FLEP custom patches: updates, testing and discussion

[Shakira Croft]

Incredible ! Thank you so much =)

[Raider99]

*faints*

Thank you so much!

[klona]

Thank you so much!
I wonder what does DOT3 bump mapping do?
I've used it but nothing changed. (Maybe I'm expecting the wrong thing)
By the way; can you please please make the underwater waves and camera rotation patch available for TRNG?

[Lwmte]

DOT3 bump mapping changes the way bumpmaps are applied to textures. By default, TR4 engine simply overlays bumpmaps onto textures, ignoring lighting and surface normals orientation. So, what DOT3 bump mapping patch does, is it changes bumpmap blending operation from simple overlay to dot product function (you can read about it here), which results in bumpmaps reacting to lights, their intensity and orientation. You can easily note a difference at the start-up of Catacombs, Cleopatra's Palaces levels in classic TRLE level set, or, in recent levels, King Arthur's Project (when jeep goes through underground area, you can easily spot how jeep's headlights affect wall textures).

The effect is not so obvious because generally TR has no dynamic lights applied to room textures, only static. It could be really awesome if TR supported bumpmaps on movables.

[klona]

Originally Posted by Lwmte

DOT3 bump mapping changes the way bumpmaps are applied to textures. By default, TR4 engine simply overlays bumpmaps onto textures, ignoring lighting and surface normals orientation. So, what DOT3 bump mapping patch does, is it changes bumpmap blending operation from simple overlay to dot product function (you can read about it here), which results in bumpmaps reacting to lights, their intensity and orientation. You can easily note a difference at the start-up of Catacombs, Cleopatra's Palaces levels in classic TRLE level set, or, in recent levels, King Arthur's Project (when jeep goes through underground area, you can easily spot how jeep's headlights affect wall textures).

The effect is not so obvious because generally TR has no dynamic lights applied to room textures, only static. It could be really awesome if TR supported bumpmaps on movables.

I wonder if it would work on the Flares or LED Light!?

[Suikaze Raider]

Thanks Lwmte

I just tested your Clear Menu Backgrounds with default settings and works fine I noticed if it's raining, the rain particles don't stop when the game is paused or in inventory And if it's fogged, it dissapears when you are on inventory or pause, but if you enter to load or save options appear But I think those things are from engine

This patch could be ported to final TR4 & TR5 Games? I tried it, but it doesn't work, the game always crashs And on TR5 I can't find the long code patch, but maybe the code is diferent

Another thing... TR4 Engine has a bug with explosive ammo When you shot a freeze dog (OCB: 1) or a mummy on floor (OCB: 2), the game always crashs. This happens in TR2 with jade freeze warriors too That bug could be fixed?

Cheers

[Lwmte]

In TREP version, backgrounds patch bypassed rain and snow routines, so they didn't show up under backgrounds, with TRNG version I can't do so (because rain/snow procedure is in dll). As for fog issue, yes, there is a problem indeed; another possible problem is poisoning "trip effect", which also corrupts background. I guess, these are the bugs to be fixed in the future.

As for porting patches to TR4 / TR5 versions, this is something really simple, but you need to know basics of assembly language and OllyDbg usage. Only thing that is needed is to correct addresses of functions and variables.

I never knew about grenade bug though; will check it out!

[klona]

Originally Posted by Suikaze Raider

Thanks Lwmte

I just tested your Clear Menu Backgrounds with default settings and works fine I noticed if it's raining, the rain particles don't stop when the game is paused or in inventory

I saw that too.
I find it cute, tbh.

[Lwmte]

Originally Posted by klona

I wonder if it would work on the Flares or LED Light!?

Yes, however, effect is not too noticeable, because only bright heightmap zones are affected. I will try to modify rendering pipeline, so effect will be more noticeable (currently TR4 engine does 2-pass rendering, and I will try to add third pass for bumpmap shadows).

[teme9]

Wonderful patches!! You truly have a way of getting around problems I wouldn't be much suprised if you're going to do something really mindblowing soon Thank you!