source sp mod bugs

[jimonions]

Just a quick question

Can anybody confirm that hl2 single player mods cannot display info_particle_system ingame? Like it just wont play the effect, no errors or anything. This is running on the 2007 base all paths properly loaded and everything else working fine.

Also if there are any other major problems that could affect me It would be helpful to know. The VDC is lacking on this by a lot.

[Aus_Karlos]

Did you follow the latest step on the wiki page?

Source 2007 usage

Due to the recent Steampipe update, particles now require VPK intergration. This is because the VPK takes priority over non-VPK files, so the VPK's manifest will always overwrite your own.

This is a relatively simple procedure. To fix this issue, create a "custom" folder in your game's root folder, alongside maps, materials etc.

Inside Custom, create a folder, with any name you wish. Place the particle manifest into this folder, under "/custom/*folder*/particles/particles_manifest.txt" Then, drop and drag the named folder onto vpk.exe, located within the game's bin folder. For Half Life 2, this is located in "common/Half Life 2/bin/vpk.exe"

Please note, with this method, you are re-overwriting the manifest. It is highly advised to add to the original manifest of the game, rather than to recreate your own!

[jimonions]

Yup, no dice.

[Riomaki]

Depends on what you mean by HL2 single player mods. Info_particle_system displayed for me in a mod created with the "Modify Half-Life 2 Singleplayer" setup from the old Source SDK (with the 2007 engine type). After I ran the wizard, I modified the gameinfo.txt to reflect the post-Steampipe setup. Didn't have to do anything special to get particles to appear.

That said, some particles are either barely visible, don't respond to Start Active, or simply don't work. My use case was the WATERFALL.PCF particles and all three of those worked fine.

[jimonions]

I've done the same thing as you have. I have deliberately refrained from using any episodic content. I've already tried loading them and it changes nothing.

excluding the top info here's what it looks like

Code: Select all

   type      singleplayer_only


   FileSystem
   {
      SteamAppId      218
      ToolsAppId      211

      SearchPaths
      {
         game            |gameinfo_path|
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|sourcetest
      }
   }
}

[Riomaki]

I'm fairly sure you need to reference Episode 2, since the particles belong to it. This is my gameinfo.txt from a recent Ep2 mod that didn't have any installation issues. It's heavily based on the Valve Developer Community's suggestions on their gameinfo page.

Code: Select all

type      singleplayer_only

   FileSystem
   {
      SteamAppId            420       // GCF for Episode 2
      
      SearchPaths
      {
         game+mod         |gameinfo_path|.
         platform         |gameinfo_path|.
         
         game_lv            hl2/hl2_lv.vpk
         game+mod         ep2/ep2_english.vpk
         game+mod         ep2/ep2_pak.vpk
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_english.vpk
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_pak.vpk
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_english.vpk
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
         platform         |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk
         
         mod+mod_write+default_write_path      |gameinfo_path|.
         game+game_write                     |gameinfo_path|.
         gamebin                           episodic/bin
         
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|episodic
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
         platform         |all_source_engine_paths|platform
      }
   }
}


Basically, the gist is that post-Steampipe, Half-Life's assets exist in VPK files. So you need to direct the game to the VPK files first before the more traditional approach.

[jimonions]

Sorry wasn't clear enough.
By not using any episodic content I also mean the particles they have. I'm making any that I need on my own.

I've also tried pretty much what you have there before but no result. Changed the paths to include all episodic content including appID.

I also posted the wrong gameinfo.txt. This is the one I meant to post:
I honestly don't have much of a clue whats going on here despite reading as much documentation on it available on the VDC. I know that it works properly though. everything except info_particles.

One thing I noticed is that I don't have a game_bin
edit - game_bin doesn't change anything

Code: Select all

   type      singleplayer_only


   FileSystem
   {
      SteamAppId      218
      ToolsAppId      211

      SearchPaths
      {
         game            |gameinfo_path|
         game_lv            hl2/hl2_lv.vpk
         game+mod         hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
         game+mod         hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc_dir.vpk
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
         platform         |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
         game            |all_source_engine_paths|sourcetest
         platform         |all_source_engine_paths|platform
      }
   }
}

[Riomaki]

I'm afraid I can't be of much help then.

[jimonions]

Oh well thanks anyway. hopefully someone knows the answer.

