Talk:Func precipitation

Is there some hidden mojo to using this entity properly? Some days my rain shows up, some days it doesn't, and as far as I'm aware, it isn't as a consequence of changes I've made (either to the func_precip entities, or to the many rain related console commands). I'm using it in HL2SP as well, so it's not like it's one of those shady CVar-changing "anti-cheat" server mods messing with it either.

Are there any skilled meteorologists reading who might provide some pointers as to where I am going wrong? Thanks. --Giles 10:00, 28 May 2006 (PDT)

Avoid using cloudless skyboxes :D --Deadity 10:19, 28 May 2006 (PDT)

I'm going to guess here, but if you're sending multiple I/Os at the same time, they're likely interfering. This is the cause of a lot of my "random sometimes works" issues. Space out your fires with a .1 second gap, so they have time to resolve. --Spektre1 15:49, 28 May 2006 (PDT)

Thank you for the responses (though the entity has no inputs and my skybox is already overcast :P). Embarrassing as it is to admit it, I think I am simply suffering user-error. I've been trying out various settings and squinting at my screen, and it seems that the rain is always there, just barely noticeable, even at 100% density and coloured black. Against most backgrounds, the rain is effectively invisible. Guess I will try editing the rain sprite/some console variables and see if that improves matters. --Giles 05:49, 29 May 2006 (PDT)

I couldn't see any effect of RGB on the rain myself. Also, when using func_precip, I always get a console message stating that the texture wasn't cached and the refcount was bumped (apparently to ensure retention). Hadn't seen that elsewhere. —BJ^(talk) 15:05, 29 May 2006 (PDT)

You should try making a brighter alpha channel to make it more visible...it may also be because of "$vertexalpha" 1—ts2do 14:56, 29 May 2006 (PDT)

Thanks for the further suggestions. As an epilogue, I got great results with r_raindensity and r_rainalpha. The console commands offer far finer control than the entity's own keyvalues and changing my mod's config file seems much less work than getting mucky with the VMT. Once the rain is more visible, the RGB values do have an effect - my black rain looked like a biblical plague of insects, raining down from the sky. --Giles 15:15, 29 May 2006 (PDT)

link

The external link at the bottom of the page just links to wikipedia's "stupidity" article...

Func_Percipitation

Hey all, I've made a nice outdoor area with water and whatnot, and saw that could place in rain. However i dont have Func_Percipitation in my list of items in Hammer... why is this? I've never made rain so its new to me and could be missing something? SDK is the most update one. Any ideas would be great :D

This is a BRUSH based entity, tie it to a brush that fills any area you want rain. --Sbrown 14:33, 13 Dec 2008 (PST)

Texture

I get it to rain fine; I used the Black tool texture for the func_precipitation entity. Is there a specific texture that you're "supposed" to use, or just any I feel like?

What ever texture you choose is what each rain drop will look like. When I changed the snow effect, I changed the snow texture (which originially is just a plain grey texture) to a larger texture, with a snow flake shape in it. So ingame, it looks like snow flakes. (But I made the snow drops larger too, for more effect). So what texture you use is basically what you see ingame. --Craziestdan 20:07, 19 Dec 2008 (PST)

Troubleshooting

Note: If you have a point_camera entity active in your map, it will generally cause the rain to not render. This can be verified in game via the "r_rainprofile 1" cmd. Your best bet is to disable any cameras when a player is to see rain, (via an I/O trigger "OnTrigger camera_name SetOff" - This one frustrated me for about 4 hours until i tracked it down. --tehwin 17:20, 6 March 2009 (PDT)

Particle Rain

If you are having trouble getting particle rain to display properly in your level make sure that there is quite a bit of distance from the top of your func_precipitation brush to your skybox. A if func_precipitation brush is a total of 1/3rd of the height to your skybrush you will have no issues.

This distance does not seem to be required for the other types of precipitation, including particle ash.

Multiple func_precipitation entities with different parameters- is it supposed to work?

I have multiple func_precipitation in my map, all using Snowfall but with different color and density values, but they all seem to look the same.

I'm currently testing this in HL2DM.

I thought there'd be some explanation on the wiki page but there's no mention of any issue (or success) with using multiple in a map, so is this just me or no?

--Greenhourglass (talk) 10:17, 19 December 2023 (PST)

In i tested rain and snow both in separate volumes and sharing the volume and they both work fine. Stacking multiple brushes of the same kind also works if you want thicker rain or snow. The color key value seems to be non functional however. I'm not sure of the performance impact of stacking multiple but i assume it'd be directly proportional to the amount of additional particles created so it should be fine to do. --Sirhephaestus (talk) 01:54, 18 March 2024 (PDT)