I don't understand why FPSCR is ignoring my normal maps. I Also don't know why FPSC generates a new copy of each texture when i test the level.

I have made some models with textures, normal maps, and specular maps. I have applied the Entity_basic shader to them in their .fpe files. and when i run the test level the normal map is ignored. the specular map works fine.

Heres my .fpe file



And a screenshot


Anybody know any trick to get the normal maps to work properly?

Reloaded doesn't use FPI any more, it uses .lua should update the models it would be fine, It also only uses _D _N and _S textures now

There is actually an illumination shader working now.

This is the exact same shader that was used in classic and requires a texture map with the '_I' suffix.

I have it working in my level and it makes the place look a whole lot better!

Cheers

Jay.

@Parallax : Send me your entity files and I will check it out at lee@thegamecreators.com

Really? I was not aware of that. I'll have to look into it Now all we need is an ambient occlusion map I'm not sure if it's possible in a game engine as such, but would be nice.

@unfamillia



I don't know this one, could you tell me what the _I texture map is.

Thanks

You can already have this, just prebake and multiply it on top of your diffuse texture. No need to waste an entire RGB texture on what amounts to a greyscale texture. In fact I did this with some of the stock models that I felt needed some more depth.

For normal maps, make sure they are in the correct format. Unfortunately there is no standard when it comes to normal maps, even between modeling apps, for example 3ds Max and Maya use different normal map axes.

FPSC uses a X-Right, Y-Down format. So whatever tool you use to generate normal maps (Crazybump, etc), make sure you go into the settings and set the axes accordingly. Most often the culprit is the green channel of your normal map, if lighting appears to be inverted or wrong, try inverting the green channel of your normal map in your image editor of choice.

Bump.

Its been a long time since I posted last. I am still having trouble with my models looking flat. I tried all the suggestions you guys made. I am now using the most recent version of FPSCR. Has anybody else tried using shaders on their models? Are there other shaders out there that would work better?

The biggest question was what did I expect my models to loo like. Here is a screenshot of what they look like in Reloaded, and Unity. I want them to have the 3d kind of look that the shaders in Unity them.

Thanks

Wow, what a difference! Wish I could help you; I've never had mine looking quite right, either. I will keep my eyes open for anything though that might help both of us.



EDIT: Your first screenshot, from a while back, actually doesn't look bad!

@Paralax,

If you'd like to email me these models, I'll look into them again, and see if we can track down what might need to be done to the shaders to improve the look.

SC

Yes indeed, send one of the models over and we will have a play. My email is lee@thegamecreators.com. In the meantime you can check for the obvious things like ensuring you are on HIGHEST entity shader, and that your sun light source is oriented to create the contrast in the normal map render, and that your ambient and brightness terms are such that they match the final render options of the U4 shot.

Not sure what it is shadows perhaps or the fact its light everywhere but i agree the visuals still have a way to go.

I gather the second image is Leadwerks Tattie?

yea m8 i have gone back to it till reloaded sorts its self out still on the forums lurking

Yeah, the plugin that I use for Paint.NET has sliders for the X, Y, and Z values. I got better results when adjusting those from the default settings and I am still playing around with those. I get better results converting the _D to an _N when I change it to black and white first, instead of leaving it in color.

That's just it. There is no contrast in the normal map render, no matter what angle I look at it. I've compared my normal maps to the normal maps on the stock entities and can't see any difference.



I have already sent you a copy of the wooden crate model. Scene Commander then emailed me saying he was going to look into this and get back to me. I have yet to hear back.

Anyways, I have sent another copy of the wooden box. Thanks for taking the time to help me with this problem I am having.

Yep got it this time Will check it out.

Thank you for getting back to me and solving my problem.

My models were not displaying normal maps properly because i had the scale option in the .fpe file set to 5000 instead of 100.
To solve this i had to make my model 50 times bigger in my modelling program instead of relying on the scale option.

not being able to set the scale to 5000 in the .fpe file makes it more difficult for me to make quick changes to my models. Will this be fixed in a future version of FPSCR?

Thanks.

While I'm not an expert in such things, when I've had to scale objects in the fpe in order to make them visible, etc., I've gone back into my modeling program and scaled them accordingly. Scaling them later (fpe) has never seemed like the best practice, regardless of the need to make quick changes (which raises the question: Like what kind of changes?) I remember working with DBPro and using Sparky's collision while you didn't necessarily have to scale it beforehand, if you did not, it required at least another command, which to me means more clock cycles. Performance is key!

