Holiday Based Map Events Possible?

[Atasco]

I was watching a video mentioning Halloween maps in tf2, and then this thought just hit me like a truck. Instead of having a separate map that would have to get approved for Halloween events and the like, what if... the official map contained the Halloween version all along?

A Halloween version of something like Pyrovision or Romevision (which would be cool) I know is probably a nightmare to make, but having two "layers" to the map, one with Halloween and one sans festivities sounds like it could bloat filesize, and second of all, how would the map even know it's a holiday? Would I have to have a detector for when the map starts looking for if Halloween mode is enabled? Now that I've thought of it I'm kind of obsessed with the idea

 

[fubarFX]

Well technically yeah, we can have things trigger based on different holidays and such butttttt...
I think the thing that is going to limit you the most is the lighting settings, for example, you can't change your daytime lighting to a spooky halloween nighttime ligthing. Maybe your map was at night all along, well, spooky candlelights and jack-o-lanterns won't be able to shine their light and so on.
You could do it but you'll find that you have very limited artistic freedom and that both version are not going to be very different in terms of mood and aesthetic. It's more likely that both map would benefit from being separate.

 

[Atasco]

Well technically yeah, we can have things trigger based on different holidays and such butttttt...
I think the thing that is going to limit you the most is the lighting settings, for example, you can't change your daytime lighting to a spooky halloween nighttime ligthing. Maybe your map was at night all along, well, spooky candlelights and jack-o-lanterns won't be able to shine their light and so on.
You could do it but you'll find that you have very limited artistic freedom and that both version are not going to be very different in terms of mood and aesthetic. It's more likely that both map would benefit from being separate.

Hmmmm...... you're right about the lights being an issue. I forgot about that and was only thinking about textures/props. And since light is like, one of the biggest contributors to filesize, that probably means it's a no-go, unless the map was like Harvest and already fall themed. Trying to get the light to work for every "season" would probably just make it bland. Dang!!!

It makes me wonder though, how would I change textures with I/O? Would it force me to use stuff that isn't basic brushes?

 

[fubarFX]

It makes me wonder though, how would I change textures with I/O? Would it force me to use stuff that isn't basic brushes?

your main points of interest are these
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Env_texturetoggle
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Material_modify_control

Also, I can't find it on the Valve dev wiki but there's this entity that you can find in the tf fgd

@PointClass base(Targetname) iconsprite("editor/logic_auto.vmt") = tf_logic_on_holiday :
    "This entity allows you execute map actions on holidays. Will send all relevant outputs every time the Fire input is called."
[
    input Fire(void) : "Cause one or more appropriate outputs to fire."
    output IsNothing(void) : ""
    output IsTFBirthday(void) : ""
    output IsHalloween(void) : ""
    output IsSmissmas(void) : ""
    output IsValentines(void) : ""
    output IsFullMoon(void) : ""
    output IsAprilFools(void) : ""
]

 

[Atasco]

your main points of interest are these
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Env_texturetoggle
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Material_modify_control

Also, I can't find it on the Valve dev wiki but there's this entity that you can find in the tf fgd

@PointClass base(Targetname) iconsprite("editor/logic_auto.vmt") = tf_logic_on_holiday :
    "This entity allows you execute map actions on holidays. Will send all relevant outputs every time the Fire input is called."
[
    input Fire(void) : "Cause one or more appropriate outputs to fire."
    output IsNothing(void) : ""
    output IsTFBirthday(void) : ""
    output IsHalloween(void) : ""
    output IsSmissmas(void) : ""
    output IsValentines(void) : ""
    output IsFullMoon(void) : ""
    output IsAprilFools(void) : ""
]

Oh, I see!

O-ohhh... that sounds like it would be a lot of custom texture work. From what I can tell, most of the interchangeable textures that already exist are like, jarate, spy's cloak, uber, ect.

The holiday detection thing detects more holidays than I thought it would!

 

[Atasco]

I just thought of something: could I simulate the sunlight with a dynamic light? Like the one from half-life. I bet it might look bad :T

Also, just realized I might have been reading that list wrong, hahaha. What "animated" textures actually come with TF2 by default? Do any at all :0 (besides stuff like entity and prop animations like the spytech radar ect?)

 

[fubarFX]

Also, just realized I might have been reading that list wrong, hahaha. What "animated" textures actually come with TF2 by default? Do any at all :0 (besides stuff like entity and prop animations like the spytech radar ect?)

Water is definitely animated frame by frame. Most other animations are just material proxies.