Can I make fog brushes? (fog without env_fog_controller)

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Hyperion

L16: Grid Member
aa
Jun 8, 2015
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Picture is better example than my words
o-LONDON-FOG-facebook.jpg


I want to make fog only to the ground level, not everywhere. I'm afraid that this is not possible but I still hope
 

Dr. Spud

Grossly Incandescent
aa
Mar 23, 2009
880
854
I'm pretty sure you can use func_smokevolume in TF2, but I don't necessarily recommend it. You probably won't get a great result without authoring a new material to fit your TF2 map (func_smokevolume takes a material as a parameter). func_smokevolume also is pretty rough on FPS.

A better solution would be to make a new particle effect using the particle effect editor, and placing it in Hammer. More work, but you'll get a better result that runs faster.

The simplest thing you can do is place env_sprites in hammer! I did this in Haarp, found a wispy sprite, scaled it way up, and duplicated a bunch of them:
ctf_haarp_08.jpg
 

henke37

aa
Sep 23, 2011
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Am I the only one who find it amusing that the icon for the fog controller is identical to the photo in OP?
 

Snowbat

L4: Comfortable Member
Apr 23, 2013
165
74
You can also try making a particle system... but it's gonna be heavy on FPS depending on how many particles you spawn at a time.
 

r13

Train God
Aug 30, 2010
259
286
a env_ smokestack might work too. keep it flat and you could have a stream of them rolling across the ground. a couple in a row might be enough to get it done. I'd keep transparencies down around 24-32 to keep the ground clipping seam from being too noticeable. an emitter speed of 10-15... size around... 64 to start... you wont be able to get it dense enough to not see the ground without FPS issues, but you can get some spookiness going on.

remember that with all these solutions, the player's machines wont render particles it doesnt know about. it wont know about them unless the player is looking at it or in the room/area with it. so your large ground section won't get covered in spooky smoke unless people have been there for 20-30 seconds.

personally i'd look at what Coldfront did, it has blowing clouds puffs in the outdoor areas. I'd grab whatever system is doing that and try to editing to the desired outcome.... or at least closer.
 
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r13

Train God
Aug 30, 2010
259
286
ok here's an idea... this might not work but might...

make a displacement surface and give it a light noise sprinkling to unflatten it.

make sure you set the surface to not collide.

apply a smoke texture that tiles on the surface and is set to display two sided. and give it a slight pan in the UV in a direction. Slow like..... 4. also flag it so it uses the world cords. rather than the ones on the surface. this means the smoke flows one way even if you rotate the meshes.

if you know your poop, i'd try a lil fresnel on the alpha too, but that's maybe a not a good idea depending on how the engine draws that thru layers. your milage may vary.

now you have have a large transparent surface. size it to your area... now make a copy of it.

now make some large undulations in the copy, so its got a few slight hills in it now. now position it above the first surface.

make a copy of the 2nd mesh, and then dont fuck with it, but just rotate it 180 degrees on the z. it keeps the shapes of the surface more consistent [they are the same] with the other than if you did a new one. place it where it looks good, in the same spot might work. adjust as needed. you can try keeping the surfaces around their feet, or expand it so its filling the whole play volume. depends on what you want to see visually.

now you are potentially looking thru layers of transparency here at once, across a potentially large area. this might hit people with potato machines. ignore their spud filled cries. This is how some of the smoke/fog gets done in whole areas in games like WoW. People will say its expensive... yes its more expensive than nothing but any modern card shouldn't flinch at it.
 
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tyler

aa
Sep 11, 2013
5,102
4,621
You could create a custom texture (fog with a gradient, solid at the bottom, less opaque at the top) and assign it to a big func_areaportal_window. I think you could set it as nonsolid. It'd be kind of weird to get right.