I have now fixed this in the latest build, amending the entity shader so it can correctly bump map the surface no matter what scale the entity is using

What kind of maps does FPSCR support besides standard N D S?

I have an application that exports (besides N D S):
Height-map
Roughness-map
Metallic-map
Diffgloss-map

Can FPSCR use any of these as well?

what is your applicaton ?? I need a tool like that...

Some are uncommon designations for shader-textures but DBPro can support these...so FPSCR might too... in the future. I certainly hope for flashy shaders!

(except roughness map...what is that supposed to do? Did you ever import any of these into UDK or something and see how they look?)

Seems like these maps are new for what is called PBR, Physically Based Rendering.
It would be awesome if RELOADED could support that. With PBR you can do fantastic reflections, metals and other really awesome textures.

Lee ? Any thoughts on supporting PBR?

There is no defined standard for PBR, it's just the new fancy buzzword in computer graphics. Just like how everyone was going on and on about phong-shading back when the Xbox360 was released.



PBR is mostly just a variation of the Cook-Torrance lighting model. Unreal and Cryengine have their own variations on this lighting model, and they collectively just call it "PBR" (probably because it sounds cooler than Cook-Torrance). The main difference is that it uses some real-world values in the calculation of material properties. So instead of an artist eyeballing their textures and shader values in an ad-hoc way to get a nice shiny metal effect, it simplifies things a bit by plugging in some real-world physical measurements on the reflectivity of various materials.



It STILL takes the skill of an artist to make all those new textures look good, it's not just a matter of slapping a PBR shader on a model and voila! Texturing for PBR takes just a much skill as traditional diffuse/normal/spec textures. If you have a hard time getting your head around normal and specular maps, PBR won't be any easier.



The reloaded weapon shader has a few sprinkles of PBR hallmarks already in there, I know because I wrote it Things like gamma correction, energy conservation, and some basic image-based lighting.



It would be a massive waste to add a new set of PBR style shaders to Reloaded. Only the best computers could handle the extra shader instructions, and it would mean ALL assets (including everything in the store) would need re-textured to make use of them. Which means you would need two sets of textures, one for PBR shaders and another set for the traditional Blinn-Phong shaders. Just not practical.

Well, I'm just started reading about PBR. But I don't agree with you, and I really don't think that it's "just a buzz word". There is a reason for that big studios are using PBR (EA, RockStar, Blizzard, Dice, etc).



I would say PBR simplify things A LOT! Especially the workflow.



"Basically: instead of current lighting techniques like using multiple diffuse textures/specular maps for each part of every object in the game to represent different conditions, they can just create 1 texture for each part then artificially define properties like a refractive index to help parameterize a physics model that controls how light and shadow work when rendering frames of an in-game scene that contains that object.



In most implementations the physics model basically uses a predictive set of converging functions to determine how light from a specific source will reflect/refract off a given surface with different reflectivity and absorption/diffusion characteristics, which then refracts and reflects off other surfaces at a) different angles, with b) reduced intensity and c) a different wavelength, etc.



In productivity terms: people creating textures for in-game assets now have to spend less time creating multiple maps for each surface because they can just say "this panel is steel" or "this seat cushion is leather" with specific reflectivity/diffusion/texture/etc. rather than having to create multiple different copies of them that behave differently under different lighting conditions (such as in space, in atmosphere, indoors, etc.)



In visual terms: different types of surfaces (such as metal, leather, plastic, glass, etc.) should look more photorealistic and more "natural" because the way that light reflects off them and the way shadows are created will be more accurate."



If RELOADED wants to be a modern engine I think PBR is worth looking into.





For users that are interested, here are some really good reading:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Fb9_KgCo0noxROKN4iT8ntTbx913e-t4Wc2nMRWPzNk/edit



..and here is a good video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNwMJeWFr0U

The upcomning Unity 5 will have PBR/PBS as standard shader.
So I think it's a little more than just a buzz...

I don't think reloaded wants to be that kind of modern engine. It runs on direct x 9 as far as I know (And I'm totally fine with that.) And I'm pretty certain it'll stick to convential dbpro shaders (which are plenty).



-Wolf

@Steohl72 : If you can dig out something I can run in real-time that uses a DirectX9 PBR shader, send me the link and I will check out and compare against the current shaders. My fear is the GPU processing required for PBR, and I think we all agree what t

I think this will benefit all: Very educational, and usefull.

http://artisaverb.info/Scripts.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MU3M6xqhe4&list=PLsycjeNP6l26RL1JYz_3aUXEVKSt1X5TZ

For those who cant afford quixel suites or substance designer. Works with photoshop only.