GoldenEye: Source Forums

Debriefing => Bug Reports & Fixes => Topic started by: namajnaG on November 13, 2015, 09:38:36 am

Title: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: namajnaG on November 13, 2015, 09:38:36 am
Howdy folks. This is most certainly related to the Source engine, but maybe there's a workaround I don't know about.
I'm using the sky_casino skybox, and in Casino it seems to look fine. However, for my part, I'm having this strange issue whereas when I am aiming on the moon, the glare from the entity starts flickering, Demonstrated here ;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BZyoc3s6ac

Is there anything I can do?
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: Jonathon [SSL] on November 14, 2015, 03:25:39 pm
I've never seen this issue before. I assume you've done the obvious like making sure you don't have any leaks?
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: namajnaG on November 14, 2015, 04:13:01 pm
Yep, everything is sealed off correctly.
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: soupcan on November 14, 2015, 05:34:52 pm
This is normal.
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: namajnaG on November 14, 2015, 05:50:57 pm
It is? Well, shit. I'll scrap it. Thanks for the heads up!
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: Adrian on November 14, 2015, 08:29:14 pm
I'm thinking it may have something to do with having a translucent texture in front of the sun. I had the same issue in Chateau where I was using a dome textured with scrolling translucent clouds in the 3D skybox (the model you were using here :P ). I also see this in other maps where I use a gradient in the 3D skybox to control the fog blending into the sky texture, but because the gradient is in front of the sun's sprite it flickers like this when you aim at it.

As soup said, this is unfortunately normal; I'm not sure how to work around it. Honestly this is just a side effect of a really nice feature like moving clouds. I wouldn't advise removing them just because of this.
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: namajnaG on November 14, 2015, 08:31:49 pm
I actually tried removing the clouds to see if this was the cause of the problem, but turns out it was still flickering without the clouds. I ended up keeping both since I really like the look of it.
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: Torn on November 14, 2015, 10:25:07 pm
I had this problem also, but managed to fix it on my end.

open your env_sun properties and make sure that "overlay size" is set to 0. The flickering seems to occur when it's set to -1, which is the default setting.

Hope that helps.
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: namajnaG on November 14, 2015, 10:35:29 pm
Unfortunately, that only made the glow about 3 times smaller and the flickering was still present. It was worth a try though, thanks!
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: Torn on November 15, 2015, 01:49:52 am
could you post a screenshot of the properties window for the env_sun?
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: Mike [fourtecks] on November 15, 2015, 01:19:29 pm
This is most likely present in all source games. I remember when I used to play tf2 I could block out the sun with my crosshair.
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: namajnaG on November 15, 2015, 01:57:32 pm
could you post a screenshot of the properties window for the env_sun?

Sure, here ya' go.
(https://i.gyazo.com/33f5fbf24a876446997e3901aeb7f7d1.png)

I tried HDR off and on, Overlay Size -1 and 0, Tried applying an overlay color, Changed the overlay material from default to what you see here, and changing the size from 16 to 32.
I also tried changing the material type but that screwed it up real bad with black lines.


This is most likely present in all source games. I remember when I used to play tf2 I could block out the sun with my crosshair.

What I really don't get is that in ge_casino it looks perfectly fine when you aim at it. This is quite strange.
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: Mangley on November 15, 2015, 04:15:12 pm
Here's settings that fix it for me:

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6732010/env_sun.jpg)

Try removing .vmt from the material names.
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: namajnaG on November 15, 2015, 04:36:56 pm
Nay, that didn't work either. This is really confusing, to say the least.
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: Torn on November 15, 2015, 05:59:48 pm
The only other thing I can think of is perhaps make the overlay material name "sprites/light_glow02_add_noz" so it matches with the material name, like the one Mangley posted, unless thats the one you already tried.

Mine is basically the same as what Mangley posted, but with 0 for the overlay size.

Strange issue, indeed.
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: namajnaG on November 15, 2015, 06:09:11 pm
It was that before I changed it, yeah. That's the default, basically.
Looks like this is going to be a mystery for a while.
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: killermonkey on November 15, 2015, 09:46:32 pm
See if your r_dopixelvisibility is set to 1 and you are on DirectX 8 or higher.

I see nothing in the code that would cause this issue (on/off nature of the glow) unless you didn't have pixel visibility enabled. If you have clouds, you might want to make sure they have soft edges to prevent a hard shut down of the glow.
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: namajnaG on November 15, 2015, 10:56:14 pm
I'm pretty sure that is Source related and not GE:S related. With clouds removed, r_dopixelvisibility 1 and DX9, the bug still occurs.
No official GE:S map has this issue whenever I look at the sun, though. (Well, AFAIK)
Title: Re: env_sun flickering when looking at it
Post by: soupcan on November 15, 2015, 11:12:58 pm
This indeed happens with other Source games.