Tree Masking Problem

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Ginko
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Tree Masking Problem

Post by Ginko »

Howdy,

I've scoured the internet trying to find an answer to this problem I'm having with the tree meshes.

Image

This is an old screenshot, but I'm to the point of detailing where I would like to fix this if it's possible. See how the trees are pointed where they should be masked? I'm sure they're supposed to be masked leaves, but the black portion of the mask is visible. Is it a lighting issue or is there a flag I can change on the mesh?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

ginko
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Creavion
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Re: Tree Masking Problem

Post by Creavion »

Well, its because ... well uhm masking does not always work correctly with the renders. To be more exact: It seems to be an issue with the textures themself (software rendering does not seem to be affected by this). I figured a long time ago out, that if you set the polygons of your "own" tree, plant and foilage textures to mask - the polygon/surface properties and convert that with Mesh Maker - they are ALWAYS correctly mask, while it does not work all the time with the default tree models of Unreal / UT. There is not really anything you can do about that. Well those trees are ugly as hell anyway^^
Trees.zip
(1.22 MiB) Downloaded 226 times
Take that.
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Ginko
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Re: Tree Masking Problem

Post by Ginko »

(Taken)

I coulda swore I saw them rendered correctly once or twice, but I drink a lot of beer...

So the three .u files in that zip... do I need to import them as custom meshes like I would a custom texture? I'm looking forward to some new foliage in my Wombo.

Thanks again,

ginko
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Re: Tree Masking Problem

Post by Creavion »

Ginko wrote:I coulda swore I saw them rendered correctly once or twice, but I drink a lot of beer...
:lol2: :thuup:
This really made me laugh.

Well, either you mylevel them with the command:

obj load package=TobioTrees.u package=MyLevel

or you just include them like they are in your maps archive, since they are used in several maps, not just one or two. Thats a boarder case (so its up to you), depends also if you intend to use only one of those packages or all to them.


edit: thats ready to use stuff, just load the packages in the ACB (Actor class Browser) and they will be somewhere shown under "Decorations"
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Ginko
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Re: Tree Masking Problem

Post by Ginko »

Cool. I like using the stock meshes to make a cleaner install, but chances are I will plant 'em and watch 'em grow.

Did you make these models? I want to be sure to give proper props in my readme.

ginko
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Creavion
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Re: Tree Masking Problem

Post by Creavion »

Ginko wrote:Cool. I like using the stock meshes to make a cleaner install, but chances are I will plant 'em and watch 'em grow.

Did you make these models? I want to be sure to give proper props in my readme.

ginko
No, that stuff is not done by me. Nothing of that. At the end its hard to figure out who made that stuff, since its also already several years old. I checked the classes in the Script Editor but in not one case the author eternalized himself. Thats one of the very less cases where even I would not give a damn about crediting, since its not possible anymore to know who made those models.
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Ginko
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Re: Tree Masking Problem

Post by Ginko »

Duly noted. I think I have my map done in a few weeks ... I do want one more round of Beta testing, but I think I'll just let one person give it a last hurrah. Lemme know if you wanna cross my eyes and dot my teez for me.

Thanks again amigo,

ginko
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Re: Tree Masking Problem

Post by GenMoKai »

Some of those meshes are also found in other mods or maybe other Unreal 1 engine games...

But there are some people who can make there own trees and stuff... there was a package somewhere wich had cool stuff in it

http://www.unrealplayground.com/forums/ ... le&id=7579
Image
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Rakiayn
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Re: Tree Masking Problem

Post by Rakiayn »

you can try to set te properties of the texture
hightexturequality = true
highcolorquality = true


I was editing a warlord with a different skin , and I couldnt get it to be masked properly , so I changed these values of the texture and after that it worked
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Ginko
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Re: Tree Masking Problem

Post by Ginko »

Thanks guys, I'll try those settings Rakiayn.

I know the stock trees are widely overused and can be "fugly" but I always try to use the embedded packages before importing new ones. I think the coolness factor of something different *vs* increased filesize and installation time is about a wash.

I'll reply back here if those two flags make a difference.

DANKA.

ginko
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Re: Tree Masking Problem

Post by Raylen »

Thanks for the TobioTrees :D

I always love discovering new things. Gives me ideas for maps :)
Thanks in advance for answering the above question!
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Ginko
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Re: Tree Masking Problem

Post by Ginko »

Well, I fired it up last night ... after a fresh restart, and low and behold the leaves looked just right. I took a snapshot and right after I did that, the masking problem came back. This leads me to believe it's a RAM issue. The engine wants to draw them correctly, I'm guessing it's up to each machine how detailed the information is displayed.

ginko
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Creavion
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Re: Tree Masking Problem

Post by Creavion »

Ginko wrote:Well, I fired it up last night ... after a fresh restart, and low and behold the leaves looked just right. I took a snapshot and right after I did that, the masking problem came back. This leads me to believe it's a RAM issue. The engine wants to draw them correctly, I'm guessing it's up to each machine how detailed the information is displayed.

ginko
lol, I highly doubt that, because this would mean your PC does not fulfill the minimal requirements of Unreal. Believe me, its just an engine bug, the render does simply screw it up .. somehow. Why else are all "my" (mostly) ripped plants and trees completly bugfree in terms of this mask bug while the stock tree and plant content is still affected?
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