I'm at my wits end, scoured the forums for relevant issues with no success, and I'm not good at asking for help. I'm trying to get textures into torque for new materials but they aren't showing up because I'm missing something....WHAT!!!?? I've resized to 512X512, exported out of Gimp in .dds .jpg and .png and nothing. I've had success importing textures made specifically for T3D but general "internet" textures won't work. Hope this makes sense.
This is something I would like to know also. I kind of cheat by putting the texture on a simple flat plane in sketchup and import it like a static object. That way it makes an entry in the materials.cs file and you can then pick it from the material editor and apply it to other things like decals. I find it weird that creating a new material from scratch in the material editor doesn't work. Whats up with that?
Well the challenge is set I guess. Hours and hours of searching T3D, Youtube, Gimp forums and so on yield zilch on the specific subject of what T3D needs to see to implement garden variety textures. It's obvious only a few map masters around here have figured it out or have the passion to make it work.
ok so I think I figured it out. It does detract from the "what you see is what you get" aspect of the editor though. you have to manually create the materials.cs file for the texture and reload the level.................. It seems as though when you use the UI to create a new material it doesn't give you an option for where to generate the .cs file and either does nothing or saves it to the main art folder somewhere. (useless) Here is what I did: make a folder in your level place the textures in the folder copy a materials.cs file from somewhere and put it in the folder too edit the .cs file and find a material with similar properties to the one you want to import change file names and paths, then give it a tag to help find it later delete any other materials from the .cs save and reload the level go to the material editor and you should see your tag on the left. click it and there is your material Here is the example I got working Code: singleton Material(Jammin_dirtRoad) { mapTo = "unmapped_mat"; diffuseMap[0] = "dirttracks_diffuse.png"; materialTag0 = "RoadAndPath"; materialTag1 = "jammin"; normalMap[0] = "dirttracks_normal.png"; specularPower[0] = "24"; pixelSpecular[0] = "1"; specularMap[0] = "dirttracks_specular.png"; useAnisotropic[0] = "1"; translucent = "1"; translucentZWrite = "1"; specular[0] = "0.00392157 0.00392157 0.00392157 1"; scrollSpeed[0] = "4.118"; }; If I click the tag "jammin" or "RoadAndPath" my texture is displayed This is the folder contents (I don't know if this works in the experimental version, I haven't opted into it) Hope this helps
Thank you jammin'! This is process is what I'm finding even the big cheese guys at Torque recommend. You did a fine job of getting it posted nice and clear. My question regarding the exact technical process T3D uses to see or not to see a new texture is closer to reality. Writing a new .cs is my next experiment and I wish I had the friggin' time to do it in a timely manner. Regardless, this is most importantly FUN. EDIT: If Torque is saving to a generic art folder somewhere why not track it down and move it to the level art folder where it's needed?
If you can find it then I guess that should also work. Shame its not a simple task to find. Hunting through all the material.cs files looking for the material you just saved is a pain. It would be great if when you hit the save button it would ask you where you want to save it instead of appending it to a file in some random place. or at least tell you where it saved it. I don't know why there is a "master" art folder as having stuff in there makes it a pain to package a map. It's handy for the devs as they don't have to pack a bunch of repeated files that will be used across multiple levels, but for us modders having stuff save anywhere outside of your level folder just confuses things. Another example of the default save locations being a pain is with the forest. When you add a mesh or a brush to the forest it saves it in a .cs file in the master art folder. If you remove it from the master art folder and place it in your level folder the brushes no longer work and you cant place any more forest until you put a copy back in the main art folder. I'm yet to release my map with my custom made forest so I don't even know for sure that the forest will even load properly without the relevant .cs files in the main art folder. I have a feeling it should load ok but I 'm fairly sure the brushes wont work. So in short I wish for everything to save by default in your level folder with a prompt for an exact location if no clear save location is defined, and the forest brushes to load from your level folder, not the master art folder. I cant really find any use for the master art folders as you cant really pack a map and get people to merge stuff into the master art folder as it will likely cause conflicts with the stock maps. So from my point of view the main art folder is just an extra annoyance to deal with. I feel that all resources for a map should be contained and referenced within its level folder to save confusion. Anyway enough rambling, I hope you get your materials working, best of luck
You've nailed many things, mainly the option of saving all relevant level info in the damn LEVEL FOLDER. I need to research if the upcoming T3D update is going to address the issue. The comment on how the devs ( and any game maker for that matter ), would love having a master art file makes total sense. I've gotten quite good at using the notepad "replace all" function but it seems to work. An additional annoyance I encounter is when modifying a material in one level it jacks up the material in another. I presume that is a tagging issue? BTW, I'd be happy to beta your map, I'm gonna need someone to beta mine.
I guess if you are referencing a material from another level and you say for example change the color tint in one level, it will be like that for both levels. You would have to either duplicate the material with a new name or make sure each level has its own copy of the material if you want different properties per material. (Providing I understood the question) I personally would try and not cross reference other levels as conflicts like that can occur unless your very careful. you could try duplicating the material in the .cs file and only change the material name leaving the textures/normal/sepc map names the same. Like this Code: singleton Material(Jammin_dirtRoad) { mapTo = "unmapped_mat"; diffuseMap[0] = "dirttracks_diffuse.png"; materialTag0 = "RoadAndPath"; materialTag1 = "jammin"; normalMap[0] = "dirttracks_normal.png"; specularPower[0] = "24"; pixelSpecular[0] = "1"; specularMap[0] = "dirttracks_specular.png"; useAnisotropic[0] = "1"; translucent = "1"; translucentZWrite = "1"; specular[0] = "0.00392157 0.00392157 0.00392157 1"; scrollSpeed[0] = "4.118"; }; singleton Material(Jammin_dirtRoad2) { mapTo = "unmapped_mat"; diffuseMap[0] = "dirttracks_diffuse.png"; materialTag0 = "RoadAndPath"; materialTag1 = "jammin"; normalMap[0] = "dirttracks_normal.png"; specularPower[0] = "24"; pixelSpecular[0] = "1"; specularMap[0] = "dirttracks_specular.png"; useAnisotropic[0] = "1"; translucent = "1"; translucentZWrite = "1"; specular[0] = "0.00392157 0.00392157 0.00392157 1"; scrollSpeed[0] = "4.118"; }; Then you just select the duplicate for your object/decal whatever...and it shouldn't mess up the original when you change its properties.
