water_lod_control

Class hierarchy
CWaterLODControl ↳CBaseEntity
WaterLODControl.cpp

water_lod_control is a logical entity available in all Source games. It is used to control the LOD behavior of any water in the map. If your map has expensive water, this entity is required. VBSP will add one in if it's missing.

Bug:VBSP will add this entity if any %CompileWater material is used, even cheap water and water that does not use the Water shader.  (tested in: )

Note:The properties of this entity apply to the whole map. Multiple instances of this entity within a map may cause errors.

Class hierarchy (client)
C_WaterLODControl ↳C_BaseEntity
C_WaterLODControl.cpp

Keyvalues

Name (targetname) <string>

The name that other entities refer to this entity by, via Inputs/Outputs or other keyvalues (e.g. parentname or target).
Also displayed in Hammer's 2D views and Entity Report.

See also: Generic Keyvalues, Inputs and Outputs available to all entities

Start Transition to Cheap Water (cheapwaterstartdistance) <float>

This is the distance from the camera that water will start transitioning to cheap water, in hammer units.

End Transition to Cheap Water (cheapwaterenddistance) <float>

This is the distance from the camera that water will finish transitioning to cheap water, in hammer units.

Inputs

SetCheapWaterStartDistance <floatRedirectInput/float>

Set the distance that water starts transitioning to cheap water.

SetCheapWaterEndDistance <floatRedirectInput/float>

Set the distance that water finishes transitioning to cheap water.

^[Elaborate?]

Caveats Bug:The water_lod_controller was disabled late in development. Any water with reflections enabled are always rendered expensively or with bForceExpensive always set to true.  [todo tested in ?] To re-enable you will need to modify code in CViewRender::DetermineWaterRenderInfo(...) on line 2228, replace it with: if( !r_WaterDrawReflection.GetBool() ) Also replace line 2256 with: if ( (fogVolumeInfo.m_flDistanceToWater >= m_flCheapWaterEndDistance) || bForceCheap ) You may also change line 2212 with brute force code. All the materials in this example were returning bForceExpensive true regardless of settings: bForceExpensive = false;

See also

• Adding Water