[Aus_Karlos]

I did a little test. I created a fresh unedited 2007 Mod using the SDK launcher. Then used your Gameinfo.txt that you provided. When i launch the game about 200 lines of errors popup all related to particle functions

Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade Out Random
Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Radius Scale
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade In Random
Didn't find particle function Lifespan Decay
Didn't find particle function Lifetime Random
Didn't find particle function Position Along Path Sequential
Didn't find particle function Remap Noise to Scalar
Didn't find particle function Movement Basic
Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade Out Random
Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Radius Scale
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade In Random
Didn't find particle function Lifespan Decay
Didn't find particle function Lifetime Random
Didn't find particle function Position Along Path Sequential
Didn't find particle function Remap Noise to Scalar
Didn't find particle function Movement Basic
Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Lifespan Decay
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade Out Random
Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Radius Scale
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade In Random
Didn't find particle function Lifetime Random
Didn't find particle function Position Along Path Sequential
Didn't find particle function Remap Noise to Scalar
Didn't find particle function Movement Basic
Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Lifespan Decay
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade Out Random
Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Radius Scale
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade In Random
Didn't find particle function Lifetime Random
Didn't find particle function Position Along Path Sequential
Didn't find particle function Remap Noise to Scalar
Didn't find particle function Movement Basic
Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Lifespan Decay
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade Out Random
Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Radius Scale
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade In Random
Didn't find particle function Lifetime Random
Didn't find particle function Position Along Path Sequential
Didn't find particle function Remap Noise to Scalar
Didn't find particle function Movement Basic
Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Lifespan Decay
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade Out Random
Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Radius Scale
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade In Random
Didn't find particle function Lifetime Random
Didn't find particle function Position Along Path Sequential
Didn't find particle function Remap Noise to Scalar
Didn't find particle function Movement Basic
Didn't find particle function Lifespan Decay
Didn't find particle function Position Within Sphere Random
Didn't find particle function Lifetime Random
Didn't find particle function Movement Basic
Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade Out Random
Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Radius Scale
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade In Random
Didn't find particle function Lifespan Decay
Didn't find particle function Lifetime Random
Didn't find particle function Position Along Path Sequential
Didn't find particle function Remap Noise to Scalar
Didn't find particle function Movement Basic
Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade Out Random
Didn't find particle function Movement Dampen Relative to Control Point
Didn't find particle function Radius Scale
Didn't find particle function Alpha Fade In Random
Didn't find particle function Lifespan Decay
Didn't find particle function Lifetime Random

Looks like the Code is incomplete.
Although the errors look repeated they arn't its also referring to every option in the particle tool.. Some have duplicate functions

[jimonions]

Finally something solid.
So to be clear, this is a problem with the 2007 base altogether or just my gameinfo.txt?

[Aus_Karlos]

It might be your gameinfo. You're referring to an old appID (older 2007 version) which will still work for now, but as the particle system has been fulling integrated into the VPK system (Steampipe) the old 2007 Engine does not know to look there and the Legacy particle code has been removed.

Why dont you use the new 2013 SDK Source Code to create a single player mod?

[jimonions]

Well as it seems that way I guess Ill need to go with 2013. It just looked really troublesome to setup on the VDC.
I don't have any of the software mentioned on the page not that it would help my case if I did since it looks like that stuff was written in another language.
I will update when I get through it.

[jimonions]

Update: I really have no idea what going on here. Why do I have to compile this stuff and where is it going? I followed the 2 videos on moddb, the only two videos on this subject, and its gotten me nowhere.

Also If I'm not adding any code at all cant I just use the pre-existing base?

Update: I'm guessing that this code I'm supposed to compile goes into the bin, platform, and also mod/bin directories? Those are all dll's though. It doesn't mention anywhere in the tutorial how to create them.

Update: I did it guys I saved the world, of my mod. For some reason the first time I compiled my stuff Something went wrong. After recompiling with fresh content it worked properly and some DLL files showed up in a bin folder in the skeleton mod folder. I looked up another mod and just figured out what they did, just pasted those dlls into the same root in my sourcemods folder. Everything is working including particles. Something that was odd but solved easily was that a little screen kept popping up titled the debugger; kept saying attempting to create unknown particle system. This was because I still haven't finished all of the ones I've placed in the map yet. The ones I have finished are working fine. Is that supposed to pop up? Is there a way I can get rid of it? - I've disabled it for now by ignoring all errors of that type.
Another thing I noticed is that this is going off of the episodic detailsprite texture sheet of 512 by 1024 causing my 1024 by 1024 sheet to mess up. VDC says theres a way to fix this in the code though so ill get on that.

Update: Wont let me compile the changes, keeps giving me errors.

update: Cubemaps dont appear to work
c_pixel_visibility.cpp (433) : Assertion Failed: ( m_frameIssued != gpGlobals->framecount ) || UseVR()
b
- workaround by replacing VBSP in source base 2013 sp bin with recompiled fixed version. Can also be worked around by bringing the map over to hl2 or any 2007 game.