder), etc. This is very worrying...

[TRaK]

Amt111, I think Taiyo was asking if there were any error messages that appeared in the Tremulous console after the map loaded. That's where I would start. Also, look at the radiant console after opening your map and see if it references any textures that are not part of the default maps.

If you want me to take a look at the map, upload it to http://uploaded.to/

[n.o.s.brain]

I have had the same trouble in the past, but it was caused because I closed gtk radiant before the build was done.  the build continued, but it had missing textures in the most random places.  did you build with radiants compiler? if so, don't close radiant until the build is completed.

[Amtie]

http://uploaded.to/?id=3rvqfl The map is uploaded there. I believe i have used only base map textures such as atcs, transit etc. At least the textures i have trouble with are base map textures.

One note: I use vista where i map-build, host my server, and thus host my map.

And when i build my map (compile), i use the "BSP -meta, -vis, -light -fast -filter -super 2" build. As it builds, i get the normal three cmd pop ups one after the other, and i just leave my laptop to do its job, just switching on my fan so that it doesn't overheat. Yes, i have some overheating problems...

[Amtie]

Update:
I've compiled a new version of my map, with the stairs texture from atcs included in a textures folder in the pk3, and my old computer displayed it correctly. I also replaced another defunct texture with a new one, and it worked well (for now). I left another texture alone (the group one) and it did not change. Any ideas? I don't want to include textures already included in base maps since i dont want my map to be > 1mb, for player patience etc.

[Amtie]

No replies for around 24 hours... Well, i've sort of avoided the problem by putting the textures into my map's pk3. Although that basically doubled the overall size of the map, since it was around 400kbs...

[Odin]

You didn't "avoid" the problem. You solved it. There is no fix for that; you have to include the textures because you cannot expect the user to have the pk3's with the textures you used, not even the default maps.

[n.o.s.brain]

i wonder who would have trem on their computer without the stock maps? i mean, why have trem without atcs??!!!?!! 

but i agree that it is a good idea to include all textures that you used in the pk3.  I found making a pk3 with the texture set that you want before texturing your map makes texture trouble happen less.

[Amtie]

Thanks for your posts; I was out on a week-long course on an adventure course called "Outward Bound", if any of you in the UK know about it, so i couldn't answer earlier.

Thanks, again.

[CreatureofHell]

Lake District? No idea why i'm asking this because it is copletely off topic.

[Amtie]

Lake District? No idea why i'm asking this because it is copletely off topic.

Yeah, somewhere near there.

Back on topic:

I have gotten ultimate phailiure. Putting that atcs texture into the pk3 didn't do anything. Another brush i had texture problems with wasn't cured when i deleted the malfunct. brush, made a fresh new one and added a new texture, although the new brush was at the same place as the old one. This doesn't make sense at all. And when i compile my map, i get a folder in my maps folder where my .map file is located, containing a few .tga files. I tried putting them in my textures/ folder in the map pk3, but nothing. Im really getting sick and tired of this.

[blood2.0]

hey i have a solution! change the texture to something else.  Easy to do plus it will make it look better. Anything is looks better than atcs textures.

[CreatureofHell]

That was one of the worst posts I have ever seen. Down with your karma! 

[Amtie]

hey i have a solution! change the texture to something else.  Easy to do plus it will make it look better. Anything is looks better than atcs textures.

Putting that atcs texture into the pk3 didn't do anything. Another brush i had texture problems with wasn't cured when i deleted the malfunct. brush, made a fresh new one and added a new texture, although the new brush was at the same place as the old one. This doesn't make sense at all.

[Amtie]

*Bump*

I have noticed that Pulse 103 and another map have the same sort of folder i get in compilation, added to their maps folder in the pk3. I have done that, yet there is no change. If you have the map, try opening the pk3 > maps folder and see it.

[Lava Croft]

The folder and the .tga files you describe look a lot like the shaders and images q3map2 writes when compiling a map that has lightstyles set. Tremor is a good example of a map which also has this.

[Amtie]

I don't know about Tremor, but pulse has this:



This screenshot above shows the maps folder in the pulse.pk3. You can see the .bsp file and a folder with the same name there too.



This second screenshot shows the .tga files in the folder described above. These .tga files are identical to the ones i get, but when i place these files generated upon compilation into my maps folder in my .pk3, the textures in my map ingame are still screwed up... What is going wrong?

[Lava Croft]

I like said, those TGA files are written because q3map2 uses those TGA files for trickery concerning the lightmap. Since Quake3 does not support lightstyles (read: flickering lights et al) by itself, q3map2 can be told that light X is flickering, and it will generate a shader and a batch of images which will be used to generate the illusion of a flickering light. The really nasty thing is that my experience with q3map2 and lightstyles is very, very limited, so I don't really know what you should do next. All I can say is that I think you need a shader, so that Quake3 knows what to do with those lm*.tga images.

[Amtie]

Yes! Now we're getting somewhere! I remember adding a flickering light to the room with screwed up textures, and also is the reason that deleting/remaking brushes didn't get rid of the problem!

The flickering light is a shader, since i dont know how to make normal light entities flicker. And another significant piece of information is that when i delete the folder containing those textures, after compiling, my computer doesn't render the textures, just like my other (testing) computer does. However, if i keep the folder there, the textures appear, fine and dandy. I'll see if i can contact soubok, see if he has gotten any of this problem and solved it (if that makes sense).

Meanwhile, if anyone gets any info on this, please post. And thanks loads Lava for the info.

[Amtie]

I found out what was wrong with my map... I had not put the mapname.shader file into the scripts folder... It sounds so ridiculous... Well, thanks all of you peeps for your info, especially Lava. If your wandering what my map is called, its called "!nversion". I'm still building it though, so no public betas yet.

[maxell]

I AM STILL CONFUSED!!!


so what i unerstood by my mapping skills is that tremulous is searching the testures from another file somehwere else in another pk3...

but what i don't get who do you fixe the probleme and with what  programe?

[Amtie]

Nooo. When you make your .pk3 file, you have to put the [mapname].shader file that was generated in your scripts folder by gtkradiant/whatever into the scripts folder in your .pk3. If it still shows as notex then make sure you have all of the textures you have used that arn't in the default maps in your .pk3 when playing.