IQ reprised.

[ezzetabi]

Best flashlight�s so far for Q1 (in my opinion):
- behind_you�s complex + realistic flashlight
- Nahuel�s cubemap flashlight

I am looking for the behind_you work, but I cannot find anything... can you link me?

[Seven]

Hello ezzetabi,

If you feel lost and alone


And cannot see or hear something


Just relax and take a bath.


Cause if you look closer



... you will find the secret link



Best wishes,
Seven

[ezzetabi]

dang... google changed ``behind_you'' with ``behind you'' so it could not find anything. Go figure.

behind_you idea is indeed nice. I had a similar one, but I did not know that there were non-sphere lights... Thanks.


You really like apes or monkeys...

[Syluxguy28O3]

You really like apes or monkeys...

datz his style!!!

[ezzetabi]

I tested the behind_you idea, but... I do not like it very much. First of all, it uses darkplaces extensions; secondly it does not solve the worst problem of the "basic flashlight" I used in my code. To see the problem go in e1m1 in the platform that goes to the exit try to illuminate just over one of the buttons. The light is spawned behind the button and the shadow is casted in to the player.... ugly. The behind_you implementation has the same problem

Now I have a question, is it possible to create an entity that uses one of the lightstyles from the qc code without using extensions?

[ezzetabi]

Ok, other question.

What do you think about keeping compatibility? Do you think it is important, or letting the mod working only on darkplaces is enough?

[Seven]

Hello ezzetabi,

I think you already know the answer.
compatibility means more potential users

But I already wrote about this topic in my post here:
in point 3.)

Seven

[ezzetabi]

I know your point, the point was: do anyone uses iq and not use darkplaces?

It seems that the answer is no. So I guess I can go darkplaces eventually without problems.

[Seven]

Hello ezzetabi,

Did you find the root cause for the "ghost" monsters in the meantime.
I am interested where it comes from...

Kind regards,
Seven

[Seven]

Hello ezzetabi,

I tried to simulate your issue and could reproduce it.
After that, I tried to find the root-cause for it and fortunately found it.

Details:
Some monsters, which are placed in a map with walking animation, are only affected by your/this "ghost"-issue.
The standing monsters all work fine.

That brought me to the idea, that the 'infected' walking monsters, might have no declared self.th_stand and/or self.th_run function.
Because those infected walking monsters do not see the player/enemy. Nor can they be shot. They keep on walking their beat... independently what happens around them.


The solution was:
Redeclare the self.th_stand function in the first frame of the walking animation function.

So for the soldier as an example:
Add this:

self.th_stand = army_stand1;

into the first walking animation function:

void() army_walk1 =

After I did this, the "ghost" issue was gone and I could not reproduce it anymore.


That "ghost" issue only happens, when you spawn additional monsters into a map, as you noticed.
It is really weird why that happens, because the inital main-function:

void() monster_army =

is always called for the 'new' soldiers as well.
And that declares all "self.th_*" functions...

Anyway, that fixes it.
I ran into the same issue with my current project.
That is why I dived deeper into it.

Best wishes,
Seven

[ezzetabi]

It is some time I do not work on iq anymore.
A little for the lack of interest, a little because I started my phd in computer science and so I am working full time for the university, and finally because iq is actually fairly useless as far too many user maps are already partial conversion and so it is difficult to use iq with them. (virtually impossible if there is not the code)

Anyhow, thanks.

[golden_boy]

Good luck with your phd, I think it will turn out more helpful to you than quake modding, tbh.

Quake modding is a lonely job and pretty unrewarded unless you do graphical enhancements.

Perhaps you'll look into more recent game technologies one day and rediscover your modding side. Who knows.

Good luck man.

[ezzetabi]

Long delayed update:

I fixed the ghost monsters bug using Seven's idea;
I changed rules of Horde a little. Monster are a little stronger than before (90% of normal health instead of 75%) and spawn point can also be underwater.
Underwater there are few spawning points as there are usually only few items and monsters, still I think it is an improvement because in the previous version when situation was difficult taking a bath was a easy-way-out. Now a bath is still a good idea, but it is not as safe as before. Some maps, like The Grisly Grotto (e1m4), have a totally different feeling in horde now.

After all, as the manual states: "Safe enough unless you stay under so long you start to drown. Come up for air periodically to prevent this."
It says: "Safe enough," not "Very safe".

[gdiddy62]

Love this! Thanks for updating!

[Seven]

Hello ezzetabi,

Good to have you back.
Thank you for your quick response and your update.
Looking forward to see some new things from you...

Best wishes,
Seven