User talk:JeffLane

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Revision as of 15:14, 7 March 2006 by Ts2do (talk | contribs)
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This is a community wiki, feel free to add it if you'd like! --JeffLane 15:37, 13 Jul 2005 (PDT)

Signatures in posts

Sorry for the siggy on my ladder contribution, didnt know it was not allowed. - Six

It's no problem. I didn't mean to single you out. That article just happened to be a good handy example. It's not strictly forbidden by any means, it just that it doesn't really make sense for community articles that other people may be working and changing in the future. --JeffLane 11:12, 6 Jul 2005 (PDT)

Images and other files

Jeff, is there a preference for images uploaded? I see a lot of PNG's being used and I use that same format for my cartoons but due to cross-browser problems I normally create images for turorials in JPG, with 15% compression. --wisemx 10:53, 6 Jul 2005 (PDT)

It's up to the community to decide. PNG was a common format for the Hammer documentation because it a) supports transparent images, b) is an open format, c) has good image quality. I don't really see a problem with mixing the formats, as long as they are standard ones, but the community can decide otherwise if they wish. --JeffLane 11:12, 6 Jul 2005 (PDT)
Thanks again Jeff. I created a new image for the CS:S ladder plus a sample vmf with 5 ladders. The ZIP file is on one of my servers, I don't mind if it stays there but you may want to download it and place the file as a local download. Ladders - Adding ladder entities to levels.
I wasn't able to upload a ZIP file, and I understand the limitations but is there a way I will be able to include sample vmf's? --wisemx 12:30, 6 Jul 2005 (PDT)
I'll look into that and see what I can find out. FYI, I added link text to your link to the .zip file. To add descriptive text to an external link use this format: [http://www.domain.com/file.ext descriptive text here] This works for page links as well as file links. --JeffLane 13:58, 6 Jul 2005 (PDT)


Again thanks, your change to the file link did improve it.--wisemx 14:26, 6 Jul 2005 (PDT)

It turns out, for legal and security reasons, non-media file uploads will not be enabled. --JeffLane 13:18, 8 Jul 2005 (PDT)

Thanks Jeff, I do understand.--wisemx 13:22, 8 Jul 2005 (PDT)

Noticeboard

Also, I'd like to bring to your attention the proposal that we have an admin noticeboard. If it existed, would the admins check it? —Maven (talk) 14:57, 21 Oct 2005 (PDT)

Jeff, please draw someones attention to the Steam News RSS feed. --wisemx 13:11, 4 Dec 2005 (PST)

While you're at it, check out Category:Spammers :p—ts2do 22:51, 27 Feb 2006 (PST)

WIP template

The WIP template needs to be big to be visible to people...it's only a temporary thing anyways and I've missed it a few times—ts2do (Talk | @) 11:17, 21 Nov 2005 (PST)

That's true. The alternative is to make the colors garish, but people seem to prefer "oversized" to "eye-sore". —Maven (talk) 12:30, 21 Nov 2005 (PST)
Considering you'd have to miss the big blue and red box at least twice (assuming you preview your posts, which you should), plus the actual {{wip}} tag itself, I think it's fine the way it was. Ts2do, If you have missed this tag multiple times, you may want to consider slowing down and looking over your edits more carefully before you post. I don't feel that strongly about it though, so if others decide this is necessary, that's fine. --JeffLane 12:39, 21 Nov 2005 (PST)
Let's leave it like this for now. If it causes trouble again, then we can change it back. —Maven (talk) 13:41, 21 Nov 2005 (PST)
It would be good if it could say, tint the article a different colour, then there would be no mistaking it. —Zevensoft (talk) 17:15, 22 Nov 2005 (PST)

Sorting and rendering order

There seems to be a transparency issue that makes the rendering order opposite of which it should be...ie fading ragdolls are drawn over by a grass floor and bullet impact effects can't be seen in front of a static prop. I'd also noticed this issue in Goldsource too....are you all ever planning to fix this?—ts2do (Talk | @) 00:58, 22 Nov 2005 (PST)

We don't have a better place to post this? Anyway, maybe a screenshot would be useful. —Maven (talk) 05:48, 22 Nov 2005 (PST)
This is a sorting error. Generally you can avoid more sorting issues if you make your materials alpha-tested instead of alpha-blended (i.e. one level of transparency vs. fully transparent and anti-aliased materials). Sorting issues are common on all 3D engines and hardware because it's actually a hardware limitation, and not something we can simply fix. Future generations of hardware should be faster, allowing us to do more sorting. --JeffLane 08:40, 22 Nov 2005 (PST)

Very good...and in-fact...that had been the solution I had been using for this...DX9 videocards do this too? If not...I should just ignore the problem and continue as if it wasn't there (I Guess?)—ts2do (Talk | @) 17:10, 1 Dec 2005 (PST)

In my current map, I've got a very deep pit traversed by some glass-textured func_detail walkways. To try to reduce the rendering load a bit, I had the bright idea of slicing the shaft into sections with func_areaportalwindow entities, with black func_illusionary brushes fading into view just outside the range of the fog. If that makes sense. Unfortunately, the engine's had the bright idea of frequently drawing the black brushes after the glass walkways, even though there are many thousands of of units separating the two. This is the case even when the black brushes are at full opacity - they still seem to get treated as transparent. Unsurprisingly, it looks a bit strange.

