(Q) Texture Materials and GTAIV Support

[MenuET]

Which materials or maps of these below does GTAIV Support?

I just know 3 of then, but i am unsure if it supports reflection, refracton, displacement and self-ilumination

 

And one more question: How can i do the day/night lighting and shading on GTA?

and, how can i make the spec map change on rainy days?

Edited August 14, 2014 by MenuET

[MenuET]

Reflection - Yes, but no cubemaps, it uses these kind.

Refraction - No.

Displacement - No.

Self-ilumination - Yes, they are called 'emissive' shaders. It doesn't use an additional map, instead it just brightens the texture.

Thank you, pal. But... One more question: There are 2 kind of Specular:

-Specular Color and

-Specular Level,

As there are 2 kinds of Diffuse maps, too.

-Diffuse Color and

-Diffuse Level

Which of these materials i can use on my render in 3dsMAX and be sure it will be rendered at RAGE? At other words, GTAIV supports Specular Color and Specular Level? or just one Specular? (Same question for Diffuse). That is important because if don't, i can't do a lot of things i imagined.

 

IV (or all RAGE games for that matter) don't use day\night vertex coloring (if that is what you meant) It just uses 1 vertex color channel. Also, don't confuse it with III-era where vertex color was made with a daylight system in 3ds max. Instead just use it as fake ambient occlusion (with a skylight)

So... How the windows bright yellow at night: it's a plain model texturised which appears at night? And how i get interiors ilumination when it is night and another night effects? Simple Omnis? Street lamps and so? Basically: What happens with the models at night? How can i add lights to appear justr at night?

 

 

You can't change spec map under different weather conditiopns either, it's just 1 specular per diffuse and that's it.

So... How the streets come brighter at rainy days (simulating water reflection)?

 

 

Also I advice you to ask questions related to models and shaders in GIMS, OpenIV, or OFIO topic, You will get a lot quicker response that way!

Can you pass me a good source material about it all? Because i don't know a thing about how GTA Modding and properties works

Edited August 18, 2014 by MenuET

[MenuET]

 

I'm not entirety sure what the difference between a diffuse\specular 'Level' and 'Color' is, google doesn't help much either, could you fill me in?

I'll tell you what i know:

- There is only one kind of diffuse in gta4, and it HAS to be a texture, you can't just fill it in with a color like you can in some other game engines

- Specular can also just use 1 map, if your diffuse needs a full reflection (white), just up the 'Spec. map power' slider

- Gloss(iness) maps are not present in gta4, instead I believe the 'Specularity' slider is the amount of Gloss, but not totally sure on that

- The 'Specular mask' color in the specular shader is used to determine in which color channel the specular texture is. If you look around in gta4 texture archives, you might come across some weird looking textures that just appear to be red, green and blue

This is a texture that consists of 3 seperate textures in one. Each using one color channel (R, G, and B) It's designed to save space. You can ignore this system and just 'black\white' speculars instead.

Actually specular level is a king of glossiness map, setting where the spec wil be brighter or darker. Not so much important, BTW, you enlighted me a lot of things, thank you

 

 

- Nightwindows: plane with a flat texture and gta_emissivenight shader

- Interior at night: Omini's and Spots. If you don't use lights it will still be visible at night, controlled by timecyclemodifier data files

- With GIMS you can add lights, as a standard they are always on ONLY at night (between 7:15 PM and ....5:45 AM I think)

- Even when you add no lights, objects are still visible weither it's exterior or interior.

About the GIMS option: can i change the option? for example: 5:30 PM to 6:20 AM?

Explain about gta_emissivenight and/or another types of gta_emissive, as i didn't find so much thing on Google.