User:SirYodaJedi/Source map compiler wishlist

Features I'd like to see in custom compilers for , , and

BSP / CSG

• Everything from Mapbase's VBSP
• Generate a file alongside the BSP (or in the zip lump) containing KVs for func_group, func_detail, and prop_static, for use with VRAD.
  • The brushes would be stored as a comma-delimited list of brush numbers, indicating which brushes are in the group.
  • KVs which are used by the static prop lump are stripped, along with targetname, mindxlevel, and maxdxlevel, and any KVs which are only used by VBSP.
• func_group
• _contents KV in all brush entities (along with func_group, func_detail, and func_ladder), which overrides the contents of contained brushes which would otherwise be CONTENTS_SOLID (ex: for grates using CONTENTS_GRATE, stairs using CONTENTS_DEBRIS, or nonsolid func_train using CONTENTS_EMPTY).
• _illusionary KV on func_detail which disables generation of brushsides for the given brushes, resulting in the geometry being purely visual and not having any collision whatsoever (ex: for foliage). This would be cheaper than CONTENTS_EMPTY, since it doesn't eat up brushsides, but probably would be buggy on entities.
• func_illusionary_visblocker like in ericw-tools - A world brush that blocks vis but is non-solid.
• detaillevel KV for func_detail, which affects how it would chop or get chopped by other brushes. 0 = vanilla behavior; 1 = chopped by world, chops all else; 2 = chopped by world and level 1, chops all else; etc.
• Ability to toggle Quake II-style detail brush behavior for func_detail (in a KV), wherein it still chops underlying world brushes, even though it doesn't affect VIS. This fixes some lighting bugs caused by the world brush lightmap bleeding underneath the func_detail, at the expense of additional drawn faces.
  • This could be done by setting the aforementioned detaillevel KV to -1.
  • You can manually do this with nodraw brushes on stock compilers, but that eats up more brushsides.
• Ability to set DeathByNukes's (also in ) %compileChopHigh, %compileChopLow, and %compileChopAll settings directly in func_group and func_detail's KVs, so that the same material can have different chop settings in different situations (improving runtime performance). Useful for coolanar brushwork.
• _origin KV, which replaces the origin KV once BSP is finished. Useful for shifting entities by microscopic amounts (ex: 0.0625).
• _noportal, _nodecal, _nodraw, and _nolight KVs that set the applicable []surface flag]]s for all faces on the brush entities (including func_group, func_detail, and func_ladder)
• Flag func_ladder as detail unless it would also have CONTENTS_TRANS (Visleaves are used for alpha sorting; offer an additional KV, like _force_detail, to always make ladders detail.)

VIS

• Rename vvis_dll.dll to allow installation alongside vanilla compilers.

RAD

• Rename vrad_dll.dll to allow installation alongside vanilla compilers.
• 64-bit executable, regardless of whether engine is 64-bit
• bounced prop_static lighting (bouncing both ways between props and lightmaps); this would be really beneficial on lightmapped props
• Ability to select texture format for PPL files:
  • Recommended formats to allow:
    • RGB888 (default), RGBA16161616F, DXT1, I8, BGR565, BGRA8888 (RGBM-compressed HDR), DXT5 (RGBM-compressed HDR)
    • BC6H (default), BC7, RGBX8888, RGBA8888 (RGBM-compressed HDR), RGBA16161616F, DXT1, ATI1N, I8
  • This could possibly be noted by using lightmap resolutions higher than 4096 (reading the three most significant bits as a separate value, with 0 being the default RBG888).
  • Alternatively, unused static prop flags could be used, but VBSP would need to be modified to properly write them.
  • Or just use the extra data I suggested writing in VBSP.
• _nobounce KV on lights, which disables bounced lighting from the light source.
• _nodirect KV on lights, which prevents direct lighting from the light source from being written to the lightmaps.
• _nodynamic KV on lights, which prevents the light source from affecting dlights.
• bounced named lights (could also have radius-based control over how far they are allowed to bounce)
• toggleable shadows for brush entities, handled in a similar manner VHLT's light_shadow (so they'd be controlled by a regular light entity in-game)
• toggleable texlights, handled in a similar manner VHLT's light_surface (so they'd be controlled by a regular light entity in-game)
• %lightmapmask for VertexLitGeneric, which dictates locations of the PPL lightmap to mask out and replace with a dialation fill like xwad does for index 255 of transparent textures.
• An equivalent to ericw-tools's -dirtdebug command, which disables standard lighting and only puts generic ambient occlusion on edges to prevent the unsealed fullbright map from looking bad.
• Colored texture shadows.
• Texture shadows from Refract materials.
• _minlight on prop_static, func_group, and func_detail
• _maxlight wherever _minlight is available
• _minlight_color and _maxlight_color, which control the color of _minlight and _maxlight
• %CompileMinLight, %CompileMaxLight, %CompileMinLight_Color, and %CompileMaxLight_Color material map compile flags, which function like the equivalent KVs, but on a per-material basis.
• Half Lambert flag for per-vertex and lightmapped static props
• %CompileIgnoreNormals material map compile flag, like the equivalent static prop lighting flag (on both brushes/disps and MDLs)
• In a similar vein, %CompileNoSelfShadowing, which prevents surfaces with the given material from receiving shadows cast by another surface with the same material (on both brushes/disps and MDLs)
• light_rect; rename to light_spot after compiling to keep compatible with I/O.