info_overlay z-clips with the face it is assigned to

[Werewolf]

I have noticed that some overlays will appear to z-clip (flicker) with the faces they have been applied to, and I can't figure out why that is, or what I need to do to fix it.

For example, here is 'skybox/pine_card_1' from Diva Dan's "Tall thin pine trees 1" (Just to be clear, this isn't an issue with Diva Dan's pack. I'm just using this as an example of the issue.):

It's not the best example, but you can see the trees in the background flicker out depending on the view angle. Those tree's are actually one of the overlays from the pack (with the prop trees in the foreground.)

What I have noticed is that some overlays will flicker more the further away you are from them, but even when you are close some will still flicker.

So the question is, how can this be fixed? Does anyone have any idea on how to fix it?

 

[Dr. Orange]

Does the overlay material have the "$decal" property set to 1? This is required for decals and overlays to prevent z-fighting.

 

[Werewolf]

Just looked, and no it does not:

"LightmappedGeneric"
{
   "$basetexture" "skybox/pine_card_1"

   "%keywords" "tf"
   "$translucent" "1"
   "$alphatest" "1"

}

I'll edit the .vmt and give it a try.

 

[ficool2]

Overlays need $decal 1 to not z fight

 

[Werewolf]

Yes it was the missing "$decal" "1".

I feel like I should have spotted that / figured it out for myself at this point (6+ years mapping), but last month I forgot to check the flags on a 'logic_relay', so maybe I need to be more thorough checking stuff.