TGE Patch: Interior Render Transparency Support
by Tim Gift · 05/09/2003 (2:37 pm) · 52 comments
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[Notes from Desmond]
The problem was (is) that the sorting order of transparency on interiors did not work. The patch fixes this problem for the general case--as I said I have been working with it for quite a while and only seen a few problem areas in certain situations which I fixed by adding portals. I sent the patch to Jackie Hayes who was not getting transparent brushes with transparency working correctly--he emailed me back saying that fixed it. I've also sent it to Stefan: his cities might bring up other problems--we'll see.
[Notes from Desmond]
The problem was (is) that the sorting order of transparency on interiors did not work. The patch fixes this problem for the general case--as I said I have been working with it for quite a while and only seen a few problem areas in certain situations which I fixed by adding portals. I sent the patch to Jackie Hayes who was not getting transparent brushes with transparency working correctly--he emailed me back saying that fixed it. I've also sent it to Stefan: his cities might bring up other problems--we'll see.
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#2
Gilles Jr
10/04/2003 (6:53 pm)
This is really usefull ! Working great ! Will help in making cool things in some levels without having to hack. We had to use a dts + invisible dif (because the dif collision is better) to give the same result. It was hard to align the 2 objects correctly. Now, only one dif do the job ! My artist (me) is really happy ! :) Thanks !Gilles Jr
#3
How do you make something trans?
11/16/2003 (2:59 pm)
How exactly do you use transparency on interiors?How do you make something trans?
#4
Great resource! :)
12/20/2004 (9:53 pm)
The patch applied flawlessly for me, and I was able to use a PNG with transparency information in a simple test:
Great resource! :)
#6
01/04/2005 (10:45 am)
Thanks for the resource - very useful! Got interiors to show transparencies while looking from the outside in. When I go inside my building, the texture appears solid - no transparancy. Any ideas how to fix this?
#8
Is there any way I could do this without having to mess with the engine's code?
Any help would be sincerely appreciated
05/01/2005 (3:34 pm)
I've been looking all day for a way to create a simple transparent brush and i just can't do it;Is there any way I could do this without having to mess with the engine's code?
Any help would be sincerely appreciated
#10
I just got the patch.exe utility and I'm gonna give it a try.
05/03/2005 (11:04 am)
Thanks a lot Jacob,I just got the patch.exe utility and I'm gonna give it a try.
#11
Thanks a lot.
If you only knew the huge amount of time that I've spent for creating a simple window...
05/03/2005 (12:25 pm)
I've just applied the patch, recompiled the engine and it realy workedThanks a lot.
If you only knew the huge amount of time that I've spent for creating a simple window...
#13
Thanks in advance.
C.
05/13/2005 (4:41 am)
I can't wait to see this work! I applied the patch (manually), however I utterly fail when it comes to the art side of things. Could any one give me a heads up on how to create the PNG with the transparency information?Thanks in advance.
C.
#14
05/13/2005 (8:05 am)
All you need to do is to change your opacity (in the layers pallete) from 100% to what ever you like and save it as a PNG - that simple :) (I use Photoshop but opacity can be found in other software too)
#15
05/13/2005 (8:21 am)
@Jacob, thanks I'll give it a try. If you don't mind me asking, are you still having issues with transparency while viewing the scene from the inside of your interior?
#16
05/13/2005 (8:24 am)
The last time I used it I was but I never did anything to try to fix it...since then I have a newer version of the engine with the newest Lighting Pack and I haven't added this to it. I may not add it at all because I am waiting for TSE to be more stable and I believe there is a resource to add this functionality to TSE as well.
#17
05/13/2005 (8:28 pm)
It seems to be working. Although I'm getting some weirdness when I view whatever is behind the transparent brush at certain angles. Any interiors, or DTS shapes beyond the transparency seem to get hollowed out as if the renderer is skipping it. Water blocks do not render at all when viewing them through the transparent brush. Terrain is unaffected. I can see what
#18
05/14/2005 (7:09 am)
I haven't played with it enough to solve those issues - I think I noticed them too...you might want to e-mail the creator of this resource or if you have the EA TSE licence, you can look in the TSE private forums as there is a similar resource available for it...but being that TSE has a new rendering engine, it may not be compatible...at least someone there might be able to point you in the right direction. 
#19
You should use the TransLucentDetail resource instead (or in addition). I don't have the link handy but I'm sure a google search at GG will find it.
This resource works best if all the transparencies are contained in one interior...and, there are some exceptions (seeing particle effects etc). It was a simple hack. The TranslucentDetail however works much better but has a cost--they are always visible to the rendering engine. So, try to keep the numbers down.
05/16/2005 (10:27 am)
@ClaudioYou should use the TransLucentDetail resource instead (or in addition). I don't have the link handy but I'm sure a google search at GG will find it.
This resource works best if all the transparencies are contained in one interior...and, there are some exceptions (seeing particle effects etc). It was a simple hack. The TranslucentDetail however works much better but has a cost--they are always visible to the rendering engine. So, try to keep the numbers down.
#20
05/16/2005 (10:32 am)
Great! I'll give it a shot. Thank you so much for responding to my e-mail. 
Torque Owner Tim Gift