Is there any way of giving the engine a clue as to which transparent objects should be drawn first? Or should I just use func_areaportals manually switched on and off with suitable triggers, depending on the player's location? Thanks anyway! —Cargo Cult (info, talk) 06:41, 17 Dec 2005 (PST)

I just noticed that your question. You may get better sorting by making your func_detail walkways func_brush instead. They are sorted with the world better. However, they are more expensive and do not cast lightmapped shadows like func_detail, so the tradeoff is up to you to evaluate. And using areaportals to hide objects that the player should not be able to see is always a good idea. --JeffLane 19:20, 14 Jan 2006 (PST)

Ragdoll Collisions

Hi Jeff; I've got a problem with a singleplayer map I'm scripting. I've got a ferry (func_train) rigged up basically the same as the train in HL2's intro sequence, that I'm having my player fight some combine soldiers on. I've already got a large time investment in the sequence, so I can't scrap it now; I've worked out the AI nodegraph issues, I've got everything working but this.

When the player kills a combine, it's ragdoll falls right through the ferry. I've tried everything I can think of, func_physboxes, and so on, but it seems the ragdolls will only collide with world brushes. Is there anything I can do here? This is a really nasty bug. --Spektre1 13:57, 8 Jan 2006 (PST)

If they're only npc_combine_s entities, you can set the global "super_phys_gun" on, then they'll collide...if you have other enemies that you want to be server ragdolls, you'll need a custom DLL...if you need quick help on making a DLL, I'd be able to make one for you—ts2do (Talk | @) 18:42, 8 Jan 2006 (PST)

Oh, that should do fine! Thank you so much! WHOOOHOOOO!--Spektre1 18:52, 8 Jan 2006 (PST)

Vandalism

Check it out: Valve Developer Community:Most vandalized pages

I've also heard there's different levels of protection...so if you could make some of them {{sprotected}}, that'd be great—ts2do talk 18:17, 14 Jan 2006 (PST)

We have seen this page. We do not have the semi-protection capability in the current version of Mediawiki. Wikipedia has this feature in the alpha version of Mediawiki that they use. While there are plans for us to upgrade to a new version in the future, Mediawiki upgrades are not a trivial task. --JeffLane 19:14, 14 Jan 2006 (PST)

Category tables update

I've done some more work on Zozart's category tables. The dual-table design now works properly and is made with Wiki markup. Please take another look, I'd quite like to see the things implemented! :-) --TomEdwards 02:19, 14 Feb 2006 (PST)

Alerts

Jeff, please attend to this bashing. --wisemx 07:09, 15 Feb 2006 (PST)

We saw it, thanks. --JeffLane 11:38, 15 Feb 2006 (PST)

Skies

I need to pass this through you to make sure I'm not violating anything legal stuff:

I wanted to make the leaked skies public so there could be more of a diversity...feel free to delete it all, just don't ban me =p—ts2do 19:24, 6 Mar 2006 (PST)

Where did you get this content from? --JeffLane 21:52, 6 Mar 2006 (PST)
http://*****************ts2do 22:06, 6 Mar 2006 (PST)
That site contains illegally obtained content, stolen from our company and distributed without any legal rights (or remorse, for that matter). Why exactly shouldn't you be banned? --JeffLane 22:46, 6 Mar 2006 (PST)

Coz I didn't think it over...I'm sorry...plz delete it all...plus I keep the wiki alive; it'll never happen again—ts2do 05:15, 7 Mar 2006 (PST)

Roll back Sky List to http://developer.valvesoftware.com/w/index.php?title=Sky_List&oldid=25485ts2do 05:17, 7 Mar 2006 (PST)

No one person keeps the VDC alive, it is the work of many valuable contributors, and all are required to abide by the Terms of Use. Asking permission afterwards is not acceptable. If this behavior is repeated, there will be a permanent ban. --JeffLane 11:39, 7 Mar 2006 (PST)

I meant to say I help keep it alive...will you ever forgive me?—ts2do 13:49, 7 Mar 2006 (PST)

Who reads that stuff anyway?--Deadity 14:13, 7 Mar 2006 (PST)
I glanced over it...but I didn't see anything directly stating...it was too confusing—ts2do 14:14, 7 Mar 2006 (PST)